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Facebook Weighs In on the Ukraine-Russia Takedown Dispute · Global Voices
Tanya Lokot

Images mixed by Tetyana Lokot.
In the social media war that has played out alongside the conflict on the ground in Ukraine, users on all sides resort to desperate measures: numerous complaints, reporting content, and mass commenting are all part of the arsenal. Disciplining the abusers is sometimes next to impossible, unless they violate a platform's terms of service.
In August, RuNet Echo reported on an outcry among Ukrainian Facebook users who accused Facebook of taking down pages of Ukrainian activists based on mass complaints from what they said were pro-Russian “organized groups.” In an open letter to Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, Ukrainians also claimed the people managing the Ukrainian Facebook segment were biased against the pro-Ukrainian activists.
In the past, users ranging from political activists in the Arab region to LGBT rights defenders in the United states have made accusations of a similar nature. During the war in Gaza this past summer, Global Voices highlighted what appeared to be an uneven application of Facebook's Community Standards over content from Israeli and Palestinian users.
We asked Richard Allan, Facebook's VP for Public Policy in Europe, Middle East, and Africa, to shed some light on the content policies in Facebook's Ukrainian and Russian segments. He also talked about other attempts to “game the system” of content takedowns at Facebook, and the difficulties of dealing with a multi-lingual, global audience.
The content-review process at Facebook involves several layers of personnel. First, there is a policy team whose full-time job is to review Facebook's Community Standards and Terms of Use in conjunction with how people actually use the platform. Allan says this team is “a group of people from around the world, of mixed nationalities, deciding on those global standards.” The Community Standards are not set in stone, but rather refined over time, and the policy team deals with any exceptional cases sent to them from anywhere in the company, whenever there are concerns that the policies are being applied incorrectly or need revisions. A recent example is the site's move to augment its real-name policy — a move that users ranging from activists in repressive environments to drag performers have advocated for many years.
Facebook's other content-review group is also multi-national, with offices all over the world, including locations in Ireland, the US, and India. Although some reviewers might have an area of expertise, such as hate speech or bullying, the reviews are not grouped by country, but rather by language. Facebook employs native speakers of a huge variety of different languages to fill this role within the global review system.
[For] example, we have Arabic language support to deal with Arabic-language content, and it's not like we have a Facebook Egypt team and a Facebook Lebanon team. That's not the structure. It's a global structure with additional language support, not a specific country support option.
In the particular case of Ukraine, it is important to note that Facebook does not have a physical office in either Ukraine or Russia. All user services for the two countries are managed by Facebook Ireland Limited, a 500-strong international team based in Dublin. Allan says that Facebook's Russian-speaking representative, Yekaterina Skorobogatova, whose name was mentioned in complaints from Ukrainians as a possible biased party, has nothing to do with content review.
Her job has got nothing to do with content review stuff. People may have picked up on her because she has made presentations externally, but her job is to build partnerships with mobile operators. And she has worked building partnerships with third parties who want to work with Facebook in Russia because she is a native Russian speaker. But her role has got nothing at all to do with Facebook content or Facebook users. […] If we're speaking to a Russian regulator, we might speak to her to help us understand the language issues, because I am not a Russian speaker. But again, she has no responsibility for user content or decisions, which are entirely in the hands of other teams in the company.
Once someone reports a piece of content to Facebook, Allan says, it undergoes a review. If staff determine that the content breaches Facebook's rules, it is removed. Incitement of violence and hate speech are two of the most common types of speech removed for violating the website's Community Standards. This process is known to cause problems for page administrators, whose pages are removed simply because another individual posted something on their page that violates these standards.
Importantly, Allan acknowledges that content sometimes gets taken down in error, mostly due to the sheer scale of Facebook's operations and the fact that the review process is in human hands.
Sometimes we make mistakes. When we are reviewing significant amounts of content, it's possible that some of the decisions we've made are incorrect. And cumulatively, if there are enough decisions that the content on the page is bad, whether correct or incorrect, that can lead to the page going down.[…] We're open to say we sometimes make mistakes, and at the scale at which we operate, that can sometimes be an issue.
Facebook encourages users to appeal, if they believe their page has been take down in error. “We do put pages back up again if we think we've taken them down incorrectly,” Allan stresses.
One recent case of what appears to be politically charged reporting is that of a page called “Груз 200 (Cargo 200),” a community that tracks Russian servicemen killed in action in Ukraine. The group currently has more than 25,000 followers. While members of the community often post sensitive content, such as graphic images from the conflict, the group's goal is ostensibly within Facebook's guidelines. Opponents of the group reported it, and the group was taken down on September 23, causing many complaints to Facebook and even an online petition asking to reinstate the page. In less than 24 hours, Facebook reacted to the complaints by restoring the page.
Many Facebook users believe that the more people report a particular piece of content, the more likely it is to be taken down. Although it is through this system that a piece of content is initially flagged and reviewed by Facebook personnel, Allan explains that the company does not see a large volume of reports as a “good indicator” of whether or not a piece of content stands in violation of the site's policies.
We've been running the service for 10 years, and there are ways in which people try and game our reporting system. They try and use the system to get to other people on the site. One of the obvious ways people tried to use the system in the early days is to send in multiple reports in the hope that those could take down some content they didn't like. So we've very quickly learned that a lot of reports is not a very good indicator of whether content is bad.
Once the reports start coming in, Facebook reviews the content against its standards, and makes a decision early on about whether the content is in violation of the norms.
After a certain number of reports, we are confident that the content is fine, so when the new reports come in, the people who receive them understand that those are reports on content that's already been reviewed multiple times, and therefore we can discount any additional reports on it.
The tactic on both the pro-Ukrainian and the pro-Russian side sides seems to be similar: find content that may violate Facebook's rules and get as many people as possible to report the page. And indeed, reporting pages does work if the content actually is in breach of the standards. Ukrainian users have reported a concerted (and successful) effort to take down a pro-Russian group “Беркут—Украина (Berkut—Ukraine)” for content that contained threats of violence.
Allan acknowledges that if a page is popular and has a lot of followers, it's likely to fall under more scrutiny, and therefore, more likely to suffer if it is reported.
The system is designed to work that way: where content is important, and it's being seen by a lot of people, it's important that it meets the standards. So a really busy, active page with hate speech on it or incitement to violence is a problem. So we do want to see that content, review it, and, if necessary, take action against it.
Often, Facebook users report content simply because they're unhappy with it or don't agree with someone's point of view. This, according to Allen, is par for the course during political campaigns or other controversial circumstances.
[In any] situation where people feel quite partisan on one side or the other, it's a natural, normal behavior…If they feel strongly, if they disagree with something, they'll report it to us, just because they disagree. It's one way to express that, since we have no Dislike button on Facebook. We'll suddenly see a spike of reports and thousands of people reporting something. Could be a football match where a team does something they don't like, and they all go and report the Manchester United stuff.
When asked if users find other ways to game the system besides reporting content, especially in politically charged situations, Allen points to mass commenting as another widespread tactic.
There is a lot of activity in the form of organized comments from people on content they don't like. Someone will post something on a particular political situation, and rather than reporting, what you might see is a thousand comments appear very quickly, disagreeing with what is said. It's obvious that those people have coordinated or organized between themselves to post those thousand comments. But if they're real Facebook users expressing their real views, that's not something we feel we need to get involved in, as they're allowed to use the platform that way.
Technically, it would be against Facebook's rules, Allen says, for a government agency or anyone else to create groups of accounts just to start reporting things on Facebook. However, it's usually hard to prove that a government or an organization is behind accounts doing the mass commenting or reporting. As long as the individual accounts appear to be legitimate, the social media website is unlikely to investigate further or look for any proof of state sponsorship.
For many netizens, Facebook and websites like it have become indispensable spaces for free expression. They are also commercial entities, however, that strive to create an attractive space for all users and enforce their standards accordingly. Facebook makes it easy to report content that violates its norms, but the sheer volume of reports also means pages can be taken down by mistake. Facebook cares about authentic-user identity, but it might miss elaborate attempts to create “sock puppets” to manipulate the discussion around a given issue, like the conflict in Ukraine, by attempting to set a universal standard to define authenticity.
Allan allows that “human behavior is such that people will try and work around systems,” whether through impersonation, reporting, or by other means.
We're not going to say never, that people aren't going to find new ways to game the system, but our philosophy is if that's happening, we will try and identify those problems, and we'll try and change our systems to make sure that they are protecting against any kind of abuse.
In volatile situations, like the ongoing conflict involving Ukraine and Russia, social media platforms have an even greater responsibility to their users to try and prevent abuse of free expression. Documenting the cases of manipulation and attempts to game the system becomes important, granting special significance to the work of citizen journalists and bloggers who archive these cases and share them with the public. As in any community, the integrity of any social media ecosystem relies on all sides talking to—and listening to—each other.

author: Tanya Lokot


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UK Court Revokes Immunity of Bahraini Prince Accused of Torture · Global Voices
Noor Mattar

Prince Nasser bin Hamad has been accused of abusing his powers to mistreat prisoners in Bahrain's ongoing crackdown
The son of the King of Bahrain, Prince Nasser Bin Hamad Al-Khalifa, may have to revise his travel itinerary — the London High Court has ruled that the royal son is no longer immune from prosecution in UK courts over torture claims.
The case against the Bahraini prince was brought forward by a torture survivor, referred to only as FF, and whose identity was not revealed to protect him from further persecution. The case was denied in 2012 when British prosecutors decided that the prince enjoyed immunity. With the ruling, the dossier of torture allegations dating back to 2011, which was given to British prosecutors in 2012 while the prince was in the UK for the London Olympics, can now be investigated.
Prince Nasser, one of the 12 sons and daughters of the Bahraini king, could face arrest if he enters the UK. The news traveled fast on social media.
The tiny kingdom is ruled by the Al-Khalifa family, who control more than half the crucial positions in the country. The prince was allegedly one of the leading figures in the deadly crackdown against protests calling for political reform and equality for the majority Shia population in 2011.
He was most famous for declaring live on national TV:
All of those who called for the downfall of the regime will only have a wall falling over their heads…Bahrain is an island, and there is no where to escape to.
Screenshot from YouTube of Prince Nasser Bin Hamad Al-Khalifa's TV appearance.
He was the head of the youth and sports organization in Bahrain at the time, and over 100 athletes were detained after his statement. The charges against the athletes arrested ranged from kidnapping to “stealing the king's chicken,” as journalist Faisal Hayyat tweeted:
سرقة الدجاج تهمة الصقت أيضا بالأخوين علي ومحمد ميرزا،تصوروا للتو عادوا من مشاركتهم في كأس العالم،ليتهموا بسرقة دجاج،ويحكوا ب-١٥ سنة #bahrain
— رياضيونا رهائن (@FaisalHayyat) April 1, 2012
Stealing chickens, a crime that the two brothers Ali and Mohamed Mirza were framed for. Imagine that they had just returned after participating in the [handball] World Cup only to be arrested for stealing chickens and sentenced to 15 years.
The Bahraini prince was also accused by prominent dissidents of having a direct hand in their torture. A special commission in 2011 found that Bahrain tortured and mistreated opponents of the regime.
Bahrain Mirror, an Arabic-language online Bahraini newspaper published from abroad, said it received a message from activist Mohamed Jawad Parweez who explained the torture he suffered at the prince's hands:
Nasser bin Hamad grabbed our heads and snapped them together. He shouted: How dare you chant for the downfall of Hamad and you are just scum. He started abusing us, began to flog, beat and kicked us everywhere, until he felt tired. He took a rest and drank water and then resumed the torture by pulling us from our hair and beards. No one else was involved in our torture and hence agony; they let him spill his rancor. He ordered the jailers to put our feet up to beat us. The torture continued for almost half a day until dawn.
The ruling comes after numerous campaigns against Nasser, the latest being the hashtag “#torturePrince,” which saw contributions from around the world. Journalist Pierre Motin tweeted:
It looks like good-looking Bahrain #TorturePrince now has its own meme. pic.twitter.com/fi5lb5gJ2F
— Pierre Motin (@PierreMotin) August 28, 2014
Activists in Bahrain hope the ruling will extend to other countries to hold Nasser accountable for his crimes. Nasser, an avid horseman, often travels to Europe to take part in endurance races. Recently, Freedom Now, a French non-governmental organization, tweeted about his participation in the World Equestrian Games in France:
#Bahrian: #TorturePrince Nasser who launched brutal crackdown agnst athletes is participating in #WEG2014 http://t.co/Z3yG2LWXXT
— Freedom Now (@freedomnoworg) August 28, 2014
The ruling will for surely create diplomatic discomfort for Bahrain. The Bahraini government, for its part, has condemned the ruling:
This has been an ill-targeted, politically motivated and opportunistic attempt to misuse the British legal system. The government of Bahrain again categorically denies the allegations against Sheikh Nasser. The government reiterates its firm condemnation of torture and recognises its responsibility to investigate any reasonable allegation. The government remains committed to implementing the wider reforms as recommended by the Independent Commission of Inquiry and welcomes constructive engagement with responsible campaigners in pursuit of that aim.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Noor Mattar


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With Ayotzinapa Attack, Have Violence and Corruption Reached a Tipping Point in Mexico? · Global Voices
Elizabeth Rivera

“In the secret graves, in the streets that saw them fall, in the steps of those who are searching for them, in the cries of those who are waiting for them…In Ayotzinapa and in all of Mexico resounds an echo that screams ‘JUSTICE.'” Photo tweeted by @LaEscribesTu
At least 28 bodies have been unearthed from a mass grave near Iguala, in the southern Mexican state of Guerrero. The bodies, which show clear signs of torture, were laid over branches and logs that were sprayed with fuel and set fire.
The victims appear to have been burned alive, a guard at the site told Spanish newspaper El Mundo. A total of 28 scorched bodies were exhumed so far, though some unconfirmed reports pointed to a higher number of 34. Some of the remains were complete, while others were in pieces.
The authorities are conducting a variety of forensic tests to conclude if the human remains belong to 43 education students from the community of Ayotzinapa who went missing on September 26, after their bus was shot at by police agents and members of organized crime. According to the authorities, the identification of the victims will take between 15 days and two months. Argentinian specialists are taking part in the process at the request of Ayotzinapa students.
Iñaky Blanco, the state of Guerrero's public prosecutor, claimed that “several of the police agents had links to organized crime, and in some cases were active drug trafficking hit men.” Later on during a press conference in Acapulco, he added that it was the “Director of Public Security of Iguala Francisco Salgado Valladares who gave the order to detain the student teachers from Ayotzinapa; and an individual known as ‘El Chuky’ from the criminal group Guerreros Unidos would have ordered the kidnap and murder of the young students.” The name United Warriors plays off the name of the state, Guerrero, which means warrior in Spanish.
The students, who were taking part in a protest against job discrimination against teachers from rural areas, were traveling in a bus when they were ambushed by police. Three of the students were killed at the scene, as well as a football player who was in another unrelated bus, a bus driver and a woman who was in a taxi.
The Iguala city mayor, José Luis Abarca, left office right before the attack with the permission of the governor. No one seems to know the whereabouts of Abarca nor Salgado Valladares, who allegedly gave the order for the attack.
Even though the bodies haven't been identified yet, there are many venturing to guess that they belong to the missing students. If true, it would come as a great blow to the government, as it would mean that it is directly involved in the killing of unarmed civilians through its municipal police force:
Gente cercana a investigación confirman que los 43 normalistas desaparecidos están en las fosas encontradas en Iguala. #Ayotzinapa FerFam
— Fernanda Familiar (@qtf) October 4, 2014
People involved with the investigation confirm that the 43 student teachers are in the mass grave found in Iguala.
El Gobierno de @EPN Quedará marcado por las Masacres de #Tlatlaya#Ayotzinapa hechos que indignan y son detonadores de terror y violencia
— Chatito (@El_Chateu) October 6, 2014
[Mexican President] Enrique Peña Nieto's administration will carry the stain of the massacres of Tlatlaya and Ayotzinapa, events that outrage and ignite terror and violence.
#Ayotzinapa a la luz por el impacto de la noticia en el ámbito internacional. Gobierno #EPN en el escrutinio como posible violador de DdHh
— Iliana RgzSantibáñez (@ilrodrig) October 6, 2014
Ayotzinapa has come to light due to the impact the news has had on the international landscape. Enrique Peña Nieto's administration is under scrutiny as a potential human rights violator.
The Mexican cyberspace began buzzing with the news as soon as it broke, with Twitter users offering up condolences and calling on others to challenge the government:
Qué tristeza lo que paso en #Ayotzinapa no me imagino el dolor de las familias de los normalistas.
— pearl celis (@pearlcelis) October 6, 2014
It's so sad what happened in Ayotzinapa, I can't imagine the pain in the families of the students.
Por la masacre de Aguas Blancas llegó @AngelAguirreGro al gobierno en 1995 y por masacre de #Ayotzinapa debe largarse /vía @alvaro_delgado
— Fernando Alférez (@Alferez_Ags) October 6, 2014
As a result of Aguas Blancas massacre, Angel Aguirre [who currently holds the position of governor of Guerrero], became head of the state government in 1995, and as a result of the Ayotzinapa massacre, he should beat it.
It's worth mentioning that in 1996, the then governor of Guerrero, Rubén Figueroa Alcocer, asked for a permission to be excused from office as a consequence of Aguas Blancas massacre. That same day, the State Congress of Guerrero appointed him as substitute Governor until the end of the constitutional term in 1999.
Quieren culpar de todo al chuky del cártel “guerreros unidos”, para dejar impunes a Jose Luis Abarca y @AngelAguirreGro#Ayotzinapa
— CindyRevolución (@CindyRevolucion) October 6, 2014
They want to blame Chuky from “Guerreros Unidos” cartel, so Jose Luis Abarca and Angel Aguirre may remain unpunished.
Atribuir al narco el asesinato de los normalistas de #Ayotzinapa, es un guión escrito por el gobierno para exculpar a @AngelAguirreGro
— Vero A. Islas (@lovrega) October 6, 2014
To put the blame on the drug trafficking for the murder of the student teachers from Ayotzinapa is a script written by the government to exonerate Angel Aguirre.
Demasiada sangre han derramado el crimen organizado y el régimen corrupto.Basta deste dolor pic.twitter.com/WB47Ascwbi#JusticiaParaAyotzinapa
— epigmenio ibarra (@epigmenioibarra) October 6, 2014
Too much blood has been shed by organized crime and a corrupt regime. Enough with this pain.
En #Ayotzinapa y todo México resuena un eco que grita justicia. #JusticiaParaAyotzinapa @epigmenioibarra pic.twitter.com/7axWofuu8Q
— La Escribes Tú (@LaEscribesTu) October 5, 2014
In Ayotzinapa and all over Mexico resounds an echo clamoring for justice.
Some users have commented pessimistically on the state of violence into which the country has sunk:
Lo más lamentable de #Ayotzinapa es la respuesta de la sociedad. Qué se dice y hace cuando calcinan vivos a 43 estudiantes…
— Monica Sesma (@monicasesma) October 6, 2014
What's most regrettable about Ayotzinapa is the response from society. What can be said and done when 43 students are scorched alive…
Matan niños de kinder y a futuros maestros, hace rato que este país esta profundamente descompuesto #TodosSomosAyotzinapa
— Ro (@rodmedinasan) October 5, 2014
Kindergarteners and future teachers are being killed, this country has been deeply rotten for a while. We all are Ayotzinapa.
#Ayotzinapa encuentran 28 cuerpos en fosa clandestina. Sean o no de los estudiantes. México está jodido. pic.twitter.com/e3rYbxFH0a
— backpack (@backpack_tv) October 6, 2014
In Ayotzinapa, 28 bodies were found in a mass grave. Whether or not they are the students, Mexico is screwed.
There were also calls for a national march to support the Ayotzinapa students and their families and to condemn the institutionalized violence in Mexico:
¿HASTA CUÁNDO? Todos a la Marcha Nacional 8 de oct en tu localidad #JusticiaParaAyotzinapa #JusticeForAyotzinapa pic.twitter.com/YFK1bTJl5F
— 132Global (@Global132) October 5, 2014
FOR HOW LONG WE WILL HAVE TO SEE THESE THINGS? Everybody to the National March on October 8 in your town.
To read about more reactions and news, follow the hastags #Ayotzinapa, #AyotzinapaNoSeOlvida (We don't forget Ayotzinapa) and #JusticiaParaAyotzinapa (Justice for Ayotzinapa).

author: Elizabeth Rivera


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Could Women Be Banned from Buying Alcohol in Myanmar?  · Global Voices
Tom Walker

A beer station in Hpa-An, Myanmar. Image licenced under Creative Commons by Flickr user Axelrd
Myanmar authorities are reportedly discussing the introduction of zones in Yangon and Mandalay — the country's largest cities — in which women would be banned from buying alcohol. Although 2009 World Health Organisation statistics suggest that Myanmar's alcohol consumption is the lowest in South-East Asia, with only 1.5 percent of women and 31 percent of men drinking, many claim that this is now changing.
Blogger Aung Htin Kyaw has written about the trend:
As Burma opens its doors to the outside world, there seems to be a loosening of social mores. For instance, on social media, I’ve noticed a surge of Burmese youths (often around my age or younger), both friends and relatives alike, casually drinking alcohol in social settings.
Beer advertising in Yangon, Myanmar. Image licenced under Creative Commons by Flickr user markku_a
Wagaung, commenting on Aung Htin Kyaw's post, agreed:
The consumer society — especially the conspicuous consumption seen on Facebook — inevitably encourages it so that you begin to see Burmese women, young and not so young, with a glass of wine in their hand almost like a status symbol or a fashion statement.
To date, only one Burmese-language newspaper has reported the proposals to ban women from drinking in certain areas. Blogger MadyJune argues that the issue has not been presented fairly:
Even before this news came out, local media has been targeting female drinkers by using the picture of women sitting at beer stations on news articles about the rise of alcohol consumption in the country.
I’m not advocating for alcohol. In fact, I hate alcohol and I can’t stand the stench of it, but it’s not fair to limit women from drinking alcohol just because we are women. I believe we have the choice to choose whether we drink or not and nobody has the right to dictate [to] us.
According to the Women's League of Burma, men continue to dominate many aspects of Burmese society. The OECD's 2012 Social Institutions and Gender Index ranks gender equality in Myanmar as 44th out of 102 non-OECD countries — around the same level as Guinea-Bissau and Vietnam.
Despite disagreeing with the potential ban, MadyJune believes that few women are likely to share her view:
I doubt the entire female population in Myanmar will be outraged with this unfair prohibition. In fact, some of them (or the majority of them) might even support it.
In another post, Aung Htin Kyaw explains that abstaining from alcohol is a fundamental part of Theravada Buddhists’ ethics, which holds that alcohol makes people more likely to behave in a way that endangers other living beings.
The motivations for imposing restrictions specifically on women are unclear, with most studies agreeing that men in Myanmar drink significantly more than women. Meanwhile, the fate of the proposed zones remains uncertain: although the Minister of Health stated that he was considering restrictions on alcohol consumption in July 2014, more recent reports suggest that many MPs do not see reforming alcohol laws as a priority.
Discussions about drinking habits highlight concerns about the growing influence of Western culture in Myanmar's major cities. Even if the zones are not introduced in Yangon and Mandalay, the mere suggestion that there should be one rule for men and another for women shows that gender is becoming an increasingly contentious issue in Myanmar's changing society.

author: Tom Walker


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English Speakers Can Finally Enjoy Classic Japanese Cartoon ‘Doraemon’ · Global Voices
Nevin Thompson

Photo by Flickr user Héctor García. CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
Japan’s most beloved pop culture icon has been Disney-fied, prompting an online conversation among devoted Japanese anime fans.
Doraemon, a robotic cat from the 22nd century, first appeared in print in Japan in 1969 and quickly became a smash hit. Having sold over 100 million copies, the Doraemon series is one of the best-selling manga in the world, while the animated series has been broadcast in 35 other countries and regions, mainly in Southeast Asia.
However, for 45 years no official English translation of either the manga or the anime existed. Then, in May 2014, 12,000-plus pages of the manga series were translated and published. You can read an online sample here.
The same month, Disney announced it had acquired the English-language rights to Doraemon and would immediately start broadcasting five times a week, on the Disney XD satellite channel.
The “Disneyfication” of Doraemon immediately stimulated plenty of online conversations among die-hard Japanese Doraemon fans.
Almost any person in Japan will have read about Doraemon the robotic cat's adventures with Nobita, a comically dim-witted boy and his gang of friends: Gian (a bit of a bully), Suneo (Gian's sneaky sidekick) and Shizuka-chan (a sweet-natured neighborhood girl).
Image credit: Fujiko Pro Co. and Shogakukan Inc.
Says one commenter on 2chan (Japan's often raucous and profane equivalent of Reddit) about there finally being an English-language version of Doraemon:
アメリカ遅れすぎ
It's about time!
On other forums, many were wondering about how Doraemon's distinctive voice would be handled:
ドラえもんの声はいいね。
日本の声と似てると思う。
I quite like Doraemon's English voice, and I think it sounds like Japanese Doraemon.
Another commenter agrees:
ドラえもんの英語版の声は合ってるね。
日本版の声と比べても違和感がまったくない。
成功するといいな。
They really nailed Doraemon's voice, and it doesn't seem weird at all. Hopefully the English-language version will be a success.
In the same forum, sharp-eyed observers have noticed that, to suit American cultural tastes, there are some differences between the Disney's English-language version of Doraemon, and the Japanese original:
のび太はノビー ジャイアンはビッグ・ジー ついにドラえもんも全米デビューだって〜 まじびっくり‼‼‼
Nobita and Gian have been given nicknames!!!
Others noticed that Doraemon seems to have conformed to certain Western sensibilities:
「健康的な食生活を推進すること」が放送基準の一つとして挙げられている米国の基準に合わせ、ドラえもんがたくさんのどら焼きをほおばるシーンを短縮したり、のび太のおやつをフルーツに変更するなどの修正が加えられる。
Since American broadcasters are supposed to promote healthy eating, Doraemon can't ever be shown pigging out on sweets, but instead must eat healthy things like fruit.
A Twitter user notices:
ドラえもんが7月から全米で放映されるみたい。のび太はノビーって名前にしずちゃんはスー小遣いはドル紙幣になる模様。あと、食事は箸からフォークに変更される。他の国のドラえもん見てみたい。(^_^) pic.twitter.com/WAShQScv0Z
— aiko mania (@aikomen) June 22, 2014
…Chopsticks have been replaced with forks at the dinner table.
Perhaps the most noticeable change is how Shizuka-chan's character is portrayed in the new English-language version of Doraemon. For one thing, her name has been changed to simpler, plainer “Sue.”
As well, in the original manga and anime series, Nobita is often given the opportunity to covertly observe Shizuka-chan taking a bath. This has been completely excised from the new English-language series:
これも国民性の違いか
事前にアメリカの子どもたちに日本版を視聴させた結果「しずかちゃんの性格を変えた方がいい」という意見が多かったため、入浴が趣味のおしとやかな『しずかちゃん』がボーイッシュな『スー』に生まれ変わるようだ。
Is this yet another difference in culture?
In order to show Doraemon to children in the United States, there was a big push to change Shizuka-chan's character in the translated version. Now she's just called “Sue” and you never see her taking a bath. It's like she's a totally different character now!
Still, for much of the rest of the non-English speaking world, Doraemon, while beloved television staple, is nothing particularly new:
ずいぶん前にマレーシアで放送してたのを見たけど
アメリカではまだだったのか
We've been able to watch Doraemon in Malaysia for ages. What took the English-speaking world so long?
While English-language audiences may be getting their first glimpse of Doraemon in 2014, for other countries and cultures around the world Doraemon is almost as famous as Mickey Mouse. There are Hindi Doraemon translations, Bangla Doraemon translations, and Vietnamese Doraemon translations, for example.
If Doraemon has been translated into your favorite language, please let us know in the comments!
Fujiko Pro Co. and Shogakukan Inc.

author: Nevin Thompson


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Get to Know Mohamed ElGohary, Multitasking Global Voices Contributor · Global Voices
Gabriela García Calderón

Gohary at Crane Beach, Essex, Massachusetts. Crane Beach. April 20, 2014 (used with his permission).
Global Voices is celebrating 10 years and as part of the celebrations, we are presenting a series of interviews to introduce some of the contributors that make Global Voices great. In this installment, we get to know the busy Mohamed ElGohary, Global Voices board member, Lingua coordinator, Advocacy author, Arabic Translation Manager, Web 2.0 preacher, and blogger.
Global Voices (GV): How and when did you learn about Global Voices?
Mohamed ElGohary (MEG): I began to check out Global Voices as Eman AbdelRahman began contributing and sharing GV posts, as well as asking me if I wanted to contribute. Back then it was just a year since I began blogging, and partially I didn’t think I was capable enough to write in English. In the same time GV began to mention blog posts I wrote, as I was active then in covering court sessions where policemen were tried for human rights violations, blogging under the nickname IRC President.
In February 2009 I joined GV as a volunteer translator from English to Arabic, afterwards I became author and Arabic Translation Manager. In 2011, during the Arab Bloggers meeting in October 2011, I was offered the job as a Lingua Coordinator, after I left my post at AlMasry AlYoum newspaper, where I used to work as a Social Media Consultant.
GV: What are your specific tasks as coordinator for Lingua, Global Voices volunteer translation project?
MEG: The role of the Lingua Coordinator is a large set of small tasks. Community management, to ensure the spirit of motivation, cohesion and sharing of information, across Translation Managers as well as Lingua Community. Tracking stats of different Lingua sites, as well as social media networks. Assisting Translation Managers and Community tracking their own stats, setting up new sites. Helping Translation Managers identify the best ways to maximize the impact of Lingua. Arranging regular Translation Managers meetings, and whatever issues arose by editors that I can help with.
GV: And as the staff representative to the board?
MEG: As a staff representative, and definition of staff here is all Lingua and Regional editors, as well the core staff, is primarily communicating closely with them, tackling any challenges that might arise either within the volunteer community or staff with other staff, and giving feedback on the short and/or long term depending on what I’m working on. So if anyone in the community have any question or challenge, please contact me by any way you like: e-mail, Facebook, Twitter, or Skype at ircpresident.
GV: What’s your day job outside of GV?
MEG: I contribute most of my time to GV. Before GV I switched careers from telecommunications, as I majored in Biomedical Engineering, to social media. After joining GV Staff I co-founded a startup called The Workshops where I manage technical issues like web administration.
GV: How familiar are you with web tools and how much of it is because you are a GV member?
MEG: I spent most of the year 2008 blogging about web 2.0 in Arabic, writing tutorials on how to use Internet tools targeting Egyptian and Arab activists. I gave many workshops focusing on web 2.0 use for digital and labor activists, teachers as well as journalists. Arabic Lingua gave me the first playground to exercise social media on a professional level. It was also the main reason I got my job at AlMasry AlYoum.
GV: How do you manage to stay up-to-date with all the Lingua communities?
MEG: By keeping up to date with Translation Managers. I think the larger email groups are getting less functional as a community to community communication platform, comparing sub-community groups where Translation Managers are more knowledgeable about their own communities. So via the Translation Managers google group, as well as the monthly meetings, I think I’m getting to be up-to-date with the Lingua communities. I’m also in several Lingua Google groups, using google translate to follow the general idea of conversations happening.
GV: As an Egyptian citizen based in Egypt, what was January 25, 2011, the date of the Egyptian revolution, like for you?
MEG: Right now that’s a very tough question to answer. Before the 25th I was certain that a revolution was going to happen, though maybe after 20, 30 or maybe 50 years. I was hoping to witness it, but I think it happened too fast, though not too soon. I joined the marches in the 28th, when the most clashes during the 18 days happened, and afterwards Images of what happened never leave my mind.
But now, with the extreme politicization between two groups that are both, in my opinion, responsible for the deterioration of economical and civil liberties states, it is hard to see the revolution without a broken heart, as secular activists opposed to both military and religious fascism are either dead, jailed or out of the country.
The 25th of January is still a victory to me, whatever happened. As Mubarak is now in jail, military personnel idiocy is exposed. The short term will be a miserable time, but I think on the long term things will get better, although with a very high price in blood.
GV: Anything else you’d like to add?
MEG: I want to add that as a board member I invite all the Global Voices community to come to me by e-mail (gohary@globalvoices.org), Aparna Ray and Jillian York, for any question, consultation or comment. We are here for you and we represent you. Thank you for reading :)

author: Gabriela García Calderón


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Hassan Rouhani’s Iranian Nuclear Balancing Act  · Global Voices
Takin Aghdashloo

[Links point to resources in Persian, unless otherwise noted]
When I was a boy of around ten living in Tehran, my dad had a young student who was an interesting character to me. He devoured any book or magazine he could get his hands on and was always offering scattered general information on random topics, from the history of the croissant to how carburetors worked.
Although the student was nearly in his 30s, he had no formal education, no professional skills and no job, just living from day to day at his parents’ house. As my dad despairingly referred to him one day: “Talented guy, but it’s a shame he’s wide as an ocean but deep as a puddle.”
Hopefully that is not the case with Iranian president Hassan Rouhani. It is much more desirable for Rouhani to have only one skill, but one he is great at, unlike his two predecessors, who only managed to add to the long list of Iran’s unfinished and abandoned projects. And this skill might just be one of balancing between Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the United States, as we saw during Rouhani’s recent trip to New York.
Rouhani’s second trip to New York to attend the UN General Assembly ended without any substantial progress in the comprehensive negotiations on Iran's nuclear program, a decade-old negotiation between Iran and the P5+1 countries, to which Rouhani refers as negotiations mainly with “kadkhoda” (Persian for “chief of the village”), as he has dubbed the United States on account of its dominance within the group. The trip, however, did offer some insight into what Rouhani’s strategy would be as the November 24th deadline for reaching a final nuclear deal draws near.
While generally in favor of reaching an agreement on the nuclear program, Rouhani has refused to acknowledge any human rights violations in Iran. His firm defense of the Iranian judiciary, which was praised by the latter's head, Chief Justice Sadeq Larijani, was surprising to some of his supporters and criticized by the Islamic Republic’s pro-democracy opposition. But despite its unpopularity, this stance could be taken as a sign of Rouhani’s pragmatic approach and his firm commitment to resolving the Iranian nuclear issue. Resolving the nuclear crisis was in fact the cornerstone of his presidential campaign, and has been the highest priority in his administration from day one.
As expected, most reporters questioning Rouhani in New York were concerned about the nuclear negotiations and the recent security issues in the Middle East. But unlike his predecessor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, it was not Rouhani’s responses to the foreign policy questions that generated the most controversy, but rather his answers to a handful of questions about recent arrests in Iran.
Rouhani either avoided the questions, or placed responsibility for these crackdowns on the nation’s judiciary and other non-elected officials—or in some cases outright defended them. In an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, he denied that journalists such as Jason Rezaian had been persecuted because of their profession. Nor did he admit that 91 lashes and six months to a year in prison for participants in the Iranian version of Pharrel’s “Happy” music video was a disproportionately heavy punishment.
Although these positions seem disappointing for freedom of expression in Iran, they could perhaps be justified by Rouhani’s strategy of mediating between the non-elected religious leadership of Iran and the West to solve the nuclear crisis. This is part and parcel of Rouhani’s understanding of the complex interplay of powers in Iran and how to retain their support in the fragile process of negotiations. This strategy is not specific to his New York trip, it has been visible over the past few months in his administration’s increasingly reconciliatory approach towards the religious conservative opposition. It is a sign of a true realist pragmatist approach to gaining internal support for solving the country's most substantial threat: sanctions.
After the reformists’ lack of success in the 2009 elections, severe recession and intensified economic sanctions ratified by the UN Security Council turned the 2013 elections into a virtual referendum on the Iranian regime's nuclear negotiations strategy. Hence Rouhani’s victory sent a clear message to the regime: mend relations with the West, and avoid more hostility.
It is important to point out that the Iranians didn't elect Rouhani only as the former chief nuclear negotiator to bargain with the West. Rather, they elected him to play the role of mediator between the two real power holders in this crisis: Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and the United States. As the trusted channel for communication between the two parties, Rouhani’s conservative position on Iran's human rights issues in New York becomes explicable. A mediator should always maintain the trust of both negotiating parties, otherwise there would be little chance of achieving anything. This is why he does not escalate tensions with institutions such as the Iranian judiciary, even when they publicly criticize his cultural, social and internal policies, because these are bodies often appointed by or closely tied to Ayatollah Khamenei. Any internal tensions in Iran in this last chapter of negotiations before November 24th could potentially derail the entire process.
In fact, the biggest mistake Rouhani could make is to give up his influence and credibility within the nation’s unelected powerhouses in favor of prestige and public support from the Iranian opposition in the next two months. This would alienate the powerful religious elements in the regime.
In the past few months, Rouhani’s administration has had a number of major conflicts with the Parliament and other Principlist political institutions and groups. The sources of these conflicts: the appointment of reformists in the Ministries of Science and Culture; the refusal to strongly enforce the Islamic dress code (hijab); the keeping of certain communications platforms and mobile apps such as Viber and WhatsApp open; the unveiling of corruption within the Ahmadinejad administration; and most importantly, his efforts to reconcile and engage with the West, especially in nuclear talks.
As Rouhani’s most pressing agenda, nuclear negotiations cannot be trampled by clashes with his domestic opponents. On the contrary, some compromise on conservative social, political and cultural demands can strengthen his hand in these sensitive negotiations in the next couple of months. It is important to consider that Rouhani came to power on the strength of the promise to create an opening in the nuclear talks. It is not only in Iran’s national interest to lift the economic sanctions—the future of Rouhani’s administration and political moderation in Iran depends on it.
In the weeks leading up to the UN General Assembly and in the days following his return to Tehran, Rouhani’s administration has attempted to absorb and build confidence amongst the regime’s political elite by rescinding his reformist policies. There is a long list of these instances, including when Rouhani and Mohammad Baqer Nobakht (the administration’s spokesperson) referred to the violation of the hijab dress code as a disease; when the Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance’s assumed pro-censorship positions on the film industry; the removal of reformist senior managers in the Ministry of Science; the delay in the scheduled Internet bandwidth increase; the formation of a committee to forge closer ties with the top Shia clerics; and abandoning any attempt to release the political dissidents Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karoubi.
It is Rouhani’s realist-pragmatist approach to politics that has enabled him to be at the helm of politics at one of the most sensitive moments in Iran's recent history. He was one of the few moderate politicians that refused to side with protesters in 2009, after millions of Iranians took to the streets to protest against the alleged election fraud that reinstated Ahmadinejad as President. His silence on that matter gained him the green light from Ayatollah Khamenei to run in last year’s elections. Perhaps another conservative gesture by Rouhani can unlock the much more complicated nuclear impasse and entrench him as the leader uniquely skilled at one thing—mediating between Khamenei and the United States.

author: Takin Aghdashloo


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Iranians Join Protests in Support of Syria-Turkey Border Town Kobane, Beseiged by ISIS · Global Voices
Mahsa Alimardani

A poster in Kurdish and Persian, calling for a gathering in front of the United Nations office in Iran in support of Kobane on Wednesday, October 8, 2014.
Protesters in Iran and elsewhere around the world have taken to streets to publicly support the people of Kobane, the prominently Kurdish Syrian city near the Turkish border, as they desperately try to fend off ISIS.
The city of Kobane has been under attack since mid-September by ISIS, the Al Qaeda offshoot that has come to control large parts of Iraq and Syria using brutal and violent tactics, leading nearly 200,000 inhabitants to flee to nearby Turkey. Though ISIS forces have encountered resistance from Kurdish forces, since this post was last updated, ISIS was encroaching upon the city center of Kobane.
Aiding forces in Kobane as ISIS encroachment intensifies has been subject to geo-political disagreements, especially by the key regional actors: Turkey, Iran, and the United States.
The US-led coalition has stepped up airstrikes against ISIS in Kobane's vicinity since Tuesday, however, the Turkish government alongside Kurdish forces have appealed to the US to step up their efforts to a ground invasion to prevent the city from falling completely under ISIS control.
“The terror will not be over… unless we cooperate for a ground operation,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was quoted saying in an Al Jazeera report yesterday. “I am telling the West – dropping bombs from the air will not provide a solution.”
The Iranian government however, has spoken out against Western intervention in the city, calling on nations to support the Syrian government in defeating ISIS forces in Kobane. In a press conference on Tuesday, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham stressed the importance of supporting Syria, and pledging Iran's deep concern for the situation. She told reporters, “The Islamic Republic of Iran will soon send humanitarian aid to residents and refugees in this area through the Syrian government.”
Iran is a close ally of Syria's embattled President Bashar Al-Assad. More than 191,000 people have died in the bloody three-year-long civil war for control of Syria between forces loyal to Al-Assad and the factions that are opposed to his rule, who first rose up during the wave of Arab Spring demonstrations across the region. ISIS has taken advantage of the fighting to win land for itself, and Al-Assad has been accused of allowing the group to do so.
Meanwhile, protests have popped up in support of the humanitarian situation inside Kobane. Iranians have been standing in solidarity this past week, often criticizing Turkey's lack of humanitarian aid and inaction in the situation. Kurds have also called for more military support from Turkey; at least 12 Kurdish protesters were killed following clashes with Turkish police.
The hashtags #TwitterKurds, #Kobani and #کوبانی have been trending for this social media support.
Ordogan, stop supporting terrorism. Peaceful protesters gathered for #Kobane in #Tehran #كوبانى pic.twitter.com/p3N5bQ194u
— Nasim (@NasimMohammadi_) octubre 7, 2014
Iranians in the city of Sandaj marched in solidarity with the people of Kobane, as seen in a video shared by Radio Farda:
Demonstrations have been organized elsewhere, such as this one in Berlin:
Kurds in Berlin protest in front of American embassy and brandenburger tor for #kobane #TwitterKurds pic.twitter.com/j6KEPIQ5PV
— Serio Sito (@SerioSito) October 6, 2014

author: Mahsa Alimardani


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Jamaicans Are Now So Familiar with Chikungunya Virus They’re Calling It Chik-V · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

The Aedes aegypti mosquito in macrophotography.
Copyright Sanofi Pasteur – May 2011, used under a CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 license.
As cases of the dreaded Chikungunya virus increase throughout the Caribbean, Jamaica continues to grapple with containing the spread of the disease across the island.
The virus, which causes high fever and severe joint pain, is spread by the Aedes Aegypti mosquito. Thus far, the government's approach has been to ask citizens to be vigilant about ensuring that their surroundings are not conducive for mosquitoes to breed and educating them about prevention methods. It also plans to declare a national cleanup day, as the unreliable collection of garbage in some areas has been exacerbating the situation.
With cases of the virus expected to increase, however, many have been critical about the lack of available medicine to help combat the symptoms, the untimely emergency response and the fact that the ministry has not been as forthcoming as it ought to be about the outbreak.
At the beginning of this week, Carolyn Joy Cooper at Jamaica Woman Tongue criticised the country's minister of health for understating the number of Chikungunya cases, calling the whole thing “a word game”:
As late as last Monday, Dr Fenton Ferguson was still claiming that there were only 35 ‘confirmed’ cases of chik-V in all of Jamaica. If the goodly dentist has a public-health inspector to spare, I can prove that a full 25 per cent of these cases are concentrated in just two roads in my neighbourhood!
I have chik-V. My neighbours to my right and left and up the road are also afflicted. That’s four of us. And down the adjacent road, there are at least another five cases. So that makes nine out of 35. And that’s just the ones I know about. Of course, the big trick is ‘confirmed’. We are not ‘confirmed’ cases. We have the symptoms, but that doesn’t matter.
As far as the Ministry of Health is concerned, if you haven’t done a blood test, you and your doctor are just guessing.
To take the guess work out of it, Cooper decided to go for a blood test, but was told that “there were no reagents in stock”. She wondered why, when so many blood tests were being done for Chikungunya that labs had actually run out of reagents, the health ministry was still insisting that there were only “35 confirmed cases”. The answer seemed to lie in Jamaica's tourism industry:
I completely understand Dr Ferguson’s anxiety about scaring off visitors with chik-V. After all, tourism is our bread and butter. But I think he’s underestimating the bravery of potential tourists. […]
The minister of health needs to be far less concerned about tourists and much more worried about the people of Jamaica.
Blogger Jean Lowrie-Chin agreed, noting that “an insular ‘broadcast to the nation’ was not an appropriate vehicle to communicate the chikungunya crisis now touching almost every household in Jamaica,” referring to Dr. Fenton Ferguson's televised address to the nation on September 28. He has since admitted that there was a discrepancy between the number of confirmed and suspected cases of the disease, but maintains that the health ministry acted professionally.
Lowrie-Chin placed much of the blame for the spread of the disease on the shoulders of “careless Jamaicans who continue to show little pride in their environment” but also suggested that the government undertake an employment programme, similar to what was introduced in Cuba, whereby people would be trained to identify and destroy mosquito breeding sites and educate at-risk communities. Her post listed a number of ways in which official communication about the Chikungunya outbreak could have been better handled, saying:
What makes simple, logical steps so difficult, is bureaucracy – that morass which is the perfect hiding place for mediocrity and incompetence. While we must respect our democratically elected government, they should in turn respect the people they swore to serve.
She maintained that many of the missteps with “this ChikV issue” are a result of “gaps in governance” and the culture of mediocrity that creates a brain drain, chasing some of the most innovative minds to countries where their ideas would be valued.
Jamaica, like other economically challenged regional territories, has been losing much of its human capital for decades. Research conducted by the World Bank found that “over 360 percent” of Jamaicans with a tertiary level education migrate, usually to the United States, because of its close proximity:
The very high migration rate of the best educated from Jamaica means that the number of migrants with a tertiary education from this country actually exceeds the number of local residents with this level of education.
According to netizens, if the Jamaican government's response to this health crisis is any indicator, it has been business as usual, with nary an inventive approach in sight:
This agonizing ChikV is a metaphor for the pain and suffering that is being felt by humble Jamaicans, barely surviving on the margins of poverty. They deserve some hope that our leaders will do right by them, bringing our nation to a healthy state.
Realising that the health ministry is not sufficiently rising to the Chikungunya challenge, blogger “Cucumber Juice” posted an in-depth Q&A about the disease, prevention methods and ways in which to manage the symptoms if you do contract Chik-V.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Lebanon’s Palestinian Refugees Step into the Limelight With ‘Humans of Al Rashidiya’ · Global Voices
Elia J. Ayoub

Humans of Al Rashidiya’s cover photo on Facebook
This post was originally published on Lebanon-based blog Hummus For Thought.
Every day throughout the month of October, the Humans Of New York-inspired Humans of Al Rashidiya page will feature one story from the Al Rashidiya Palestinian camp, located in the south of Tyre, South Lebanon. The project intends to dispel the numerous myths and stereotypes plaguing Lebanon’s Palestinian society.
Humans of Al Rashidiya was founded by Mary Mitchell, a British media arts PhD student at Royal Holloway University in London who first went to Al Rashidiya and Al Bass camps with the British charity UNIPAL, and Mohammad El-Assad, her student at the time and a student at the German Lebanese University in Tyre. Mitchell explains the philosophy behind Humans of Al Rashidiya:
The project is a framework through which people in Al Rashidiya can share their stories with the wider world, and one another. The camp is very isolated with many preconceptions and stereotypes in Lebanon about Palestinian refugees, and so we hope to counter some of these by showing the common experiences of humanity. In the West, very few people know there are Palestinian refugees in Lebanon – they think only of the West Bank and Gaza – so we hope that this project will present new stories in an easily accessible way.
Besides the conditions within the camps themselves, which vary from camp to camp but never surpass the barely tolerable, discrimination within Lebanese society is still very prevalent. At least 20 major professions are denied to the 450,000 or so Palestinians living in 12 refugee camps across the country, regardless of their educational background. One notable example is Iqbal Assad, the world’s youngest doctor, having to travel to the US to practice medicine.
According to Visualizing Palestine and the International Labor Organization (ILO), only 2 percent of the 75,000 Palestinians who are part of Lebanon’s workforce have an official work permit, 20 percent have a written contract, 66 percent are below the poverty line, 75 percent earn less than the minimal wage ($305 for Palestinian women, $369 for men) and 95 percent have no health insurance. Despite having contributed $14 million to Lebanon’s National Social Security Fund, Palestinian workers are denied benefits of health coverage (unlike, say, French workers.)
Co-founder El-Assad is intent on dispelling the numerous stereotypes that plague Palestinian society:
Many people think that our camps are security time bombs, while others haven’t even heard of us. Stereotypes dating back to the Civil War haven’t really faded away and recent events such as the 2007 Nahr Al-Bared War haven’t exactly helped us, despite the fact that most of us have always opposed all forms of violence.
“I work here with the newcomers from Syria, running theatre puppet shows with NGOs all across Lebanon. I’m from Syria too.”
What does your tattoo say?
“Music and peace.”
Source: Humans Of Al Rashidiya
Despite the tough circumstances, the camps’ inhabitants are trying to make the best out of their situation. We help each other out,” El-Assad said. “We were 28,000 in 2012, but since the Syrian crisis started, the number of Palestinian refugees from Syria increased our numbers.”
But despite it all, the security situation remains stable, and in no small part thanks to the inhabitants themselves.
We’ve opened more classes in our schools (run by UNRWA) and have included a curriculum close to the Syrian one for some of our most recent students. Our literacy rates are far higher than our illiteracy ones and they’re increasing every year. We are opening more classes, especially for secondary school. The uneducated youths usually resort to immigration, most legally but some illegally. This is due to the unemployment crisis which not only affects our camps but Lebanon as a whole.
Finally, the project reflects the inhabitants’ desire to do good in what they consider to be their second homeland:
We have several awareness-raising programs run by the youth of our camps on the importance of the work of the army and its sovereignty. Lebanon is our second homeland and will remain forever in our hearts. It has welcomed us for the past 68 years.
“I want to live in Germany to have a safe life and work. I have many friends who live there.”
Do you speak any German?
“No, but I’ll learn when I get there. Most people who go there learn it fast.”
Source: Humans of Al Rashidiya

author: Elia J. Ayoub


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Marlon James Writes the Great Jamaican Novel – and the World is Raving About It · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Jamaican author Marlon James’ new novel, A Brief History of Seven Killings, has been released to such fanfare that even hard-hitting literary critics cannot use enough superlatives in their reviews. Michiko Kakutani, Pulitzer Prize-winning critic for The New York Times, described James as a “prodigious talent”, calling the novel “epic […] sweeping, mythic, over-the-top, colossal and dizzyingly complex.”
Jamaica-based blogger Annie Paul apparently beat international mainstream media to the punch, however. In this post, Paul reveals that she kindly took down an initial interview with James so as not to “[break] the [US] national embargo on information on Brief History and its author”.
The plot of “Seven Killings” uses the real-life assassination attempt on reggae icon Bob Marley a few days before he was to perform at the free One Love Peace Concert in Kingston in December 1976, as a jumping off point from which to discuss issues of race and class in Jamaica, as well as the entangled political relationship between the United States and the Caribbean region.
In her “exclusive interview” with the author, Paul talks to James about his process, admires his seemingly effortless use of Jamaican patois “in a way that outsiders can grasp” and wonders if there might be a sequel. Read the whole interview here.


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Online Platform ‘Txeka La’ Challenges Mozambicans to Be Election Observers · Global Voices
Manuel Ribeiro

“Every citizen can be an observer.” Image from Txeka's Facebook page.
Mozambicans can now help keep a watchful eye on upcoming elections from their local region using online platform “Txeka Lá” (local Portuguese slang for “Check it”). Created by Olho do Cidadão – A group of young students from Eduardo Mondlane University in Maputo. Txeka Lá aims for more transparency and promotes non-violence in the current elections by asking people to report any suspicious acts they see firsthand.
Elections are scheduled for October 15. According to National Election Committee (CNE – Portuguese acronym), around 11 million people will be eligible to vote for the country's next government, which will remain in power for a term of five years.
The political landscape of Mozambique bears the scars of a 15-year-long civil war following independence from Portugal in 1975. The country held its first democratic elections in 1994. Since then, election periods have witnessed episodes of violence.
In some regions of Mozambique, violence has recently been reported between members of main opposition parties. Officials and many civilian organisations, such as Txeka Lá, are thus working to stop the violence and make these upcoming elections more transparent.
Todo o cidadão pode ser um observador, registando factos cujas evidências podem ser imagens, vídeos e relatos #Txeka pic.twitter.com/FjSVrnrb6q — Txeka (@TxekaMoz) September 11, 2014
Any citizen can be an observer by recording the facts using images, videos and reports
Txeka Lá mainly relies on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter to operate. Users can also send in reports via SMS, given that Internet access rates are still very low in comparison to other neighbouring countries.
The platform then takes the reports it receives to the authorities such as CNE and the police, so that they can take action.
Nestas eleições é preciso evitar todas as formas de violência. Registe todas as formas de violência e partilhe #Txeka pic.twitter.com/9seeBIb0Pr — Txeka (@TxekaMoz) September 24, 2014
In these elections we need to prevent any kind of violence. Report all signs of violence by sharing it
“It is very important to know how to report a situation,” says the same organisation on their Facebook page:
A transparência só será possível se as pessoas tiverem a possibilidade de observar as eleições e souberem como fazê-los.
Transparency will only be possible if people are given the opportunity to watch and know how to observe.

author: Manuel Ribeiro


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The 10 Best Music Videos That Spread the Putin-Love · Global Voices
Tanya Lokot

“All the single Putins!” Image edited by Kevin Rothrock.
Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia, turned 62 yesterday. Public opinion polls assure us that the people of Russia are quite fond of their head of state, despite the checkered reputation Putin enjoys abroad, especially in the West. The country's mounting economic problems don't seem to bother most Russians, either. The proof, it seems, is in the music.
Yesterday, in a mix of satire and homage, news media around the world covered the spectacle surrounding Putin's most recent birthday. But the party has been going on for years already. If “Russia under Putin” were a human being, she'd be an adolescent now, pushing fourteen. Throughout this time, the Internet has been a treasure trove of artistic expression of Russian citizens’ feelings about their president.
Expressing themselves in song comes naturally to most Russians, so it's no wonder that music about Putin abounds on the Internet. While some of the songs are critical or offensive in nature (slamming Putin for corruption, abuse of power, and greed), many others laud “VVP” (the president's initials) for his manliness, bravery, and no-nonsense je ne sais quoi.
RuNet Echo looks back at the 10 best examples of foot-tapping, hip-thrusting Putin-love to have appeared online. A “cult of personality” never sounded so good.
1. Who Could Be The President? (2006)
This laid-back reggae track gives us a brilliant mashup of Putin's real words, excerpted from a public speech (and taken wildly out of context, of course!). The song treats listeners to a Putin not shy about extolling his own virtues. “Who could be the president? Who could be me? Because nobody wants to do the dirty work. Because nobody wants to be caught in the Kremlin. We need strong authorities—strong presidential authority. Who could be president? Me!”
2. Go Hard Like Vladimir Putin (2014)
An amazing monochrome rap video praising Putin's hard-hitting, no-compromising side. We don't really know what AMG (aka Jason Lewis), a rapper from Ohio, and the Russian President have in common, or why AMG looks up to VVP. But it's an instant hit.
3. One Like Putin (2002)
This one is a classic. A sexy techno anthem to the machismo that is the president. The ladies in the video say they're done with their boyfriends (so disappointing!) and the only man they could ever settle for is someone like Putin. This is one of the longest-running Putin tracks of all time, and it's still as good as it was the first time we heard it.
4. Putin Can Do Anything (2013)
A cute cartoon accompanied by a riff on a Russian children's song (the original is “Daddy Can Do Anything”). (Yes, we know.) Putin emerges as an all-around talented man: he can go to space, play the piano, climb mountains, breakdance, pilot an airplane—there's really nothing he can't do. Bonus feature: a super-sad, but hilarious, Yanukovych character. Also, the choir at the end. It's worth watching all the way. We promise.
5. Putin Super DJ (2008)
Sorry, Mr. Jackson, but when Mr. Putin, the new super DJ in town, gets behind the turntable, we're gonna dance 'til morning. He's a superstar! “We all dream of being like him,” sings Andrey Gubin, who used to be a legitimate pop singer in Russia. Yeah, it's sad to watch the stars fade, but the track is still kind of catchy!
6. Go Forth, Vladimir Putin! (2012)
A more traditional song with an accordion, balalaikas, and back-up choir, not to mention the obligatory mentions of Russian villages, love, and bad weather. No matter how dark the sky, singer Vladimir Slepak rasps, we shall overcome all our problems, as long as we're moving forward with Putin at the helm. History in the making!
7. VVP (2012)
This one is secretly our favorite. Tadjik singer Tolibdjon Kurbankhanov praises Putin in a very earnest, but monotonous techno-number, set to a series of depressing, unspectacular shots of Russian cities in the winter. (This is the icy, dilapidated paradise you've come to know and love, foreigners.) “VVP, he saved the country, he elevated Russia!” The rest of the text is more poor rhymes and broken rhythms. It's so bad it's almost too good, and Kurbankhanov tries so hard. Bonus: Balalaika solo!
8. Stir It Up, Muddle It Up (2012)
Another example of brilliant sampling skills. This track mixes up soundbites from Putin, Medvedev, and other officials, as well as quotes from popular culture with a catchy refrain. The gist is, Putin has got to be president, and we will do anything we can—stir up trouble and muddy the waters—to keep Vova (Putin) in power. This almost sounds like satire, but not quite. Also, Putin wears a crown, because why not.
9. The Song of Putin (2010)
This one has a more raw, garageband sound, but it still works. Some rapping, some distorted guitars, and more praise for Putin. The authors walk us through VVP's epic biography, from his early years to his ascent to power. The guitar riffs are nice, and the refrain is to die for: “Bro, don't sweat it! Everything's gonna be ace!”
10. Vova Is Rocking It (2010)
This hilarious cartoon music video is built on the classic R&B canon: the soloist, the hip-swinging backup girls, and the harmonies. Dress Code, the band behind the song, presents Putin as an epic hero, who is more awesome than James Bond, Superman, or Harry Potter, and saving the day is basically his day job. (We won't ask what he gets up to at night.) Nothing but respect for the man who is our Luke Skywalker and our Terminator, rolled into one.


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With an Eye on China’s Future, Mainlanders Brave Arrest to Support Hong Kong’s Umbrella Revolution · Global Voices
I-fan Lin

Netizens from mainland China show their support for Hong Kong's democratic protests by publishing photos with messages of solidarity on social media. Photo from Facebook page “Mainland Supporters.”
Mainland Chinese activists are skirting censorship and risking arrest to publicly declare their support for pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong.
At least 34 people have been arrested as of October 6, and seven of them are artists from the Songzhuang art center in Beijing. The arrests began after Hong Kong students debuted a class boycott to demand genuine democratic elections on 22 September.
Peaceful protesters have camped out at a massive sit-in in Hong Kong's financial district for more than a week, calling on China to scrap its requirement that a largely pro-Beijing nominating committee select the candidates in the city's next chief executive election. To prevent information on the pro-democracy movement, dubbed Occupy Central, from spreading to mainland China, major social media platforms, including WeChat's public platform and Sina Weibo, have been under heavy censorship.
Wang Peng alerted his friends on Twitter to the arrest of poet Wang Zhang, tweeting a photo of the poet posing in front Taiwan's national flag and showing his support for Hong Kong's so-called “umbrella revolution“:
请大家紧急关注！诗人王藏因为长期维权行动和近期支持香港，现己被当局于10月1日晚11时强行带走，并于10月2日早7点6/7个警察国宝抄 家，现己过24小时没有任何消息。 pic.twitter.com/AmWwKa3Spf“
— 艺术家王鹏 (@wangpeng89) October 3, 2014
Please pay attention! Poet Wang Zhang was arrested by the authorities at around 11 p.m. on October 1 because of his activism and recent support for Hong Kong. Around 6 or 7 police officers and national security guards raided his apartment at 7 a.m. on October 2. He had been out of contact for more than 24 hours.
Taiwan is a sore spot for the mainland Chinese Communist Party, which does not recognize the democratic island's independence. Although Hong Kong enjoys a certain amount of autonomy from China, unlike Taiwan it is a special administrative region of China. Mainland authorities claim that the “one country, two systems” principle adopted in Hong Kong should be a model for the future reunification of Taiwan to China. The failure to implement a genuine democratic system in Hong Kong is a warning for Taiwanese against a closer relationship with China.
Why are mainland Chinese taking the risk to show their support for Hong Kong's democratic struggle? Administrators of “Support Across the Border”, a Facebook page devoted to circulating information about Hong Kong's Occupy Central in mainland China and delivering supportive messages from China to Hong Kong, explained why:
有人問我，不論如何你都是內地人，你搞這個你不害怕嗎。
我沒有回答，說實話，我害怕，剛剛還夢見還在牆內的父母被抓走。。我怕得要命。。
但是，那又如何?
這不妨碍我會與香港一起堅持，這不妨碍來自天性的正義和來自本能的良知賜給我勇氣。[…]
那貼牆內在大街小巷宣傳和諧社會的文字，在高壓電與防火牆外面的另外一個世界，香港同胞正用無畏的靜默唱得熱鬧，民主和正義，歌聲嘹亮。
People asked, as a mainland Chinese, am I scared. I did not answer, to be frank, I am terrified. Just now I dreamed about my parents being arrested over the wall [meaning China]. I am so frightened. But then, so what?
Such a feeling will not obstruct me from standing with Hong Kong. It will not eliminate the courage to seek justice and act with my conscience that was born in me. […]
On one side of the wall propaganda about a harmonious society penetrates every corner of the streets, while over the wall and electric fence is another world, where Hong Kong people are singing out loud for democracy and justice.
In a conversation with local Hong Kong citizens, one of the page administrators pointed out the significance of Hong Kong's democratic development in relation to China:
這不僅僅是香港學生的事了，甚至不僅僅是香港人的事了，而是全國性的，世界性的。這是一場為著民主和自由的革命。[…] 而且不僅僅是我們在香港的內地人，還有在內地的，那些在防火墻裏面信息閉塞的人們，他們也正在使用各種智慧和方法突破重圍，發掘信息，他們無比關切那道窄窄的海矮矮的山對面發生了什麽。他們更加願意，甚至已經，用各種方式在高壓的體制內做著無聲卻持久的抵抗。
This is not only a concern of students in Hong Kong. This is not only a concern of Hong Kongers. This is a nationwide and worldwide issue. This is a revolution for democracy and freedom. […] Not only us mainlanders in Hong Kong, but also the people in mainland China where information is blocked by the Great Firewall are trying to use various strategies to find a way out, to dig up the information. They care about what happens across the narrow strait and the small hills. They are willing to use, or already have used, various strategies to resist the repressive system, quietly and persistently.
Mainland Chinese from Twitter also voiced their support for Hong Kong's pro-democracy protesters. Isaac Mao, a prominent mainland Chinese tech-blogger explained to his friend why Hong Kong needs democracy:
.@Andrew_920626 香港毗邻世界供应链中心，若经济自由和法治体系依然有效，就能够作为地区枢纽，给内地城市做出参考榜样。 城市自身的社会问题和不平等，需要一个民主平衡过程（正是过去香港缺少的）。年轻人有了更多创业机会而不是只能在社会导轨上挣扎，会有更多活力。
— Isaac Mao (@isaac) October 5, 2014
@Andrew_920626 Hong Kong is close to the center of the worldwide supply chain. If we can keep its economic freedom and legal system effective, Hong Kong can be a local hub and a demo for other cities in mainland China. A democratic process is necessary to solve the problems in this society, in particular the disparity between the rich and the poor in this city. Then the young people will have more opportunities for starting new businesses. They will not need to struggle along the old tracks of this society. They will be more energetic.
@guinaigu wished that Hong Kong will be a role model for democracy in China:
@guinaigu @wenyunchao 我是广东的，希望香港的占中能够得到好的结果，我非常支持香港学生占中，香港得到胜利，大陆会民主遍地开花，如果香港这一关失败了，估计华人有排受苦受难，香港加油
— eric (@kyleclean) October 3, 2014
I am from Guangdong. I hope #OccupyCentral will have positive responses. I support the students’ protest. If the protesters in Hong Kong achieve a victory, we will have democracy everywhere in mainland China.
The idea of Hong Kong being a role model for China's future democratic development is a huge burden for Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement, explained one of the administrators in the “Support Across the Border” Facebook page, who felt the pressure:
在我來說，這一場運動不只影響香港，還有機會影響內地將來的民主發展。香港現階段的言論、新聞及集會相對自由，而且民主步伐亦比內地快一點點。一旦香港真的跟從人大的落閘決定，推行經過不合理篩選的普選，將來人大可能會以香港作模範，把假普選推行到內地各省市。
To me, this protest not only influences Hong Kong but also has the opportunity to influence the democracic development of mainland China. Hong Kongers still have freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and freedom of assembly, and their pace toward democracy is faster than that of the mainlanders. If Hong Kong follows the decision of National People’s Congress and promotes the unfair election system, the National People’s Congress may use Hong Kong as a demo and carry out this unfair election system in every city in mainland China.
Follow our in-depth coverage: Hong Kong's Umbrella Revolution

author: I-fan Lin


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Announcing the Global Voices 2015 Summit: We’re Coming to Cebu, Philippines, January 24–25! · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Cebu's Provincial Capitol, where the 2015 Global Voices Summit will take place on January 24-25. Photo by Mike Gonzalez CC BY-SA 3.0
We're thrilled to announce that the Global Voices Citizen Media Summit 2015 will take place on January 24-25 in Cebu City, Philippines.
Our sixth Citizen Media Summit takes us for the first time to South East Asia, where we'll convene two days of public conversations and workshops with bloggers, activists and technologists about the state of citizen media, the Internet and online participation within the venerable walls of the Cebu Provincial Capitol in Cebu City. The 2015 Summit, like all previous events, is a great opportunity for learning and sharing with an incredible global community.
Stay tuned for the launch next week of the Summit web site with details on the event, registration info and more—and do save the date!

author: Georgia Popplewell


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GV Face: Alaa Abd El Fattah and Maryam Al Khawajah on Hunger Strikes, Jail-time, and Activism in Egypt and Bahrain  · Global Voices
Sahar Habib Ghazi

Up until a few weeks ago, Maryam Al Khawajah and Alaa Abd El Fattah were on hunger strike and in jail. Hashtags demanding their release from prison in Bahrain and Egypt were trending on Twitter.

author: Sahar Habib Ghazi


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Bahrain Joins US Air Strikes, but Still Tortures Americans and Silences ISIS Critics · Global Voices
Noor Mattar

Bahrain protest against UK supporting torture in Bahrain. Photograph taken by Terry Scott on October 12, 2013. Copyright: Demotix
“He was ordered to stand on one leg for four hours. He says he was beaten repeatedly, as threats were made to rape his mother and sisters.” This sounds like the actions of ISIS, the Al Qaeda offshoot that has brutally taken control of large parts of Iraq and Syria. But it is actually a description of what the Bahrain government, an ally in the coalition against the ISIS, has done to an American citizen and thousands of its own citizens.
Bahrain and four other Arab countries have joined the coalition against the militant group, which is killing Muslims and minorities and spreading horror, in order to grab land for its self-declared caliphate. It goes without saying that Bahrain didn't even pretend to hold a parliamentary session to approve the decision to go to war. Bahrain's contribution to the coalition has also drawn laughs on American comedian Jon Stewart's “The Daily Show”:
This comes shortly after Bahrain deported an American diplomat. Also recently, Shaikh Khalid Al Khalifa, the head of the national committee for defence and national security at the Shura Council, brushed off the danger of the ISIS.
Allegations of torture
Bahrain is now in the third year of its crackdown on a popular uprising. Tagi Al-Maidan, a US-born citizen, found himself caught in the struggle after he returned with his mother to Bahrain following her divorce. There, he was arrested and tortured into signing a false confession that he is an attempted murderer. He is now serving a 10-year sentence in Bahrain's infamous prison system.
Al-Maidan was arrested at his house and put on trial for charges that included illegal gathering and assaulting armed forces. In an interview with an Arabic-language daily, his mother denied all the accusations, saying her son was home at the time of the alleged incident, adhering to the American embassy's travel advisory.
The mother says there is no physical evidence to support the claims against her son. She demands that any supposedly incriminating evidence must be presented in open court, where, she is confident, it would be quickly refuted. According to Human Rights Watch, courts in Bahrain “fail to deliver basic accountability and impartial justice“.
According to prominent Bahraini human rights activist Said Yousif Almuhafada, Al-Maidan is being mistreated in prison. Almuhafada described the bad conditions in a tweet earlier this summer:
#Bahrain تقي الميدان امريكي الجنسية مضرب عن الطعام في عنبر 3 بسبب سوء المعاملة و منعة من العلاج و عدم حصولة على طعام يلائم حالتة الصحية
— S.Yousif Almuhafda (@SAIDYOUSIF) June 20, 2013
Tagi Al-Maidan, a US citizen, is on a hunger strike in block 3 [of Jaw Prison] due to his mistreatment, lack of medical attention, and deprivation of food that is necessary for his medical condition.
After several prisoner deaths in Bahrain last year, the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights said in its 2013 report:
The continuation of the current violations against all prisoners in Bahrain may lead to future loss of lives.
Four deaths were attributed to the lack of medical treatment in prison in 2013.
According to his mother, Al-Maidan has lost 16 kilos (about 35 pounds) since his arrest, his hair is falling out, he's developed a stomach ulcer, and he is experiencing back pains. Without medical attention or enough diplomatic pressure to release him, Taqi's psychological condition is also expected to deteriorate.
The arrest of Nabeel Rajab
Bahrain is also silencing those who speak against the ISIS, while turning a blind eye to defectors from its own armed forces, who have climbed the ranks of ISIS and call on Bahrainis to join the organisation.
Bahraini authorities have again arrested Nabeel Rajab, a prominent human rights activist who was released from prison in May 2014 after spending two years in prison for advocating peaceful protests. This time, he was held for criticizing police defectors who joined ISIS. Indeed, Rajab has commented on acts committed by ISIS many times. After American journalist Steven Sotloff was beheaded by ISIS, he wrote on his Instagram account:
On Instagram, Nabeel Rajab pays tribute to American journalist Steven Sotloff who was killed by ISIS
الصحفي الامريكي ستيفن سوتلوف الذي قتلته داعش الليلة هو من الصحفيين والباحثين الذين زاروا البحرين عدة مرات وكتب عدة مقالات وبحوث تدعم نضال شعب البحرين ولذلك التقيته عدة مرات – ان هذه القسوة التي تبديدها هذه الحركات الاسلامية المتطرفة قد أضرت بالإسلام والمسلمين اكثر من الأضرار التي خلفها أعداء الاسلام – كل تعاطفي وتعازيي لأسرة هذا الصحفي المقتول على أيدي أعداء الانسانية
The American journalist Steven Sotloff who was killed by ISIS is one of the journalists and researchers who visited Bahrain many times and wrote many articles and investigations that support the struggle of Bahrainis and I have met him several times. The cruelty that radical Islamist movements have inflicted on Islam and Muslims is more than the enemies of Islam [have dispensed]. I offer all my condolences to the family of this journalist, who was killed at the hands of the enemies of humanity.
Rajab also criticized the inaction of the political forces in the Gulf region to crack down on ISIS. He tweeted to his 240,000 followers:
مفتي #السعودية يعتبر داعش والقاعدة الخطر الأول على الإسلام لكن هناك سياسيون في #البحرين والخليج يعتبرون احتلال داعش للموصل ثورة شعبية
— Nabeel Rajab (@NABEELRAJAB) August 20, 2014
The highest Saudi cleric describes ISIS and Al Qaeda as the greatest danger facing Islam, but there are politicians in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf who consider ISIS's occupation of Mosul a popular revolution.
He was arrested after he tweeted in reply to an ISIS YouTube message calling Bahrainis to arms:
many #Bahrain men who joined #terrorism & #ISIS came from security institutions and those institutions were the first ideological incubator
— Nabeel Rajab (@NABEELRAJAB) September 28, 2014
The authorities in Bahrain considered this message offensive to national institutions, and decided to keep him in custody, until he is brought to trial on October 19 for “denigrating an official institution”. This has sparked a discussion about the government's hypocrisy in its fight against ISIS. Ex-MP Ali Alasheeri tweeted:
الجهة الرسمية في #البحرين التي لا تحرك ساكنا عندما يقوم موظف كبير فيها بالتغريد بتكفير مالا يقل عن نصف شعب البحرين فهي حاضنة للفكر الداعشي
— Ali Rashed AlAsheeri (@AliAsheeri) October 3, 2014
The state authorities, who don't raise a finger when a high-ranking official tweets about how over half of Bahrain is made up of infidels, is an incubator of the ISIS ideology.
Journalist Adel Marzooq asked his 35,900 followers:
بعيدا عن مسؤولية تمويل #داعش المادي والعسكري .. في الأساس كيف يمكن للتحالف الدولي ان يتعامل مع تمويلها الديني/الثقافي؟! #البحرين #العراق
— Adel Marzooq (@adelmarzooq) October 6, 2014
Aside from the financial and military support, how can the international alliance, in the first place, deal with the cultural and theological support of ISIS?!
Bahraini authorities demolished about 40 Shia mosques across the country as part of its crackdown on protests against the Sunni regime. ISIS is doing the same to historic mosques, shrines, and places of worship throughout Syria and Iraq. Activist Abdulelah Almahoozi made a comparison between two acts, asking if we aren't witnessing the same phenomenon in essence:
أليس تهديم المساجد في #البحرين من قبل مؤسسة الجيش والشرطة هي ذاتها أفعال #داعش وعليه فالعقيدة الأمنية داعشية pic.twitter.com/jjFRpEa1x1
— Abdulelah Al-Mahoozi (@AbdAlmahoozi) October 5, 2014
Isn't the act of demolishing mosques, as the police and military forces have done, the same act that ISIS is performing? Therefore, aren't the security institutions inspired by an ISIS-like ideology?
Meanwhile, the Bahrain-born-and-raised preacher Turki Al Binali, who pledged allegiance to ISIS, has issued a new statement on why allegiance to the Caliphate Abu-Baker Albaghdaddi is the duty of every Muslim.
The Bahrain Ministry of Interior, which customarily publishes pictures of political dissidents and their charges before they go to court, hasn't posted anything yet about the identity of the three unnamed Bahraini men in the YouTube message calling on Bahrainis to join ISIS. The government hasn't announced a public investigation into the matter, either.


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Drones Over the Amazon on the Lookout for Environment Threats · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Rainforest Airforce: Indigenous Peoples Fly Drones to Protect their Land from GEORGI TUSHEV on Vimeo.
Following a training conducted by the group Tushevs Aerials in August 2014, indigenous leaders from the Loreto and Madre de Dios regions in Peru are discovering how drones can play a prominent role in monitoring environmental threats to the rainforest.
The workshops were held in the community of Saramuro located on the Marañón River and brought together 15 participants from various Amazonian communities, including members of the Embera-Wounaan community in Panama. The participants took part in sessions using flight simulators and learned how to use software to plan flights using the autopilot feature. There were also sessions on how to evaluate the data and create maps from the photographs collected by the drone.
In this video created by the Inter-Ethnic Association for the Development of the Peruvian Jungle (AIDESEP for its initials in Spanish), which was also the host of the workshop, community members say that the drones will allow for more efficient and faster monitoring of potential threats such as illegal logging and mining, as well as land invasions through documentation.
Once the initial workshop ended, plans are being made for follow-up sessions to take place in Panama in early 2015. These sessions will devote more time to fine-tune their flying skills and how to better evaluate the data collected.

author: Eduardo Avila


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Eating Central Asian Plov in New York and London · Global Voices
Zukhra Iakupbaeva

Central Asian food is not for people on a diet. Wikipedia images.
Central Asian people are famous for lavish hospitality and an all-you-can eat attitude to home cooking. In the years since independence, regional cuisine — more meat than veg as a rule — has traveled beyond the region to satisfy the appetites of restaurant-goers in some of the world's richest metropoles. To Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Tajiks, Turkmen and Uzbeks living in locales like New York and London,  these eateries are a home away from home.
Uzbeks in New York City
Photo taken from Nargiscafe.com
Nargis is a Uzbek-run restaurant in Brooklyn, New York, serving up plov, manti, samsa, lagman and other Central Asian dishes, providing a gateway to national cuisine and traditions.
Tomer B, an American diner praises Nargis on the crowd-sourcing platform Yelp.com:
This place has never let me down. The quality of the food and and the money you pay for it. There is no other place like this in New York. The owner Eli is always there taking care that service is good and people are happy.
Historically, the territory of modern-day Uzbekistan stood at the crossroads of the Great Silk Road, a well-worn web of trading routes that connected Europe and Asia before the economics of sea power and other factors caused the trade to slow to a trickle. In keeping with Central Asian tradition, the owner of Nargis waits for guests in front of his dwelling.
Photo taken from Chayhanasalom.com
Also on Yelp.com, Michael D writes:
The Nargis Cafe is an Uzbek restaurant that does it right. The owner always greets me with a smile and is very warm.
A bowl of traditional Uzbek plov containing rice, thick carrot, onion, lamb, and different spices costs $ 8.50 at Nargis restaurant, somewhat more expensive than Central Asian prices, but still a cheap eat by New York standards.
On Nargis restaurant's Facebook page U.S.-based Central Asians show their enthusiasm:
Nargis has a rival in the form of another Brooklyn-based Central Asian restaurant, Chayhona Salom. The restaurant's owners, Murat Khojimatov and Farida Ganieva said “Tashkent [the capital of Uzbekistan] plov is world famous.”
Chayhona Salom's version of plov is differed from Nargis, it consists of larger hunks of lamb on a bed of rice with finely diced carrots, and is topped with a single, simple quail egg. The restaurant's “Tashkent Plov” is also 50 cents cheaper than at Nargis.
Chayhona Salom visiter Alexander S. noted [eng],
They serve delicious Uzbek food. We ordered Samsa and Shish kebabs and it reminded me of my childhood in Uzbekistan.
Kazakhs and Kyrgyz in London
As in Seoul, the capital of South Korea, New York's Uzbek restaurant serves as a collecting point for Uzbeks that have migrated from Uzbekistan — a piece of the motherland in a foreign land. There are around 20,000 Uzbeks living in the U.S., with most located in New York City, especially in Queens and Brooklyn. (The odd few end up in Arizona, too).
Photo taken from Kyrgyz Kazakh Pasha House
In Britain, however, Central Asian dining has a more nomadic flavour, thanks to The Kyrgyz-Kazakh Pasha House founded in 1999, the first of its kind in Europe.
One netizen commenting on Trip Advisor described Pasha House as “weird and tasty”:
The place has a slightly weird atmosphere with running children, a large group of diners singing and a couple whispering lovingly in the corner. The waiting staff were slightly overwhelming but lovely. The food was superb, absolutely first rate.
The restaurant is an obvious location for an authentic toi (a big collective celebration in Turkic languages) abroad. Pasha's family focus allows for an area where children can run, adults can sing, and everyone can feast on national food.
The pound's current strength against the dollar makes Pasha's plov, at 8 British pounds ($13.70) a lot more expensive-seeming than the New York version, but Trip Advisors note that by London standards, it is not a pricy evening out.
We liked it very much. There was a good menu to choose from. It was served very well and the service was good as was the price.
With Central Asian restaurants simultaneously offering citizens of their host countries unique fare at low prices, and the increasingly mobile people of the region a way to stay connected with their culture, the region's food and culture are sure to make a home for themselves in other  major cities across the world, too.

author: Zukhra Iakupbaeva


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Ebola Strips Africans of Their Cultural and Human Values · Global Voices
Abdoulaye Bah

A social anthropologist and sociologist Ginny Moony explains how Ebola outbreak strips off Africans of their humanity:
The way West-Africans care for their sick and deceased, supposedly differs significantly from that of the rest of the world. This is far from true. All over the world, the essence of care for the sick is practically the same: the touching of sick and dead relatives is a natural phenomenon. All over the world the deceased are cleaned up and the body is neatly laid out so that family members and acquaintances can say farewell. In the Netherlands, we have the possibility to lay out our dead loved ones in our parlour for days. And physical contact with the body of the deceased will take place until the coffin is sealed and put into the ground or taken to the cremation ovens.
In the case of the Ebola affected countries, normal human behavior is dismissed as “old-fashioned and undesirable practices” by the World Health Organization and experts analyzing the Ebola outbreak. Nobody questions whether it is reasonable to deny people the care for their loved ones and the right to be in charge of the mourning process. The solution to prevent people from getting infected with Ebola is clear: no touching, under any circumstances. More empathic solutions, like the provision of protective gear to family members so they can bury their loved ones themselves or with guidance, are not being considered. The population is pushed into the corner; if they do not cooperate, they will go to jail. These harsh measures alienate the people from the authorities even further. Ebola is a punishment. Not for the international community, not for the politicians, not for the elite, but only for the poor masses. The people feel alone. Deserted. Huge amounts of money are coming in, more and more reinforcements arrive and still the epidemic wins more ground every day….
Follow our in-depth coverage: The Struggle to #StopEbola in West Africa

author: Abdoulaye Bah


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Lightening Kills 11 Wiwa People in Colombia · Global Voices
Cati Restrepo

Indigenous village in the Sierra Nevada, image on Flickr from user Sailing Nomad (CC by 2.0).
Nearly a dozen Wiwa people perished when a bolt of lightening struck the Sierra Nevada of Santa Marta earlier this week, on October 6, 2014. More than a dozen more were injured. Twitter users have responded to the tragedy with a mix of solidarity and political commentary.
Karina Beatriz remembered it had been raining copiously there on the night of Sunday, October 5, and expressed her condolences for the loss:
Con razón el zipote aguacero de ayer, Dios tenga misericordia de nosotros y de consuelo a las familias del pueblo Wiwa en la Sierra Nevada.
— Karina Beatriz (@karyt) octubre 7, 2014
Well of course, with that terrible downpour yesterday, may God have mercy on us and may the Wiwa families in the Sierra Nevada be consoled.
On the other hand, SuperGirlDidi took the opportunity to satirize critics of former-President Álvaro Uribe Vélez, whose detractors, she implies, blamed him for problems beyond his control:
Traditional landscape of the Sierra Nevada of Santa Marta, photo on Flickr from user Sailing Nomad (BY-NC-ND 2.0).
Tal vez Uribe provocó el rayo en la Sierra Nevada q mató a los indigenas.Pues como de todo le echan la culpa a Uribe http://t.co/74osjEQk50
— @DidiSupergirl ✡ (@SupergirlDidi) octubre 7, 2014
Maybe Uribe caused the lightening to kill the indigenous people in the Sierra Nevada, seeing as how the people blame him for everything.
Colores Mari questioned the media's coverage of the tragedy:
Sobre indígenas fallecidos en Sierra Nevada un periodista dice en @NoticiasCaracol “les darán cristiana sepultura”. Un poquito inapropiado.
— Colores Mari (@ColoresMari) octubre 7, 2014
Regarding the deceased indigenous people in the Sierra Nevada, a journalist says via @NoticiasCaracol that “they will receive a Christian burial.” A tad inappropriate.
Diana Montoya, meanwhile, honored the wisdom of the Wiwa community:
Qué historia más triste la de los Indígenas Wiwa en la Sierra Nevada. Pérdida de vidas y de sabiduría.
— Diana Montoya (@dianaeme) octubre 7, 2014
What sadder story is there than that of the Wiwa in the Sierra Nevada. A loss of life and wisdom.
Situated on the Caribbean Sea, the Wiwa community inhabits the Sierra Nevada of Santa Marta, known locally as the “Heart of the World.” There are another four neighboring villages according to the Pueblo Wiwa (Wiwa People) blog, which publishes articles about the community, whose human rights have reportedly come under pressure during the Colombian conflict.

author: Cati Restrepo


text:
Security Risks Exposed at Amusement Park in Dhaka · Global Voices
Rezwan

During the Eid holidays, Carnival Park at Jamuna Future park welcomed a large number of visitors. On October 7, 2014, one of its attractions, the 360-degree shuffle ride, stopped in the middle of a ride. Everyone on-board was stuck in their seats for about an hour. The ride had no emergency backup system, preventing a normal shutdown, delaying the release of its riders. Rescue workers had to free every individual manually, in a rather painstaking process.
Facebook user Sultanul Nahian Hasnat was present at the mishap and later uploaded to Facebook two videos (click her to watch the 1st and the 2nd), which went viral. These are now available on YouTube, also.
There was no mention of this incident in the local mainstream news.

author: Rezwan