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Wildlife Sanctuary Announcement Is the Icing on the Christmas Cake for Jamaica’s Environmental Campaigners · Global Voices
Emma Lewis

The critically endangered Jamaica Iguana. Photo by conservation photographer Robin Moore, used with permission.
The Jamaican government’s decision to create a wildlife sanctuary in an area once threatened by a megaport development has brought joy to the hearts of environmentalists, who campaigned for years to “Save Goat Islands.” While there are questions over how the sanctuary might work in practice, for the most part the proposal is being seen as an early Christmas present.
The wildlife sanctuary is intended to protect the critically endangered Jamaican Iguana (Cyclura Collei), which had been thought extinct but was accidentally rediscovered in the Portland Bight Protected Area's Hellshire Hills in 1990. The animal is the subject of the Head Start program at Kingston's Hope Zoo, which rears the animals in captivity and releases them into their natural habitat once they are old enough to deal with any possible predators.
Local campaigners — and the overseas conservation organisations that supported them — had exhaled back in September 2016, when Prime Minister Andrew Holness announced that he had decided not to proceed with plans for a proposed Chinese transshipment port.
The Jamaica Environment Trust tweeted that Jamaican Iguanas were now celebrating in the area where they have been released into the wild:
“Goat Islands to be declared a Wildlife Sanctuary, JET celebrates”…Meanwhile in the Hellshire Hills…#iguanaparty #goatislandssaved #savegoatislands pic.twitter.com/gL69EsyY7r
— JET (@jamentrust) December 15, 2017
Overseas conservation organisations also celebrated:
Great News in Jamaica! Goat Islands in the Portland Bight Protected Area (PBPA) has been established as a wildlife sanctuary for endemic and endangered species, including the critically endangered endemic Jamaican #Iguana. via @jamaicaobserver https://t.co/E3qBGJoXUX @iguanafndn pic.twitter.com/90xWUTmZyZ
— Shedd Research (@SheddResearch) December 15, 2017
The Fort Worth, Texas-based International Iguana Foundation shared on Facebook:
ITS OFFICIAL!! the Goat Islands will finally be designated a wildlife sanctuary that will include the Jamaican Iguana as its flagship species. This has been our ‘end game’ for many years but that dream almost vanished in 2013 when the area was on the verge of being handed over to Chinese interests for development. The IIF and our partners launched an opposition campaign that successfully fought this idea for 3 years until the Jamaican government finally bowed to public pressure. We want to thank our many supporters who helped fund this campaign that kept the pressure up to Save The Goat Islands and the Jamaican Iguana. Victories in the conservation world and few and far between these days, and this one is particularly sweet. From all of us at the IIF, we hope you will join us in celebrating this hard fought success.
High-profile environmentalist Diana McCaulay had led the Goat Islands campaign with her team at the Jamaica Environment Trust (JET), advocating tirelessly against a transshipment port in the already protected wetlands and islands on Jamaica’s south coast. The group gained supporters at home and abroad in what became a classic example of environment versus development. The two islands are part of the Portland Bight Protected Area (PBPA), which includes two-thirds of Jamaica’s mangroves and a large area of dry limestone forest — both vulnerable habitats that are home to many endangered and endemic species. The PBPA is managed by another environmental NGO, the Caribbean Coastal Area Management Foundation (C-CAM).
Jamaican environmentalist Diana McCaulay (in the blue baseball cap), talking to conservationists and supporters on Old Harbour Bay fishing beach, near Goat Islands, at the height of the campaign — in September, 2013 — to save the area. Photo by Emma Lewis, used with permission.
The announcement would have been especially gratifying for McCaulay, who will retire at the end of 2017 as the CEO of JET, which she founded 25 years ago. Many Jamaicans have praised her determination and successes as an environmental activist:
#Winning @dmccaulay. Take a bow because you fought hard for these. Respect due to the #GOJ for listening & doing the right thing. Protect our #Environment #Jamaica https://t.co/q4mIzq2Z9L
— Marcia Forbes (@marciaforbes) December 15, 2017
Mary Veira, who focuses on environmental concerns in the tourist resort of Negril, commented:
I owe much of the awareness of my environment and the importance of protecting to her, to this lady – Diana McCaulay.
Great Jamaican woman.
McCaulay recently delivered a high-profile lecture on “The State of The Rock” in the Caribbean International Network (CIN) Lecture Series at the Schomburg Center in New York. As the first woman to speak in the series, she made a passionate plea for the Caribbean environment and stressed the existential threat of climate change to the region.
Meanwhile, the prime minister's public relations officer proudly listed his administration's environmental record to date:
Environmental Agenda of JLP Gov
1. No port at Goat Island ✅
2. Goat Island to be declared sanctuary and home for endemic Iguanas ✅
3. No Coal Fired Power Plan at Alpart✅
4. Largest solar farm in Caribbean✅
5. Cockpit country declared protected area✅
6. Plastics (pending)
— Robert Nesta Morgan (@NestaJA) December 15, 2017
Accomplishments aside, some questions are being asked about the designation of a “wildlife sanctuary” and whether the iguanas might swim from the islands to shore. Conservationist Wendy Lee asked:
I am happy for any positive news on the environment, but aren't the Goat Islands already supposed to be protected as part of the Portland Bight Protected Area and proposed Biosphere Reserve?
To which C-CAM head, Ingrid Parchment, responded:
I am not sure under what act the Wildlife sanctuary was declared however this is what we want. Portland Bight Protected Area was submitted for Biosphere status and was withdrawn by the government. We are hoping to resubmit in 2018. Positive environmental news. A victory for Jamaica. Now lets implement plans to establish. On to the next threatened area???.
So what are the next steps for the proposed wildlife sanctuary? Diana McCaulay observed:
An assessment of what's on Goat Islands now will have to be done, especially of any invasive species. Also an assessment of the habitat – and then a decision taken about what can go there. Iguanas and likely other reptiles https://t.co/mrq9QYwgqB
— Diana McCaulay (@dmccaulay) December 15, 2017
So will there be a transshipment port somewhere else on the island? Last year, the prime minister suggested that there might be another location, but there has been no confirmation of this, so far.


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Zanzibar’s Football Heroes Win Hearts Despite Loss to Kenya in CECAFA Cup · Global Voices
Amanda Lichtenstein

Zanzibar Heroes fans take to the streets in Zanzibar on Sunday, December 17 to celebrate their team making it to the finals against Kenya in CACEFA Senior Challenge Cup. Photo circulated widely on social media.
Despite Zanzibar Heroes’ narrow loss to Kenya’s Harambee Stars on Sunday, December 17, Zanzibari residents took to the streets to celebrate their team’s nevertheless strong performance in the final match of one of Africa's oldest football tournaments: the Council for East and Central Africa Football Associations Senior Challenge (CECAFA) Cup.
Located in the Indian Ocean, Zanzibar is a semi-autonomous archipelago of Tanzania but fields its own team in the annual CECAFA Cup competition. National sports teams often have devoted followings, but the youthful Zanzibar Heroes gave such an unexpected and inspiring showing throughout the 2017 Cup that the loss was still cause for jubilant celebration. Before the final showdown, Abuu, a 24-year-old avid football fan from Zanzibar said with a smile on his face:
We would be really happy if Zanzibar Heroes wins, why not? It’s our home place, we’d be so proud. But even if they don’t win tonight, we’re still proud. They are still winners.
In fact, many fans of mainland Tanzania's football team, the Kilimanjaro (‘Kili’) Stars, who just a few weeks ago saw the Zanzibar Heroes as their nemesis actually wished them well when they headed off to play in the finals against Kenya.
With a buzz in the air, some shops closed early on Sunday evening as Zanzibaris of all ages converged in pubs, clubs, storefronts, family living rooms and communal roadside televisions to cheers on the Zanzibar Heroes in this historic final game.
After a hopeful 2-2 tie against the fierce Harambee Stars, the game at Kenyatta Stadium in Machakos, Kenya went into a penalty and Zanzibar ultimately lost 3-2 to Kenya. The last time Zanzibar won the CECAFA cup was in 1995 against Uganda.
Online, people tweeted condolences and congratulations, offering up their hope to the Heroes:
Congratulations #ZanzibarHeroes best luck next time.
— Jafar Rajab (@JrMalcolm88) December 17, 2017
Credit to #ZanzibarHeroes as well… Fantastic group of players and worthy finalists! ?⚽?… https://t.co/RW5HaO9spJ
— Mohamed Abubakar (@mo_abu04) December 17, 2017
Well done heroes, Zanzibaris are proud of you.#ZanzibarHeroes
— Mtu Asiyejulikana (@Nassour_Barrack) December 17, 2017
The Heroes team had qualified for the final two days before, topping the Uganda Cranes 2-1:
Congratulations Zanzibar Heroes for qualifying the CECAFA Senior Challenge Cup final. U’ve shown the hard work, perseverance, and most of all ur love for Zanzibar.
December 15, 2017 is a date etched indelibly, happiness into the memories of Zanzibaris all across the globe.
— Khaleed GWIJI (@khaleedGWIJI) 15 de diciembre de 2017
The Zanzibar Heroes were considered underdogs in the competition from the start. In fact, the team of youthful players shocked fans when it tore through several games against Rwanda and Kenya before beating Tanzania’s mainland team, the ‘Kili’ Stars earlier in December.
About that particular game, Vincent Opiyo of The Daily Nation reported on “Zanzibar’s desire and unending surge” through the second half, resulting in the win in the 79th minute of the game.
The Zanzibar Heroes’ performance was so fierce that some CECAFA officials suspected members of the team of using steroids and subjected them to a medical investigation.
Teammates Fesal Salum, Ibrahim Hamad, Suleiman Kassim ‘Selembe’, and Mohamed Issa ‘Banka’ agreed to be tested by medical doctors. Out of this group, three players had won the ‘man of the match’ in three different matches: Mohamed Issa in the Zanzibar versus Rwanda game, Ibrahim Hamad in the mainland Tanzania versus Zanzibar game, and Fesal Salum in the Kenya versus Zanzibar game.
All tests came back clean.
Yet, according to SDE Kenya, a Kenyan entertainment magazine, the team performed so well that several people on Facebook and WhatsApp groups even went so far as to speculate that the Zanzibar Heroes had used witchcraft to explain their incredible performances.
Though Zanzibar plays with its own team in the CECAFA Cup, that doesn't extend to other competitions.
Since 2005, Zanzibar, with a population of approximately 1.5 million, has fought to gain access to FIFA (the International Federation of Football Association). Doing so would grant Zanzibar the right to vote on global football issues and allow its national team to take part in the 2022 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers.
Zanzibar Heroes team photo, December 2017.
In March 2017, the Zanzibar Football Association (ZFA) gained recognition by the CAF (Confederation of African Football) as its 55th member under then-CAF President Issa Haytaou. Many were confident that FIFA membership would follow, with strong support from Tanzania Football Federation (TFF) President Jamal Malinzi.
With news of Zanzibar’s acceptance into CAF, residents cheered and celebrated on the streets in a big parade through the streets of the capital Stone Town. And in a subtle but significant move, the ZFA required all members of the Zanzibar Heroes team to ensure that their passports had been issued by the Zanzibar Immigration Authority and not stamped on the mainland.
But Zanzibar’s membership in CAF only lasted four months because in the end, Zanzibar is not an independent African nation. CAF’s new President Ahmad Ahmad explained in July 2017 that:
CAF cannot admit two different associations from one country and the definition of a country comes from the African Union and the United Nations.
In 1964, Zanzibar and mainland Tanzania merged as a union government under the United Republic of Tanzania. Zanzibar has its own government and laws but is still considered a part of Tanzania, voting in union-related elections as well as Zanzibar-specific elections.
The union has been a source of heated debate since its inception, raising difficult questions about nationhood, sovereignty, and power-sharing throughout the 50-year relationship.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Amanda Lichtenstein


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Amidst the Advent Season, Church Blast Leaves Nine Dead and Several Injured in Quetta, Pakistan · Global Voices
Anushe Noor

Pakistan's Christian minority protest against an attack on their community members in Lahore in 2013. Image by Rajput Yasir. Copyright Demotix (10/3/2013)
On Sunday, December 17, 2017, a bomb went off at the gates of the Bethel Memorial Methodist Church in Quetta, Pakistan. The bombing occurred while worshippers were attending service, leaving nine dead and more than 50 injured.
According to media reports, one of the two attackers attempting to go in the front entrance was shot dead by the police force before he could enter the church's premises. Two other attackers who attempted to enter through the back gates are still missing as the police continue the search operation. The attack occurred nearly a week before Christmas and has shaken the minority Christian community in Pakistan. ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attack.
People took to social media, condemning the attack and showing solidarity with the families of the deceased and injured. Netizen Dua Fatima Khan condemned the attack on Twitter:
I strongly condemn the terrorist attack in #Quetta. My thoughts are with the families of the deceased and prayers with the injured. #Pakistan
— Dua Fatima Khan (@DuaFatimaPK) December 17, 2017
Journalist Mehr Tarar tweeted:
Heartfelt prayers and condolences for the families of all those who were killed in an attack on a church in Quetta.
A truly low point for a society when its mosques, churches, imambarghas or temples need security.
— Mehr Tarar (@MehrTarar) December 18, 2017
In response to these terrorist attacks, people once again began voicing their support for the implementation of the National Action Plan(NAP), a plan put forward to combat terrorism in 2015. This plan was put into action after the tragic incident which occurred at the Army Public School in Peshawar, Pakistan, that led to the death of 149 people, most of whom were children.
Also Read: One Month on, Pakistanis Pledge to #NeverForget the Horrific Peshawar School Massacre
Filmmaker Rehan Khan took to Twitter to criticise the government:
Another attack. Another thread of condemnation. No sign of the National Action Plan #Quetta
No let up in terrorist attacks.
Sincere condolences to those who have lost their loved ones.
— Reham Khan (@RehamKhan1) December 17, 2017
Actor Hamza Ali Abbassi called on the government to take action:
#Quetta Enemies of Pakistan & Humanity attack anything they can, schools, markets, hotels, mosques, shrines & churches! Prayers for the departed souls & my one question to Govt is: Security forces alone cant eliminate terrorism, WHEN WILL YOU IMPLEMENT NATIONAL ACTION PLAN?
— Hamza Ali Abbasi (@iamhamzaabbasi) December 19, 2017
Freelance journalist Syed Hussain tweeted a photo of clerics of all faiths showed solidarity to the Christian community:
#Christians and religious leaders from other faiths take part in a service for the victims of a suicide attack on a church in Quetta at the Sacred Heart Cathedral #LAHOREpic.twitter.com/ZtdqvfzYPF
— Syedih (@SyedIHusain) December 19, 2017
Christians make up approximately 1.6 percent of Pakistan's 200 million and have faced discrimination for the past several years. One of Punjab's deadliest attacks occurred in Lahore during Easter in 2016 and resulted in the deaths of over 70 people, including several children.
Religious cleric Imam Tawhidi tweeted:
I woke up to images of young children killed in #Quetta only because they are Christian. Christians being targeted during Christmas is not new, yet the Islamic Government of Pakistan has no realistic security and protection plan for religious minorities.
— Imam Tawhidi (@Imamofpeace) December 17, 2017
Journalist and activist Musharraf Zaidi tweeted:
September 2013, All Saints Church Peshawar
March 2015, Youhanabad Church Lahore
March 2016, Easter Sunday Gulshan Iqbal Park Lahore
Today, Quetta…
Someone please help me explain how we are protecting our Christian brothers and sisters… pic.twitter.com/wMhkUsmr7l
— Mosharraf Zaidi (@mosharrafzaidi) December 17, 2017
The persecution of religious minorities is not new to Pakistan; since 2015, more than 200 people have been killed and more than 300 have been injured in such attacks.
Most recently, discrimination against minorities has also cropped up in government. Retired military captain Muhammad Safdar Awan, who is a current member of the National Assembly, demanded that the Physics Department at Quaid-e-Azam University, which was named after Nobel Laureate Dr. Adbus Salam, change its name. As Salam belongs to the Muslim minority Ahmadiyya community, the requested name change appeared to some as an act of discrimination against the group.
For minorities in Pakistan, the Quetta attack is another reminder that — until hatred and religious intolerance are tackled — they will not be able to practice their basic right to worship freely, without the fear of being killed.

author: Anushe Noor


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Is Trinidad & Tobago ‘Vindicating’ Perpetrators of Gender-Based Violence? · Global Voices
Flora Thomas

Screenshot from the Public Service Announcement (PSA) done by American singer, actress and activist Mandy Moore for PSI Caribbean, for the Gender-Based Violence “Make It Stop” Campaign in Trinidad and Tobago.
On December 17, 2017, news broke in Trinidad and Tobago about the murder of Samantha Isaacs, who was shot dead by the father of her child. The perpetrator subsequently killed himself.
Gender-based violence has become an increasingly difficult issue for the Caribbean region to deal with, but Trinidad and Tobago in particular has been plagued with a significant number of femicides.
This most recent murder struck a chord with many female netizens, partly because — as was firmly established by the globally viral hashtag #metoo and the regionally recognised #lifeinleggings — women have a sense of being under constant threat, and partly because murders like Isaacs’ could have been prevented.
Kahriym Garcia, Isaacs’ former partner, had a history that should have been a red flag for the authorities — his grandmother had reportedly taken a restraining order out against him because he tried to kill her; on one occasion, he put a knife to Isaacs’ mother's throat; and he would repeatedly threaten to kill Isaacs and her family. Isaacs attempted to take Garcia to court for child support and sought a restraining order against him, but the magistrate kept delaying the case.
The #lifeinleggings movement mourned Isaacs’ death on Twitter:
We mourn the loss of 27-year-old Samantha Isaacs.
Samantha was shot by her abusive ex-boyfriend in Trinidad & Tobago.
She leaves behind a 4-year-old son.
Our thoughts and condolences go out to her son and family. May justice prevail… #lifeinleggings #evaw #restinpower pic.twitter.com/yXR3RDgS1b
— Life In Leggings (@TheOfficialLIL) December 17, 2017
In an editorial posted the day after Isaacs’ death, the Sunday Express wrote:
Every murder is gut-wrenching but there is something particularly awful about a victim being pursued to a preventable death despite seeking the protection of the police and the courts. […]
No one can plead innocent to the risks faced by women desperately trying to escape an abusive relationship. Yet, such cases continue to be treated with a certain casualness by institutions and by individuals for whom victim protection is never highest priority. […]
With close to 50 women already murdered this year, the issue of violence against women is no theoretical matter. […]
Counselling, policing, protection, detection—policies and programmes for all of these and more have been discussed ad nauseum. What remains to be done is implementation.
Activist Tillah Willah, who shared a link to a counselling service in her Facebook post, said:
For many of us this is another Sunday of re-living our own traumas at the hands of lovers, relatives, friends. For many of us this is another Sunday of opening old wounds, past hurts and wondering if we are next. People are sharing stories and crying out for help and most of us, especially those of us who do this work every day, cannot bear the burden of another story. What happens after the story of is shared and we are submitted to the anonymous violence of online shaming?
If it's too much, please switch off. Disconnecting from this is an act of radical self care and survival. We are all angry and we are all terrified and we are all hurt. But we are still here. We owe it to those who are no longer with us to seek help and healing.
The “online shaming” she talks about refers to the curious phenomenon among some social media users — women included — of victim shaming and showing sympathy for the father, who Isaacs reportedly kept from seeing their child.
Comedian Simmy Behave, who experienced an abusive relationship herself, was having none of it. Creating a powerful hashtag, #nomoresilence, she began to curate women's stories of domestic violence and explained why:
From my experience, that's what it felt like. Silence. You lose your voice in an abusive relationship. You feel like you can't say anything or you have to choose your words more carefully.
So you stop speaking up. You hide from friends and family or you get isolated from them.
Sometimes you will make all the steps needed to get out and you will be successful but there are some who don't make it out of physically abusive relationships alive.
It's not about choosing your partner carefully. [The country's prime minister recently faced a backlash for suggesting women needed to be more vigilant.]
Calling Trinidad and Tobago “a ‘licks-based’ society” (“licks” is a local term for “beatings” and corporal punishment is all too common as a means of “disciplining” children), she also encouraged men to share their perspectives under the above hashtag.
Netizens immediately answered the call, many anonymously for fear of being harmed. The comedian posted scores of harrowing accounts on her Facebook page that included tales of a skewed sense of ownership, a dangerous dependency syndrome, beatings during pregnancy, and sexual assault, some of which occurred when the women were minors.
Some women were desperate to be free of their abusers in the new year, while others wanted to help them. One survivor lamented the state of the court system in the country, and others admitted they no longer went anywhere alone. One woman remained in the abusive marriage for decades, and heartbreakingly, a child of abuse spoke of how she repeated the same patterns in her own life.
The hashtag has raised questions that many social media users have been asking for some time, about hyper-masculinity and the way boys are socialised, about resulting male aggression, and about women's inability to leave abusive relationships, no doubt tied to the failure of state systems and institutions to protect them.
Criminologist Renee Cummings has been consistently sharing advice and resources on this and other violence-related topics via her Facebook page. In February 2017, she noted:
There seems to be a growing misconception that interpersonal violence, intimate partner violence or domestic violence that ends in homicide (man murders woman) is a crime of passion. It is not. If anything IPV and DV are more akin to acts of terrorism than crimes of passion. An intimate partner/ex-intimate partner leaves where ever he is or lives and comes down to a victim's job with a knife hidden, calls her on the job and asks her to come outside to talk, and then slashes her throat when she turns around to walk off is not a crime of passion; seems a lot of thought went into that? No passion there!
Cummings also made the point that “stalking is a serious crime, everywhere in the world but T&T!” and took aim at “the lackluster response of law enforcement and the criminal justice system”.
Most netizens agree that while gender-based violence may be a complex issue, immediate solutions include enforcing the law and doing more to protect victims. At present, the inverse seems to be happening, prompting activist Brendon O'Brien to sum up the situation on Instagram in a poem he wrote in honour of Samantha Isaacs:
Instagram post by Brendon J. O'Brien on the murder of Samantha Isaacs.
Victims of domestic and gender-based violence in Trinidad and Tobago can contact the following organisations for advice and support:

author: Flora Thomas


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Tropical Storm Unleashes Deadly Destruction on Philippines Four Years After Super Typhoon Haiyan · Global Voices
Karlo Mongaya

Screenshot from local news coverage of tropical storm Kai-Tak (local name Urduja) by PTV Philippines.
Philippine officials reported that at least 46 people were killed while another 28 are still missing after tropical storm Kai-Tak (local name Urduja) battered Eastern Visayas, the region hardest hit by super typhoon Haiyan (local name Yolanda) four years ago.
Eastern Visayas is composed of the three main islands Biliran, Leyte, and Samar, which are the easternmost islands of the central Philippine island group of Visayas. Facing the Pacific Ocean to its east, the region is the typical entry point of tropical storms to the Philippines.
Most of the people killed or missing — mostly by landslides, authorities say — hail from the province of Biliran, which posted 25 dead and 25 missing people. Over 44,000 families have been evacuated and at least 16,000 passengers were stranded in various areas of the Philippines.
Tropical storm Kai-Tak caused damage to five bridges that effectively cut off Biliran from Leyte and the rest of the region, thus posing challenges on the bringing of heavy equipment and supplies to the island.
Activist Joshua Musico Sagdullas writes for Eastern Visayas-based alternative news site Eastern Vista to ask if the new government has learned any lesson at all from the devastation wrought by super typhoon Haiyan in November 2013:
What we expected was for the rain to pour and winds to howl, we thought work would be suspended for a day or two and some roads impassable due to slight debris pile up. We would never have thought the storm would cause evacuation-efforts spanning three regions or paralyzed the economy of close to three provinces in Eastern Visayas.
Netizens and journalists have used the hashtag #UrdujaPH on social media to give updates on the storm and post photos of its impact. Groups have also taken to social media to call for donations and disaster relief efforts, especially for some of the most affected areas like Biliran.
Photos: Pinsalang iniwan ni Bagyong Urduja sa Leyte pic.twitter.com/WpW6bLHw4F
— jenny dongon (@jcdongon) December 18, 2017
The dead left by typhoon Urduja in Leyte.
Queue of stranded vehicles outside Matnog Port in Sorsogon reaches 4 km. (? MDRRMO Matnog) | #UrdujaPH @InquirerSLB pic.twitter.com/we0Tv6jH1H
— Rey Anthony Ostria (@RAOstriaINQ) December 15, 2017
Heartbreaking. #hometown #UrdujaPH pic.twitter.com/HO2apu5n8e
— Joy Sebios (@joymoonthen) December 19, 2017
Netizens have also asked if Kai-Tak’s impact on Biliran was further magnified by the presence of sulfur mining in the area. The Mines and Geosciences Bureau has warned about the threat of landslides in Biliran ahead of Kai-Tak’s appearance.
Tungod ha ira, damo nagkamatay. Dre la sulphur mining it nagaganap ha Biliran. Sana maging sensitive it Province ngan LGU para ma-address it mga sugad na issue, ginhihinay hinay la nira pagguba ht Biliran. ?
— ERL. (@ijustinyu) December 19, 2017
Many died because of this. Sulphur mining is happening in Biliran. Hopefully the provincial local government unit would be sensitive and address this issue. They are slowly destroying Biliran.
My Sulfur mining sa bundok ng Biliran province 35 years na ako ngaun lang ngyari sa province namin ito.. Nakakaiyak :(
— Jun Quimbo Villato (@quimboph1) December 18, 2017
There's sulfur mining in the mountains of Biliran. I've been in Biliran province 35 years this happened to our province only now. Heartbreaking.
But even as tropical storm Kai-Tak has already left the Philippines as it moved to the West Philippine Sea, the country is again bracing for the entry of another weather disturbance which is expected to make landfall on Christmas eve.

author: Karlo Mongaya


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With Legislative Changes, Some Hong Kong Pro-Democracy Activists Fear ‘Article 23 Is Coming to Town’ · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Citizens protested in the public galleries of the Legislative Council against the change of house rule. The placards read: “Protect the Legislative Council”; “Do not turn it into that National People Congress”; “Today the house rules change, tomorrow Article 23 is passed”. Photo from inmediahk.net.
Santa Claus isn't the only thing coming to town, some in Hong Kong fear, after pro-Beijing lawmakers in the city's Legislative Council approved changes to procedural rules that aim to quash democrats’ filibustering of controversial legislation and expenditures for huge construction projects.
Hong Kong is a special administrative region of China with more economic and personal freedoms than the mainland, a set-up known as “One Country, Two Systems.” In recent years, however, Beijing has been pressuring Hong Kong to introduce new laws that strengthen the “One Country” part of the principle.
For example, the Hong Kong government is in the process of introducing a law that punishes those who deliberately disrespect the Chinese national anthem. That is because in October, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress incorporated the mainland’s own restrictive national anthem law into Hong Kong’s mini-constitution, thereby compelling Hong Kong to pass local legislation on the matter.
There's another constitutional obligation looming for Hong Kong: Article 23 of its Basic Law, as the mini-constitution is called, requires that potentially troubling national security laws be implemented:
The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region shall enact laws on its own to prohibit any act of treason, secession, sedition, subversion against the Central People's Government, or theft of state secrets, to prohibit foreign political organizations or bodies from conducting political activities in the Region, and to prohibit political organizations or bodies of the Region from establishing ties with foreign political organizations or bodies.
“Article 23 is coming to town.” A political satire of the newly passed Legislative Council house rules by social media outlet 100 Most.
In 2002, the Hong Kong government proposed an anti-subversion bill to satisfy Article 23 that would have, among other things, criminalized seditious speech and could have even criminalized NGOs having connections with foreign groups. The effort was met with a massive protest, and the legislation process has been halted ever since.
Current Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam has stressed that the Legislative Council's recent procedural changes — meant to combat filibustering — are not connected to local enactment of Article 23.
Many people, however, believe otherwise. One viral image reflecting that concern was distributed by Facebook-based media outlet 100 Most. It shows Santa Claus framed by text that reads, “Article 23 is coming to town” in a riff of the classic Christmas song.
So what rules were changed? On December 15, pro-Beijing lawmakers successfully modified the Hong Kong Legislative Council’s Rules of Procedure, the most controversial changes being:
1. the reduction of the quorum needed for the “Committee of the Whole Council” stage, from 35 to 20;
2. the increase of the number of lawmakers’ signatures needed to form an investigatory committee, from 20 to 35.
The details of how these changes affect legislative process are complicated, but to explain it in simple terms: The current Legislative Council has 70 members, with the pro-Beijing camp outnumbering the democrats. Without the power to veto, the democrats have instead delayed readings of bills in an attempt to influence lawmaking, either by reviewing the text of the bills clause-by-clause or demanding a headcount to confirm there is quorum, or both.
The Basic Law's Article 75 defines quorum as “one half of all its members,” or 35 according to current composition. If there are fewer than 35 legislators in the main chamber, the chair then suspends the section until the quorum meets the minimum. This tactic bought democrats time to raise public awareness of the issues at stake.
Pro-Beijing lawmakers, however, have slammed the filibustering as destructive. The procedural change reducing the quorum needed for the “Committee of the Whole Council” from 35 to 20 is meant to disrupt the democrats’ stalling; the pro-Beijing camp argues that the “Committee of the Whole Council”, which has up until now functioned as a meeting of the whole Legislative Council, should be understood as any other sub-committee which does not abide by Article 75's quorum requirement.
The second controversial change, increasing the signatures needed to form an investigative committee from 20 to 35, also seems directly aimed at democrats, who currently have no more than 30 lawmakers.
Knowing that they would not be able to block the changes inside the Council, pro-democracy legislators and their supporters camped outside the legislature to call for public attention for five days between December 11 and 15.
On December 15, to stall the voting on the changes, a number of democrat lawmakers protested inside the chamber. Eleven of them were ordered by Council's president to leave, and the changes were passed.
A petition co-signed by a group of university professors and scholars argued that the changes will end up weakening the Legislative Council’s power to counter-check the government:
We object to the amendment proposals because once such amendments are passed, they stand to gravely weaken the Council’s power to monitor the government, already minuscule as they are, and allow the all-powerful executive authorities to escape legislative oversight even further, rendering a much increased chance of Hong Kong heading towards an authoritarian system.
Daniel Tam, an assistant to pro-democracy lawmaker Chu Hoi Dick, explained the technical details of how the changes will undermine the authority of the Legislative Council as a whole:
夾在二讀辯論與三讀辯論之間的全體委員會，是對二讀提出修正案的討論環節，結論會交由三讀辯論——如果法定人數降至20人，即10人贊成便可通過，決定三讀的法案文本。一條法例動輒可生效數十年，影響無數人的生活，然而只須1/7的立法會議員便可通過，作三讀的最後辯論。這顯然是嚴重傷害議會的內在邏輯和尊嚴
The Committee of the Whole Council is formed between the second and the third reading to review the bill, and the result of the revision is further deliberated in the third reading. If the quorum is reduced to 20, that means it takes only 10 lawmakers [actually, 11 would be the minimum majority of votes required] to decide on the actual text of the third reading. A law, which is likely to take effect for a few decades and affect Hong Kong people’s daily lives, is to be determined by 1/7th of the total number of legislators before it enters the third reading. Such changes definitely will harm the internal operations and the integrity of the Council.
The changes to the Council’s house rule could have a direct impact on a series of upcoming bills that potentially curb Hong Kong people’s rights and freedoms, university professor Sing Ming argued, quoting a comment from his friend on Facebook:
當立法會成橡皮圖章，任何大白象工程，超支，惡法等等，市民未知悉已在立法會快速通過，國民教育，國歌法和基本法23條，都無須在議會討論，想點立就點立，尤其是23條，經本地立法之後，以中共最近嘅肆無忌憚，將會人大再釋基本法23條，解釋為大陸國安法，以便香港實施尋釁滋事罪
Once the Legislative Council is turned into a rubber stamp, all large white elephant projects, over-expenditures, evil laws and so on will be passed swiftly even before ordinary citizens notice the issues. National education, national anthem law and Article 23 will not have due deliberation in the Legislative Council. In particular Article 23, when local enacted, could be written according to the liking of the Chinese Communist Party. Though reinterpreting the Basic Law that Article 23 is the Hong Kong version of the mainland's National Security Law, the crime of “provoking trouble” could come into existence in Hong Kong.
Pro-democracy legislators have asked the chair of the Legislative Council to seek clarification from the court on the interpretation of the Basic Law's Article 75 on quorum. If the changes are in violation of the Basic Law, all laws that passed under the new procedural rules would be voided.

author: Oiwan Lam


text:
Africa’s Richest Woman Dismissed From Angola’s National Oil Company — Is This the End of Dos Santos’ Power? · Global Voices
Dércio Tsandzana

Isabel dos Santos, daughter of the former Angolan president José Eduardo dos Santos. Photo: Youtube, Góis Souza.
Since he was elected in August 2017, Angolan President João Lourenço has been making moves which have surprised the nation. In addition to changing military intelligence chiefs, he also dismissed Isabel dos Santos, daughter of the ex-president José Eduardo dos Santos, from the council presidency of the national oil company Sonangol.
In December 2016, Lourenço replaced José Eduardo dos Santos as the leader of the ruling MPLA party and assumed the country’s presidency after obtaining a parliamentary majority in the August elections.
José Eduardo was in power for over 35 years, a rule marked by human rights violations and restrictions on free expression, with journalists and critics frequently targeted. While now out of the presidency, José Eduardo continues to be a leader of the MPLA and, after the last elections, he joined the Council of the Republic, an advisory body to the president whose members enjoy legal immunity, leading many to conclude that he continues ruling from behind the scenes.
However, these speculations are now put in doubt in light of recent decisions by Lourenço, who appears to be attempting to consolidate his authority over the party.
Carlos Saturnino was nominated to replace Isabel dos Santos. Saturnino presided over Sonangol’s council before being dismissed and replaced by Isabel dos Santos in June 2016, on her father’s orders. As well as Isabel dos Santos, the whole team comprising the company’s executive board was dismissed by Lourenço.
In 2013, Isabel dos Santos was identified by Forbes Magazine as the richest woman in Africa, estimating her personal fortune at around 4.5 billion US dollars. Currently, she is the biggest shareholder of Unitel, the country’s largest cellphone operator, and of the local television network Zap. She is also involved in NOS, a telecommunications giant in Portugal, and has investments in international banks.
In Angola, many are commenting on what Isabel dos Santos’ dismissal means. Rafael Marques, a highly regarded local journalist and activist, thinks that her business career is finished without Sonangol:
A Isabel dos Santos, agora sem a Sonangol, está acabada, porque todos os portugueses que a apoiavam e que faziam as suas relações públicas, e inclusivamente a imprensa, surgiam em função do poder que ela derivava do seu pai. Sem isto a Isabel não vai conseguir manter os seus negócios, porque são negócios que foram sempre mamar do Estado e que não obedecem a critérios de boa gestão. São negócios que se tornaram sorvedores dos fundos públicos em Angola.
Isabel dos Santos, now without Sonangol, is finished because all the Portuguese who supported her and conducted her public relations, including the press, were there due to the power that she derived from her father. Without this, Isabel will not be able to maintain her businesses, because they are businesses which were always nursed by the state and which did not follow standards of good governance. They are businesses which became dependent on Angolan public funds.
Viana TV posed a question asking people to give their opinion on the case. For Cristina Correia, it is a genuinely historic day:
Mais uma data inesquecível para os Angolanos, 11 de Novembro dia da independência, 15/de Novembro adeus a família Dos Santos. Ficará na História.
Yet another unforgettable date for Angolans, 11 November the day of independence, 15 November goodbye to the Dos Santos family. It will stay in history.
For Leonel Mateus, the case is nothing more than plain political persecution:
Só isso não basta, estas exonerações até parece perseguição as pessoas. Se estão a ser exoneradas por algum acto ilícito também devem responder julgamento.
This alone is not enough, these dismissals even seem to be persecuting people. If they are being dismissed for some unlawful act they should also answer to a court
There are those who see no real change without concretely enforcing accountability:
Isso não muda em nada a minha vida e nem mudou em nada as condições do país…Esse Jlo (João Lourenço) só está preocupado em exonerar e responsabilizar que é bom nada…tudo treta.
This does not change anything in my life nor change anything in the country’s situation… This Jlo (João Lourenço) is only concerned with dismissing and blaming, which is no good at all … all a trick.
Pedro Emanuel Ferreira distanced himself from celebrating the dismissal of Isabel dos Santos and said that there are reasons to be proud of the former president’s daughter:
Falaram tanto, porque fez bem de sair a Isabel, agora vão ler o trabalho que ela fez durante o pouco tempo como PCA da SONANGOL.
Angolano às vezes ri, festeja, atira pedra, sem saber realmente o que está a passar lá dentro.
Para mim, o que me importa não é se a Isabel e filha do Ex-presidente se está a trabalhar deixa trabalhar, quantos entraram e desfalcar, que ninguém abriu a boca, por ela ser quem é Uma Exoneração parece um festival da paz todo mundo ri.
Então ela por si própria mostrou trabalho, através dos números.
They talk so much, because it was good to make Isabel leave, now they will look at the work she did during her little time as PCA of SONANGOL. Angolans sometimes laugh, celebrate, throw stones, without really knowing what is happening inside.
For me, what is important is not if Isabel, the daughter of the ex-president, is working, let her work, how many have come in and embezzled, while nobody opened their mouth due to being who they are. A dismissal seems to be a festival of peace, everybody laughing.
She, though, herself showed work, according to the numbers.
A curious fact is that Isabel dos Santos launched a brand of beer days later in Angola, which led some to think that it was a way of distracting attention from the dismissal. This prompted Yuri Aiss to comment:
Um dos métodos mais rápido para destruir a sociedade Angolana, ela até já conhece o ponto fraco dos Angolanos
One of the quickest methods of destroying Angolan society, she still already knows Angolans’ weak point
For his part, opposition parties said the dismissal was a good decision and was welcomed:
A UNITA, maior partido da oposição, considera a exoneração de Isabel dos Santos do cargo de presidente do Conselho de Administração da Sonangol “normal” e a CASA-CE, a segunda mais importante força política da oposição no Parlamento, aponta a decisão do Presidente da República como “bem-vinda”.
UNITA, the biggest opposition party, considers the dismissal of Isabel dos Santos from the role of president of the Administrative Council of Sonangol to be “normal” and CASA-CE, the second most important political opposition force in parliament, called the decision of the President of the Republic “welcome”.

author: Dércio Tsandzana


text:
At Global Voices, We’re All Over the Place—Help Us Keep it That Way · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Global Voices community members take a selfie at the GV Summit 2017 in Colombo, Sri Lanka. PHOTO by Faaris Adam/Ieshan Wani.
Dear Friends,
At our recent Summit in Colombo, Sri Lanka, we asked members of our community what motivates them to participate in Global Voices. Among values like understanding, diversity, acceptance, fairness, respect, inclusiveness and curiosity, one that stood out for us was .
The messiness of negotiating difference, of communicating across national borders and cultural and language barriers, the messiness of creativity, the messiness that comes with any situation or relationship worth fighting for.
At Global Voices, some 1,200 of us live and work in over 170 countries around the world.
Donations to our organisation help this worldwide community report stories that forge deep connections across cultures, languages and differences of opinion—work that's urgent as we seek to understand how to live harmoniously in a difficult global environment.
As 2017 draws to a close, please make a donation to help us continue our work.
Thank you for your support, and wishing you a 2018 filled with joy and peace!
Donate now »

author: Georgia Popplewell


text:
In Sri Lanka, Families of the Disappeared Treasure the Everyday Items Left Behind · Global Voices
GroundViews

“Yes, brother. I have one brother’s camera, and the other’s comb. I have my husband’s shirt as well.” Image via Maatram. Used with permission
This post by Selvaraja Rajasegar originally appeared on Groundviews, an award-winning citizen journalism website in Sri Lanka. A translated and edited version is published below as part of a content-sharing agreement with Global Voices.
About 300 days ago, a group of Sri Lankan people began protesting across the north (in places like Vavuniya, Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu) demanding the release of lists of secret detention camps, lists of the detained, or simply information on what had happened to their loved ones. Though the Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena promised to release this information in June, he has not done so to date.
Sri Lanka emerged from a 30-year-long civil war in May 2009 when the Sri Lankan military defeated the LTTE, also known as the Tamil Tigers. They fought almost three decades to create an independent Tamil state called Tamil Eelam in the north and the east of Sri Lanka. In the process of the conflict, many people have disappeared, not just in the north and east, where much of the last stages of the war was fought, but also in the Sinhala-majority south as well, during insurrections from as far back as the 1980s.
However, disturbingly, many have also disappeared after the end of the war, when people handed over family members to the military (in some cases, these people were suspected members of the LTTE).
The following is the translation of a series of stories by Selvaraja Rajasegar, editor of Maatram, a Sri Lankan citizen journalism site publishing content in Tamil (click here and here to view the series in Tamil). In some areas, across the north and east, the protests have been going on over 300 days. Their pleas, to provide details about what happened to their families, have yet to be answered. Five of the protesters have died since the demonstrations began.
“I have, son. I kept it safely. I washed my son’s blood-stained shirt, and kept it with me.” Image Via Maatram. Used with permission
The relatives of those who have been forcibly disappeared live on. They live surrounded by treasured possessions, each a reminder of their loved one’s absence. They pass by the places they once walked, and meet people their missing ones loved.
Recently, Maatram visited these families to ask them a difficult question – if they would allow their loved one’s possessions to be photographed. Upon asking this question, they wept bitterly. Their pain is difficult to describe in words.
Still, they came forward with these treasured belongings, wet with tears. They believe their loved ones will return. It was with great relief that their loved ones had survived through bullets and shellfire that they handed them over to the Army. Now, since they haven’t returned, they are suffering.
Their sadness is immeasurable. Below is part one of their stories.
(All names have been withheld to maintain the privacy of the individuals interviewed.)
“I have the blazer that we made for him to wear for his elder brother’s wedding. Since that’s all I had left in my suitcase, that’s the only thing I have to remember him.” Image via Maatram. Used with permission
During the last stages of the war, we handed our family over to the Army ourselves – my two younger brothers, aged 27 and 29 years, and my 30-year-old husband. Believing that they would question them and then release them shortly, we got into the bus and went to the IDP camp. At that time, I was seven months’ pregnant with my second child (a daughter).
My father said, “We can’t wait here without food or drink, let’s go back. They’ll return soon.”
They still haven’t come back. We have had to submit their documents to so many Commissions of Inquiry, and each time it costs us Rs. 300 (US$ 2) or Rs. 400 (US$ 2.66). They ask us who we handed our family over to, if we remember any names, and if we can remember any medals or symbols they were wearing. At that time we didn’t even have clothes to change into. We were going through such hardship, so how can we be expected to remember all these details?
Instead of making us search all this time, they should tell us whether our loved ones are alive or not. My children are always asking for their father. My daughter is now 8, and she still hasn’t seen her father. My son is 11. Whenever there is an event at school, he always sings about his father. They ask me if I have his phone number. If I die without finding my husband, I can manage. But at least if they can find one of my brothers, my mother and father can die at peace.
People who remember those who were lost in Mullivaikkal will remember in a month, six months, or a year. For us, we remember our family every day with sadness, and we will do so until we die. I still wear my pottu and wedding thali, thinking that I will see my husband again. My mother and father give me the courage to keep going. If not for them I don’t know what I would do.
Image via Maatram. Used with permission
My son’s name is Nalinikanth. At home, we call him Vijay. He is well-known in our village by that name. In 2007, the LTTE forcibly recruited him. He was just 19 years old. I never saw him again, but someone met him after I last saw him. He told them that he would be surrendering to the Army, and asked them to let me know. I never saw him again. Some people from the fourth floor (Editor’s Note: referring to the infamous fourth floor of the Criminal Investigation Department-CID of Sri Lankan Police) came and said they had details about someone in their custody. The area was right, the Grama Sevaka Division was correct, even my name and my husband’s were correct, but the name of the person concerned was Vinothkanth, not Nalinikanth. They said they would clear up the confusion and let us know, but they never came back. We will only find peace when we know if our children are alive or dead. Since we don’t know, our minds are in tumult.
Image via Maatram. Used with permission
My daughter was forcibly recruited by the LTTE, after finishing technical college. In 2008, she came for a relative’s funeral. We saw her for the last time around the end of 2008. When I went to the Internally displaced persons (IDP) camp, I heard she was at the Mannar hospital. I went and looked for her. She wasn’t there, but her name was registered by some police stationed at the hospital. Someone had come and taken her. A number of people from Ottuchutan were at the hospital. I showed them my daughter’s picture and asked if they had seen her. They said they recognised her and said that her hand was injured. I heard from others that she had been shifted to the Pambaimadu detention camp. When I went there, I met a girl with the same name as my daughter, but it wasn’t her. This girl was from Trincomalee. I am still searching for my daughter.
“This is a shirt my son sewed himself. He used to make clothes for me as well.” Image via Maatram. Used with permission
My son’s name is Johnson Idaydaas, from Thazhayadi, Jaffna. My husband, son and I were one of the unfortunate few trapped in the middle during the last stages of the war. We escaped by boat. It was only when we alighted that we realised that our son wasn’t with us. First, we put a notice in Virakesari newspaper. We didn’t receive a reply. In 2011, we put a notice in the Uthayan newspaper, with my contact number. One night, at around 11 pm, he called me. First, I heard a voice speaking in Sinhala, then the line was cut. I redialled the number, and said, “Sir, sir” to the person on the other end. He replied, “Five minutes only, five minutes only,” and gave the phone to my son. I asked him where he was. He said, “Don’t search for me. I don’t know if they would allow you to see me even if you did search for me. In any case it will be difficult due to your age. I am alive.” He said he didn’t know where he was, but said he was with 53 others. “There is a shortage of food and clothes. If you can get in touch again, please bring some clothes,” he told me. I asked him, “Why do you sound different?” He said “They are giving me injections.” I wanted to check if it was him, so I asked if he could remember his younger sister. “Why? we lost her in the tsunami, why are you reminding me now?” he said and began crying. I started to cry as well, and the line was cut. From that day to this, I have not been able to contact him. I am surviving with the thought that he is still alive.
This government has to do something. Not just for my son, they should tell everyone whose family is missing whether they are alive or dead. I just want to know whether he is alive or dead, that is my only wish.
Recently my elder son wore Johnson’s blazer to go for a family wedding. Before that, when he was going to Colombo, I asked him to wear one of his younger brother’s shirts. I told him it would bring him good luck. We made this blazer for his elder brother’s wedding, in 2007. When we were displaced, this blazer and four sarees were all I had in a bag. This is all I have of his possessions.
This video uploaded by Center For Policy Alternatives (CPA), where Maatram is institutionally housed, showcases some of the testimonies in Tamil language:
Stay tuned for part two of this piece, to be published soon.

author: GroundViews


text:
All about ‘osechi ryōri’, Japan’s traditional New Year’s food · Global Voices
Sarah Lee Stones

Traditional Japanese osechi ready to be eaten in the New Year. Image from Flickr user Taichiro Ueki.
While Japan may have embraced Christmas in its own unique way, Shogatsu (正月 Japanese New Year) is more significant in Japan, with many people quietly celebrating at home with their families. Osechi Ryōri or osechi describes a collection of traditional foods developed during the Heian Period (794-1185) which is eaten during the holiday. The history and the meaning behind this culinary tradition are a unique aspect of the Japanese New Year celebration.
Osechi is prepared in advance during the days leading up to the New Year and is supposed to be brought out and served later. There are two main reasons for this, the first being that it was considered taboo to use fire to cook meals for the first three days of the New Year, except for preparing ozōni (お雑煮), a traditional soup containing mochi (餅, pounded rice cakes).
The second reason is that, because shops were traditionally closed during the New Year, families (more precisely, the women who traditionally cook family meals in Japan) needed enough food to last them through the holidays.
Traditional osechi dishes could be stored for several days without refrigeration. Preparing food in advance also meant that the women could take a break with the rest of the family.
Ozōni, or zōni, a soup containing mochi rice cakes. Image from Flickr user msya3.
Osechi foods typically have a symbolic meaning. For example, on New Year’s Eve, a dish called toshikoshi soba (年越し蕎麦), or “year-crossing buckwheat noodles”, are eaten to bring good luck in the coming year. The noodles symbolize vitality, health, and long-life. They are also practical because traditional wives who were busy cooking several days’ worth of food for everyone would prefer to make something quick and easy to eat right away.
Soba is said to signify strength and resiliency due to the hardiness of the buckwheat plant, while the long, thin shape of the noodles denotes the wish for a long life. Image from Flickr user Naotake Murayama.
While osechi originally consisted of fish or vegetables simmered in soy sauce and mirin, in recent years, other foods have been incorporated into the compendium of dishes. Today, many of the dishes eaten as part of osechi have become symbols for health, longevity, fertility and good fortune. Here is a list of just some of the dishes and their meanings:
Kuromame (黒豆, black beans)
Kuromame, or black beans. Image from Flickr user Malicamera.
Eating this dish means you will be able to work hard (マメに働く, mame ni hataraku) in the New Year. Being able to work hard is a very good thing in Japan, although it's often reported that people work so hard that they work themselves to death.
Kazunoko (数の子, herring roe)
Herring roe, known as kazunoko in Japanese. Image from Flickr user sakaki0214.
People eat these to be blessed with many children, as herring generally produce a lot of eggs. Nishin, Japanese for ‘herring’, can also mean ‘two parents’.
Kuri kinton, candied chestnuts in sweet potato mash. Image from Flickr user koizumi.
The bright yellow-gold of kuri kinton connotes wealth.
Buri (鰤, adult yellowtail fish)
鰤の照り焼き。この時期の鰤はメチャメチャ美味い！娘からのリクエストは「鰤照り焼き」「唐揚げ」「海老と玉子の炒め物」「チキンライス」などなど。時間見つけて飯作るぞ〜！俺は俺で長期出張で外食続きだったので、家飯が美味い〜！ #銀座キャンドル #家飯 #gourmet #銀座昊 #picturesque #instagood #yummy #tasty #yum #濃厚担担麺博多昊 #博多昊 #hakataoozora #鰤 #鰤の照り焼き #yellowtail #teriyaki #照り焼き #テリヤキ
A post shared by  Taddys (@yoshokugrams) on
Yellowtail teriyaki. Yellowtail is so good at this time of year! My daughter's meal requests include yellowtail teriyaki, fried chicken, shrimp and egg stir fry, chicken rice… The list goes on. Let's find some time to make them! I've been off on a long business trip and eating out all the time, so it's good to eat home cooked food!
Eating yellowtail (also known in English as Japanese amberjack, or Seriola quinqueradiata) over the New Year's holiday is thought to bring luck if you're hoping for a promotion at work. This is because, in Japanese, yellowtail is known as “the fish that gets a promotion” (出世魚, shusse uo). The yellowtail fish is actually called different names in Japanese over time as it grows. Depending on the region of Japan, a very young yellowtail is called tsubasu (ツバス). As it grows it might be called hamachi (ハマチ), and then fukuragi (フクラギ).
A full-grown yellowtail is called buri (ブリ) in Japanese. Buri are typically first caught early in December and herald the start of winter. These fish are known as kanburi (寒ブリ); kan (寒) means “cold.”
Tai (鯛, red sea bream)
Whole grilled red sea bream. Image from Flickr user Ryosuke Miyata.
This dish is through to be lucky because it rhymes with medetai (めでたい, congratulatory). Tai is also commonly eaten for other “medetai” occasions such as weddings.
Hana renkon (花れんこん, flower-shaped sliced lotus root)
レンコン♡蓮根♡花れんこん? お庭の真っ赤な南天さんと♡ ・ 忙しい時に限ってなぜだか無性に凝ったことしたくなったりする。 ・ おせち料理は作れるものは作ることにした。 今日は予行演習(*´꒳`*) お正月が待ち遠しいなぁ✨ #レンコン#蓮根#花蓮根 ♡ #おせち#かかお製菓部 番外編#かかおのおせち
A post shared by  いしいかおり[かかおポタリー] (@cacaopottery) on
Flower-shaped lotus root with heavenly bamboo fresh from the garden. I always seem to find myself irrationally compelled to do something elaborate when I'm most busy. I decided to make the osechi dishes that I can make. This was a test run. Happy New Year!
This root is full of holes and it is thought that, when looking through these holes, one has a chance to glimpse at the future.
Nishiki tamago (錦卵, layered egg cakes)
• 마사키의 건강한 키친。 2017 Osechi Class . . Photo by @alicerealcat #錦卵 #니시키마고 #새해맞이 #오세치 #오르골갤러리 #토닌 에서진행되는 #마사키의건강한키친 #쿠킹클래스 #요리교실 #일본문화 와 #일본가정식 #집밥 #건강한밥상 #테이블세팅 #한남동 #이태원 ? #お節 #料理教室 #ソウル #tonin #orgel #gallery #japanesefood #osechi #newyearfood #cookingclass #iteawon
A post shared by  Masaki Hayashi (@masaki_in_tonin) on
This dish is made from hard-boiled eggs whose yolks and whites are separately strained and steamed. The bright yellow egg yolk symbolizes gold and the egg white represents silver. Nishiki, a mixture of silver and gold, is a word used to describe fame and glory.
Ebi (海老, prawns)
A plateful of prawns. Image from Flickr user nolabwork.
With their hoary whiskers and hunched back, prawns have earned the Chinese characters “the old man of the sea”.  Eat shrimp and live a long life.
Kohaku namasu (紅白なます, daikon radish and carrots in vinegar)
Kohaku namasu (grated carrots and daikon radish in vinegar). Image from Flickr user hydr.
Red and white, or kohaku, are considered opposite colors in Japan; when these words are joined together as a word, kohaku means “peace and safety”. Everyone watches the annual Kohaku singing competition on New Year's Eve.
Kobumaki (昆布巻き, kelp and salmon rolls)
〜〜御節シリーズ〜〜 ⑤【昆布巻】 日本料理の必需品、昆布で健康長寿を 昆布は「喜ぶ」の言葉にかけて、正月の鏡飾りにも用いられている一家発展の縁起ものなんだよ〜✨✨ ・ ・ ・ #御節 #縁起 #昆布巻き #必需品 #健康長寿 #喜ぶ #鏡飾り #一家発展 #happy
A post shared by  Daichi Miyako (@888daichi) on
Kobumaki is an essential part of Japanese cuisine. Because it rhymes with yorokobu (喜ぶ, be happy), it represents the wish for a long, healthy, happy life. Also used as a New Year's decoration, kelp brings good luck to the home!
Usually pronounced kombu, the word for kelp can also be read as kobu, which rhymes with yorokobu (喜ぶ, be happy)
Today, many families rely on store-bought osechi ryōri provided by supermarkets and convenience stores. Prices range from ¥10,000 (or about $90 USD) for the cheapest sets to ¥100,000 (or about $900 USD) and upwards for the more high-end options.
Perhaps because of the hassle of cooking so many different dishes, the practice of cooking one's own osechi is on the decline and a recent survey by NHK found that more and more Japanese people are skipping it all together.
食品メーカー紀文食品が、ことし１月に全国の２０代から６０代の７０００人を対象に行った調査では、買うか作るかを問わず、自宅でおせちを「用意した」と答えた人は５４％、「用意しなかった」が４６％でした。買うか作るかどころか、半数近くの家庭でおせちは登場していないのです。３０代に限ると、「用意しなかった」は５７％にのぼります。
さらに驚きのデータも。「生まれてから現在までおせちを食べたことがありますか」という問いに、全体では１１％、２０代に限ると２０％が「食べたことがない」と答えています。日本の伝統の将来がちょっと心配です。
According to a survey of 7,000 people aged 20-69 conducted by food manufacturer Kibun Foods, just 54% of respondents had osechi at home, whether homemade or bought, with 46% opting not to serve the traditional meal. It's not so much a question of making or buying—many families are not serving osechi at home at all. These numbers were even higher for respondents in their 30s, with 57% of this group not having osechi.
Even more surprisingly, when asked if they had ever eaten osechi before, 11% of all respondents, and 20% of those in their 20s, said that they had never eaten osechi in their lives. This raises some concern about the future of Japan's traditional culture.
In fact, many Japanese don't particularly like osechi.
おせちあんまり好きじゃないから
新しい正月の食文化考えようぜ日本人
— 吉村 (@a12ysmr) 2017年12月21日
I don't really like osechi…
So come on Japan, let's come up with a new New Year's food culture!
おせち料理なにが好き？ってきかれたからエビフライ……ちゅった（エビフライはおせち料理でないとのことです）
— フニ?（ふに） (@frost_funi) 2017年12月10日
Someone asked me what my favorite osechi ryōri dish was and I replied… Fried prawns (there are no fried prawns in osechi ryōri)
お寿司好きっていつも言ってるし肉も大好きでよく食べるし煮魚も焼き魚も大好きだしサラダも野菜炒めも大好きだし嫌いなものなんておせち料理の黒豆くらいだよ
— すららとほてぷ (@surara2525) 2017年12月10日
I'm always saying how much I like sushi, I love meat too and eat it a lot, I love fish whether boiled or baked, I love salad and stir fries. The only food I can think of that I don't like is the black beans in osechi.
Despite these changes, there are still some very diehard fans:
おせちが大好きすぎて毎年恒例のおせち食べながら箱根駅伝とガキ使の録画その他正月番組を見る だて巻きがいちばん大好き
— るり25日まで (@Excitement_yui) 2017年12月7日
I love osechi so much, it's become a yearly tradition for me to eat osechi while watching Hakone Ekiden and Gaki no Tsukai recordings and other New Year's programs. I love datemaki (伊達巻, rolled omelet with fish paste) the most!
If you're ever invited to spend New Years in a Japanese home, you can impress your hosts with your knowledge of the meanings of the various osechi dishes!

author: Sarah Lee Stones


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An Indigenous Community in Paraguay Faces One of the Biggest Hydroelectric Dams in the World · Global Voices
Fernando Ferreira

The Ava Guarani of the Parana went back to their land which was taken from them by the hydroelectric dam Itaipú who said they would use in its entirety, but in fact, they only used a fraction of the land taken. Photo: Zulema Malky. Used with permission.
This post is a reduced version of the series made by Kurtural and it's re-edited and published by Global Voices with the permission and the participation of its authors. The piece opens the series “Those who are banished don't go to the supermarket”, which will also appear on the Global Voices main site.
Since the construction of the Itaipú hydroelectric dam, the Ava Guarani people of Sauce have been fighting to stay on their ancestral lands. In the 80s, after being promised they could return to the land once the water from the dam receded, the community was sent to live far away from the one water source that has always been essential to their way of life — the Paraná river. In 2015, after years of living far from their home, the community decided to return to the banks of their river, and despite violent evictions from authorities, the Ave Guarani are claiming their right to the land they were forced to leave behind so many years ago.
In 2016, Cristóbal Martínez saw his community being evicted for the second time by the Itaipú dam, one of the biggest hydroelectric dams in the world. The Ava Guarani people of Sauce in the Alto Paraná department of Paraguay (‘sauce’ in Spanish also means willow) is a community with strong spiritual connections to the waters surrounding their land. When the eviction came, Martínez and his people were forced to watch as police set fires to their homes. Hidden with their belongings in the remote corners of their ancestral lands, they saw their tapỹi (their village) reduced to ashes. The situation was not too different from the last eviction which forced them to leave Sauce 30 years before. Only this time, the Ava Guarani wouldn't abandon the shores of the Paraná river they called home.
Men, women, children and the elderly took refuge close to the river in the place that they inhabited until the 80s. For the Guarani peoples, the Yvy Marãe'ỹ (“land without evil”) is a place where they can be happy, a place where water flows abundantly. For the Ava Guarani, that water comes from the Paraná river, the second longest in South America.
On September 30th, 2016, after the attempted eviction, twelve squad cars belonging to the Special Group of Operations branch of the National Police (GEO), the Mounted Police and civil servants from the Paraguayan Indigenous Institute (INDI) arrived in the village to check on the welfare of the Ava Guarani, but the community stayed in hiding.
For Martínez, the leader of this community, distrust of the authorities runs deep. History has taught him that the words of these white people are worthless and lies written on paper are dangerous. On September 13, 2016, Judge Emilio Gómez Barrios signed a court order which was used to evict them. Gómez Barrios ordered the eviction as a result of the demands of Germán Hutz, a powerful soy producer and the brother-in-law of Paraguayan Vice President Juan Afara.
Since 2015, when the community first went back to Sauce, Martínez received several threats and bribery offers. The highest of them of them was for 50,000$ US, a sum offered by Hutz's envoys. Martínez says INDI also offered him money and a piece of land on a marshy patch of land which he refused.
There were many animal rescue operations that took place in the years of the dam's construction, however, there's not a single mention of any rescue for the displaced communities. Photo: Zulema Malky. Used with permission.
The biggest symbol of progress for Alfredo Stroessner's dictatorship was the hydroelectric dam of Itaipú. In April 1973, Stroessner signed the treaty of Itaipú with General Emilio Garrastazú Médici, Brazil's then-president. At the time, the United States’ influence on Latin American military dictatorships meant big loans and Itaipú was no exception. The loans came quickly and the dam was built.
This is how the Paraguayan-Brazilian venture imposed itself as the largest project in the history of both countries.
In total, 38 indigenous communities — 688 families — were displaced from their territories as a result of the expropriation of 165,000 hectares for the construction of the Itaipú dam. A report from the Itaipú itself provides evidence that the Itaipú project did not compensate the Ava Guarani and, despite displacing them from the entirety of their land, only partially used the territory that was once theirs.
There were many animal rescue operations that took place in the years of the dam's construction. However, there is not a single mention of any rescue for the displaced communities nor is there mention of the agreements made with these communities in any reports.
The hardship endured by the Ava Guarani was also left out of the Paraguayan side of the Commission of Truth and Justice report that was created between 2002 and 2008 in an effort to provide justice to the victims of the dictatorship.
The inhabitants of the village didn't forget the promise that was made to them when the dam was being built; their lands would be returned to them. When they heard the rumor of the existence of over 1000 hectares of public land in front of Itaipú's Limoy Reserve, they decided to take a chance and return.
In August 2015, after more than 30 years away, they returned to Sauce. The families rebuilt their houses, their farms, the water wells, the henhouses. A new Sauce was born again and so was the life of the Ava Guarani on their original land.
Decades after being evicted from their lands, the community of Sauce has returned to their land to defend their right to live in harmony with the river. Photo: Zulema Malky, used with permission.
In 2015, the community began talks with the authorities. However, a year after that violent eviction of 2016, the community abandoned the negotiating table because none of the government institutions had kept their promises. They continue to demand that the State fulfill its obligations and provide them with the full recovery of their territories.
The community's survival is the main priority now and it is what keeps its member working those lands. For the Ava Guarani of the Paraná, it's impossible to comply with an agreement that is already broken.

author: Fernando Ferreira


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Thailand’s Military Junta Wants to Promote Nationalism With a Soap Opera Called ‘Love Missions’ · Global Voices
Prachatai

Representatives of RAFC take pictures with the leading actors and actresses at the conference (from Facebook Fanpage: Royal Thai Air Force News)
This edited article by Kittinun Klongyai is from Prachatai, an independent news site in Thailand, and is republished on Global Voices as part of a content-sharing agreement.
Last June, Thai television station Channel Seven — with ample members of the military in attendance — held a press conference announcing a new military-themed series named “Love Missions”. The show marks the military’s most explicit intervention in the country’s soap opera, or lakorn, industry yet.
Capt. Wanchana Sawasdee, a military representative, remarked:
We feel that the stories support nationalism and love for the nation.
But how much fantasy can viewers stomach, as the reality of dictatorial rule grows bleaker by the day?
In Thailand, lakorns have long been employed by juntas to instill within viewers a sense of nationalism and positive feelings towards the military. Few other TV programs outrate soap operas and the influence of lakorns is widespread, with handsome male actors frequently referred to as “national husbands” on social media.
Chanan Yodhong, an academic specialising in Thai pop culture, explains that military-themed lakorns are often the product of a mutually beneficial relationship where the military provides resources (ranging from financial subsidies to real weaponry for props) in return for good publicity. But not all such lakorns represent the junta’s direct intervention, given these incentives for production companies to proactively produce nationalistic dramas.
Still, the marrying of love and tanks has cropped up time and time again in remakes of the military-themed romantic-comedy “Phu Kong Yod Rak”, produced like clockwork in the aftermath of coups. But Chanan points out:
…each remake of Phu Kong was produced under different conditions and political contexts, or hidden agendas.
The junta’s attitudes towards governance have as such inevitably seeped into lakorns screened since the latest coup d'état. In 2014, the National Council for Peace and Order’s (NCPO) suspension of democracy was controversial. The 2015 remake of “Phu Kong Yod Rak” was one attempt to promote extreme right-wing ideals together with a citizen-friendly facade.
The lakorn’s male lead, Pan Namsuphan, is set up as the epitome of masculinity since he signs up for the military instead of getting drafted, easily and humbly follows the commands of his leader, and collaborates with his team to help villagers. Pan is portrayed as friendly, with a provincial accent to induce comfort and laughter from viewers.
Chanan argues such a portrayal reproduces the myth that soldiers are always honorable and have good intentions and promote the idea that:
…far-right ideals of how military power is not only natural but beneficial to the nation.
Descendants of the Sun’s poster (Photo from Twitter)
In 2016 a South Korean military-themed drama, “Descendants of the Sun”, found similar fame in Thailand during a time of political chaos. “What a coincidence!” laughs Chanan. “Though of course, Thailand is chaotic all the time.”
The series follows the relationship between Yoo Si-jin, the captain of a South Korean Special Forces unit, and Dr. Kang Mo-yeon, a young doctor. Even though Yoo Si-Jin is assigned many a dangerous mission, he performs them for the sake of the nation. Eventually, he is sent on a mission in the fictional country of Uruk, where he meets Mo-yeon.
“Descendants of the Sun” won high praise from junta leader Gen. Prayut Chan-o-cha himself who, Chanan argues, leveraged the show to present militarism as a global norm. Prayut once enthused:
I see in this series messages of patriotism, devotion, obedience and the duty to take care of the people. The characters have conflicts, but in the end, they understand each other.
Go watch it again! If anyone wants to produce something like it, I’m happy to subsidise.
Later, Channel Seven bought the series and broadcasted it under the title “Chi Wit Phuea Chat, Rak Ni Phuea Thoe” (Life for the Nation, This Love for You).
Now “Love Missions” (Pha Ra Kit Rak) deals with a political climate where Thai citizens are increasingly demanding elections and democracy. This entertainment endeavor could hint at the junta’s longing for more time in power, Chanan suggests.
“Love Missions” was originally a military-themed romantic novel copyrighted by Channel Seven. It was adapted into a four-part military action-drama that revolves around the stories of four young soldiers committed to crushing international terrorism. The lakorn’s crisis-filled plot conveys the idea that the military is needed to protect citizens from atrocities, just as Prayut has delayed elections under the pretense that the country is not yet ready.
Perhaps more alarming than the political message, however, was the military’s overt role in producing the series. The Royal Thai Army (RTA) along with Royal Thai Police (RTP) provided much of the production’s ensemble, along with military weapons, equipment and settings. It is also unsurprising that Channel Seven is broadcasting the series, given it is partly owned by the RTA.
(above)The military as portrayed in soaps (below) the military in reality
Rather than new and burgeoning social and entertainment platforms, why has the junta invested so steadily in soap operas? One answer could be their genuine popularity among Thai citizens. But Chanan argues military lakorns also reveal the junta’s limitations.
Chanan observes that the military’s propaganda apparatus has developed little since the Cold War. The military’s long use of lakorns as a political instrument reflects obsolete and outdated perspectives on the media, Chanan argues:
It’s of course a matter of the popularity of dramas, but one other thing is that they don’t know how to use any other methods.
Nor does the military always temper right-wing ideology enough to be palatable for mass consumption. Soaps are floating further and further from reality, leaving viewers unable to buy into the fantasy, Chanan says:
The military’s lakorns are not meticulously and professionally produced. It’s like the characters are written to plainly voice the far-right ideals. Who will eat it up?
For Chanan, overt portrayals of extreme militarism in lakorns insult the intelligence of the Thai people:
They’re blinded by their own fantasies to the point that they think the representations they set up in the soaps will surely persuade the people to believe that such perfect, ideal soldiers really exist. It’s delusional to think this is enough to alleviate the people’s sorrow and disappointment with the military in the real world.
The military’s lack of both skills in modern media and an understanding of the Thai people will be its own downfall, Chanan predicts. He says citizens can only digest so much escapism, when faced with the reality of military governance:
If the military keeps deceiving itself into thinking that it can control everyone’s thoughts, reiterating the same myth, practicing the same approaches, as well as rejecting reality and substituting with their fantasy, when will they … truly move the country towards progress?

author: Prachatai


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How Some Musicians Are Reshaping the Image of Chile’s Music Scene · Global Voices
Laura Vidal

Screenshot from the series “LiveYourMusic” made by online Chilean media outlet Pousta in collaboration with the beer brand Heineken. In the shot, electronic musician and producer Valesuchi shows her workplace. Available on Youtube.
The internet has become a way to explore and experience new music from different parts of the world. In Chile, an online series is shedding light on musicians who are proposing new ways to look at the region's music scene.
These new musicians are at the center of the series “Live Your Music” made by the Chilean media outlet Pousta in collaboration with Heineken. Each episode focuses on different musicians as they reflect on the difficulties of making electronic music in Chile, the explosion of online media and images around the genre that need to change.
The first episode, titled “Internet”, collects these testimonies and introduces us to the colorful landscape of the new Chilean electronic music scene. It also exposes us to the difficulties that exist in the music world, such as economic limitations and rapid changes that are taking place in this emerging scene.
According to Leo Prieto:
No es que la tecnología creó un nuevo tipo de artista o de músico, sino que ellos siempre habían estado. La tecnología simplemente era lo que hacía falta para que pudieran llegar a la audiencia que hace rato los estaba esperando.
Technology didn't create this new kind of artist or musician, they've always been there. These technologies were just what was missing so they could reach an audience that had been waiting for them for a while.
“Machines” looks at the different ways that musicians explore their own sound. We learn about the complexities that can be found in different systems of sound and discover that sounds can be mined from many sources — even Game Boys.
According to Vicente Sanfuentes:
Falta reescribir un poco la imagen de lo que es el músico electrónico. Estamos acostumbrados a que el músico electrónico sea hombre, lampiño, tecnológico, medio gringo, con tufo alemán […] No estamos interesados en que la música siempre sea creada por una parte de la sociedad, creemos que la voz artística le pertenece a todos. Creemos que cualquiera en su casa que tenga un computador y que tenga buenas ideas puede hacer esto. […] Es importante que se abra la imagen [de la música electrónica] que se cambie un poco de lugares, también, y que deje de tener ese tufo mecánico clase alta que tiene y que pase a ser vehículo de otras ideas.
We still need to re-create the image of the electronic musician. We're used to electronic musicians being men, hairless, technological, a bit of a white foreigner with a German smell […] We're not interested in music being created by just one part of society, we believe that the artistic voice belongs to everyone. We believe that anyone with a computer and good ideas can do this […] it is important to open the image [of electronic music] and to change places also, so it stops having that hight class smell and starts transmitting other kinds of ideas.
“Stage” explores the shared dimension of music. It sheds light on the experiences coming out of festivals, bars or even illegal parties. Pia Sotomayor underlines the special magic inside electronic parties in Chile:
Nosotros antes de ser productores de música somos fanáticos de la música en un 100%. Lo he dicho mil veces y lo digo muy honestamente, las fiestas en Chile logran un nivel de éxtasis demasiado importante.
Before being music producers, we're 100% music fans. I've said this a thousand times and I say it in full honesty — [electronic] parties in Chile achieve an incredible level of ecstasy.

author: Laura Vidal


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The Chinese Communist Party Forbids Members From Celebrating Christmas, Calling It a Festival of Humiliation · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Anti-Christmas protests in 2014. Image from China state-owned China News.
A number of Chinese Communist Party provincial headquarters have issued notices forbidding their members from celebrating Western festivals. These include Valentine’s Day, Easter, April Fool’s day, Halloween and, most recently, Christmas. In preparation for this holiday season, media outlets have also been instructed not to report any news related to Christmas, a celebration that the party feels is an unwanted reminder of China's historical humiliation by the West.
The movement against Western festivals emerged about a decade ago and was led by a group of contemporary Confucian scholars against a “Western cultural invasion”. Recently, Chinese President Xi Jinping has embraced this idea of a national cultural revival.
In January 2017, the General Office under the CPC Central Committee and the State Council jointly issued a high-level report titled, “Suggestions on the implementation of projects to promote and develop traditional Chinese culture excellence”. The report outlines a cultural revival project that combines Confucian values with the single-party political system which aims to rebuild the Chinese people’s cultural confidence.
This year, the anti-Christmas campaign has been marked by the circulation of an article that recites the history of Western military invasions in China during the First and Second World War, arguing that Christmas is a festival which represents Chinese humiliation.
The article defines the Christmas celebration as a religious practice:
平安夜、圣诞节等，这些带有浓郁宗教色彩的西方节日，因其特殊的文化底蕴和异域风情，加之一些机构和个人的极力推介，越来越受到中国一些年轻人的追捧，商家也借机造势，营造气氛，吸引消费者，洋节的社会影响是越来越大，让许多民族节日相形见拙。
年轻人爱标新立异，追赶时髦，商人在商言商，借洋节赚钱，这都可以理解。但一些党员干部也参与其中，糊里糊涂过洋节，这就是政治修养问题了。
这些影响大的洋节，基本上都有宗教背景，是宗教信仰的一部分。
Christmas Eve and Christmas, along with other western festivals of religious value, have been widely celebrated by Chinese young people for their exotic cultural traits. The phenomena is also thanks to the promotion of some individuals and organizations. The business sector also helps foster the atmosphere to attract consumers. The impact of Western festivals in society is getting stronger and stronger, while national holidays are less visible.
It can be understood that young people love chasing after unconventional and popular cultures and the business sector wants to make money from Western festivals. But for CCP members and officials, they should not follow the trend as the issue is a matter of political belief and practice.
All these Western festivals have religious backgrounds and should be considered to be a part of religious practice.
It also argues that the popularity of Western festivals is a form of cultural invasion that members of the CCP should not be taking part in:
无神论者去过宗教性节日，这是信仰不坚定、思想不清醒的体现了。
另一方面，节日是民族文化的瑰宝，每个民族都有其传承的节日，这是民族凝聚力的维系。
如果一个民族的群体热衷于另一个民族的节日，这说明文化入侵已是极其严重了。党员干部如果认识不到这点，那就是丧失政治敏锐性，也失去了先进性。
If an atheist is celebrating religious festivals, his or her belief is inconsistent.
Moreover, festivals are the embodiment of the value of a national culture. Every nationality has its festival heritage which brings the nation together.
If a nationality is so keen on celebrating other nations’ festivals, the phenomena is indicative of a very serious cultural invasion. If party members and officials are not aware of this, they have lost their political sensitivities and progressiveness.
The article recites the history of the Eight-Nation Alliance to argue that Christmas is a festival of Chinese humiliation. The international military alliance was formed in reaction to the Boxer Movement in China which took place between 1899 and 1900. Supported by the Qing government, the Boxers attacked and killed foreign missionaries, nationals and Chinese Christians across northern China. The conflicts led to the invasion, occupation and looting of Peking in 1900.
除了日本外，其他七国都是信基督教的。[…] 基督教在被侵略时期传入中国的目的就是同化中国人的思想，以便于进行殖民地统治。基督教传入中国的历史上深深的印刻着“耻辱”两个字。圣诞节是基督徒的节日，也是中国人的伤疤，不适合中国人，勿忘国耻！
Apart from Japan, all of the countries have Christianity as their national religion. […] The spread of Christianity in China during war times is imprinted with the word “humiliation”. Christmas is a festival celebrated by Christians and, is hence, a wound of Chinese people. It is not suitable for the Chinese. We should not forget the shameful history of our country.
Many party members said that they have received notification from CCP branches in universities or state corporations, informing them that they should not take part in Christmas celebrations. On Twitter, @szshu shared the news about CCP’s Western festival ban:
安徽共青团17日则在微信公众号上说，圣诞节应被看作中国的耻辱节，因为中国过去受到西方列强侵略。一些地方当局禁止中共党员庆祝这个「西洋节」。在湖南衡阳，中共纪检部门严禁党员干部参加平安夜圣诞节聚会狂欢，他们的直系亲属也在被禁范围内。
— 圳叔? (@szshu) December 22, 2017
The Communist Youth League (CYL) in Anhui wrote on Weibo on 17 of December that Christmas should be regarded as a festival of Chinese humiliation because of the history of Western invasion. A number of authorities have banned CCP members from celebrating Western festivals. In Hengyang of Hunan, the disciplinary department of the CCP has banned members and officials, as well as their family members, from attending Christmas parties.
Local media outlets have also received censorship instruction. According to China Digital Times， the directive issued last week stated:
Media must not report news related to Christmas. New media platforms of all levels, do not forward posts related to the “foreign holiday” topic. (December 22, 2017)
On Weibo, one of China's most popular social media platforms, some agreed with the CCP’s Christmas ban:
因为苏东剧变以来的这三十多年，以美国为首的西方国家在意识形态领域对中国实行和平演变，温水煮青蛙！而这30年来中国的意识形态阵地几乎是主动弃守的！看今天洋奴遍地就知道了！所以这是一种逼不得已的绝地自卫行为！是迫在眉睫的无硝烟的文化战争！
For three decades since the drastic transformation in USSR and eastern Europe, Western ideology headed by the U.S has been advocating for peaceful transformation in China, like boiling a frog in warm water. China has lost its ideological battlefield for three decades. Just look around, there are so many Western slaves. This is a desperate defensive act, a cultural battle without gunfire.
However, others mocked the ban:
弘扬传统节日的手段就是禁止过其他节日，哇，我是不是要夸你很棒棒啊？
So the means to promote traditional festival is to ban other festivals. Wow, should I praise you for being so smart?
马克思可是纯洋货，还要不要信？
Karl Marx is a pure foreigner, should we believe him?
过洋节就是忘祖？是我们祖先不自信还是存在感低？公历纪年是以耶稣诞生为公元元年，我们也不要用了，用农历吧。
We forget our ancestors because we celebrate Western festivals? Our ancestors do not have enough confidence or have they lost their sense of existence? anno Domini (AD) means “in the year of the Lord”, we should not use that anymore and use the lunar new year instead.
我过中国特色社会主义圣诞节还不行？
Can’t I celebrate Christmas with Chinese socialist characteristics?
我是党员，我女朋友不是。她要我和她过，怎么办？
I am a party member, but my girlfriend is not. She wants to spend Christmas with me, what should I do?


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Two Salvadoran Theater Productions Explore Themes of Violence and Forced Disappearances · Global Voices
Laura Vidal

Detail from the theater piece poster of “Los Ausentes” (The missing ones). Image for public promotion widely spread on social media. Taken from the Ministry of Culture Twitter account.
In recent times, El Salvador has been marked by increasingly high rates of violence. In addition to gang activity and the harsh measures employed by the police force, the country is also plagued by the growing disappearance of victims and the painful reality of mothers looking for their children's bodies.
These stories of the disappeared are at the center of two new Salvadoran theater productions which aim to place the victims and their families at the center of the narrative, calling on the public to think about the expansion of violence in El Salvador.
For many families, losing touch with a loved one — even if only for a couple days — brings the silent certainty of death. However, in many of these cases, there are neither corpses nor investigations that help provide clues about what happened. These forced disappearances leave families — particularly those from the most vulnerable communities — with open wounds. In most cases, they are also left without any kind of protection from the State.
To find peace and to bury their children, these mothers search endlessly for the remains of their loved ones, even when their search is full of loose ends and unanswered questions. These are the stories that are often left untold in discussions about the violence afflicting El Salvador.
“Los Ausentes” (the missing ones), a new play by Alejandra Nolasco, was born out of this silence. It was inspired by photographer Fred Ramos’ photo essay which details pieces of clothing that were last worn by victims of violence. For Nolasco, Ramos’ work was a calling to take action and led her to write a play centered around the character of Milagro, a mother looking for the remains of her son who was killed by a gang.
No quiero ver para otro lado. Quiero ver esto que pasa. Me conmueve y me destroza que haya tantas madres en el mismo país en el que yo vivo buscando huesos, aunque sea huesos, para enterrarlos. No tengo idea de lo que es eso, no soy madre ni he buscado a nadie de esa manera. […Pero] me planteo la pregunta, si perdiera a lo más querido ¿hasta dónde estaría yo dispuesta a llegar? Y esa es la pregunta que quisiera que también se planteara el público, para que pudiéramos ponernos un poco en los zapatos de otros que por tener menos que nosotros siempre están más jodidos en este pedazo tan pequeño de país en el que vivimos todos.
I don't want to look away. I want to look at what's going on. I'm moved and heartbroken by the fact that so many mothers in my country are looking for bones so they can bury them — even if that's all they find. I have no idea what that must feel like. I'm not a mother and I've never had to look for someone that way. [But] I ask myself the question, If I lost the most beloved thing in my life, what would be my limit? That's also the question I wish the public could ask themselves, so we can put ourselves a bit on other people's shoes. Other people that, for having less than we have, are always screwed in this small piece of a country in which we all live.
For authors like Carlos Dada, “Los Ausentes” is proof that Salvadoran theater is going through a transformation. According to Dada, who wrote about Nolasco's play on elfaro.net, Salvadoran theater continues to weave together different stories of violence from the country's recent history. This history is a continuation of social ruptures with roots that go deeper than many people suspect, bringing about cycles that tend to repeat themselves.
Si el teatro aspira a ser espejo, Los Ausentes es un espejo terrible. Uno que parecerá, a los ojos de los espectadores del Teatro Luis Poma, cóncavo para devolver una imagen grotesca del país que habitamos. […] Hace un cuarto de siglo el Teatro Nacional quedaba marcado por el primer gran estreno de la posguerra: San Salvador Después del Eclipse, de Carlos Velis […] Hoy, después del desencanto, la incertidumbre y el fracaso, el teatro vuelve a ser escenario de representación de nuestros dramas. Son las mismas madres que buscan a sus hijos desaparecidos. La misma sociedad enferma. El tejido roto. El texto roto.
If theater aims to be a mirror, “Los Ausentes” is a horrifying one. One that will project a grotesque image of the country we all inhabit to those in the Luis Poma Theater. […] A quarter of a century ago, the National Theater was marked by the great premiere of the post-war years, Carlos Velis’ “San Salvador after the eclipse” […] Today, after the disappointment, the uncertainty and the failure, the stage is, once more, the space where our dramas are represented. These are the same mothers looking for their disappeared children. The same sick society. The same shredded fabric. The broken text.
For the Moby Dick company, the aim of their production, “Bandada de Pájaros” (Flock of Birds), is to build a bridge between recent history and current events. The piece centers around the possible destiny of the disappeared during the Salvadoran Civil War, a conflict which officially took place between 1980 and 1992.
75,000 people are thought to have died during the conflict — many of them civilians. In addition to the stark death toll, The Commission of Truth documented around 5,000 forced disappearances. For many, very little has been done to look for those who have vanished. At the same time, many of those that perpetrated crimes have been protected by the Amnesty Law that came with the Peace Agreements of 1992; agreements that left a lot of questions and no answers for the victims.
The main characters of “Bandada de Pájaros” are the Márquez sisters, who have been disappeared during the war for not accepting the advances of a soldier. The sisters emerge from the earth amongst the dead leaves, existing in a space between life and death. Through their dialogue, the audience discovers different horror stories from the conflict.
For the actors of “Bandada de Pájaros”, the play is a discussion about the past and also a reflection of the present. It is about bringing back taboo subjects that are relevant to the violence that exists in the country today. Actress Dinora Cañéguez sees the play as a means to rescue the memories of the war. She also sees it as a way to understand the present:
“We talk about the martyrs of the war. And not only those of the war, but also [the martyrs] of today's [violence] as well…”
In an artcile published also in El Faro, journalist María Luz Noches sheds light on the symbols inside the play. The beginning and the end are seen in imaginary rivers and also subtle references to other pieces of art. One of those pieces is Carlos Cañas’ renowned painting “Sumpul”, which took the name of the river where one of the most serious crimes against humanity took place during the war.
Bandada de pájaros está lleno de simbolismos: un terreno raso y desabrigado cubierto de ramas secas es el punto de encuentro de Susana y Engracia, desierto; un río imaginado a la orilla del cual se preguntan si ahí comienza la vida; una pila de ropa mugre, lúgubre, reminiscente al Sumpul de Carlos Cañas, en donde la sangre se convierte en flor.
“La vida era aprender a morir”, recita Ríos [una de las actrices] citando a Roque Dalton. Y desde el escenario a la butaca, a uno se le muere algo por dentro.
Bandada de Pájaros is full of symbolism; an abandoned flat field covered with dry branches is the place of encounter for Susana and Engracia [the sister characters of the play], a deserted environment, an imagined river that makes them wonder if it's indeed the beginning of life. A pile of filthy clothes, a gloomy atmosphere reminiscent of Carlos Cañas’ “Sumpul” where blood becomes flowers.
“Life back then was learning how to die”, says Ríos [one of the actresses] quoting [Salvadorian poet] Roque Dalton's words. And watching the stage from the seat, we feel something dying inside ourselves.