text:
Singaporean Teenager Arrested for Making Videos Deemed ‘Offensive’ · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Photo from Facebook page of Amos Yee
There was nationwide grief and mourning when Singapore’s founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew died last month. His passing united the people who paid tribute to a leader who led the city’s transformation from a poor island in the 1960s into a prosperous society today.
But there were also those who chose to highlight Lee Kuan Yew’s policies which they believe caused a lot of suffering, such as the excessive regulation of the media and persecution of the political opposition.
One of the critics was Amos Yee, who posted an eight-minute video entitled “Lee Kuan Yew Is Finally Dead!” The police received 20 complaints related to the video, which became the basis for arresting Amos Yee. Harassment charges were filed, despite the fact that Amos Yee is only 16 years old.
Amos Yee is a teenager video blogger who has been actively and aggressively sharing his views on several issues such as homosexuality, Christianity, economy, movies, and Singapore politics. He is praised for bravely articulating his opinions, but he is also criticized for using rude language and vulgar images in his videos.
His video commentary on Lee Kuan Yew angered many who felt it was inappropriate, insensitive, and disrespectful. Because of this, he was charged with harassment for causing ‘distress’ to those who viewed the video. Further, he was also slapped with two more charges: offending the religious sentiments of Christians, and circulating an obscene material. If found guilty in these three cases, he can be detained for three years.
There are few in Singapore who openly support the views expressed by Amos Yee. But many are concerned over the decision to arrest a teenager for expressing an unpopular opinion. For journalist Kirsten Han, his case reflects the state of free speech in Singapore:
You can be reported and arrested for being offensive and annoying and rude and vulgar and disrespectful. That it can be a criminal offence to say things that people don’t like to hear.
Apart from the problems of using handcuffs on minors, is this really a proportional response to a YouTube video? Can we really, hand on heart, look at this treatment of a teenager and say that this is a rational, mature reaction?
But for student Yuen Wei Ping, one of those who complained against Amos Yee, the filing of a case can help prevent the young video blogger from committing bigger crimes in the future:
From what I can see of him, he is closed to the opinions of others. I hope to stop Amos from making any worse mistakes in the future, because even though he is arrested for these charges now, he may be arrested for worse things in the future.
Another complainant, lawyer Chia Boon Teck, asserted that “disrespectful comments” should be reported to authorities:
Let all Singaporeans stop tolerating such disrespectful comments made against Mr Lee and take the individuals who make them to task, by raising the issue with the relevant authorities or the individuals’ respective professional or governing bodies.
Playwright and poet Alfian Sa'at described this argument as dangerous to free expression. “Instead of engaging with the substance of someone else’s arguments, what you do instead is tone-policing.”
Amos Yee and Roy Ngerng Yi Ling, Singapore bloggers who are facing legal cases today for expressing their views. Photo from Facebook page of Roy
Roy Ngerng Yi Ling, a blogger who was sued by the prime minister for alleging that there were some anomalies in the government housing program, declared his sympathy for Amos Yee:
Even if we disagree with Amos, should we ask for him to be jailed? Should we asked for him to have his future destroyed, just because we disagree with something he said? I am speaking up because how we think about Amos and how we engage him says more about our society than about him.
There is an online petition which emphasizes that Amos Yee’s statements do not undermine the Christian faith. “His opinions about our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ neither threaten our faith nor diminish our love for Him.”
Another online petition initiated by Community Action Network urged for a more mature discussion with regard to his case:
Yee’s opinions about the late Lee Kuan Yew—no matter how offensive to admirers of the former Prime Minister—should be viewed as opinions of an individual. A mature society is one in which people engage each other in rational discourse, not one which resorts to punitive action to silence those with opinions deemed disagreeable.
Writing for The Online Citizen, Howard Lee weighs both sides in favor and against the cause of Amos Yee and makes this appeal:
What we should have gone after is not the person voicing out, but the content of what has been voiced out. We can grudgingly accept that it contains nuggets of truth, as much as we can accept that it was offensive and made in bad faith.
After spending four nights in jail, Amos Yee was freed today, April 21, 2015, on bail. His pre-trial conference is scheduled on April 30, 2015.

author: Mong Palatino


text:
Syrian Blogger Stabbed in His Istanbul Home After Receiving Threats Online · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Blogger Asaad Hanna receiving treatment at an Istanbul hospital after being stabbed in his home last night. Photo credit: Asaad Hanna's Facebook page
Syrian blogger and journalist Assad Hanna, who is also a Global Voices author, was attacked and stabbed four times in the stomach in his home in Istanbul, Turkey, last night.
On Facebook, Hanna, who has been receiving various threats online, reports:
تعرضت مساء امس لهجوم على بيتي من شخص مجهول ضربني بشي حاد ببطني اربع طعنات مما سبب دخولي للمشفى وخرجت قبل قليل للمنزل
لا اتهم احد بالموضوع لكن لا استطيع ان اقول انها صدفة، فالفاعل طرق الباب وضربني ولم يسرق شيئ من البيت، وكان قد سبق عدة جهات وان ارسلت لي تهديدات.
انا بصحة جيدة وقمت بتقديم ضبط للشرطة
I was attacked in my home last night by an unknown person who stabbed me in the stomach four times. I was treated in hospital and and was just released. I don't accuse anyone but I cannot say it was a coincidence as the assailant knocked on the door, attacked me and did not steal anything from the house. I have been previously threatened by different factions.
My health is fine and I filed a police report
Hanna, from Homs, is also a human rights defender and has been working as a freelance journalist since escaping his war-torn country.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Amira Al Hussaini


text:
The 7th Summit of the Americas in 35 Tweets · Global Voices
Robert Valencia

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon speaks at Opening Ceremony of Seventh Summit of the Organization of American States. Photo: UN account on Flickr used under Creative Commons license.
According to the organizers of the Seventh Summit of the Americas, which was held in Panama this year, the event's Twitter account recorded 9 million impressions, making it the first “totally digital summit of the century.”
The summit certainly merited the attention: for the first time in more than half a century, a US president and Cuban head of state sat down together at the diplomatic table. While this meeting was the summit's highlight in international news coverage, the conference didn't take place just to bring together Washington and Havana. Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro also met privately with Barack Obama, later saying publicly, “I respect you, but I don't trust you, President Obama.” In March, Obama signed an executive order putting seven Venezuelan officials on a sanctions list.
But the summit was more than any single moment, however historic or tense. To give a better sense of what just happened in Panama, Global Voices has collected and translated 35 different tweets, capturing commentary from each of the countries represented at the summit.
Gaston Browne, Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda
“Pedimos que se respete una política financiera para los países pequeños”, Gaston Browne de Antigua y Barbuda. pic.twitter.com/OoM8JLbg4y
— Cumbre Américas (@CumbrePanama) April 11, 2015
“We ask for financial policies that respect small countries”, Gaston Browne from Antigua and Barbuda.
Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, President of Argentina
.@Cfkargentina “Quiero felicitar a @JuanMansantos por su terquedad para encarar el proceso de paz” #CumbrePanama http://t.co/hYr10Skl5J
— Cumbre Américas (@CumbrePanama) April 11, 2015
I want to congratulate [Colombian President] Juan Manuel Santos for his stubbornness to face the peace process.
Perry Christie, Prime Minister of Bahamas
“Nuestros pueblos buscan soluciones, encontremos soluciones prácticas y vamos a aplicarlas”, Perry Christie, Primer Ministro de Bahamas.
— Cumbre Américas (@CumbrePanama) April 11, 2015
“Our peoples pursue solutions, let's find practical solutions and let's apply them”, Perry Christie, Prime Minister of the Bahamas.
Freundel Jerome Stuart, Prime Minister of Barbados
“Nuestra cooperación debe también trasladarse al área de seguridad”, Primer Ministro de Barbados, Freundel Jerome Stuart. #CumbrePanamá.
— Cumbre Américas (@CumbrePanama) April 11, 2015
“Our cooperation must extend to the area of security”, Prime Minister of Barbados, Freundel Jerome Stuart.
Wilfred Elrington, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belize
“El arma primordial con la que contamos en Belice es una población educada”, Wilfred Elrington, Ministro de Relaciones Exteriores de Belice.
— Cumbre Américas (@CumbrePanama) April 12, 2015
“The fundamental weapon we count on in Belize is an educated population,” Wilfred Elrington, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belize.
Evo Morales, President of Bolivia
“Presidente @BarackObama nos habla de democracia y todo los días nos manda a sus sicarios”, Pdte. Evo Morales. pic.twitter.com/2XpAW3t1uP
— Cumbre Américas (@CumbrePanama) April 11, 2015
“[American] President Barack Obama talks us about democracy and every day he sends us his hitmen”, President Evo Morales.
Dilma Rousseff, President of Brazil
Dilma finaliza: queria deixar claro nosso compromisso com a integração regional. #CumberPanamá
— Dilma Rousseff (@dilmabr) April 10, 2015
Dilma concludes: I want to make clear our commitment to regional integration.
Steve Harper, Prime Minister of Canada
“Hoy la democracia más que nunca es la norma principal del hemisferio”, Primer Ministro @pmharper, en #CumbrePanamá. pic.twitter.com/48EhhQozoX
— Cumbre Américas (@CumbrePanama) April 11, 2015
“Today, democracy is more than ever the main rule of the hemisphere”, Prime Minister Steve Harper.
Heraldo Muñoz, Chancellor of Chile
“Si bien hemos logrado mucho, hay mucho por hacer, la población lo exige”, Heraldo Muñoz, Canciller de Chile. pic.twitter.com/Pkgwm4f8ac
— Cumbre Américas (@CumbrePanama) April 12, 2015
“Although we've accomplished a lot, there is still much to be done—the people demand it”, Heraldo Muñoz, Chancellor of Chile.
Juan Manuel Santos, President of Colombia
Hace 3 años en #CumbreDeLasAméricas en Cartagena dijimos que no podía haber otra sin Cuba. Celebramos que esté hoy en @CumbrePanama.
— Juan Manuel Santos (@JuanManSantos) April 10, 2015
Three years ago at the Summit of the Americas, we said there couldn't be another one without Cuba. We celebrate [Cuba's presence] today in Panama.
Luis Guillermo Solis, President of Costa Rica
“Que Dios bendiga nuestro continente e ilumine a quienes tenemos que conducirlo por el camino de la prosperidad”. pic.twitter.com/HZ2V4M5JOG
— Cumbre Américas (@CumbrePanama) April 11, 2015
“God bless our continent and may He enlighten those of us who have to lead it with the path of prosperity.”
Raúl Castro, President of Cuba
“Pese a las carencias y dificultades que tenemos, continuamos con la premisa de compartir lo que tenemos”, Pdte. @RaulCastroR #CumbrePanamá.
— Cumbre Américas (@CumbrePanama) April 11, 2015
“Despite all the things we lack and the difficulties we manage, we go on with the premise of sharing what we have”, President Raul Castro.
Francine Baron, Representative of Dominica
“Apoyamos la idea de que buscar una educación de calidad es responsabilidad de todos los sectores”, Francine Baron #CumbrePanamá.
— Cumbre Américas (@CumbrePanama) April 12, 2015
“We support the idea that pursuing a quality education is a responsibility shared by all sectors”.
Rafael Correa, President of Ecuador
Aterrizamos en Panamá, VII Cumbre de las Américas. Equidad para la prosperidad, soberanía y dignidad. Por nuestra definitiva independencia.
— Rafael Correa (@MashiRafael) April 10, 2015
We landed in Panama, the Seventh Summit of the Americas. Equity for prosperity, sovereignty, and dignity. For our definite independence.
Salvador Sánchez Cercén, President of El Salvador
En @CumbrePanama reafirmamos compromiso de trabajar juntos por la paz y prosperidad para nuestro continente. pic.twitter.com/sh3DKWuxIa
— Salvador Sánchez C. (@sanchezceren) April 11, 2015
In the Summit of Panama we reaffirmed our commitment to working together for peace and prosperity for our continent.
Barack Obama, President of the United States
El Pdte. de EUA @BarackObama manifestó en “CumbrePanamá la necesidad de trabajar con mayor dinamismo en Latinoamérica pic.twitter.com/LpKdjq5b8U
— Cumbre Américas (@CumbrePanama) April 11, 2015
US President Barack Obama declared at the Summit in Panama that more dynamic work in Latin America is necessary.
Keith Claudius Mitchell, Prime Minister of Granada
“La prosperidad con equidad es importante para la región. La desigualdad se reduce con inversión en la educación”, Keith Claudius Mitchell.
— Cumbre Américas (@CumbrePanama) April 12, 2015
“Prosperity with equity is important for the region. Inequality gets reduced with investments in education”, Keith Claudius Mitchell.
Otto Pérez Molina, President of Guatemala
Celebramos el restablecimiento de las relaciones entre Cuba y Estados Unidos. https://t.co/0exYtUugBF
— Otto Pérez Molina (@ottoperezmolina) April 11, 2015
We celebrate that relations between Cuba and United States have been reestablished.
Bayney R. Karran, Representative of Guyana in OAS
“Debemos dar a nuestra juventud los medios de inclusión social”, Bayney R. Karran, Representante de Guyana ante OEA. pic.twitter.com/uH5E1lCPVy
— Cumbre Américas (@CumbrePanama) April 12, 2015
“We must provide our youth with the means of social inclusion”, Bayney R. Karran, representative of Guyana in OAS.
Michel Joseph Martelly, President of Haiti
Photo de famille des Chefs d'Etat et de Gouvernement du 7ème Sommet des Amériques déroulé au Panama. pic.twitter.com/34TER8Xqay
— Michel J. Martelly (@MichelJMartelly) April 11, 2015
Chiefs of state pictured at the Seventh Summit of the Americas, held in Panama.
Juan Orlando Hernández Alvarado, President of Honduras
“Hemos llegado a buen puerto con Guatemala en aras de establecer la unión aduanera entre ambos países”. Pdte. Juan Orlando Hernández.
— Cumbre Américas (@CumbrePanama) April 11, 2015
“We've come to a good conclusion with Guatemala about establishing a customs union between both countries”, President Juan Orlando Hernández.
Portia Simpson-Miller, Prime Minister of Jamaica
“El cambio climático representa un peligro claro para nuestra sociedad”, Portia Simpson Miller, Jamaica. pic.twitter.com/2t7ZVhrzd7
— Cumbre Américas (@CumbrePanama) April 11, 2015
“Climate change represents a clear danger to our society”, Portia Simpson Miller, Jamaica.
Enrique Peña Nieto, President of México
La #CumbrePanamá es una excelente oportunidad para activar el diálogo inclusivo y propositivo entre las naciones que participamos.
— Enrique Peña Nieto (@EPN) April 10, 2015
The Summit in Panama is an excellent opportunity to active inclusive and an innovative dialogue between the participant nations.
Daniel Ortega, President of Nicaragua
.@DanielOrtega_ni Presidente de Nicaragua habla sobre la ausencia de Puerto Rico en la #CumbrePanama http://t.co/JInbdNGVrd
— Cumbre Américas (@CumbrePanama) April 11, 2015
Daniel Ortega, President of Nicaragua, talks about the absence of Puerto Rico in the Summit in Panama.
Juan Carlos Varela, President of Panama
Avancemos unidos a trabajar por esa prosperidad con equidad para todos los ciudadanos de nuestro continente. pic.twitter.com/3j47wt4XZH
— Juan Carlos Varela (@JC_Varela) April 11, 2015
Let's walk along together and work for that prosperity with equity for every citizen in our continent.
Elisa Ruiz Díaz, Ambassador to Paraguay in OAS:
Avanzamos en la conciliación y diálogo para todas las naciones”Embajadora de Paraguay, Elisa Ruiz Díaz #CumbrePanama http://t.co/ImOIiyckdc
— Cumbre Américas (@CumbrePanama) April 12, 2015
“We work towards conciliation and dialogue for all nations”, Ambassador of Paraguay, Elisa Ruiz Díaz.
Ollanta Humala, President of Peru
Presidente @Ollanta_HumalaT “Debemos masificar la calidad de la educación ” #CumbrePanama http://t.co/GcfTR1mLdV
— Cumbre Américas (@CumbrePanama) April 11, 2015
President Ollanta Humala: “We must make quality education accessible to all.”
Danilo Medina, President of Dominican Republic
“El narcotráfico es un cáncer que no podemos permitir que avance”, @DaniloMedina Presidente de R. Dominicana en #CumbrePanamá.
— Cumbre Américas (@CumbrePanama) April 11, 2015
“Drug trafficking is a cancer and we shall not allow it to move forward”, Danilo Medina, President of the Dominican Republic.
Mark Brantley, Prime Minister of Saint Kitts and Nevis:
“El desarrollo se basa en la educación y la igualdad de los pueblos”, Mark Brantley San Cristóbal y Nieves. pic.twitter.com/2b5ie6U6Lw
— Cumbre Américas (@CumbrePanama) April 12, 2015
“Development is based on education and equality among peoples”, Mark Brantley, Saint Kiits and Nevis.
Ralph Gonsalvez, President of de Saint Vicent and the Grenadines:
“Es alentador que se hayan dado los pasos para restablecer relaciones entre Cuba y EUA”, Ralph Gonsalvez. pic.twitter.com/2jxwysEofV
— Cumbre Américas (@CumbrePanama) April 11, 2015
“It's encouraging that the first steps to reestablish relations between Cuba and United States have been taken”, Ralph Gonsalvez.
Kenny Anthony, Prime Minister of Saint Lucia:
“La solución fundamental de la pobreza no es el dinero, sino el conocimiento”, Primer Ministro Kenny Anthony. pic.twitter.com/nZHcVeXdWM
— Cumbre Américas (@CumbrePanama) April 12, 2015
“The paramount solution to poverty is not money but knowledge,” Prime Minister Kenny Anthony.
Niermala Badrising, Ambassador of Surinam to OAS:
“Reiteramos la importancia del diálogo para contribuir a la paz en Venezuela”, Embajadora Niermala Badrising. pic.twitter.com/pWYb4KUkAX
— Cumbre Américas (@CumbrePanama) April 12, 2015
“We reaffirm the importance of dialogue to contribute to peace in Venezuela,” Ambassador Niermala Badrising.
Kamia Persad-Bissesar, Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago:
“La presencia de Cuba aquí hoy, es testimonio que pasamos una página importante en el libro de nuestra historia”, Kamla Persad-Bissessar.
— Cumbre Américas (@CumbrePanama) April 11, 2015
“That Cuba is present here today is a proof that we're turning an important page in the history books,” Kamla Persad-Bissessar.
Tabaré Vázquez, President of Uruguay
“Llamamos a nuestro pueblo hermano venezolano a solucionar sus problemas con el diálogo”, Tabaré Vásquez, Presidente de Uruguay.
— Cumbre Américas (@CumbrePanama) April 11, 2015
“We call upon our Venezuelan brothers to solve their problems through dialogue,” Tabaré Vásquez, President of Uruguay.
Nicolás Maduro, President of Venezuela
Yo respeto pero no confío en usted Pdte. Obama . Yo le extiendo mi mano para que resolvamos las diferencias que tengamos: @NicolasMaduro.
— Cumbre Américas (@CumbrePanama) April 11, 2015
I respect you, but don't trust you, President Obama. I hold out your hand so as to solve the disagreements we may have.

author: Robert Valencia


text:
The Controversial Tweet That Led a Costa Rican Official to Resign · Global Voices
Gabriela García Calderón Orbe

“We're not going to say anything to those stuck-up, arrogant men in their cassocks, lace and cone-shaped hats?” Screenshot of Julia Ardón's controversial tweet.
“We're not going to say anything to those stuck-up, arrogant men in their cassocks, lace and cone-shaped hats?” That was one of the tweets that Julia Ardón, a social media aide for the president of Costa Rica, published on her personal Twitter account that kicked up anger in the majority Catholic country, eventually ending in her resignation.
Ardón published a series of tweets against the Catholic Church's stance against in vitro fertilization (IVF), a technique in which an egg is fertilized outside the womb when a couple cannot conceive. The practice continues to be banned in Costa Rica, despite a 2012 ruling from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights striking down the decade-long prohibition as a violation of the reproductive freedom of infertile couples.
The country has yet to legalize IVF, but the matter has come under debate in recent months as lawmakers work to conform to the court's ruling. The Catholic Church has spoken out against potential legalization.
Ardón tweeted on Good Friday that during Holy Week, there had been a “common discourse against IVF” in Catholic churches. “What kind of outrage do we want to turn this country into? What's happening to everyone? We're going to become the stupid ones?” she wrote. Her string of comments were published just after San José archbishop José Rafael Quirós had discussed IVF and abortion (the Catholic Church considers IVF to be a form of abortion) during a religious procession:
“Hoy cuando en lugar de ayudar a estas madres, de brindarles lo necesario para que pueden cumplir su misión, pues hay veces que se les quita todo apoyo y la solución que se les da es la salida fácil, de quitarle la vida a su hijo. La virgen madre es imagen de la madre que lucha y está con su hijo hasta el final, aunque su vida corra peligro”, dijo el arzobispo.
“Today, when instead of helping these mothers, providing them with what they need to be able to fulfill their mission, there are times when all support is taken away from them, and the solution that they are given is taking the easy way out, taking away the life of their child. The Virgin Mary is the image of the mother who fights and stays with her child until the end, even if her life is in danger,” the archbishop said.
Her words sparked uproar. The next day, she told a news outlet that she was considering quitting her post “to be able to say what she thinks” and had “temporarily suspended” her Twitter account due to the attacks she was receiving. That didn't stop users from pushing back against her comments on that very social network:
Otra vez Julia Ardon cerró su Twitter (@juliaardon) increíble el nivel de mediocridad de una CM que no logra resistir una crisis en #RRSS
— Jorge Jefferson (@Jjeffersonpc) abril 5, 2015
So Julia Ardon closed her Twitter account. Incredible level of mediocrity from a community manager who can't resist a crisis.
Creo que Julia Ardon, ha logrado lo impensable de un CM, tener más protagonismo que la cuenta que maneja, la de @luisguillermosr !
— TUCAN (@twocannn) abril 4, 2015
I think Julia Ardon has achieved the unthinkable for a community manager, to have more importance than the account she manages, the Costa Rican president's.
Julia Ardon se ha comparado con varios ilustres de la historia, no me extrañaría que mañana resucite!
— TUCAN (@twocannn) abril 4, 2015
Julia Ardon has compared herself with diverse distinguished historic figures, it won't be surprising that tomorrow she might be resurrected!
Y cual embajada le van a dar a Julia Ardon #preguntica
— cintica (@cintica) abril 10, 2015
And which embassy will receive Julia Ardon?
Julia Ardón es de lo más bleh e irrelevante que hay, dejen de darle pelota.
— oli girondo (@btorodriguezj) abril 4, 2015
Julia Ardón is very irrelevant, stop paying so much attention to her.
Listo, gracias @juliaardon. Desde luego que bloqueando a la gente se arreglan todos los problemas de comunicación. pic.twitter.com/JZ9T2xBBPO
— Josué Vargas (@El_Comunicologo) abril 4, 2015
Great, thanks Julia Ardón. Of course by blocking people (from Twitter) all communication problems are solved.
@Pablexcr @juliaardon es lamentable q @luisguillermosr no se d cuenta q el rechazo a esta mujer, se convierte en rechazo a él y a su gestión — John Gutierréz G. (@Johng3cr) abril 4, 2015
It's regrettable that President Luis Guillermo Solís doesn't realize that a rejection of this woman becomes a rejection to him and his administration.
Ardón apologized on her Facebook the day after her tweets, saying she didn't mean to cause offense. But the controversy continued. Costa Rica's bishops expressed their “serious” disagreement with Ardón's tweets in a note sent to the country's foreign minister:
Señor Canciller de la República:
[…]
Como es de su conocimiento, la señora Ardón, de forma pública y reiterada se manifestó contra nuestras personas y magisterio, de modo despectivo e irrespetuoso. Fue, igualmente, inadecuada la manera en que se refirió al quehacer del clero costarricense, a la vez que, con sus comentarios en la red social Twitter ofendía la fe que comparte la mayoría de los ciudadanos de este país.
Nuestra inconformidad es grave y por ello elevamos esta nota a la instancia de gobierno que corresponde. […] En la libertad de expresión hay límites.
Foreign Minister:
[…]
As you may already know, Ms. Ardón publicly and repeatedly has positioned herself against us and our profession, in a contemptuous and disrespectful way. Likewise, the way she referred to the daily tasks of the Costa Rican clergy was inappropriate, and at the same time, her remarks on social network Twitter offended the faith shared by the majority of the country's citizens.
Our displeasure is serious and so we send this note to the pertinent level of government. […] There are limits to freedom of expression.
The blog Anchas Alamedas wrote about freedom of expression of public servants:
Uno [funcionario púbilco] no puede decir que está actuando en su condición personal porque no se puede desprender de esa investidura profesional y pública a gusto. La única forma de quitarse esa investidura, es renunciando a la misma. […]. Precisamente por eso, es que las sanciones a las actuaciones de los funcionarios públicos son mucho más estrictas para el resto de los mortales, […]. Julia sabrá si se disculpa o no, si renuncia o no, y es una decisión personal, muy dura, que solo ella puede tomar y nadie debe/puede juzgar.
One [public servant] can't say they are acting in their personal capacity as they can't leave aside the professional and public post comfortably. The only way is getting rid of that position is by renouncing it. […]. It is precisely due to this why sanctions for actions by public servants are much more strict than for the rest of us mortals, […]. Julia should know if she apologizes or not, if she resigns or not, and it's a personal decision, a very tough one, she is the only one who can make it and nobody must nor should judge.
Not everyone on Twitter disagreed with Ardón:
Tuits que dicen que Julia Ardón fue imprudente y le faltó tacto, el mismo trato que ha tenido la iglesia con la sociedad #doblemoralcr
— D.C. (@dcalderonc) abril 5, 2015
Tweets saying Julia Ardón was imprudent and tactless, the same treatment the Church has had towards society.
Siempre he visto a @juliaardon expresando sus opiniones, q es lo q hacemos todos en tw, pero si no coincide con sus opiniones la acribillan
— El Gallo (@crisytimo) abril 4, 2015
I've always seen Julia Ardón expressing her opinions, and that's what we all do on Twitter, but if her opinions don't line up with the rest, she gets badgered.
Con todo lo que hemos dicho de ella: tiene más coraje Julia Ardón que la mayoria del gabinete de @luisguillermosr, incluyéndolo a él.
— Olman Rímola (@OlmanRimola) abril 10, 2015
With all that's being said about her: Julia Ardón has more courage than most of [President] Luis Guillermo Solís’ Cabinet, including him.
Julia Ardón, who told the press that “it was a mistake to attack the Roman Catholic Church”, eventually resigned her position on April 10, to avoid doing damage to the government. She announced her decision on Facebook, where she published part of the resignation letter that she had submitted to the Costa Rican president:
No quiero que mis opiniones personales, cualesquiera que sean, empañen, coloquen dudas, o sean usadas para intentar manchar de ninguna manera su gestión al frente de un Gobierno en el que creo y que estoy segura, está tomando con responsabilidad el destino de esta nación y su pueblo.
Espero poder seguir colaborando, en la medida de mis posibilidades, y desde el lugar de la ciudadanía, con el cambio que Costa Rica merece y que Usted tuvo el valor de atreverse a liderar.
I don't want personal opinions, whatever they are, to tarnish, cast doubt on or be used to stain in any way at all his administration as head of a government, which I believe in and I'm sure he's leading the nation and its people responsibly to their destiny.
I hope to be able to keep collaborating, as much as I can, and as a citizen, with the change that Costa Rica deserves and that you had the courage to dare to lead.
The news of her resignation was also commented on Twitter:
Y se fue Julia Ardón. Parece que los intocables e inamovibles del país son los obispos, católicos o luteranos. Metase con ellos y perdió.
— Ronny Rojas (@ronnyrojas) abril 10, 2015
And Julia Ardón is gone. It seems that this country's untouchable and undetachable are bishops, Catholic or Lutheran. You screw with them and you lose.
Julia Ardón anuncia en FB su renuncia. “Aclaro que nadie me invitó a hacerlo, ni de modo directo ni de modo “diplomático””
— Aymée Nicole (@AymeeCM) abril 10, 2015
Julia Ardón announces on Facebook her resignation. “I clarify that no one invited me to do so, directly nor ‘diplomatically.'”

author: Gabriela García Calderón Orbe


text:
Until You Change: ‘Dehomosexualization’ the Ecuadorian Way · Global Voices
NACLA

A 2008 gay pride march in Machala, Ecuador (vesselthefilm / Creative Commons).
This article by Annie Wilkinson was originally published on NACLA's website.
Over dinner, just steps from where Ecuador meets the Pacific Ocean, Jorge told me about his ordeal as a transgender man in a nearby private rehabilitation clinic: being held up against a wall by his neck and repeatedly struck in the face, and forced to wear sexy feminine clothing, read Bible passages every day, and follow a bastardized version of the “12 Steps,” borrowed from Narcotics Anonymous. He wasn't allowed to associate with or communicate with his girlfriend, who was interned against her will in the same clinic several months earlier, after her mother found her with Jorge, and forbidden to leave, at least until she “changed.”
This is what the “therapists” told Jorge—not long before I met him— during his stay at a private drug and alcohol rehabilitation center, several years ago.Jorge spent seven long months enduring these coercive tactics to “fix” his “misguided” gender and sexuality. He wasn’t supposed to be a man, and he wasn’t supposed to be attracted to women. The clinic promised his family that the behavior modification program they offered could fix this “behavior disorder”—a diagnosis without any medical standing that can describe just about anything and is frequently code for homosexuality or gender transgressions.
Local activists call these centers’ practices “dehomosexualization,” which perhaps implies a more purposeful, organized, and cohesive phenomenon than it really is, though the term cuts to the heart of the practices’ intent. Many parents and families—like the clinics they approach—continue to understand homosexuality as an addiction, a sexual disorder, or a temporary rebellion. Through ignorance, desperation, or both, they believe forced separation from their partners or peer group and exposure to some “hard discipline” can provide a “cure.”
With scores of allegations of abuse each year originating among its more than 200 loosely regulated private rehabilitation centers, Ecuador has a major problem on its hands. The first few private rehabilitation centers emerged in the country beginning in the 1970s, several decades before any regulatory body existed to oversee them. They expanded to fill a void left by an absent state whose public-health spending was gutted in the march towards neoliberalism during the 1990s, just when the country began facing growing drug problems. More residential rehab centers started opening in the 1980s and 1990s, and their numbers have quickly mushroomed over the last 15 years, as they proliferated to every province in the country.
Generally, the theory of change employed by Ecuador’s offending rehab centers is a militaristic system of punishments administered “until you change,” that is, a model of coercion. The tactics vary, but this genre of treatment in the centers has come to be casually known as “garroterapia,” which means roughly “therapy by the stick.” And the centers in which such practices take place have been dubbed “Nazi clinics.”
Decentralized and mostly unaffiliated with each other, these clinics do not follow a common program or specific standards of care or belong to professional associations. Most of them adopted the use of Narcotics Anonymous and Alcoholics Anonymous as their primary or only treatment model (a program never intended for a residential facility or for application within an institutional system). Training and credentialing of staff at these centers are haphazard. Most operate almost completely without any qualified professionals.
In fact, a majority are run by ex-substance abusers themselves, who exited other rehab centers partially recovered with little to no employment prospects, and saw opportunities for work and sometimes personal fulfillment in opening centers of their own. There, they implement what they learned during their own recuperation with a nearly total lack of oversight or accountability.
So-called “vivenciales” provide peer therapy and support, but most of them have also recently graduated from other centers, lack any other experience or training, and possibly continue to struggle with unresolved mental health or substance abuse issues. Yet they are given tremendous authority over other residents and often inflict the same methods of violent or punitive treatment they received when interned themselves.
Until recent years, violent, brutal, and illegal practices directed at clients have continued with total impunity at many of these centers. In their most extreme forms, this includes the use of restraints, tranquilizers, beatings, withholding food, solitary confinement, water bucketing, and other forms of degrading treatment.
Detailed regulations governing these institutions are regularly updated by the Ministry of Health and often posted in clinic offices, but in practice their enforcement has been nearly absent. Designed to coerce normative behavior by brute force, many of these facilities work more like organized crime networks or extra-legal private incarceration systems than rehab centers. A great many are motivated by profit-seeking. In some cases, even multiple attempts by Ministry of Health officials to shut down the worst offenders have been thwarted when clinics simply reopened their doors in the same facility or a nearby location.
Unfortunately, this lack of enforced regulation and the rewards available to opportunists have created the conditions for high levels of abuse. Even though the situation has persisted over the past several decades, the rapid expansion of Ecuador’s rogue rehab centers was not widely publicized until the last 10 to 15 years, when some of them began interning lesbian, transgender, and gay individuals specifically to “treat” their non-conforming sexualities or genders. Having built a winning business model around the unregulated and unsupervised mistreatment of substance abusers in the 1990s, at the turn of the 21st century these clinics were ripe for expansion, both in numbers and in mandate. If they could cure alcoholism or a drug addiction, some center staff claimed, why not homosexuality? For a fee of course…
This is how gays, lesbians, and trans persons end up in these rehab centers: most are taken—tricked, drugged, or dragged in against their will—by family members who hope to “cure” or “change” their homosexuality or gender transgressions. Many families are so desperate to do so that they are willing to pay more than $500 a month to accomplish this goal. Interning a gay, lesbian, or trans* family member in a locked-down rehab clinic has the added bonus of separating their relative from their same-sex partner and forcibly cutting off contact.
Some clinics have learned that widespread homophobia can be taken advantage of for financial gain, that is, it makes for good business. In the dozens of centers I investigated across the country, 60-100 percent of the residents were being held against their will. Many of them—and nearly all of the LGBT residents whose stories I collected—were “abducted,” often violently, by family members or the clinic's staff to get them there (another technically illegal practice performed regularly with impunity). Once there, gay, lesbian, and trans* persons face the same abuses in the clinics as do their straight peers, the vast majority of whom are interned for substance abuse.
Though there are no documented cases of explicit treatment of sexuality in these centers until the late 1990s, “dehomosexualization” is the cherry on the top of a long history of institutional abuse. However, being abducted, forcibly interned, and mistreated in order to force one to change her or his deeply held gender identity or sexual orientation is a violation of one’s dignity of another order—one with grave psychological consequences.
There are many cases—at least 30 public documented complaints—of gay men, lesbian women, transmen and transwomen who have been subjected to forced internment and “dehomosexualization” attempts against their will. LGBT advocacy organizations in Ecuador suggest that there may be in reality 30 or more new cases every year.
How can this possibly be legal, you might ask? It’s not, but the Ecuadorian state has been long absent from enforcing existing regulations in these spaces and is only now trying to get a grip on its now-notorious rehab centers. Largely spurred on by local activists drawing attention to the issue of the internment of LGBT people in these centers, the Ecuadorian government has repeatedly announced redoubled efforts to end these practices.
After another high-profile case in 2013 involving the forced internment of a young lesbian woman by her parents, the Ministry of Health promised to regulate better the country’s out-of-control rehab center problem and shut down offending clinics. Nevertheless, definitive state action thus far has been largely limited by intractable delays and a continued inability to reign in rogue clinics. Meanwhile, forcible conversion therapy efforts likely continue with impunity in dozens of Ecuador’s private and often isolated rehab centers.
In 2011, the issue created an international media storm following a Change.org petition demanding the closure of such clinics. At the time, Ecuador’s offending rehab centers were widely erroneously reported as “ex-gay” clinics affiliated with or run by “ex-gay” organizations, distinct enactors and promoters of sexual orientation change efforts that have a distinct presence in the country.
Unlike ex-gay ministries, the rehab centers that practice some form of sexual orientation change efforts do not represent a centrally organized effort or a cohesive ideological movement, but rather exist as a loosely networked form of opportunistic exploitation. They are not deliberate or purposeful in their deployment of conversion therapy like ex-gay ministries; rather, they simply apply the same methods to “homosexuals” that they use for substance abusers, in which they are equally untrained.
This does not mean the two are entirely unrelated: both the offending rehab centers and the ex-gay movement share a conception of homosexuality as a behavior that can and should be changed. This is the underlying assumption—internalized by rehab center directors and staff, clients’ families, and sometimes clients themselves—that continues to fuel the practice and proliferation of sexual orientation change efforts and the presence of gay, lesbian, and trans* persons in Ecuador’s rehab centers. No other entity is as active and successful at spreading the message that “change is possible” as the ex-gay movement.
Thus, while ex-gay ministries may explicitly condemn and distance themselves from the violent tactics and forced confinement as practiced by some of Ecuador’s rehab clinics, the transnational ex-gay movement still plays an important role in promoting the underlying premise that enables these practices; that is, the idea that homosexuality can—and by implication, should—be changed.
The problem of coercive sexual orientation change efforts in rehab clinics is a serious human rights problem in Ecuador and the response should include stricter regulations that are actually enforced. In its attempts to tackle the problem, the Ministry of Health claims to have closed more than 100 private rehabilitation centers so far that do not meet regulatory standards or that have incurred infractions. The Ministry has announced plans to open its own public rehabilitation centers in every province of the country by the end of this year. But many of those who have been working on this issue for years remain concerned that this step, while improving conditions for all clients, does not address the underlying problem of widespread societal homophobia.
This approach only treats the supply side of the problem.
There must also be attention focused on the demand side of the problem. The deliberate diffusion of the argument that homosexuality can and should change, spread in public discourse by the ex-gay movement and its supporting religious institutions (including in the United States), fuels and supports the continuation and perceived legitimacy of sexual orientation change efforts, whether they take place in ex-gay ministries, churches, psychologists’ offices, or rehab centers.
But it doesn’t work. Jorge himself put it best: “I will never change.”
Annie Wilkinson is a feminist researcher focused on gender and sexuality issues internationally. She is the author of Sin sanidad, no hay santidad: las prácticas reparativas en Ecuador (Cleanliness is Holiness: Reparative Practices in Ecuador), published by FLACSO-Ecuador (2013).

author: NACLA


text:
Vietnamese Netizens Are Getting Bolder Online, Despite Tough Laws · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Image from Viet Tan
Despite serious restrictions on free expression in Vietnam, a growing number of citizens are actively using online networks to express their views on social and political issues.
Vietnam has a population of 93 million and an Internet user base of almost 40 million. There are more than 30 million active Facebook users, an impressive jump since 2012, when the number was only 8.5 million. Furthermore, the popular social networking site has been intermittently blocked in Vietnam in recent years.
A recent report by Viet Tan, a pro-democracy political party led by Vietnamese citizens in and outside of the country, elaborates on the issue. Although the government has passed multiple laws intended to control Internet use and content, “social media is playing the role of a de-facto independent media with far reaching socio-political implications,” the group says. They have also observed that “online platforms provide a public town square and virtual civil society,” especially since freedom of assembly is curtailed in the country.
Thanks to social media it has become possible and even trendsetting to publicly question the Communist Party’s legitimacy.
As Vietnam pushes towards greater connectivity with an online populace showing greater willingness to exercise their right to connect, censorship will be more difficult for the government to accomplish.
Viet Tan presented its study of Vietnam's social media landscape during the human rights and technology conference RightsCon in Manila last month.
Viet Tan noted that a search on YouTube for the words “cong an danh nguoi” (police brutality) yields 148,000 results. Many also have shared photos with the hashtag “I don't like the Communist Party of Vietnam” (Toi khong thich dang cong san Viet Nam). A new blog called “Portraits of Power” (Chan Dung Quyen Luc) has been exposing the dirty secrets of some high-ranking officials.
A recent campaign opposing the cutting down of 6,700 trees in Hanoi gathered popular support, forcing authorities to suspend the plan.
Huong Le Thu, a Visiting Fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore, also noticed the growing defiance among some netizens. He wrote on New Mandala, an online journal focusing on Southeast Asia:
An indicator of change is that people are no longer afraid of self-identification when posting anti-regime banners, uploading their photos and revealing their online identities.
An Internet cafe in Vietnam. Flickr photo by Kent Goldman (CC License)
While it is true that Vietnam is blocking numerous websites, the report estimates that 60 percent of Internet users are using Virtual Private Networks or proxy servers to access restricted content. Viet Tan interprets this as proof that netizens are already “weary of the government’s controls.”
Some Vietnamese officials recognize the difficulty of policing the web. Even the prime minister commented last January that “it is impossible to ban or prevent people from posting information on the Internet.”
But that doesn’t mean Internet policies have been relaxed. On a daily basis, Vietnamese Internet users must navigate restrictive regulations for social media platforms and policies such as Decree 72, which attempts to prohibit news aggregation and sharing on social media. Another law commonly used to persecute online speakers is Article 258 of the Criminal Code, which punishes the misuse of “democratic freedoms to attack state interests and the legitimate rights and interests of collectives and individuals.”
The use of ‘opinion-shapers’ or government-sponsored trolls to undermine the work of activists prove that there are other ways of restricting free expression in the country. Viet Tan told Global Voices in an email interview that ‘opinion-shapers’ are still active today:
The use of opinion shapers continues to be a problem. Also, a lot of activists have had their Facebook accounts hacked into and passwords stolen. It’s probably impossible now for the government to block FB but they will certainly try to undermine its effectiveness and desirability.
Vietnam also continues to harass and arrest prominent bloggers, tactics that “intimidate the larger online community against discussing politically sensitive content.” Viet Tan pointed out that this remains “the greatest challenge facing the Vietnamese online community.” There are 16 journalists and bloggers in Vietnam who are still in detention.
Viet Tan said that aside from campaigning for the release of dissident writers, the international community can “speak out against Western companies that supply filtering technologies to the Vietnamese state and urge Western technology companies not to collude with the censors.”
Whether the Communist Party likes it or not, Vietnam’s media landscape is changing. Hopefully, critical voices will be allowed to flourish in both offline and online spaces.


text:
Photos Show Homes, Schools, Bridges, Airports, and Stadiums Destroyed in Yemen War · Global Voices
Noon Arabia

The biggest airstrike reported shook the capital Sanaa on April 20. On Twitter, @ammar82 shares this photograph from the blast site, in a residential area. The bombing has left dozens of people dead and hundreds injured
Arab coalition forces have been pounding Yemen with airstrikes for a month. Their assault has not been limited to military sites or their main target, tribal fighters the Houthis, who took control of Yemen's capital Sana'a from President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi in January.
There is also massive destruction in the beautiful southern port city Aden, where the Houthis have been pushing their response, along with forces loyal to Yemen's former president, Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Saleh stepped down after three decades as president following popular protests in 2011, and handed power to Hadi through a deal brokered by the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council), led by Saudi Arabia. The same countries are currently bombing Yemen. Saleh still controls most of Yemen's army units and wields influence in the world's poorest Arab country.
Also read: “We Walk Around Death,” Tweets a Yemeni Blogger about the Horrors of War
A published report by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on April 17 summarises the vast destruction:
Civilian infrastructure has been destroyed, damaged and disrupted as a result of the fighting, including at least five hospitals (Sana’a, Al Dhale’e and Aden), 15 schools and educational institutions (Aden, Al Dhale’e, and Sana’a), the three main national airports (Sana’a, Aden and Hudaydah), and at least two bridges, two factories and four mosques in Al Dhale’e. Reports have also been received of damage to local markets, power stations, and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) infrastructure in Aden, Hajjah and Sa’ada. Civilians’ private homes are being directly affected by airstrikes and armed clashes, particularly in the south.
Saudi Arabia, leading the military operation in the war in Yemen, announced on April 21 that it was ending Operation Decisive storm after reaching its aims and is starting Operation Restoring Hope, which aims at finding a political solution in the country it had been bombing for the last four weeks. A total of 944 people have been killed and 3,487 injured in fighting in Yemen since Saudi Arabia launched its military campaign on March 26.
Also read: Electricity, Food and Fuel Shortages Increase Suffering of Yemenis as Saudi-Coalition Bombs Continue to Fall
The majority of these powerful photographs and videos show the vast devastation and destruction caused by the US-backed Saudi Arabia-led Operation Decisive Storm airstrikes, while some are by the Houthi/Saleh tank bombardments.
Yemen Updates and other Twitter users shared news and images of the massive destruction, across Yemeni cities, caused by the war.
UN, civilian infrastructure, including schools, health facilities, markets, power plants and warehouses has been damaged by fighting.
— Zaid al-Alaya'a (@zaidaahmed) April 10, 2015
Two MEG29 aircrafts were destroyed in Sanaa Airport in one #KSA Airstrikes. #Yemen pic.twitter.com/jeWCDxGHW8
— Yemen Post Newspaper (@YemenPostNews) March 30, 2015
Pictures of the damage in #Hodeidah Airport targeted last night by #DecisiveStorm raids. #Yemen pic.twitter.com/JyrYazFSMb
— Yemen Updates (@yemen_updates) March 29, 2015
#DecisiveStorm raids targeted the newly built Saada Airport, northern #Yemen. It started operation this month. pic.twitter.com/AHPQxUuKpr
— Yemen Updates (@yemen_updates) March 30, 2015
Pictures are from #Aden where Houthi/Saleh forces continue to target the residential areas. #Yemen #DecisiveStorm pic.twitter.com/lLs2QjO5Gd
— Yemen Updates (@yemen_updates) April 16, 2015
A man sits on the rubble of his home in Aden, Yemen (via @ORHamilton) (Photo by Saleh Bahales) pic.twitter.com/xpwD1Yptfd
— Sara Yasin (@missyasin) April 10, 2015
Man looks at his house destroyed by #Saudi airstrike Tues 31 March near #Sanaa Airport #Yemen http://t.co/blLL58zWx1 pic.twitter.com/ZgEYD6jZ66
— Jamila Hanan (@JamilaHanan) April 7, 2015
This is my friend Madih's bedroom before and after #Houthies attack in #Aden #yemen pic.twitter.com/QsnJIgTDnH
— FaizahAl-sulimani (@faizahsulimani) April 9, 2015
Local sources: More than 16 petrol station have been targeted today by airstrikes #OpDecisiveStorm in #Saadah #Yemen pic.twitter.com/9tyXyKUeL5
— ~• A. Sayaghi •~ (@AhmedSayaghi) April 15, 2015
Yesterday coalition airstrikes targeted the main water tower, power generators & cooking gas only station in Sa'daa city north. Locals said
Aden's biggest flour mills & silos: 5500 tones/d. 170,000 ton capacity. A main source for whole #Yemen. Up in flames. pic.twitter.com/LnPvZRLtSO
— Ammar Al-Aulaqi (@ammar82) April 10, 2015
— Ammar Al-Aulaqi (@ammar82) April 11, 2015
Footage of the destruction of the People Palace in #Taiz, next to my college. It is a symbol of pride. #Yemen pic.twitter.com/INMRwWSgHY
— Mohammed Al-Asaadi (@alasaadim) April 17, 2015
Close-up pictures of the destroyed People Palace n #Taiz. This palace was built by the most loved Prz AlHamdi. #Yemen pic.twitter.com/CFC4zYydhN
— Yemen Updates (@yemen_updates) April 17, 2015
Examples of damages in Aden city which is under nonstop brutal attack from Houthi/Saleh forces. #Yemen pic.twitter.com/3UBcvLS7IT
— Hafez Albukari (@hafezbukari) April 8, 2015
wheat silos and Radfan Tobacco factory in Aden have been destroyed by Saudi air strikes.they r really helping #Yemen pic.twitter.com/2V8i1vcCAf
— Hamed Yemen (@HamedGhaleb) April 9, 2015
Air strikes destroyed palace hotel in #aden #Yemen #KefayaWar pic.twitter.com/5AP5tEYg0S
— Nisma Alozebi (@NismaAlozebi) April 8, 2015
Now, Al-Mualla street's buildings are being shelled in #Aden. #Yemen #Houthis #DecisiveStorm pic.twitter.com/TR3DXBS9Ke
Destruction in #Saada after #OpDecisiveStorm bombarded houses & non military sites, innocent ppl died too #Yemen pic.twitter.com/0uIjzmnwnK
— amal suqaf (@amalsuqaf) April 16, 2015
Houthi tanks shell a residential building in Mualla, #Aden. #الحوثيين يقصفون مبنى في المعلا، #عدن #Yemen #اليمن pic.twitter.com/7idfJP5mtf
— Yemen Post Newspaper (@YemenPostNews) April 11, 2015
Six #Saudi Airstrikes in Haradth border crossing city. Six killed…all civilians. #Yemen #اليمن pic.twitter.com/fU4yYa4Tan
— Yemen Post Newspaper (@YemenPostNews) April 21, 2015
Destruction in heart of Sanaa. #Saudi airstrike targets residential building in Jiraf district of #Yemen capital. pic.twitter.com/xXEtRc2DE0
— Yemen Post Newspaper (@YemenPostNews) April 8, 2015
— Yemen Updates (@yemen_updates) April 4, 2015
A friend of mine just finished building his farmhouse in Hajja. Got blown up by Saudi jets. He denies any Houthi ties pic.twitter.com/4peZ0qUaO6
— Ammar Al-Aulaqi (@ammar82) April 16, 2015
Just 5yrs ago Yemen #Aden host #Gulf Cup opening ceremony @ 22nd May Stadium. Now blown 2 pieces #KefayaWar pic.twitter.com/dudA3pifL8
— Wesam Qaid (@Wesamqaid) April 9, 2015
This used to be Ibb #Football Stadium before a #Saudi airstrike…. Completely destroyed. #Yemen #اليمن pic.twitter.com/6fFyMCSPkb
— Yemen Post Newspaper (@YemenPostNews) April 14, 2015
At least 29 people were killed last night when Saudi attacked a Milk and Yogurt factory in Hodieda. #Yemen pic.twitter.com/YWavKss008
— Yemen Post Newspaper (@YemenPostNews) April 1, 2015
Elementary school targeted by Saudi airstrike in Sahar, Saadah province. #Yemen #OpDecisiveStorm #عاصفة_الحزم #اليمن pic.twitter.com/0rbYGLNZFB
— Yemen Post Newspaper (@YemenPostNews) April 9, 2015
Hodieda #university after #Saudi airstrike. No students were inside as schools are closed due to war. #Yemen #اليمن pic.twitter.com/FYBmTpSEQv
— Yemen Post Newspaper (@YemenPostNews) April 11, 2015
Bridge linking Taiz to Lahj province…. Destroyed by #Saudi airstrike. #Yemen #OpDecisiveStorm #عاصفة_الحزم #اليمن pic.twitter.com/XG0gT9Cc0n
— Yemen Post Newspaper (@YemenPostNews) April 6, 2015
The biggest airstrike reported shook the capital Sanaa on April 20. It was targeting a weapon depot in Faj Attan, which was in a residential area and the massive explosion caused dozens of deaths and hundreds of injuries along with the destruction of properties.
How reckless is it to drop such a massive bomb on a heavily populated city??? #OpDecisiveStorm pic.twitter.com/MzfvQUD1l9
— Ammar Al-Aulaqi (@ammar82) April 20, 2015
Clear photo for the massive explosion in Faj-Attan yesterday which completely destroyed the whole neighborhood #Yemen pic.twitter.com/AFwEUYWCaf
— Ala'a Assamawy (@assamawy) April 21, 2015
The mother of all explosions. My apartment destroyed. pic.twitter.com/6uSUFRvMm9
— Ammar Al-Aulaqi (@ammar82) April 20, 2015
Our five-floor building was all damaged&people from my neighborhood came out w/ blood pouring of their bodies #Yemen https://t.co/1RYaCuhsSm
— Osama Abdullah (@PoliticsYemen) April 20, 2015
This is how walking the dog looks like in my neighborhood today . Faj Attan bombing aftermath. Copyrighted. pic.twitter.com/ZuOtmnnhl8
— Ammar Al-Aulaqi (@ammar82) April 22, 2015
Glass gate of #Sanaa University, Faculty of commerce is broken. It's 15km away from area of today explosion. #Yemen pic.twitter.com/l0jAVLORdi
— A. Sayaghi •| (@AhmedSayaghi) April 20, 2015
Images of the #OpDecisiveStorm air strike on Al-Daleel Bridge at the end of Sumarah Road in Ibb. #Yemen pic.twitter.com/nlX1sTevTM
— Yemen Updates (@yemen_updates) April 21, 2015
Operation Decisive Storm and its airstrikes, the ongoing fighting by Houthi and Saleh militia in Taiz, Mareb and the southern governorates has caused death and destruction across Yemen as many innocent civilians are caught in the crossfire.
Also read: GV Tracking the Destruction of Infrastructure in Yemen
Some wondered what Operation Restore Hope would bring?
Ruba Aleryani, resiliently tweeted:
#OpOurYemen because we don't need another country to restore hope for us. We are resilient and will do whatever it takes to restore #Yemen.
— Ruba A. (@raleryan) April 21, 2015

author: Noon Arabia


text:
Angola: Award-Winning Journalist Faces Trial Over ‘Blood Diamonds’ Investigation · Global Voices
Nani Jansen Reventlow

Jonathan McCully contributed to this report.
Last month, Rafael Marques de Morais was awarded the Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Award for Journalism for his “impactful, original, and unwavering investigative journalism” in his home country of Angola. Tomorrow, he will face trial on multiple charges of criminal defamation because of his work as a journalist.
In his acceptance speech, Marques de Morais spoke of his belief in the “power of solidarity” and dedicated the award to Eskinder Nega and Reeyot Alemu, his colleagues in Ethiopia who are currently serving time in prison for exercising their right to freedom of expression.
Marques de Morais has been a prominent investigative journalist in Angola for over two decades, working for national and international news outlets, in addition to his own investigative news site, Maka Angola. The subject matter of his trial is his book Blood Diamonds: Corruption and Torture in Angola, which has been heralded not only as a serious piece of investigative journalism, but also as a significant work of human rights reporting. The book documents numerous human rights abuses committed by Angolan military generals in the course of diamond mining operations in the country, shining a spotlight on an often underreported sector of the Angolan economy. As a result of his reporting on these matters, Marques de Morais faces a claim in damages totaling $1.6 million and nine years’ imprisonment. This is an extortionate penalty for informing the public of grave human rights allegations. His trial begins on 23 April, at the Luanda Provincial Court in Angola.
Marques de Morais is no stranger to this form of oppression. On three occasions in 1999, he wrote articles critical of President Dos Santos in the independent Angolan newspaper Agora. He stated that the President was responsible for the “destruction of the country,” and blamed him for the promotion of incompetence and corruption in political life. Marques de Morais was jailed for 43 days without charge, and thereafter prosecuted and eventually found guilty of the “crime of injury” towards the President, given a six-month suspended prison sentence and ordered to pay damages.
The UN Human Rights Committee reasoned that the severity of these criminal sanctions “cannot be considered as a proportionate measure to protect public order or the honour and the reputation of the President, a public figure who, as such, is subject to public criticism and opposition.”
2015 Index on Censorship award winners. Rafael Marques de Morais, Safa Al Ahmad, Amran Abdundi, Mouad “El Haqed” Belghouat (GV Advox member) and Tamas Bodoky of Atlatszo. Photo by Alex Brenner for Index on Censorship.
During the early 2000s, Marques de Morais researched the trade in conflict diamonds in Angola and uncovered human rights abuses in the Lunda region of Angola. In 2011, he published Diamantes de sangue: Corrupção e tortura em Angola (Blood Diamonds: Corruption and Torture in Angola) in Portugal. The book detailed the reported homicides, torture, intimidation and land grabbing experienced by inhabitants over a period of 18 months in the diamond mining areas of the Lunda region. It included ground-breaking reports of 500 cases of torture and 100 killings. According to the book, guards from a private security firm and a number of generals in the Angolan Armed Forces were complicit in these abuses.
In November 2011, Marques de Morais filed a criminal complaint in Luanda accusing nine Angolan generals of crimes against humanity and corruption in connection to the diamond mining activities that had taken place in the Lunda region. But the Attorney General’s office refused to take the case, arguing that the information provided by victims was “worthless” as they had “not provided any new information” beyond what they had communicated to Marques de Morais for his book.
In 2012, a group of Angolan generals filed a criminal defamation complaint against Marques de Morais in Portugal over the book. On 11 February 2013, to the dissatisfaction of the generals who made the criminal complaint, the Portuguese Prosecution Service chose not to pursue the matter, stating that Marques de Morais’ “intention is clearly not to offend, but to inform.” In March 2013, the generals brought a civil claim before the Lisbon Court demanding compensation of $400,000 for the alleged defamatory statements made in the book.
While civil proceedings in Portugal were still ongoing, on 3 April 2013, Marques de Morais was summoned for interrogation by the Organised Crime Unit of the National Police in Luanda, Angola. He was summoned without a warrant, interrogated in the absence of his lawyer, and not informed of the nature of the evidence that had been collected against him. After a series of irregular summons and encounters with the prosecution, Marques de Morais was eventually informed that his trial was to take place in December 2014. This hearing was eventually rescheduled by the Angolan authorities in an apparent attempt to dissuade foreign observers and members of the public from attending the hearing.
At the end of 2014, the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights ruled that custodial sanctions could only be used as a legitimate interference with freedom of expression under very limited circumstances such as incitement to hatred or violence. It also stated that all sanctions that are of a criminal nature, including civil fines, must be necessary and proportionate to the crime in question.
Angolan authorities are seeking to punish Marques de Morais under criminal defamation laws that present a clear affront to the right to freedom of expression. This right is recognised by Article 9 of the African Charter, which is binding on Angola, as interpreted by the African Court. Not only is he facing a nine-month custodial sentence for reporting on issues of public interest, but there is no demonstrated legitimate reason why for authorities to seek such a harsh penalty.
Marques de Morais’ case is a clear illustration of Angola’s continuing campaign of prosecuting those who exercise their right to freedom of expression for legitimate journalistic purposes. His story highlights the often disproportionate criminal sanctions that can be incurred by those who seek to speak out against corruption and human rights abuses in Angola. We hope that the Angolan court will take into account its commitments under Article 9 of the African Charter when it hears the case on 23 April 2015. But we also know that Marques de Morais’ position remains precarious.
is Case and Project Support Officer at the Media Legal Defence Initiative (MLDI), a global legal support organization that helps journalists, bloggers, and independent media outlets defend their rights by offering both financial assistance and substantive litigation support. Nani Jansen is MLDI's Legal Director.

author: Nani Jansen Reventlow


text:
Bangladeshis Stand Up to Sexual Violence Following New Year’s Assaults · Global Voices
Palash Ranjan Sanyal

Online protests against sexual assault in Bangladesh. Photo: হোক প্রতিরোধ/Hok Protirodh (Lets Resist) Used with permission.
People are protesting online and offline in Bangladesh after several women were sexually molested at University of Dhaka during the Bengali New Year celebrations.
What happened on the evening of April 14, 2015, in Dhaka was not only deplorable but also shocking. Closed-circuit television video footage showed a group of 30 to 40 young men assaulting and sexually harassing around 20 women at the Shuhrawardy Udyan park near the Teachers Student Center area as the women returned home from celebrating the New Year.
Some witnesses tried to intervene, activist Liton Nandi being one of them. He broke his arm in the process and told bdnews24.com:
one woman fell down when the rouge youths started assaulting her and tried to take her clothes off in public. They started beating me when I tried to save her. I collapsed too and broke my arm during the attack.
Authorities initially said they knew nothing of the assaults, despite the fact that these incidents played out in front of hundreds of people, were captured on film and police were in the area at the time managing the crowd. Five days later, police finally acknowledged the assaults, but downplayed them. They also disclosed that one of the perpetrators was handed over to police, but later set free. The country's High Court has ordered the inspector general of police and Dhaka University vice chancellor to submit reports on what steps are being taken to punish the guilty.
While the police have not identified or arrested anyone, Facebook and Twitter users have pored over the photos and stills to identify the assailants.
Online protests against sexual assault in Bangladesh. Photo: হোক প্রতিরোধ/Hok Protirodh (Lets Resist) Used with permission.
The incident sparked outrage, and some have channeled their anger into innovative protests. The students of University of Dhaka's Institute of Fine arts barricaded Shahbag police station and presented the police with women's clothes, bangles and lollipops protesting their inaction on the issue.
On social media, videos and photos have gone viral of individuals expressing their indignation over the ineffectiveness of authorities and inaction of the eyewitness. Celebrity Mumtaheena Buni Toya posted a video speaking out, which was viewed by more than 150,000 people.
Translation: #Boishakhi Burkha – Fashion of the future – And still the victim gets these comments – “Haram Burkha”, “The eyes are visible”, “You can see the hands”, “foreign culture”, “The Burkha has Hindu designs”. Image via হোক প্রতিরোধ/Hok Protirodh (Lets Resist) Used with permission.
Numerous Facebook community pages have been created, including the ones called ‘hok protirodh‘ (Let's Resist) and Stand By Her, asking women to take a stand against sexual violence.
Aantaki Raisa, a journalist, expressed her frustration in a Facebook video post over the mentality that the women should be blamed for their own assault:
“ও অমন কাপড় ক্যান পরছে? ওরা ওইখানে ক্যান ছিল? ইজ্জত বাঁচাইতে চাইলে অমন জায়গায় যাইত না।” ধর্নষকারীদের মধ্যে ভিক্টিম ব্লেমিং খুবই কমন মেন্টালিটি। ভিক্টিম ব্লেমিং জিনিসটা অনেকটা এরকম: ধরেন আপনার বাসায় ডাকাতি হইছে এবং মানুষ বলতিসে…ভাই এত দামী জিনিস ক্যান কিনসিলেন?টাকা পয়সা বাসায় ক্যান, ব্যাংকে সব রাখা উচিত, কার্ড ইউজ করবেন… ভাই বাসায় পুলিশ রাখলে এমন হইত না। ভাই এখানে ক্যান বাসা নিতে গেলেন? ডাকাতের কাছে নিজের সম্পত্তি হারায় এমন কথা শুনলে কেমন লাগতে পারে? ভাবেন একটা মানুষ যখন ধর্ষিত হয়, তার শরীরের সবচেয়ে সেনসিটিভ জায়গা যখন ক্ষতবিক্ষত হয়, তখন তাঁর এমন কথা শুনে কেমন লাগতে পারে। যখন রাস্তা ঘাটে অন্যের হাত এসে আপনার কাড়প টেনে ছিঁড়ে ফেলে, তখনই বা এমন কথা শুনলে কেমন লাগে?
“Why did she wear such clothes? Why were they there? If they cared about their honour they would not go to such a place.” This is a common trend among rapists — blaming the victims. Their logic is this: For example, your house gets robbed and people scold you over owning such expensive things. You should have kept all your valuables in the bank vault.. use only debit or credit cards…you should have employed a security guard at home. Then they would go on.. why did you rent a house in this vulnerable area? How would you feel after being robbed of your belongings? Just imagine when a girl is raped, their sensitive organs are hurt, how would they feel hearing such logic? When in the streets girls get molested and their clothes are ripped, how would they feel if you say such things?
Some of the blame-the-victim rhetoric has come from extremist religious groups, which have gained influence in recent years in Bangladesh. Shah Ahmed Shafi, the chief of fundamentalist Islamic group Hefazat-e-Islam, commented that the assaults happened because women were not modest in their dress. He also blamed co-education and urged for the separation of men and women in educational institutions and workplaces.
In turn, the chief of Bangladesh's National Human Rights Commission blamed the sexual assaults on religious fanaticism and patriarchal systems.
Students create a banner with black handprints as they rally around Dhaka University to protest incidents of sexual harassment on the campus during Bengali New Year celebrations. Image by Sk. Hasan Ali. Copyright Demotix (20/4/2015)
Senior journalist Farzana Rupa said that she received a death threat from a person identifying himself as the deputy chief of an Islamic militant organisation minutes after Ekattor TV broadcast her report on 18 April about the assaults. The station had analyzed a one-hour-long video captured by closed-circuit television installed by police on campus.
If religious fundamentalists are really behind this coordinated assault, it would not be the first time that the New Year's festival, termed contrary to the culture of Islam, became a target. In 2001, a bomb blast killed nine people in the capital near the University of Dhaka campus.

author: Palash Ranjan Sanyal


text:
Ecuadorian Woman Fights for Right to Save Sister-in-Law with Organ Transplant · Global Voices
Daniela Gallardo

QUE ESTA FOTO DE LA VUELTA AL MUNDO ENTERO!!! POR NOSOTROS Y TODOS LOS QUE LUCHAN!!! #yotengoderechoadonar pic.twitter.com/Xp7Mggyj48
— Daniela Peralta (@dannymperalta) April 14, 2015
May this photo spread across the whole world! For us and all those who are fighting! #ihavetherighttodonate pic.twitter.com/Xp7Mggyj48
Daniela Peralta is a 32-year-old Ecuadorian woman who thinks the best gift she can offer is the gift of life, especially if it means saving someone close to her, and even more so when that person happens to be her niece's mother. In January, Peralta found out that her sister-in-law, Susy Hinojosa, was suffering from nephritis and kidney failure, and was in dire need of an organ transplant. Although she was subjected to a series of rigorous medical examinations that indicated she was a suitable donor, Ecuador's National Institute for the Donation and Transplantation of Organs, Tissues and Cells (INDOT) denied Peralta permission to donate organ tissue.
Article 33 of the Statutory Law Respecting Donation and Transplantation of Organs, Tissues and Cells clearly states the recipient must either have “a kinship within the fourth degree of consanguinity with the donor” or be the recipient's “spouse or common-law partner.” Because she is only related to her sister-in-law by marriage, Peralta does not meet the legal requirements, which were established in order to prevent organ trafficking, according to the Executive Director of INDOT, Diana Almeida.
As reported by the BBC, Susy Hinojosa, who is 36-years-old, must undergo dialysis three times a week. Unfortunately, none of the members of her immediate family are in a position to donate: her three brothers are unable for medical reasons, and her husband is incompatible. If Hinojosa opts to wait for a deceased donor, she knows there are already 444 names ahead of hers on the transplant list.
But Daniela Peralta does not give up easily, and has taken to social media to promote her case under the hashtag #YoTengoDerechoaDonar (“I have the right to donate”) to galvanize public attention and humanize the donor law. As she told Ecuador's national broadcaster Ecuavisa, “I have rights over my body… I see very little sense in it only being of use when we die.”
With 3,502 likes, the Yo Tengo Derecho a Donar Facebook page is chock-full of messages in support of the transplant between the sisters-in-law. The message has even reached the President's office, leading to a staff member contacting Peralta on April 14 to discuss the case and offer help, promising a reply within eight days. In her latest update, however, Peralta said:
Queridos amigos, luchadores por la vida! Es muy importante que sepan que todavía NO se nos autoriza nuestra operación, solo se nos di una esperanza y por eso ahora más que nunca necesitamos que sigan luchando junto a nosotros hasta que nuestra voz y la de todos los que luchan contra está terrible enfermedad se escuche!
Dear friends fighting for life! It is very important that you know that our operation has still NOT been authorized—all we have been given is hope and so now, more than ever, we need you to keep fighting alongside us until our voice and those of all who are struggling with this terrible disease are heard.
Many Twitter users are also supporting the campaign:
Pienso que se debe permitir donar un órgano en casos donde se pruebe el receptor. Apoyemos a Daniela #YoTengoDerechoADonar — Harold Carrasco (@HaroldECarrasco) abril 18, 2015
I think organ donation should be allowed in cases where the recipient has been approved. Let's support Daniela
Si no me pueden obligar a donar, ¿por qué es correcto q me prohíban hacerlo a quién y cuando yo quiera, viva o muerta? #yotengoderechoadonar — Daniela Donoso (@DDonosoMD) abril 17, 2015
If they can't compel me to donate, why is it acceptable to prohibit me from doing so for whom and when I want, dead or alive?
bbcmundo La ecuatoriana a la que le prohiben salvar la vida de su cuñada http://t.co/YcS8jAIaSr #YoTengoDerechoADonar pic.twitter.com/nanLmJNBlX — @ntonio_vrgara (@ntonio_vrgara) abril 17, 2015
The Ecuadorian woman who's being prevented from saving her sister-in-law's life http://t.co/YcS8jAIaSr #YoTengoDerechoADonar pic.twitter.com/nanLmJNBlX
Es maravilloso ver la fuerza d un reclamo justo. Una lucha por vivir y dar vida. ¡Fuerza @dannymperalta @susyemily ! #YoTengoDerechoADonar
— Diana Amores Moreno (@Diana_Amores) abril 16, 2015
It's wonderful to see the power of a fair claim. A fight to live and to give life. Power!
The debate has been launched in Ecuador: Who can donate? Under what circumstances?
Ecuadorian Congresswoman María Alejandra Vicuña of the governing Alianza PAIS party has raised the possibility of reforms that would permit donation by family members related by second-degree affinity, which includes relationships by marriage. Any such legislation, however, would require prior validation and authorization by a bioethics committee to guard against the potential sale or trafficking of organs. Meanwhile, Daniela Peralta soldiers on, raising awareness to save the life of her sister-in-law.
Daniela Peralta fights to donate her kidney to her sister-in-law. Photo via Facebook.

author: Daniela Gallardo


text:
Ellery Biddle is Global Voices’ New Advocacy Director · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Ellery at the Global Voices Summit 2015 in January. PHOTO: Jeremy Clarke
We’re excited to announce that after two years as our Advocacy Editor, Ellery Biddle will be Global Voices’ new Advocacy Director.
Since joining Global Voices as a volunteer author in 2010, Ellery has proven herself a dynamic and passionate advocate for the right to speak freely online. When she became Advocacy Editor in 2013, she brought new levels of rigor and regional diversity to our coverage, as well as extensive knowledge of Internet policy and freedom of expression advocacy. Ellery's efforts have brought GV Advocacy’s authors higher levels of attention and exposure, including from major media outlets such as The Guardian, The Washington Post, and Slate. She has worked hard to build bridges between the Global Voices community and Internet policy experts around the world, an effort that has brought many new voices and perspectives into the international digital rights conversation.
Ellery with Global Voices friends in Berlin, July 2014. PHOTO: Subhashish Panigrahi
Ellery’s deep knowledge of the issues also has earned her respect as an independent researcher in our field. She continues to hone and build upon that knowledge as a fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University. This year, her long-standing interest and scholarship on the Internet in Cuba has been especially important. As Cuba’s relationship with the United States and the rest of Latin America begins to shift, Ellery has brought critical insight to policy debates and media coverage of technology and human rights issues on the island.
Ellery assumes the role of Director at an important time for Global Voices and for online expression. Her work with has proven that her mix of experience, passion, and strategic thinking will continue to serve the Advox community and mission well. We are excited to move forward under her leadership!

author: Georgia Popplewell


text:
Everyone But Ethiopia’s Government Is Concerned About the Latest ISIS Beheadings · Global Voices
Abel

Eyasu and Balcha, two of the Ethiopians killed by ISIS in Libya. Photo used with permission by Addis Admas news site.
A video posted online Sunday shows ISIS militants beheading Ethiopian Christians in Libya, which is one of the main escape routes for immigrants fleeing the hardships and conflicts in the Middle East and Africa.
Ethiopian police used force today to disperse demonstrators chanting “Where is our government?” in a neighborhood that was home to two of the men executed by ISIS.
According to a report by the website Addis Standard:
According Addis Standard’s reporters and informants on the scene, demonstrators were chanting emotional slogans, among others: “where is our government,” “justice for the dead,” “sovereignty is the safety of citizens everywhere in the world,” and “don’t tell us they are not ours,” the later in response to an earlier statement given by government spokesperson Redwan Hussien saying it was not clear if the victims were Ethiopians and that the Ethiopian embassy in Cairo was investigating the matter.
On Facebook, Mahlet Solomon wondered how the government can refuse to acknowledge the murder of its own citizens, when even the killers have said its victims were Ethiopians:
Every media outlet know they are Ethiopians. The killers said they are Ethiopians. It is only the
Ethiopian government that is denying its own citizens.
Another Facebook user, Mesky Feyissa, wasn't sure which was worse: the beheadings or the government's silence:
I don't know which one hurts the most
Noting the fact that the US government recognised the victims as Ethiopians even before their own government, Mahlet Solomon wrote:
The White House released a statement condemning the killing of the Ethiopian Christians.
Oh EPRDF [the ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front] you will rot in hell for this
Dæl Bereket lambasted his government and dismissed the state's efforts to shift the public's attention to evidence that the economy is growing:
But the Ethiopian officials are still on the phone trying to verify if the victims are Ethiopian citizens? wow just wow….i don't care if they are from Eritrea or Ethiopia but they are clearly Habeshas [Semitic Ethiopians]. Enough is enough! Nobody should care about stupid trains [referring to electrified light train in the capital] or double digit growth and shit. We need a government who puts the safety and wellbeing of its people first. More than 60000 our Tigrayan brothers and sisters died for the sake of our safety and freedom not to be beheaded and burnt alive by some extremists […]
Ethiopian demonstrators denouncing their government following the beheading of Ethiopians in Libya. Photo source: Ethiopian DJ Facebook page.
Reacting to a statement by Ethiopian government spokesperson Redwan Hussein, who was quoted as saying, “If this is confirmed, it will be a warning to people who wish to risk and travel to Europe though the dangerous route,” Soli S. Gebremichael wrote:
he [government spokesperson] was trying to take advantage of the tragedy to talk about illegal migration ……………..unbelievably sad.
Samuel M. Gebru argued that the Ethiopian government should do more:
#Ethiopia should join the fight against #ISIS. Terrorism and instability are all around Ethiopia and the country must remain secure. I'm sure Prime Minister Hailemariam's government would have wide support if Ethiopia joined the coalition against ISIS as did #Egypt, #Jordan and others.
Mohammed O. Al-Dushy, meanwhile, blamed the media for not paying enough attention to the story:
Seems the life of a Japanese journalist or that of a Jordanian pilot is considered worth more than the lives of 28 Ethiopians. No media coverage whatsoever. Forget a world trending hashtag. Yes, just like there are fake news channels, there are fake social media activists.
Natnael Abera blamed both the local and international media:
Shame on the ‘Internal & International media’ coverage of the barbaric killing of 30 #Ethiopians by the #ISIS #EBC #BBCWorld #Ethiopianlivesmatter
Commenting on Daniel Berhane's argument that real war for Ethiopians is at home, Sultan Raya noted:
Daniel and woyanes are busy fighting the “terrorists” known by the names of Eskinder Nega and Reeyot Alemu [jailed Ethiopian bloggers and journalists]. Do you think they have time to fight ISIS and the Zulu barbarians???????? [reference to xenophobia related attacks in South Africa. Zulu is one of South Africa's main tribes]
Hallelujah Lulie, a researcher at the Institute for Security Studies, complained that Ethiopians aren't even permitted to demonstrate against ISIS.
Sad to live in a country where one
can't demonstrate & express anger even on ISIS,& mourn, remember &
honor the fallen #Ethiopia
— Hallelujah
Lulie (@halelule) April
20, 2015
Abdi Lemessa criticised the state media for its silence:
While #Ethiopia social media fora full of
grievances & outrage f/g ISIS barbarity, State media of all sorts loudly silent. The d/ce
visible.
— Abdi Lemessa (@Ab_Oli) April 20,
2015
Endalk, an Ethiopian PhD student in the United States, described the sad situation some Ethiopians find themselves in:
It is deeply saddening when you are running
away from #Ethiopian #repression and end up in
hands of #ISIL. http://t.co/n4jzo365N3
— endalk2006
(@endalk2006) April
20, 2015
Mekdes Mz. shared a statement by a brother of one of the victims on a local radio station, Sheger, who said:
Eyasu has told his mother that he has been
captured and to tell Ethiopian embassy to save them. #sheger. #pt
— Mekdes Mz.
(@Mekmz) April 20,
2015

author: Abel


text:
‘We Want Answers’: Mexico’s Federal Police Accused of Massacre at Apatzingán · Global Voices
Elizabeth Rivera

Still image of a video that debunks the Mexican government's official version of the massacre of Apatzingán.
Social media in Mexico is buzzing over an investigation by independent journalist Laura Castellanos published on news site Aristegui Noticias, magazine Proceso, and TV broadcaster Univisión, among others. In it, she debunks authorities’ version of a deadly shooting that took place in the city of Apatzingán, Michoacán, during the wee hours of January 6, 2015.
According to the investigation:
El pasado 6 de enero, policías federales a bordo de decenas de vehículos irrumpieron en el centro de Apatzingán y abrieron fuego contra civiles, lo que causó la muerte de por lo menos 16 personas y heridas a muchas más. Sin embargo, Alfredo Castillo, entonces comisionado federal de Seguridad en Michoacán y quien acaba de ser nombrado director de la Conade (Comisión Nacional de Cultura Física y Deporte), sostuvo que tales hechos fueron producto de un “fuego cruzado” entre civiles.
Last January 6, federal police riding dozens of vehicles burst into Apatzingán's downtown plaza and started shooting civilians, killing at least 16 people and injuring several more. Nonetheless, Alfredo Castillo, then federal commissioner of security in Michoacán and recently named director at Conade (Mexico's National Commission for Physical Culture and Sport), maintained that the events were caused by “friendly fire” among civilians.
Castellanos’ work was based on the recorded testimonies of 39 people, including survivors, local witnesses, victims’ families and medical staff reports. They described how federal police, while yelling “kill them like dogs”, started shooting hundreds of members and followers of the State's Rural Force who were having a sit-in protest in front of city hall.
In 2013, the State Rural Force began as an armed self-defense group that aimed to combat the violence from the Templar Knights‘ criminal cartel. In May 2014, it was “legalized” by Alfredo Castillo, who is now accused of being behind the attack.
Warning: The Spanish-language video below, “Unpublished Video: The Massacre of Apatzingán,” contains graphic scenes of violence.
Twitter users began discussing the investigation under the hashtag #FueronLosFederales (it was the federal police), which became a trending topic list in Mexico over the weekend of April 18 and 19:
#FueronLosFederales ahora la gente no solo debe cuidarse d criminales tambien s la autoridad q se supone debe proteger @EPN me dueles Mexico
— vicko deah (@v1ck0o) April 19, 2015
It was the federal police: now people should not only be careful with criminals but also with authorities who are supposed to be protecting President Peña Nieto. Mexico hurts me
#FueronLosFederales en #Apatzingan y ahora andan en @CONADE como si nada. pic.twitter.com/ebzphjlWuB
— Jenaro Villamil (@jenarovillamil) abril 20, 2015
It was the federal police in Apatzingán and now they are at the National Commission for Physical Culture and Sport pretending as if nothing happened
Hours before the publication, the news site Aristegui Online — lead by journalist Carmen Aristegui — suffered two DDoS attacks that left it down for approximately 12 hours, according to anti-censorship organization Article 19 and several Twitter users:
#ALERTA: Ataques DDoS dejan fuera de línea a @AristeguiOnline, un día antes de publicar #FueronLosFederales. http://t.co/Jbud6CZjG1 — ARTICLE19 MX-CA (@article19mex) April 20, 2015
WARNING: DDoS attacks take down @AristeguiOnline one day before publishing #FueronLosFederales
Sigue hackeado http://t.co/CEuRbNe8nU#FueronLosFederales@article19mexpic.twitter.com/7tZUOBK3mR
— Enrique D. (@kikesma) April 19, 2015
Still hacked
After the news started spreading, many recalled other extrajudicial killings reported during President Peña Nieto's term:
Iguala, Tlatlaya y Apatzingán son el mismo modus operandi criminal #FueronLosFederales#QuienTemeTeCensura — Antonio Helguera (@ahelguera) April 20, 2015
Iguala, Tlataya and Apatzingan have the same criminal modus operandi #FueronLosFederales #QuienTemeTeCensura (those who fear you censor you)
La investigación de @lcastellanosmx sobre #FueronLosFederales muestra q las masacres son una política oficial concreta — Julio Hdz. López (@julioastillero) April 20, 2015
The investigation by @lcastellanosmx of the federal police shows that the massacres are an official and concrete policy
Toda esta sangre algún día puede ser la de tus hijos #FueronLosFederales y no olvidemos Tlatlaya y Ayotzinapa https://t.co/oxkHhegNZy
— alberto rodríguez (@bijuunine) April 19, 2015
All this blood could one day belong to your kids #FueronLosFederales (it was the federal police) and let's not forget about Tlataya and Ayotzinapa
Given the grave accusation, users demanded accountability from the government and made gestures of of support to journalist Laura Castellanos:
Queremos respuestas. Pero desde un inicio estrategia de gobierno de @EPN ha sido callar frente a la verdad e ignorarnos. #FueronLosFederales
— El Grito Más Fuerte (@elgritomas) April 20, 2015
We want answers. But since the beginning President Peña Nieto's government's strategy has been shutting up the truth and ignoring us.
Terrible enterarse de algo como esto. Mi apoyo a @lcastellanosmx. #MasacreApatzingán#fueronlosfederaleshttp://t.co/KlzjWU5ian — Alejandro Solalinde (@padresolalinde) April 19, 2015
It's terrible to find out something like this. My support to @lcastellanosmx. #MasacreApatzingan
La única salida a las masacres perpetradas por el Estado es el procesamiento de sus ejecutores y de quienes las ordenan #FueronLosFederales
— Jesús Robles Maloof (@roblesmaloof) April 19, 2015
The only way out of the state-sponsored massacres is to bring the executioners and their bosses to justice.
The reporter herself as well as some netizens wondered if the wave of violence by those who are called to protect the people will continue or if the guilty will ever be brought to justice. They have good reasons to be wary, considering the level of impunity that reigns within the country. According to the Global Impunity Index, Mexico ranks second highest in the world.
Esta obra de @monerorape ilustra dolorosamente el caso #FueronLosFederales. Gracias, gran amigo. #MasacreApatzingán. pic.twitter.com/xosJljuFdC
— Laura Castellanos Mx (@lcastellanosmx) April 20, 2015
This piece by @monerorape painfully illustrates the #FueronLos Federales case. Thank you, great friend
¿Qué sigue? #FueronLosFederalespic.twitter.com/1zCmWwt1o6
— Enrique D. (@kikesma) April 20, 2015
What's next?
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What Do Africans Think of the Film ‘Timbuktu’ About Life Under Islamic Militants? · Global Voices
Abdoulaye Bah

A woman in tears in a screen capture of a scene from the trailer for the film Timbuktu
Timbuktu, a film by Mauritanian director Abderrahmane Sissako, won big at the 40th Cesar Awards, France's equivalent of the Oscars, which took place at Paris's Théâtre du Châtelet on February 20 and 21, 2015. The film took home a total of seven Cesars, most notably for best feature film, but also including for best original music, best sound, best cinematography, best editing and best director.
The film, named after the historical city (and cultural capital) Timbuktu in northern Mali, is the story of a cattle herder Kidane and his family whose lives are completely disrupted by the civil war in the region. After Islamist groups took control of the city, the film depicts how the new rulers banned entertainment such as music, laughter, cigarettes and soccer from the lives of the residents. Women were especially oppressed (i.e., sentenced to lashes for singing) and were often maligned in the new improvised courts.
During the civil war, the Islamist groups (mainly AQIM and MOJWA) initially made an alliance with Tuareg (also known as Bellah in Mali) separatist group, the MNLA movement, against the Malian government. France and to a lesser degree Mauritania provided military help to the Malian government. The conflict came to an end with a ceasefire agreement in February 2015, but a few localized conflicts remain.
The film has been well received in France, where it has been seen by nearly a million viewers, more than any other African film in France's history.
In Africa, the film has also been the subject of many debates. Many netizens have declared their love for the film, including Dogon64, a reader of the news website Malijet. Dogon64 points out that he has actually seen the film, unlike other African commenters who have been discussing the film without having seen it. He shared his thoughts on Malijet.com:
Yes, hats off to Adderrahmane Sissako. Unlike a lot of critics on this forum, I saw the film and I liked it! Yes, it has plenty of faults. No, it doesn't tell everything that happened. Yes, it sidesteps the MNLA's role. But it's fiction, and Abderrahmane just wanted to expose the hypocrisy of these jihadists’ Islamist ideology! And like it or not, he succeeded! Now the ever-critical among you — Kassin, Mossad, Balimamousso and others — what are you waiting for? Why don't you get together and make a film the way you want, showing how far these nuts have strayed from God, the horrors they've unleashed in Mali and elsewhere, their treatment of women, their drug trafficking, and more! What are you waiting for? Maybe you're scared you'll get a fatwa issued against you, like the Charlie Hebdo cartoonists? Or would you rather Abderrahmane be the one to take that risk? In fact,Adderrahmane did take the risk and right now,  his is the only film addressing this topic… unless yours is on the way?
“Here are two of them! Cut them!” Screen capture from Abderrahmane Sissako's film Timbuktu
On March 28, 2015, human rights activist Charles Sanches, who lives in Dakar, shared his positive view of the film:
J'ai vu Timbuktu hier. Un film magnifique. Les 7 Cesar sont mérités. Ce film aurait dû avoir au moins 1 Oscar. Je regrette d'avoir été mauvaise langue sans l'avoir vu. J'avais écrit une longue “critique” qui s'est effacée par inadvertance. Je vous recommande vivement ce film. Il est d'une beauté, d'une gravité et d'un esthétisme rares… Ce qui est une prouesse pour un sujet de film aussi délicat.
I saw Timbuktu yesterday. Brilliant film. It deserved all seven Cesars. It should have won at least one Oscar. I'm sorry I badmouthed it for so long before seeing it. I wrote a longer “review” but it got accidentally erased. I highly recommend this film. It has a beauty, a solmenity and an esthetic that is rare… which is an achievement for a film with such a difficult subject.
Many of Sanches's Facebook friends commented on his post. Sid-Lamine Salouka wrote:
HEUREUX!!! Je suis particulièrement heureux! Le film de Sissako a été vilipendé par des gens qui lui reprochent sa proximité avec le régime mauritanien mais qui ne parlent pas du film. Je convoque Césaire (et sa Lettre à Maurice Thorez) pour dire qu'être de gauche n'est pas un gage de bonne foi ni un certificat d'anti- paternalisme.Charles Sanches, tu me rends la nuit douce.
YAY!!! I am so happy! Sissako's film has been maligned by people who resent his affiliation with the Mauritanian government [editor's note: Sissako worked as a cultural advisor to current Mauritanian head of state Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz] but they aren't talking about the film. As Aimé Césaire might say (like in his letter to Maurice Thorez), being leftist is no guarantee of either good faith or of anti-paternalism. Charles Sanches, you've made my night.
Lamine Fall says he enjoyed some aspects of the film, but remains critical of others:
Je valide sur l'esthétisme et le tact, et surtout sur comment a été operé le choix de la petite fille. Neanmoins un peu critique sur le chevauchement de certaines scenes.
I agree about its esthetic and tactfulness, especially the choice they made for the little girl. However, the overlapping of some scenes was not the best.
One of Sanches's friends in Dakar, Mia Toure, said that the film was quite popular in the capital of Senegal:
I stood in line twice today to see it at the Institut français du Sénégal. Both times, the room was full.
Some of the film's critics think its success is influenced by the French government's war on religious extremism. Kassin on malijet.com is one of these critics, telling his fellow Malians to remain skeptical:
The film is Mauritanian and French propaganda, portraying the Tuaregs as victims while the MNLA's Tuaregs were supported by Mauritania and France, which is what's caused destabilization in northern Mali. Sharia was enforced on mostly black communities in Gao and in Timbuktu, not in Kidal where most of the Tuareg rebels live. But the film is mum on the suffering of the Bellah people enslaved by the Mauritania-backed Tuaregs. It's not a brand-new film and it didn't make any noise at Cannes 2014, so why all this sudden acclaim? Be very wary of propaganda and always look out for ulterior motivations. ‘Bye.
On the same site, Kibilly Soussakho draws attention to the political aspects of Timbuktu:
I'm sorry, I don't want to question the film's quality, but the fact that it won this award, especially since it received a whole slew of them (best director, best music, etc.), seems politically motivated. And when this man was making the film Bamako with [former Malian Minister of Culture] Aminata Dramane Traoré, they said he was Malian… and all of a sudden he's Mauritanian. And given the advanced state of Islamization in Mauritania, he will soon have to hire bodyguards to ensure his safety if a fatwa hasn't already been issued on him. In any case, I'm not surprised by this award.
On the site africultures.com, MlleMemr posted a comment entitled STOP AU LOBBY DE TIMBUKTU  (Stop Supporting Timbuktu):
Avant de lire mon texte, regardez ce lien.
Before reading my comment, watch this video. A film for white French people enchanted by the myth of the “blue people.” Timbuktu is an absolute farce that glorifies those who should not be glorified. Good for the “humanized” jihadists. They are barbaric and the film is deceptive. Good on the French journalists supporting this tasteless film. Follow the link above and Mr. Barlet (who wrote this article), please take it into account instead of putting us to sleep with your bland reviews that try to please everyone.
Many reactions have been triggered by excerpts of the film posted on Youtube. Still, opinions are divided. At the African film festival in Ouagadougou, FESPACO, the film's screening was controversial due to fear that it would incite terrorist attacks. Only once Burkina Faso's transitional government stepped in did the festival organizers decide to go ahead with the screening.

author: Abdoulaye Bah