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Killing of Two Demolition Officials by Chinese Veteran Farmer Wins Public Sympathy · Global Voices
Jack Hu

Human rights lawyer Liu Xiaoyuan uploaded Fan's trial photo on Weibo. He and his family were attacked by demolition officers and his skull was fractured.
The arrest of an old farmer who fiercely resisted forced eviction in the east China city of Suzhou has provoked an outcry on China’s social media.
Local newspaper Southern Metropolis Daily reported that Fan Mugen, a 64-year farmer and veteran, killed two demolition officials with a knife after he, his wife and son were beaten in a suburb of Suzhou, a city near Shanghai, on 3 December 2013. Many netizens on China’s Twitter-like Weibo argued the killings could be justified as self-defense and cautioned Fan would be sentenced to death.
More than fifty lawyers and citizens across the country went to the hospital [zh] to see Fan’s injured and detained wife but were blocked by numerous policemen on December 22.
Southern Metropolis Daily said [zh] Fan’s home is the only one left unmoved in his village due to disagreement about reduced payment. He began to petition in 2004 and has gone to Beijing twice to petition this year. Fan has left a testament to being forced to sign the demolition agreement in November. Fan is also a Communist Party member.
It reminds many netizens of the death penalty of Xia Junfeng, a street vendor convicted of killing two chengguan, or urban-management policemen, and executed in September despite public calls for leniency, disappointing many legal activists who said the country's justice system fails to protect the underprivileged and punishes them too harshly. Many people argued Xia’s behavior should belong to self-defense for he had suffered brutal beating.
The citizen rights center of Suzhou updated netizens on the latest developments via its Weibo account:
律师和公民五十余人来到苏州市高新区人民医院探望范木根的妻子顾盘珍，范木根因反抗入侵者保护家人正当防卫刺死两名入室行凶者，现被以故意伤害罪名刑事拘留，范妻被入侵者打断胳膊正在住院治疗。苏州辅警在医院列队 严阵以待！！
More than fifty lawyers and citizens go to see Gu Panzhen, Fan Mugen’s wife, in the People’s Hospital of High-tech Zone, Suzhou. Fan has been arrested for intentional injury after he killed two attackers to protect family. Gu is treated in hospital after her arm was broken by the intruders. Suzhou auxiliary police are lining up at the hospital!
Human rights lawyer Liu Xiaoyuan explained the background of Fan's family and hinted that the incident is an act of self-defense:
“2013”年度人物候选人：范木根，苏州农民，年轻时在内蒙古参军。因房屋被强拆，他在2013年10月底出外躲藏一个月。2013年12月2日回到家中。2013年12月3日，拆迁公司人员又到家中逼迁。他在头部被打破，儿子头部被打伤，妻子右手骨头被打断时，拔打刺死两名逼迁人员。这是今年最大的一起血迁事件。
Candidate for the person of the year 2013, Fan Mugen, a farmer of Suzhou, joined the army in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region when he was young. He had been out of his home for a month to avoid demolition since the end of October and went back home on 2 December. On 3 Dec the relocation company staff went to Fan’s home again to force him to leave. He killed two intruders when his head was fractured, his son’s head was injured and his wife’s right hand was broken. It’s the largest bloody demolition this year.
Independent writer Wang Qingfu argued that Fan is a hero:
范木根，典型的正当防卫。范木根是不畏强权的英雄！
Fan Mugen's is typically justified defense. He is a hero for resisting power!
Weibo user, “Jiang Nan school kid” echoed Wang:
苏州范木根是一个了不起的军人！当老范面对暴徒，三刀两命。有多少人拍手称快？有多少人从内心里佩服老范的勇气！他做了许多人想却不敢做的事情。全国掀起了新一轮范木根无罪浪潮！因为他们很多在拆迁中都体会到那种无奈与绝望。拆迁办的黑社会化，政府的推皮球，公安的冷漠。
Fan is a great soldier. He dared to kill two mobsters with a knife. Many people applaud his action! Many people respect his audacity of heart! He did what many people want to but dare not do. Many victims in forced evictions have felt desperate when confronting the triad-like demolition office, buck-passing of the government, and the indifference of police.
Yang Cuifang urged the public to pay attention to the incident:
关注。关注这个保护妻儿保卫家园的血性汉子。关注这个时代里草民抗暴事件以及这起事件最终的走向。见证每一个个体活在当下的不易
Pay attention to the courageous man who tried to protect his wife, children and home. Pay attention to grassroots anti-violence and the trend of this issue. Witness the toughness of every person’s living.
Forced demolitions have been a deeply divisive issue in China in recent years. Local governments rely on land sales for a significant portion of their revenues, creating a big incentive to push out homeowners and small businesses for redevelopment projects.


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Merry Christmas from Syrian Artists  · Global Voices
Nour Al Ali

Syrian Christians quietly celebrate Christmas as the nation's war enters its forth year, marking a death toll of more than 100,000 people and the displacement of millions to neighboring countries seeking shelter.
With shelter, came a stark winter and a prayer of return, according to an Al Jazeera report.
This year, Syria witnessed a great deal of havoc, death, and a tremendous amount of kidnappings that left most of its citizens hopeless. This hopelessness can be seen in the works of artists who, at times, express a nation's distress in a single artwork better than a million words.
Depictions of Santa in Syrian Artworks
Emulating kidnappings in Syria, Jawad painted an abducted Santa in ragged clothes, kneeling on his knees at gunpoint:
In another artwork by Anas Salameh, Santa's corpse is being carried out of Syria's Al Yarmouk Refugee Camp for Palestinians:
[Photo source: Art by Jawad Facebook Page]
Santa is also seen in tears as his gifts arrived a little too late for Syria's martyred children:
[Photo source: Anas Salameh's Facebook profile]
Here, he sits alongside their graves in mourning:
Done by Comic4 Syria كوميك لأجل سوريا [Photo Source: Comic4 Syria كوميك لأجل سوريا Facebook Page]
The Holiday Spirit: Jingles, Christmas Trees, and Ornaments
Artwork by Wissam Al Jazariry [Photo Source: Wissam Al Jazariry Artworks Facebook Page]
A skit playing off the Jingle Bills Christmas song calls for freedom and the ousting of Bashar Al-Assad. The creator, known as Mogwli Mowgli, has died under torture:
Anwar Al Eissa paints a metaphoric ornament soaked in blood, hanging in a freezer, as if depicting the dire freezing conditions many Syrians are going through this Christmas:
Amjad Wardeh paints a Christmas tree out of an explosion's aftermath:
[Photo Source: Anwarts Facebook Page]
Merry Christmas and well wishes from Bashar! #Syria pic.twitter.com/ZC3wuM0lp7
— رهام (@Rehambo) December 24, 2013
Whereas Hani Abbas creates it out of refugee tents:
Aleppian artist Mohamad Alweis writes “Merry Christmas” with a snowflake made of mortar shells and missiles, subtly commenting on the 100 barrels that fell over Aleppo this past week:
[Photo Source: Hani abbas cartoon]
However, with darkness arises a flicker of hope and belief in a better tomorrow. Watch as Syrian filmmaker Eyad Aljarod films Saraqeb's children, Muslims and Christians, celebrate Christmas and share their dreams:
[Photo Source: Mohamad Alweis's Facebook Profile]
Bells 2013 – أجراس 2013 from eyad aljarod on Vimeo.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Nour Al Ali


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Indonesia’s Haunting Tsunami Memorials Foreshadow Our Future · Global Voices
Ivan Sigal

On the anniversary of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, Ivan Sigal visits memorials of the disaster in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, and finds prophesies of our future. This story was originally published by Creative Time Reports.
The top of a mosque moved more than a mile by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, as depicted in a poster displayed at the Aceh Tsunami Museum, Banda Aceh, Indonesia. Photo by Ivan Sigal, 2012.
Last year I visited Banda Aceh, a provincial capital located on the northwestern tip of Sumatra. The Indonesian city was the epicenter of the December 26, 2004, Indian Ocean tsunami, which tore through communities from Thailand all the way to Somalia, killing approximately 230,000 people. While I had traveled to Sri Lanka to help right after the storm, I followed Banda Aceh’s story of recovery closely over the years. I wanted to see for myself the choices a community made in rebuilding and memorializing those lost in the disaster. What I discovered was both haunting and instructive, a monument to a past catastrophe and a harbinger of things to come.
Banda Aceh was substantially rebuilt within five years, although traces of the tsunami remain visible on the margins of the city, in the shape of seawalls and remnants of the old bridge across the bay, and in the continuing home-reconstruction projects at the town’s edges. The province of Aceh, of which Banda Aceh is the capital, also experienced a political transformation; the armed separatist rebellion across Aceh’s interior concluded with a peace deal and substantial regional autonomy. Although international donors provided some $7 billion in funds to aid in the reconstruction, by some accounts it flowed disproportionately to the city at the expense of smaller towns and more remote regions, as well as to the political victors of the conflict. Along with urban and residential reconstruction, the city built memorials, a mass grave and a museum. These spaces preserve the memory of the 160,000 killed by the tsunami in Aceh, but they also play other roles, offering both moral instruction in civic engagement and tsunami tourism.
Diorama depicting people fleeing a wave, Aceh Tsunami Museum, Banda Aceh, Indonesia. Photo by Ivan Sigal, 2012.
Diorama depicting people clinging to roofs, Aceh Tsunami Museum, Banda Aceh, Indonesia. Photo by Ivan Sigal, 2012.
The Aceh Tsunami Museum in particular embodies this goal of civic instruction. Photos of death and destruction, taken after the tsunami, loop endlessly; video monitors play images of traumatic moments, now pixelated and bordered by benign blue-bubble backgrounds. Colorful dioramas restage scenes of terror and death: clay figures hang from model boats or flee massive blue papier-mâché waves. A miniature of the city’s famed Baiturrahman Grand Mosque, one of the few buildings not destroyed by the waves, stands alone in front of a painted screen of rough sea and sky. Rusted motorcycles and seismographs, encased in glass, have been repurposed into objects of reverence and sentiment. Interactive maps depicting the changes in coastline are cast in rough gray fiberglass. A model house built on a hydraulic jack simulates the experience of shaking earth. These objects allow us both to look directly at horror and to distance ourselves from it, through facsimiles reduced in scale, rendered in clay and captured and framed in glass. They keep the experience at a safe remove while providing instruction in the value of creating and preserving order—implicitly supporting the post-conflict state.
New homes customized by their inhabitants, Banda Aceh, Indonesia, Photos by Ivan Sigal, 2012.
Beyond the memorials, Banda Aceh is a rebuilt city, now comprising neighborhoods of identical houses built with aid agency funds and supported by international contractors. Every house has been customized by its owner; variously colored facades, porches, patios and additions provide each with an individual personality. Neighborhoods are now protected by sea walls and acres of mangrove. Here is a city returned to its former pace, an ocean becalmed. Aceh’s story seems to be in the past, but the idea that the disaster it experienced can be confined to symbolic representations in museums is an illusion: the clay figurines drowning in papier-mâché waters are, I fear, projections of our own future.
When I first traveled to Sri Lanka in the days after the tsunami, witnessing the scale of destruction and trying to help in the aftermath changed my life. It opened in me a sense of urgency and an understanding that frequently the scope of disaster is the result of human failure rather than natural catastrophe. After the tsunami came Hurricane Katrina, the Kashmir earthquake, the Haiti earthquake, Superstorm Sandy, Typhoon Haiyan and numerous other calamities. With each of these events, it has become clearer that our efforts to mitigate the destruction unleashed by natural disasters are grossly inadequate. Forecasts of stronger and more frequent storms caused in part by a warming ocean mean that we will have to manage the threat of similar disasters for many years. We are only beginning to recognize what needs to be done, and how vulnerable we become the longer we wait.
Diorama depicting Banda Aceh’s Baiturrahman Grand Mosque, Aceh Tsunami Museum, Banda Aceh, Indonesia. Photo by Ivan Sigal, 2012.
Diorama depicting a floating diesel power station, Aceh Tsunami Museum, Banda Aceh, Indonesia. Photo by Ivan Sigal, 2012.
Diorama depicting people fleeing a wave, Aceh Tsunami Museum, Banda Aceh, Indonesia (detail). Photo by Ivan Sigal, 2012.
Diorama depicting people fleeing a wave, Aceh Tsunami Museum, Banda Aceh, Indonesia (detail). Photo by Ivan Sigal, 2012.
Poster of tsunami victims, displayed at the Aceh Tsunami Museum, Banda Aceh, Indonesia. Photo by Ivan Sigal, 2012.
Foundation for a new home in Banda Aceh, Indonesia. Photo by Ivan Sigal, 2012.
Long-term effects of beach erosion in Banda Aceh, Indonesia. Photo by Ivan Sigal, 2012.
Women sitting by a seawall in Banda Aceh, Indonesia. Photo by Ivan Sigal, 2012.
Remnants of a bridge in Banda Aceh, Indonesia. Photo by Ivan Sigal, 2012.

author: Ivan Sigal


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Ukrainians Demand Justice for Beaten & Jailed #Euromaidan Protesters  · Global Voices
Tetyana Bohdanova

The Euromaidan protests in Ukraine have entered their second month, with several hudred thousand protesters gathering in Kyiv and other cities daily. The movement began as a pro-EU demonstration mostly by young people in response to a halted Ukraine-EU agreement that would bring Ukraine significantly closer to the European Union. After the brutal beating of students and other protesters by the riot police division known as “Berkut” on the early morning of November 30, 2013, the daily rallies turned into a nation-wide anti-government protest.
Following separate cases of violence during a mass rally in Kyiv on December 1, more protesters were beaten by “Berkut” , including at least forty journalists.
A series of detentions and arrests followed. Nine seemingly random protesters were detained on the day of this particular rally, severely beaten by the police and later charged with plotting and organizing mass riots despite the almost complete absence of evidence corroborating the charges. Three more people were arrested shortly afterwards on the same charges – two journalist activists from “Dorozhnyi Control” (Road Control) initiative and a photographer from the Ukrainian city of Lviv, who took pictures of the police brutality incidents on November 30.
Helping Bankova prisoners and other victims of repressions
These people became known as the “Bankova prisoners”, named so after Bankova street near the Presidential Administration building, where the clashes with police took place on December 1, 2013. Their cases have been highly publicized and, following appeals by local and international journalists, MPs and diplomats, and mass rallies in defense of the prisoners, reportedly three of the detainees were found guilty and fined, five were released with trials pending, and three remain jailed for a two-month term under further investigation.
The video [uk] below shows a “lying picket” under the Ukrainian Public Prosecutor's Office initiated by the Democratic Alliance. Activists lie on the steps of the building forcing employees to literally step over them, just like they “step over the law”. The protesters shout “Shame on you! Shame on you!” [uk].
To support these and other activists repressed for participating in Euromaidan, Ukrainian netizens have set up a Facebook page [uk] and a special website [uk, en] dedicated to aiding the Bankova prisoners.
A group of human rights activists set up a separate Facebook page called “Euromaidan – SOS” [uk] to offer free legal assistance to everyone facing repression due to participation in Euromaidan.
A screenshot of a Facebook page dedicated to Bankova prisoners. The caption reads: “Euromainad: Help guys who are being [wrongfully accused] of attack on Bankova” [uk]
The role of such initiatives remains extremely important, as the pressure and number of brutal attacks on Euromaidan activists has increased exponentially. Thus, in the recent days stabbing of Kharkiv Euromaidan organizer Dmytro Pypypets, deadly beating of Kyiv Euromaidan activist Pavlo Mazurenko and brutal attack on journalist and activist Tetyana Chornovil were reported. Unfortunately, journalists remain on the forefront of these incidents and authorities seem unable or unwilling to put such practices to a halt. Amidst these events social media users have shared calls for organizing in their defense [uk], including suggestions for providing physical protection to lead media and activists.
An anonymous collage circulated online. The majority of people pictured are domestic and foreign journalists beaten by the police or “unidentified” perpetrators.
Identifying and demanding prosecution of those guilty in beating peaceful protesters and media
After almost a month since the brutal beating of peaceful protesters in the streets of Kyiv on November 30 and December 1, the government has neither identified nor prosecuted any of the officers involved, and have just dismissed two middle-ranked related public officials in an unsuccessful attempt to diffuse unrest.
As the authorities fail to identify members of the “Berkut” riot police division and other law enforcement authorities guilty of mass beatings during Euromaidan, several initiatives appeared online that aim to do this work themselves. “Ne zabudemo” (“We won't forget”) describes itself as a “movement for the restoration of justice” [uk]. By collecting photographic and video evidence from the protests as well as accounts of witnesses through its website [uk] and social media accounts, they aim to uncover and reveal the identities of Berkut members, as well as other related policemen, public prosecutors, investigators, judges and other individuals involved in incidents of brutality and the subsequent cover up attempts.
Another blog called Faces of Berkut [uk, en] on Tumblr serves a similar purpose, seeking to identify only Berkut policemen partaking in brutal beatings and arrests.
The screenshot of “Ne zabudemo” (“We [won't] forget”) website, which aims to identify those guilty of beating peaceful protesters on Euromaidan. The inscription on the picture lists the name of a policeman already identified from the photo [uk]
Lustration lists and other “name and shame” initiatives
A political party and active participant of Euromaidan, the Democratic Alliance, set up a website “Ne buty skotom” (“Don't be an animal”) crowdsourcing the names and photos of policemen involved in beatings, judges and prosecutors banning peaceful rallies or prosecuting activists, as well as thugs initiating violence against Euromaidan participants and journalists, and similar cases.
A screenshot of the website crowdsourcing information about authorities obstructing Euromaidan, breaking the law or limiting citizens’ rights and freedoms. The number on the bottom means 94 persons allegedly guilty of such actions were added so far.
“UDAR” – another opposition party active in Euromaidan and lead by a former world boxing champion Vitaliy Klychko compiled its own list of authorities that should be subjected to lustration when the government is changed. UDAR's Euromaidan Lustration List [uk] already contains over sixty names.
As the fate of the ongoing Euromaidan rallies remains uncertain, such initiatives are meant to foster exchange of information and help activists exert continuous pressure on authorities, while the protests continue and grow.

author: Tetyana Bohdanova


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7 Good News Stories From Yemen You Probably Haven’t Heard · Global Voices
Noon Arabia

Amidst all the sad and violent news coming out of Yemen, the assassinations, bomb explosions, US drone strikes and kidnappings, we managed to dig out a few news items that you might have missed:
1. After two years behind bars and no charge against them, some of Yemen's revolution youth were released, although a few still remain in prison until this day.
Yemen's Revolution's Youth released in front of Sanaa's central prison
2. Journalist Abdulillah Hayder Shaye who had been jailed for almost three years, for exposing a US missile attack on the remote mountain village of Al-Ma'jallah, which killed 41 people, was released and received the Alkaramah Human Rights defenders Award but was not able to attend the ceremony in Geneva to receive the award in person because he is under house arrest and not allowed to leave the country.
Journalist Iona Craig and investigative journalist and author of “Drone Wars” Jeremy Scahill received the award on his behalf.
With @ionacraig in Geneva for the @AlkaramaHR Award to honor Yemeni journalist @AbdulEla pic.twitter.com/hghkDZDqT9
— jeremy scahill (@jeremyscahill) December 6, 2013
3. The Yemeni film “Karamah Has No Walls” documenting the bloody events of March 18, 2011, in Yemen's revolution directed by Yemeni/Scottish film director Sara Ishaq was shortlisted for an Oscar nomination. Karamah in Arabic means Dignity.
Here is the film:
Sarah Ishaq also directed the documentary film “The Mulberry House,” which is being screened in international film festivals across the world.
4. Launched successfully last year, TedxSanaa held another event this year under the theme “Actions Matter” which was just as successful and TedxAden was launched on Dec 11, 2013. A lot of effort and great organization was put into it, beginning with the creative flash mob announcing it, to the inspiring panel of speakers and variety of subjects it included.
5. Kidnapped Dutch couple, journalist Judith Spiegel and her partner Boudewijn Berendsen, were finally and safely released after six months in captivity. They were unharmed and said they received good treatment from their abductors. Judith said on her first Facebook post after her release:
Yes yes yes we are free! We are very fine. We will contact you all soon, but for now: thank you so so so much for all the support. You cannot believe how fantastic that has been and still is for our families and us. We love you and we still love Yemen
Dutch journalist Judith Spiegel and her partner Boudewijn Berendsen
A graffiti by Yemeni artists Murad Subay in solidarity with Judith during her kidnapping
6. On December 15, Yemen's parliament passed a law banning drone strikes. The country has been subjected to continuous US drone strikes for years and recently a drone strike killed 17 civilians in a wedding convoy in Yemen. Yes, it sounds like good news, but it was just a symbolic gesture since Yemen's lawmakers have limited powers, especially when the country's own president endorsed the drones and there are no signs that they would stop anytime soon.
Told that there wasn't a single MP who voted against today's drone. Telling. #yemen
— Adam Baron (@adammbaron) December 15, 2013
At this point, there's little indication that #yemen parliament's drone ban is anything more than a symbolic gesture.
— Adam Baron (@adammbaron) December 15, 2013
7.  A road map was finally reached for resolving the “southern” issue. Some autonomy was granted to the Southern regions in Yemen in the face of the secessionist movement which had been calling for an end to the unity between North and South Yemen, which took place in 1990. A committee formed by President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi will choose between forming two regions in the south and four in the north, or two large entities, a northern and southern one.
It is too soon to determine whether this last bit of news is good or bad, but we are keeping it with the positive spirit of the post and hoping to hear more good news from Yemen in the next year!

author: Noon Arabia


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Accenting the Positive on the Russian Internet · Global Voices
Gina Lentine

BestPozitiv.ru, also known as “Tol'ko Pozitiv” (Only the Positive), is a Russian website that promises to “fill you with positivity every day” by bringing its viewers “the most interesting” videos, GIFs, photographs, lists, and other multimedia “that the Internet has to offer.” The site aggregates everything, from memes of cute cats replete with whimsical rhymes to photos of ships with amusing names.
Here are a few of the best highlights from Tol'ko Pozitiv:
The Most Beautiful Pictures of Wild Animals
Photos of “Russia in all its glory,” depicting quirky scenes from the Motherland, capturing the lovable zaniness of Russian culture.
Cats and Women in Pinup Poses

author: Gina Lentine


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Brazilian Ruralists Hold ‘Auction for Resistance’ Against Indigenous Land Claims · Global Voices
Mariana Parra

[All links lead to Portuguese-language pages except when otherwise noted.]
An agricultural auction held by ruralists in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul on December 7, 2013 raised one million Brazilian reals (about 425,000 US dollars) to finance what they refer to as “resistance” to the actions of indigenous peoples occupying their lands and reclaiming their rights in the state.
Cartoon by Carlos Latuff, shared by Combate Racismo Ambiental (Fight Environmental Racism) on Facebook. Caption: “Going once, going twice, going three times!” At the Auction for Resistance.
The auction was suspended by the courts in the beginning of December, but pressure from the ruralist lobby – which managed to remove the judge who made that decision from office by legally questioning her impartiality and independence – soon convinced another judge who was named to take the place of the first judge to revoke the suspension. Only three hours passed in between the suspension of the first judge and the appointment of the replacement judge who announced his decision in the same night. The maneuver was considered illegal by defense attorneys working for indigenous rights, who pointed out that the court should have kept the auction suspended until the order of suspicion of the first judge could be heard and judged in court.
The decision of the first judge argued that “the behavior on the part [of the ranchers] cannot be considered legal, as it is apparent that they intend to replace the State in the solution of an existing conflict between the ruralist class and the indigenous tribes” and that “they have the power to incentivize violence (…) and this collides with the constitutional rights to life, security, and physical integrity.”
The auction consisted of the participation of various politicians, among them mayors, state representatives, and federal representatives. Kátia Abreu, senator, leader of the ruralist group and president of the National Confederation of Agriculture (CNA), said that the purpose of the auction was not to finance a militia to combat and kill the indigenous, as defendants of indigenous rights claimed. The senator, however, did not explain what would be the purpose of the event.
Some of the quotes from politicians participating in the event, along with their euphemistic kind of language, give an idea of the objectives of the ruralists, such as what state representative Zé Teixeira of the right-wing party Democrats (DEM) said:
Há anos os produtores gastam com as invasões. Se o banco tem um segurança na porta, por que a fazenda não pode ter? Esse leilão é um alerta para mostrar que o setor produtivo não vai esperar pelo poder publico e precisa de segurança.
It has been years now that producers have wasted with the invasions. If the bank has security at the door, why can't a farm have it too? This auction is a warning to show that the production sector will not wait for public power and needs security.
The situation of indigenous peoples [en] in Mato Grosso do Sul is alarming, a problem that has dragged on for decades, without the Brazilian government providing a solution that guarantees the rights of the indigenous tribes to occupy their own lands, an inalienable right. The constant attacks against the indigenous in the state, whose ethnicity is primarily Guarani Kaiowá, along with the assassination of various leaders and the imposition of the terrible living conditions on this tribe, has provoked waves of protests in Brazil and around the world [en]. One of these assassinations happened recently and gained attention with coverage [en] from the organization Survival International.
The use of social media to spread the word about the indigenous cause and the alarming situation in which many indigenous groups are living occurs not only on the part of NGOs, but also more and more on the part of the indigenous themselves, as analyzed by Raquel Recuero in the article Social Media: Brazil's Indigenous Tribes Go Online in their Struggle To Be Heard [en].
The lack of political interest from the interest groups that dominate the government seems to be one of the principal motives for which the problem in Mato Grosso do Sul and other regions of Brazil has not been solved, as highlighted by researcher Imazon Paulo Barreto:
O argumento de falta de terras é uma falácia, pois existem 58,6 milhões de hectares de pastos degradados em fazendas que poderiam ser utilizados para reassentamento e para aumentar a produção fora de TIs. O governo teria dinheiro disponível caso priorizasse a solução dos conflitos. Por exemplo, bastaria eliminar ou reduzir os 22 bilhões de reais que concede de subsídios anuais a grandes empresas e eliminar os cerca de 70 bilhões de reais perdidos anualmente para a corrupção. A demora das decisões judiciais atrasa o processo, mas mesmo quando obtida uma decisão final favorável aos índios, não há garantias quanto ao tempo de sua execução. Por exemplo, os índios da TI Alto Rio Guamá aguardam o fim da desintrusão desde 2010.
The argument about the lack of land is a fallacy, because there are 58.6 million hectares of degraded pasture on farms  that could have been used for the resettlement and increase of production outside of indigenous lands. The government would have money available if a solution to these conflicts was considered a priority. For example, it would be enough to eliminate or reduce the 22 billion Brazilian reais [about 9.35 billion US dollars] that are given in annual subsidies to large businesses and eliminate the nearly 70 billion Brazilian reais [about 29.7 billion US dollars] lost yearly to corruption. The delay in judicial decisions slows the process, but even when obtaining a final ruling favorable to the indigenous, there are no guarantees with regards to the time it will take to be executed. For example, the indigenous people of Alto Rio Guamá have been waiting for the demarcation of their lands since 2010.
The Brazilian judiciary have even called indigenous people who fight for their rights guerrillas.
Image of the “homage” to the Minister of Justice José Eduardo Cardozo, with his face on a statue of a “bandeirante” (trailblazer), the representative figure of Brazilian colonization. From the Facebook page of Marcelo Zelic, with the description:
“Brazilian Indigenous Exposition: Great Figures of the 21st Century.
Work: New bust of José Eduardo Borba Gato Cardozo”
Blogger Camila Pavanelli called attention to the dubious morals of some politicians evident at the auction in a post titled Quebrar vidraça é vandalismo, atirar em índio não (Breaking glass is vandalism, shooting at Indians is not):
Para a Senadora Kátia Abreu, por exemplo, foram autoritárias e antidemocráticas as manifestações populares contra o Código Florestal e contra a presença da Polícia Militar na USP
(…) o leilão foi organizado para “arrecadar recursos contra ocupações indígenas”.
Em bom português, o dinheiro arrecadado será usado para comprar armas – que, por sua vez, serão usadas para atirar em índios.
A mensagem de Kátia Abreu e seus amigos é bem clara:
Quebrar vidraça – não pode, é vandalismo.
Criticar o governo sem quebrar vidraça – também não pode, é autoritarismo.
Atirar em índio – ah bom, aí pode sim.
For Senator Kátia Abreu, for example, the popular protests against the Forest Code were authoritarian and anti-democratic, and against the presence of the military police at the University of São Paulo.
(…) the auction was organized to “raise money for resources against indigenous occupations.”
In other words, the money raised will be used to buy arms – that, in time, will be used to shoot at the indigenous.
The message given by Kátia Abreu and her friends is clear:
Breaking glass – you can't, that's vandalism.
Criticizing the government without breaking glass – you can't do that either, that's authoritarianism.
Shooting the indigenous – OK, well, that you can do.
Indigenous leaders and unionists opposed to the auction received death threats after the original judge's decision to put a halt to it.
Even though the Federal Regional Court eventually allowed the auction to be held, it imposed conditions on the the event. The money raised will have to be deposited in a judicial account controlled by the court, and the resources raised can only be used after the court hears the Public Federal Ministry and the indigenous organizations of the region.
Federal deputy Erika Kokay (PT-DF) declared that the auction represents a new genocide of Brazilian indigenous people:
Estamos observando um etnocídio, querem reeditar o genocídio do povo indígena. Isso (Leilão da resistência) é uma ousadia daqueles que se acham acima do Estado, da Constituição e da vida. É o patrimonialismo clássico. Eles pisoteiam na Constituição e na democracia.
We are observing a case of ethnocide. They want to bring back the genocide of the indigenous people. This (the auction of resistance) is the presumption of those that think themselves above the state, the Constitution, and life itself. It is classic patrimonialism. They are treading on the Constitution and on democracy.

author: Mariana Parra


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Cambodia’s Garment Workers Hold Nationwide Strike for Pay Hike · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Tens of thousands of Cambodia’s garment workers participated in a nationwide strike to press the government to raise the monthly minimum wage to $160 dollars. The current minimum wage is only $80 dollars and the labor council is only willing to grant a $15 dollar hike in basic pay. A government official also told workers that the demand for a $160 minimum wage will be met only in 2018.
A worker holding a sign calling for a $160 dollar monthly minimum wage. Photo from the blog of Mu Sochua
The garment sector is a $5 billion dollar export industry in Cambodia which employs more than 600,000 workers.
Striking workers put roadblocks in Phnom Penh aside from protesting in front of the Ministry of Labor. As strikes continued to grow, factories were told to cease operations. John Vink reports:
The roadblock in front of the Ministry of Labour was kept all through the day by workers striking for a salary rise.
Another roadblock, in front of the Special Economic Zone in Kambol, some 19 km outside of Phnom Penh, was set up by striking workers after they were pushed back by riot police when trying to enter the SEZ. The SEZ was sealed off with a double layer of containers and fences with barbed wire.
Garment workers protest at Labor Ministry continues peacefully but many express anger at gov't ignoring their economic hardship
— Kevin Doyle (@doyle_kevin) December 27, 2013
Another pic from this morning when 2k factory workers block the road in front of the Ministry of Labour #Cambodia pic.twitter.com/JW7GOqQb43
— Ruom Collective (@RuomCollective) December 27, 2013
Entrance to Ministry of Labor, Phnom Penh pic.twitter.com/LcfzThMRGq
— Kevin Doyle (@doyle_kevin) December 27, 2013
Redistributing and optimizing nation's wealth better than $160. Luxury cars, villas or decent living standard for all pic.twitter.com/jWfmllapMx
— oudomnimith (@oudomnimith) December 27, 2013
Below is a video which shows a clash between workers and the police:
Workers got the support of the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party which released a statement in favor of the $160 dollar minimum wage demand:
If the minimum wage is not raised to $160 immediately, rising food prices and living expenses will make it impossible for garment workers to address their basic needs, and strikes that have pledged the garment sector lately will continue.
The opposition has been holding daily protests at the Phnom Penh Freedom Park to press for the ouster of the incumbent government which has been accused of manipulating this year’s election results. Prime Minister Hun Sen has been in power in the past three decades although his party lost many seats in the recent parliamentary polls.
Many workers have joined the opposition rally which could further undermine the Hun Sen administration. Labor unions have vowed to continue the protests until their demand is granted by the government.
Meanwhile, factory owners have warned that the ongoing strikes will negatively affect the local economy and the conditions of workers. They also urged the government to adopt a ‘zero tolerance on illegal strikes.’ This appeal was criticized by the Cambodian Center for Human Rights which wants to address the ‘root causes of the labor dispute’:
CCHR is concerned that such statements calling for zero-tolerance on illegal strikes will only exacerbate problems within the garment sector. Regardless of the legality of the strike, a zero-tolerance policy will only ignore the root causes of the labor dispute and most likely lead to further violent crack downs against workers and union members.
The current strike has put a spotlight on the plight of garment workers in Cambodia and in particular the necessity for the government and the garment industry to come up with a better plan on how to improve the welfare of workers.

author: Mong Palatino


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Celebrating Christmas (Bara Din) in Bangladesh · Global Voices
Rezwan

Hundreds of Christians in different parts of Bangladesh celebrated ‘Holy Christmas’ with festivities and high religious fervor. Image by Bayazid Akter, copyright Demotix (25/12/2013)
Karim at Amader Kotha writes about how Christmas is celebrated in Bangladesh, a Muslim majority country:
The Christian community in Bangladesh may be a minority when compared to the number of people following other religious pathways in the country, nevertheless Christmas in Bangladesh, which is a public holiday, is celebrated with great vigour. Christmas in Bangladesh is called ‘Bara Din (Big Day)’ and is celebrated in various ways in various regions of the country.

author: Rezwan


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Dishing on Sino-American Relations · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Chinese food culture constitutes a significant part in the Chinese language. Below is a part of an online fictional story on a conversation between Obama and Xi Jinping on Sino American relation explained and translated by Mary Ann O'Donnell:
With respect to the importance of Sino-American relations, we will eat deeply and throughly, because we haven’t any principle to eat. The way of the world is that big fish eat little fish, but Cold War thinking is no longer appetizing, and cooperating for mutual benefit is the only way to eat with gusto. Only if China and the United States join hands will the benefits be eaten together. There are those who eat at our table and secretly help others; they eat from the rice bowl of harming Sino-American relations.

author: Oiwan Lam


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GV Face: The News Cycle is Broken. Can Solutions Journalism Fix it? · Global Voices
Solana Larsen

Violent Conflict Erupts in South Sudan. Protesters Beaten, Arrested in Egypt. Communities Destroyed by Typhoon in Philippines. These are stories we believe are important. But what if it is all just too depressing?
At Global Voices, we are committed to shining light on the stories of people around the world. Like any media organization, we often focus on news of violence, political corruption and environmental disaster — we feel tremendous compassion for people facing these hardships and want their stories to be heard. But there are times when even the team at GV would rather curl up with BuzzFeed's “40 Most Awkward Cats of 2013″ than read grim tales from around the globe. As these kinds of stories flood daily news feeds, the world can seem like a pretty bad place. It can even make us feel helpless. But maybe it doesn't have to.
What if the news could empower us to become more active citizens, to actually have an impact on the world? Is there a way to tell stories about events in the world, whether good or bad, where we can see stories in a positive light or offer readers ways to have an impact on difficult situations, even if they're happening halfway across the world?
This week, we bid farewell to 2013 with an in-house edition of GVFace. GV co-founder Ethan Zuckerman and GV newsroom lead editors Solana Larsen and Sahar Habib Ghazi will talk with GV Advocacy Editor Ellery Roberts Biddle about the concept of “solutions journalism” and “good news”. We'll discuss solutions journalism as it relates to traditional approaches to news coverage, changes in the media landscape, and our own practices here at GV. And we'll look at a few ways that news can not only inform but empower us to as citizens of the world and the Internet.
Additional Reading
Problem:
The psychological impact of negative TV news bulletins
The Evening's Bad News: Effects of Compelling Negative Television News Images on Memory
Solution:
Ethan's blog: Saving the News with Advocacy Journalism
Innovating News Journalism through Positive Psychology
Solutions Journalism Can Change the World
Why We Need Solutions Journalism
News Doesn't Reflect the Real World
A New Mainstream Solutions Journalism
Solutions Journalism: What it is and what it is not

author: Solana Larsen


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Wishing You a Free Christmas from Hong Kong  · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

There are a number of e-Christmas cards that carry political message circulated on social media in Hong Kong. Below are two examples:
Written on the Santa Claus’ bag: “Democracy is not a gift but a fight!” Card designed by student activist group, Scholarism.
A card is placed on an empty chair for 2010 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Liu Xiaobo and his wife, Liu Xia. The former is still in prison and the latter under house arrest in China. The card is designed by Hong Kong Journalist Association.


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IMF Silent on Corruption in Cambodia? · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Jessica Evans of the Human Rights Watch criticized International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde for being silent about Cambodian's corruption problem when the IMF leader visited the country early this month:
Lagarde missed a major opportunity in Cambodia to highlight governance problems, but she can right this by speaking out when she returns to headquarters. If the IMF’s message on corruption is to be more than rhetoric, Lagarde needs to convey it both publicly and privately each time she meets with leaders of the world’s most corrupt nations.


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Pakistan Idol Makes Some Music Dreams Come True, Crushes Others · Global Voices
Fakiha Hassan Rizvi

Screenshot of Pakistan Idol promo
For the first time, Pakistan has its own version of the popular Idol singing competition. The first episode of Pakistan Idol was broadcast on December 6, 2013 by Geo Television Network under the tagline “Jo Hai Dil Ki Awaz”, meaning the sound of the heart.
The series, which aims to find undiscovered Pakistani singers between the ages of 15 and 30 years old, follows the same format as the original British series Pop Idol, with a panel of judges selecting singers who will eventually compete on live television. The winner is determined by viewers who cast votes via telephone, text messages and online.
The Idol format has been wildly successful in other parts of the world, with an estimated 460 million people – or roughly 15 percent of the planet's population – having watched some version of the singing competition.
With TV presenter Bushra Ansari, singer-songwriter Hadiqa Kiani, and rock musician Ali Azmat in the judges’ seats and actor Mohib Mirza hosting, the show seems to have already captured the imaginations of many in Pakistan:
On Saturday 7, ‘Pakistan Idol’ was Trending Topic in Pakistan for 19 hours: http://t.co/BYayi3j9AV #trndnl
— Pakistan Trends (@trendinaliaPK) December 8, 2013
Tens of thousands of hopefuls auditioned for their chance at stardom, according to the series.
Nadeem F. Paracha, a journalist and columnist for Dawn newspaper, praised the show:
“@FarrukhKPitafi: Watching #PakistanIdol on Geo Entertainment right now” Pretty good, in a kitsch way. Healthier than anything else on TV.
— Nadeem F. Paracha (@NadeemfParacha) December 6, 2013
But like the original Pop Idol, whose judges were notoriously candid with their harsh criticism of contestants, Pakistan Idol has already irked some viewers, with some complaining that the judges’ comments are “rude”.
Farhan Janjua at Guppu.com wrote:
In various instances from 2nd and 3rd week audition episodes of Pakistan Idol, judges are seen passing extremely rude remarks and comments — many of which are easily interpreted as offensive and insulting — it appears they didn’t get the memo that there’s a line between being blunt about one’s singing ability and mocking someone for who they are. Unfortunately, the judges of the first season of Pakistan Idol appear to have taken this line for granted.
Journalist, columnist, author and TV host from Pakistan Dr Shahid Masood also appeared to be unhappy from the insults of the judges:
They way the judges are taunting and making fun of contestants in Pakistan Idol is disgusting. First just Bushra and now Ali and Hadiqa too!
— Dr Shahid Masood (@Shahidmasooddr) December 15, 2013
Adil Najam, an academician and professor of international relations, earth and environment at Boston University, tweeted:
Nothing funny about being mean. If ‘object’ of your humor not laughing with you, then you are laughing at them. Not good, #PakistanIdol.
— Adil Najam (@AdilNajam) December 14, 2013
Others weren't convinced about the inclusiveness of Pakistan Idol. Saleha Khan pointed out that the show passed over the war-torn province of Balochistan, the largest and poorest of Pakistan:
I dont know if #Pakistanidol should be called “Pakistan” idol since they have not included any auditions from Balochistan?? #Pakistan
— Saleha Khan (@SalzKha) December 20, 2013
Screenshot of Pakistan Idol judges
The judges have also raised the ire of some with their recent rejection of a talented young women from Punjab named Maria Meer, who became a sort of social media celebrity after her appearance on the show.
Roha, a member of Kuwait's national women's cricket team, tweeted:
Pakistan. A country where Ayesha Omar is singing for #CokeStudio whereas voices like Maria Meer are being rejected in #PakistanIdol. *Claps*
— Roha (@RohaNadym) December 22, 2013
Faizan Lakhani, a journalist based in Karachi, tweeted:
The girl in Abaya and red scarf who was rejected by Ali Azmat and co in #PakistanIdol was much better than many who are selected #Surprising
— Faizan Lakhani (@faizanlakhani) December 19, 2013
Even before the controversy surrounding Meer's rejection, web designer and photographer Fursid doubted that music was at the heart of the show:
#PakistanIdol is not about music. I mean, look at the judges, the songs etc. It's just about rating & entertainment purely.
— FurSid (@fursid) December 7, 2013

author: Fakiha Hassan Rizvi


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PHOTOS: Humans Of South Asia · Global Voices
Rezwan

In 2010, photographer Brandon Stanton began photographing strangers on the streets of New York, asking them a few questions, and sharing their story online. After three years, he put together the Humans of New York (HONY) Facebook page, and as the project grew in popularity, professional and amateur photographers across the world began to replicate the idea with blogs and Facebook pages highlighting photos and stories of people from their regions.
Take a look at how Humans of New York has inspired photographers across South Asian countries.
India
Screenshot of the Humans of India Facebook Page
Since its start on June 1, 2012, the Humans of India Facebook page has attracted more than 108,700 followers and been shared by more than 17,800 people. Megha Majumder, the CEO of Humans of India Facebook page, explained in an interview to Mashable:
There's this word that I fell in love with a while back: sonder. It's the realization that every random passerby is living a life that is as vivid and intricate as your own, complete with their own thoughts, feelings and emotions. And to them, you're just a passing figure on the street, too. Sonder seized my awareness –- people were no longer just strangers
A decoration of the body, an enhancement of the soul ॐ. Photo by Humans of India. Used with permission.
“I'm pretty sure that love and light have something to do with each other. That's why Diwali's cool. Lots of love in the air.” Photo by Humans of India. Used with permission
Similar initiatives were taken on by projects like Humans Of Bangalore, Humans of Mumbai, Humans of New Delhi (1, 2), Humans of Hyderabad and Humans of Lucknow. Most of these pages accept crowdsourced submissions.
Screenshot of Humans of Bangalore page
Bangladesh
Humans of Bangladesh is a crowdsourced project that has gained more than 2,050 followers since its start on July 19, 2012.
Screenshot of Humans of Bangladesh blog
There is also another new project, started in November 29, 2013, by Bangladeshi photographers also called Humans of Bangladesh, which is followed by more than 4,700 people.
Screenshot of Humans of Bangladesh by Bangladeshi photographers.
Also available is the Humans of Dhaka page.
Maldives
The Humans of Maldives Facebook page was launched on August 10, 2013 and is followed by more than 2,300 people.
Screenshot from Humans of Maldives Facebook page
Bhutan
Inspired by Humans of New York, the Humans of Bhutan page began in September 2012 and has continued to expand its collection of photos one portrait at a time.
Screenshot of Humans of Bhutan webpage
Nepal
The Humans of Nepal page, which began on June 7, 2013, celebrates the cultural, ethnic and religious diversity of Nepal.
Screenshot from Humans of Nepal
Pakistan
The Humans of Pakistan page was launched in July 2012, and a similar Humans of Pakistan page started on August 22, 2013. The pages are followed by a few hundred people.
Screenshot of the Humans of Pakistan Facebook page
It seems that city pages are more popular, such as Humans of Islamabad and Rawalpindi (3,416 followers), Humans Of Kashmir (1,209 Followers), Humans of Sindh (3,521 followers), Humans of Lahore (7,057 followers), and Humans of Karachi (99,647 followers).
Sakina Gheewala. Photo courtesy Humans of New York and Humans of Karachi
Sakina Gheewala wrote a letter to Humans of New York creator Brandon Stanton, which was featured in Humans of New York page, explaining how the project had touched her:
Dear Brandon,
My HONY book arrived in Pakistan today. Though it was five months late, it was my favorite birthday present of the year.
In a country where people fight for survival everyday, I'm one of the fortunate few whose biggest worry right now is getting through medical school. In my part of the world, people like me, no matter how much we try to deny it, live in a bubble. And our problems are called “first world problems.” Maybe it will surprise people to see a “Pakistani” so in touch with the Western World. To see something other than the hatred that the world seems to notice radiating from here. But in my little bubble here in Pakistan, I find inspiration in the stories shared on Humans of New York, because they depict more than what the common man perceives. Yes, Pakistan as a nation suffers more than the rest, we do have a billion and one problems, but HONY reminds me that above everything else we are individuals. That just how every Pakistani is not the same, neither is every American. It reminds me to love and respect everybody– something many people here tend to have forgotten. The pictures and stories on HONY almost always make me feel like anything is possible.
Thank you,
Sakina


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South Korean Election Scandal Brings Three Religions Together · Global Voices
Lee Yoo Eun

Opposition against the current administration's election manipulation scandal grows stronger every day, even enough to inspire conservative Protestant Christian groups to join the protest movement [ko] following the trails of Catholic leaders and Buddhist monks. On Christmas, this rare scene took place: in front of a Christmas tree which stood in the Jogye Buddhist temple, leaders from different religious groups held a joint prayer meeting/service lamenting the current political situation and denouncing the government bodies’ systemic interference on the latest presidential election. South Korean net users in major online venues shared this running joke; President Park has achieved something that no other previous heads of the state were able to pull off– the ‘grand slam of unifying the three major religions‘ [ko] (of South Korea) for a shared purpose.
부처님이 계신 조계사에 켜진 성탄트리 앞에서 철도노조지지와 노동탄압을 중단하라는 종교계 합동예배가 진행중이랍니다.대통합은 바로 이런것 입니다. pic.twitter.com/M3gafYIHXJ
— 언론이 살아야 나라가 산다.(나친노) (@answer1219) December 25, 2013
In front of a Christmas tree, at the Jogye temple where the Buddha(‘s statues/relics) are kept, held a joint religious service demanding the government to halt clampdowns on railway workers and labor groups. This truly is a scene of ‘grand unification’.

author: Lee Yoo Eun


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Syrian Photographer Hamid Khatib Evades Death to Capture Life · Global Voices
Syria Untold

This post is cross-posted from Syria Untold.
“There is no Hamid the photographer without the revolution. Hopefully there will still be one when the revolution ends.” These are the words of young award-winning Syrian photographer, Hamid Khatib, who joined the uprising in October 2011, after completing his obligatory military service. With his camera, he has captured a generation of young people who took to the streets, surprising older generations by demanding the impossible.
Boy makes weapon in Aleppo, by Hamid Khatib. Source: The author's Facebook page
Children and war
Like many other Syrians, Hamid Khatib, 23, describes himself as “reborn after the uprising” in an interview with Syria Untold.
He started recording videos of demonstrations and the repression of protesters by regime forces and soon switched to photography. His photo “Rebel boy makes weapon” was chosen by Reuters as one of the best pictures of 2013. Since then, he has worked for the news agency, capturing moments of destruction, hope, despair, loss and daily life in Syria.
The award-winning photograph shows a 10-year-old boy, Issa, carrying a mortar shell in a weapons factory of the Free Syrian Army in Aleppo.
“I had wanted to capture the effects of war on children for a while,” he explained. “I thought I would make a series with different children, but when I met Issa and his father I was struck by their story and could not stop focusing on it.”
“Issa works with his father at the weapons factory for 10 hours a day, every day, except Fridays. His story has come to mean a lot to me, on a personal level,” said Khatib.
“The situation in Syria is out of a journalist's control,” he said. “You can only adjust yourself to evolving events on the ground. But I personally prefer portraying daily life in the country, and the side effects of war on people.”
A child in Raqqa, by Hamid Khatib. Source: The author's Facebook page.
A journey of death and love
Born in Aleppo in 1990, Khatib began covering the uprising around the time it became militarized. After completing his own military service, he moved to the United Arab Emirates for work, but soon traveled back to Aleppo incognito. “I wanted to show the world what the Syrian regime's state of terror was really like,” he says.
Over these past years he has not only encountered death and destruction but has found love too. He fell in love with Nour Kelze, a former elementary school teacher, who became a Reuters photographer in 2012 after taking pictures with her cell phone. The two are now married.
Syrian photographers Hamid Khatib and Nour Kelze, working in Aleppo. Source: Khatib's Facebook page.
Nour and Hamid work hand in hand in Aleppo, and they have been on the brink of death several times.
“I was standing on that same spot, but she asked me to change places with her, to take a few photos from there,” Hamid explained. “She is very strong and is not afraid of anything. Suddenly, I heard the shelling, and saw smoke coming out from everywhere, and could not think of anything but Nour, ‘Where is Nour…?'” He heard her voice calling him, and took her to a field hospital. She was wounded on her left foot and suffered shrapnel wounds to her hands.
On another occasion, Hamid witnessed shelling by the regime during one of the many demonstrations he attended in Bustan al-Qasr, a town well-known for turning wedding celebrations into massive demonstrations for freedom.
Bustan al-Qasr made headlines in international media in January 2013, when dozens of men who had disappeared at regime checkpoints were discovered at the Queiq river, all shot in the head with their hands bound with plastic ties behind their back.
“Most of the people protesting next to me were wounded or killed in that demonstration, but I survived,” Hamid said.
He also once had a brush with death on his first day back in his hometown, Azaz – in northern Aleppo – which he had not visited for three years. All his relatives, five whole families, were sharing a two-storey house. When he was awoken by shelling, he ran downstairs to see if the women and children had survived, and found them crying in fear that the men upstairs had been killed. The missiles kept falling throughout the night. Around 150 neighbors were killed in Azaz that night, and 40 houses were turned to rubble.
Death has been merciful to Hamid, but not to friends and colleagues such as Molhem Barakat, an 18-year-old photographer who was killed while covering a battle for a hospital in Aleppo on December 20. Hamid is committed to continuing his work, in order to honor Molhem and all the martyrs who lost their lives for a better Syria. “Because there really was no Syria before the revolution,” he added. “There is no Syria without the struggle for freedom that so many have given their lives for.”
This post is cross-posted from Syria Untold.

author: Syria Untold


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An Open Letter to Arvind Kejriwal · Global Voices
Rezwan

A man holds a placard shaped as India with Arvind Kejriwal picture on it. Image by Rohit Goutam. Copyright Demotix (28/12/2013)
Satire blog AmreekanDesi writes an open letter to the newly elected chief minister of Delhi, anti-corruption crusader Arvind Kejriwal:
Now that you’ve given us this hope, please don’t let us down. Please don’t become another party that goes giddy with the prospect of power. Please don’t become a party that says something before elections, gets our votes, and then enjoys the loot while it lasts.
His party Aam Admi emerged as a cleaner option in Indian politics.


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Colombia: 60 Unfading Phrases of 2013 · Global Voices
Cati Restrepo

The blog Unfading phrases of Colombians [es] features the 60 unfading phrases of 2013 [es]. This an annual compilation, or from nationalwide events, such as football soccer [es].
The ongoing peace negotiation process held in Havana, Cuba, was among the topics of the selected phrases, as the one by Colombian comedian Ricardo Quevedo:
Mi vida sexual como la paz en Colombia, hay diálogos pero no se concreta nada.
— Ricardo Quevedo (@cejaspobladas) April 12, 2013
My sex life as the peace in Colombia, there is dialogue but nothing gets set.
Undoubtledly, the most talked about pharse was said by the country's president during the agrarian strike that started on August 19 and ended 21 days later: “The so called national agrarian strike doesn't exist” [es].
The orginal Spanish term “inmarcesible” (unfading) is used by the blog as a refrence to one of the verses of the Colombian national anthem.

author: Cati Restrepo


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Lebanon: Don’t Drink and Drive  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Lebanon's traffic authorities have launched a don't drink and drive campaign ahead of New Year's eve celebrations. On Twitter, the traffic department shares this photograph:
Don't Drink and Drive – a traffic awareness campaign launched by Lebanese authorities ahead of New Year's eve celebrations

author: Amira Al Hussaini


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PHOTOS: Humans of Comoros, Madagascar and the Mascarene Islands  · Global Voices
Lova Rakotomalala

“The Humans of _____” concept is a photo project featuring street portraits and interviews of regular people collected from all over of the world. Originating with Brandon Stanton's popular Humans of New York, the idea has generated hundreds of spin-offs worldwide, from Latin America to South Asia to the Middle East and North Africa.
Though the African island of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean counts its own Humans project, the phenomenon hasn't taken off yet on the nearby Mascarene Islands to the west or on Comoros to the northwest. We hope that the many talented photographs from the region will take up the challenge. To get started, here are a few photographs from Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius and Réunion.
Humans of Comoros
The following photo was taken by David Stanley in Moroni, the capital city of Grande Comore (Ngazidja). A young woman can be seen transporting a jar of water. Access to clean water is still a struggle in many part of Comoros:
Children collecting water from public taps in Moroni, Grande Comores, Union of the Comoros. Photo by David Stanley, CC License BY-2.0
Humans of Madagascar
Joey Ayoub, a Global Voices contributor who recently published a photo post on the Humans of the Middle East and North Africa, helped create the Facebook page for Humans of Madagascar. He then passed on the project to Lalah Ariniana, also a Global Voices contributor living in Madagascar. Here is the latest post on the Humans of Madagascar Facebook page:
“Tarika Mainty”a band created by kids playing drums and dancing in the streets of the Capital City by Lalah Ariniaina with her permission
In the accompanying blog post, Lalah goes into further detail about the life of these three children who started a band to earn a living [fr]:
j’ai fait la connaissance de trois garçons d’une dizaine d’années du groupe « Mainty » (Noir). Fabrice est à la batterie, Christian fait du bruit avec une corne (comme celle qu’on utilise pendant les fêtes d’anniversaire) et Cédric danse. Ils offrent des petits spectacles de rue en faisant le tour des quartiers du centre-ville.
I met three boys who are all about ten years old. They created the band “Mainty” (Black in Malagasy). Fabrice is on drums, Christian is using a self-made horn (like the one used at birthday parties) and Cedric provides the dancing. They do small street performances by touring neighborhoods of downtown Antananarivo.
Humans of Mauritius
There isn't yet a Humans of Mauritius blog, so the Humans of Dubai page posted a few photos to initiate the project. Here is a photo of a typical snack store in Port Louis:
Man in front of grocery store in Port Louis via Humans of Dubai with permission
Humans Of Reunion
A Humans of La Réunion page also hasn't been created yet, but a good starting place is the photos shared by Ile de La Réunion Tourisme (IRT) Facebook page. They provide a wide variety of photographs illustrating the diversity of the island. Here is a photo of artists from Saint Maxime, Reunion island:
Maxime Laope and their kids in Reunion with their permission

author: Lova Rakotomalala


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PHOTOS: Humans of Portugal · Global Voices
Sara Moreira

Following the worldwide trend of sharing portrays and stories of humans from all corners of the world, inspired by the work started by Brandon Stanton in 2010 with Humans of New York (HONY), Portugal also has a share of its people from several cities around the country represented on different collections on Facebook.
For three years in a row, this country of roughly 10.5 million people (according to data from 2012) has seen its population decrease. In 2012 not only were there more deaths than births, but also the number of people emigrating reached a peak [pt] unseen since the 1960s. Estimates from 2010 point to nearly 5 million Portuguese people who live outside the country.
Meet some of the faces of those humans who have either stayed or happen to be passing by in Portugal.
The poster reads: “Humans in Power”. Photo from an anti-austerity demonstration (March 2013) shared by Humans in Lisbon by © Jsl Photography
“Revolution doesn’t happen when society adopts new technology, it happens when society adopts new behaviours”. The quote, from Clay Shirky, is mentioned by the Bastart magazine in an interview with João Sá Leão who created the Facebook page of Humans of Lisbon in May 2012. João describes the scenario that inspired him to start mapping the stories of Lisbon:
Just imagine. One day, we might have a brand new world map. When clicked on any city, we would see its people: the ones that live there as well as those that are just passing by. A totally different way of ‘surfing’ a city…
One of the most human stories shared in the page of Humans of Lisbon (which already has 3,187 ‘likes’) is the one of Maria Isabel, a woman whom the photographer meets everyday on the way to and from work. Sometimes they talk a little bit when João stops his car at traffic lights:
“I often see [Maria Isabel] in the morning in the cafe ‘Floresta de Madrid’ in Av. de Madrid reading the newspaper or smoking a cigarette … before another journey starts.” © Jsl Photography
… after many meetings in the traffic lights, she no longer speaks of charity or church but about the government, the weather, asks for my children, complaining that a tooth it´s hurting her… etc … until the light turned green and someone honk, and I have to leave … but tomorrow we meet again.
Today I finally parked the car and offer her breakfast and a little conversation, with no rush.
She remembers the name of my children as often greets from my car window … although sometimes she switch them … in the end I got to know her name and she mine.
Still had time to talk about the crisis and the political … “even the New York Times speaks against Portugal …”, “…This crisis doesn´t help… people offer less or nothing, but some days are better then others…”, she said.
Some days the sun is so hot but she still stays there waiting for some charity…. but from my car I see others closing their windows as she approaches, as if she would harm them…. sad to reach this age and people still close-in the “door”!
If you see her…. do not close your window….. just be nice!
“The grinder which, formerly, was also an umbrellas repairman , is a traveling trader, who carries on a bicycle or motorcycle to offer their services sharpening knives, scissors and other cutting instruments.” In Inatel / Alvalade. Photo: © Jsl – Photography
“My name is José Reis and I'm from Cape Verde. I always carry this crucifix to protect me.” The picture was published on a different Humans of Lisbon Facebook page, which was created on December 2013 and had 643 ‘likes’ at the time this article was published.
Created on November 1, 2013, the Facebook page of Humans of Porto has already gathered 1,916 ‘likes’. The first photo, taken on the streets of the second main city of Portugal, features “a very special lady at Ribeira” who “sells chestnuts, popcorn, lupin beans and olives… whatever is needed, when it's needed”.
“If I knew I was going to be photographed today, I would have brought my earrings. But that's alright because the true beauty lies within”, she said. Either way, she made sure to show off her hat to us. “This hat was given to me by Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands!”, she said proudly and continued working with a smile on her face. Photo: Erge Sonn
The page of Humans of Porto is managed by an all-women team – a videographer, a journalist and a photographer – who say their mission is:
to capture the very essence of Porto and the souls that compose the kaleidoscope of this amazing place.
“Art is an honest way to make a living”. This is Sérgio’s motto, the artist we met in Santa Catarina that decided to make an exception to his “no interviews” policy and talk with us. He confessed that he exposes his art works in galleries at times, but is on the streets because he prefers to get involved with the whole process and sell his own work. Photo: Erge Sonn
They always try to capture life stories behind the portrays such as Sérgio's, who introduced himself:
I am self-educated. My father wanted me to go study arts but I never wanted that. I decided to learn on my own and on the streets because here you can learn something everyday and with every person you meet.
“Film me and put it on the Internet. I want to be a Youtube star”. The Ukrainian guy was once a well-known boxer in the Soviet Union, but now he plays music for a living, entertaining the tourists near Sé in Porto, Portugal. Photo: Erge Sonn
There are pictures too of Humans of Azores, one of the two autonomous regions of Portugal, composed of nine volcanic islands situated in the North Atlantic Ocean.
A human from the archipelago of Azores driving a peculiar motorcycle. Photo: Cristian Rodríguez
An Azorian tour. Photo taken in Roncha de Relva. by Paula Rodilla.
Humans of Coimbra has many photos showcasing student life and academic traditions in the city, and Humans of Setúbal has pictures of people around town too, but both share their photos without any stories. The same goes for Humans of Almada which has mostly shared landscape pictures. Humans of Cascais was created last October but has only shared one photo until now.
Do you know of any other “Humans of…” projects in Portugal? Let us know in the comments section below!

author: Sara Moreira


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South Korea: Reason Behind Movie ‘The Attorney’s Box Office Smash · Global Voices
Lee Yoo Eun

South Korean movie ‘The Attorney’ which depicts the early life of ex-President Roh who started as a civil rights lawyer resisting against dictatorial regimes, has drawn over 4 million admissions in just ten days of screening. Movie critics even comment [ko] that its popularity in Korea is more explosive than that of Hollywood blockbuster ‘Avatar’ which made a huge hit in the country. Prominent culture critic Chin Jung-kwon (@unheim) explains via Twitter that the current administration and its multiple political scandals have ironically helped the movie by inspiring people to take interest in democratic values.
이런 영화 크게 흥행하기 힘든데, 변호인의 ‘폭발적’ 수용의 조건을 정권이 만들어줬죠. ‘화려한 휴가'가 민주화라는 낡은 구호를 재소환하려다 실패했다면, ‘변호인'은 그 낡은 구호를 낡은 걸로 여겨서는 안 된다고 가르쳐준 정권 덕에 성공한 듯.
— jungkwon chin (@unheim) December 23, 2013
It is hard for this sort of film to make a big-time (commercial) success, but the government has paved the way for public’s explosive responses to it. While movie ‘May 18’ (which is about the 80s democratic movement) have failed to re-summon the old slogan of ‘Democracy’, this movie was able to gain success as the government taught people that you should not be treating that old value as outdated.


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Rebuilding Schools in the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyuan in Bantaya, Philippines · Global Voices
Camille Comméléran

Young Pioneer Disaster Response (YPDR) is a small NGO whose goal is to rebuild schools and help residents of the small island of Bantayan in the area of Santa Fe recover in the aftermath of typhoon Haiyuan. A volunteer tells his experience with YPDR on his blog. There is more information here if one wants to know more/support their effort.

author: Camille Comméléran


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Six Killed in Lebanon Blast Targeting ex-Minister · Global Voices
Nada

At least six people died, and many more were wounded on December 27, 2013, in a blast that targeted former Lebanese Finance Minister Mohamed Chatah when a car bomb attacked his convoy in downtown Beirut. The names of the victims have been published on Blog Baladi. They are:
- Mohammed Nasser Mansour
– Saddam al-Khanshouri (Syrian)
– Kevork Takajian
– Ex-Finance Minister Mohammad Shatah
– Chatah’s bodyguard Tareq Bader
The 6th person is still unidentified.
Elias Muhanna wrote a profile of the ex-Minister on his blog Qifa Nabki, and he notes:
In the course of our discussion, he struck me as curious and flexible in his thinking, a realist uninterested in pie-in-the-sky ideologies (…) There was no unitary structure of government, to Chatah’s mind, that could respect individual equality, communal equality, and the importance of communal borders. Political confessionalism, he argued, was an inevitability in Lebanon for the time being, but it could be tamed to make the system function more efficiently and equitably.
According to Moulahazat:
there’s some kind of a posthumous finger-pointing from the victim itself. True, the tweets of Chatah (you can reach them here) targeted Syria and Hezbollah almost on a daily basis, but the last tweet’s timing remains huge. It speaks of taking power, controlling security, pressure, Hezbollah, and Syria, less than an hour before the blast. It can’t get any worse for M8.
In that context, the politician's last tweet could indeed be seen as an ominous message:
@mohamad_chatah: #Hezbollah is pressing hard to be granted similar powers in security & foreign policy matters that Syria exercised in Lebanon for 15 yrs.
Beyond political parties, the Lebanese mourned the human tragedy constantly unfolding in the country. Blogger Rita Kamel posted a photograph that was widely shared on social media as probably “The most tragic selfie of 2013“. The photograph was taken by a group of teenagers, just moments before the explosion. According to the blogger, they have been wounded but are all on their way to recovery:
All the teenagers, Mohammad El Chaar, Omar Bekdash, Rabih Youssef and Ahmad Moghrabi have been wounded; only Mohammad’s situation was critical and is now stable according to his close friends.
It could have been anyone. Aggressive dynamics continue to ruin peoples’ lives.
Prayers to Mohammad El Chaar, a 16 year old Lebanese young man whose one of the hobbies is swimming competitively. Prayers to his family and his friends who have to go through this unspeakable tragedy. Mohammad, we are all waiting for you.
Prayers to all those wounded severely and hanging on to life.
Why do “messages” have to be sealed with blood like this? When is this going to end?
Lebanon is often the scene of deadly violence and bombings. Last month, at least 23 people died when the Iranian Embassy in Beirut was attacked.

author: Nada


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The Islamic Caliphate Car Number Plates Come to Syria  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

A car in Syria bearing the Islamic Caliphate number plate. Photograph tweeted by @zaidbenjamin
Zaid Benjamin shares on Twitter a photograph of the first car in Syria with the Islamic Caliphate state registration plates:
The first car in #Syria registered under Caliphate State #ISIS pic.twitter.com/HdUsrxtacy
— Zaid Benjamin (@zaidbenjamin) December 28, 2013
The number plates are operated by the Islamic State of Syria and Iraq.


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Vladimir Milov “On Khodorkovsky” · Global Voices
Kevin Rothrock

Mikhail Khodorkovsky at his first press conference after being freed from prison, 22 December 2013, Berlin, Germany, photo by Mitya Aleshkovskiy, CC 3.0.
Vladimir Milov is an energy sector expert. In 2002, he served as Deputy Energy Minister of the Russian Federation. Today, Milov heads the opposition political party “Democratic Choice,” which the Russian Justice Ministry officially registered in September 2012. The following text first appeared in Russian on Echo of Moscow’s blog on December 23, 2013, three days after Vladimir Putin pardoned and released Mikhail Khodorkovsky from prison. With Milov’s permission, RuNet Echo’s Kevin Rothrock has translated the text in its entirety and published it here on Global Voices.
The discussion about Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s press conference yesterday most of all resembles the talk about some of the latest not-so-great albums by musical giants like David Bowie and U2. The fans, as always, are loving it. For everyone else, this clearly wasn’t everything they’d expected from a star of such caliber. Any dialogue between the two sides is impossible. The musicians really are masters and the songs really are quite good, but there’s no longer any trace of that old drive—though better not mention this to the fans. (It could get you trampled.)
There’s no reason to expect drive from Khodorkovsky, who spent the last ten years in prison. He’s not only very tired, but obviously also bound by certain obligations—possibly by the terms of his release, and definitely by the conditions of others from Yukos still under arrest, who remain in Russia as hostages. That Khodorkovsky unequivocally called freeing these people a priority is absolutely proper and we can only support him. The same goes for the fact that Khodorkovsky petitioned for a pardon, and it’s completely irrelevant under what circumstances—no matter the moralizing on Twitter.
But I see that many can’t shake the feeling that “something is amiss.” Sure, prison. Okay, he’s tired. He’s bound by obligations—makes sense. And yet… Set free was a man about whom for the last ten years there has been nothing but conversations about how, just as soon as he got out of jail, he would suddenly be leading the country. It was a vision blurred by everything from posters to demotivators proposing that Khodorkovsky change places with Putin.
Even under these conditions, Khodorkovsky could have taken five minutes to say something about his vision for Russia’s future. Something about how we might break out of our national depression, and about his own “vision of the future.” Something to reassure his anxious followers, telling them: “Guys, though I’m not going into politics, now a powerful guy's got your back who will tell you how to ‘get things done.’”
None of this happened. Instead, we witnessed a press conference that was mostly “about Khodorkovsky” and not about Russia. We heard the usual eclecticism—something about how private business should be a priority, but business needs to be “socially responsible.” (Haven't we heard this somewhere before?) We listened to the usual words about civil society, but here and there hints of statism slipped in (Khodorkovsky’s announcement that he’d “go to war for the North Caucasus” was outside the press conference, but it was quite indicative). I’m getting letters and calls from people who, after fifteen years of Putinism, have had their fill of this eclecticism, and they’re asking me: “What is all this? Maybe they broke him in prison? Where’s the Russian Nelson Mandela?”
As for me, while watching him during yesterday’s press conference, I remembered the Khodorkovsky whom I occasionally encountered at work in 2002 and 2003. He’s the same “strategist” as before: build a pipeline here, build a pipeline there. Develop Eastern Siberia. Build a pipeline to China. Ban production-sharing agreements and replace them with a national tax regime. Flatten the tax on oil extraction. Increase extraction from 400 to 500 million tons. That is all there is to the “strategy.”
Any of this seem familiar?
This is why I’ve marveled all these years at how intensely people have made Khodorkovsky out to be some promising alternative to the authorities now in power. And it’s understandable why they’ve done this: between 2000 and 2003, Khodorkovsky skillfully co-opted a significant part of the intelligentsia through [his organization] “Open Russia,” and intellectuals decided that if Khodorkovsky carts them around the country to read their lectures, he must think like they do.
For me anyway, the battle between Putin and Khodorkovsky was always a battle between two groups with comparable goals and styles, and both hoped to subjugate the country entirely, employing methods that were far from gentle. (I had to deal with this firsthand, so I know what I’m talking about here.) Yukos, for instance, was stuffed with former KGB agents. Suffice it to say that the company’s first vice president was Viktor Ivanenko, the first chief in the Russian KGB under Yeltsin, who from 2000 to 2004 lead the so-called “Parliamentarianism Development Trust,” which—how should I say this…—managed “targeted work with Duma MPs,” present and future. They bought off MPs openly and wholesale, and Yukos funding was hardly limited to opposition parties: Khodorkovsky’s partner and onetime Yukos co-owner, Vladimir Dubov, ran for a Duma seat in 2003 on United Russia’s ticket. (Yukos didn’t delegate any of its other high-caliber people to the opposition parties.) Khodorkovsky’s other associates—like Nevzlin, Brudno, and Dubov—were (to put it lightly) not exactly luminaries of liberalism and free civil society, and God forbid you ran afoul of any of these people. The laws Yukos needed were plowed through the Duma without considering the nation’s interests.
We now know that the evisceration of production-sharing agreements (carried out under a completely mutual agreement between Putin and Khodorkovsky) froze the development of new [oil extraction] projects in Russia and drained the budget with tax breaks handed out left and right (more details about this here). And let’s not forget how Yukos responded to ecologists protesting against attempts to build an oil pipeline alongside Lake Baikal (only not from the north, like Putin wanted, but from the south, through Tunkinsky National Park). And we won't even discuss what kind of PR campaigns Yukos ordered against the ecologists.
Also, the fight for power between former chekists from Petersburg and former Komsomol members from Menatep didn’t begin in 2003, as popular legend now claims. For instance, Dozhd published an excerpt from Putin’s first-ever speech in the Duma in 1998 (when he was still Director of the FSB), where he immediately attacks Yukos.
And take a look at the biography of Gazprom’s deputy head and chief of “Gazprom Export,” Aleksandr Medvedev, and you’ll see that from 1997 to 1998 he worked (wait for it) at the same East Oil Company (VNK) that Yukos purchased in 1998, after which Medvedev was promptly fired. The issue was that Medvedev and his partner, Andrei Akimov, the current head of Gazprombank and a member of Gazprom’s board of directors, were at that time joint managing directors of the Austrian company IMAG, and they wanted (wait for it) to buy VNK for themselves. But Khodorkovsky grabbed all this business out from under their noses. And therein, my friends, lie the roots of the conflict between the two groups, dating back as far as 1998 (and maybe even earlier).
Of course, there is a difference between Petersburg chekists and Menatep Komsomol members. If the former had no experience creating value and operating in a free market (and presented themselves purely as some parasite scrounging off others), then Yukos certainly was one of the more successful market enterprises. But there’s no reason to overestimate this point. Taking basic measures to run out Soviet-era directors in the oil and gas industry, adopting ordinary Western standards of operation, bringing in the Western service companies Schlumberger and Halliburton with their advanced technologies for intensified oil extraction, and beginning to publish IFRS financial statements—all this is great, but it hardly earns Yukos the medal of honor.
Lukoil did far more to develop untapped regions like Timan-Pechora and the North Caspian, while Yukos mainly increased production only in Western Siberia, in already explored and developed territories. And the famous pipeline to Murmansk (a never-built, missed opportunity that Russian oil scrapped in favor of the super-expensive and unprofitable ESPO pipeline) was thought up by Alekperov when he was still First Deputy Minister of Oil Industry in the USSR.
Therefore, regardless of some decent progress in the early 2000s, it can't be said that Yukos was ever a “super efficient” company. And it never represented any promising political alternative to Putin. Reduce personnel, hire Halliburton to raise debit wells, and increase capitalization by raising transparency and selling shares at higher prices. Tell me, is this the grand national strategy we've waited for? Is this really going to lead Russia bravely into tomorrow?
Things got even worse after Khodorkovsky's arrest. It makes sense why people considered him a political alternative to Putin. Until his arrest in 2003, Khodorkovsky headed a powerful and wealthy group that battled Putin for power. But his comrades threw down their weapons and fled as soon as the arrests started. A month before the 2003 Duma elections, Yukos shut down its funding of opposition parties, though the race was still up for grabs. Had they fought for a few dozen seats, the history of Russia might have gone differently!!! The 2004 presidential election was handled shamefully, even though, with a little strategic foresight, it wouldn't have been difficult to anticipate the arrests and prepare alternative candidates for Khodorkovsky. And in the ten years since, no “Khodorkovsky Party” ever emerged. Instead, we've merely read contradictory texts written in prison that carry the aroma of that same charming eclecticism so evident in Khodorkovsky's interviews and speeches since his release.
Compare this with Nelson Mandela, who upon leaving prison immediately headed the country's largest political organization, the African National Congress, which throughout Mandela's years in jail remained active and ready to win elections. Clearly, Khodorkovsky endured trials that you wouldn't wish on your worst enemy. I watched him in meeting rooms in 2002, dressed to the nines, absolutely sure of himself, and cooly uttering something along the lines of “You don't know how bad I feel about that sorrel of yours breakin’ his leg, but Bolivar, he's plenty tired, and he can't carry double.” Back then, I could never have imagined how things would turn out. I couldn't have imagined that I, more or less one of Khodorkovsky's adversaries in the early 2000s, would come to his defense and speak publicly in support of him. For example, my 2007 publication on the “Mistakes of the Prosecutor General” in The New Times is the first article I know of that criticized the second case against Khodorkovsky and Lebedev on detailed economic grounds. (This was when they tried to get him on the “stolen oil” charges.)
Nevertheless, I, unlike many in the liberal camp (and especially unlike those who were still children in 2002-2003), have always remembered the real Khodorkovsky, and was in no hurry to be charmed. Yesterday and today, I've seen that many of those who were charmed are beginning to reconsider. And that, colleagues, is how it should be. We saw the real Khodorkovsky, the way he's always been. It's a shame that he hasn't been on the Russian political scene all these years. He might have been a contender. But maybe not. Perhaps he'd have struck a deal, as Unity did with its once bitter rivals Primakov and Luzhkov in 2001, creating a super-monopoly in the political arena. Khodorkovsky also dreamed of super-monopolies. Recall the aborted merger of Yukos and Sibneft, and the fact that Yukos’ people entered the Duma on the tickets of all kinds of different parties—not just liberal parties, but also the Communist Party and United Russia.
Generally speaking, don't rush to idolize. Look at the world as it is—it's not black and white. Also, good luck to Khodorkovsky in all his endeavors and sincere congratulations on his new freedom.

author: Kevin Rothrock


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What It’s Like Growing Up In The Maldives? · Global Voices
Rezwan

Journalist and blogger Hilath Rasheed shares a Maldivian's thoughts in Facebook on “How is it like growing up in Male'/Maldives”:
From Ibrahim Lirar:
The most honest answer I can give now is that “it is scary and constricting”. Information was so tightly control until recently. Very few among us grew up really believing that we can be anything we want in the world and that any dream we dream can be made reality.
No, we where restricted, discouraged and oppressed, our society and family told us how to live our life, how far and dictated what we will achieve in our life. Our childhood dreams and ambitions were all squashed by the time we become adults. We lived in a tight box, all our thoughts and the whole of being was confined within that box.
This is what it is like for kids growing up until my generation in the Maldives.


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9 Things the Russian Government Says Are “Gay Propaganda” · Global Voices
Kevin Rothrock

Gay rights activists kiss as they are detained by police officers during a gay rights protest in St. Petersburg, Russia, 12 October 2013, photo by Jordi Bernabeu Farrús, CC 2.0.
Though it seems to have appeared on the Internet no later than December 2, 2013, Russian bloggers have suddenly discovered [ru] government censors’ revised criteria [ru] for recognizing information online that supposedly endangers minors. Russians can thank Roskomnadzor, the federal agency responsible for overseeing the media, for the new reading material, which spans roughly two thousand pages and twenty different sections. Many, however, are limiting their attention to Section 6 [ru] of the document, awkwardly titled “Criteria of Internet Content Harmful for Children’s Health and Development.”
Even the report’s authors confess that the subject is quite “heterogeneous,” making it difficult to determine “unambiguous criteria” for identifying offending material. To resolve problems with definitions, Roskomnadzor adopts broad parameters, designating anything published online as “systematically disseminated” information. To qualify as propaganda, the agency concludes, the content must also contain “false information” and have been produced with the intent of influencing public opinion:
Обычно под пропагандой понимают систематическое распространение фактов, аргументов, слухов и других сведений, в том числе заведомо ложных, для воздействия на общественное мнение. Таким образом, чтобы квалифицировать информацию, как пропаганду, необходимо зафиксировать: желание автора информации повлиять на общественное мнение, систематический характер распространения информации, наличие ложных сведений в распространяемой информации. Все эти критерии являются субъективными, что, безусловно, затрудняет процедуру экспертизы. Вместе с этим, следует отметить, что характер распространения информации в сети Интернет позволяет рассматривать еѐ как систематическую.
Usually, propaganda is understood as the systematic dissemination of facts, arguments, rumors, and other information (including deliberately misleading information) for influencing public opinion. Thus, to qualify information as propaganda, it is necessary to establish that the author of the information wishes to influence public opinion, that the dissemination of the information is of a systematic nature, and that the disseminated information contains false information. That all these criteria are subjective certainly complicates the expert review process. At the same time, it should be noted that the nature of information disseminated on the Internet allows us to regard it [by default] as systematic.
According to Roskomnadzor, information on the Internet can transform the family values of children and teenagers in the following ways:
In addition to these ground rules, Roskomnadzor offers some colorful examples of its own to help state censors identify information on the Internet that is “harmful to minors.” The following is a list of what the government considers “gay propaganda.”
1) Arguing that traditional families don’t meet the needs of modern society or the modern individual. (This includes propagating the idea that the traditional family model has “lost many of its functions and become an obstacle to the free development of individuals.”)
2) Information (contained in either images or prose) that justifies and (or) otherwise vindicates the acceptability of “alternative family relations.” (This includes websites that publish “out-of-context” statistics about children adopted by gay and straight couples, which could lead children and teens to believe that gay couples are “no worse than straight couples at coping with parental responsibilities.”)
3) Using “intense emotional images” to discredit traditional family models and propagate alternative family models. (This seems to include virtually any attempt to portray heterosexual relationships negatively and homosexual relationships favorably.)
4) Information that contains “images of behavior associated with the denial of the traditional family model” that promotes gay relationships. (This includes all “graphic demonstrations, in the form of pictures, photographs, or videos, of non-traditional sexual relations,” possibly encompassing even gay pornography.)
5) Instructions on how to experiment with gay sex.
6) Sharing the stories of minors who have “rejected traditional family values, entered into gay relationships, and shown disrespect to their parents and (or) other relatives.” (This might include the “It Gets Better” project.)
7) Information that “influences the formation of adolescents’ self-identity” by “exploiting their interest in sex.” (This includes “false allegations” about the prevalence of homosexual relationships among teenagers in modern society.)
8) Depicting gay people as role models. (This includes publishing lists of famous living and deceased gay individuals.)
9) The final “gay propaganda” criterion is perhaps the broadest, including anything that either “approves or encourages” gay people in their homosexuality.


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China’s Southern Media Group Turns Back on Anti-Censorship Supporters · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

A group of journalism students in China expressed their support for Southern Weekend against censorship in early January 2013. Image from inmediahk.net. Non-commercial use.
The year 2013 began and now ends with anti-censorship drama of liberal Chinese newspaper Southern Weekend.
The Southern Media Group, which owns Southern Weekend, issued testimony in November 2013 that helps the prosecution of activists who took part in an anti-censorship protest in early January outside corporation's building. Southern Weekend had issued an editorial appeal for readers’ support against the provincial propaganda department's pressure to rewrite its New Year editorial.
Activists Guo Feixiong, Liu Yuandong, Sun Desheng were prosecuted by the Guangzhou police of disrupting the public order in the protest. Guo Feixiong was accused of being the mastermind behind the protest in support of the newspaper and has been detained since August 2013.
According to the written testimony submitted to the police, which was made public on September 27, 2013 via Wen Yunchao, the public gathering outside the building between January 6 to 9 obstructed their daily work as people and vehicles could not enter freely from the front gate. The company had to open the side gate for their staff and some meetings and activities were cancelled.
Guo Feixiong's lawyer, Chang Xuezhong, explained the impact of the testimony at the trial on popular microblogging site Sina Weibo. His post was deleted quickly. Zhou Sheng backed up his tweet in his article, “Better For Southern Weekend to Die Back Then Than Being Alive for Today's Humiliation” (南周 恨不当年死 留作今日羞):
南方报业传媒集团出具的情况说明，完全是为了配合警方的指控，提供构成聚众扰乱公共场所秩序罪的后果要件。《南方周末》当初呼吁人们去声援它，现在却说声援它的人们影响了工作秩序，如此颠倒黑白，恩将仇报，助纣为虐，怎么还好意思一期一期地把报纸印出来？
The Southern Media Group's explanation is to assist the police's prosecution [against Guo Feixiong] by providing the evidence of disturbing public order. Back then, Southern Weekend urged people to support them and now it claims their supporters had affected their work. The white is turned into black, people's good will is avenged. It helps the bullies to bully the weak.
The Southern Media Group's statement has outraged many. Yu Jianrong, a famous public intellectual, said on Weibo (post deleted but backed up by Zhou Sheng):
今年建最后悔的事，年初为声援南周，我曾将自己的微博头像换成黑体‘南方周末’字样，现郑重向我的关注者道歉，并保证，如南周不能客观报道或者说明当时的情况，给声援者一个客观公正，我绝不再接受这份报纸的任何采访，绝不再在这份报纸发表任何文字。
The most regretful thing this year was to express my support for Southern Weekend. I even changed my profile picture into grey-coloured “Southern Weekend” back then. Now I have to apologize to my readers and promise that if Southern Weekend fails to report and explain the situation objectively and fairly, I would never accept the paper's interview again and would never write for this paper.
Matthew Pang, a former employee of Southern Media Group, urged his former colleagues to speak out against the corporation's statement:
南方报业已经从报界启蒙先驱，沦落为打压（追求）民主自由的打手。在这里，我还真要对仍在这个报业集团工作的前前同事们，进行一次道德“胁迫”：如果你们对南方报业那份落井下石的声明默不作声，我不是你们的朋友。如果你们对曾声援自己的义士的遭遇视而不见，你们也配不上“记者”这个职业！
— 上官敫铭 | Matthew PANG (@pangjiaoming) December 28, 2013
For a long period of time, the Southern Media Group had enlightened the media industry, but now it has turned into a tool for oppressing those who demand democracy and freedom. Here I have to make a moral “threat” to my ex-colleagues from the media group: If you keep silent about such an immoral statement, we are no longer friends. If you are blind to those who once supported you out of justice, you are an insult to the journalistic profession.
Wen Yunchao has been keeping track of reporters and editors who have spoken out against the statement. Within a day, about 20 employees from the Southern Media Group had bashed the paper's testimony. She Feike, who was also working at one of the media outlets owned by the Group in January 2013, wrote:
我已于2月底提出辞职，3月底正式离职，南周事件爆发的1月，我是南方报业旗下南都周刊分管新闻版块的编委。我亲眼所见亲耳所闻的情况，未见有任何外力妨碍到南都周刊生产秩序，新闻版块运转正常。作为一个参加过联署的前南方人，我对刘远东郭飞熊等曾声援南方报业的公民深表敬意和谢意。
I resigned around the end of February and left my position officially at the end of March. The incident happened in January and I was still a member of the editorial team in the Southern Metropolis Weekly which is also owned by the Southern Media Group. From what I witnessed, I did not see any disruption from outside forces that affected our magazine's production. The news beat operated normally. As one of the former Southern Media Group's employees who had signed the statement [against censorship], I am grateful to Liu Yuandong and Guo Feixiong, among other citizens who expressed their support to the media group.
Dai Zhiyong, a columnist and staff member of the media group,  said:
这份声明突破了底线，对此难以苟同。我个人并未觉得自已的工作秩序受到在大门口表达观点的诸位先生女士的任何影响，包括支持南周与反对南周的诸位，皆有权利表达自己的观点和判断。
The statement has broken the bottom line [of one's morality] that I have to voice out my disagreement. I don't think the people gathered outside the front gate affected my work. Supporters or opponents, they have the right to express their opinion and judgement.
Chief Editor of the opinion page at Southern Metropolis Daily of the Media Group Su Shaoxin said:
本人苏少鑫，南方都市报评论版社论编辑。2013年1月7、8日值班编社论版。每天下午四点半报题会正常，组版工作正常，值班领导审稿签版正常。与本人在该部门工作两年半时间中的其他任何时间无任何差别。特此声明。
I am Su Shaoxin, Chief Editor of the opinion page at Southern Metropolis Daily. Between January 7-8, I had my regular meeting at 4:30 p.m., everything in our editorial work was normal. The leaders [of the propaganda authorities] signed our page before printing as usual. It was as normal as any other time during of our department's work in the past 2.5 years. This is a statement for clarification.