text:
‘Shots Started Ringing Everywhere. Then What? Then People Being Hit, Screams, Utter Chaos’     · Global Voices
Ayesha Saldanha

Evacuation warning from Israeli army.
The Israeli army attacked and occupied the village of Khuza'a, east of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, in the week beginning July 21. It is still not clear how many Palestinians were killed or wounded, as for many days ambulances were prevented from entering the village and bodies were left in the street or under the rubble of houses.
Student Mahmoud Ismail survived the attack, and tweeted about his experience. Now he has now published a fuller account on Facebook.
About 1,100 people have been killed in Gaza and thousands more injured since Israel launched an operation there nearly three weeks ago. As civilian death tolls mount, Israel’s military says it is warning Gazans living in targeted areas to leave, but Palestinians have nowhere to go. The narrow 40-kilometre-long coastal strip is surrounded by fences and concrete walls along its north and east with Israel and on its southern border with Egypt.
On July 20, the Israeli army called most of the residents of Khuza'a and sent text messages, instructing them to leave the village. They also intercepted Al Aqsa television channel, showing an evacuation warning.
Of the 10,000 residents of Khuza'a, approximately 7,000 left. Ismail explained why some people stayed:
كنّا ثلاثة آلاف شخص قرّر كل واحد فينا، وبشكل فردي، تجاهل كل التهديدات وأوامر الإخلاء والبقاء في بيوتنا. ليس في ذلك أي بطولة. كل ما في الأمر أن فينا من كان يمكن أن يصاب بانهيار عصبيّ لو نام في غير سريره، وآخر كان أكثر كسلاً ممّا تتطلبه عملية الإخلاء. وآخرين، مثلي، لم يرون في اسوأ خيالاتهم السيناريو الذي كان يترصّدهم بعد ساعات قليلة.
There were 3,000 of us who had each, on our own, decided to ignore all the threats and orders to evacuate, and to stay in our homes. There was no heroism involved in this; some of us would have suffered a nervous breakdown if we’d had to leave, and some simply didn’t have the energy required to get out. Others, like me, couldn’t imagine even in their worst nightmares the scenario that would play out in a few hours.
Khuza’a is close to the Israeli border. It was heavily attacked by Israeli forces during Operation Cast Lead in 2009, and the Goldstone Report later documented that Israeli snipers had shot civilians and ambulances were prevented from taking the wounded away.
During the latest attack, the Israeli army have once again prevented ambulances from entering the village and have targeted civilians, according to Gaza NGO the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights. Various eyewitnesses report that the army used Palestinians as human shields.
Ismail described what happened when the attack started:
الغارة الأولى قطعت الطريق التي توصل خزاعة بخانيونس. الثانية ضربت محولات الكهرباء. الثالثة أبراج شركة المحمول. الرابعة خطوط الهاتف الأرضي. نحن وحدنا وليل خزاعة حالك والقصف لا يتوقف. الطيران يعضّ كل شيء. زجاج الشبابيك يتساقط. الشظايا تغزّ بيتك وكل ما هو حولك. تحتمي في مكان تعتقد أنه أقل خطورة وتأخذ وضعيّة تعتقد أنها ستحميك. تحصي الغارات والاحتمالات: هل هذا الصوت لصاروخ في طريقه لنا؟ هل هذه القذيفة في البيت؟ لماذا لم تنفجر؟ هل استهدفت بيت فلان؟ المسجد الفلاني؟ هذه غارة إف 16، هذا قصف مدفعي. ليلة كاملة تحاول أن تحافظ فيها على عقلك وتمالك ما تبقى من أعصابك.
في الصباح قالوا اخرجوا. الصليب الأحمر على مدخل البلدة سيؤمن خروجكم، اخرجوا، الجيش لا يريد إلحاق الأذية بكم، العملية تستهدف بيوتكم وشوارعكم وأراضيكم وكل نواحي حياتكم، لكن حياتكم ليست هدفًا. خرجنا مع الثلاثة آلاف. مشينا في حشدٍ مهيب كما مشى سكان الشجاعيّة قبل أيام وكما مشى أجدادنا قبل 66 عامًا. نمشي، وعيوننا تفحص داهشة حجم الدمار الذي يمكن لقصف ليلة واحدة أن يتسبب به، نمشي كأننا نودّع كل ما تبقى. لكن هذا كلّه لا يهمّ، تجمّد مشاعرك وتركّز على قدميك. تصل إلى حيث قالوا. تجد رصًا من الدبابات ولا شيء آخر. لا تكاد تشعر بالفخ قبل أن يدوّي الرصاص في كل مكان.
ثم ماذا؟ ثم ضربٌ وصراخ ولغوٌ وجدل.
The first attack was on the road to Khan Younis, cutting Khuza’a off. The second hit the power transformers. The third, the mobile phone towers. The fourth, the landlines. We were alone, and the night in Khuza’a was pitch black, and the bombardment wasn’t stopping. The planes were hitting everything. The glass was falling from the windows, shrapnel was flying into the house and all around us. We sheltered in a place we thought was less dangerous, taking a position we thought would protect us. We counted the attacks and calculated the possibilities: is this the sound of a missile on its way to us? Is this shell in the house? Why hasn’t it exploded? Is so-and-so’s house targeted? Such-and-such mosque? This is a F16 attack, that is an artillery bombardment. The whole night was spent trying to hold on to our minds and what remained of our nerves.
In the morning they told us to get out, that the Red Cross at the entrance of the village would ensure our exit. Get out, the army doesn’t want to hurt you; the operation is targeting your houses and streets and land and every aspect of your life, but your lives themselves are not the target. Three thousand of us came out. We walked in a crowd as massive as the one in Shuja’iya days earlier, like the one our forefathers walked in 66 years earlier. As we walked, we saw with astonishment the scale of the destruction of a single night. We walked as if we were saying goodbye to what was left. But that wasn’t important; you had to freeze your feelings and focus on your feet.
We reached the point they had told us to go to, and found a line of tanks, and nothing else. We had just realised it was a trap when shots started ringing everywhere.
Then what? Then people being hit, screams, utter chaos.
Ismail, his mother and brother took refuge in a nearby house:
كنّا ثلاثة آلاف، صرنا خمسون شخصًا. تجمّعنا في بيتٍ واحد. نصفنا ليس من أهل البيت لكن هذا أيضًا لا يهمّ. توزعنا بين ثلاث غرف كي لا نموت معًا إن حانت اللحظة. (نعم، يراوغ الانسان عقله في لحظات كهذه ويقنعه أن حائطًا قديمًا يفصل بين غرفتين يمكن أن يحدّ من الخسائر التي سيتسبب بها صاروخ أطول من أطولنا وأثقل منّا مجتمعين).
في الغرفة معي كان عجوزان يهيّجان أزمتي النفسية: أحدهما بمفاضلته بين الحروب التي عاصرها في حياته والآخر بإلحاحه المستمر على شربة ماء قبل آذان الصيام متناسيًا للمرة الألف أن قطرة ماء واحدة لم تتبقى في البيت بعد استهداف الجيش لخزّانات المياه. الأطفال يمارسون دورهم الطبيعي في الحياة: البكاء خوفًا، البكاء مللاً، البكاء عطشًا. المهم أن يبكوا. الآخرين، وأنا منهم، نستمع إلى نثار حديث العجوزين بصمت وملل ونطالع الشبّاك والساعة في انتظار الصباح. (ثمّة، على ما يبدو، خرافة لا أدري مصدرها تقول أن احتمالات الموت تتضاءل وأن القصف تقل وتيرته مع أول خيط للضوء. لكنها، كما كل الخرافات، غير ملزمة بتوقعاتك منها وباسقاطاتك عليها).
We had been 3,000; now we were 50 people. We gathered in one house. Half of us were not from the family of the house, but that didn’t matter. We were distributed between three rooms, so that we wouldn’t die all together if the moment came. (Yes, people take leave of their senses at times like this, and convince themselves that the old wall separating two rooms could limit the losses caused by a missile taller than any of them and heavier than all of them put together.)
In our room were two elderly men who were making me feel even more anxious, one by comparing the situation with the other wars he had experienced, and the other by his insistence on drinking water before the call to prayer, ignoring the fact that barely any water was left in the house after the army had targeted the water tanks. Children were playing their natural role: crying from fear, crying from boredom, crying from thirst. The main thing is that they were crying. Others, myself included, were listening to the fragments of chatter of the old men in silence and boredom, and looked out of the window and at the clock, waiting for morning. (There seems to be a myth, the origin of which I don’t know, that says the probability of dying diminishes and bombardment decreases with first light. But as with all myths, your expectations will fall short.)
Ismail recounted having to watch a 20-year-old man dying over a period of hours, as no one was able to go and help him. Two of his own cousins died, one trying to help the other.
طلع الضوء وسقط الصاروخ الأول على درج البيت. اسوأ من صوت الإنفجار؟ صمت ما بعد الانفجار. أو ما تخونك أذنيك به فتظنه صمتًا. تشظّى كل شيء. اللون الرمادي هو كل ما تراه. لحظات ليعود لك سمعك وينقشع الغبار. الخوف يتحوّل إلى جثث واللون الأحمر يفضّ الرمادي. أمّك وأخوك؟ لا زالوا أحياء. تعود لقدميك، بعد ستة عشر ساعة خمول، وظيفتهما الأولى: الركض. تبتعد عن المكان، يسقط الصاروخ الثاني. تصفّر شظاياه في أذنيك، تتأكد أنك بخير. تهرب إلى بيتك، دقائق ويقصف بيتك. تهرب مجددًا. الكثير من الناس تتحرّك في الكثير من الاتجاهات. ترسم المروحيّة في السماء لك بطلقاتها طريق المنفذ الوحيد. تركض إليه. تركض كأن حياتك تعتمد على ذلك، لأن حياتك بالفعل تعتمد على ذلك. تركض فوق الذين سقطوا، تركض بجانب الجثث، عينٌ على الدمار والطريق المفخّخة بالحفر وعين على عائلتك التي تذوب في السيل الجاري.
Light appeared and the first missile landed on the steps of the house. What’s worse than the sound of an explosion? The silence of an explosion. Or what deceives your ears by making you think it is silence. Everything disintegrates. You can only see grey. It takes some moments for your hearing to return and for the dust to settle. Fear turns into corpses, and red breaks up the grey. Your mother and brother? They’re still alive. You get back on your feet, which have been idle for sixteen hours, and their first task is to run. You get away from the place just before the second missile hits. Shrapnel is whistling past your ears, and you check that you’re OK. You escape to your house, and minutes later your house is hit. You escape again. There are many people running in many directions. With its firing, the helicopter in the sky outlines the only escape route. You run towards it. You run as if your life depends on it, because your life does indeed depend on it. You run over the top of those who have fallen, you run next to corpses, with an eye on the destruction and the bombed road full of holes, and an eye on your family who are dissolving in the movement of people.
Ismail didn't know exactly what happened to the other people in the house he had been sheltering in — just that his shoes were soaked in their blood. After running from that house, he and family made it to their home, which was hit by three missiles minutes later. He was slightly injured.
He, his mother and brother then tried to leave the village. Helicopters were firing on people, and on the way he saw the bodies of his uncle and cousin next to their house. Israeli snipers were targeting people's legs to stop them leaving.
خرجت وعائلتي والكثير من العائلات من خزاعة. كيف؟ حالفنا الحظ. لماذا؟ لا أملك أدنى فكرة. الأهم أن ثمة من بقيوا هناك، وأن الجثث لا زالت حتى هذه اللحظة في الشوارع وتحت الأنقاض. كم عددهم؟ قد يكون 20، 50، 100.. لا أحد يعرف بشكل أكيد، وهذا هو الأمر الوحيد الأكيد. الصور الوحيدة التي خرجت من خزاعة حتى اللحظة كانت مقتضبة ومصدرها الجيش الإسرائيلي وتظهر مشاهد دمار تحشي الصدر بالحقد وتدمي القلب وتنبئ بأن الأيام الهادئة لهذه القرية الوادعة ولأهلها الطيّبين لن تعود عمّا قريب.. وربما للأبد.
My family and I, and other families, managed to get out of Khuza’a. How? We were lucky. Why? I don’t have the slightest idea. More importantly, the bodies of those who stayed are until now in the streets and under the rubble. How many were there? Perhaps 20, 50, 100? No one is certain. The few images that have come out of Khuza'a until now are from the Israeli army, and show heartrending scenes of destruction that fill your chest with hatred, and make you think that the tranquillity of this village and its people will not return any time soon – or perhaps ever.

author: Ayesha Saldanha


text:
Bangladesh Authorities Shut Down a 200-Year-Old Brothel, Evicting Hundreds of Sex Workers · Global Voices
পান্থ রহমান রেজা (Pantha)

Aerial view of Kandapara brothel in Tangail, a northeastern city of Bangladesh. Image by Ranak Martin. Copyright Demotix (1/12/2012)
The 200-year-old Kandapara brothel in Tangail, one of the oldest brothels in Bangladesh, was shuttered on July 14, 2014. Tremendous pressure from local Muslim clerics and politicians supposedly led to the brothel's closure, but the national platform of sex workers of Bangladesh has accused local authorities of land grabbing under the guise of religious piety.
More than 759 prostitutes were evicted as a result. Residents were only given a few hours’ notice, human rights organizations have protested. The Facebook page of women-centered publication “Women Chapter” says that the evicted sex workers are now facing uncertainties and living in unsafe environments.
Sociologist Laura Agustín tweeted how the sex workers were evicted:
Kandapara #sexworkers group: ‘Armed with sticks they told us we have one hour to leave or they would burn down the brothel with kerosene’.
— Laura Agustín (@LauraAgustin) July 14, 2014
Twitter user ATM Zakaria warned:
পুনর্বাসন ব্যাতিত যৌনপল্লিটি উচ্ছেদ সমাজ এবং রাষ্ট্রের জন্য হুমকি ==========================================… http://t.co/d6yLqX9a8Q
— ATM ZAKARIA (@atmzakaria71) July 14, 2014
Eviction of sex workers without rehabilitation is a threat to the society and nation.
Mogoje Curfew (Curfew in the brain) wrote on Sovyata (Civilization) blog that these sex workers did not join the profession willingly, but out of hardship or coercion. The blogger wrote what will happen to the sex workers without rehabilitation:
এই লাঞ্চিত এবং অমানবিক জীবন যাপন করা মেয়েগুলো কি করবে তা আমরা না জানলেও অনুমান করতে পারি । তাদের বাইরে কোথাও কেউ কাজ দেবে না এটা নিশ্চিত থাকতে পারেন । বাধ্য হয়ে এরা এইবার এদের খাবার জোগাড় করবে মানুষের বাড়ি বাড়ি গিয়ে ।
We can guess the future of the evicted sex workers who are oppressed. They will certainly not get any work out there. They have to beg from home to home to feed their mouths.
The Kandapara brothels sprung up from 1860 to 1880 as traders arrived on commercial vessels. They had both time and money and were sex workers’ main clients. The total population was until recently about 2,000, including sex workers, their children, some parents, babus (fixed lovers/permanent clients), pimps, and landlords.
It's not the first brothel to be shut down and its workers evicted in the Muslim-majority country, where conservatism is on the rise. On July 23, 1999, the Tanbazar brothels, one of the oldest and largest, were closed down and about 2,600 sex workers were evicted from their homes. Dhaka's Kandupatti, home to several thousand sex workers, was next. Then it was Magura. Last August, attacks were carried out on the Madaripur brothel and homes of approximately 500 sex workers were vandalized and looted.
Members from Sex Workers Network of Bangladesh (SWNOB) form a human chain in Dhaka protesting attack on sex workers in a brothel in Madaripur. Image by Shafiqul Alam. Copyright Demotix (29/8/2013)
The general understanding is that religious and social pressures were behind the eviction in Tangails Kandapara. However, Sex Workers Network, the national platform of sex workers of Bangladesh, said in a press conference on July 17, 2014 that the local mayor harnessed religious sentiments to grab the 302-decimal land of the Kandapara brothel.
Similar accusations were made after the eviction of the Tanbazar and Madaripur brothels. The people behind the eviction denied the allegations. They claimed that the brothels are source of criminal activity.
Sex workers formed human chain at front of press club in Dhaka protesting the eviction of Kandapara brothel, Tangail. Image by Mohammad Asad. Copyright Demotix (20/7/2014)
Bangladesh is one of the few Muslim-majority countries were prostitution is not officially banned. Prostitution can be found in the old history of Bengal, but this profession never had any legal recognition, including during the British colonial period. In 2000, a local court recognized the profession in a verdict.
In Bangladesh, there are 18 registered brothels and around 200,000 sex workers across the country. A recent study revealed rampant child prostitution.
Kazi Mamun Hossain, a diaspora Bangladeshi blogger, wrote on Bangla blogging platform Somewhereinblog:
পতিতাবৃত্তিকে নিষিদ্ধ না করা আবার পতিতাবৃত্তিকে স্বীকৃতি না দেয়ার মতো রাষ্ট্রযন্ত্রের দু'মুখো আচরণের তীব্র প্রতিবাদ জানাই৷ কোনো প্রকার পুর্নবাসনের ব্যবস্থা না করেই পতিতাদের উচ্ছেদ করার তীব্র প্রতিবাদ জানাই৷
I condemn the duality of the state in not banning the prostitution, but also not upholding sex workers rights. I strongly protest eviction of the sex workers without rehabilitation.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: পান্থ রহমান রেজা (Pantha)


text:
‘Boyfriend No, Only Volleyball’: Kazakh Sportswoman Ignores Marriage Proposals After Going Viral  · Global Voices
Dasha Kondrateva

Altynbekova fan art shared on Twitter via @Linear_Brush
Since 17-year old Kazakh volleyball player Sabina Altynbekova opened a Twitter account on July 22, partly to counter a number of fake and fan accounts using her name, she has amassed over 23,000 followers. She has been proposed to, turned into an anime character and subjected to mainstream media headlines such as Kazakh Teen Volleyball Player is Turned On by Her Own Teammates Because She Is So Attractive Nobody Watches the Sport Anymore and Legs, Volleyball, Babe – Sabina Altynbekova Spikes Media Interest.
Apparently against her own wishes, the tall and strikingly attractive No.20 for Kazakhstan's under-19 national team has become a goddess-meme on the South East Asian Internet. All of this after a few performances for her country at a youth volleyball tournament in Taipei, Taiwan last week.
One might argue that the objectification — often distasteful — of Altynbekova, who still attends school, benefits neither her progress as a sportswoman nor women's volleyball at large, since the social media-fuelled noise has been more about her limbs than her skills. But if nothing else, it has put Kazakhstan back on the map after post-Borat rebranding efforts failed to change perceptions of the country.
Sabina-Crazy
Altynbekova began to gather a global fanbase from July 16 when Kazakhstan played China in their first game of the Tapei tournament. On July 19, Chinese media interviewed her and ran a brief report emphasizing the length of her legs. By July 22, Vietnamese blogger Hoai Giang Truong was writing on his bubblews blog:
Sabina was really causing the fans to “bureaucratic tempting” because their lovely looks. After the image of the young girl shared on a popular website, Sabina suddenly become the focus of public attention on the Asia network. Along admire the beauty of the beautiful girl country Kazakhstan.
In other words, Sabina had gone viral.
In Spain:
@altynbekova_20 Te quiero con todo mi corazón *I love you with all my heart*
— ⓢⓐⓜ.ⓖ.ⓜⓘⓡⓐⓒⓛⓔ (@01SamuelArz) July 26, 2014
Indonesia:
Hai Sabina @altynbekova_20 , this is photo for you. Some kind of Meme Comic taken from @onecak #LoveSabinaltynbekova pic.twitter.com/tR8YAv85Rn
— Ganang Restu Bariadi (@ganbariadi) July 26, 2014
Malaysia:
@LoveSabinaMalay @altynbekova_20 amboi siap ada fans akaun dah skrg haha
— Blank. (@Luzinsuh) July 26, 2014
And so on.
Anime tributes to Sabina were everywhere and one Twitter user even compared Sabina to Bayonetta, the heroine of Japanese anime film Bloody Fate:
Wow. RT @Richmond_Lee: Sabina Altynbekova (of the Kazakhstan Women's Volleyball team) is like a real life Bayonetta! pic.twitter.com/kuYzwyxITD
— 神谷英樹 Hideki Kamiya (@PG_kamiya) July 23, 2014
Currently, Sabina's Instagram account has close to 250,000 followers, making her Kazakhstan's most followed sporting personality on the service, ahead of Beibut Shumenov (53,000), Ilya Ilyin (37,000), and Denis Ten (35,000).
Sabina Altynbekova. Photo from Altynbekova's official Facebook page.
Altynbekova has had minimal preparation for such attention. Her parents — both former sportspeople — live in the provincial city of Aktobe in western Kazakhstan, and are concerned about their daughter's sudden celebrity. Sabina’s trainer has not encouraged the mass-admiration of the young girl either, maintaining that such popularity can distract Sabina from training and unfocus the team. For her part, Altynbekova, a practicing Muslim, has been using her newfound fame to talk about the difficulties Muslim sportspeople face fasting during Ramadan and promote the #prayforpalestine hashtag. But she also noted:
I want to concentrate on playing volleyball and became famous was not anything else I hope I do all the best and hope to play in Rio 2016
— Sabina Altynbekova (@altynbekova_20) July 26, 2014
How realistic that aspiration is will depend on how quickly the #lovesabinaaltynbekova phenomenon dies down between now and the Olympics in Brazil in two years time.
Deviant Art user Erkaz drew this anime tribute to Sabina, while noting that the hype around the 17-year-old had become “too much”.
“All the girls from Kazakhstan’s volleyball team are real patriots, since we vindicate the honor of Kazakhstan at international tournaments. It is very good that more people get to know about Kazakhstan,” Altynbekova told local media outlet Vesti.kz on July 26.
Indeed, it is not just volleyball and anime fans from Asia that are talking about Altynbekova. Recently 9GAG web portal published a set of pictures of the sportswoman. After the post was published, Internet users, mostly from Western countries started to talk Kazakhstan. Along with run-of-the-mill mysogeny, racism, and the idiotic trolling associated with file-sharing platforms, comments under the post showed that ignorance of the Central Asian state is still rife:
Kazakhstan? I thought that was the name of a high school…
One user said:
Kazakhstan is the greatest country in the world!
To which he received the following replies:
Said the guy who looks like a young Borat.
@imanaxl721 all other countries are run by little girls, Kazakhstan number one importer of potassium, all other countries have inferior potassium.
On Twitter, some mixed sexism in with misspelling:
I bet that volleyball chick Sabina Altynbekova came from the country Kagakstahan, because that's what I feel when looking at her. — Handoko Tjung (@handokotjung) July 23, 2014
And more misspelling:
@MimiyAmiy It's her why I'm stay single till now. Kahkah. Takda laa, player volleyball uzbekistan/kazakhtan. Antara 2 tu la.
— AmReus (@khairul_amri09) July 21, 2014
Responding to an Altynbekova tweet in Russian,one of her followers said:
@altynbekova_20 wew.. i cant read gerbanish -_-
— I Putu Wisnu (@nikolaiwolfwood) July 26, 2014
There were still some net positives for brand-sensitive Kazakhstan, however. As comments under the 9gag post prove, many people had previously thought of oil-rich Kazakhstan as a war-torn country and were corrected in their assumptions:
Hmm… Kazakhstan maybe is not so bad after all, I thought it was more like messed up countries like Iran and Irak.
That comment earned an excited response from a Kazakh commenter almost immediately:
Google the capital city of Kazakhstan: Astana. Definitely not messed up!
Just as the 9GAG discussion represented the worst of the Internet, Sabina had plenty of genuine fans and well-wishers as she took university entrance exams and prepared to celebrate the day of Eid, marking the end of Ramadan. Those close to her will hope she is allowed to lead a normal life at some point in the near future.

author: Dasha Kondrateva


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Can France Catch Up With Internet of Things World Leader China? · Global Voices
Mathieu Carrere

Infographics of connected life in Asia by 2017 – Public Domain
Most links send to french-language articles.
Like online social networks, the Internet of Things is permanently and fundamentally revolutionizing our consumption habits.
First, what is The Internet of Things ? In layman's terms, it is the connectivity of devices, systems, and services that goes beyond machine-to-machine communications (M2M) and covers a variety of applications. For instance, the Internet of Things is involved in utilizing sensors to assist in environmental protection by monitoring air or water quality. Below is a TED video unpacking the concept :
In this field, China, having successfully united stakeholders to provide the sector with a regulatory framework, stands out as the undisputed world leader in this field.
Despite the rise of the Chinese giant, however, France can still expect to play a meaningful role in the market if its stakeholders work together to find ways to finance their projects.
According to a recent report by the GSMA, an association which represents 850 mobile telephone operators across 218 countries, China is the world leader in the adoption of M2M technology.
China occupied 27 percent of the world market in 2013, with more than 50 million M2M connections. Alex Sinclair, the chief technology officer at the GSMA, said:
China is a rapidly developing country that is investing in communications technologies that will make its cities smarter and provide a better quality of life for its citizens
While the development of a new generation of interconnected devices is clearly something that mobile manufacturers are aiming for, other Chinese stakeholders are also getting involved. In October 2013, 40 companies and research bodies (including China Telecom and Tsinghua University) joined together under the sponsorship of the China Electronics Technology Group Corporation to form an industry alliance for the Internet of Things.
Visual representation of an archives directory as a network. CC BY-SA 3.0
In order to provide a regulatory framework to this new technology, 200 national and industry standards for the Internet of Things have been implemented by China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. These regulatory efforts have led Alex Sinclair to remark:
Proactive government support has benefited China and its mobile operators, whereas in many global markets, regulatory uncertainty has held back the deployment of M2M solutions.
A new generation of start-ups is emerging thanks to American, Australian and – notably – Chinese crowdfunding platforms. DemoHour, for example, was created in 2011 and has helped fund 2,000 projects, including a number of projects directed towards the development of interconnected accessories and devices.
A saucer which transforms your smartphone into a universal remote, a shirt-button which ensures that its wearer keeps their back held straight, an interconnected glucometer that operates using test strips, a cup that tracks its user’s daily water consumption and encourages them to drink the right amount water according to their size and weight – these are all examples of devices that DemoHour has funded.
While these devices might seem like weird gizmos that do not really have anything to do with quality living, some have actually proved to be very useful tools especially in the health sector.
China has also set itself apart in the energy sector, especially in gas, through its use of smart meters. Recent reforms have permitted the widespread introduction of AMR (automatic meter-reading modules) and smart meters throughout the country, which currently operates 180 million such meters in total.
So what kind of odds does France have when faced with the Chinese giant? Well, while France might be far from the Middle Kingdom, it prospects are still pretty good. When it comes to the Internet of Things, France presents an important emerging market. Valued at €150 million in 2013, it is expected to come up to about €500 million by 2016.
France offers many advantages and has every chance of bringing leaders into the world market. However, it has not yet managed to organize concerted dialogue between all stakeholders operating in the sector. It is also facing funding problems as the sector’s investment needs are quite big. As a result, small and medium businesses are struggling to move from innovation and development into widespread production.
Yves Clisson, the CEO of Telelogos who since 1982 has specialised in data synchronization, mobile device management and M2M has said:
Nous avons montré qu’il y a beaucoup d’intelligence et de talents au top niveau en France pour les machines communicantes. Il suffit de voir ce qui se fait en aéronautique. Mais la descente vers le consommateur lui-même n’est pas du tout au niveau de ce que l’on peut trouver dans certains pays asiatiques ou aux États-Unis.  Nous avons du mal à aller vers l’usage quotidien et le grand volume…
We have shown that there is lot of high-level intelligence and talent in France when it comes to interconnected devices– just look at what’s happening in the aeronautic sector. But this is not being brought down to individual consumers at the rate which we see in some Asian countries or in the United States. We are finding it hard to move towards day-to-day usage and large volume…
>Even so, the rollout of Linky smart meters – pillars of France’s energy transition – is imminent. Minister for Ecology Ségolène Royal has stated that she wanted to “accelerate the goal” and, by 2020, 35 million boxes should be fitted with a smart meter that should citizens to optimize their energy consumption.
Indeed, there is already a sign that the era of interconnected devices is becoming a reality in France: a dedicated store, the first of its kind, just opened in Paris. The store is an initiative of the technology company Innov8 and its founder, Stéphane Bohbot. The products that it sells are likely to appeal, beyond the geek community, to the 75 percent of French people who have heard of the interconnectivity concept. That 75 percent, in turn, will lead the others to discover the possibilities that interconnected devices can offer in everyday life.

author: Mathieu Carrere


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China’s State Media Reveals Unapproved Genetically Modified Rice Is on the Market  · Global Voices
Owen Guo

Rice field in China. Photo by Flickr user Leniners. CC BY-NC 2.0
CCTV, China's state broadcaster, has discovered genetically modified rice being sold in two southern provinces, the second such allegation it has made in two years at a time when public opinion seems to have hardened against the technology.
An investigative report aired last Saturday said GM rice was found in the market in southern Hubei and Hunan province, where rice remains the staple food. The allegation by the television network has been substantiated by the Beijing Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau after samples took from the two provinces were tested positive for GM elements.
Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) has stirred an ongoing global debate since its debut two decades or so ago. As a deteriorating environment and decreasing arable land continue to threaten the country’s ability to feed the world’s biggest population, China is looking at various measures including GMO technology to cement its agricultural security.
In China, GM technology was named one of the key projects as part of the National Medium and Long-term Science and Technology Development Plan, which runs through 2020, and Beijing has vowed to invest altogether 20 billion Yuan in major GM research.
In a landmark decision to advance GM technology, the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture in 2009 granted safety certificates to two strains of GM rice and one GM maize — a move widely interpreted as a signal that the country might soon apply GM technology to its staple food.
But GM rice is especially sensitive because it is widely consumed in much of southern China and by a vast majority of Han people in the north.
The Chinese Ministry of Agriculture maintains that GM rice is still at a research stage and said any commercialisation of it would be illegal. Despite that, CCTV's report over the weekend, if proved to be true, would highlight the management hiccups behind a state-backed undertaking that might take years to get public on board.
“I think the [GM] technology has already spread out and once GM products are out, it's hard to recall them […] most of the rice in Hunan, Hubei, Anhui and Fujian have been contaminated,” the broadcaster quoted a Shanghai-based rice company executive as saying towards the end of the special report.
China is already the world's largest importer of GMO soybean, with annual imports accounting for about 60 percent of global traded soybean.
In the wake of the CCTV report, many Chinese citizens like Laoshao Zetan are worried if the rice in their cities has been genetically modified. He wrote on the the Twitter-like service Sina Weibo:
有关部门称，上海市场未发现转基因大米。一个非常疑惑的问题: 转基因食品的安全性到底该如何评估?
The relevant department has claimed no GM rice has been found in Shanghai. I am confused over one question: Just how to assess the safety of GM food?
Xiaoyao Yuncheng wrote:
不管转基因有没有害，法律法规要遵守的吧？既然不准商业化生产转基因产品，为啥走向市场的大米不要求进行转基因成份的检测？检测标准明显有漏洞。
Whether GMO technology is harmful or not, I guess we need to abide by the laws? Now that commercially produced rice products are not allowed, why not require the rice to be tested for GMO elements before entering market? There is an obvious loophole in the testing standards.
A Weibo user from Nanjing, in eastern Jiangsu province, lamented:
为什么都要媒体爆光后才去查啊？？？难道以前都不知道吗？
Why launch an investigation after media expose??? Were [authorities] kept in the dark in the past?

author: Owen Guo


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Leaked Cybercrime Law Could Undo Tunisia’s Pioneer Status on Internet Rights · Global Voices
Afef Abrougui

A leaked copy of Tunisia's new cybercrime draft law shows signs that the country's major achievements in the field of Internet freedom may soon come undone.
It is unclear whether the text, leaked on July 23, represents a final draft. It is similarly unclear whether the National Constituent Assembly will have sufficient time to debate or adopt the law, as fresh legislative elections are due to be held on October 26. The bill has not been submitted to the Assembly yet, but it has provoked many a raised eyebrow among Tunisian netizens.
Lawyer Kais Berrjab tweeted:
la loi relative à la lutte contre la cyber-criminalité = une arme de destruction massive entre les mains de tout pouvoir en place. #tunisie
— Kaïs Berrjab (@OstezEdgar) July 23, 2014
The anti-cybercrime law = an arm of mass destruction in the hands of any authority in place
What's wrong with the bill?
Vague and broad provisions in the bill could allow for the violation of user rights to privacy and free speech.
Article 24 provides a six-month imprisonment and TND5000 (about USD 2900) fine to anyone who uses “information and communications systems to spread content showing obscene acts and assaulting good morals.” The punishment increases to a three-year jail term if the content in question “incites to immorality”.
Le prochain Belaid ne sera pas assassiné. Il sera emprisonné pour atteinte aux bonnes moeurs. #A2T
— Habib M. Sayah (@Habsolutelyfree) July 23, 2014
The next Belaid [in reference to left-wing politician Chokri Belaid assassinated in 2013] will not be assassinated, but will be imprisoned for assaulting good morals
Article 25 punishes with five years’ imprisonment and a TND 50,000 fine anyone who “deliberately uses an information system to process others’ personal data, to link it to content that is contrary to good morals or feature it in a way which would damage their reputation or prejudice their esteem.” It is easy to imagine how such a law could be used to target bloggers or journalists writing about politicians’ activities.
Chapter four on “public security and national defense measures” gives the Ministries of Defense and Interior unchecked and broad powers to access, collect or intercept communications data without judicial control. Article 30 states the following:
Public authorities tasked with maintaining public order and national defense can exceptionally, and in accordance with the provisions of the fourth chapter of this law, access data stored in public or private databases, collect communications traffic or intercept, copy and store communications content to prevent organized and terrorist crimes…
Under article 31, Ministers of Interior and Defense can authorize in written form access to data related to the identification of users and collection of traffic data.
The draft further provides for heavy sentences for activities related to malicious hacking. Six years in jail and a TND 50,000 fine is the punishment for anyone found guilty of “deliberately impeding the functioning of an information system by introducing, sending, damaging, changing, deleting, canceling or destroying information data.”
The bill's purpose
The bill on Communications and Information Crimes is a project of the previous interim government of Ali Laarayedh. Indeed, former ICT minister Mongi Marzouk affirmed on several occasions that his ministry was working on a draft cybercrime law.
The bill aims to consolidate the legal framework under which the Technical Telecommunications Agency (better known by its acronyms ATT or A2T), operates.
The ATT was created by government decree (decree n° 2013-4506) last November with the task of providing technical support for judicial investigations into “information and communication crimes”. To this date, there is no comprehensive legal text in Tunisia on cybercrime which defines “information and communication crimes.” The bill would presumably seek to fill this legal void.
Last June, ATT general-director Jamel Zenkri told the local magazine Webdo:
Pratiquement, tout l’arsenal juridique nécessaire est déjà en vigueur. Il reste cependant une loi relative à la cybercriminalité qui sera bientôt élaborée.Cette loi définira exactement les différents crimes de l’Internet, et en fixera les peines. Elle apportera, aussi, plus de précisions quant aux obligations de l’ATT, lesquelles ne sont pas bien fixées. Par exemple, le décret ne détermine pas la période durant laquelle l’ATT doit conserver les données à caractère personnel avant de le détruire.
Practically, all the judicial arsenal necessary [for the ATT to operate] is already into effect. However, there remains the law related to cybercrime which will soon be drafted. This law will define exactly the different Internet crimes and fix the penalties. It will also bring more clarifications regarding ATT's obligations, which are not rightly fixed. For example, the decree does not determine the period during which ATT keeps personal data before destroying them.
Will this be Tunisia's “Patriot Act”?
La #A2T semble venir en douceur sous forme de #PatrioticAct version Tunisienne, tous droits numériques touchés a grande échelle.
— Karim Benabdallah (@karim2k) July 23, 2014
A2T seems to arrive smoothly under the form of the Tunisian version of the [Patriot] act. All digital rights largely affected.
The creation of the Technical Telecommunications Agency and the drafting of a new cybercrime law comes at a difficult time, as the Tunisian armed and security forces face growing security threats by armed Islamist groups affiliated with Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. Only last week, these groups waged a deadly attack on the Tunisian armed forces in the mountainous Chaambi area on the border with Algeria, leaving fifteen soldiers dead.
Following the attack, a government crisis cell gave instructions to the Minister of Higher Education and ICTs to “take the necessary precautions to confront social media pages inciting to violence and terrorism,” and officials reiterated their calls to filter and monitor the Internet.
A cyber police officer tells an Internet user: “This is to protect you from evil terrorists.” Cartoon by Willis from Tunis, used with permission.
During a press conference on July 17, Interior Minister Lotfi Ben Jeddou stated that the Internet “remains outside the control of the State.” “We are currently working on activating the Technical Telecommunications Agency to track these cells seeking to train and recruit youth via the Internet, and Skype in particular.”
“This agency will also be tasked with censoring and controlling the cyberspace,” the Minister added.
It is worth mentioning that under Decree 4506 the ATT is only tasked with practicing communications surveillance. In no way does the decree state that the ATT should practice filtering of any type of content.
ATT head Jamek Zenkri said that his agency does not seek to practice Internet filtering. “Censorship of the Internet is not the prerogative of the ATT,” he added. In fact, Tunisian law does not establish any entity responsible for Internet filtering. The Tunisian Internet Agency (ATI) was obliged to do so under the regime of Zeine el-Abidine Ben Ali despite this legal void, but the technical apparatus for these activities has since been repurposed.
Progress under threat
Throughout the past three years that followed the ousting of dictator Zeine el Abidine Ben Ali, Tunisia made major strides in the field of human rights on the Internet. Interim authorities showed a strong commitment to ending Internet censorship practices, despite attempts to filter adult content and calls to filter content inciting to terrorism and violence. In June 2013, Tunisia hosted the Freedom Online Conference after joining the coalition of governments “committed to advance Internet freedom” in 2012.
The National Constituent Assembly's adoption of a new constitution banning “prior censorship” and enshrining the rights to access communication networks, personal data protection, and freedom of expression in January this year also represented a significant step forward, making Tunisia a clear leader on these issues in the MENA region.
But the lack of political willingness to scrap repressive Ben Ali era laws, in addition to the authorities’ hasty enactment of laws affecting users without public consultation, put all these strides at risk.
Raed, a member of the Tunisia Pirate party, tweeted:
لوكان القانون هذا يتعدى الانترنات إلي عرفناها وحبيناها توفى في تونس http://t.co/4eux2ox6vz http://t.co/M0x8Y5d8Rc
— Raed667 (@Raed667) July 23, 2014
If this law is adopted, the internet we have known and loved in Tunisia, will come to an end

author: Afef Abrougui


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Massive Amounts Paid Out in Trinidad & Tobago’s LifeSport Programme  · Global Voices
Flora Thomas

As more details come out about the corrupt LifeSport programme in Trinidad and Tobago, Wired868 focuses its satirical energies on Adolphus Daniell, a contractor who was reportedly paid TT$34 million (just under US$5.5 million) for doing nothing – and says he won't pay back the money:
The people now under investigation for corruption were too busy stuffing their own pockets to bother you while you kept your mouth shut and headed for the exit. And you think you should keep the money just because you were able to hold on to it for this long?
It might be ‘a non-issue’ to you Adolph; but we, the taxpayers, still want our money back.

author: Flora Thomas


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PHOTO: Crowds Outside a Cairo Liquor Store  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

A photograph showing crowds outside a popular Cairo liquor store is making the rounds online. On Twitter, Tom Gara shares it with his 27.9K followers:
Pic doing the rounds on FB of the scene at Drinkies, a popular Cairo liquor store, now that Ramadan is over. pic.twitter.com/VMsbiNtInH
— Tom Gara (@tomgara) July 28, 2014
Egypt, with a liberal alcohol policy compared to other Muslim countries, bans the sale of alcohol to Egyptians during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, which ended yesterday. This explains the scene Gara tweets.

author: Amira Al Hussaini


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Thai Junta Issues New Gag Order Against Media · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Under the new regulation, Thai media and netizens could face punishment if they reported on this photo. Reading George Orwell's 1984 is considered to be a form of protest by the Junta. Photo from Facebook page of Prachatai, used with permission.
The Thai Junta has issued a new order banning media from reporting news that is critical of the government. Issued on July 18 by the National Council For Peace and Order, the order applies to all types of media including electronic and social media.
According to unofficial translation published on Asian Correspondent, the order bans:
- News that are detrimental to the national security or libelous against other individuals.
- Criticism of operations of the National Council for Peace and Order, its officials, or any related individual.
- News or information that causes confusion, incites disputes, or leads to disunity in the Kingdom.
- Invitation or plotting to organise in manner that may lead to resistance against officials or individuals related to the National Council for Peace and Order
- Threats to harm individuals that may panic or frighten the public.
Media groups immediately raised concern about the broad and vague provisions of the order. They also highlighted the severe punishment – legal prosecution, censorship, and shutdown – for violating any part of the order.
After meeting with four major media groups — Thai Journalist Association, the Thai Broadcast Journalist Association, the National Council of Press in Thailand, and the News Broadcasting Council of Thailand –- the NCPO issued a new order that slightly amended the original. The ban will now only apply to “criticism of the NCPO’s operations that have the dishonest intention to damage the credibility of the NCPO with false information.” And instead of being prosecuted in the courts, violators will face an internal “ethics inquiry” by their respective press associations.
The government also clarified that the original order intended only to ask for cooperation in information dissemination to the public and that it is not a new regulation since it merely combines previous policies of the Junta government, which is just months old.
Human rights groups continue to argue that the new orders constitute a threat to free expression since violations of the regulation are to be determined solely by the Council. Given the broad categories included in the order, many fear that the policy will force Thai media groups to practice self-censorship in an effort to avoid punishment. Further, the Council has not rescinded a previous order prohibiting media groups from interviewing academics and former civil servants who could “give opinions in a manner that can inflict or worsen the conflict, distort information, create confusion in the society or lead to the use of violence.”
Phansasiri Kularb, a journalism lecturer at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, reminded the Junta leader, General Prayuth, of his earlier commitment to allow citizens to air their dissent against authorities:
Gen. Prayuth said on his televised program, repeatedly since the coup, to urge those who disagreed with his views to open up their mind and talk, but this announcement says the opposite. The order is very broad and … every comment is subject exclusively to the NCPO's interpretation whether they violate the order or not.
Sarinee Achavanuntakul of the Thai Netizen Network described the new ruling as a gag order against all Thai netizens:
This is basically a gag order, and it's not just a gag order to the press, but it's extending to anyone in Thailand, especially now that a lot of Thai people use social media to express opinions. I think it is very dangerous and, to me, it signals that the coup makers may not have a clear idea of who the enemies are.
On July 26, the Council invoked the new order to reprimand the Manager Weekly in connection to its 251st issue (July 26-Aug 1, 2014) which allegedly “spread distrust and fear among the public.”
The Royal Thai Army launched a coup on May 22, detained hundreds of politicians, suspended the Constitution, and controlled the newsrooms of mainstream media outlets throughout the country. It outlawed the public gathering of five or more people and the holding of protest actions. And it approved an interim constitution just last week. It appears the Junta is doing all it can to stifle media freedom in the face of deep political strife and uncertainty — just when the need for strong, independent reporting and critique is greatest.

author: Mong Palatino


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The World Tweets for Ethiopia’s Zone9 Bloggers on July 31 · Global Voices
Ellery Roberts Biddle

Free Zone9 Tumblr collage. Images used with permission.
Join Global Voices bloggers for a worldwide, multilingual tweetathon in support of the ten bloggers and journalists facing terrorism charges in Ethiopia.
The Global Voices community and our network of allies are demanding justice for these men and women, all of whom have worked hard to expand spaces for social and political commentary in Ethiopia through blogging and journalism. We believe their arrest is a violation of their universal right to free expression, and that the charges filed against them are unjust. Learn more about their story and the campaign for their release at the Zone9 Trial Tracker blog.
The bloggers’ trial begins on August 4, 2014. Until then, and beyond, they will need all the support they can get. So this Thursday, we as a global community of bloggers, writers, activists, and social media experts will share this message around the world, tweeting in our native languages at community leaders, government and diplomatic officials, and mainstream media to draw public attention to the case.
Six of the detained bloggers in Addis Ababa. Photo used with permission.
#FreeZone9Bloggers: A Tweetathon Demanding the Release of Jailed Ethiopian Bloggers
Date: Thursday, July 31, 2014
Time: 10am – 2pm — no matter what time zone you're in!
Hashtag: #FreeZone9Bloggers
Hosts: Nwachukwu Egbunike (@feathersproject), Ndesanjo Macha (@ndesanjo), Ellery Roberts Biddle (@ellerybiddle)
Want to join us this Thursday? Or help spread the word? Add your name and Twitter handle to our community planning sheet.
Sample Tweets:
Tweet until your fingers hurt and demand justice for the Zone9 bloggers!

author: Ellery Roberts Biddle


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Why Some Caribbean Authors Are Accusing a Trinidad-Born Novelist of Being a ‘Latter Day Columbus’ · Global Voices
Matthew Hunte

The author takes a walk around literary Clerkenwell as part of the Free Word Centre's ‘FLOW’ Festival. Photo by Robert Sharp / English PEN, used under a CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 license.
Note: The article below has been edited to remove mentions of the author's name.
MR, a Trinidad-born, Britain-based writer has taken down her Facebook page* following fierce criticism of a blog post she wrote for the website of British bookstore chain Waterstones. The post was intended to serve as an introduction to new and emerging writers from the Caribbean who, for the most part, may not be as well known as authors from what MR refers to as the “Golden Era of Caribbean Literature”, which includes Nobel Laureates Derek Walcott and V.S. Naipaul.
But members of the Caribbean literary community have accused her being a “latter day Columbus,” or discovering what was already there, and representing the region inaccurately.
MR, perhaps best known for her novel “The White Woman on the Green Bicycle,” which was shortlisted for the Orange Prize in 2010 and the Encore Award the following year, has been sharing her expertise with some of these authors through her involvement in CaribLit, an action group that helps to promote Caribbean writing and publishing. But until she attended the 2012 Bocas LitFest in Port of Spain, Trinidad, it hadn't quite struck her that this new crop of regional writers were all part of her generation:
It was a memorable experience for me because there in my hometown, I got to meet many other Caribbean writers born in the 1960s and 70s. Most of these writers were female, and incredibly they were of varied race, class background, and sexual orientation […] We all had a lot in common and yet we were all so different; in fact, much of our life experience isn’t common at all. But what was pertinent for me, then, only two years ago, was to come across a constellation of writers of similar age. We were children born into the early years of the Independence era in the region. We were children of the new era, literally.
According to MR, existing issues in the region, dating back to colonisation and slavery, have become more complex over time. There are new challenges as well — environmental, economic, even enduring questions of identity have a new face with the advent of cable television, the Internet and social media. Her essay came to the conclusion that this “new generation of Caribbean writers” is more interested in exploring these issues on their own terms than in responding to views from the metropole:
Our generation is no longer writing back, that much strikes me as over for sure. Instead, we are writing for ourselves and sometimes towards each other. We are not only talking to each other, but sometimes arguing too. Some of us are still gate-keeping, asking what is the real deal, who constitutes a true true Caribbean author and who doesn’t. And some of us are too busy writing for such censorious thoughts about identity. These days, the Caribbean writer might be white and middle class, or brown-skinned and privileged, or from Chinese or Syrian extractions; they might be gay or straight, they might be living in the region or in Diaspora. The New Wave of writers has become so much more porous and diverse in terms of their social background. And so, the literature of the Caribbean region is alive and well and very varied and we are charting our own here and now.
Saint Lucian poet and critic Vladimir Lucien called MR's post “ahistorical,” arguing that she mischaracterized certain themes as new to Caribbean writing when they aren't. “She is now the British correspondent for the Caribbean, the Caribbean’s link to the wider world of resources and opportunity; the one who knows the ‘real deal’ about Caribbean writing. Not a gatekeeper however. Not at all,” he wrote:
MR's ignorance also raises the issue that she is trying to abscond from: What constitutes a Caribbean writer? This is not an attempt to gate-keep, but rather creating a means by which one could discern specious and superficial interactions with the Caribbean from deeply concerned, profound engagements with the society. Does being a Caribbean writer merely mean that you were born, or even born and grew up in the region? The question is important though in some circles it has been straw-manned by coalescing it with a perversion of it which I am not sure exists in the way that MR claims: the idea of gatekeeping.
Some of the quote from the Waterstones post – including the reference to gatekeeping – was subsequently taken out and there was an editor's note stating that the article was amended on 24 July 2014 at the request of the author. Lucien drew attention to the changes in a new blog post of his own.
At The Eternal Pantomime, one emerging Trinidadian writer, Rhoda Bharath, compared MR's post to cultural appropriation:
It seems Columbussing – the act of discovering what is already there, that became fashionable in the 1400s – is STILL very much a thing; and European/Caucasian people ‘discovering’ and appropriating the cultures of the Other, whether to boost their ego or some greater gain, isn't about to die anytime soon […]
Despite having achieved independence throughout the region (for the most part), spearheading revolutions and overthrowing dictatorial regimes, we just can't be left alone to wade through our issues and develop our space without the added ingredients of judgmental first world comparisons that don't take into consideration contextual issues, and worse, the role of their influence in our shortcomings.
The discussion grew quite heated on Facebook; at first, MR was engaging the discourse, then decided to take down her Facebook page. There has been some debate as to whether the argument about Caribbean literature degenerated into a personal squabble. Jamaica-based blogger and writer Annie Paul noted:
When is a writer a Caribbean writer was a debate that raged on Facebook for a while in May and seems to have spun off this searing critical response. Lucien takes the discussion into territory we don’t examine enough. The question ‘Who has the right to call themselves a Caribbean writer?’ appeared in the original discussion on Facebook and remains a cogent one. Do Caribbean writers have the responsibility to represent the corpus of writing from the region with a depth born of serious engagement and research are additional questions he’s asking.
While he was not impressed with her prose style, Facebook user Nadge Frank Augustin felt that MR succeeded in reaching her audience:
When MR says, ‘Our generation is no longer writing back, that much strikes me as over for sure…’, who comes to mind? As far as my limited information goes (ie. the website the article is published under), I would think that the answer was obvious: the British reader-consumers of the article.
Augustin simply did not see how you could avoid sounding like you are introducing something new to an audience if that is, in fact, what you are doing:
Does she come off as a ‘latter day Columbus'? Who, in such a position, wouldn't sound the same? Which one of us, if put to promote Caribbean Lit to a bunch of Vietnamese, Germans, South Africans…wouldn't sound as if we are bringing something ‘new’ to them? Quite frankly, I think she did an ok job in presenting to a non-specialist audience a whirl of names for them to go discover contemporary caribbean writers for themselves. In the world of business, I think they call that plugging.
*The author's Facebook page is reportedly back up.

author: Matthew Hunte


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China Monitors the Internet and the Public Pays the Bill  · Global Voices
inmediahk.net

The article was originally written by Michelle Fong and published in Chinese on 16 of July 2014. This English version was translated by Jennifer Cheung and republished on Global Voices as part of a content-sharing agreement.
There are around 2 million Internet public opinion analysts in China. Image from Voice of America.
New data shows that government and private sector “Internet public opinion analysts” may have the most popular job in China. And the sector is growing rapidly.
Different from the “Fifty-Cent Party” who are responsible for channelling public opinions by writing online comments and deleting posts, Internet public opinion analysts use computer software to monitor all the social networking sites, collect netizen opinions and attitudes, compile reports and submit the reports to decision-makers.
According to The Beijing News, roughly 2 million people in China currently work as public opinion analysts, officially outnumbering China's 1.5 million active armed service members. Sina, one of China's largest online content providers, has pointed out that the scale of the Internet monitoring business can reach hundreds of billions yuan, with the market expanding by roughly 50% every year.
But the trend also levies a heavy tax burden on the public, as the market for these analysts is created by the government’s need for “stability maintenance”. Government agencies today spend huge amounts of public money on opinion monitoring. Very often, they subcontract the work to party-affiliated private companies, an expense that ultimately hits taxpayers.
He Qinglian, an economics and sociology scholar, called it a “stability maintenance industry”, designed to help the government tighten its grip over public opinions on the Internet. Indeed, it is plain to see that “stability maintenance” work has turned into an economy of its own, with a government-created market need, business model for private sectors to serve the government, and a new professional status, which is granted by party-affiliated agents, like the Public Opinion Monitoring Unit.
The People’s Daily Public Opinion Monitoring Unit, affiliated with the online version of government newspaper People’s Daily, was founded in 2008 with the goal of building a more comprehensive online public opinion monitoring system to quantify the public sentiment. It primarily monitors public opinion regarding government affairs, produces magazines such as “Internet public opinion” and “Help Leaders Understand the Internet”, and launches Internet surveillance platforms and public opinion reports. The annual revenue generated by its public opinion business can reach 200 million yuan.
Beijing's Fifth Internet Public Opinion Training Class recently posted a call for applications, which is likely to stir a registration boom. Deputy Secretary General Shan Xuegang of the Public Opinion Monitoring Unit issued an Enrollment Notice, stating that the five-day course is priced at 7800 yuan (roughly USD 1,260), which includes a training fee of 3980 yuan and a tuition fee of 3820 yuan. There will also be an accommodation charge of 2000 yuan. The Notice also lists directors of the relevant departments of party and government institutions at all levels as the training target. The stability-maintenance economy is ultimately self-serving.
There are more than 800 public opinion monitoring and software companies in China today, with the number rising steadily. The China-based Public Opinion Research Institute estimates that the public opinion monitoring services market has a business scale of hundreds of billions yuan. As its growth is mainly boosted by government demand, the industry has to serve a huge market, with an average annual growth of over 50%.
According to information from the Chinese government procurement platform, there are nearly 200 public tenders on the “Public Opinion Monitoring System”. From central government ministries to lower-level municipalities and counties, relevant departments’ expenditures on the public opinion monitoring can range from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands yuan, with some projects even costing millions. The government on one hand sponsors its civil servants to receive relevant trainings; on the other hand, it also employs external analysts and related systems to construct a huge network of interests.
In an interview with Radio Free Asia, Zhejiang province-based freelance writer Zan Aizong described Internet public opinion analysts as the “Senior Fifty-Cent Party,” noting that many had previously worked in temporary government positions of a similar nature. She continued:
“Now the government gives them a comprehensive system of training, certification and official titles, allowing the temporary workers to become full-time employees. The government can also publicly use the stability maintenance fees to build relevant departments and hire people.”
People's Daily Public Opinion Monitoring Unit Secretary-General Zhu Hua explained at the 13th China Internet Media Forum that the role of the public opinion analysts is to provide intelligence about online public sentiments to the governments and corporates to improve their governance, operation and public image. The objective, as Zhu put it, is to promote propaganda that will help win the “guerrilla battle” against the background of the rise of “mass microphone era”.
References:
NetEase: Beijing fifth internet public opinion analysts training open to enrollment today
Southern Weekly: Public opinion analyst stuck between a rock and a hard place
Radio Free Asia: China tightens Internet public opinion monitoring, to develop Internet public opinion analysts
Xinhua: Public opinion business’ value and market space in the time of media transformation
Xinhua: Public opinion monitoring improves the nation’s governance and modernisation
Sina: Dancing with big data, Huangsheng & SEEC develop public opinion monitoring business


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Highway Africa 2014 Extends Deadline for Registration · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

The deadline for registration for the 18th annual Highway Africa Conference has been extended to Friday, 08 August 2014:
Due to the influx of interest in the 18th annual Highway Africa Conference, the deadline for registration has been extended to Friday, 08 August 2014.
The world’s largest annual gathering of African Journalists takes place at Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa, from 7 – 8 September 2014.
With the theme, “Social Media – from the margins to the mainstream”, the event will explore how social media have impacted on all aspects of our lives in the last ten years.

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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With Doctors on Strike and Boko Haram on the Loose, Nigerians Fear an Ebola Outbreak · Global Voices
Nwachukwu Egbunike

Health workers in an Ebola screening unit in Kenema government hospital, Sierra Leone. 30 June 2014. Photo by Tommy Trenchard. Copyright Demotix
The latest outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus in West Africa, considered to be the worst ever since the virus was discovered in 1976, has killed 672 people across Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, according to the World Health Organization.
The disease now has reached Nigeria, where a Liberian man infected with Ebola died in Lagos, a city of 21 million. The country's Federal Ministry of Health confirmed that the man was tested after he collapsed on arrival at Murtala Mohammed International Airport Lagos.
2014 West Africa Ebola outbreak Situation Map as at July 20, 2014. Image released to public domain by CDC.
So far, health officials have counted 1,201 cases since it was first diagnosed in February. About 60 percent of people who have caught the disease in the current outbreak have died.
The Liberian man's body was cremated in Lagos, and the private hospital where he was treated has been shut and quarantined.
An outbreak of the highly infectious disease in Nigeria would be catastrophic. The country is at war with the Islamist militant group Boko Haram, which has killed, maimed and abducted civilians over the last four years. Also, about 30,000 members of the Nigerian Medical Association are on an indefinite strike until certain changes are made to the public health system. Critics have called their demands “untenable.” Following the Liberian man's death from Ebola in Lagos, the association refused to return to work.
Ebola virus is transmitted through contact with the body fluids of infected animals like bats and monkey. This is why the outbreak has devastated those areas where bush meat, or meat from wild animals, is eaten. The virus can spread from person to person through direct contact with blood, broken skin of someone who is infected or an infected corpse. Symptoms include fever, weakness, nausea, headache, diarrhea, and internal and external bleeding.
Nigerian netizens have been discussing the dangers that a possible Ebola epidemic poses to the country. Chuba Ugwu, a scientist between Lagos and London, wrote on Twitter:
God please, don't let this #Ebola story be true. Combating Boko Haram and an #Ebola outbreak simultaneously WILL practically kill us all.
— Chuba Ugwu (@chonsyy) July 24, 2014
The same view was echoed by @9jaBloke in London:
Lord, the insecurity is bad enough. This Ebola scare if confirmed, would be just too much. Your mercy we seek! — Charles the 1st (@9jaBloke) July 24, 2014
Nego in Lagos pointed out the horrible timing of the doctors’ strike and the arrival of Ebola in Nigeria:
This Ebola For Nigeria! Hmmmm! E No Go Funny oo, With The Way Our Doctors Are Going On Strike.. — Nego (@NegoMcjohn1) July 25, 2014
Violinist Godwin Strings was concerned about the public health implication for women and children:
Children nd market women are at great risk wit this Ebola outbreak. I think an awareness campaign for them should be prioritised. #Godhelpus
— Godwin Strings (@GodwinStrings) July 25, 2014
Uyi Omorhienrhien wasn't confident that the country's bloggers would inform web users about Ebola:
Enlighten people about this Ebola virus our bloggers will not. Trust them to be the first to let you know if Beyonce ate moi moi [a Nigerian steamed bean pudding made from a mixture of washed and peeled black-eyed peas, onions and fresh ground peppers]
— Uyi Omorhienrhien (@Mr_Endie) July 24, 2014
Henry Okelue shared an infographic to spread useful information on the virus:
A death due to the Ebola virus has been officially reported in Lagos. Here is what you need to know about the virus.. pic.twitter.com/wbb3B7pT46
— Chibok – 100+ Days (@4eyedmonk) July 25, 2014
@onose10w urged everyone to be hygienic:
This Ebola virus is quite serious oo pls always wash ure hands…..prevention is better than cure…….#Be safe
— Mz_BONDZ (@onose10w) July 25, 2014
@Dimeji_W turned it into a joke:
Mahn ain't taking no chances with this Ebola thing. Have me stepping into the club like: pic.twitter.com/JJrrljT6El
— Mr. W (@Dimeji_W) July 25, 2014
But @daveek10 didn't appreciate jokes about Ebola:
Twitter peeps: must u guys make a joke outta everything? This Ebola jokes are not funny abeg
— King David (@daveek10) July 25, 2014
Follow our in-depth coverage: The Struggle to #StopEbola in West Africa

author: Nwachukwu Egbunike


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These ‘Poets With a Cause’ Are Defending Social Justice in Crisis-Hit Puerto Rico · Global Voices
Carlos Esteban Cana

In Puerto Rico, writers, artists and musicians have united under the name “Poetas en Marcha” or “Poets with a Cause” to voice their opposition to school closures and their solidarity with the working class.
The movement has hosted two events so far. The first was June 13 under the title “No al cierre de las escuelas: Poetas en marcha” (No to school closures: Poets with a cause), during which about 30 artists met to object to a government order to close down nearly 100 schools due to the economic crisis.
Government representatives have used the recent declining population in Puerto Rico as a basis for their decision. According to most recent official census figures from Puerto Rico in 2010, more than 600,000 Puerto Ricans have left the country. The lack of work and the slowdown in the economy in the smallest island of the Greater Antilles, for almost an entire decade, are just some of the issues that have spurred this new migratory wave.
The first “Poetas en Marcha” event took place in front of the Department of Education. We spoke with some of the organizers about the motive which ignited the movement. José Ernesto Delgado, author of “Tatuaje,” explained: “What propelled us to carry out this event is that some of us poets are products of the public system and feel that it is pertinent to defend a system that is mistreated by successive governments.”
Poet José Ernesto Delgado.
Marioantonio Rosa, a poet and literary critic, said: “We want to raise awareness about an issue that will negatively affect students in need and lead to teacher unemployment, but most importantly that our education system is lagging behind even more, which has a great deal to do with bureaucracy, politics and nepotism.”
The second event took place July 3 in front of Fortaleza (the residence of the governor of Puerto Rico) in the capital city San Juan. This time, the participants of “Poetas en Marcha,” under the slogan “Yo soy Pueblo,” (I am the People) marched in the streets of Old San Juan. This “cultural crusade for social justice” was held in support of the working class, a sector which will also be affected by the measures imposed by the government to face the fiscal and economic crisis. During this event, nearly 500 people supported the poets and leaders of certain unions.
Regarding its importance, attorney Daniel Nina, writer and founder of the online newspaper El Post Antillano –- a digital magazine which also sponsored the event — said:
Ni en los tiempos de Miguel Algarín y Miguel Piñeiro en el Nuyorican Poets Café de la ciudad de Nueva York, cuando cientos de personas se juntaban en el número 236 este de la calle 3 del bajo Manhattan, para leer poesías. Ni en los tiempos del Partido Socialista Puertorriqueño, en la década de 1970, cuando se dio un quehacer callejero y cultural al rescate de la dignidad nacional. Lo vivido anoche tampoco se asemeja a la experiencia del teatro y la cultura obrera de Puerto Rico de la década de 1920 y 1930, bajo el liderato de Luisa Capetillo o Pedro Albizu Campos y el Partido Nacionalista.
Anoche, en el Viejo San Juan de Puerto Rico, los “Poetas en Marcha” marcaron una diferencia entre el quehacer cultural del siglo 21 y del siglo 20. ¿Por qué? Porque en el junte de anoche, más allá de convocar a todos los poetas, escritores, artistas plásticos y cantautores, se convocó también al pueblo trabajador.
Not even in the days of Miguel Algarín and Miguel Piñeiro, when hundreds of people gathered at 236 E. Third St. in Lower Manhattan at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe in New York City, to read poetry. Nor during the 1970s, when the Puerto Rican Socialist Party was in a cultural pursuit to attempt to save national dignity. Last night's developments also didn't come close to the theatrical experiences, nor the working class culture in Puerto Rico during the 20s and 30s, under the leadership of Luisa Capetillo or Pedro Albizu Campos and the Nationalist Party.
Last night, in Old San Juan Puerto Rico, the “Poetas en Marcha” marked a significant difference between the cultural pursuits of the 21st and 20th century. Why? Because during last night's event, beyond gathering all the poets, writers, creative artists and songwriters, the working class was present as well.
Artists at the “Poetas en Marcha” event in Old San Juan.
Nina, who is a professor as well, called the event “glorious”:
Lo que pasó anoche en Puerto Rico, no había sucedido desde los tiempos que el líder obrero histórico, Bernardo Vega, organizó en Cayey a los obreros del tabaco. No pasaba, desde que Juan Mari Brás y César Andreu Iglesias, a fines de la década de 1970, salían en un viejo Volkswagen a organizar grupos de trabajo del Movimiento Pro-Independencia, luego Partido Socialista Puertorriqueño. Anoche se trató de un momento glorioso.
What happened last night in Puerto Rico had not occurred since the times when Bernardo Vega, a historical leader of workers, organized the tobacco workers in Cayey. It hadn't happened the late 70s when Juan Mari Brás and César Andreu Iglesias drove around in an old Volkswagen to organize working groups for the pro-independence movement, which later was the Puerto Rican Socialist Party. Last night was a glorious moment.
Perhaps it is the words from poet William Perez Vega, referring to the future of poetry using verses from the Spanish poet Gabriel Celaya, which best describe the atmosphere of these events:
Todo depende de si sabemos o no utilizar esa arma (la poesía) y al servicio de quien o quienes la utilizamos. Es bonito hablar de una rosa, del paisaje o del amor. Pero es necesario ser militantes a favor de las condiciones que permiten que esa flor siga naciendo, que podamos seguir disfrutando de ese paisaje y que podamos conservar el país, la gente y el planeta como escenario donde hacemos ese amor. Si no lo hacemos, convertiremos la poesía en una simple pieza de museo, en un fósil, en otra indiferencia más. Eso nos acabaría de matar.
It all depends on whether or not we know how to use this weapon (poetry) and who it will serve. It's pleasant to speak of a rose, the landscape or about love. However, one must support the conditions that allow the flower to bud, that enable us to take in the landscape and that help us conserve our country, the people and the planet as a platform for our love. And if we don't, we will turn poetry into something of the past, a fossil, something indifferent. That would be the end of us.
In the most recent press release published July 4, the collective pointed out in a defining statement:
Nosotros, buscamos y amamos el discurso de la inclusión, del amor al País sin banderitas, o trasnochados bostezos en las ventanas del pasado. Somos pueblo y el pueblo es poesía, renovación… esperanza… Poetas en Marcha nunca será William Pérez Vega, José Ernesto Delgado, o Marta Emmanuelli y Marioantonio Rosa. Poetas en Marcha es aquel empleado de mantenimiento llamado Felipe, aquella secretaria cargada de trabajo y mal pagada llamada Sofía, esos jóvenes que ríen mientras toman una cerveza después del examen final, esa mujer noble que vende frituras para echar adelante una familia, ese profesor dedicado y sencillo que imparte la enseñanza día a día en el salón de clases, ya sea en la escuela o una universidad. Poetas en Marcha no busca apellidos ni títulos, busca pueblo, unión, renovación cultural, y siempre esa pluralidad es la mejor semilla que podemos dejar. Somos Pueblo.
We seek and love to talk about inclusion, love of our country without the flags or boring and antiquated talk of the past. We are the people and we are poetry, restoration… hope… Poetas en Marcha will never be William Pérez Vega, José Ernesto Delgado, or Marta Emmanuelli and Marioantonio Rosa. Poetas en Marcha is Felipe the janitor, Sofia the overworked and underpaid secretary, the young adults laughing while having a beer after their final exams, the noble lady selling fruit to get her family ahead, the dedicated and uncomplicated professor in his classroom day in and day out..whether it be in a school or university. Poetas en Marcha doesn't look for fancy names or titles, it looks for the people, connection, cultural restoration, and that plurality will always be the best seed we can leave behind. We are the People.
The next “Poetas en Marcha” event is scheduled for August 30, 2014, in the sector known as La Perla, Old San Juan.

author: Carlos Esteban Cana


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Reasons to Take a Trip Once in a While · Global Voices
Gabriela García Calderón Orbe

Image on Flickr by user larshuj (CC BY 2.0).
On her blog Historias de una mujer lobo (Stories of a female werewolf), Natalia Cartolini reflects on the reasons why a trip can be beneficial as, in her opinion, “the fact of visiting new places or meeting new people from another perspective is important at any moment. It doesn't matter if you go out within your own city or its surroundings, just open your eyes to a new point of view. Do something different. […] But as the further from what you are familiar with, the more you will be able to find yourself, as you are aware you are the only one needed to survive.”
She ends up her reflections saying:
Entonces, imagínate escuchar tu música instrumental favorita mientras caminas por la calle. Todo se transforma. Ahora tú eres el protagonista.
Por un momento eres un Gatsby, en otras, un vaquero o un montañista. ¿Quién detiene a la imaginación? Sólo tú. Sal de tu sitio y aprovecha lo que tienes alrededor tuyo. Porque es tuyo.
So, just imagine you listen to your favorite instrumental music as you walk down the streets. Everything gets transformed. Now you are the leading character.
For a while, you are a Gatsby, some other times, a cowboy or a mountaineer. Who can stop imagination? Just you. Get out from your place and take the most out of what you have next to you. Because it's all yours.

author: Gabriela García Calderón Orbe


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Russian Government IP Address Caught Editing German Wikipedia MH17 Article · Global Voices
Kevin Rothrock

IP addresses inside the Russian government continue to be active on Wikipedia, where a computer at the Russian Secret Service, the FSO, revised the German entry for Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, changing the word “separatists” into “rebels.” The Twitter bot @RuGovEdits, which automatically logs all Wikipedia edits made from Russian government IP addresses, caught five separate attempts by an FSO computer this morning to make the “rebels” language stick. The effort failed. German Wikipedia editors reverted the article's language to the original text, every time.
German Wikipedia's MH17 makeover, brought to you by the Russian government.

author: Kevin Rothrock


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Spinning the MH17 Tragedy, Moscow’s Victory Isn’t What You Think · Global Voices
Aric Toler

Is the Kremlin intentionally promoting false conspiracy theories about BUK missiles? Images mixed by Kevin Rothrock.
The day after Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 fell from the sky, the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs released a video that it claims proves Moscow's complicity in the tragedy. The video supposedly shows a truck carrying a BUK missile launcher—with missing rockets—eastward into Russia in the early hours of July 18. Kyiv did not specify the exact location of this alleged transfer, but there are clues. There is evidence that the weapons moved through the rebel-controlled city of Krasnodon, before arriving in Russia. A counter-claim to Ukraine’s “smoking gun” quickly spread on the RuNet, claiming that the BUK missiles in the video were spotted in the Kiev-controlled city of Krasnoarmeisk, not in rebel territory. The accusations against Kyiv appeared in several different social networks almost simultaneously.
The Krasnoarmeisk claim has appeared in multiple forms, but the most common iteration includes a repost of the Ukrainian Interior Ministry’s video, retitled “Ukrainian Junta Moves the BUK (that Shot Down the Malaysian Boing 777) Away to Krasnoarmeisk,” and a short statement challenging Kyiv's interpretation of the evidence. The statement tries to identify landmarks in the video to build its case:
В украинских пабликах распространяется видео, где якобы ополченцы вывозят в сторону РФ стрелявший Бук. Но на видео город Красноармейск, виден бигборд с рекламой автосалона на Днепропетровской, 34. С 11 мая и до сих пор город под контролем войск хунты, проводящих АТО!
На Буке не хватает одной ракеты. На фото и видео с тягачом (тем же) есть магазин Стройдом. Адрес: Красноармейск, Горького 49. То есть стрелявший Бук находился на территории, подконтрольной хунте и до сих пор там. Какие вопросы? Все ясно как день – Боинг сбили украинские военные вот этим вот самым Буком, и теперь, чтобы просочившееся в сеть видео не стало компроматом они просто тупо валят все с больной головы на здоровую, типа это “ополченцы везут”. Остаются верны своей брехливой натуре (одесситы сами себя сожгли, луганчане сами взорвали кондиционер, ДНР само стреляет по городам и так далее). Ублюдки
There is a video spreading in Ukraine where the militiamen [separatists] are supposedly taking the recently-fired BUK [back] to the Russia. But this video is from the city of Krasnoarmeisk—a billboard is visible with an ad for the auto-salon on Dnepropetrovsky 34. From May 11 until now, the city has been under control of the junta’s forces leading the ATO [anti-terrorist operation]!
The BUK is missing one rocket. In photos and in the video with the missiles’  haul truck you can see the store “Stroidom.” The address is Krasnoarmeisk, Gorky 49. Therefore, the BUK is located on the territory under the control of the junta and is still there. Any questions? Everything is as clear as day—Ukrainian soldiers shot down the Boeing with this same BUK and now, so that the leaked video doesn’t become compromising evidence, they are just stupidly shifting all of the blame on others, saying things like, “The militia are now taking it away.” They're true to their nature—all bark and no bite—just as they blamed the Odessians for burning themselves to death, the people in Luhansk for blowing up that air conditioner, saying the Donetsk People's Republic shells its own cities, and so on. The bastards.
This anti-Kyiv conspiracy spread like wildfire online. It started on July 19, in the early morning hours in Moscow, where a pro-Russian group on Vkontakte, the country's most popular social network, published the two paragraphs found above. (This is perhaps the original source of the text.) Internet users reposted the Krasnoarmeisk story with amazing speed, sharing it with popular pages and communities like the pro-Russian group “ Hammer of Truth” on VK and the “Truth About the Events in Ukraine” on Facebook. Over the next few days, the Krasnoarmeisk story reappeared many times in comments and new posts on social networks, blogs, and news sites.
On July 21, the Krasnoarmeisk story went from a mass-forwarded Internet meme to a state-supported accusation after a member of the Russian Army General Staff claimed to have evidence that the billboard in Kyiv's incriminating video shows an address for a Bogdan auto-salon in Krasnoarmeisk.
For all this support, the Krasnoarmeisk conspiracy did not survive long. On July 22, Ukraine's Minister of Internal Affairs, Arsen Avakov, gave the exact coordinates of the video’s location: separatist-held Luhansk, about a 45-minute drive from Krasnodon. Locals quickly verified this claim by photographing the scene, which perfectly matches the landmarks seen in the video. The “Krasnoarmeisk truthers” promptly faded away, moving to the next conspiracy about Kyiv's responsibility for the downing of MH17.
The mystery is over, but questions still remain. Why did the Russian government latch onto the flimsy claim that the video was shot in Krasnoarmeisk, when the video showed trolley buses (which do not exist in Krasnoarmeisk)? Perhaps the Kremlin orchestrated the meme in the first place, seizing upon a location on Gorky Street in Krasnoarmeisk that looks vaguely similar to the street intersection in the video. Or maybe the Kremlin saw how quickly the Krasnoarmeisk story's popularity grew, and the authorities simply accepted that it must therefore be plausible.
Whether this was malice or incompetence, Moscow has succeeded in muddying, at least somewhat, the incriminating evidence in the MH17 case. By countering hard facts with conspiracy theories, the Russian authorities might hope to exasperate the public, leading people to distrust all sides.
In the information war over assigning blame for MH17, even a draw could be Russia's victory.

author: Aric Toler


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Seoul Says No to Uber, But Don’t Put Down Your Mobile Just Yet · Global Voices
Lee Yoo Eun

Image of Seoul taxi by Mark Zastrow (CC BY NC 2.0)
The city government in Seoul, the South Korean capital, is banning Uber, a popular transportation network that uses mobile apps to connect passengers with drivers of vehicles for hire and ridesharing services. Seoul officials say local regulations on the registration and operation of taxi services make Uber's business model illegal. Uber, for its part, has not remained silent about its troubles in Seoul. The company recently warned that the city “is in danger of remaining trapped in the past and getting left behind by the global ‘sharing economy’ movement.”
The end of Uber in Seoul has provoked different reactions, both in the media and among the city's taxi-service customers.
Conservative media outlets are focusing on how Uber has hurt the local cab industry and encouraged tax evasion — two issues over which Uber and local officials have clashed in other countries. Seoul's tech community, on the other hand, has expressed fears that banning Uber might have a chilling effect on future innovations and venture projects in South Korea.
One notable exception to the largely polemical writing about Uber in Seoul is Bloter.net, a website that brings together journalists and bloggers to report on tech news. Bloter.net has probed the Uber controversy, finding that its complexities make it difficult to understand the case from a solely technological or regulatory perspective. The taxi business, Bloter.net explains, affects not just drivers and existing cab companies, but many interest groups, including municipal governments, labor unions, and of course consumers. Leaving aside concerns about tax evasion, Bloter.net asks if Uber really lives up to the promise of the “sharing economy”:
하지만 우버는 국내에서만큼은 이런 혁신성을 퇴색시켰다. 불법성을 감수하면서까지 렌터카와 대리운전 기사를 운전기사 공급망으로 끌고 들어왔고, 최근들어서는 용역업체를 통해 기사를 충원하고 있다[…]무면허 택시와 유사한 행태를 보이고 있다[…] 수많은 이해관계가 얽히고설킨 택시 경제를 위협하고 있다. 택시 경제는 ‘불친절의 상징’이지만 ‘퇴직자의 마지막 탈출구’이기도 하다 […] 임금 체계의 부조리를 담고 있어 언제 터질지 모르는 인화물질이다.
Uber's innovation, in South Korea at least, is nowhere to be found. Despite legal problems, Uber has dragged rental cars and drivers into its labor pool, and now Uber is even recruiting drivers via agencies […] Actually, the company now looks very much like an illegal taxi service. […] Uber has challenged the taxi economy, which is itself entangled in its own issues and interest groups. Taxicabs [in Korea] are infamous for their rudeness to customers, but they are also retired people's “last resort.” […] It is a wage structure built on such absurdities, a tinder box waiting to blow.
Writing on youngrok.com, a tech blogger responded to Bloter.net's article, saying the accusations against Uber are too harsh.
현재의 법과 상충하는 새로운 비즈니스가 등장했을 때 그 사회가 선택할 수 있는 방법은 두 가지다. 하나는 그냥 법을 그대로 두거나, 혹은 추가로 금지하는 법안을 만들어서 금지하는 것. 두번째는 새 비즈니스를 합법적으로 할 수 있도록 법을 고치고, 세금을 징수하는 것 […] 그러니까, 우버의 합법화 논쟁에서 답해야 하는 질문은 우버가 이 세상에 해로운 비즈니스인가? 이다[…] 지금 우버가 이렇게 고객들에게 호평을 받는 것은 그동안 택시가 워낙 개떡같았기 때문이다. 택시는 이용객들도 싫어하고, 택시를 이용하지 않는 자가용 운전자도 싫어하고, 심지어 버스 승객들까지 싫어한다. 그럼 현재 택시가 이렇게 개판이고, 그 구멍을 우버가 잘 메꿔주고 있는데도 우버를 허용하면 안되는가?
When a venture emerges and clashes with the law, there are two stances a society can take. First, it can leave regulations as they are, or pass an additional law to ban the new enterprise outright. The second option involves adjusting the law, in order to tax the venture. […] What we should be asking ourselves is, “Does Uber harm our society?” […] Korean customers have hailed Uber because the country's existing taxi service is abysmal. Customers hate it. Drivers with their own cars hate it. Even bus riders hate it. And Uber actually fills this space quite nicely. So, considering the current status of the cab system, why can't we allow Uber?
Taxi riders in Korea have been divided about Uber, too. Some say the cab service in Seoul, which has fairly wide coverage, is good as it stands. Others claim that Uber offers far better service than local cabs. Whatever people's opinions about the transportation industry, most Koreans online have been skeptical about Seoul's new plan to launch a homegrown taxi application that closely resembles Uber. For all the concern about next-generation cab services in Korea, much of the Uber scandal has promoted conversations about the country's existing taxi system.
우버는 아쉬워도 현행법에 따르는게 맞겠지만, 이를 계기로 국내 택시 환경도 바뀌면 좋겠다. 택시앱 말고 환경이. 택시 타고서 기사님 열변의 청취자가 되거나 담배냄새 나는 차에 타는 것과 좀 비싸도 예의바르고 문도 여닫아 주는 택시의 차이는 크더라.
— Suh, Dongwook (@dsuh9) July 21, 2014
It may not be satisfied with them, but Uber needs to obey Korea's current laws. Still, I hope this controversy will bring changes to the nation’s taxi environment — not only mobile apps for taxis, but the whole environment. There are lots of differences between taxis that may cost a little more, with nice drivers who open the door for you (like with Uber), and cars that reek of cigarettes with drivers who talk too much.
서울시가 우버 금지시키고 대체 앱만들겠다는 조치는 참 어이가 없다. 우버가 불법적인 요소가 있다면 금지시키는 것까지야 (논란은 있지만) 이해하겠지만 자체 콜택시 앱이라니. 담엔 에어비앤비 막고 자체 호텔앱 만들건가
— 윤필구 (@philkooyoon) July 21, 2014
Seoul's decision to ban Uber and design a replacement mobile app is just plain ridiculous. If Uber is somehow illegal, then I understand the need to ban it. But the city is now coming up with its own app? What's next? Banning Airbnb and launching its own hotel app?
http://t.co/P67JNsg4A8 내가봐도 서울시는 우버랑 싸우기보다는 택시기사들 처우개선과 서비스 개선에 힘을 쓰는게 더 나을듯한데…
— Uncle Bang (@UncleCMBang) 2014년 7월 26일
Actually, I think Seoul should focus more on improving cab drivers’ working conditions and the quality of cab service than fighting with Uber.

author: Lee Yoo Eun


text:
Spanish Soldier Who Penned a Best-Selling Novel About Military Corruption Gets Jail Time · Global Voices
Lourdes Sada

Lieutenant Luis Gonzalo Segura in the video launch of his book. Photo from Facebook page “Un paso al frente”
Luis Gonzalo Segura, a lieutenant in the Spanish Army with almost 12 years of service, was fed up with seeing all sorts of corruption within the higher command. The issue is one few Spaniards know about, so he wrote a novel titled “Un paso al frente” (A step forward), a work of fiction based on the alleged abuses that takes place in the armed forces.
In the media tour that followed the novel's publication, Segura was outspoken against the armed forces, leading to his arrest for publicly criticizing military authorities. He was sentenced to two months in a military prison and faces possible expulsion from the army.
Segura explained the military's culture of communication in an interview published on online magazine La Marea:
Desde que se suprime el servicio militar hay un corte de flujo de información desde el mundo militar al exterior. […] Al no tener libertad de expresión los militares, ese flujo todavía se corta de forma más radical, de tal forma que al final, a día de hoy, las fuerzas armadas son un estado paralelo y completamente estanco a resto de la sociedad.
As long as the military is suppressed, the lack of communication between the military and the outside world will exist. […] Without freedom of speech, the military's non-existent communication is even more drastic, leading to the army's present parallel status, one that is completely disconnected from the rest of society.
The cover of the book's 6th edition. Photo from Facebook page “Un paso al frente”
In 2010, Segura was assigned a task involving the inventory of information technology, during which he found, in his own words, “a discrepancy of about 25-35%,” that totaled “millions of euros.” The young serviceman attempted to report the situation to military authorities, but the judge and the attorney closed the case without reviewing the information on the hard disc that Segura had presented to the court.
According to news website vozpópuli, Segura “in his book alludes to alleged embezzlement, prevarication, negligence, false secondments, meal and petrol fraud, sale of data, summer homes, golf memberships, spas and VIP rooms.” So many indulgences have left the army in a serious economic crisis, Segura said during the launch of his book in the city of Huesca:
Los datos económicos de la institución militar que, según afirma, tiene una deuda de 29.000 millones de euros y destina el 77% de sus 6.000 millones de presupuesto anual a personal, evidencian, por otra parte, que el Ejército es “un modelo anticuado y obsoleto, e insostenible a nivel económico”.
The military's economic data that according to Segura is 29,000 million euros in debt and allocates 77 percent of its annual 6-billion-euro budget to personnel, is evidence furthermore that the army is “an antiquated and obsolete model, and not sustainable at an economic level.”
Segura explained the alleged misuse of funds and bloated hierarchy to Barrio Canino, an interview program on Ágora Sol Radio, a broadcast platform associated with the 15M protest movement in Spain:
Hay un excedente de mandos enorme. De hecho, ahora mismo uno de los problemas que tenemos es que hay 42 000 soldados, a los que se les trata como a perros, y con contratos basura […] y tenemos 52 000 mandos […] cualquiera que tenga dos dedos de frente se da cuenta de que esto es insostenible.
There is an enormous surplus of commanders. As a matter of fact, one of our current problems is that there are 42,000 soldiers, all who are treated like dirt, and have contracts that are rubbish […] and we have 52,000 commanders […] anyone in their right mind would know that this is not sustainable.
He elaborated for news website Periodista Digital:
Lamentablemente en España muchos cargos son heredados en el ejército. Tenemos 270 generales y con veinte sería suficiente; tenemos 1050 coroneles y con 50 sería suficiente. Esto evidencia el excedente de oficiales como ejemplo de cómo la cúpula militar se mueve buscando su propio interés.
Unfortunately, in the Spanish army many positions are inherited. We have 270 generals, 20 would be sufficient; we have 1,050 colonels and 50 would be sufficient. This evidence of surplus officials is a perfect example of how the military leaders looks out for their own interest.
The lieutenant blames the army's corruption on the impunity that exists within the institution, which lacks organizational separation between its judges, law enforcement and financial authorities. The army's lack of will to change doesn't help either, he says:
[…] ha habido una especie de pacto entre los dirigentes de la sociedad civil y los del mundo militar por el que nadie se quería meter en el terreno de nadie. Aunque pudo tener un sentido hasta el año 90 por el riesgo del golpe de Estado, a día de hoy no se entiende que se siga sosteniendo
[…] there's been some kind of pact between civil society leaders and the military because no one wanted to step on anyone's toes. And although, because of a coup d'état, it might have made sense until 1990, it doesn't mean it should continue on today.
Furthermore, Segura told La Marea that the military themselves cover up corruption: “There is a false sense of loyalty to a comrade that goes beyond the loyalty to Spain, the institution and the citizens.” News and analysis website Nuevatribuna.es reported that he isn't only criticizing the malpractices of the army, but is also putting forward solutions:
En su novela, eleva una carta al Ministro de Defensa, sugiriéndole hasta 19 medidas, «que harían del ejército una institución más justa y honorable». El problema de las fuerzas armadas, no es solo estructural, «están enfermas y necesitan ser regeneradas», dice el teniente.
In his novel, he writes a letter to the Minister of Defense, suggesting up to 19 ways “that would make the army a much more just and honorable institution.” The army's issue is not structural, “it has become ill and it must be reformed,” the lieutenant said.
Segura during the launch of the book in FNAC, Madrid. Photo from Facebook page “Un paso al frente”
Some of what Segura has said in interviews regarding his book spurred the disciplinary proceedings against him. He was arrested on July 18 and sentenced to two months in the military prison, Colmenar Viejo. The lieutenant, who has been suspended from duty for several months, has another case filed against him that could lead to his expulsion from the army.
These sanctions, imposed for criticizing the military authorities publicly, show the lack of freedom of expression in the army and the possible punishment for exercising that right, thanks to an exception to articles 5 and 6 of the European Convention for the Protection on Human Rights and the Fundamental Freedoms that the Spanish government supports.
In addition, according to online newspaper eldiario.es, “a “major hunt” has begun in military quarters located in Zaragoza, Valencia, Córdoba and Canarias: “Comrades have been harshly threatened, including with expulsion and arrest, so they do not attend [events for the book], buy or discuss the book.”
Segura, who remains a lieutenant, began a hunger strike to protest the “lynching” which he believes military authorities are subjecting him to. He was recently admitted to the military hospital Gómez Ulla.
In the meantime, his book has become a bestseller, with more than 20,000 copies sold since it was published on April 21. It's already in its sixth edition. You can read the first chapter on his publisher's website, Tropo Editores.

author: Lourdes Sada