text:
35 Million Escape Poverty – But Can Brazil Overcome Inequality? · Global Voices
Rami Alhames

It seems that the United Nations campaign to end poverty by 2015 is just another challenge to be accomplished by many countries around the globe, although a few countries are closer to their targets than others.
Brazil, the largest country in South America and home of 194 million people, has captured the attention of the world for its achievement: 35 million Brazilians have escaped poverty over the last decade thanks to its fast growing economy which has consequently enhanced the middle class in Brazil.
Economy Watch wrote:
At least 53 percent of Brazil’s population – 104 million Brazilians – are now part of the nation’s middle class, compared to just 38 percent ten years ago, said an official study by the government on Thursday […..] “If Brazil's middle class formed a country, it would be the 12th largest, behind Mexico,”
Favelas, or metropolitan slum. Source: blog Formae Mentis NGO
But Christian Aid has raised questions about the government's effort to overcome poverty in the 2012 report ‘The Real Brazil: The Inequality Behind Statistics’ [pdf] it examines:
the impact of various anti-poverty measures introduced by the two Lula governments, especially the Bolsa Família grants, the land settlement programme for small farmers, and the earlier rural pension, and finds that they have had little effect on inequality. This is because what really makes a difference to the income of poor people is their wages and, while the Lula government's successive increases in the minimum wage have been important in reducing poverty, they have not narrowed the gap between the top earners and the lower earners.
The Bolsa Familia formerly known as Bolsa Escola was founded in 1995 by Senator Cristovam Buarque when he was the governor of Brasilia. It transformed later to a national program by the Lula da Silva’s administration in 2003-2011.
Brazil poverty figures
Robson Leite, a Member of Parliament from the state of Rio de Janeiro, wrote on his blog [pt] that Brazil has reached the goal of poverty reduction established for 25 years:
De acordo com a 16ª edição do relatório do Ministério da Fazenda, “Economia Brasileira em Perspectiva”, divulgada no final de agosto, a queda da taxa de pobreza vai atingir 70% em meados de 2014, seja pela ação dos programas sociais inclusivos, seja pelo crescimento de oportunidades no mercado de trabalho para jovens.
According to the 16th edition of the report by Finance Ministry, “Brazilian Economy in Perspective”, released in late August, the decline in the poverty rate will reach 70% in mid-2014, either from the action of inclusive social programs, and from increasing opportunities for young people in the labor market.
Proportion of the poor in percent. Source: Robson Leite Blog
While the above mentioned report warns:
The greater the regional and local inequality, the lower the possibility of escaping inequality through traditional mechanisms – income transfer and generation of formal employment.
Poverty and inequality. Source: OCED, Filips pagnoli blog
The causes of poverty
Among a long list of articles and cartoons, Filip Spagnoli defined on his blog P.a.p.-Blog, Human Rights Etc. a series of causes for poverty, such as foreign debt, globalization, lack of economic freedom, lack of economic growth, education, overpopulation, family structure, slavery, and overpopulation:
if we want to reduce the number of poor people we have to know what makes them poor in the first place.
On his last article about rising food prices he gets more in depth and says:
…..Poor people do indeed spend a large proportion of their income on food, which means that increases in prices have a direct effect on their financial situation and can even cause hunger. On the other hand, many poor people make their living in agriculture. Higher prices can mean higher incomes for them. The poor are, however, increasingly urban poor, and for them higher food prices are entirely bad news. So it’s not crazy to blame poverty on rising food prices. According to the World Bank, food prices have pushed 44 million people into poverty in 2010-11.
Child labour in Brazil. Source UN website
Still Brazil is a nation that has a long history with poverty, and which in 2012 has forced nearly 1.4 million children to work, according to official figures released on the World Day Against Child Labor [pdf], June 12.
Child labour in Brazil is a phenomenon of an eminently rural nature. According to the study, the majority of those children work in rural areas, where poverty prevails and schools are few and far between.
It counts 304,415 children between 5-10 years (9.9%) and 755,973 children between 11-14 years (36.6%); while overall, there are some of 1.4 million Brazilian children ranging in age from 5 to 14 in the labour market.
In the case of children aged 11 to 14 years who live in families headed by women
without the presence of a husband, around 12.2 per cent work or are seeking employment. On the other hand, almost 15 per cent of children who live with couples are in the labour market.
While there is ongoing debate over the government effort to overcome poverty in the country, new measures for reducing poverty keep being implemented, such as the Dom Távora and Paulo Freire Projects worth US$56 million in funding by the UN's International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).
The projects “are named after famous Brazilian educators and advocates for the poor, and look at knowledge as the central tool to overcoming poverty”.

author: Rami Alhames


text:
Armenia: Government Pressure on NGO · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

The Washington Post blog features an entry by David Ignatius detailing pressure on an Armenian NGO particularly active online. Founded by former Foreign Minister of Armenia Vartan Oskanian, government pressure on Civilitas is believed linked to his involvement with a former party of power now actively challenging the incumbent president and his ruling Republican Party.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Onnik Krikorian


text:
Azerbaijan: Youth Activist Believed Arrested · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Emin Milli's Blog comments on the apparent disappearance of a youth activist in Azerbaijan. The blog says it believes Zaur Gurbanly's believed arrest was because of anti-presidential leaflets that were also confiscated.


text:
India: Build Your Own Map to Improve Your City · Global Voices
Rezwan

Transparent Chennai is a platform for citizen engagement which invites users, both individuals and groups, to create and submit their own data about the Indian city of Chennai. The aim is to help them counter inaccurate or incomplete government data with these updated and crowdsourced ones, and make better claims on the government for their rights and entitlements.
Last year, with the help of a Rising Voices Microgrant Transparent Chennai has added new elements to their existing work by focusing on directly engaging two fishing villages in South Chennai named Urur & Olcott. In their project blog at Rising Voices project blog the steps are described:
How some google image printouts looked after it had been drawn over. Image courtesy Transparent Chennai.
1. Getting the proposal signed and approved by Panchayats (local self-governments).
2. Google Maps images of the coastline were printed out on A1 paper for the participants to understand what was there.
3. Using coded symbols (keys) they drew over the Google Maps images.
4. The Transparent Chennai team prepared rough maps based on these images.
5. The draft maps were presented in a public meeting for feedback.
Based on the feedback the final map was drawn.
The question that was asked was what would you like on your map? Image courtesy Transparent Chennai.
In the Transparent Chennai portal, using a configurable tool you can now build your own map of Chennai with layers ranging from flyovers and special road projects, census data by Ward, slum information from the Slum Clearance Board and location of public toilets. Lucy Chambers of Open Knowledge Foundation India writes:
In Chennai, we took part in Transparent Chennai’s Open Data Camp, organised by Nithya Raman, Srinidhi SampathKumar and team. Transparent Chennai aggregates, creates and disseminates data and research about civic issues in Chennai, including those issues that particularly affect the poor and the marginalised. Transparent Chennai’s work is unique because they actually create maps and data to help people to understand the issues facing city residents. Using their Build a Map tool, users can also select layers of features to create their own interactive city map. The team are doing some fantastic work, and are actively seeking ways to openly license the data they collect.
Some of the notable works of this project include a heritage mapping session in Chennai. Suraj Nair writes in the Transparent Chennai blog:
On Saturday (May 12, 2012), a group of students from IIT Madras and Stella Maris college, summer interns with Transparent Chennai, set out for a heritage mapping session. By visualising data and information that is otherwise found in voluminous reports, Transparent Chennai advocates for better planning and conservation of the city’s heritage and we were excited to be a part of this. We set out early on Saturday with lists of heritage buildings, their sketchy descriptions, GPS devices and cameras. Our aim was to find some of the lesser known sites hidden in the nooks and corners of the city. [..]
On the whole, it was a thoroughly satisfying day, having seen a rarely known side of Chennai. Over the next couple of weekends we will walk down other streets of Chennai, looking for lesser known buildings that were witness to many events and hosted important personalities, and possibly hearing stories of love, tragedy, deaths, births, marriages, political alliances. After all, what is a city without its people and how can we do our bit to preserve this city’s rich cultural and built heritage.
Nithya V. Raman writes that the most common problem with city data is that they are often wrong. Nithya shows the uneven distribution of sidewalks in Chennai city. Priti Narayan shows how data fom Google earth can help in determining where foot overbridges are required for safe pedestrian crossing.
The project's current challenge is in ensuring that the research and data reaches those people who can use it, including citizens advocating for change, policymakers and elected legislators, the general public, and the media.
You can follow the project on its Twitter and Facebook Page.

author: Rezwan


text:
Nepal: Another Plane Crash Dips Optimism · Global Voices
Rezwan

Lex Limbu used to share his optimism and hope for the domestic airlines industry of Nepal. But the recent Sita Air crash, and the death of 19 people on board, puts all optimism in despair.


text:
Nepal: New Media Gufa – A New Experiment · Global Voices
Rezwan

Blogdai reports:
Dharma Adhikari's Media Foundation held a “New Media Gufa”  or “cave” where 5 of Nepal's top tech-savvy journalists chained themselves to their computers for three days in a heroic attempt to determine the extent of internet penetration in Nepal and to see if Nepali stories could be accurately told and sourced through the conveniences and limitations of the internet alone.


text:
Portugal: Unionists Take to the Streets in Protest · Global Voices
Sara Moreira

Following the biggest popular protest of the last decades in Portugal, on September 15, 2012, every week people have been taking to the streets. More demonstrations were called for September 29, “against the theft of wages, pensions and retirements” by the union confederation CGTP. On Twitter hashtags #29s, #29sPT – and still #QueSeLixeaTroika (ScrewTroika) – are being used.

author: Sara Moreira


text:
Russia: Nation’s Top Blogger Headed to Prison? · Global Voices
Kevin Rothrock

The criminal investigation targeting Russia's most prominent oppositionist blogger, Alexey Navalny, is heating up. Viacheslav Opalev, the former director of a logging firm in Kirov, has confessed [ru] to participating in the embezzlement of 16 million rubles (over half a million U.S. dollars), and named Navalny as the scheme's mastermind. Navalny's lawyer, Vadim Kobzev, says [ru] the process against his client and the guilty verdict to follow are now a mere formality. Writing on his LiveJournal blog [ru], Novaya Gazeta reporter Irek Murtazin is calling on Russians to fill the streets to protest the persecution of Navalny, who has maintained his innocence since the criminal allegations first arose.

author: Kevin Rothrock


text:
Russia: Ridiculing the Winter Olympics Slogan · Global Voices
Andrey Tselikov

The just-announced slogan of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics (“Hot. Cool. Yours.”) has spurred a brief episode of merrymaking on the RuNet. At first that may seem surprising — while the English version of the slogan may sound slightly confusing and a bit corny, it isn't particularly rich fodder for jokes or double entendres.
The Russian version is a different story. In Russian, the slogan reads “Жаркие. Зимние. Твои.” or literally “Hot. Wintry. Yours.” There are several issues here on which online jokesters picked up.First, the adjective “wintry” in everyday speech is generally used in reference to clothes. One of the first jokes about this appeared on Lenta.ru’s official Twitter feed [ru]:
Жаркие. Зимние. Твои. Варежки.
Hot. Wintry. Yours. Mittens.
Other bloggers soon repeated joke, with different warm winter necessities, such as valenki [ru], central heating [ru], and woolen socks [ru].
Screenshot from official Sochi 2014 website. 29 September 2012.
The Russian version of the slogan is plural, which in combination with with “жаркие,” makes people think of the words “passionate,” “fervent,” and “sultry,” rather than simply temperature. This has understandably led to ribald Twitter jokes, where many compared the slogan with with prostitution advertisements. For example, user MereRanna tweeted [ru]:
имхо: больше похоже на рекламу борделя
imho [in my humble opinion]: sounds more like an ad for a bordello
User RamzilSultanov agreed [ru]:
Говорят, девизом Олимпиады в Сочи сперва выбрали: “Зима с блекджеком и шлюхами!”,но в последний момент сменили на “Жаркие.Зимние.Твои”
They say that the Sochi Olympic slogan was originally “Winter with blackjack and whores!”, but at the last moment they changed it to “Hot. Wintry. Yours.”
Also alluding to ads for escort services, Journalist Andrey Kozenko tweeted [ru]:
Под слоганом Олимпиады “Жаркие. Зимние. Твои” не хватает номера телефона и подписи “Выезд. Апартаменты”
The Olympic slogan “Hot. Wintry. Yours” is missing a phone number and a line that says “Private residences. Apartments.”
In a similar key, user NuLool tweeted [ru]:
молодая и упругая. А еще жаркая, зимняя и твоя.
young and supple. Also hot, wintry, and yours.
User kernhohol had a similar idea, tweeting [ru]:
Мне кажется, или тут нехватает слова “Сиськи”?
Is it just me, or is this lacking the word “Boobs”?
Finally, in Russian the word “твои” is much more possessive than “yours” is in English. This connotation seems to have combined with the widely held opinion on the RuNet that the funds for the Sochi games are being embezzled, and gave birth to the following parody one-liners:
Andrey Koniaev [ru]:
[…] Пилим. Тратим. Будет пати
[…] Embezzling. Spending. There’ll be a party
Pavel Ageev [ru]:
ТВОИ налоги потрачены на ЖАРКИЕ ЗИМНИЕ каникулы чиновников.
YOUR taxes were spent on HOT WINTER holidays for bureaucrats
kofadeev [ru]:
Жаркие, зимние, на твои кровные. (с)Сочи-2014
Hot, wintry, on your dime. (c)Sochi-2014
and finally [ru]:
Сочи-2014. Хрустящие. Откатные. Не ваши.
Sochi-2014. Crisp. Embezzled. Not yours.
The evolution of Zoich. Screen shot from YouTube, 8 November 2010. Video by egorzhgun.
It’s unclear what exactly the Sochi 2012 Organizational Committee expected when it revealed the games’ slogan, but if it was attention it wanted, they’ve certainly got it. This wouldn’t be the first time the Committee used online viral marketing tactics to drum up interest.
Last year, Global Voices reported on an especially hilarious entry into the competition to select the Sochi Olympics's mascot -– the hairy winter toad named Zoich [ru]. It later turned out [ru] that Zoich was commissioned by the Committee from a caricature artist, in order to get the RuNet talking. (In this light, the venture was a PR triumph, of course.) If this is the goal today, success is once again within reach.

author: Andrey Tselikov


text:
Sri Lanka: The Rights Of The Homosexuals · Global Voices
Rezwan

Indi.ca comments on the rights of the homosexuals:
Sri Lanka and India, despite our pre-colonial religious and social accommodation of differing sexuality, have remained Victorian in attitude long after the colonial powers have changed. In terms of gay rights, we really need to catch up, and be more honest to ourselves and each other.


text:
Ukraine: Protesting the Controversial Defamation Bill · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

A draft law [uk] that calls for penalties of up to five years in jail for defamation passed a first reading in the Ukrainian Parliament on Sep. 18, with 244 MPs from the ruling Party of Regions and their allies voting in its favor.
Ukrainian citizens and media outlets launched an online campaign against the adoption of the bill, forcing its author, MP Vitaly Zhuravsky, to submit a request to recall the law on Sep. 25 [uk].
Below are excerpts from the July 31 Reporters Without Borders’ appeal to the Ukrainian Parliament regarding plans to “recriminalize defamation” in Ukraine:
[…] It is more than 10 years since the Ukrainian Parliament decriminalized defamation. When it adopted its new criminal code in January 2001, Ukraine took an encouraging first step towards greater protection for freedom of expression, which is indispensible for democratic debate.
Draft law 11013, presented by Vitaly Zhuravskiy, a member of the Party of Regions, and aiming to recriminalize defamation, is a dangerous backward step. We believe its adoption would be a serious blow to freedom of the press.
[…]
The lack of clarity surrounding the definition of defamation, which the bill describes as “disseminating false information, insulting the honour and dignity of a person or damaging his or her reputation”, arouses fears of abuse resulting from varying interpretations.
Criminal proceedings could be taken against journalists for publishing articles on the activities of politicians or influential businessmen. Where journalists face imprisonment for publishing investigative stories, this puts the very operation of an independent media under threat.
[…]
Mr. Zhuravskiy says he took his inspiration for drafting the bill from neighbouring Russia, which approved a law on 13 July recriminalizing defamation. We should like to remind members of Parliament that this was condemned by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and that it seriously damaged that country’s international reputation.
Reporters Without Borders urges you to abandon this bill, which appears to us to be repressive, punitive and counter-productive. […]
And here is an explanation of why the bill should not be adopted, published [uk] in the “Say ‘No’ to Defamation Law” Facebook group (7,334 members):
[…] Ukrainian journalists believe that this law would be used selectively against those who are publishing critical stories targeting the regime. It would eliminate the freedom of speech in Ukraine, as many journalists would be forced to stop criticizing the regime in any way that might later be deemed defamatory.
This law concerns not only the journalists but all citizens – because any public statement or commentary published in the mass media might be counted  as defamation if a court rules it damaging to a person's honor and dignity. Taking into account the state of the judicial system in Ukraine, this law presents a significant threat to the civil society as a whole. Say no to the defamation law!
On Sep. 25, many Ukrainian news websites placed this banner in order to draw attention to the defamation bill and the ongoing protest against it:
“Defend your right to know. Say ‘no’ to the defamation law.”
The banner linked [ru, uk] to a page with work email addresses and phone numbers [uk] of the MPs who had voted in favor of the defamation law; netizens were urged to contact these MPs and ask them to explain their decision to vote for the adoption of the controversial bill.
On Facebook, journalist Mustafa Nayyem wrote this [ru] about the effect that the “banner protest” had on the Ukrainian lawmakers – and made a mock proposal on how to keep them within legal boundaries in the future:
[MP] Vitaly Zhuravsky recalled the defamation bill after the very first day of the banner protest… Listen, maybe next time we shouldn't waste our time on trifles – let's make a truly large banner and put the texts of the Constitution, the Ten Commandments and the Convention on Human Rights on it?
It appears that the defamation bill isn't history yet, however.
Natalka Zubar, executive editor of Maidan.org.ua, wrote this [en] in the “Say ‘No’ to Defamation Law” Facebook group:
According to Ukrainian law bills cannot be recalled by the author. Parliament should vote to reject the bill.
Facebook user Yuriy Loginov added [en]:
lets hope Rada votes to reject the bill… it is interesting that the recall came right before [President Victor Yanukovych] visit to the US, it seems that the current administration is just trying to score points with the US
In response to “numerous messages” that were sent to politicians as part of the “banner protest,” Oleksiy Kunchenko, one of the Party of Regions’ MPs, quoted the defamation bill's author on his Facebook page [ru]; among other things, MP Zhuravsky mentioned the upcoming parliamentary vote as the reason to reverse his position:
[…] “Having considered [the current situation] and acting in the interest of the state, I have decided to recall my draft law. I understand that on the eve of the [Oct. 28 parliamentary election] any initiative is perceived with suspicion and distrust” […].
Serhiy Petrov, member of the Board at Wikimedia Ukraine, wrote this [uk] in the “Say ‘No’ to Defamation Law” Facebook group:
The defamation law “will definitely be adopted after the election.” This is yet another confirmation that the [protest] action has to go on until the Parliament has rejected this draft law.
If they try to push it through once again, alarms should be sounded right away and banners should return. One option is to announce a blackout before and on the day of the vote. Of course, this would mean the loss of money [for the media], but it looks like there's no other way out… By the way, […] various language segments of Wikipedia resorted to such measures on three occasions…
And so the protest against the defamation bill continues.
A rally is scheduled to take place in Kyiv on Monday, Oct. 1, at 10 AM. The newest rendition of the black-and-white banner that many Ukrainian websites are carrying now (e.g., here and here) urges citizens to gather in front of the Parliament with white (blank) posters, to “defend their right to know”:

author: Veronica Khokhlova


text:
Bangladesh: Attacks on Indigenous Unsettle Chittagong Peace · Global Voices
Rezwan

This post is part of our special coverage Indigenous Rights.
A series of attacks on indigenous people have unsettled the peace in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh. Tensions were running high last week as attacks on indigenous people in Rangamati and resistance against them, resulted in 40 indigenous students, 1 government teacher, 12 Union Parishad Chairmen and 5 Bengali students being injured.
Joy writes at Muktomona blog [bn]:
বাংলাদেশের সবচেয়ে প্রাকৃতিক সৌন্দর্য্যর শহর রাঙামাটিতে বসবাসরত পাহাড়ীদের ওপর পূর্ব-পরিকল্পিতভাবে হামলা চালানো হয় । গত সেপ্টেম্বারের ২২ তারিখ হতে পাহাড়ীরা নিদ্রাহীন রাত অতিবাহিত করছে । চলছে মনভারী করার মতো মারো- ধরো, সেটেলারদের উল্লাস । চারদিকে সাম্প্রদায়িক উত্তেজনায় আকাশ অনেক ভারী । প্রশাসনের ১৪৪ ধারা বলবৎ থাকাস্বত্তেও গত ২৩ তারিখের রাতে সেটেলারের উগ্রপন্থীরা পৃথক পৃথকভাবে ট্রাইবেল আদাম, রাজমনি পাড়া এবং ভেদভেদিতে আক্রমন চালানোর চেষ্টা করে ।
The people of the hills of Rangamati, the most scenic city of Bangladesh, were attacked pre-determinedly by the Bengali settlers. Since the September 22 they have been experiencing sleepless nights. People can see the rage of the settlers which clouds the mind. The sky is filled with communal tensions. Although there were restrictions on movements (Section 144) the Bengali settler goons tried to attack indigenous settlements at Adam, Rajmani Para and Vedvedi.
Indigenous students hold placards at a protest rally in Dhaka against the attack on the indigenous people in Rangamati. Image by Firoz Ahmed. Copyright Demotix (24/9/2012)
Sonayon Chakma [bn] comments on the post:
যারা দূর থেকে পার্বত্য চট্টগ্রামে কোন জাতিগত সমস্যা হলে বলে “শান্তিপূর্ণ সহাবস্থান” দরকার তাদের কাছে আমার একটাই প্রশ্ন আপনার জায়গা জমি কেউ জোড় করে বেদখল করার পর তার সাথে কি আপনারা শান্তিপূর্ণ সহাবস্থান করতে পারবেন?
Those who from a distance would like to assert after such clashes that a “peacefull co-existence” is required, I only have a question to them, if your own land was taken by someone else, could you still maintain a “peaceful co-existence”?
Tandra Chakma [bn] complains at Indigenous Bangla Blog:
পুরো ঘটনাতে প্রশাসন সেই আগের মতই সেটেলারদের পক্ষ নিল। কেন এমন হবে? তারা কেন একটু ও বিশ্বাস স্থাপন করার চেষ্টা করলো না যে, তারা কারও পক্ষ নেবে না, কঠোর হাতে তারা দুষ্টের দমন করবে!!
In the whole incident, the local administration has taken the side of the settlers. But why should it be like this? Why they could not be neutral, a tamer of the demons and build trust with the indigenous people?
CHT News Update (WARNING: Graphic images) posts pictures of the incidents. Alal O Dulal blog has compiled some news reports.
Last Saturday (September 29, 2012) a mob had torched and vandalised the Buddhist village in Ramu, Cox's Bazar, which appeared to have been triggered by a Facebook post allegedly defaming the Quran. Reports say that 7 Buddhist temples and around 30 houses and shops were torched in the attacks that started at night and lasted until early morning of the next day. More than 100 houses and shops were also attacked, vandalised and looted. Images of vandalized idols and burning temples angered many, including bloggers.
Alal O Dulal blog cries in shame:
Is this the Bangladesh we wanted? This is what people died for in 1971? To watch Buddhist temples burn to the ground in “shadhin” (independent) Bangladesh…
Blogger Proloy Hasan [bn] states in a Facebook post:
এটা বিছিন্ন কোন ঘটনা নয় বরং একটা ধারাবাহিক সিরিজ তান্ডব বলা যেতে পারে। [..] বাংলাদেশে এ পর্যন্ত যতবার সাম্প্রদায়িক হামলা হয়েছে, বরাবরই তা ছিলো রাজনৈতিক উদ্দেশ্যমূলক এবং সংশ্লিষ্ট ধর্মাবলম্বীদের জন্য উস্কানীমূলক। মানে হলো, ধর্মকে ইস্যু হিসেবে দেখানো হলেও [মাঝে মাঝে এ ইস্যুগুলোও হয় অত্যন্ত ঠুনকো। যেমন: এবার দেখানো হলো ফেসবুকে এক যুবক কোরআন অবমাননা করেছে তাই হামলা হয়েছে। কিছুদিন আগে ইউটিউব যেহেতু একই ধরনের কারনে বন্ধ হয়েছে, সেহেতু এটা একটা কার্যকরী ইস্যু বটে!] সাম্প্রদায়িক দাঙ্গা কখনই স্রেফ ধর্মের কারনে হয়নি। অথচ কিছু নির্বোধ দুনিয়ার তাবত সাম্প্রদায়িক দাঙ্গার জন্য ধর্ম, বিশেষ করে ইসলাম ধর্মকে দায়ী করে।
This is not an isolated incident but a series of rages. [..] In all the instances of communal attacks inside Bangladesh, they were politically motivated and provocative to the other religion. That means, although the issue is cited as religious (sometimes these issues are very light. Like this time it was shown that an young man desecrated the Quran. As YouTube was banned for a similar reason, this was something to work on) communal attacks never happen on religious grounds. But some stupid people point at the religion Islam as the main culprit behind all communal attacks.
The blogger suggests that when the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, in a statement at the United Nations, indicated that the opposition was behind the communal attacks during their 2001-06 tenure, this was a revenge move. As the UN Secretary General is a Buddhist, this attack really rattled many people:
অনেকেই হয়তো জানেন, জাতিসংঘের বর্তমান মহাসচিব বান কি মুন ব্যক্তিগতভাবে একজন কট্টর বৌদ্ধিস্ট। তাছাড়া তার জন্মভূমি কোরিয়ার জাতীয় ধর্মও তাই। [..]
সাম্প্রদায়িক দাঙ্গার খবর আমাদের মিডিয়া যতটা না প্রচার করে, বিশ্বমিডিয়ায় তা প্রচারিত হয় শতগুন বেশী।
I think many of you know that the current Secretary General of the UN, Mr. Ban Ki Moon is a Buddhist practitioner. The national religion of his motherland Korea is also Buddhism. [..]
The news of the communal attacks are more spread in international media than local media.
People from the Buddhist community take part at the protest rally in front of the National Press Club in the capital Dhaka. Image by Firoz Ahmed. Copyright Demotix (30/9/2012)
Blogger and writer Arif Jebtik [bn] mentions in Facebook:
গত কয়েকমাসে উপর্যুপরি কয়েকটি ঘটনা বিশ্লেষণ করলে দেখা যাবে, এসব হামলার কিছু নির্দিষ্ট প্যাটার্ণ আছে। যেসব স্থানে সংখ্যালঘুদের উপর নির্যাতন করা হচ্ছে, সেসব এলাকায় জামায়াত-শিবির, হিযবুত তাহরীর সহ বর্তমানে চাপে থাকা ধর্মীয় গোষ্ঠিগুলোর রাজনৈতিক যোগাযোগ ও শক্তি তুলনামূলক ভাবে বেশি। এবং আশ্চর্যজনক ভাবে প্রতিটি ক্ষেত্রেই প্রশাসন এগিয়ে এসেছে ঘটনা ঘটে যাওয়ার পরে। কিন্তু সরকার বিষয়টি কখনোই খতিয়ে দেখেনি যে মাঠ পর্যায়ের যেসব কর্মকর্তা ধর্মীয় অসহিষ্ণু ঘটনাগুলো নিয়ন্ত্রনে ব্যর্থ হচ্ছেন, তাঁদের নিয়োগ এবং পূর্বতন সময়ে কোনো রাজনৈতিক যোগাযোগ ছিল কী না। আমার বিশ্বাস যদি খতিয়ে দেখা যায়, তাহলে এসব কর্মকর্তাদের অনেকের রাজনৈতিক যোগাযোগ দেখে হতভম্ব হতে হবে।
If we analyze the incidents of the past few months we will be able to find some patterns. In the places the minorities are being attacked, it is evident that Islamist political parties like Jamaat-Shibir and hardliners like Hijbut Tahrir are strong in those areas. And surprisingly the local administration have taken action late. But the government is yet to analyze where the field officers of the local administration are failing to control the situation, whether they had some political connections before joining the government. I believe, if analyzed, shocking revelations of political allegience could be found.
Kallol Mustafa [bn] writes in Unmochon blog in a post titled “Where are the police in Ramu?”:
স্রেফ জ্বালানি মন্ত্রণালয় ঘেরাও ঠেকাতে জাতীয় কমিটির কর্মীদের দিকে ব্যারিক্যাড, লাঠিচার্জ আর টিয়ারশেল সহ পুলিশ লেলিয়ে দিতে প্রশাসনের উৎসাহের কখনও কোন কমতি হয় না। অথচ সারারাত ধরে কক্সবাজারের রামুতে বৌদ্ধ ধর্মাবলম্বীদের অসংখ্যা ঘরবাড়ি, দোকানপাটসহ সাত সাতটি মন্দির ভাঙচুর চললো, আগুন দেয়া হলো, লুটপাট করা হলো- সারা রাত ধরে একটাও টিয়ার শেল নিক্ষেপ করা হলো না, কোন মন্দিরের সামনে একটা ব্যারিকেডও পড়লো না- সবকিছু শেষ হয়ে যাওয়ার পর সকালে এসে ১৪৪ ধারা জারি করে দায় সারা হলো- একটুও কি অদ্ভুত লাগে না?
The administration unleashed police force with barricades and teargas shells on the oil-gas activists who were trying to reach the energy ministry for their protests. On the other hand many Buddhist homes, shops and seven temples were looted, vandalized and burnt thoughout the night, but not a single tear gas shell was fired, no barricades deterred the perpetrators. After all had ended, the police came in the morning and put movement restrictions – doesn't it seem a little odd?
After the attacks in Ramu, five more Buddhist temples in Ukhia Upazila were also attacked on Sunday. The police has arrested 35 people [bn] for the attacks in Ramu. But people wonder when the attacks are going to end.
This post is part of our special coverage Indigenous Rights.


text:
Cambodia: Human Rights Situation · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

The Special Rapporteur also noted the use of the criminal justice system against human rights defenders and those peacefully exercising their right to express opinion freely
This was part of the report of the UN Human Rights Council after it conducted a dialogue in Cambodia about the human rights situation in the country.

author: Mong Palatino


text:
Dominican Republic: Mobilization Against Teen Pregnancy · Global Voices
Pamela Martínez Achecar

Teenage Pregnancy Prevention Day (this past Wednesday, September 26) hosted various activities that set the scene for a discussion of the issue and its national prevalence. According to the National Health and Demographic Survey (ENDESA) 2007, 20 percent of pregnancies in the Dominican Republic occur among young women between 15 and 19 years old, which places the nation in the Top 5 of Latin American countries with the highest rates of teen pregnancy. Additionally, recent statements from the Ministry of Health and the United Nations confirm that there has been a significant increase in the number of pregnant teenagers during the last few years, a finding that has reinstated the topic among the top priorities of the public agenda.
Many state institutions and international organizations sponsored conferences and talks to confront the issue and encourage inter-institutional alliances to strengthen the National Plan to Prevent Adolescent Pregnancy [es] and other initiatives. However, one of the most interesting mobilizations was a march of more than 2,000 youth from different educational centers, who marched two kilometers below the slogan “Adolescente no te embaraces” (“Teen, don't get pregnant”), with the goal of raising awareness of the high incidence of pregnancy among teenagers, as well as to combat HIV, domestic violence and the high national rate of murdered women. It was an effective manifestation of civil and community empowerment that defined the youth as authors of their own change.
A video uploded to YouTube on September 27, 2012, by user Dominicanos Ausentes, captured small snapshots of the march, as well as the opinions of some participants. For example, at 00:28 seconds, one young woman states that Dominican youth are having sex without considering the consequences.
http://youtu.be/xAucOEKmDNc
Some media figures shared important data about teen pregnancy with their social media followers — people such as journalist Altagracia Salazar, who published this on her Twitter account:
@altagraciasa: Mas del 80 por ciento de las adolescentes embarazadas son pobres y abandonan la escuela.
@altagraciasa: More than 80 percent of pregnant teens are poor and have dropped out of school.
This information is supported by statistics that confirm that the provinces with the nation's highest pregnancy rates are Azua (37 %), Pedernales (35 %), Bahoruco (35 %) y Elías Piña (30 %), all of which are located near the border.
Ingrid Gómez, a television host and spokeswoman for the “Por ser Niña” campaign run by Plan, an international organization working on community development focused on children, said that:
@ingridgomezMAB: cuatro barreras las limitan #porserniña Embarazo en adolescentes,la violencia de genero y el acceso desigual a oportunidades @Plan_RD
@ingridgomezMAB: four barriers limit #porserniña Teen pregnancy, gender-based violence and inequal access to opportunities @Plan_RD.
The NGO Profamilia also raised this demand through the same platform:
@profamiliaRD: Profamilia demanda que se implemente Plan Nacional de Prevención de embarazo en adolescentes.
@profamiliaRD: Profamilia demands the implementation of a national plan to prevent teen pregnancy.
In addition, on September 26 the representative Juana Vicente submitted a proposal to the National Congress petitioning to declare that day the National Day of Teenage Pregnancy Prevention.
*Photo taken from the UNFPA Twitter account.

author: Pamela Martínez Achecar


text:
Iran: Alternatives to Google and Gmail · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Deputy Telecommunications Minister, Ali Hakim Javadi said to Mehrnews he hoped to launch the Fakhr search engine and Fajr e-mail as alternatives to Google and Gmail in the near future.

author: Fred Petrossian


text:
Laos: Low Power Rates but Many People Still in the Dark · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Despite the presence of several large hydro power plants in Laos, electricity access remains a problem for many people in the country. Power rates, however, are lower compared to other countries


text:
Spain: Should the Church Pay (All) its Taxes? · Global Voices
Lourdes Sada

In May of this year, Zamora became the first city in Spain to enforce that the Catholic Church pay the Property Tax (IBI). Through the adoption of this measure, the local government of Zamora is trying to reduce the deficit that affects so many local Spanish councils.
Social networks have captured information and a variety of comments on the topic. People have become angry after finding out that the Church, owner of the most real estate, does not pay all the corresponding taxes.
@piluquita: ¿Alguien podría calcular cuántas mamografías podrían hacerse con la recaudación de la iglesia si pagara el IBI?
@piluquita: Could someone calculate the number of mammograms that could be done with the takings if the Church were to pay the IBI?
@Tweets_Platino: Rajoy en mayo:”Con los 3000 mill.del IBI de la iglesia no solucionaríamos nada” Junio: el gobierno quita MEDICAMENTOS que ahorrarán 440.
@Tweets_Platino: Rajoy in May:”With the 3000 mill. collected from the IBI tax from the Church we wouldn't solve anything” June: the government gets rid of MEDICATION that will save 440.
The Episcopal Spanish Conference has defended the accusations. On its website, an article by Isidro Catela  addresses various questions:
Advertising campaign by the United Left (IU) in favour of the Church IBI tax payment.
So the Church doesn't pay IBI?
This is false. The Church pays IBI on all of its properties that are not exempt by law.
Yes it pays them (rubbish collection, parking access, etc.). There is no unexpected exemption in the Law surrounding the payment of these taxes.
Who is lying? In reality, everyone and nobody. It's the typical case of information being manipulated so that everyone can work things to their own advantage.
There are a series of buildings that are exempt from paying the IBI tax. In the Church's case, the agreements with the Santa Sede [Vatican] IBI have exempted the buildings dedicated to the intrinsic work of the Church (pastoral, educative, administrative, hospitality, welfare…).
The Patronage Law exempts buildings owned by not-for-profit entities from paying the IBI, except those that have economic activities submerged in other taxes. If we consider, as an example, the new rule from the council of Zamora,  see the article in Economista.es [es], it helps us to understand the differences a little more:
Facebook page image «State of Unease in Madrid»
(…) the buildings included in the Santa Sede agreement (…) and the Mecenazgo Law (…) will continue to not pay the tax.
It is recognised, however, that this list of previously-exempted buildings has been updated which has resulted in many of them having been removed from the list and consequently now having to pay the tax. This is what has happened with the Cathedral Museum, annex to the Cathedral itself. While the latter may continue without paying, the Museum has started to generate economic activity and therefore must pay the tax.
With regards to the council tax rates, the same article clarifies:
The City Council explained to Economista that, actually, introducing garbage tax now is due to the fact that before the cost was included in the IBI. These church buildings that generate rubbish will have to pay the tax separately now, as before it was taken out and dealt with individually as in other Spanish councils.
In brief, it seems that the Catholic Church has been «keeping secret» the payment of the IBI and the council rates of some of their properties. Perhaps it does not amount to a large sum, but in such delicate moments for the economy, when so much is being demanded of Spanish families, it would not be too much to ask that the Catholic Church lead by example and contributed what it should instead of dedicating their efforts in justifying their tax shirking.
With a certain threatening whiff, Isidro Catela, from the Episcopal Conference previously mentioned, says:
The Church is going to continue fulfilling its mision with the means available. Logically, if fewer resources were available, the activities could be affected, but with more or less the same means, the Church is going to continue doing a lot for those that still need a lot.
And the web Navarre Church [es] reiterates:
If the law says that the Church should pay the IBI, logically it is subject to the law. (…). It is obvious that the payment of this tax will reduce the Church's resources in order to assist other needs. (…)
In reality, the Catholic Church channels the biggest part of its humanitarian activity through Cáritas (Roman Catholic Relief Charity). This organisation, quite unusually, practices transparency, and  publishes comprehensive financial reports on its website  [es] from recent years, making them available to anyone who wishes to consult them, in such a way that we can see the actual figures, independent of the opinions of critics and defendants.
In this way we can verify that only a very small part of the total funds that Cáritas manages, comes from the church as an institution in the form of contributions from the Interdiocesan Fund and from diocesan organisations.
YEAR
CÁRITAS TOTAL BUDGET (€)
CHURCH CONTRIBUTION (€)
Interdiocesan Fund
Diocesan Organisations
200,278,373.27
327,783.79  (0.2%)
2,410,656.08  (1.2%)
2008
216,916,013.54
332,168.89 (0.2%)
1,641,758.19  (0.8%)
2009
230,017,789
298.671   (0.1%)
1,878,914  (0.8%)
2010
334,448,494
no data
no data
In the 2010 statement, specific donations from these institutions do not appear, perhaps because they appear in another section, or simply because they do not exist altogether.
In any case, having seen these figures, it does not seem that Cáritas has any reason to be worried [es] if the Spanish councils decide to enforce the Church to comply with their tax obligations.
It should be noted that in February of this year, the Italian government approved the imposition of a tax, similar to the IBI, on Church property not used for religious purposes, in order to adapt its legislation to EU state aid rules, and in this way avoid any possible fine by the Commission. In May, several Spanish MEPs (Members of the European Parliament)  asked the European Commission [es] to clarify whether the exemptions of the Church in Spain are incompatible with the rules set out in the internal market of the EU.

author: Lourdes Sada


text:
Sri Lanka: The New Displaced Peoples  · Global Voices
Rezwan

Dilrukshi Handunnetti reports in Groundviews that Sri Lanka’s largest internment facility was officially closed last week and its 346 interns were relocated to other confinement(s) instead of being resettled.


text:
Urban Malaysian Dictionary · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Amir Muhammad's Urban Malaysian Dictionary features commonly used words in urban Malaysia. The online project started in 2008.


text:
Vietnam: Government Jails Three ‘Dissident’ Bloggers  · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Vietnamese bloggers Dieu Cay, AnhBaSG, and Ta Phong Tan were found guilty by a Ho Chi Minh City court of violating article 88 of Vietnam’s criminal code, which involves the “spreading fabricated news in order to foment confusion among people” and “defaming the people’s administration.” Aside from serving a prison term, the three will also face house arrest.
Before their arrest, the three bloggers have been consistent in exposing the various social ills in Vietnam, in particular the corruption in high places and inequality in the countryside. Human rights groups immediately condemned the conviction.  Rupert Abbott, Amnesty International’s Researcher on Vietnam, believes that the harsh prison sentence – which range between four to twelve years – was meant to strike fear in the local internet community:
Convicted bloggers Dieu Cay, AnhBaSG, and Ta Phong Tan. Photo from Dan Lam Bao
These shocking prison sentences confirm our worst fears – that the Vietnamese authorities have chosen to make an example of these bloggers, in an attempt to silence others
The sentences reflect the dire and worsening situation of freedom of expression in Vietnam
Amnesty International will be campaigning strongly for the release of the bloggers – who we consider to be Prisoners of Conscience – and we call on the Vietnamese authorities to guarantee the safety of the bloggers’ families and friends
Aside from advocating the release of Catholic activist blogger Maria Ta Phong Tan, the hermeneutic of continuity hits the abuse of power in Vietnam:
What disgrace has been brought to the good Vietnamese people by the abuse of power and the cowardly fear of free speech! Politicians should be able to answer with reason if they think someone has distorted what they say; they should be able to cope with opposition. Hang your heads in shame and allow the good citizens of Vietnam to speak the truth in freedom! Free Maria Ta Phong Tan!
There seems to be an intensified crackdown on opposition bloggers in Vietnam. Earlier, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung’s office issued a statement criticizing three blogs for being anti-government. But NamViet asserts that the controversial blogs deserve to remain online for exposing corruption in government and for asserting Vietnam’s sovereignty in the islands being claimed by China:
Poster demanding the freedom of jailed bloggers. Photo from Facebook of Me Nam
Blog Dan Lam Bao has been reporting anything that the government aka Vietnamese Communist Party (VCP) forbids, i.e. corruption and dissidence.
Blog Quan Lam Bao started( in July 2012) although reportedly champions for the anti-corruption cause, only reports corruption cases that are related to Nguyen Tan Dung, his son Nguyen Thanh Nghi, his daughter Nguyen Thanh Phuong and her husband (Harvard-trained) Nguyen Bao Hoang.
Blog Bien Dong only discusses about South China Sea disputes, between China and Vietnam, the Philippines. Pictures and videos showing Vietnamese or Filipino demonstrators against China are strictly forbidden by the VCP.
Despite the persecution experienced by bloggers and attempts to censor online content, Chris Brummitt writes that the Vietnamese government is actually finding it difficult to effectively control the online behavior of its citizens:
Facebook and other social networking sites are blocked here, but the state firewall is so flimsy that even schoolchildren know how to fiddle with computer settings to get around it. The government has announced bans on websites, only to see traffic to them skyrocket. Three bloggers were sentenced to prison this week — one for 12 years — but many others continue to pursue their causes.


text:
Amazon: Improving Public’s Perception of the Forest · Global Voices
Sara Moreira

InfoAmazonia is a platform that brings together organizations and journalists from nine countries of one of the most biodiverse areas in the world to freely provide news and reports of the endangered Amazon region. The website maps deforestation, fires, oil and mining, and calls for public participation through the submission of data and stories.


text:
Bulgaria: “Are You a Terrorist?” · Global Voices
Ruslan Trad

Bulgarian NGO “Forum for Arab Culture” tweeted [bg] a photo of the “Are you a terrorist?” quiz that appeared in the national daily “24 chasa,” asking if it was right for a newspaper to publish materials like this. The test's answers included this one:
If you have more B responses: Greetings! You will ascend with a bang to heaven, where […] 72 virgins await you.

author: Ruslan Trad


text:
Burkina Faso: Architect Innovates with Sustainable Primary School · Global Voices
Lova Rakotomalala

Screenshot of the primary school built by Diébédo Francis Kéré in Gando, Burkina Faso. via SF Kultur.
Architect Diébédo Francis Kéré has designed a sustainable primary school in Gando, Burkina Faso, using mud bricks and corrugated iron. The innovative design allows much needed light and ventilation in a village where temperatures sometimes reach 104° F.

author: Lova Rakotomalala


text:
Former FIFA Official Corruption Case – Blogger Asked to Reveal Sources · Global Voices
Richard Wanjohi

The ongoing case of corruption claims against former FIFA Vice-President and Asian Football Confederation President Mohammed bin Hammam, has led to a Singapore Court ordering former journalist and blogger James M. Dorsey to reveal his sources.
In his blog The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer he says:
Image of Mohammed Bin Hamam, by Kolocheirani, available via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Part of the controversial audit says this:
The internal AFC audit conducted by PriceWaterhouse Coopers (PwC) charged that Mr. Bin Hammam had used an AFC sundry account as his personal account, questioned the terms and negotiation procedure of a $1 billion marketing rights agreement between WSG and the AFC and raised questions of $14 million in payments by a WSG shareholder to Mr. Bin Hammam prior to the signing of the agreement.
[…] Lawyers for FIFA earlier this year sought unsuccessfully to introduce the report in Mr. Bin Hammam's appeal proceedings in the Lausanne-based Court of Arbitration of Sport  against the world soccer body's banning for life of the Qatari national from involvement on soccer on charges of bribery.
[…] Both FIFA and the AFC have suspended M. Bin Hammam on the basis of the report pending further investigation of the allegations in the PwC report and separate charges that he last year sought to bribe Caribbean soccer officials. Mr. Bin Hammam has denied all allegations and charges.
You can find an earlier post on said audit here: ‘Bin Hammam's Audit opens Pandora's Box‘.
Wow. It is telling that FIFA appeared to believe that addressing questions of due process would be unnecessary.The CAS found, in a 2-1 judgment, in favor of bin Hammam, noting that their judgment was not a statement about the likelihood of his innocence, but rather a statement about FIFA's failure to prove its case. In fact, the CAS suggested that bin Hammam was likely guilty of the charges.
This judgment represents a victory for the rule of law, for due process and for the notion that FIFA must conform to such norms rather than operate in an ad hoc manner. Of further note is that bin Hammam's victory in this dispute, which certainly does nothing to change his status in world football (as he is being investigated under other allegations of violations), reinforces the need for a jurisprudence of  sport consistent with the widely accepted norms of jurisprudence which comprise democratic governance.That, in the end, is a victory for sports governance.

author: Richard Wanjohi


text:
Greece: Debunking a ‘Coup That Never Happened’ · Global Voices
Asteris Masouras

Impressive reportage from fantasy land, but no knowledgeable editor with a soul was at hand to throw it in the trash.
In a Twitlonger post [el], journalist Yiannis Bogiopoulos debunks a controversial expose published in Sunday newspaper To Vima about “a coup that never happened“, and dismisses “loaded” conjectures as to why it would print an article rife with inaccuracies, in favor of a simpler explanation.

author: Asteris Masouras


text:
Iran:  Gmail Gets Unblocked · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Iran  removed online blocks on Gmail on Monday. The secure-protocol HTTPS version of Google search was also made accessible after being blocked at the same time. The unsecure HTTP version of Google search was never blocked.


text:
Madagascar & Reunion: Maraina, The First Opera from the Indian Ocean    · Global Voices
Lova Rakotomalala

Marie-Clémence & Cesar Paes present a trailer of Maraina, a film that showcases, in their words,  “the first opera to be created in the Indian Ocean region” [fr].
Maraina tells the story of ten Malagasy and two Frenchmen who landed in Madagascar in the mid-17th century to plant tobacco and aloes. It will be shown in movie theaters in France in November 2012.


text:
Paraguay: Implications of ISPs’ Block of Fake News Website · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

author: Silvia Viñas


text:
Peru: “Get out of here, King of Jordan” · Global Voices
Juan Arellano

During his visit to Peru for the Third Summit of South American-Arab Countries (ASPA) from October 1-2, 2012, the King of Jordan, Abdullah Bin Al-Hussein, took a leisure trip [es] from Lima to Cusco on his motorcycle. During the trip, two vehicles from the king's convoy forced a team of reporters to stop and tried to confiscate their cameras. A representative of the monarch later tried to apologize. The blog Andares writes about the episode and concludes [es]: “Get out of here, King of Jordan.”

author: Juan Arellano


text:
Peru: Monoculture Puts Iquitos Water at Risk · Global Voices
Juan Arellano

This is the third and final part of a series of three posts about the water problem in the city of Iquitos. See the first and the second.
In the first post of this series, we introduced some water-related issues in Iquitos and the controversy generated by the search and exploration for oil in the Nanay river basin. In the second post we delved deeper into the case of Conoco Phillips, and also show the actions being taken by organizations like the Water Committee to protect the river and Iquitos’ water supply.
In this third post, we will focus on the monocultures of the Nanay river and the problem this is causing between those who support this type of crop and those who advise against it.
The struggle for water in Iquitos is not without risks. José Álvarez, a researcher for IIAP (Peruvian Amazon Research Institute), published an article entitled “Monocultures in the Nanay? No thanks”, [es] wherein he discussed IIAP's reasons for advising against the cultivation of palm oil in the Nanay basin, especially in the Curaca stream basin, a tributary of the Nanay, adjacent to the Allpahuayo-Mishana National Reserve.
Allpahuayo Mishana Reserve, Nanay basin, Loreto, Perú. Photo by Maholyoak on Flickr. Published under Creative Commons license (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Some of the reasons are:
- La cuenca del Nanay es la abastecedora de agua potable para la población de Iquitos y poblaciones aledañas, y cualquier alteración grave de la cobertura vegetal puede poner en riesgo la provisión de este vital elemento, tanto en cantidad como en calidad. Las plantaciones industriales de palma aceitera, además de implicar la tala de grandes extensiones de bosques nativos, requieren de altos insumos de agroquímicos y por tanto implican una grave amenaza de contaminación del agua.
- Las zonas donde se está planificando establecer plantaciones de palma están cubiertas en su totalidad por bosques primarios muy poco alterados, los que apenas han sufrido una mínima extracción selectiva de algunas especies maderables y de fauna silvestre. Es política del Estado Peruano, y un compromiso formal ante la comunidad internacional, proteger los bosques primarios amazónicos, como una medida para reducir las emisiones de carbono y para contribuir a mitigar los impactos del cambio climático.
- The Nanay basin is the supplier of potable water for the people of Iquitos and surrounding villages, and any serious alteration of the vegetation cover could jeopardize the provision of this vital element, both in quantity and quality. The commercial palm oil plantations, apart from involving the clearing of large areas of native forests, require high inputs of agrochemicals and therefore mean a serious threat of water pollution.
- The areas where there are plans to establish palm plantations are covered entirely by nearly untouched old growth forests which have experienced minimal and selective extraction of timber species and wildlife. It is the policy of the Peruvian government, and a formal commitment to the international community, to protect old growth Amazon forests, as a measure to reduce carbon emissions and to help mitigate the impacts of climate change.
But it seems this was not appreciated by some, who organized a group, supposedly “peasants” from the area, who came out to demonstrate in favor in cultivation of “palm oil” and attacking José Álvarez, carrying signs that read things like “trafficker of natural resources” and called for his expulsion from the national territory.
In a statement [es] in support of the researcher, a group of citizens of Iquito say that in talking to the demonstrators, they said they were told that Álvarez “was to blame for not promoting the cultivation of palm and that government loans had not been approved for this purpose” which suggested that the source of these attacks might be close to the regional authorities.
Not all opinions are against the cultivation of palm oil in the Nanay basin. The economist Víctor Villavicencio la Torre, who served as Regional Manager of Economic Development of the Regional Government of Loreto, is in favor, and writes [es]:
es imperativo adoptar o fijar una posición política regional respecto de la promoción y fomento para con un cultivo que, habiendo demostrado tener alta rentabilidad, bien puede constituirse en una alternativa para sacar de la pobreza, postración y miseria a cientos o miles de campesinos gracias a la alianza entre el Estado y la inversión productiva.
Esta alianza debe sacar del juego político a esos Organismos No Gubernamentales que reciben y administran el dinero proveniente de países que, digámoslo, son los primeros en atentar contra el medio ambiente y la biodiversidad de muchas naciones en el mundo.
It is imperative to adopt or establish a regional political position regarding the promotion and encouragement of a crop that, having proven to be very profitable, may very well be an alternative for hundreds or thousands of villagers to get out of poverty, struggle and misery thanks to the alliance between the state and productive investment.
This alliance should take out of the political game these non-governmental organizations that receive and administer money coming from countries which, let's face it, are the first to threaten the environment and biodiversity of many nations in the world.
He then reiterates what he argues should be the role of the State:
el Estado debe fijarse como meta inmediata revisar las leyes que regulan la actividad agraria y forestal, para con ello arrancar las banderas “progres” que exhiben estos “caviares” del medio ambiente y dejar de ser pasivos espectadores de las acciones agresivas que desarrollan.
… encontremos un punto de convergencia que evite que la gente del campo, cansada de tantas promesas de cambio, termine incendiando la pradera y trayendo a la memoria colectiva los sucesos funestos de Cajamarca, Espinar, Madre de Dios y Bagua. ¿Eso queremos?. En lugar de la protesta tonta y el grito estridente, batamos palmas para la Palma Aceitera que será como batir palmas para Loreto.
The State should set an immediate goal to revise laws regulating farming and forestry, in order to root out these “limosine liberal” environmentalists, and stop being passive spectators to the aggressive actions they take.
Let's find some common ground so we can avoid rural people, tired of so many promises of change, ending up setting the prairies on fire and bringing back to the collective memory the fateful events of Cajamarca, Espinar, Madre de Dios and Bagua. Is that what we want? Instead of silly protests and shrill cries, let's applaud for palm oil, which will be like applauding for Loreto.
By way of response, the aforementioned research biologist José Álvarez, published [es] another article entitled “Chronic Underdevelopmentalism” where he argues the following:
Hablan de que los conservacionistas han gastado decenas de millones en proyectos financiados por torvos extranjeros que buscan frenar el desarrollo de nuestra región. Sin embargo, sólo en los últimos 30 años que llevo viviendo en esta tierra, me consta que los promotores del fracasado modelo de desarrollo agropecuario-extractivista, a quienes llamaremos “subdesarrollistas”,  han gastado no decenas, sino miles de millones de soles: […] proyectos agropecuarios fracasados, sueldos de funcionarios y consultores, e infraestructura agrícola improductiva (fábricas de harina de yuca, molinos de arroz, fábricas de leche, envasadoras de palmito, etc.) […] La gran pregunta: ¿alguien impidió que se promoviese durante estos años en la selva la agricultura y la ganadería, sin restricciones, en las comunidades de Loreto? No.
They talk of conservationists who have spent tens of millions in projects financed by baleful foreigners who are trying to stop the development of our region. However, just in the 30 years I've lived on this land, I know that the promoters of the failed model of extractive agricultural development, who we will call “underdevelopers”, have not spent tens of millions but billions of soles [Peruvian currency]: […] failed agricultural projects, salaries for staff and consultants, unproductive agricultural infrastructure (cassava flour mills, rice mills, milk factories, bottling of palm, etc.) […] The big question: Did anyone prevent them during those years from promoting agriculture and livestock in the forest, without restrictions, in the communities of Loreto? No.
He adds:
Pero su inepcia no ha sido gratis: gracias estos presupuestos y proyectos, los ‘subdesarrollistas’ se han llenado los bolsillos con comisiones, viáticos, coimas, expedientes, consultorías, asesorías, puestitos burocráticos, estudios de factibilidad, planes de negocios, planes de inversión, anteproyectos, proyectos y viáticos, sin que los ribereños e indígenas hayan mejorado en nada su calidad de vida, más bien se ha deteriorado.
But their ineptitude was not free: thanks to these budgets and projects, “underdevelopers” have filled their pockets with commissions, travel expenses, bribes, records, consulting, advisories, cushy bureaucratic positions, feasibility studies, business plans, investment plans, blueprints, projects and per diems, without coastal or indigenous peoples having any improvement in their quality of life; rather it has deteriorated.
But businessmen continue to be very interested [es] in the business opportunities presented by the 620,000 hectares (approx. 1.5 million acres) in the Loreto region, which according to the Minister of Agriculture are available for planting, and they are doing outreach in this respect.
Moreover, academics and researchers continue to provide data and studies [es] about the dangers of palm oil cultivation for the fragile Amazon ecosystem. They claim that companies are even promoting the consideration of palm oil plantations as a reforestation activity, as well as the government incentives given to that crop.
Even President Ollanta Humala in a recent press conference mentioned [es] an Amazon area, the Alto Huallaga, as a “potential for agribusiness, for coffee, for cocoa, for palm oil, for planting fruit trees.”
As can be seen, there is no clear consensus among the stakeholders involved about what the policy should be on these issues that affect everyone. On one side are those who promote large-scale investments and on the other, those who defend the environment. Compounding the problem is the fact that dialogue about the matter doesn't exactly abound, and neither does clear and transparent information that citizens need.


text:
Spain: ‘Carne Cruda’ Cancellation Stirs Debate on Censorship · Global Voices
Victoria Fioravante

[All links lead to texts in Spanish unless otherwise noted]
Fears of state censorship and declining freedom of expression are rising afer the influential, political satire programme ‘Carne Cruda‘ (Raw Meat) found itself unexpectedly cancelled from national radio.
An unprecedented act by the director of Spanish National Radio 3 (RNE3) led to the end of Carne Cruda, an influential radio programme celebrated for its honest, witty criticisms of Spanish society, economics and politics, hosted by Javier Gallego. This act has created widespread commotion amongst Spain's Internet community.
@jordievole: Mañana sube el IVA, y hoy ha bajado la libertad de expresión. Se han comido #CarneCruda.
@jordievole: Tomorrow they raise the VAT, today they bring down freedom of expression. They have eaten Raw Meat. #CarneCruda.
Carne Cruda Boom!
@jesusprubio: My favourite radio show was cancelled because my? government dislikes words of Javier Gallego (the truth), thanks man
@jenelesuispas: censorship in Spain. The best radio programme very critic with the government has been cancelled#carnecruda
@almakg: Clear censorship in Spain. The only radio programme which had enough guts to criticize the system, has been cancelled. Long live #carnecruda
The reasons for this cancellation according to the new manager of RNE3, Tomás Fernando Flores, are because the programme is “sensationalist,” “expensive” and “kamikaze“.
These ‘excuses’ come as a shock not only because just a month ago plans were made to continue the programme for another season, but also because, as Javier Gallego writes on his facebook page, the show was anything but “expensive,” the “sensationalism” was merely a “witty truth,” and the description “kamikaze” seemed entirely out of place.
Javier Gallego wrote the following on his Facebook page:
RESPUESTA DE TOMAS FERNANDO FLORES AL CIERRE DE CARNE CRUDA. MIENTE EN LAS CIFRAS EXAGERADAMENTE: EN EL PROGRAMA ERAMOS 3 PERSONAS (DURANTE VARIAS FASES SOLO 2, INCLUIDO YO), 3 COLABORADORES MUSICALES A PRECIO DE SALDO (TRABAJARON GRATIS LAS 2 PRIMERAS TEMPORADAS), OTROS DOS GRATUITOS, Y UN GUIONISTA A TIEMPO PARCIAL PARA SKETCHES DE HUMOR. ME SALEN 5 COLABORADORES, NO 7, Y POCO PAGADOS O NADA. NO HE TENIDO JAMAS 4 GUIONISTAS PARA MI. LOS 3 COMPONENTES DE CARNE CRUDA ESCRIBIAMOS EL GUION. ANTES TFF ME DESPEDIA POR DINERO, AHORA TAMBIEN POR SENSACIONALISTA. SUS CIFRAS SI SON SENSACIONALISTAS.
Reply of Tomás Fernando Flores with respect to the ending of Carne Cruda. Your lies about the figures are an exaggeration: there were only three people on the programme (during many phases, only two, myself included), three music collaborators working for a bargain (they worked for free during the first two seasons), another two working for free, and one script-writer working part time on comedy sketches. I have five collaborators, not seven, and they are paid little if anything at all. I have never had four script writers for myself. The three components of Carne Cruda wrote the script. Before, Tomás Fernando Flores sacked me for money, now also for having been sensationalist. His figures are sensationalist.
What are we paying for?
Why are they hiding information from us?
Why are they lying to us?
Why are they manipulating us?
RTVE (Spanish National Television and Radio)
For an RTVE free of control from the current government.
Freedom of expression NOW.
If they want the NO-DO (‘Noticias y Documentales’, a Franco-era state-controlled newsreel series) – let them pay for it themselves.
In 2006, a new law was passed in Spain that required a two-thirds parliamentary majority for key appointments in RTVE, the national television and radio network. However, it seems that, as journalist Miguel Anxo-Murado puts it, “the government has seen it as a matter of the utmost urgency to scrap that law and return to the good old vendetta system” thus putting at risk the objectivity and impartiality of state broadcast networks.
Javier Gallego hinted that his dismissal was government influenced in his open letter to Tomás Fernando Flores:
Su discurso y maneras se parecen tanto a las del actual Gobierno que cualquiera diría que el Gobierno está detrás. No voy a ser tan mal pensado. No está detrás. Está delante porque ni siquiera se molesta en ocultarlo.
Your discourse and manners are so similar to those of the current government that anyone would say that the government was behind this. I won't be so malicious. It is not behind it. It is in front of it because it does not even bother to hide it.
This is not the first time that journalists are dismissed from state-funded broadcasters; Ana Pastor, Xabier Fortes, Juan Ramón Lucas, Fran Llorente are among other victims of what many refer to as “the state purge”.
Yet, while the government might have intended to raise the government's popularity, polls already indicate a fall in support of 16% from March to August. Without a doubt, the cancellation of Carne Cruda will also impact this figure.
Más allá que la realidad : Beyond Reality, by Masaltoqueelsilencio.
In the meanwhile, a new programme has been scheduled to be broadcast weekly on national Spanish television offering weekly information about the Spanish Royal family. According to the newspaper Periodista Digital, Alicia Gómez Montano, the future presenter of this programme, describes the show as being “blanco e institucional”: white and institutional.
El Ecodiario believes that this programme represents an “institutional effort to regain the royal family's popularity lost upon revealing Iñaki Urdangarín's implication in the Noos case and other episodes that have negatively affected their image.”
A mass protest on Monday September 3, 2012, at the RNE headquarters was organised by the unofficial Facebook group “Salvemos Carne Cruda” and following this event the petition created on www.change.org to bring back the programme raised almost 45,000 supporters within 24 hours:
Carne Cruda es un ejemplo de pluralidad raro en la radio española. En sus programas se da voz a los que normalmente no la tienen en otros programas de radio.
Carne Cruda is an example of rare plurality on Spanish radio. Its programmes give a voice to those who normally do not have one on other radio programmes.
Only the future will tell whether the programme will return or not. For now, here is the video posted by NaturaMagik with an extract from Javier Gallego's speech “Pensar demasiado es peligroso” (Thinking too much is dangerous).
http://youtu.be/cTb5Bp7WSPo

author: Victoria Fioravante


text:
Stricter Web Regulation in Southeast Asia · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

While Southeast Asian governments are enhancing the delivery of online services for the benefit of their citizens, they are also instituting tougher internet regulations which many analysts believe could be used to curtail media freedom.
This post is a summary of recent Global Voices articles which discussed several controversial internet regulation policies in the region.
In Cambodia, the government is enforcing a circular drafted earlier this year which requires internet cafes to set up surveillance cameras and to register callers. It’s supposedly a crime prevention measure but critics have argued that it violates privacy rights.
Online protest in Malaysia last August against the amendment in the Evidence Act of 1950
In Singapore, the proposed Code of Conduct for bloggers which didn’t get a favorable response from the local internet community was finally discarded by the government in favor of a Media Literacy Council. Established last August 1, the council is tasked to promote public education on media literacy and cyber wellness. But critics have questioned the lack of transparency in appointing the members of the council which is seen by some as another internet censorship tool.
Andrew Loh reminds the Singaporean government that netizens or bloggers should not be viewed as troublemakers:
The problem is not with the Internet, or its practitioners. The problem is not with bloggers or, as the Government like to call them, “netizens”. It is not a problem with those who are actually active online, as opposed to those who sit in their comfortable offices tucked somewhere in some unknown places dictating what and how the online landscape should look like.
Nah, the problem is with a Government which still wields much control, and which has little patience for messiness, for diversity, for spontaneity and indeed for robust debates and disagreements.
Recently, the Philippines enacted the Anti-Cybercrime Law which aims to prevent the cyberspace from degenerating into a ‘lawless realm.’ But the law was described as a threat to media freedom by journalists who protested the last-minute inclusion of libel in the law.
Lawyer JGBernasSJ Blogs mentions the ‘frightening’ provisions of the law:
Libel has been decriminalized in other civilized jurisdictions.  Our legislature, instead, will throw us back to the dark ages by imposing a higher penalty for libel.  In effect, advance in communication technology is being treated not as a boon but as bane.
Like the Philippines, Malaysia has introduced amendments in the law which could curtail internet freedom. Under section 114A of the revised Evidence Act of 1950, law enforcement authorities are able to identify the persons who should be made accountable for uploading or publishing content in the internet. Media freedom advocates have warned that the amendment could force online writers to resort to self-censorship and web moderators could disallow critical comments in order to avoid prosecution and harassment suits.
The Lee & Chong Team explains how the amendment can affect ordinary internet users:
This amendment will create troubles for the public. Everybody is using the Internet daily and with this new amendment, the public has to change the password for the network service and also social network site frequently to avoid being misuse by other people. Besides that, the café or restaurant that used to provide free wifi service may no longer provide the free wifi service to their customer. This will indirectly affect the business of the restaurant or café
The Philippines and Malaysia may have been inspired by Thailand’s experience which has gained notoriety for using restrictive laws to punish government critics. Article 112 of Thailand’s criminal code is often described as the world’s harshest Lese Majeste (anti-royal insult) law. The controversial law is often invoked to censor web content and shut down websites. Global Voices conducted an interview with a former member of the police committee that handles Lese Majeste cases.
Elsewhere, Vietnam has recently convicted three bloggers accused of spreading anti-government propaganda. Earlier, the Prime Minister has openly criticized some opposition-leaning blogs whom he accused of fomenting disunity in the country.
Governments in the region have justified the imposition of harsh web policies ostensibly to protect the rights of ordinary internet users and uphold public morality. The new policies were met with public opposition but so far the governments have remained firm in implementing the new internet laws.


text:
Australia: Shock Jock Attack on PM Gillard Fires Online Anger · Global Voices
Kevin Rennie

Spontaneous anger erupted on Australian social media on Saturday night 29 September 2012. News broke that a Sunday Telegraph journalist had recorded a tasteless reference to Prime Minster Julia Gillard's father by controversial radio shock jock Alan Jones. This anger has been translated into action with Twitter and Facebook used to push for his sacking.
Blogging at in other words… Tom Cummings was one of the first to comment:
Loathe as I am to give oxygen to the ramblings of an embittered old man, some things need to be challenged. Tomorrow's Sunday Telegraph will feature a near-full-page article describing how broadcaster/shock-jock Alan Jones told a group of Young Liberals attending the Sydney University Liberal Club President's Dinner that Prime Minister Julia Gillard's father John, who passed away recently, “died of shame.” He said:
“The old man recently died a few weeks ago of shame. To think that he had a daughter who told lies every time she stood for parliament.”
Tom included this image of the following day’s Sunday Telegraph that was quickly doing the rounds via Twitter:
Comedian and social commentator Catherine Deveny was one of many who posted a list of Jones’ sponsors, which had been taken down from the radio station website:
@CatherineDeveny: Here are a list of companies you may consider #boycott2GB because of the station and Jones’ ongoing hate and misogyny. pic.twitter.com/hH8TvwaX 30 Sep 12
The #boycott2GB twitter hashtag went viral and Alan Jones quickly joined the Australian Trends.
Alan Jones. Photo from Flickr page of Eva Rinaldi Celebrity and Live Music Photographer
An online petition on Change.org “2GB and Associated Advertisers on Alan Jones’ Radio Program: Immediately terminate the contract and cease association with Alan Jones..” had over 75,000 signatures by Tuesday morning 2 October. A related petition called for the sacking of a Woolworths executive for allegedly donating a “chaff bag jacket” to an auction at the dinner. The chaff bagreference is to previous contentious remarks by Jones about Julia Gillard.
At first it was difficult to find anyone supporting Jones or his subsequent qualified apology. Jones defended himself by claiming that he is the object of hatred, vilification and jealousy. Warren didn’t want us to linger on the matter:
@surfbird03: While Alan Jones comments were at best stupid, they were not said on air. Maybe just maybe it's time to move on. 1Oct 12
Some tweeters who are against Julia Gillard and her ALP (Australian labor Party) government were tweeting nevertheless. Ted Ball tried to turn the focus back on Labor:
@TedTBall: Labor MP's who use Julia Gillards dad as a political weapon are as bad if not worse than Alan Jones #auspol #alp #myliberal 1 Oct 12
This came after attacks on the Liberal leader Tony Abbott, claiming he has lowered political discourse. There is little doubt that the tone of web debate has hit rock bottom in recent years.
Onliners were busy on Facebook as well. Toyota Australia’s page had over 350 comments on Monday as well. Anne Fitzgerald summed up the feeling:
OMG I love Toyotas. Please stop supporting Alan Jones. This social media impact will last for years to come. The combination of last week's Melbourne tragedy and Jones's offensive behaviour have brought more and more people to this way of protesting. We will keep alive for years to come the names of those who put profits before ethics. Get yourself off the list! I will put a sign on my car denouncing my Rav4 until you do!!!!
This is a fast-moving story. Some advertisers and sponsors have withdrawn and a couple of regional radio stations have dropped Jones’ program. A new petition with 500 signatures calls to Revoke the title of Order of Australia that he was awarded in 1988 for his services as Australian Rugby Union coach.

author: Kevin Rennie


text:
Brazil: Sany Kalapalo – Young, Indigenous and a Xingu Activist · Global Voices
João Miguel Lima

This post is part of our special coverage Dossiê Belo Monte (Belo Monte Dossier) [pt] and Indigenous Rights.
[All links lead to Portuguese language pages]
With this interview, divided in two parts, we get to know Sany Kalapalo, a young indigenous activist from Alto Xingu in the Brazilian state Mato Grosso. At only 22 years old, she is one of the coordinators of the mobilization against the controversial Belo Monte hydroelectric powerplant, which is being constructed in the Volta Grande do Xingu region in the state of Pará.
Identified in her blog as a “daughter of Xingu river, from the Kalapalo and Aweti ethnicities, from the Karib dialect,” “indigenous activist,” and “daughter of Pajé Kunue,” Sany is a student about to attempt to enter college in São Paulo and also a teacher of Xingu indigenous culture.
Global Voices (GV): Who is and what does Sany Kalapalo do?
Sany Kalapalo. Image from her personal collection, authorized for publication on this post.
Sany Kalapalo (SK): Sou Sany, indígena do Alto Xingu, no Mato Grosso. Kalapalo por parte da etnia do meu pai e Aweti por parte da etnia da minha mãe, por isso meu nome completo é Sany Aweti Kalapalo, mais conhecida como Sany Kalapalo. Moro na cidade juntamente com uma parte da minha família, e estamos fazendo intercâmbio cultural. Nas férias sempre vamos para o Xingu visitar todos os parentes. Sou estudante e ativista em prol do meio ambiente e povos indígenas.
GV: How did you get involved with the Belo Monte campaign?
SK: Em março de 2011 eu e a minha amiga e parceira de luta Miryám Hess organizamos o primeiro protesto contra a Usina de Belo Monte em São Paulo. Foi um fracasso, só compareceram 12 pessoas, e depois organizamos com muito mais divulgação nas ruas e pela internet, aí conseguimos bom público na maior cidade do Brasil. Também para divulgar mais, quebrei o medo da câmera e fui a algumas TVs online, como JustTV, TV Orkut, e algumas entrevistas nas ruas. Daí por diante participei de vários encontros ambientais, como o Rio+20 também.
GV: Nowadays, is your contact with the Xingu people and monitoring of the plant's construction being made at a distance, or do you have a story of life and presence in the local?
SK: Já faz 9 anos que eu e a minha família moramos aqui [em São Paulo]. Na verdade alguns dos meus irmãos chegaram há pouco tempo, e não ficamos direto na cidade. Nas férias vamos ao Xingu para visitar os parentes e a nossa mãe. Meu contato com o meu povo às vezes é pessoalmente quando eu vou para lá, via telefone, via internet. Sempre tento estar por dentro de tudo que está acontecendo por lá. Tiro informações através das lideranças locais, até porque o Xingu é muito grande, dividido em três partes: Alto Xingu, Médio Xingu e Baixo Xingu.
GV: The mobilization against the hydroelectric took over the streets in some Brazilian cities and generated great buzz over the Internet. In which ways has the use of social networks and virtual tools contributed to enhance the mobilization?
SK: A internet tem sido uma ferramenta superimportante para mobilizar as pessoas, já que as grandes mídias ignoram e manipulam as informações vindas dessa construção Monstruosa!
Por exemplo, em fevereiro de 2011 eu criei minha conta no Facebook voltada para o ativismo contra Belo Monte. Em três meses já estava com cinco mil pessoas na minha página por causa das postagens pesadas e reais que falavam sobre Belo Monte. Muitos que não conheciam a respeito dessa mega Usina passaram a conhecer, e muitos deles se tornaram ativistas em defesa do Xingu. E juntos começamos a fazer grandes manifestações.
SK: The Internet has been a super important tool to mobilize people, seing that big media ignore and manipulate information coming from that monstruous construction!
For instance, in February 2011 I created my Facebook account focused on activism against Belo Monte. In three months, I had 5,000 people on my profile because of the real and heavy posts about Belo Monte. Many of those who didn't know anything about this mega plant got to know, and many of them became activists in favor of the Xingu. And together we started to make great protests.
Protesters against Belo Monte hydroelectric, Altamira. Image by K. L. Hoffmann copyright Demotix (August 19, 2011)
GV: During 2011, you created you Twitter profile (@sanyakalapalo) and a personal blog, and in 2012 a YouTube channel. How do you use and appropriate these pages?
SK: Já estou com Twitter desde o ano passado, só que nunca entrava antes, até porque não sabia mexer direito e agora tô aprendendo aos poucos. rsrs. O blog também criei ano passado e não entro muito nele devido a falta de tempo, já no Facebook entro todos dias. Acredito que as redes sociais ajudam bastante para divulgar qualquer coisa e estão me ajudando muito a divulgar a cultura indígena e a minha luta.
GV: Right on the cover of your blog, you describe yourself as “loved by some, hated by others,” and this intrigues me a little. To what do you refer to in this passage? What affects your reputation?
SK: “Amada por uns, odiada por outros”. É, coloquei assim, porque vejo que tem pessoas que gostam de mim, acompanham meu ativismo, e tem pessoas que se incomodam comigo e me xingam e até hackearam algumas contas que eu tinha nas redes sociais. Às vezes recebo ameaças pelas redes, mas não me incomodo muito com isso e continuo lutando.
GV: You are a young indigenous but very active, and you have inclusively created the Indigenous in Action Movement, that has an page on the internet. Are other young indigenous who have also been using the Internet as a platform of expression and fight?
SK: Faço alguma coisa pelo meu povo e pelo meio ambiente de coração. Escolhi seguir os passos do meu vô, que foi um grande guerreiro xinguano. Ele foi um guerreiro da Paz e tenho muito orgulho de ser neta dele. Criei o Movimento Indígenas em Ação em março de 2011 com o intuito de dizer para todos que índio não é do passado, que ainda existimos e queremos nossos direitos respeitados. Também criei a campanha Orgulho Indígena e recebi alguns prêmios por isso. Atualmente sou presidente-fundadora do Movimento Indígenas em Ação e logo teremos um escritório aqui em São Paulo. Vi que inspirei alguns jovens indígenas. Eles mesmos chegaram e me falaram isso. Acho isso muito bom, cada vez mais jovens indígenas estão participando da política voltada aos nossos direitos.
After starting some university courses, Sany decided to try to enter in the Languages course at Universidade de São Paulo. She intends to be writer to take indigenous culture to other audiences. In a few days we will publish the second part of this interview, in which Sany talks about hydroelectric powerplants, development, indigenous people, and the Internet.
This post is part of our special coverage Dossiê Belo Monte (Belo Monte Dossier) [pt] and Indigenous Rights.

author: João Miguel Lima


text:
China: Noodle and Food for 10,000 People · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Liuzhou Laowai took some photos of an event called “10,000 people together enjoy luosifen” [a kind of noodle] at the Liuzhou International Convention and Exhibition Centre in Guangxi province on September 29. Apart from noodle, there are more cuisines with local favor such as BBQ scorpion sticks.

author: Oiwan Lam


text:
China: Holiday Trash · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Alia from Offbeat China collected some pictures from social media platforms showing the trash scenes in touristic sites as a result of 8-day holiday for the Mid Autumn Day and the National Day.


text:
Colombia: Citizens Support Lawsuit Against Lleras Law  · Global Voices
Lully

In their blog, [es] Fundación Karisma [es] reports that they have joined other organizations in a “supportive intervention” in Senator Camilo Romero's [es] lawsuit against the constitutionality of Law 1520 [pdf, es], also known as Lleras Law 2.0. Fundación Karisma shares links to two Citizen Interventions [es] which lay out their requests before the Constitutional Court of Colombia.

author: Lully


text:
Denmark: “Happy Divorces” with Big Banks · Global Voices
Maria Grabowski

Are you sure you want to take out money here?
This question was posted across ATMs of the big banks in Denmark back in September. It was the warm-up for the ‘Bank Transfer Day’ that kicked off on October 1, 2012.
The ‘Bank Transfer Day’ campaign [da] is a citizen initiative working to make the Danes reconsider where they keep their money – to consider if they can vouch for their bank. The goal of the campaign is to make the Danes dump the big banks and go to smaller savings banks and co-operative local banks instead.
Photo by 401(K) 2012 on Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND)
“Break up with your bank,” they shout on Facebook.
Price increases in loans and overdrafts may have helped push the initiative forward – either way, more and more Danes express dissatisfaction with their banks, and so far an unknown amount have even switched banks.
The Facebook page [da] of ‘Bank Transfer Day’ has over 6,000 ‘likes’, and posts tick in with messages of “happy divorces” with old banks and recommendations for new ones.
Klaus Nørregaard [da] writes:
Just signed the papers and moved the household's activities to Arbejdernes Landsbank” [an unlisted shareholding bank]
Hatice Ucar [da] asks:
Which bank do you have? Do you recommend it and why?
It seems, however, that the day is only happy for the ones with sound financial circumstances. More people have commented on the wall that they were not allowed to change bank, as Ahu Perle Öztürk [da] comments:
Errrmmm, my bank won't break up with me?
The ‘Bank Transfer Day’ initiative comes as a reaction to the banks’ jeopardizing behavior before and after the recession, they explain on their Facebook page [da] and website [da].
The Danish initiative happens in the wake of similar international initiatives.

author: Maria Grabowski


text:
France, Africa: The Debate on Genetically Modified Organisms Grows Contentious · Global Voices
Abdoulaye Bah

[All links forward to French articles unless otherwise stated]
A two year scientific study using laboratory rats has been conducted by a team of researchers led by Gilles-Eric Séralini. The researchers arrived at conclusions which have reawakened French debate on the effects of genetically modified organisms, or GMOs.
The study was led by a team from the University of Caen supported by the Committee for Research and Independent Information on Genetic Engineering (CRIIGEN) and was conducted to examine the toxicity levels of GMOs on rats. This study has raised many important questions on the effects of GMOs while scientific community has also raised concerns about what conclusions can properly be drawn from it.
In a post on website journaldelenvironnement.net, Stephanie Senet and Romain Loury, analysed the outcome:
Mortalité précoce, tumeurs volumineuses, anomalies sévères au niveau des organes épurateurs (foie, reins)… [..]. L’équipe de scientifiques a constaté qu’un mâle nourri avec l’OGM mourait un an plus tôt, et une femelle 8 mois avant l’animal-témoin. Au 17 mois, les résultats montrent une mortalité 5 fois supérieure chez les mâles nourris avec 11% de maïs génétiquement modifié -la plus faible dose d’OGM étudiée.
Les mâles sont atteints de tumeurs 20 mois avant les autres. Les femelles en présentent 3 mois avant les autres, principalement au niveau des glandes mammaires. Autre facteur de mortalité, principalement chez les mâles, les atteintes rénales sont jusqu’à 2,3 fois plus fréquentes, les anomalies hépatiques jusqu’à 5,5 fois plus.
Early mortality, large tumors, severe abnormalities of filtration organs (liver, kidneys)… [..]. The team of scientists found that a GMO-fed male died a year earlier, and a female 8 months before the animal-control. In the 17 month, the results show 5 times mortality in males fed with 11% of genetically modified maize – the lowest dose of GMOs studied.
Males suffered from tumors 20 months before the others. Females showed them 3 months before the others, mainly in the mammary glands. Another factor in mortality, mainly in males, was that kidney damage was up to 2.3 times more frequent, liver abnormalities up to 5.5 times more.
Screenshot of a video by lux lucis on GMOs study showing one of the tested rats
An internet user, walter99, commented on an article on website atlantico.fr:
Les hommes de Monsanto vont envahir la France par centaines Bon, vendez vos actions Monsanto, ça ne vaudra bientôt plus rien. Ça va faire pschitt… Ils vont mettre le paquet en cherchant dans sa vie privée, en essayant de l'acheter ou de le faire chanter, ces gens ont un argent sans limite. Ils peuvent dépenser un milliard en campagne d'opinion. Faudra surveiller les comptes des journalistes….
Divergent opinions
Sophie Chapel, on the bastamag.net blog, wrote:
La contre-attaque de Monsanto à l’étude sur les OGM de Gilles-Eric Séralini et du Criigen ne s’est pas faite attendre. C’est un courriel envoyé par un dirigeant de Monsanto, Jaime Costa, ingénieur agronome et directeur technique de Monsanto en Espagne. Il conseille à ses interlocuteurs d’aller consulter plusieurs réactions de scientifiques critiquant l’étude. Des scientifiques loin d’être indépendants…
For example, scientific journalist Michel de Pracontal wrote the following in a critical analysis entitled ‘GMOs: a study makes much ado about almost nothing’ on mediapart.fr:
Problème : de nombreux scientifiques affirment que « l’étude n’a pas de valeur scientifique ». Sur une question aussi complexe, la méthodologie retenue par les auteurs, Gilles-Eric Séralini et ses collègues, fait apparaître toute une série de lacunes et de points faibles.
These gaps and uncertainties were explained by Professor JF Narbonne:
La première observation est un fort taux de tumeurs chez les témoins et dans plusieurs cas le taux de tumeurs chez les traités n'est pas plus important que chez les témoins. Tous les lots présentent donc des taux de tumeurs très importants, de 30 à 80% des animaux [..] Cette étude donne des résultats surprenants, inexplicables et comporte quelques lacunes évidentes. Les résultats doivent donc être sérieusement étudiés par les experts des agences sanitaires d'autant plus que de nombreux paramètres autres que le cancer ont été mesurés. En revanche, toutes les extrapolations [que les médias ont conclu] relèvent de la désinformation caractérisée.
Following an initiative of the French Government, the European Commission questioned the European Food Safety Authority [en] (EFSA), asking it to conduct its own counter-investigation. However, Serafini set conditions that Catherine Geslain-Lanéelle, Director of the EFSA rejected. The website reporterre.net detailed:
Gilles-Eric Séralini est d’accord pour une expertise de l’Efsa à condition que les experts soient renouvelés de telle manière que ceux-ci ne soient conduits à devoir se contredire. La directrice de l’Efsa ne l’entend pas de cette oreille. Elle refuse le renouvellement de ses experts. Sa positon, c’est “Je maintiens. Tout”.
On the same site, Corinne Lepage, President and founder of CRIIGEN, and member of the European Parliament said in an interview:
Il faut savoir en effet que ces experts, qui n’ont jamais réclamé des études de plus de 90 jours sur le NK603, pourraient dans le futur être mis en cause. Ils sont donc aujourd’hui juges et parties
The duration of the study seems to have acquired a great importance. Stéphanie Senet et Romain Loury stated in a post on website journaldelenvironnement.net:
Aucune étude aussi longue, et avec autant de paramètres, n’avait été menée jusqu’à présent. Les travaux financés par les industriels s’étaient en effet limités à des observations pendant 3 mois.
While the debate among scientists is therefore far from being closed, between the pro and anti-GM, the public is far from being reassured. Yves Puget stated on lsa-conso.fr that:
Selon un sondage Ifop réalisé pour Dimanche Ouest France, 79% des personnes interrogées s'inquiètent de la présence éventuelle d'OGM dans l'alimentation.
It seems there is something to be concerned about according to Marion Rocky of website terrafemina.com:
Et si les cultures transgéniques sont interdites en France, 80% des animaux d’élevage consomment des céréales contenant des OGM. Ainsi, deux tiers des importations de soja en France sont des OGM qui servent à l’alimentation du bétail : on peut ensuite en trouver des traces dans la viande, les œufs, le lait.
Francophone Africa joined the debate, with Dosso commenting under a post on lefaso.net:
Je me demande souvent à quoi servent notre CNRST et la LNSP souvent ; c'est pas parce que les laboratoires occidentaux ont dit que tel produit est bon que nos techniciens ne doivent plus rien faire pour confirmer ou infirmer encore ; Mais c'est grave, et écoeurant. Est ce qu'il y a vraiment des services de recherche en Afrique et au Burkina en particulier ?
In the following video, the president of the TATA association (Young  People as Pillars of the Rural World in english) , Jean Rakotomanana, explains the effects of GMOs and pesticides on agriculture in Madagascar:
The site monsanto.fr states that:
L’Afrique du sud, l’Egypte et le Burkina Faso sont les trois pays africains ayant choisi de cultiver des OGM.
In Zimbabwe, Kenya and Ghana, lobbyists are piling on the pressure. What is more, Africa cannot even feed itself, it is difficult to stem the flow of GMOs onto the continental market. Ten years ago, contrary to Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland and the Zimbabwe, Zambia refused corn from the United States, provided by the United Nations, suspecting that it contained GMOs.
However, farmers and civil society in many countries are not hiding their doubts on GMOs and are demanding a better understanding of the advantages and disadvantages of introducing them to their crops.

author: Abdoulaye Bah