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Honduras: Charter Cities Threaten Garífuna Communities · Global Voices
Renata Avila

The government of Porfirio Lobo caused great controversy after it recently signed [es] an agreement with Group MGK to implement a variant of Charter Cities, called Special Development Regions (REDs), in Honduras.
Some, like Ryan William Nohea Garcia from Libertopia underground, welcome the project:
Rejoice! Honduras’ Regiones Especiales de Desarrollo (Special Development Regions (REDs)) are official. (Roundup of news: here, here, and here.) REDs are forums within Honduras for innovative political and legal systems that better promote prosperity by securing Individual rights, offering stable regulatory and judicial structures, and implementing more streamlined immigration procedures. This is great news for Hondurans and the greater Free City movement. This blog post recognizes and praises the Honduran officials who advocated and implemented for REDs, a fortiori in the face of significant domestic, nativist opposition.
REDs can only be implemented in uninhabited land; in the case of Honduras, however, 24 Garífuna communities could be removed from their territory. The blog Being Garifuna explains:
“Because I was made in Honduras, I say NO. Join the protest against the traitors of the country, those who want to sell your country piece by piece, those who don't respect the constitution of your country, those who don't respect you!” Poster by Anonymous Honduras. No rights reserved.
Garifuna people are a unique afro-Caribbean ethnic group descended from indigenous Arawak Indians, Carib Indians and escaped African slaves who lived together in St. Vincent. The Garifuna of Honduras’ northern coast have been struggling for decades to protect their lands from predatory investors eyeing coastal lands for large-scale tourist projects, mega-hotels, and gated vacation communities. The “Charter City” project—brainchild of NYU economist Paul Romer—which aims to create a sovereign, business-friendly city-state on the Northern coast, is one of the biggest threats.
According to several reports, these lands have belonged to Garífuna communities since 1804 [es]. In a post on the issue, Tim Russo from Upside Down World quotes Miriam Miranda, president of the Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras (OFRANEH):
Vallecito is the heart of the territory where they are promoting the creation and installation of Honduras’ Charter City. So, we are not only up against the interests of organized crime; we’re up against the interests of a government that—without consulting us—makes decisions about our territory.
More than 200 families currently live in Vallecito, on the Atlantic coast of Honduras, and their voices were not taken into consideration when signing the agreement.
The project is the brainchild of Paul Romer. Mr Romer and other experts were appointed to become members of the Transparency Commission for the Special Development Regions (REDs) which was supposed to serve as the governance organ of the cities. However, up to this date these appointments have not been confirmed, raising doubts about the transparency and accountability of the project. Without the appointed Transparency Commission, the only safeguard for the transparency of the process is the Honduran Congress.
Many bloggers have criticized the project and demand that the government look after local peasants and farmers [es] instead of foreign companies. For others, like CapoSud [es], giving away the sovereignty of the territory is unconstitutional. Furthermore, other bloggers like Tony Molony [es] argue that the government is selling the country piece by piece, and Analisis Afrodescendiente describes this as the second phase [es] of the 2009 coup.
Anonymous Honduras launched #OpEstadoFallido (Operation Failed State), taking down several government websites [es]. There is also a petition on Avaaz [es] calling for the defense of the territory where the RED projects would be implemented. Another petition, in English, is hosted in GoPetition and promoted by OFRANEH. It reads:
According to public notices, the RED is to be established on the northern coast, the ancestral territories of the Garifuna and Miskito Peoples, violating their human, cultural, social and economic rights. International law and the legal framework on the territorial rights of indigenous peoples – including a number of instruments signed by the Government of Honduras – enshrine these rights. According to the hierarchy of norms, their application must be preferential and is mandatory.
Hondurans are not the only ones skeptical about the project. Duncan Green, a strategic adviser for Oxfam, expressed his concern and pointed out that such a structure in one of the most corrupt countries in the world will not work.
The project will be lead by Michael Strong, founder of a project called Conscious Capitalism. He argues that his project will deliver positive results: prosperity, jobs, and better living standards.
However, the community is already feeling this project's toll.
Garífuna Lands,  by Renata Avila under a Creative Commons Attribution License.
Violence and extrajudicial executions are increasing in Honduras. During September, human rights defenders Antonio Trejo Cabrera and Manuel Eduardo Díaz Mazariegos were murdered. While the murders are not related, it is a worrying fact. Trejo was a lawyer defending peasants and Garifuna communities opposing the Special Development Regions.
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights explains:
On September 24, 2012, the special prosecutor on human rights of the Choluteca Department, Eduardo Díaz Mazariegos, was killed with 11 bullets by two unidentified persons riding on motorcycles, in the vicinty of the headquarters of the Office of the Prosecutor in the city of Choluteca, in the southeast of Honduras.
On September 22, 2012, unidentified persons shot Antonio Trejo Cabrera in Tegucigalpa, and that in the previous he had received several death threats, which he had reported to the authorities. Antonio Trejo Cabrera was the legal representative of the Movimiento Auténtico Reivindicador Campesino del Aguán (MARCA), and he worked defending and promoting the rights of the peasant community cooperatives in the region of the Bajo Aguán.
A few days earlier, a group of Human Rights observers from different countries were threatened in the same area by masked, armed men.
Amnesty International also condemned the murder, and raised their concerns on increased violence and sexual abuse by private actors:
Private security personnel working for landowners and companies in Bajo Aguán have been accused of a series of alleged human rights abuses, including threats against local farmers as well as rape and other violent attacks.
The reaction by the Unified Campesino Movement of Aguan (MUCA) – the peasant movement which Trejo defended – was strong:
The Aguan campesino movement condemns this vile murder, which now is added to the list of those who have been shot and killed in their struggle to defend their people. On several occasions, Trejo denounced the threats he had received to the media and held the Bajo Aguan landowners responsible for any attempts to kill him or his family.
Trejo handled the legal affairs of the San Isidro, La Trinidad, and El Despertar cooperatives[…]
The Aguan campesinos are in solidarity with him and express our deepest condolences to his family, wife, and children.
The communiqué continues:
There is no doubt that Trejo's murder is a message from the powerful groups that live in the Aguan and those who make decisions in the country, to the campesinos
The situation is increasingly complex as the communities face legal and physical threats, now without the help of Trejo. With the signed agreement, in spite of all the opposition from civil society, the project will likely continue and the families will face eviction from the land they have inhabited for almost a century.
Furthermore, a Constitutional Reform is currently underway to authorize such cities. As reported by Human Rights Watch, Trejo had presented a constitutional writ, challenging the validity of the agreement signed by the government for the REDs. He joined the peasants in a peaceful protest against the government's measures in front of the Supreme Court of Justice on August 21, 2012. After repression from police forces, Trejo was arrested.
There are 22 pending constitutional writs opposing the REDs waiting to be solved. Most of them were presented by members of the community and civil society in Honduras, including Catholic priest Fausto Milla [es], who once headed the Civil Society Truth Commission. Honduras does not enjoy independence in their judiciary; in fact, the system is a quite corrupt, as pointed out by Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression, Frank La Rue, on his recent visit report [es].
Nevertheless, the Honduran Supreme Court of Justice will have the last word on the future of the project.

author: Renata Avila


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Hong Kong: National Education Scrapped but Tensions Continue · Global Voices
my1510.cn

The Hong Kong government's controversial plan to introduce a moral and national education curriculum (hereafter national education) in elementary schools has finally been scrapped after rigorous citizen protests – including hunger strikes.
The government has finally promised to scrapped the mandatory three-year deadline for the implementation of the curriculum and let the schools make their own decisions.
Background
The term “national education” was introduced in Hong Kong back in July 2007, when Hu Jintao, the Chinese president, attended the tenth anniversary ceremony of Hong Kong reunification with China. He stressed that Hong Kong “should put more emphasis on national education for young people”.
In 2010, former Chief Executive of Hong Kong Donald Tsang mentioned national education in his Policy Address. But the public was unaware of the policy until May 2012 when Scholarism [zh], a student activist group, organized a rally demanding the withdrawal of the curriculum.
On July 29, 2012, a civic coalition composed of Scholarism, the Parents Concern Group and the Professional Teachers’ Union, co-organized a mass rally against the curriculum; since then the anti-national education campaign has become a common agenda of Hong Kong society.
Anti-national education protest – our children. Photo taken by Leung Ching Yau Alex CC: BY-NC-SA.
Why are Hong Kong people so hostile to national education? Wong Kwok-kui, a writer at inmediahk.net explains [zh]:
在反對國民教育的聲音中，常聽到一種說法：「我們不反對國民教育，但內容不可偏頗，要提六四等……」先贊同對方的前提，再斟酌內容。這等於敵人送一隻木馬來，守城的人竟先讓木馬進城，然後才慢慢看它肚子裏裝的是什麼。如此開門引虎，把自己置於危險的境地而不知。…
如果硬要推行，所謂的認同，就變成簡單的「我=它」，硬把自己投射到一個更大的群體上。（如策發會文件提到的所謂「we-ness」的建立）在這個過程中，必然會把認同對象一些負面的東西排除掉，這認同才能成立。…日本右翼分子要重建國民自豪感，則必須先否定所謂「自虐歷史觀」，否定南京大屠殺。…所以，民族認同從來都是雙利刃，施之於心智未成熟的小孩身上，即使沒有荼毒兒童的意圖，也會有荼毒之效果。
There is a saying within the anti-national education camp: “We do not reject national education, but the content should not be biased and should mention controversial subjects such as the June 4 crackdown…”. Such a position means you agree with the opponent’s premise and ready to negotiate for the substance later. The situation is similar to the Greek's Trojan horse story: the guards allow the wooden horse enter the city without checking what's inside. This is dangerous…
If [the curriculum] is implemented, [national] identification will become a simple equation of “I” to “it” [the nation], which means to forcibly project oneself onto a community. (As mentioned in a government think-tank policy paper, the so-called “identification of ‘we-ness’.) In the process, some negative aspects of the identification object would be consciously omitted… For example, to re-build their national pride, the Japanese right-wing has given up a “reflective historism” [the Japanese right wing called the self-reflection upon Japanese military crime during the WII as a “masochist historism” (「自虐歷史觀」)] and denied the the Nanjing Massacre history… National identification is always a double-edged sword which brings lifelong torment to immature children, even though it does not intend to do so.
Storm of protests
What has ignited the storm of protests is the ‘China Model – National Conditions Teaching Handbook’ which was published by the National Education Services Centre, run by the pro-Beijing Hong Kong Federation of Education Workers. The book  omits a number of important historical events in contemporary China [zh], such as the Cultural Revolution and other human rights violations.
Enduring problems in human rights, rule of law, and livelihood in China are only briefly mentioned. On the other hand, it describes the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) as a “progressive, selfless and united” entity.
Scholarism is the backbone of the anti-national education coalition. Led by Joshua Wong, a 16-year-old secondary school student, the group raised four demands in the July 29 rally: 1. Immediate withdrawal of the Moral and National Education Curriculum; 2. Review of existing civic education policy and curriculum; 3. Disclosure of all criteria for subsidizing institutions that promote national education; and 4. Re-establishment of the working group on human rights education.
As for the Parents Concern Group, its members are mostly middle class who are not interested in social issues. Yet these parents are anxious of the effect of the curriculum to their kids. They took to the streets in hot weather, crying “Please leave my children alone”.
As pointed out [zh] by writer Lu Yi in my1510.cn [zh]:
和不少在大陸成長的人相比，香港人對中國歷史的認知深度有限，但不少人本身就是生活在和中共密切的歷史當中，早年大部份從大陸走到香港的人，就是要避開如大饑荒、文革等的各種浩劫，現在這些人都當祖父母和曾祖父母了，你認為他們願意見到心愛孫兒們圍著紅領巾嗎？或是說著中共是無私的嗎？
遊行小孩的父母們在1989年是懵懂的中小學生，正因為學校老師與他們談論天安門事件，才有足夠的資料去進行多角度的分析思考，他們都珍惜這樣的環境，請共產黨放過他們的兒女。
Comparing those who grown up in the Mainland China, Hong Kong people do not have deep understanding of Chinese history. Nevertheless, many of them had living experience under the CCP's rule. They evaded from the Mainland to escape from disasters such as the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution. They now become grandparents or great grandparents. Do you think they are willing to see their lovely grandchildren wearing red scarves [becoming the Red Guards]?
For the parents, they were innocent elementary school students during the June 4 crackdown. They are able to understand the incident from different perspectives because of the open discussion in schools. They treasure this kind of environment and want the CCP to let go of their children.
But can we simply equate national education with brainwashing? The Secretary of Education Eddie Ng Hak-kim stated that the public has misunderstood its purpose and emphasized that it is difficult to “brainwash” students through education.
Mainland media practitioner Han Ching believes [zh] that the problem lies in both the content and the pedagogy:
從內容上看，如果一些教材充斥的淨是不容置疑、一錘定音的論調，價值判斷遠多於事實陳述，且不講邏輯，不考慮學生的接受程度，即便結論正確，也可判定為「洗腦教材」。從方式上看，如果課堂上老師不允許自由討論，考試只是將課本所說定為標準答案，不引導學生批判地學習，而學校出於上級、外界的壓力或教材的有限無法自行選擇，那這種機制也可判定為「洗腦教育」。
In terms of content, if the teaching material is full of indisputable, unquestionable claims, with more value judgment rather than factual statements, illogical and ignored students’ doubts, one can say it has “brainwashing effect”. In terms of pedagogy, if teachers do not allow free discussion, if there is standard answers in examinations, if [teachers] do not guide students to learn critically, and schools cannot choose their own teaching materials due to political pressure, this is also a “brainwashing” process.
There are also disagreements and questions raised against the anti-national education campaign. For example some have raised the question: why did Hong Kong people not react against religion education or the British colonial system, which could also be considered “brainwashing”?
Ip Iam-chong writes a letter to mainland youth [zh] to answer these questions:
港英年代的主流教育是一種「世界上非常罕見的非國民教育」，港英政府沒有要我們成為英國人，即使在官立學校，也沒有系統性的國民教育。例如，當年官校學生對英國國歌旋律雖然熟悉，卻不懂得歌詞。英國歷史、政經成就、歸屬感等等，全都不是課程重點，更沒有英國的國民教育專科。更有趣的是，有官校的老師校長，積極鼓勵學生參加中樂團，對文化中國份外認同。…
香港沒有人反對「宗教洗腦」，而卻去反對國教，大概的原因有兩個。第一，這裡談及的宗教是多種多樣的。例如，天主教學校不少，但也沒有佔壓倒性的比例，至於基督教，其實內里分成眾多教會，它們之間是互不統屬的，各自有不同的教義及會堂連繫。第二，這些宗教背後，並沒有一個在香港或中國掌握權力的執政黨，換言之，沒有一個是國教。
Mainstream education in the British colonial era was a “non-national education” rarely happened in other parts of the world. The colonial government did not ask us (Hong Kong people) to become British. Even public schools did not have systematic national education. An example was that students from public schools were familiar with the melody of United Kingdom’s national anthem, but many did not know the lyrics. British history, social and economic achievement, sense of belonging, were not the focus in school curriculum. There was no independent British national education subject. On the other hand, some teachers and headmasters from public schools were actively encouraging students to join Chinese orchestra and identify with Chinese culture.
There are two reasons why Hong Kong people do not oppose “religious brainwashing”. First, we have freedom of religion in Hong Kong. The city has some Catholic schools, but they are not the majority. As for Protestantism, the churches are independently run with different principles and connections. Second, all the religions are not back by ruling party or power. In other words, Hong Kong does not have a national religion.
Rose Luqiu, a veteran media practitioner admits that the Hong Kong government could have done better in introducing national education. But she stresses that in an open society, no one can exclude a pro-national education viewpoint [zh]:
畢竟香港的學校，一直自主選擇教材。說實話，和這本手冊的內容比起來，一些傳統左派學校的國情教育，想必更加的正面和片面。但是香港是一個擁有言論自由和學術自由的地方，你可以批評內容的偏頗，大家進行討論，但是不能禁止這樣的觀點和聲音，包括這本手冊，除非內容涉及違法。
After all, schools in Hong Kong can decide their own teaching materials. To be honest, the patriotic education from pro-Beijing schools must be more loop-sided than the [China Model] handbook. However, Hong Kong is a place with speech and academic freedom. You can criticize the teaching materials biased but cannot ban the viewpoint and the handbook, unless it contains illegal content.
On September 8, the Hong Kong government finally made concessions and scrapped the three-year deadline for mandatory implementation of the curriculum, giving the schools autonomy to make their own decisions. However, the belief that the “implementation of national education is a political mission assigned by the CCP to the new Chief Executive” has spread and people are anxious about the city's political future.
Liumui points out [zh]:
阿爺南下，說香港深層次矛盾未解決，香港深層次矛盾太深，估計特區管制團隊是很難找到的，即便是找到了也不認識。從民生問題延伸到體制轉型，特區政府接二連三的進退失據，顯得捉襟見肘，完全是一個令人感到不可思議的行政能力！任何政策和計劃的推出怎麼都是飽受爭議，為什麼在事前的諮詢和收集意見時沒有較長時間的緩衝期。推出的政策如完成下達的任務一樣，國民教育科就是其中一例，市民本身對於某團體就是具有長期的不信任和抗拒，為什麼在市民有反對聲音時不出來做出說明呢？面對情緒不能疏導解釋而是選擇躲避，看來是想硬闖關！不更加讓民眾產生懷疑和猜測？
Beijing believes that Hong Kong has unresolved deep-seated conflicts and the city administrators are incapable of dealing with the problem. The government has failed in all policy areas, from livelihood to institutional transformation. The administrative body is so weak that one can hardly imagine! Every policy and plan has become controversy, yet it doesn't improve the consultation arrangement. Policy implementation is presented in a manner like political mission. In the case of national education, when people expressed distrust and oppositions, the government did not even care to explain and channel public discontents. Instead, it insisted to push through the policy by all means. Don’t they realize that such gesture will generate more public distrust?

source: news-globalvoices

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


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Investigating the ‘New Face’ of Forced Displacement in Latin America · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

Sibylla Brodzinsky in the blog InSight Crime writes about organized crime as “the new face of forced displacement in Latin America.” She adds that under the coordination of InSight Crime and with the support of Internews, an alliance of digital media in El Salvador, Colombia, and Mexico explored this new face of displacement in the region.

author: Silvia Viñas


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Macedonia: Insult and Defamation Bill May Encourage Censorship · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

On September 27, Metamorphosis: Foundation for Internet and Society issued a statement [en; mk; sq] on the draft law on civil liability for insult and defamation and its sections related to online communication, urging the Parliament of the Republic of Macedonia to reject the adoption of the law in its current form.
[…] The opportunities for arbitrary abuse that would be created with the adoption of such a law, by encouraging the online service providers from all societal sectors […] to introduce procedures for censorship of content generated by their users, make this law contrary to the fundamental principles of freedom of speech and censorship prohibition contained in Article 16 of the Constitution of the Republic of Macedonia. […]

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Macedonia: Skopje Zoo Improvements Continue · Global Voices
Filip Stojanovski

“Attention! Electric fence” sign and a bear at Skopje Zoo. Photo by Vasil Buraliev, used with permission.
Vasil Buraliev blogged [mk] about further improvements of the Skopje Zoo, noted in 2010 by Global Voices [en, mk, sq, nl, zh, zh, es].  He wrote:
We get into a habit to notice the bad things around us… We comment on them and offer solutions to problems, but ignore the nice things with silent agreement that it's somebody's job and it's expected to be done right, so there's no need for praise…

author: Filip Stojanovski


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Puerto Rico: Urban Gardens Instead of Trash · Global Voices
Ángel Carrión

The blog Huertas urbanas [es] (Urban Garden) highlights different efforts on the island to promote agriculture, especially the urban gardens. Of special interest is the urban garden created for the residents of the Capetillo community in San Juan, whose land was transformed from a land dump to a community garden for the use and enjoyment of its residents.

author: Ángel Carrión


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Risky Ideas to Fight Corruption! #Testing123 · Global Voices
Renata Avila

The Global Integrity Innovation fund is not a typical call for projects. It is something else! #Testing123 is looking for crazy, risky, challenging and brand new ideas to fight corruption.
They will give away up to $10,000 USD to fund 10-15 innovative ideas that target the challenges of transparency and accountability. The call is open to people all over the world, anyone can apply in a simple process.
It is a great opportunity for transparency advocates, social entrepreneurs or just anyone with a great idea to fund those risky projects which would not be otherwise funded. The call is open until the November 16, 2012! Take a chance to change the world!


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Russia: Philanthropy Through Advertising · Global Voices
Teplitsa

The project “A Minute of Your Day for Good” (1minute.ru) was launched in November 2011. Users of the platform can accrue “charity minutes,” which advertisers later honor in cash. Using this system, volunteer work hours are converted into donations to charity organizations participating in the project.
The project offers its users short advertisements, which they volunteer to watch and funders reward with cash donations to charities. For every charity, 1minute.ru hosts a dedicated webpage with a description of the particular campaign, the names of its organizers, and the current status of donations.
Aleksey Melnicheck, co-founder of 1minute.ru, spoke [ru] to Evgeny Voropai of Greenhouses of Social Technologies about the problems of virtual charity in Russia and Western trends in fundraising.
Evgeny Voropai (EV): Dozens of charity platforms exist on the Internet, but 1minute.ru is unique for its fundraising. Why did you decide to create a stand-alone project, instead of joining something already established online?
Alexey Melnichek. Photo by Melnichek.
Aleksey Melnicheck (AM): Our project’s basic idea is to offer a simple instrument to help people. And here it's important to highlight that this is aid without money. For our purposes, we identified this as volunteering on the Internet. And we don’t see any other projects on the RuNet with which we could or would want to join. When we started working on 1minute.ru, we only understood a fraction of what there is online. And this is the biggest problem with charity in Russia: nobody knows about it. After launching [our] project, we started to get acquainted with [other] similar resources and their creators. Our project greatly differs from other resources, and especially from the work of foundations. We don’t ask our users to give us money. Instead, they can donate their time. Because donating time is much easier than donating money, our project considerably lowers the barrier of trust needed to facilitate charity participation.
The timing barrier is much lower than financial obstacles, and this is something we need to accept. As soon as users have the opportunity to learn about some socially significant activity, the chances rise that he'll stay with us.
EV: What goals did you set before starting the project?
AM: The project was born within an “Innovation Workshop” course at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, therefore the first thing we wanted to do was to put it into practice. We analyzed Western competitors, perfunctorily studied philanthropy on the RuNet, and came to the conclusion that this field was practically empty. There were few projects online that dealt with anything social.
The idea seemed quite simple: display advertising and donate the revenue to charity. But at some point, we realized that we had limited ourselves to video-advertisements, and that it would be better to expand. In November 2011, we launched the site. There were many problems, the heart of which was that we had launched an advertising platform without any users or advertisers. We needed to bridge the gap.
EV: In terms of charity, 1minute.ru is a fundraising platform, but, from an advertiser's point of view, it has marketing elements. How effective is your project in promoting advertised products?
AM: In Western countries, there exists the concept of “cause-related marketing,” and it is a huge market. In the U.S. alone, annual capital turnover in his field is roughly $2 billion dollars. This has grown into a trend. Many advertisers are happy to participate in charity campaigns. In Russia, this practice is not widespread. Online, you only rarely encounter any kind of major campaign associated with charity. Yet, Russian advertisers demonstrate great interest in this format. 1minute.ru is a comprehensive solution in product promotion. The company gets the attention of [our] users, but it also aids social campaigns. Our project is an opportunity for advertisers to take part in charity using their own marketing accounts.
EV: How have you attracted partners?
AM: We carry on our work with companies in different ways. We found our first “clients” through personal contacts. This helped us with our launch. After some time, working with advertisers became simpler. Now we're able to offer a working platform made up of real users. It's worth mentioning that majority of advertisers came to us on their own. We only work directly with all these companies.
EV: In the report on 1minute.ru's first campaign, there are some discrepancies between the number of users and “minutes for good.” How is the time measured?
AM: “Minutes for good” is a very arbitrary parameter. It's [used as] an indicator of user activity. If a user logs in and has finished some volunteer act, we add one minute. In the [site's] current version, the number of “minutes for good” is determined by the act's value and difficulty.
Screenshot of “A Minute of Your Day for Good.”
EV: 1minute.ru monetizes users’ actions. But predicting an audience's activity is difficult, and getting those people to do something is even more so. How do you motivate users to take part in the project?
AM: It is difficult to motivate people when they don’t know about you. Therefore, our first task is to familiarize users with the resource. As a rule, when people learn about the project and like it, they are ready take part in it. In promoting the resource, we used all available channels (we published in several different places, and talked to friends and acquaintances). In our work, we identified a trend wherein every thousand users we attracted to the project brought with them another two thousands new users.
It's crucial for us that people understand what we expect of them. For instance, we only explained what we wanted when we ran our first campaign. As a result, we lost 50% of our audience. Many users didn’t understand our concept, and went to other resources. We concluded a review, looked at “WebVisor,” and judged which of our links users most often click, what they do on the site, and where they exit. Later, we optimized the site on the basis of this data, and our bounce rate dropped to 20%.
We didn’t realize this right away, though. An article published on habrahabr.ru helped us with this. The article contained information about who we are, what we do, and how our service works. Statistics showed that traffic to the article had a bounce rate of about 10%, whereas another random post about cars resulted in an 80% refusal rate. We understood that the project's simplicity and availability correlates to its traffic ranking and audience participation.
All this was taken into account when we launched the second version of the site in June 2012. We created infographics explaining the site’s operating principles. We changed slightly the model of audience interaction. This approach paid off. 35% of our users are now authorized.
EV: More often charity organizations use the business–model of commercial enterprises. Foundations turn into vendors, and donors turn into customers. How would you explain this trend?
AM: Already at the very beginning, we resolved to build a particular project and avoid yardsticks. What's most significant is the users and their involvement in the process. We are not a source of funds, and we don’t run any of the campaigns. 1minute.ru looks for funding organizations to implement the ideas and organize fundraising campaigns. In this respect, our project is a donor, too. But it falls to funding organizations to distribute the funds and address any problems.
If we look at the charity index and volunteer rate for the Western audience and compare to those traits to Russia and CIS countries, it becomes clear that more than half of all Europeans and Americans donate money to charity. In Russia, only 5% of citizens do this, though nearly 30% of Russians indicate a readiness to help others or volunteer. Moreover, in the United States, for example, private donations far exceed corporate philanthropy.
EV: The number of foundations and philanthropic organizations is growing with incredible speed. But many organizations cease operations after their first fundraiser. Is this a consequence of a lack of financing or is it due to the incompetence of the organizations’ founders?
AM: It's difficult to stage any social event without the necessary financing. The second most important problem is personnel. Professionals should be financially motivated. Otherwise, you simply cannot expect a quality final product. It is far from easy to do charity on enthusiasm alone.
EV: Based on your experience, is it possible to say that “virtual” charity might become an alternative to “real world” charity?
AM: I believe in that. We observe virtualization trends in all spheres. Charity will not be the exception. It's another issue that Russia hasn't quite arrived in this field, yet. I believe it will be possible to fundraise online and turn this tool into an effective mechanism for donations. Distrust in the Internet as a charity resource, however, is still pretty high, and the character of most online initiatives is spontaneous.

author: Teplitsa


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Slovakia: Rally for Rights of “Decent People” · Global Voices
Tibor Blazko

Last month, in response to “the worsening situation in coexistence of citizens of towns and villages with the undisciplined and antisocial fellow citizens,” residents of the town of Partizanske came up with a “Petition for increased protection of the rights of decent people” [sk]. This past weekend, over 3,000 mostly elderly people from Partizanske and nearby towns attended the “march for the rights of decent people”; their slogans included “Decent people are sending children to school” and “Decent people pay rent.”
The march was supposed to be silent, but after the official part was over, some 200 participants headed for the street whose residents are considered “maladjusted citizens” – and were stopped by police there (photos here).

author: Tibor Blazko


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South Korean Voters Call for Longer Poll Hours  · Global Voices
Lee Yoo Eun

With less than three months left until the presidential election, young South Korean voters are calling for longer poll hours, clashing with the ruling conservative party.
The South Korean poll generally ends at 6pm and lots of young workers, working from 9 to 6 and working under strict corporate culture, have trouble going to the poll. It is worse for six million contract workers whose employment status is always unstable.
A bill pushing for longer poll hours is already pending in the National Assembly, but for no specific reason it has been postponed again and again. One of the most influential political bloggers, IamPeter, after analyzing the previous voting patterns, demonstrated [ko] how a small change in poll hours will greatly enhance citizen's participation.
Posted by Twitter User @mizry, in May 2011 election. This new concept of “Vote Confirmation Photo” whiere young South Koreans tweet evidence of voting (such as their hand holding the ballot confirmation paper or their face in front of the voting location sign) became so popular that it influenced the election result.
일반적인 투표는 오후 6시로 되어 있습니다. 그러나 한국 이외의 나라는 대부분 오후 8시까지 투표할 수 있도록 배려하고 있습니다.[…] 대한민국 선거 대부분이 오후 12시를 기점으로 투표율이 올라갑니다. 그러다 오후 3시부터 4시를 넘어 오후 5시까지 투표율이 가파르게 상승합니다. 이것은 유권자 대부분이 오후에 그것도 투표 마감 전에 몰리는 경향으로 볼 수 있습니다. […]해외 주요국가는 공휴일로 지정했으면 근무하는 회사가 그리 많지 않습니다.[…] 그러나 한국은 임시공휴일이라고 해도 많은 회사들이 선거날 정상 출근하는 일이 많습니다.
In general cases in South Korea, the ballot ends at 6 pm. However, other foreign countries enable people to cast votes till 8 pm.[…] In most cases, the voting rate starts spiking up starting from noon. After 3pm and 4pm, the rating makes a sharp rise and the trend continues till 5 pm. (without making a downturn in the end). In other major foreign countries, once the government designates the election day as holiday, no company works that day. However, in South Korea, most of companies work under the same working schedule after the day became a holiday.
South Korea's notoriously strict corporate culture has successfully dampened contract workers’ participation in the election, since even for full-time workers, voting can become quote a burdensome task once the company decides to work as usual. Twitter user @kennedian3 pointed this out[ko]:
18대 총선에 불참한 비정규직 노동자들의 64.1%가 “참여가 불가능한 상황”을 기권의 이유로 꼽았다고 한다. 이들이 경제적 약자인 것도 서러운데 정치적 약자까지 되게 해서는 안 된다. 투표시간 연장!
64.1 percent of contract workers who could not cast their votes in the 18th presidential election answered it was due to “their (working) environment makes it nearly impossible to go to ballot”. Our economic system has already bullied them. We cannot let the political system also turn against them and treat them unfairly. We must have longer ballot hours.
Net users filed an online petition [ko] urging the government and the National Election Commission to pass the pending proposal. It has gathered 30 thousand signatures so far.
Many blamed the ruling conservative Saenuri Party for blocking the bill. Generally, senior citizens consistently vote for Saenuri, while younger voters prefer progressive candidates. This tweet [ko] by @__hope_ has been retweeted more than 410 times.
새누리당이 가장 무서워하는 것은 안철수도 문재인도 아니다. 바로 투표장으로 가는 당신이다[…]
What Saenuri fears most is neither Ahn Chul-Soo or Moon Jae-in [note: names of candidates from opposing sides]. It is YOU who go to poll.
@gigodido tweeted [ko]:
투표시간 연장에 반대하는 당이 여당이어도 괜찮은 나라. 독재자의 딸이 독재 30년후에 다시 대권에 나와도 강력한 대선후보가 되는 나라. 대한민국. 아. 슬퍼.
How sad South Korea's political landscape is. One who is opposing longer ballot hours is none other than the major ruling party. And one of the strong presidential candiates is none other than the dictator's daughter who surfaced in the presidential election after 30 years of (her father's) tyranny.
@mindgood wrote [ko]:
참정권은 귀족에서 평민, 남성에서 여성으로 당대의 사회적 약자로 확대해왔고 오늘날 사회적 약자는 당연히 비정규직. 그럼에도 선관위가 투표시간 연장을 반대한다면 비정규직을 국민으로 인정하지 않겠다는 것 입니다.
The voting rights have been expanded from aristocrats to plebeians, from male to female and to the socially disadvantaged individuals. If the election commission stands against longer ballot hours, it is sending a signal that they will not treat these disadvantaged contract workers as members of our society.
and mocked [ko] the election commission's lame excuse:
국민들이 밤새워 개표를 지켜보느라고 건강을 해칠까 봐 투표시간 연장을 반대한다는 선관위. 그렇다면 보건복지부와 통합하는 것이 좋을 것 같네요.
The election commission said they are against longer ballot hours because they are concerned about the peoples’ health since they will be not be sleeping till late night as they watch the election result. If that is true, they'd better be merging themselves with the Ministry of Health and Welfare.
@mettayoon commented [ko]:
투표시간 늘리면 사회적 비용이 크게 든다는 새누리당의 주장, 지난 4년 대통령 하나 잘못 뽑아서 든 국가적인 손해에 비하겠습니까? […]
The Saenuri party claims that the change will cause huge ‘social cost’. Would it be that big an amount compared to the national loss we had by electing the wrong president four years ago? [note: The current president is still highly unpopular, especially among young voters]
Former lawmaker, now an attorney and columnist @your_rights wrote it is never too late [ko] for new change, with making a sports reference.
투표시간 연장 문제에 대한 새누리당의 논리는 “경기 중 룰을 바꿀 수 없다”입니다. 지금 투표가 시작됐나요? 마치 심판이 편파판정으로 인저리타임을 늘려주는 것으로 생각하는 꼴.
The Saenuri party says that “we cannot change the rule while the match is going on”. Have we already started the voting yet? They are treating this as some sort of unfair referee dragging the time by having more ‘injury time’.

author: Lee Yoo Eun


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Spain: Greeting Real Madrid With Catalan Separatist Flags · Global Voices
Violeta Camarasa

Image from the official Facebook event: “The classic of freedom. The world is listening.”
On October 7, 2012 the rival Spanish soccer teams Real Madrid and FC Barcelona will meet at Camp Nou (the latter's stadium) for the latest match in a rivalry famously known as “el clásico“. With six days left before the game, the Catalan activist group Veus per la Independència [ca] or “Voices for Independence” is encouraging fans to bring their estelades (Catalan separatist flags) in order to fill their team's stadium with nationalist symbols.
Other initiatives include organizing a mass recital of Els Segadors, the Catalan national anthem, when the clock hits 17:14 (referencing the events of 1714 that Catalonia's national holiday commemorates).
On the Facebook event, titled “Clàssic de la llibertat” or “Classic of freedom”, Veus per la Independència has asked:
El proper 7 d'octubre al Camp Nou el món ens tornarà a mirar, es juga un dels partits amb més audiència al món, el Barça-Madrid. Us demanem que un cop més i de forma cívica però majoritària, mostrem al món la nostra voluntat de ser.
The hashtag #CampNouPleDEstelades (Flood the Camp Nou with estelades) has surfaced for tweets relating to the game:
@jordanesku10 Queden 6dies x l Barça-Madriz serà 1altre dia HISTORIC cm #11S2012 #27S2012 #7OCT12 #CampNouPleDEstelades HO VEURÀ TOT EL MÓN! #tenimpressa
On September 19, eight days after the 1.5 million person separatist march in Barcelona, an unusual chorus of cheers for independence filled Camp Nou during a match. Certain Twitter users have expressed hope that the idea swiftly gains momentum, especially when Real Madrid comes to Barcelona next week.
The current political climate, which has taken a drastic shift towards separatism following a massive protest on September 11 — early elections will be held on November 25 and a referendum for independence has been promised — has created a context that elevates the significance of the coming Clásico match. In fact, a group of Real Madrid supporters have petitioned [es] the team's president, Florentino Pérez, to abandon the field if FC Barcelona fans begin chanting “independència.“

author: Violeta Camarasa


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Turkey: Little Optimism Over Kurdish Rebel Negotiations · Global Voices
Ruwayda Mustafah

Last week the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan signalled the start of much-needed negotiations between the PKK (Kurdistan Worker's Party) and the government. In the past Kurdish rebels have often called for negotiations, and in light of the recent escalation of violence, the need for negotiation is becoming increasingly pressing.
The news was not met with optimism, because successive Turkish governments have a history of broken promises towards the Kurdish people.
According to one Kurd in Chicago, the promise of negotiations is a new tactic adopted by PM Erdoğan in hope of securing his position in the next general elections. As Osman Ates points out, the Turkish government and Gulen movement both believe in the assimilation of Kurdish people.
@osman_ates: The point is Turkish government and Gulen movement believe that the Kurds will be assimilated sooner or later. [Note: The Gulen movement secularises the Kurdish question, and within school establishment they promote a Turkish narrative of history, which often excludes Kurdish people and their struggles]
Kurds hold banners and flags against the President of Turkey in Rome, Italy. Image by Stefano Montesi, copyright Demotix (08/05/12).
Political prisoners
What is often overlooked is the number of Kurdish political prisoners within Turkey, and Kurdish politicians who continue to be threatened with the lifting of their parliamentary immunity.
The Peace and Democracy (BDP) party's co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş has said in a recent statement to Hurriyet Daily News that “such a thing [lifting immunity] will kill any possible negotiation process.” He added:
Six BDP deputies are still behind bars, and the government has not lifted a finger for their release. In addition to that, another nine of our deputies will be thrown in front of the judiciary, and we will be cheated by the prime minister to restart the negotiation process. That’s not going to happen.
There are legitimate concerns from Kurdish activists regarding the restarting of the negotiation process, and whether it is simply to buy more time for the Justice and Development Party (AKP).
The answer is not clear, but on Sunday October 11, 2012, the answer will be evident at the AKP convention, where Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will speak at length about Turkey's accession to the European Union, economic problems that have strained Turkey, increasing violence from Kurdish rebels and new policies towards neighbouring countries.
The convention speech might answer some of Demirtaş’ concerns about the Turkish Prime Minister's negotiation plans, who said the following in a recent interview:
I am not so sure whether he [Recep Tayyip Erdoğan] wants to commence a new process or to gain some time to get through his party’s convention. If he wants to launch a process, the government should have a plan outlining the legal and constitutional steps to be taken. Swearing and slamming his Kurdish counterparts are not the language of peace and finding a solution. This shows the flippancy of the government. They should overcome this dilemma.
Not long ago, Gülten Kışanak, co-chair of Peace and Democracy (BDP) party said:
Violence dominates now from the Kurdish side and is also defining state policy. Let’s return to the path of dialogue and negotiations and lessen the war. We need to focus on policies for peace and establish a climate of peace. Otherwise it’s insincere to work on a constitution while people are dying and blood is being spilt.
It is unreasonable for the Turkish government to consider negotiations with rebels, when it imprisons Kurdish politicians and threatens them with the lifting of parliamentary immunity. Pro-Kurdish politicians are often censored or put on trial, despite being voted for democratically.
In reality if politicians and activists are being imprisoned simply for advocating different political views, there is little hope for serious negotiation with rebels.

author: Ruwayda Mustafah


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Venezuela: Capriles Campaign Closes with Mass Rally in Caracas · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

This post is part of our special coverage Venezuela Elections 2012.
On Sunday, September 30, Henrique Capriles supporters rallied en masse in the streets of Caracas during the presidential candidate's closing campaign event. Henrique Capriles is running against current President Hugo Chávez in the upcoming presidential elections on October 7.
Daniel Duquenal wrote in his blog Venezuela News and Views:
As I put in a tweet that has been re-tweeted a few times, I dare anyone to prove me wrong that there has not been in the electoral history of the Americas a event of such amplitude. I am not quite ready to put “political event” since some confused revolutions can bring boatloads of people in the streets. I can assure you of one thing, from past experience in Venezuela, today Capriles has put AT LEAST a million and a half people in the streets of Caracas. […] for hours people tried to come and go, or just walk a portion of the different set routes. The Libertador, the Solano, the Miranda, the San Martin avenues were full, and more. For hours.
Henrique Capriles supporters in Bolívar Avenue in Caracas during his campaign's closing event on September 30, 2012. Photo by Camilo Delgado Castilla, copyright Demotix.
Venezuelans have shared numerous citizen videos of the rally on YouTube. NoticiaTube uploaded the following video from Bolívar Avenue:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Qo3Wx5Ings
Fashionauta also shared a video from the same avenue in Caracas:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xS8Iqdu03vo
Meanwhile, David Hernández recorded a video of the arrival of Henrique Capriles:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHCttd8okOM
In a longer video, Luis Carlos Díaz explains:
El acto de campaña se realizó en la avenida Bolívar, donde se encontraron 5 marchas que partieron desde distintos puntos de la ciudad. Estuvimos en la olla. Chávez cerrará allí también el 4 de octubre.
The campaign event took place in Bolívar Avenue, where 5 marches which started at different points of the city came together. We were right in the middle. Chávez will also close his campaign there on October 4.
This post is part of our special coverage Venezuela Elections 2012.


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Yemen: The President’s Speech · Global Voices
Noon Arabia

Many Yemenis were hoping to hear a good speech from their “elected” president highlighting Yemen's humanitarian, economic and political needs and the challenges the country is currently facing. The last thing they expected during his visit to the US was a speech praising US drones.
President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Al-Hadi's speech at Washington's Woodrow Wilson International Center on Friday (September 28) was followed by statements to reporters in which he praised and approved US drone attacks.” This caused a stir among netizens, especially among Yemenis who have expressed anger and opposition against drone strikes in Yemen.
Will Picard, director of the Yemen Peace Project compiled a Storify of the speech and wrote also a blog post, in which he points:
If anything, the fact that Hadi said what he said should demonstrate how out of sync he is with Washington. The first rule of Obama’s drone policy has always been “try not to talk about drone policy,” and when that fails, it’s “absolutely don’t ever take responsibility for specific actions.” Now President Hadi has gone in front of the whole world and said that any time someone gets blown up after dark in Yemen, the Americans did it. This is hardly a man in lockstep with the US administration.
Also in reference to Hadi's speech Will Picard tweeted:
@YemenPeaceNews: #Hadi: #Yemen is facing 3 crises: political, economic, and security. What about humanitarian, Mr. President? Seriously?
Not only did the president openly acknowledge the US drone attacks, much to the dismay of the US administration, but he took full responsibility for the attacks by endorsing them. “Every operation, before taking place, they take permission from the president,” he admitted in an interview.
Commenting on president Hadi's controversial statements, Mohamed Alamrani tweeted:
@yementribune: #Yemen – no need for WikiLeaks on Hadi's case.. he's honest even the Americans were stunned .. he's signing death certificates of his people
President Hadi claimed  in the Q&A following his speech that “drones have zero margin of error, if you know exactly what target you are aiming at”. Contrarily to the president's statement drones have killed civilians in Yemen, due to both misinformed data or missed targets, including women and children.
Atiaf Alwazir tweeted in response:
@WomanfromYemen: Hey #Hadi, how precise were these missiles that hit a hospital, a pharmacy & a #civilian home http://english.al-akhbar.com/photoblogs/us-war-yemen-view-ground … #Yemen
She added:
@WomanfromYemen: #Hadi, HARDLY speaks publicly in #Yemen, but can't stop talking in the #US. please take time to write your speech & select your words.
@WomanfromYemen: some local papers expressed worries about Hadi's visit to #US w/Qs of sovereignty & independence. not good for his #legitimacy #Yemen #US
Ibrahim Mothana tweeted:
@imothanaYemen: Karazaing Hadi- My initial thoughts on president Hadi's definite endorsement of US drone strikes http://on.fb.me/VYci91  #Yemen
He pointed:
@imothanaYemen: President Hadi's advantage in Yemen is the consensus on him. Exchanging local support with int. glamor will turn him into another Karazai
He added sarcastically:
@imothanaYemen: After finishing his two interim presidency years, Hadi could become a brilliant drones sales agent. #Yemen
In the end, Yemenis will not only remember the harmful effects of the drone attacks, but the words of their president in the support of such action.
More reactions to the president'speech and interviews in my storify.

author: Noon Arabia


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African Viewpoints on the US 2012 Election · Global Voices
Lova Rakotomalala

The United States (US) presidential election will be held on November 6, 2012, and as the campaign enters the home stretch, it's clear that the outcome of the race is likely to have big and lasting implications for the future orientation of the country's foreign policy. The stakes are also substantial for the United States’ diplomatic interlocutors, including those on the African continent with some critical actions to undertake on the current Mali crisis and many other issues.
As a result, African bloggers are carefully examining both the US presidential candidates’ approaches to African diplomacy and their projected plans of action if elected.
Although their disagreement on the Arab Spring demonstrated that Barack Obama and the challenger Mitt Romney are willing to take opposing positions on international relations strategy when politically expedient, overall, their differences are in fact much more nuanced.
One area that they have tended to agree on has been over the importance of trade. Reporting on a Romney speech at the Clinton Global Initiative, Twitter users wrote:
@AnnieFeighery: trade relations is the foundation of his planned agenda for aid #Romney #CGI2012
@MahaRafiAtal: Romney proposes integrating aid & trade: $ will go to nations who strike investment deals w U.S./implement market reforms. #cgi2012
Delegates from Madagascar and Mali at the Young African Leaders Forum Hosted by Obama. Image taken by author.
President Obama has expressed similar views on the trade versus aid debate. Tom Murphy highlights their similarities:
The shift from aid to trade is one that the Obama administration has stressed through policy and remarks. The June strategy for sub-Saharan Africa included the four pillars for the region: Strengthen democratic institutions; Spur economic growth, trade, and investment; Advance peace and security; and Promote opportunity and development. Romney seemingly echoed the pillars of the Obama administration’s policy by saying that foreign aid should address humanitarian need, foster the strategic interests of the US and use aid to elevate people and provide lasting change.
Point of view of African bloggers
Meanwhile, African bloggers have been speculating on how the election will unfold and what can be expected from each candidate.
Francois-Xavier Ada from Cameroon agrees that there is very little that separates Obama and Romney. He argues in a post entitled ‘The Obama vs Romney Fallacy‘:
I just couldn’t get past the idea that there is a difference between Obama and Romney’s foreign policies [..] They are not if you ask me. American military presence in the Middle East has not reduced a little; it is the same argument that has been made to justify the USA’s aggressive behavior.
Let’s start with Africa and Africom. A simple question: where is the logic behind training and equipping militaries in a continent that has been and still is ravaged by war? The United States provides intelligence and training to fight militants across the continent, from Mauritania in the west to Somalia.
George Bamu is the founder of the Africa Agenda blog and also a Cameroonian. In an article for Africa Agenda he laments the lack of attention given to Africa as a foreign policy issue by both candidates. He writes:
While the Obama administration is making efforts to deal with African issues; terrorism in the horn of Africa, food security in Africa, efforts to deal with HIV and AIDS, it is being criticized for not paying much attention to the continent. [..] The administration may, or may not get the opportunity to fully implement its Africa policy, if the election turns out otherwise. As for Mitt Romney, it is not clear what he is up to, on Africa. Right now there is not enough data about possible Africa policy plans that a Romney administration might pursue. While this may not reflect everything in the candidates’ thinking on Africa, they seem concerned about Chinese efforts there, extremism and piracy in Somalia, terrorists in Nigeria and “inept regimes” in Sudan, Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Writing about Africans’ views on Mitt Romney, George Bamu adds the following:
But what do Africans know about Mitt Romney, the candidate? In “A South African Take on the U.S Race”, Moeletsi Mbeki, Deputy Chairman, South African Institute of International Affairs, told the U.S Council of Foreign Relations that Africans knew nothing about Mitt Romney until he started running against Obama.
Farouk Kayondo, TV news editor and anchor at the Uganda Broadcasting Corporation, gives his views on the US race for presidency in a video from TV2Africa:
Meanwhile, in Mahajanga, Madagascar, Vero Andrianarisoa points out that like the US Madagascar is also getting ready for its own presidential elections [fr]:
Madagascar est à la veille d'élections. Pour mieux se préparer et pour pouvoir maîtriser les différents procédés dans le domaine, le pays a grandement besoin d'apprendre des autres nations démocratiques afin de pouvoir mieux les organiser.
Madagascar is also on the cusp of its presidential elections. To get ready and better monitor the different procedures during the elections, the country could learn from the other democracies how to organize the elections better.
In short, not everyone is convinced that the US is a positive influence for Africa. Sébastien Perimony has described some of the disillusionment felt [fr] over Obama's record with Africa in his first term:
L’espoir qu’avait suscité l’élection de Barack Obama en Afrique a fait pschitt ! Les fantasmes ont disparu et laissent place aujourd’hui à une colère grandissante des populations africaines, qui attendaient un changement de politique. Au lieu de quoi elles se retrouvent envahies par les forces spéciales de l’armée américaine, pour lesquelles le gouvernement dépense des millions de dollars qui auraient dû servir, par exemple, dans la corne de l’Afrique, à une aide alimentaire
How quickly the hope raised by Barack Obama's elections in Africa faded away! The dream is gone and it has made way for a growing resentment from Africans who looked forward to a change of policy. Instead they are invaded by the US Army special forces on whom the government has spent millions of dollars. Those same millions could have been used to reduce food shortages in the Horn of Africa.

author: Lova Rakotomalala


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Algeria: Petition to #FreeYacine Zaid, Human Rights Activist   · Global Voices
Lova Rakotomalala

Yougourthen AYAD has started an online petition [fr] to demand that Yacine Zaid, a human rights activist be set free after he was arrested by the police in Ouargla, Algeria [fr] on October, 2nd. Yacine Zaid was allegedly hit on the face and the neck when taken. He is accused of contempt and resisting arrest [fr].


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Bangladesh: ‘One Billion Rising’ Campaign Starts · Global Voices
পান্থ রহমান রেজা (Pantha)

To end violence against women and the girl a new day is going to be celebrated in Bangladesh on 14 February, 2013, with a slogan “Strike, Dance and Rise”. The event will be held on the 15th anniversary of the V-Day movement.
To celebrate this occasion, the One Billion Rising campaign was launched in Dhaka on 13 September, 2012. Eminent feminists and rights activists representing different organizations took part in the launching ceremony at Goethe Institute, Dhaka.
The word “billion” refers to the one billion women who are survivors of abuse; 160 countries, including Bangladesh, have already started numerous activities leading up to the 15th anniversary of V-Day.
One Billion Rising Logos in different languages including Bangla
V-DAY is a global activist movement and each step of this campaign is designed to gradually end violence against women and girls. The One Billion Rising campaign started by US feminist playright and acress Eve Ensler and her organization V-day.
The campaign team and the partners are working in Bangladesh towards the same goal. Under this initiative millions of women and men around the world can proclaim: “Enough! The violence ends now”. Eve has made a moving short film on it and here is a trailer.
One in three women on the planet is beaten up or raped during her lifetime. According to this statistic, one billion women would be subjected to violence in their lifetime.
V-day will be observed on 14 February, 2013, to end violence against one billion women and girls. On that day women will not suffer through their daily toil, will not go to the workplace, and they will not sit quietly at home. On that day, they will attend programs to end violence.
The launch of the campaign in Bangladesh featured poetry recitals, reading out stories, gonosangeet (movement songs), and dance. Here are a few pictures of this activities, image courtesy Facebook page of One Billion Rising Bangladesh.
Some of the organizers of OBR Bangladesh at the launch!
Dance performance by Shadhona
Men are also rising.
Shayan, singing about the behavior of the male population towards women.
Violence against women in Bangladesh
Bangladesh is a country of 160 million people and the women to men ratio is 100:106. Women are often the victims of violence and harassment at home and outside.
According to the United Nations Human Development Report, Bangladesh is the country with the worst record of rape in South Asia. Statistically, one in every 1,000 women is raped here. Also, according to a report by the police headquarters, 174,691 women have been subjected to violence between 2001 and 2012 (June), including acid attacks, abductions, rapes, murders after rape, trafficking, murders, dowry-related violence etc.
Only government initiative is not enough to protect women from different types of violence. ZaZafree mentions on Change and be the change [bn] blog:
শুধু সরকারী উদ্যোগে এবং নারীদের নিজেদের মধ্যে সচেতনতা বৃদ্ধিই নারী নির্যাতন রোধে যথেষ্ট নয়। এ জন্য মূলত এগিয়ে আসতে হবে পুরুষকে। নারী নির্যাতন প্রতিরোধের মিছিলে সবার অগ্রে থাকা চাই পুরুষের। নারী নির্যাতিত হচ্ছে পুরুষের মাধ্যমে আর তাই নারী নির্যাতন রোধে পুরুষই পারে সবচেয়ে বড় ভূমিকা রাখতে।
Only government initiatives and raising awareness among women are not enough to prevent the violence against women. For this men need to come forward. Men need to be the front-runners of violence against women protests. The most violence against women are caused by men, so men must play the biggest role to put an end to this problem.
Nazim Farhan Chowdhury tweets:
@nazimfarhan: I am RISING because violence only begets violence! #onebillionrisingbangladesh #Bangladesh
Poroma Kanya tweets:
Launching of @OneBillionRising Bangladesh……on the 13th. Why are you #Rising?
The organizations joining the initiative include Action Aid, Ain o Salish Kendra, Blast, BNPS, Brac, Manusher Jonno Foundation, Care Bangladesh, Kormojibi Nari, Nijera Kori, TEDxDhaka and Oxfam.

author: পান্থ রহমান রেজা (Pantha)


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China: Golden Week Holiday Chaos · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

The week-long National Day holiday has again brought chaos in major tourist areas due to under-capacity – news and images about trapped tourists, and dirty tourist spots full of trash have spread across micro-blogs. The situation is frustrating and some suggest that it is about time to review the Golden Week Holiday policy.
Golden Week is a term used in mainland China to describe the 7-day national holiday during Lunar New Year in February and National Day in October. The policy was introduced back in 1999 to promote domestic tourism and consumption. This year, because of the Mid-Autumn Festival, the National Day Golden Week started earlier and within the first three days, the whole country was full of chaos.
Hu Chuanchun puts together [zh] all the chaotic scenes into a collage and sums up the situation in his micro-blog:
Hu Chuanchun puts together all the chaotic scenes into a collage.
【全国河山一片乱】国庆长假刚三天，全国河山一片乱：高速拥堵，大巴着火，香港沉船，台湾免签，三亚海滩成垃圾场，鼓浪屿“沦陷”，西湖见人不见桥，黄山游客爆满，华山、武夷山、普陀山、三清山游客滞留被困，九寨沟深夜12点赴沟道路纹丝不动，故宫人山人海，长城不分内外……
[The whole country in chaos] Within the first three days of the national day holiday, the whole country has fallen into chaos: Highways are all blocked with traffic; bus on fire; boat sunk in Hong Kong; Taiwan visa-free [to the U.S]; Sanya beach has turned into a rubbish field; Gulang Island has fallen; The bridge of West Lake has been buried in crowds; Huangshan has no more room for tourists; thousands of tourists were trapped in Mount Hua, Wuyi mountains, Mount Putuo and Sanqingshan; last night around 12 a.m, the road leading to Jiuzhaigou Valley was still blocked; the Forbidden City was filled up with people and one could not distinguish which side is the inner side of the Great Wall.
The chaos in Mount Hua has become the news [zh] headline in local media outlets. Up to 10 thousand tourists were trapped on top of the mount with no shelter and food in cold and rain, while the mountain cable car could not cater for the needs of so many tourists. On the other hand, the hostels raised the rental price per bed to 1000 yuan [approximately USD120] per night. Beijing micro-blogger Yuanyuan who was in Mount Hua yesterday described [zh] the situation:
华山出事了~封山不售票了，特警进山了~所有来华山的公共交通都被中断了，铁路也被断了~山上好多被困的人，下山的旅游公交枢纽不堪重负也处于瘫痪状态，并且伴有民众暴乱的迹象~上、下山的路全部水泄不通~拥挤、谩骂、打架的，随处可见，真心害怕了，我想回家
Bad things are happening in Mount Hua, they have stopped selling tickets and police have entered the mountain. All public transportation to Mount Hua is now cut. Many people are trapped on top of the mountain. Over-crowding for the down-hill transportation system. Riots may take place as all the down-hill paths are blocked with people. People are squeezing, cursing and fist-fighting… I am scared. I want to go home.
She updated [zh] the situation after sunset:
天黑了山上滞留了几万游客，并且真的暴乱了，发生了流血事件~被滞留的旅客要砸车泄愤，山下旅游车不敢上山接人怕被砸车~山上好多老人和小孩，有没有人去救救她们~晚上山里没路灯，气温又低，山路又陡，人又多，也没吃东西的地方，先特么的把老人孩子都接下山吧~快来救人~
Night comes and there are still thousands of tourists stuck on top. Riots did happen – some tourists were hitting the cars to express their anger and tourist buses dared not enter the mountain. There are so many elderly and children, someone should go there and help them out. The paths are so dark at night and weather so cold. The hilly paths are dangerous and filled up with people. No food and no shelters, save the elderly and children first. Act quickly.
This morning three boats near Gulang Island suddenly caught on fire [zh]. The accident may also be related to the limited-capacity problem as Xiamen Wang Shuo described the situation:
#鼓浪屿#【2012#鼓浪屿“沦陷”记#】人人人人人人人人人人人人人人人！！！请看十一鼓浪屿各种沦陷。鼓浪屿你会不会压沉？10.1，鼓浪屿游客破10万，而岛内最佳游客接待量为1.7万。上日光岩的道路，3分钟挪动1米。向登岛者致敬！
[2012 the “fall” of Gulang Island] People, people, people, people!!! Please take a look at the fall of Gulang Island. Will you sink, Gulang island? October 1, more than 100 thousands tourists in Guland Island. But the optimal capacity for tourists is just 17 thousand. It took 3 minutes to move 1 meter in the path leading to Sunshine rock. Hurray, visitors!
In Sanya beach, after the mid autumn festival 50 tons of trash was spread across a 3 km coastline.
Addressing the limited-capacity problem of tourist facilities, a Qinghua scholar Cai Jiming suggested abolishing the Golden Week Policy and replacing it with annual holidays so as to allow employees to choose when exactly to take their paid leave. But it seems that ordinary people don't understand his proposal and think that the annual leave system will cut short their paid holiday.

author: Oiwan Lam


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China, Japan: Japanese Writers Urge End to Nationalistic Hysteria · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

A number of famous Japanese novelists and intellectuals have called for an end to the vicious cycle of nationalistic hysteria in Japan and China regarding the disputed Diaoyu Islands (also known as the Senkaku Islands). On September 28, 2012, around 1270 intellectuals, including Nobel laureate Kenzaburo Oe, jointly signed a civic statement: “Put an end to the vicious cycle of territorial dispute!”.
Another prominent Japanese writer, Haruki Murakami described nationalism as “cheap liquor” which may destroy the East Asia cultural exchange. Yet in China, not only Japanese books were taken down from bookshelves in major bookstores, online video platforms also stopped showing Japanese soap TV shows and cartoons.
Nationalism is like cheap liquor, said Haruki Murakami
Haruki Murakami's comment on the Japan-China territorial dispute was put on the headline of Asahi Shimbun on September 28 2012.
Haruki Murakami commented on Asahi Shimbun on September 28 about the withdrawal of Japanese books in mainland Chinese bookstores. He pointed out that the East Asia cultural exchange among Japan, Korea and China has been a great achievement in the past decade as it brings about “an understanding that we are all human beings who share emotions and inspirations, even if we speak different languages”.
On the other hand, the territorial disputes that ignite nationalism,
… is like cheap liquor: Cheap liquor gets you drunk after only a few shots and makes you hysterical. It makes you speak loudly and act rudely. . . But after your drunken rampage you are left with nothing but an awful headache the next morning. We must be careful about politicians and polemicists who lavish us with this cheap liquor and fan this kind of rampage. (Translated by Japan Times)
National interest comes first, said the Chinese counterpart
Despite Murakami's sincere gesture, the mainland Chinese side seems to be suffering from the hang-over of “cheap liquor”. Murakami's novel translator in China Lin Shaohua believed national interest and pride was most important.
He wrote [zh] on October 1, the Chinese national day, in his micro-blog:
时有网友问我的态度。事关钓鱼岛，愤青也好知日派也好，其实已不重要。涉日图书的销量下降或暂缓出版，势必影响我的个人利益，但相比之下，国家的利益和尊严显然重要得多。任何具有民族身份的人都只能首先考虑自己所属民族的利益——再友好和理智的日本人也不例外——这是民族大义，其他都是次要的。
Some netizens asked my attitude on Diaoyu Island. The withdrawal of Japanese books fro bookstores would affect my personal interest. But national interest and respect is more important. Anyone with national identity should put their national interest as top priority. The same principle is applied to most rational and friendly Japanese. National attachment comes first, everything else is secondary.
He elaborated [zh] on his position on October 2:
文学无国界，文学家有祖国。村上先生不止一次说他是日本人，该考虑为日本这个国家负起责任来了。这也是他受到尊重的一个原因。世界人并不存在。谩骂得不到尊重。昨天还说钓鱼岛不存在争议，绝不让步。再看部分网友留言，我一时无语。昨来青州小住，李清照曾客居青州：至今思项羽，不肯过江东！
Literature may be without borders, but writers do have their homeland. Murakami also said that he is a Japanese and he should thus be responsible to Japan. This is the reason why he is respected. Global citizen does not exist. Curse will not be respected. Yesterday Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda insisted that there is no dispute regarding the islands. What else can I say. Yesterday I arrived at Qingzhou, Li Qingzhao [a Song Dynasty poet] once said: I still missed Han Yu and refused to cross over to the eastside of the river!
Where are the Chinese intellectuals?
Many literature lovers are disappointed about Lin's comment. Microblogger, Pretend in New York said [zh]:
看到村上春树小说的译者林少华鼓吹禁日本书籍、称日本是“亚洲刁民”，有一种惆怅感，就好像多年以后偶遇初恋爱人，却发现对方已是站街女子。当年一个个喜爱的偶像，慢慢崩塌，终于陌路。
Murakami's novel translator Lin Shaohua advocated for the ban of Japanese books and [echoed with Global Times’ commentary] that Japan is an “Asian mob”. I feel so disappointed as if I ran into my first love but saw her turning into a hooker. The image of my old idols are collapsing.
Asia creative exhibition asked [zh] where is the Chinese Murakami?
劣酒宿醉终会醒，但灵魂交流之道，不可一日阻碍。中国的村上春树在哪里？为什么要把文化交流之路堵死？为什么中国的“知日”远远落后与日本的“知中”？中日之间不需要情绪化的互相指责，需要的是更理性的判断，维护好来之不易的整个东北亚的文化生态圈！
Eventually people will wake up from the hangover of poor liquor. The exchange of souls cannot be stopped. Where is the Chinese Haruki Murakami? Why are we blocking cultural exchange? How come our knowledge of the Japanese is so lagging behind when compared with the Japanese sinologists? Don't blame each other emotionally, we need rational judgement to protect the east Asia cultural circle.
Japanese books, TV shows and cartoons disappeared
Yet, the cultural blockage has been extended from Japanese books to Japanese TV soaps and cartoon programs. Many netizens are complaining about the sudden disappearance of Japanese videos in major online video platforms since September 28. For example, Shi Ta complained [zh]:
到处都木有日剧看了，PPS木有，PPTV木有，优酷木有。。。甭说日剧，动画全成喜羊羊同乡了，新闻也都是CCTV的同伙，这是要搞哪样？？文 化 大 革 命 吗？这样怎么深入敌人内部啊死蠢！
You can't find any Japanese soap programs, not in PPS, not in PPTV, not in Youku… all cartoons are replaced by relatives of Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf, news are echoing CCTV. What happened? Are we living in the Cultural Revolution? How are we going to penetrate into our enemy's inner side with such stupid policy?
The news about the 1270 Japanese intellectuals’ joint civic statement has also reached China. There are some echoes in the social media platform, but have yet to see organized efforts among Chinese intellectuals. Below are some comments from ordinary netizens [zh]:
偏要叫serena：村上春树之后 又有大江健三郎… 中国的所谓著名文人领袖公知 是不敢发言呢 还是无言?
serena: After Haruki Murakami, Kenzaburo Oe also spoke out… the so-called intellectuals in China and opinion leaders, they are too scared to talk or they have nothing to say?
素面虎：除了铁杆纳粹，谁都不会认为“任何具有民族身份的人都只能首先考虑自己所属民族的利益”。否则，村上春树、大江健三郎就不会那样发言、主张钓鱼岛属于中国的两位日本教授就该被打成日奸；第三帝国就不会有反纳粹组织、托马斯曼就不会叛逃美国；旧日本就不会有数以万计反战志士，乃至参加八路。
Plain tiger: Apart from Nazis who else would say “anyone with national identity should consider national interest as their top priority?” If such expression stands, Haruki Murakami and Kenzaburo Oe could not have spoken out. The other two Japanese professors who support the Chinese territorial claim over Diaoyu Islands would be considered as Japanese traitors. There would not be any anti-Nazi organizations in the Third Reich. Thomas Mann would not have been exiled to the U.S. The old Japan would not have tens of thousands of anti-war fighters, with some even joining the Chinese communist red army.
王凌云_上海阿姨：如果此言换做国内又该如何口诛笔伐呢？何时中国能容忍异质的声音，容忍批评，容忍所谓的“汉奸”，可能才是国家的进步吧
Shanghai auntie: If someone in China talks like this, what kind of verbal attack they will be receiving? When can China accept dissents, criticisms or the so-called “traitor talk”? Such tolerance is the real progress of a country.


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Colombians Demand 24 Hours Free From Violent Killings · Global Voices
Cati Restrepo

Update (4 October, 2012):
Carlos Eduardo Valdés Moreno, director of the National Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences, reported [es] that there were 28 violent deaths in Colombia on October 2, 2012: “a day in Colombia usually means 79 violent deaths for the country, so we have lowered violent deaths in Colombia from 79 to 28, for a total of 51 deaths less.”
On October 2, 2012, and as part of the International Day of Non-Violence, several Colombians beckoned other citizens to celebrate 24-0, an initiative that aims to hail this day as one free from any violent deaths.
José Ignacio Navas [es] explains the origin of celebrating International Day of Non-Violence:
Con una campaña de 24 horas sin muertes violentas, los colombianos celebran el Día Internacional de la No Violencia, el cual se realiza cada 2 de octubre según lo establecieron las Naciones Unidas.
De esta forma, la organización internacional recuerda el natalicio del líder pacifista Mahatma Gandhi, quien encabezó el movimiento de la Independencia de la India y fue “pionero de la filosofía y la estrategia de la no violencia”.
With a campaign of 24 hours without violent deaths, Colombians celebrate the International Day of Non-Violence, which is held every October 2 in accordance with what has been established by the United Nations.
In this way, the international organisation remembers the anniversary of the birth of the pacifist leader Mahatma Gandhi, who headed the movement of India's Independence and was a “pioneer of philosophy and non-violence strategies”.
While the website of the initiative [es] describes the aim of the day: 0 violent deaths on October 2:
Advertisement 24-0
“Nuestra meta es 0 muertes violentas porque ya lo hemos hecho, 0 muertes violentas en 24 horas sí es posible.Los datos de la Policía Nacional de Colombia lo ratifican: durante el 2011, 3 municipios registraron entre 7 y 21 días sin homicidios, 29 entre 170 y 298, 757 hasta 364 días y 333 municipios registraron todo el año, 365 días, 0 homicidios. ¿Cuál queremos que sea lacifra en 2012? Lograr de manera conjunta 0 muertes violentas durante 24 horas en todos los municipios del país”
“Our goal is 0 violent deaths because we have already achieved it, 0 violent deaths in 24 hours is definitely possible. The information provided by the National Police in Colombia confirm: during 2011, 3 local councils registered between 7 and 21 days without any homicides, 29 between 170 and 298, 757 up to 364 days and 333 local councils registered the whole year, 365 days, with 0 homicides. So what do we want the statistics to be in 2012? To achieve, together, 0 violent deaths within 24 hours across all local councils nation wide.”
Through Twitter [es] several citizens relayed, in real time, what was happening and expressed their optimism for the initiative.
The musician César López (@CesarLopezmusic) [es], one of the initiative's leaders, published:
@CesarLopezmusic: Nuestros hijos podrán decir de nosotros muchas cosas pero nunca que no lo intentamos. @24_0 @24_0Guatemala @240puertorico
@CesarLopezmusic: Our children will be able to say many things about us, but they cannot say that we never tried. @24_0 @24_0Guatemala @240puertorico
The actress Carolina Guerra (@carolinaguerram) [es] expressed her wish:
@carolinaguerram: SOLO POR HOY #24-0
@carolinaguerram: JUST FOR TODAY #24-0
Tuti Furlan (@TutiFurlan) [es] wrote:
@TutiFurlan: Hoy, antes de exigir #Paz debo revisar si yo la estoy dando, si la estoy viviendo, si la estoy promoviendo en cada paso que doy! @24_0
@TutiFurlan: Today, before demanding #Paz (“peace”) I have to check that I am giving it, if I am living it, if I am promoting it in every step I take! @24_0
In Bogotá, with the participation of various artists and musicians, both national and international, an event was put on that could be followed via streaming [es]. Under the hashtag #yocuidolavida (“I take care of life”) more opinions and reports from the day can be found.

author: Cati Restrepo


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Egypt: Is the New Muslim Brotherhood Logo Aggressive?  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt has a new logo. Netizens share their thoughts – as well as tips – to the group whose former member is Egypt's new president Mohammed Morsi.
Ramy Yaacoub tweets the discovery:
@RamyYaacoub: The new, modernized Muslim Brotherhood (#MB) logo, you can find it on their newly refurbished official facebook page
He shares this picture (below right).
The new Muslim Brotherhood logo. Shared on Twitter by @RamyYaacoub
Con O'donnell takes a stab:
@kanaafa: so progressive! A Quran above a cross, in a circle.
And Nevine Henien adds:
@BeeboHenien: Oh, what a pretty shade of green! Not at all threatening. I'm completely reassured & confident in their capabilities now. #MB
Reem Abdellatif complains:
@Reem_Abdellatif: The swords hv always been disturbing. Why do #MB use a symbol of aggression? And does this fit w/ ‘Freedom & Justice?’
Meanwhile, Mostafa Hussein has an alternative logo design for the Brotherhood:
@moftasa: I proposed this redesign for the MB logo but they didn't like it.
Suggestion for new Muslim Brotherhood logo proposed by @moftasa on Twitter

author: Amira Al Hussaini


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Egypt: Two Children Detained for Blasphemy  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Two Coptic children, aged nine and 10 years, are being detained in Egypt, for allegedly tearing up pages from the Holy Quran and urinating on them. The incident happened in a village in Beni Suef, in Upper Egypt, and the complaint against the children was filed by a Salafi clergyman.
According to the Egyptian Penal Code, insulting Islam is considered as a crime in Egypt and the children are being held on blasphemy charges. On Twitter, netizens react to the development today.
Tamer Mowafy is not pleased with the news [ar]:
شعورك يبقى إزاي لما تصحي الصبح علي خبر احتجاز طفلين بعيد عن أهلهم في إنتظار العرض علي النيابة عشان حمار إتهمهم بتمزيق كتاب؟؟
A Coptic symbol from a church in Cairo. Photo shared by kudumomo on Flickr used under CC BY 2.0
@kalimakhus: How would you feel if you wake up in the morning to the news of two children detained, away from their parents, waiting to be presented to the Public Prosecutor because a donkey accused them of tearing up a book?
Karim Masoud responds:
طالما البنت بتتجوز و هي عندها 9 سنين طبيعي جدا ان الطفل يتهم بازدراء الأديان و هو عنده 9 سنين و 11 سنه
@K_Masoud: As long as a girl is allowed to get married at the age of nine, then it is normal to accuse children aged nine and 11 with blasphemy.
And Amr Ezzat is lost for words:
مش عارف أقول إيه .. طفلين 9 و 11 سنة في بني سويف اتحبسوا واتحولوا لمحاكمة بتهمة تمزيق مصحف ! هبل محاكمات ازدراء الأديان بلا نهاية
@AmrEzzat: I don't know what to say. Two children, aged nine and 11 years, from Beni Suef are detained and will be transferred to court accused of tearing up the Quran! The ridiculousness of blasphemy cases continues
Meanwhile, Ishak Ibrahim notes:
تزايدت قضايا ازدراء الأديان بصورة كبيرة جدا يظهر أن هناك من يريد أن يخلق قضايا تشغل الناس بدلا عن البحث عن حقوقهم والمطالبة بها
@ishakassaad: Blasphemy cases are on the increase. There seems to be some who want to create problems to keep people busy from demanding their rights
He adds:
تيار الإسلام السياسي لا يملك ما يقدمه للمصريين في مجال تحقيق العدالة الاجتماعية ولذلك يسعي لخلق قضايا تشغل المواطنين وتبعدهم عن نقد أدائهم
@ishakassaad: Political Islam doesn't have what to give Egyptians in terms of achieving social justice. This is why it is trying to stir up trouble to keep citizens busy and away from criticising their performance.
Demagh MAK sends a message to the Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi, who is a former member of the Muslim Brotherhood. He tweets:
#مرسي لو ما اصدرشي حالا قرار بالافراج عن طفلين بني سويف المتهمين بازدراء الاديان يبقى احنا كده عرفنا مين الشراميط الانجاس
@demaghmak: If Morsi doesn't immediately issue a decision to release the two children from Beni Suef accused of blasphemy, we will know who are the unclean prostitutes.
The two children will appear in front of the public prosecutor on Sunday.


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Hungary: Cycle Chic Summit in Budapest · Global Voices
Marietta Le

International Cycle Chic Bloggers @ Budapest. Photo by Mikael Colville Andersen, founder of the first cycle chic blog from Copenhagen. Used with permission.
Representatives of Amsterdam Cycle Chic, Berlin Cycle Chic, Copenhagen Cycle Chic, Vienna Cycle Chic and Vitória Cycle Chic gathered for a mini-summit in Budapest. This cycle chic event, organized by Hungarian Cycle Chic bloggers, was tied to a street fashion show. More photos are available here [hu].

author: Marietta Le


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Italian Singer Encourages Kazakhs to Speak Mother Tongue · Global Voices
Altynai Sydykova

Italian by nationality, singer-songwriter Son Pascal is making musical waves in Kazakhstan. Pascal, who arrived in Kazakhstan from London less than a year ago, made his name in the country with a humorous adaptation of singer Sting's “Englishman in New York.”
His “Englishman in Shymkent” – Shymkent is a town in the southern Kazakhstan –  gathered more than 200,000 views on YouTube and became the most searched-for music clip on google.kz.
This summer, his celebrity in the Central Asian state exploded when he followed up that hit with a the feel-good jam “You Should Speak Kazaksha”. Produced by Alen Niyazbekov, the song was an instant hit on video-sharing platforms and has been lapped up by the Kazakh media.
By imploring Kazakhs and others to speak the state language, Pascal has also won friends in high places. The country's politicians, including President Nursultan Nazarbayev, frequently complain of the corrosive influence of Russian-language pop culture and speak of the need to do more in order to promote the use of Kazakh in the public domain.
Last week Global Voices Online caught up with Son Pascal and asked him a few questions about his love for all things Kazakh.
Global Voices (GV): Along with “You should speak Kazakhsha” you also have the “Паскальжан”(Paskaljan) series of homemade videos where you learn Kazakh with netizens in a fun and casual setting. How did you come to learn Kazakh? Is it easy or difficult compared to other languages?
Son Pascal (SP): I didn't really learn Kazakh yet, I just speak a bit, it's not that difficult compared to Russian but the fact that not everyone speaks this language on a daily basis [Russian is widely spoken as a first languague in Kazakhstan] makes it longer to learn for me.
GV: When did you decide that you want to stay and write music in Kazakhstan?
SP: I decided to stay as I understood myself to have some chances in your market, and I really love living in Almaty [biggest eastern city in Kazakhstan].
GV: “You Should Speak Kazaksha” has been very popular among internet users. What was the idea of the song?
SP: This song came to life really easily – I was having shashlik [kebab on a metal skewer] with my friend Gallardo [Kazakh rapper featured on the video] and we were jamming with my ukulele [Kazakh national instrument]. I think it's important for a country not to forget its culture and its roots, as I feel proud to be Italian so you guys should be proud to be Kazakh.
GV: How important do you think music is to the preservation of a language?
Son Pascal playing yhe dombra [Kazakh national instrument].”I cannot sing the Kazakh anthem, but I can whistle it,” the young artist told Global Voices Online. Personal photo used with author's permission.
SP: Music in the form of a song or an opera work is literature, which is one of the main things to help protect and divulgate a language. It might be classical, like a poem of Abay [Abay Qunanbaiuli is a celebrated Kazakh poet of the 19th century] and it can be pop, like a song by Beibit Korgan [local pop singer] or even Son Pascal!

author: Altynai Sydykova


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Japan, U.S.A: Okinawan Women Against US “Osprey” deployment · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

TenThousandThings posted a video showing a group of Okinawan women singing “We Shall Over Come” to protest against US military V-22 “Osprey” aircraft deployment at Oyama gate, US Marine Futenma Air Station, Ginowan City, Sunday night, September 29, 2012.


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Kyrgyzstan: ‘I Am Gay and Muslim’ Banned · Global Voices
Alexander Sodiqov

How is this possible that a movie title angered so many people?
Kyrgyz blogger reacts [ru] to a recent court ban on the screening of “I Am Gay and Muslim,” a Dutch documentary about homosexual Muslims, at an international human rights film festival in Kyrgyzstan.

author: Alexander Sodiqov


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Libya: One Copy of Proposed New Cabinet  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Journalists take photographs of the one copy listing proposed members of the new cabinet today. Photograph shared by @mathieu_galtier on Twitter.
On Twitter Mathieu Galtier shares the photograph above and tweets:
@mathieu_galtier: Journos taking pictures of cabinet list ! Cause only one copy! #GNC #Abushagur #insane
The names of the proposed cabinet can be found here.


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Mauritania: Destructive Gold Mining · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

From Mauritania, Ahmed Jedou writes [ar] about the the abuse of multinationals of gold mining in his country. Despite having the world's second largest gold mine, he says government corruption means Mauritanians benefit very little from the operation. Jedou also highlights the environmental impact of mining.


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Mauritania: Quran Teachers Turn Children to Beggars  · Global Voices
أحمد جدو

Across the Mauritanian capital Nouakchott, at junctions and under trees, you will see children known as Al Mudat [ar], aged between 4 and 14 years, carrying empty tomato cans begging pedestrians for some money. These children are not begging for money for themselves. Instead, they want the money to be able to pay their Quran teacher. They do so because their parents do not have the means to pay him in exchange for teaching them.
Meanwhile, their parents allow the abuse of their children by begging like this which exposes them to many risks like drugs. Often they turn into criminals and end up in jail. It is also noteworthy, that the only thing these children know to do is street begging.
Photo of one urchin sleeping in the street, published under permission from Al Kashiv blog
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Mauritanian blogger Mohamed Abdou [ar] wrote a photo report about those children:
قابلت الكثيرين منهم، ممن يتجولون بداية من ساعات العصر وحتى ساعات متأخرة من الليل يحملون عبوات طماطم فارغة يجمعون فيها مايحصلون عليه من التسول في الشارع، هم مجموعات أطفال أعمارهم بين 4 و12 سنة يرسلهم معلمهم الذي يدرسهم القرءان للتسول وايصال ما جمعوه له بعد نهاية الجولة، “الحسن، عالي، آمادو…….. ” وغيرهم من الأسماء قابلتهم واستفسرت عن بعض تفاصيل حياتهم في ظل الظروف التي يعيشونها.
I have met many of them, wandering in the streets. They start from the early hours of afternoon until late at night, carrying empty tomato cans where they collect whatever they can from street begging. They are a bunch of children, aged four to 14 years, sent by their Quran teacher to beg and hand him their income. “Al Hassan, Ali, Amadou ….” and many more whom I have met and inquired about some of the details of their life and the conditions they live in.
In Stolen Dreams blog [ar] we can also read about that topic:
ان الشارع المدرسة الأم والرصيف الكرسي الذي جلسوا عليه لتلقي علم التسول… والأساور ملاذا لنوم يطارده الخوف والجدران كهف لأحلام تصارع البقاء.. يموجون في جناح الليل بين الأزقة يلاحقون سيارات فاخرة لترمي لهم دراهيم تدفع البلاء ومتجولون ضعف الطالب والمطلوب.. أوعيتهم لا تحمل ما يسمن من جوع أو يغني من عطش.
في الصباح يبدؤون رحلة الشتاء والصيف في أحياء العاصمة, تري في عيونهم قسوة الحياة وطفولة شابت قبل حصادها , وبراءة أجهضت قبل مخاضها ,ثيابهم البالية التي لا تقيهم حرارةالشمس تكفي لمداومة دون إدارة.
The street is the mother and the school and the pavement is the chair they sat on to learn street-begging … its fences are a retreat for a sleep haunted by fear and the walls are caves for dreams struggling for survival … they wander at night between streets, running after fancy cars so their owners would throw them some coins that would repel misery, their clothes do not show any sign of satiety or hydration. In the morning they commence the journey of winter and summer in the capital's street. You see in their eyes, the cruelty of life and a childhood that became senile even before it matured. An innocence that was aborted before its labor. Their shabby outfits do not protect them from the sun.
Ali interviewed by Al Kashiv blog, photo used with permission
Mohammed Al Amine Ould Yeyha [ar] resorts to facts and figures:
قد أشار تقرير منظمة حقوق الإنسان الموريتاني في تقريره لسنة 2009 إلى (وجود حالات استمرار للرق والمتاجرة بالأشخاص، تشير إلى أطفال صغار دون السن 15 يسمون (Talibes) ويعرفون في الأوساط الاجتماعية بـ”آلمودا” يأتون من داخل البلاد وكذلك من مالي ومن السنغال وقال التقرير أنهم يتعرضون لسوء المعاملة من قبل معلمي دين يجبرونهم على التسول).
A report by the Mauritanian Organization for Human Rights in 2009, observes that there are still human trafficking cases and children under 15 years old called Talibes and known in social milieus by Al Mouda who come from within the country as well as from Mali and from Senegal. The report states that they are subject to mistreatment by religion teachers who force them to beg.
He adds:
وبالرغم من وجود هذه الظواهر التي يجرمها القانون وينتقدها العرف الموريتاني وتحرمها الشريعة الإسلامية، فإن الدولة الموريتانية ما تزال عاجزة عن توفير آلية جديدة تحد من انتشار هذه الظاهرة وتأمين حاجيات هؤلاء المتسولين أو فتح مراكز إيواء لحضانتهم، من اجل خلق إطار لتمدرس الطفل وتوفير الظروف الملائمة له.
Despite the existence of the phenomena penalized by the law and criticized by the Mauritanian traditions and forbidden by Shariaa in Islam, the Mauritanian state is still unable to provide a new mechanism to limit its spread and to provide for the needs of those street-beggars or to open centers to shelter them so as to establish a framework for schooling the child and providing the proper conditions for them.

author: أحمد جدو


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Peru: Questioning the Death Toll Caused by Terrorism · Global Voices
Juan Arellano

An investigation [es] by economist and blogger Silvio Rendón on the numbers of dead and missing given by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (CVR [es]) became a front page headline [es] and a feature article [es] in the daily Correo.
Rendón offers and alternative calculation resulting in “28 thousand dead and missing, 60% caused by the State (16,500) and 40% (11,000) by Shining Path”, this stands in contrast to the numbers gathered by the CVR: “69 thousand dead and missing, 40% caused by the State and 60% by Shining Path.”

author: Juan Arellano


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Russia: Apple Logo Branded As Unchristian by Orthodox Activists · Global Voices
Kevin Rothrock

Interfax new agency reported [ru] today that a fringe group of Russian Orthodox activists (including some priests) has “on a number of occasions” staged public protests against the maker of the iPhone and iPad, Apple Inc., on the grounds that the company's logo (a monochrome “bitten” apple) constitutes an anti-Christian symbol. The activists, who apparently also own Apple computers, have made a public spectacle of hanging crosses over their machines’ Apple logo, which they say alludes to the forbidden fruit discussed in Genesis 2:16–17 of the Bible. Others have pointed out that Apple's original 1976 logo in fact depicted Isaac Newton sitting under an apple tree, though the iconic rainbow “bitten” apple logo was adopted almost immediately thereafter.

author: Kevin Rothrock


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Russia: Echo of Moscow Pokes Fun at Environmentalist Dissident · Global Voices
Kevin Rothrock

Earlier today, oppositionist blogger Oleg Kozyrev took issue [ru] with an apparent gag that graced the website of Echo of Moscow. In an article titled “Leader of the Khimki Ecologists and Mayoral Candidate Evgenia Chirikova Complains About Interference In Her Election Campaign,” the accompanying photo [ru] features Chirikova against the background of a large American flag (ostensibly implying that she is an American agent). Though the image was soon edited to replace the Stars and Stripes with the Russian tricolor, Kozyrev concluded ominously, “In my opinion, someone in [Echo's] editorial office is prejudiced.” In a rather uncivil exchange [ru] in the comments section, Kozyrev traded jabs with political analyst Oleg Volodin, who pointed out that Chirikova is known for making seemingly pro-American, anti-Russian statements. Kozyrev, for his part, claimed that she was only quoting a “classic” Russian saying when she recently compared the public to mindless cattle.