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Conservative Pundit Sues South Korea’s Saturday Night Live TV Show · Global Voices
Lee Yoo Eun

There's nothing funny about the rocky legal road ahead for South Korean political satire.
A conservative pundit who was lampooned on the program has filed a lawsuit against the country's version of the American comedy show. Saturday Night Live (SNL) Korea was attacked by conservative pundit and media critic Byun Hee-jae (@pyein2) over its latest Weekend Update segment, a fake news program sprinkled with witty commentary.
The segment's host called him “an attention seeker who, though said to have a job, we have no idea what he really does” and nominated him as the “Weirdo of the Week”.
Byun, who is notorious for baiting prominent liberals by calling them “pro-North”, which implies a North Korean sympathizer, announced via Twitter [ko] on May 6, 2013 that he will sue the show for defamation. Byun later widened his attack [ko], assailing the show for distributing what he defined “illegal news” that “manipulate public opinion” by siding with liberal agenda:
@pyein2: TVN SNL코리아 다운받아보니 심각하군요. 최일구가 국정원 댓글을 부풀려 조롱하며[…]  저런 여론조작질을 벌이고 있나요. 버릇을 고쳐놔야 돼요.
@pyein2: After I downloaded [and watched several episodes of] SNL Korea which aired on [cable channel] tvN, I found the problem much more grave than I thought. Choi Il-gu [who hosts the Weekend Update section] jeered at the NIS [spy agency electioneering] case and exaggerated it […] and the show manipulated public opinion. This bad behavior needs to be fixed.
Promotional Poster of Saturday Night Live Korea. Copyright belongs to SNL Korea. Image hosted by Wikimedia, Qualifies as Fair Use (Non commercial, to provide commentary on the show)
Byun reaction to the segment was ridiculed online. Some net users, pointing out that this sort of attack on political satire happens quite frequently, reminded people [ko] of the nation's poor performance on the press freedom index.
According to Press Freedom Index by Freedom House, South Korea ranked 68th in 2012 and 64th in 2013 out of 127 countries:
ID jiso****: 이러니 언론 자유가 60몇 위? 아프리카 어디 개발도상국보다 순위가 낮다며? 이러니까 그런 순위가 뜨는 거야.
ID jiso****: This is exactly why South Korea’s press freedom is ranked around 60th. We rated lower than some random developing countries in the African continent. [*note: The word “African continent” was used to refer some countries that felt very remote and unfamiliar] This explains our rank.
Website K-pop Decoder site explained how SNL Korea quickly rose to prominence. Since it airs on a cable channel, which is less bound by strict guidelines imposed on network TV shows, SNL Korea can try more risque political satire and bold sexual jokes.
Businessman Yeontaek Chang (@jaykaz) accused Byun and people like him of damaging the country's development of a political sense of humor:
@jaykaz: SNL Korea는 쾌재를 부르고 있겠구나. 아무리 나쁘게 생각해보려고 해도, 왜 문제가 되는지 모르겠단 말씀. 그리고 이왕 고소를 할거면 첨 시작했을 때부터 하시지. 이런 듣보잡때문에 우리나라 시사풍자 미디어가 발전하지 못하는거다.
@jaykaz: SNL Korea would now be totally elated. Even though I tried really hard to take it badly, I still can't perceive it as “problematic”. If Byun really wanted to sue them, he should have sued them when the program launched. These sorts of “nobody” [referring to ‘A person of no importance or authority’ and also Byun's nickname given by his critics] have seriously stunted the growth of our nation's political satire.
Prominent and controversial culture critic Jin Joong-kwon (@unheim) tweeted [ko]:
@unheim: 공식화법 “‘SNL코리아'는 풍자가 주요 소재인 프로그램이다. 판단은 시청자의 몫.” 이를 우리에게 익숙한 일상화법으로 번역하면, “똥개야 짖어라, 기차는 간다.”
@unheim: SNL’s official response read “Satire is one of the major elements of SNL Korea. It is entirely up to viewers to decide.” If I translate this into colloquial “You, dog, bark as you want. But the train will run [on schedule] – no matter what.”
Jin later added [ko] that he can't wait to watch next week's episode since Byun has voluntarily became a great source for political sketches.
Image by Flickr user Free Press Pics (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
Meanwhile, Korean Twitter user @sungjinyang linked to a Quora post explaining why the original SNL rarely gets sued for defamation — Cliff Gilley answered, “Because what SNL does is considered ‘parody'” it is afforded “one of the highest levels of protection” and SNL sketches will not be considered defamation since they are not “a claim expressly stated or claimed to be factual”.
However, this simple reasoning is not being applied in South Korea. Several months earlier on January 31, 2013, the Korea Communications Standards Commission reprimanded [ko] the nation's wildly popular sketch comedy show Gag Concert for not using honorific terms and employing insolent tone when addressing the country's current president, thus violating the decency of broadcasting. One of the online reactions read as below:
@sigolnonbu: […] 개그의 본령이 풍자라는 사실을 망각한 채 개그맨의 말투 등을 꼬투리 삼아 징계를 내린 것. 황당하고 한심스럽다. http://j.mp/YhK7mo
@sigolnonbu: Forgetting that the essence of comedy is a satire, they reprimanded comedians over such a petty thing– their tone. This is so ridiculous and pathetic. (link to relevant article)
SNL Korea staff said [ko] that after they experienced Byun's threat, they now feel even more thankful to all the presidential candidates who have featured in their sketches for not taking their jokes too seriously.

author: Lee Yoo Eun


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Drug Trafficking on the Rise in Timor Leste · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

The East Timor Law and Justice Bulletin features the worsening drug trafficking problem in Timor Leste. It quoted a government report which recognized that the country is being used as a “transit zone for criminals smuggling drugs into both Indonesia and Australia.”

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Mong Palatino


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Fight Against Ritual Killings Gears Up in Gabon  · Global Voices
Anna Gueye

The discovery of a young girl's mutilated body on a beach in Gabon's capital city of Libreville has renewed the fight in this Central African country against the superstitious practice of ritual killings.
Ritual killing in Gabon is based on the belief that retrieving a living person's organs allows someone else to get strength. Though it is unclear if the girl, who was discovered on 19 March, 2013, was a victim of a ritual killing, the case ignited fears that the practice is on the rise.
There have been as many as 20 instances of ritual killings so far in Gabon in 2013.
Social media networks rose up en force on Twitter, using the #OpGabon and #SOSGabon hashtags to demand justice for the victims. The issue gained even more attention after hacktivist group Anonymous stepped in and posted a graphic video about ritual killings on 11 April, 2013, urging net users to take action:
http://youtu.be/2LjdBsT0tkE
An attempt to organize a protest against the killings for 13 April, 2013 [fr] was denied by the minister of the interior, fueling criticism that the Gabonese government allows ritual killings to occur with impunity. Gabonese communities in France and Canada joined in the outcry, thrusting ritual killings into the international spotlight.
The global scrutiny force the normally tight-lipped Gabonese President Ali Bongo Ondimba to issue a statement that avoided mentioning ritual crime but condemned crime in general. First Lady Sylvia Bongo Ondimba has spoken out against the ritual killings specifically, however.
The government also relented on the protest, and the Association for the Prevention of Ritual Crime plans a peaceful march in Libreville on 11 May, 2013 [fr].
The problem of ritual killings is not exclusive to Gabon — all of Sub-Saharan Africa is affected by these murders. For instance, the following video by Youtube user xpxr5 reports on ritual killings of albinos in Burundi [fr]:
It also isn't a new problem. A major protest [fr] against the practice swept through the city of Lambaréné in January 2013. Since May 2012, Gabon's National Observatory for Democracy has called for the establishment of a commission to identify all instances of ritual killing that have occurred in the the last 22 years and for the recognition of such offences as crimes against humanity [fr]. Gabon Review notes in that post that people in high power should not get away[fr] with it:
personne d’autre de haut placé n’a été cité, indexé ou inquiété au cours de ces sessions spéciales. L’opinion nationale a pourtant une conviction intime : les crimes dits rituels sont commandités par des acteurs politiques.
No one in position of power has been charged or convicted during the court session (dedicated to ritual killings). Yet public opinion knows that the so-called ritual crimes are often ordered by politicians
Protests against ritual killings in Gabon – screen-capture from  a video from YouTube user gwarenghem about protests rituals killings in Libreville, Gabon
Journalist Olivier Herviaux, writing on his blog  “Africamix la Case à palabres” (The Debate Hut) hosted by French newspaper Le Monde, described Gabon's fight against the killings in recent years [fr]:
Depuis plusieurs années, le crime rituel fait régulièrement la « une » des journaux, notamment au Gabon. Le 3 mars 2005, deux corps d'enfants sont retrouvés, mutilés, sur une plage de Libreville. L'un des corps est celui d'un des fils de Jean-Elvis Ebang Ondo, âgé de 12 ans. Quelques mois après le drame, Jean-Elvis Ebang Ondo fonde l'Association de lutte contre les crimes rituels (ALCR).
For several years now, ritual killings have regularly featured in the front-page news, notably in Gabon. On 3 March 2005, the bodies of two children were found, mutilated, on a beach in Libreville. One of the bodies was that of Jean-Elvis Ebang Ondo's 12 year-old son. A few months after the disaster, Jean-Elvis Ebang Ondo founded the Association for the Prevention of Ritual Crimes.
Herviaux went on to condemn the practice [fr]:
C'est l'un des actes les plus marquants de la barbarie et de l'obscurantisme des sociétés humaines, l'un de ceux qui nourrissent tous les fantasmes, en Afrique, en Occident et ailleurs. Nous sommes bien Au cœur des ténèbres, comme l'écrivait Joseph Conrad.
This is one of the most striking acts of barbarity and obscurantism in human society, one of those that feeds all kinds of myths, in Africa and in the West as elsewhere. As Joseph Conrad wrote, we are deep into into the Heart of Darkness.
Emmanuel Kouassi, who is building a fact-file on ritual killings [fr] on his blog politique et autres (politics and others) [fr], offered deeper insight into the kilings:
Le crime. En droit, c’est le fait de donner la mort ou d’ôter la vie à quelqu’un. Il est, par conséquent, considéré comme un homicide, un acte prémédité.
Et le crime rituel? C’est un crime qui est commis sur la base d’un certain nombre de pratiques, soit traditionnelles ou religieuses, soit culturelles ou mystiques. Dans tous les cas, le crime rituel, est commis dans le but d’utiliser une partie de l’organe du corps humain, pour des sacrifices ; ou, tout simplement, pour des rituels. C’est, malheureusement, à cette pratique que s’adonnent certaines personnes pour, selon plusieurs interlocuteurs, devenir riches. Leurs principaux conseillers : les marabouts ou féticheurs. A chacun son marabout ou féticheur. Souvent, paradoxalement, ce sont les mêmes. Qui exigent la tête, la langue, le sexe, les ongles…le cœur ou les cheveux de l’être humain, femme comme garçon. Pour préparer la potion…magique. Le plus souvent, les personnes convoitées sont les albinos et les handicapés physiques.
Murder. Legally speaking, it is the act of causing someone's death or taking someone's life. It is thus thought of as a homicide – a premeditated act.
And ritual murder? It is a murder that is committed on the basis of a certain practices, whether they be traditional or religious, cultural or mystical. In all cases, ritual murder is committed in order to use part of the organs of a human body for sacrificial purposes or simply for ritualistic ones. This, unfortunately, according to some citizens commenting on the issue, is the practice that some people engage in to become rich. Their main guides in this venture: marabouts [traditional Islamic religious leaders] and witch-doctors — each to his own (paradoxically, the same person will often play both the role of the marabout and that of the witch-doctor). They might seek to use the head, the tongue, the sexual organs, nails … the heart or the hair of the human witch-doctor — maybe of a woman, maybe of a boy — all to prepare the magic … potion. The organs of albinos and handicapped people are the most often coveted.

author: Anna Gueye


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‘Malaysian Tsunami’ Protests Election Irregularities · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Tens of thousands in Malaysia gathered in Kelana Jaya stadium near the country’s capital on May 8, 2013 to protest the final vote tally of the 13th General Elections. The Opposition coalition Pakatan Rakyat won 51 percent of the popular votes but it only got 89 seats against the 133 seats of the ruling coalition Barisan Nasional (BN).
Because of its victory, BN is now the ‘world’s longest-ruling elected coalition’ which first came to power in the 1950s. However, it suffered its worst defeat since 1969.
News reports estimated the crowd inside Kelana Jaya stadium to be around 50,000 to 60,000. However, Malaysiakini reported that more than 120,000 people joined the protest, including those who couldn’t enter the stadium:
Including those caught in traffic jams all around Petaling Jaya, the crowd is estimated at 120,000 – making it one of the biggest rallies in recent times
Despite the drizzle, the crowd is still trickling into the stadium. Cars have been parked as far as 2km away and the party doesn't seem to end anytime soon for supporters.
Tens of thousands gather in Malaysia to protest the results of the General Elections. Photo by Ramon Fadli, Copyright @Demotix (5/8/2013)
This is what Genevieve Nunis observed in the event:
The stadium was filled with Malaysians who disagreed with the results on the 13th General Election, and they made sure the leaders understood them by shouting ‘Reformasi’ (reformation) and ‘Ubah’ (change). The crowd, all dressed in black rallied for a free and fair elections
This is truly the act of patriotism. These are Malaysians who do in fact love their country and yearn for a brighter future in Malaysia. Could it be an overwhelming feeling? It just might, but the beautiful part about it all is that everyone is putting their differences aside, and fighting together for their country as one.
A protester holds up an “anonymous” mask during an opposition coalition rally. Photo by Hafzi Mohamed, Copyright @Demotix (5/8/2013)
Twitter hashtags #black505 and #kelanajaya were used to document and share updates about the protest. Here are some related tweets:
@JustinTWJ I may not be physically at Kelana Jaya stadium now but my heart and mind is there. #black505
@AD___AM Look at all the irrelevant and ungrateful people who showed up at Kelana Jaya yesterday.
@critic4good The #black505 rally ended, but the spirit to fight for a better Malaysia still growing strong. You guys are awesome!
@sueannajoe I see people of all races walking by wearing black in unison. I see unity, I see hope, I see love for the nation. #black505
@Supernoves Was overwhelmed and proud of the turnout at #kelanajaya stadium last night. Our voice can never be silenced anymore. That's how it should be
The government warned that some of the speakers in the rally could be charged for sedition. The Opposition announced that more rallies will take place in the coming days.
These two videos uploaded on YouTube show the crowd which assembled in the stadium:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=clLlqgKKBtA
Terence Netto cited the 1986 People Power in the Philippines when Filipinos marched in the streets and soldiers mutinied in protest to the election fraud committed by the administration:
It is hoped there will be no need of the intervention of personnel in the uniformed units here to assist one side or the other in the dramas to come over the widespread suspicion that the results of GE13 are tainted beyond repair.
Prime Minister Najib Razak attributed the surge in votes for the Opposition to the support given by Chinese voters. He called it the “Chinese Tsunami’. A letter writer named Disappointed Citizen criticized Najib:
Our dear prime minister made a comment about the Chinese voting community which broke my heart…I felt that it was rather insensitive of him.
And now to refer to a portion of the people as a “tsunami” that may be dangerous for the nation simply because they voted for the opposition seems to me to be a rather petty and immature tactic.
But was Najib correct in his analysis? Scholars insist that what caused the loss of votes for the administration was the overwhelming support of urban voters to the Opposition. Some call it ‘urban tsunami’ or ‘Malay tsunami’.
Gertrude Pereira lists some election reforms that need to be undertaken:
If it is serious about reconciliation and healing, then be magnanimous. Clean up the electoral roll, reform postal balloting, provide free and fair access to the media, clearly indicate that the next elections will be on a level playing field and call for GE14 earlier rather than later. And keep it clean.
Ramesh Rajaratnam argues that it’s the election system that is deeply flawed:
Without a concerted effort from our MPs to make our country fairer by insisting on equitable representation in Parliament, it will indeed be very difficult for Najib to ask for national reconciliation when the very premise of his assertion was fundamentally flawed.
If you don't know what's broken, how can you fix it?
Dr. Syed Muhd Khairudin Aljunied heralds the rise of a new breed of Malay voters:
GE13 has laid bare the end of money politics and made it plainly obvious that the days of old school racial politics are numbered. The new breed of Malays have their eyes now set on cosmopolitan leaders, regardless of which party they are from, leaders whose forebears have had Malay interests in mind and, above and beyond that, the interests of all Malaysians at heart.
Just Read! is against the decision of the Opposition to organize a protest rally:
Whether there were flaws or not during the just concluded 13th general election, it was a good start to a ‘clean and free’ election in the country; and with due respect Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, please accept the decision of the voters!
Be a true gentleman, be a good Opposition Leader and take your team on the right and proper function as a constructive opposition rather than mocking at each and very policy the government introduced.
tunku also thinks the same about the Opposition leader:
He may not be good at winning elections, but Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is very good at whipping up his crowds of supporters and trying to persuade the world that he is a victim of injustice
Through the hashtag #mywant, some Malaysians called for national unity and harmony:

@jazlinhussin #mywant is for Malaysians to stop asking for re-election. It was fair so deal with it. Lets build a better Malaysia.


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Northern Brazil Peace Rally Pushes Back Against Rising Violence · Global Voices
João Miguel Lima

More than 1,000 people rallied for peace in the streets of the Canindezinho neighborhood in the northern coastal city of Fortaleza to denounce youth violence and the poor conditions young people have to endure living in the area known as Greater Bom Jardim.
Canindezinho's main square was taken over by youth, students, community leaders, artists, and supporters in the afternoon of 18 April, 2013. “How many youth will need to die before the society and the government take action?” one banner carried during the procession read.
Greater Bom Jardim, which is made up of five neighborhoods, has 491 deaths linked to violence between 2007 and 2010, according to the organizers of the march [pt]. The area counts a population of 204,281 throughout the five neighborhoods, of which 120,957 are between 0 and 29 years old, according to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) 2010 census.
Earlier in March 2013, local newspaper O Povo wrote about the rise of violence in Fortaleza [pt]: in February, 142 people were killed, 15 of which were in the neighborhoods of Greater Bom Jardim. Over the first 59 days of 2013, the Bom Jardim neighborhood leaded statistics [pt] with 22 guns seized by the police – in 2012, the neighborhood stood in third place, with 88 gunds seized.
Some people arrived early to prepare their posters on the benches, while others arrived with their designed banners: they wanted to talk about youth, peace and life. Some of them wore t-shirts with pictures of neighbors and relatives as a way to pay them honors.
A banner poses the question: “How many youth will need to die before the society and the government take action?”; the other banner says “Manifesto of peace”. Photo by Icaro Martins, published on Facebook.
The rally was organized by the Youth Agents of Peace group (Jovens Agentes de Paz [pt] – JAP), a project run by the Centro de Defesa da Vida Herbert de Souza [pt], in partnership with schools, community associations, non-governmental organizations, and artistic and religious groups.
Peace Rally in the Greater Bom Jardim. Image from the Facebook page of profile Jovens Agentes de Paz.
In the group's open letter for the protest, entitled “Against state violence and announced execution: we shout out for life!”, which may be read online [pt] on the website of Centro de Defesa da Vida Herbert de Souza, listed several struggles in the fight against violence, including illiteracy (the letter states more than 9,611 children, adolescents and youth, between 5 and 24 years old, are illiterate); diseases related to sanitary conditions and inadequate infrastructure; and the involvement of local boys and girls into routes of sexual exploitation.
The letter, which was handed in during the rally, was also critical to the current national debate on the age of criminal responsibility, which in Brazil is set at 18 years old:
Não bastasse esse cenário de horror, os jovens ainda têm que carregar a responsabilização da violência crescente no Brasil, em um processo de criminalização da juventude, que se articula com o consequente aumento do encarceramento de jovens e a batalha de setores reacionários pela redução da maioridade penal. Ou mesmo, têm que sofrer com a truculência de abordagens policiais diuturnamente, um tratamento igualmente prestado pelas emissoras que têm na sua programação os programas policiais, criminalizando pobres e estigmatizando bairros.
If this scenario of horror wasn't enough, youngsters now have to carry the burden of responsibility in regards to the growth of violence in Brazil, which is a process of criminalizing youth, interconnected to the rise of youth imprisonment and the battle of conservative sectors towards the reduction of the age of majority. Or they even have to suffer the daily truculence of police approach, which is equally provided by TV networks with their police programs, criminalizing the poor and stigmatizing neighborhoods.
Percussion band of Project Luthieria plays before the rally. Photo published on Facebook by Crítica Radical collective.
One of the young participants, Icaro Martins, followed the rally closely with a photo camera. He created a photo album on Facebook to spread the word about the event.
Citizens carry a banner that reads, “Youth who dare to fight, come rally with us – Youth have the right to live”. Photo published by Icaro Martins on Facebook.
Isabel Forte expressed her support [pt] to the rally on Facebook:
Esse é o Bom Jardim que vale a pena!!! E estas pessoas que se importam com o bem estar coletivo são mais que valiosas!!! Força, pessoas do bem!!!
This is the Bom Jardim I find worthwhile!!! People who care about the well being of others are very valuable!!! May you have the force, people of good!!!
Processions for peace
On 16 March, 2013, children and adolescents of the project Luthieria Cultural also took part in a procession for peace [pt] in Parque São Vicente, an area of the Canindezinho neighborhood. Luthieria is an “artistic, playful and educational initiative” with the intent to “reduce the situations of violence in the neighborhood” through percussive music and formation processes.
Girl paints a wall during the procession: “Let's get our hands together for peace”. Photo published by project Luthieria Cultural.
Project members play percussion in Parque São Vicente, in the Canindezinho neighborhood. Photo published by project Luthieria Cultural.
Seeking to address the situation of violence among youth, several projects are currently taking place in the Greater Bom Jardim area. Jair Soares, coordinator of project Luthieria [pt], believes cultural actions feature as an important path:
Nosso foco maior foi dizer que as ações culturais do bairro constituem-se como potencialidades frente as situações de desigualdade e violência enfrentadas nas periferias de Fortaleza.

author: João Miguel Lima


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Schools Close in Panama Due to Energy Crisis · Global Voices
Ariel Moreno

Panama is facing an energy crisis that could paralyze the whole country, due in part to the delay in the start of the rainy season.
This is how Prensa Latina [es] starts a report about this drought:
Con un régimen pluvial privilegiado por su condición de istmo favorecido por los dos principales océanos del planeta, en Panamá históricamente llueve nueve meses del año y sus caudalosos ríos y abundantes lagos siempre están saturados.
Sin embargo, el cambio climático se está sintiendo en las cuencas de toda su geografía y pocas escapan a una escasez de lluvias pronunciada, mientras ecologistas y ambientalistas como Raisa Bansfield alertan que a ese fenómeno contribuye la acción del hombre.
With a privileged rain regime due to its condition of isthmus blessed by the two main oceans in the world, historically in Panama it rains nine months per year, and its mighty rivers and plentiful lakes are always full.
Climate change, however, is being felt in the watersheds all along the country's geography and just a few are free from a prolonged lack of rains, while ecologists and environmentalists, such as Raisa Bansfield, warn that human behavior adds to this phenomenon.
The government is trying to avoid scheduled power cuts that could cause losses of up to 3.7 million dollars per hour, as Prensa Latina [es] reports:
La Cámara de Comercio alertó que el sector podría perder 3,7 millones de dólares por cada hora de apagón si se llega a tomar esa medida como resultado de una baja en la generación eléctrica motivada por el descenso del nivel de las aguas en ríos y represas que abastecen a las hidroeléctricas.
The Chamber of Commerce warned that the sector might lose 3.7 million dollars during each hour of the blackout, if this measure is taken as result of a decrease in electrical production due to the drop of water levels in rivers and dams that supply hydroelectric centrals.
The drought has affected the main hydroelectric centrals of the country, motivating authorities to take drastic measures like turning off bright signs, allowing the crossing of two ships at the same time through the canal, or closing supermarkets at 10:00 pm, among other actions.
What has caused more reactions, however, is the closing of private and public schools for three days.
Image widely shared through social networks.
- OK! We need ideas to fight this energy crisis!!!
- Let's close schools…
- … and college…
- … or the malls which consume more.
Ivana Tejada (@IvanaTejada) [es], for instance, believes that authorities have been unable to prevent this crisis and are now reacting when it's too late:
@IvanaTejada Incapaces de prevenir las cosas, esperan que el país esté en crisis para tomar medidas drásticas. A ellos les dimos el poder.
@IvanaTejada [es]: Unable to prevent things, they wait for the country to be in crisis to take such drastic actions. We gave power to them.
Jorge Yau (@mopx) [es] thinks suspending classes is an overkill, and claims that it is possible to study without so many electronics devices:
@mopx: En mis tiempos lo único eléctrico en el salón era el abanico de techo, que usan los chiquillos ahora? iPad, Laptop, WIFI, silla masajeadora?
@mopx [es]: Back in the day, the only electric thing in the classroom was the ceiling fan. What do kids use now? iPad, Laptop, WIFI, a massage chair?
For Mery (@megirom) [es] suspending classes to save energy consumption doesn't make sense, as students will be consuming electricity at home.
@megirom: Claro, porque los estudiantes van a estar en sus casas leyendo bajo la luz de la guaricha. [*En Panamá se le llama guaricha a una fuente rustica de luz artificial, por lo genera un mechón con querosén.]
@megirom [es]: Certainly, because students will be at home reading under the light of a guaricha [*in Panama, a guaricha is a rustic source of artificial light, usually a fuse with kerosene].
Oliver (OliverCh17) [es] agrees and thinks that simple math proves that suspending classes will cause more consumption:
@OliverCh17: Matemática simple, 30 niños juntos en un aula de clases o 30 casas con niños consumiendo + energía. . . GENIOS!!!
@OliverCh17 [es]: Simple math, 30 children together playing in a classroom, or 30 houses with children consuming more energy… GENIUSES!!!
For Tito Herrera (@TitoHerrera) [es] the measure will allow government not only to save energy, but explanations:
@TitoHerrera: Ahorro de Energía según el gobierno: “Cerrando las escuelas también cerramos los cerebros, esto representa un ahorro en dar explicaciones”
@TitoHerrera [es]: Energy saving according to the government: “By closing schools we will also close brains, that means saving explanations”.
What's true is that measures will increase and power cuts have been announced if not enough rain falls in the coming days, as La Prensa [es] reports:
Los cortes programados de energía se aplicarían durante los próximos días si no hay agua de lluvia para los embalses de las hidroeléctricas de Fortuna en Chiriquí y Bayano en Panamá.
Scheduled power cuts will be set during the following days if there is no rain water for Fortuna in Chiriquí and Bayano in Panama hydroelectrial central reservoirs.
Rain in several parts of the country in the morning of Thursday, May 9, 2013, has given Panamanians hope that the crisis will find a natural solution without having to take more extreme measures. TVN [es] explains:
Este jueves amaneció lloviendo en Arraiján y otras comunidades de Panamá Oeste, así como en Chilibre, Panamá Norte y la comarca Guna Yala, lo que llenó de esperanza a los panameños de que entre de lleno la estación lluviosa y se recuperen los embalses de las hidroeléctricas Fortuna y Bayano.
On Thursday, day broke with rain showers in Arraiján and other communities in Western Panama, as well as in Chilibre, Northern Panama and Guna Yala region, giving hope to Panamanians that the rainy season might be about to kick off and the Fortuna y Bayano hydroelectrical central reservoirs might recover [their usual levels].

author: Ariel Moreno


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Young Woman’s Suspicious Death Triggers Rare Protests in Beijing · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Thousands of people took to the streets in Beijing on May 8, 2013, in response to the suspicious death of a young migrant worker named Yuan Liya. Currently, all information regarding the death of Yuan Liya is unsearchable online in China.
The 22-year-old woman's body was found lying outside Wenjing Shopping Mall around midnight on May 3. Yuan had come to Beijing to find work to support her family in Anhui. Both Yuan's boyfriend and mother have demanded the Beijing police release the CCTV recording of Yuan's death. However, the Beijing police claim that the case was a suicide and refuse any further investigation.
Among the thousands of protesters, most are migrants from Anhui province who work in Beijing. Below is a citizen video showing the protest scene:
A post titled “The Mysterious Death of a Girl in Wenjing” circulated on online forums on May 7 but was quickly deleted by internet censors. According to House News [zh], which is based in Hong Kong, the post said Yuan was in a room with many men before her body was found outside of the shopping mall on the pavement beneath the room. Most of the original posts have been deleted. Below is a cached version of a discussion of the original post in an online Baidu forum [zh]:
Yuan Liya. Via House News. Non-commercial use.
失去水的鱼11：听说是保安干的，几个保安都跑了，现在好像有一个自首了，相信很快就有真相了。可是警察好像被贿赂了，记者也不来，都怕摊上事啊。。。
我等不到的春天：什么时候我们才能正确的去看待人命的呢！没钱没权的命，难道就不值钱的吗！
阳光67799：要把事实弄清楚，从前面的一段文字看，就是女孩自己跳的楼也得算他杀。
yanjs2011：一群男人是什么人呀，干嘛凌晨四点还在一起呢？？？？
哼特猎人：求真相咋就这么难？我们真的没有安全感了！
立木斤_7875：派出所办事方式：“自杀”、“没立案”、“无权查看” 呸—–难道警察就没有义务查出是他杀，还是真自杀吗？给家属一个交代，希望有一人受良心遣责，道出真相。
雷朕语：求公布于遇难者在同房间的男子姓名。相信以广大网民的力量可以揭示真相。
你愧胡：人都死了，连个真相都不让家人知道。这是什么世道呀？不是现实的悲惨世界吗？
“Fish Out Of Water”: The hearsay is that the security guards did it. Some of them escaped and one surrendered himself to the police. The truth should come out soon. But the police might have been bribed and there are no reporters following up the case. They were afraid of revenge…
“I Can't Wait Til Spring” : When will be able to treasure human life as it is? A life is worth nothing if it does not belong to someone wealthy and powerful?
“Sun 67799″: We have to dig out all the facts. According to the description of the post, even if the girl jumped out from that window by herself, she was murdered (because she was trying to escape from rape).
“Powerful Words”: [They] should disclose who are the men in that room. I believe netizens could dig out the truth.
“Shame On You”: The girl is dead and you still want to cover the truth. What kind of world do we live in now? We live in the world of Les Miserables.
In response to the protest, the Beijing police explained their investigation on Sina Weibo [jpg, zh]:
經調查走訪並調查現場及周邊監控錄像，反映該人於5月2日晚單獨進入商城內，次日5時許墜樓，未發現與其他人員接觸；現場勘查，屍體檢驗亦未發現可疑情況。目前，警方正在進一步工作中。
Upon investigation, interviews and reviewing the CCTVs around the death scene, the person [Yuan] entered the shopping mall alone on the evening of May 2 and fell from the mall at round 5 a.m. the next day. We have not see any evidence that she was in contact with others. There is nothing suspicious about the death scene and the dead body. Currently the police are still carrying out their duty.
But the police update did not earn people's trust. Microbloggers raised many questions in the comment section [zh]:
图图Win：如果像传说的有后台，那你们作为政府工具你们怕后台！！！后台敢和你们弄？！我草草草！怂比！
“Winxutu”: If the hearsay that [the shopping mall] has a powerful background is true, and as the instrument of the government, you are afraid of such background, what kind of background can touch the police? What the f**k!
起檀檀檀起：好像是说女孩儿是被5个保安强奸了，警方不敢立案是因为京温老板后台很强。没调查就直接火化了，女孩男朋友去说不是直系亲属无权调查录像后来她妈去了说是自杀的没立案。出了这么大的事，没一家媒体敢报道，微博把关键词屏蔽。真是黑啊！现在数百人都在游行示威了，目前直升飞机都出动了。
“Building A Stage”: The hearsay is that the girl had been raped by five security guards. The police gave up the investigation because the boss behind Wenjing has very powerful background. The body has been cremated without investigation. The girl's boyfriend asked the police for CCTV records; the police said he was not a direct relative. The mother asked for the CCTV; they said the case would not be investigated because it was a suicide. Such a big incident and not a single media outlet reported on it. The Chinese microblogs have filtered all the keywords related to the case. This is so corrupted. Now that hundreds of people are protesting you send the helicopters.
小姐你节扌喿掉了：为发现可以现象？？？￼案件八大疑点疑点一：死者并无自杀的任何预兆和理由。通过和她来往的朋友了解到，她5月2号在大红门早市下班后都很正常，下午一点发给男友的微信也很正常，跟男友感情一直很好，没有理由要自杀; 疑点二：死者为何要在京温市场内部待上整整一夜后再跳楼? […]
“Virginity Lost”: Nothing suspicious found? There are eight suspicious spots. First: There is no sign and reason for her suicide. According to her friends, she looked normal when she left for the shopping mall on May 2 and the message she sent to her boyfriend at around 1 p.m. was normal. Her relation with her boyfriend was very stable. There is no reason for her to commit suicide. Second: Why did she stay in the Wenjing shopping mall for one whole night before she jumped down? …
田正经:几个疑问：1.家属说是被强奸杀害，警方说没有与他人接触。2.既然有视频监控录像证实，网上却说不让家属看监控录像。3.既然无可疑情况，为啥出现大规模人群聚集，武警、警察、直升机都出动了。4.为啥网上全面屏蔽和删帖。
“You Yizhizhu”: A few questions: 1. Her family insisted she was raped and killed; the police said she had not been in contact with anyone. 2. The police said they had CCTVs as evidence. How come the family could not get access to the videos? 3. If there is nothing suspicious, how come so many people are protesting in the street and the armed police and helicopters were sent to the protest scene? 4. Why have all the discussions been deleted and censored online?
ashenyi：公开信息 把一切放在阳光下 才能取信于人民！
“Ashenyi”: Disclose all the information under the sun to earn people's trust!
悠悠子洛：解决方法：1，公开或请多家民间媒体和家人监督监控录像查看过程；2，尸检过程需要家人和媒体监督；3，这侦察结论在没有相关报告时别下得太早，尤其是息事宁人的结论会引众怒；
“Youyouziluo”: Solution: 1. Disclose the CCTV footage to a number of citizen media outlets and the victim's family; 2. Let the family and media monitor the autopsy; 3. The conclusion should not be made until all the reports come out. The kind of conclusion that aims to pacify people will instigate more anger.
潘譩￼：如果是自杀为何要进行信息封锁呢？
“120TC”: If it is suicide, why is all the information and discussion censored and blocked?
This morning the Beijing Police published another official micro-blog saying that all evidences show that Yuan's death was caused by her jumping down from the building and the family has not disputed against the police report. Yet, netizens are very quick to highlight the strange wording of the police post:
陳明樓主： “自主高坠死亡”是法律术语还是刑侦术语？什么意思？有参考书可查或法律可查吗？
“Chen Ming”: “Death caused by autonomous-falling from high rise” is this a legal term or criminal investigation jargon? What is its exact meaning? Any related reference or law that we can look into?

author: Oiwan Lam


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Timor Leste’s Bid to Join ASEAN · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Julio Gil da Silva Guterres writes about Timor Leste's application to join the Association of Southeast Asian Nations or ASEAN. He warns that “ASEAN without Timor Leste is the same as a state without sovereignty.”


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Watchdog Social Media Monitor Pakistan’s Historic Elections  · Global Voices
Faisal Kapadia

This post is part of our Special Coverage Pakistan Votes 2013.
As Pakistan nears its first democratic transition of power with the country's historic elections only days away, social media is empowering Pakistanis to take a more active role in the vote.
Elections in Pakistan are a tense affair. The five-year tenure of the democratically elected Pakistan Peoples Party-led coalition government is set to end with elections on May 11, 2011. Nearly every time elections were held in the past, parties have hurled accusations of rigging and misconduct at each other, giving way to violence.
But unlike the past, when the average Pakistani had to rely on the mainstream media to gather first-hand news and form their opinion, social media has changed things. There is an increasingly informed portion of tech-savvy populace which is using Facebook and Twitter.
Two new online platforms in Pakistan are attempting to use social media to monitor the upcoming elections for irregularities and violence as well as to inform the public about the electoral process.
Voter Stats. Infographic courtesy of Pak Votes
Pak Votes
Pak Votes (English, Urdu) is an election monitoring citizen journalists platform. It is an initiative that aims to highlight the voice of ordinary citizens through citizen media to generate an alternate narrative of 2013 electoral contest.
Using social media tools, it encourages openness by citizen participation and tries to provide timely and reliable information. The focus is to increase the people's ownership of the democratic system.
The innovative citizen journalism portal aims to empower the common people to voice their opinion on the upcoming elections, cite any Code-of-Conduct violations before, during and after the upcoming elections, and also report incidents of violence or rigging.
The project has trained 40 field monitors from the most remote and most violence-prone areas around Pakistan. These field monitors are reporting election problems in real-time to the platform from remote regions, which are generally ignored by the mainstream media. These reports are mapped here.
A shopkeeper vows to vote for PTI. This picture was sent to PakVotes for iVote campaign by @SoofiaSays
For example, a PakVotes-trained citizen journalist from Quetta, Balochistan has reported:
Most women don’t even have their NIC cards with them. Either they never had an ID card made, or their husbands or fathers have them. This essentially forces them out of the voting process and so, they get to have no say in the electoral process.
Apart from the monitoring, the platform aggregates blogs, opinion pieces, and analysis from citizens on the PakVotes website. @wordoflaw wrote in a post ‘Wattan Ya Kaffan’.
Rather tragically, there are two elections being contested in Pakistan. One is an election that is focused on rhetoric and a “New Pakistan”. The other, the election that the ANP is contesting, raises the issue that in order for there to be a “New Pakistan”, the State of Pakistan must continue to exist. And it is that Pakistan which is under attack.
Cartoonist Sabir Nazar draws for PakVotes. New Pakistan vs Old Pakistan.
The project can be followed on Facebook and on Twitter (@pakvotes). If you are in Pakistan and witness violence in any form, report it to PakVotes by sending an SMS to 0334-40-2222-4, send an email to report@pakvotesmap.pk, or simply tweet to @PakVotes.
Pak Voter
This platform allows Pakistani citizens to learn about elections and the electoral process via social media in order to urge them to get out the vote. Pak Voter provides information and links for informed voting decisions, while offering the information in a neutral and apolitical way.
This process does not begin and end with elections — it is an ongoing endeavor and would require constant and long-term engagement of Pakistanis to not only vote, but remain active after elections and hold the winners accountable to their mandate.
Speakers at Pak Voter's first voting information session on May 7, 2013. Photo by Faisal Kapadia.
Writer Sidra Rizvi explained why it is important to vote on her own blog:
Exercising our vote is something we all must do. If we don’t vote, the people who shouldn't be in power will win. Their loyalists will vote for them. And with us not casting any, they will once more gain control. Isn't this what we are trying to change? Shouldn't we cast a vote then, if not to elect someone, then to help not elect someone who is not capable?
A @pakvoter-hosted chat on Twitter was the number one trending topic in Pakistan under the hashtag #letsvote on May 8, 2013:
@FarriRizvi (Farheen Rizvi): roads and banks are the coins of an elected govt. Elected govt shud provide security for domestic/foreign investment @pakvoter
@RJ_kulsoom (Umme Kulsoom): Don't know your polling station? Check it here today http://www.norbalm.com/pakistan-elections-urdu/ … and #letsvote on may 11. #pakvoter @pakvoter
@PakVoter (Pak Voter): It is unrealistic to not participate in the election process and then sit and criticize. you must go out and vote! #letsvote
@rraheelNJ (Rizwan Raheel): @PakVoter @faisalkapadia a single vote can tilt the balance, and it just might be your's. Use your right to choose what you think is right
@hiranazam: Vote. Even if you feel your vote doesn't count. Even if you feel it's wasted. Even if you feel the elections are rigged. Go. Vote. #LetsVote
This campaign can be found on Facebook and on Twitter (@pakvoter).

author: Faisal Kapadia


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Caribbean: Can CARIBCAN Happen?   · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Blogger Kevin Edmonds examines the impending Canada-CARICOM Free Trade Agreement.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Chinese Politics like Heredity Monarchy? · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

The current Chinese Communist Party leaders are the second generation red and the third and the fourth generations are emerging in the political scene. The political system in China is more and more like a hereditary monarchy, said Chinese netizens. Off Beat China summarized the discussion.


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Haiti: The “White Savior Industrial Complex”  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

kiskeácity links to a letter which “echoes many of the issues Haitians face with the White Savior Industrial Complex…and its army of 3,000 NGOs, 12,000 UN troops, innumerable speakers for Haiti, appropriators of Haiti's ancestral religion, culture and music and other so-called ‘allies’ who silence Haitians for a profit while assuming their voice.”


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Hong Kong’s Policymaking Keeps China in Mind  · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Two confidential Hong Kong Government memorandums has been leaked. The documents would take effect from 1 June 2013 and require
an assessment on Mainland reaction and related public relations measures will become a mandatory requirement for all policy committee papers and Executive Council submission.
Bad Canto believes that “Hong Kong is finished” if such documents come to effect.


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Leaked Development Plan Raises Land Grab Fears in Mozambique · Global Voices
Janet Gunter

Against a backdrop of growing concern about ‘land grabs‘ in Africa and the conversion of smallholder agriculture to large-scale commercial agriculture, a leak from a controversial economic development plan has raised alarm in Mozambique, as well as Brazil and Japan [ja], two key donors.
According to Mozambican NGO Justiça Ambiental and a number of other co-signing organizations, a leaked copy of the so-called Master Plan for the ProSAVANA program, dated March 2013, reveals the ‘land grabbing’ plans of the governments of Japan, Brazil and Mozambique.
A Mozambican farmer. Photo used on a CC BY-NC 2.0 license, by Flickr user Bread for the World
Brazilian activist Fátima Mello explains what ProSAVANA is, and gives some important background on the project in an interview with Instituto Humanitas [pt]:
O ProSavana é um programa de cooperação e investimentos entre três governos: Brasil, Japão e Moçambique. É um programa agrícola que abrange três províncias no norte de Moçambique, numa área estimada em 14,5 milhões de hectares, onde vivem aproximadamente 5,5 milhões de camponeses que produzem, a partir de um sistema de base familiar, alimentos. O ProSavana deriva do Prodecer, um programa que foi desenvolvido no Cerrado brasileiro, em Mato Grosso, realizado pela cooperação japonesa com o Brasil nos anos 1980 e que produziu as características que conhecemos no Cerrado: gigantescos monocultivos de soja em larga escala voltados para a exportação, intenso uso de agrotóxicos, expulsão de populações tradicionais, concentração da propriedade da terra, contaminação do solo e criação de um poderio econômico do latifúndio e do agronegócio, que se traduziu em poder político…
Prosavana is an aid and investment program between three governments: Brazil, Japan, and Mozambique. It is an agricultural program that spans three provinces in the north of Mozambique, in an area estimated at 14.5 million hectares, where approximately 5.5 million people produce food as family farmers. Prosavana derives from Prodecer, a program that was developed in the Brazilian “cerrado” (grasslands), in Mato Grosso, undertaken by Japanese aid with Brazil in the 1980s and that produced the characteristics that we know in the Cerrado: gigantic monocultures of soy on a large scale for export, intense use of agrotoxins, expulsion of traditional crops, concentration of land, contamination of the soil and creation of an economic powerhouse of land-owning elites and agribusiness, which translated into political power…
The land area in question in the “Nacala Corridor” is the size of Switzerland and Austria. The agencies sponsoring this project and the government had not yet made maps available to farmers and citizens, detailing what land will be included. Farmers organizations have felt totally shut out of the shaping of this project and policy.
The National Farmers Union of Mozambique (UNAC) said last year:
We, peasant farmers, condemn the way in which the ProSavana programme was drafted and the way it is intended to be implemented in Mozambique, which has been characterised by reduced transparency and the exclusion of civil society organisations throughout the process, especially peasant organisations.
On the blog Delegoa Bay, a blogger called ABM writes [pt]:
Conversando com camponeses ao longo do Corredor de Nacala fica claro que brasileiros e japoneses estão indo às comunidades para avisar que o ProSavana está chegando. Depois afirmarão que fizeram as chamadas consultas a sociedade civil. Isso que estão fazendo não é consulta…
Conversing with family farmers along the Nacala Corridor it becomes clear that Brazilians and Japanese are going to communities to warn that ProSavana is coming. Then they will maintain that they did so-called consultations with civil society. What they are doing is not consulting.
In March, under increasing pressure the Mozambican government stated  [pt] that “dialogue [with communities] must be permanent”. Brazilian diplomats have responded to the calls for transparency by stating that small farmers will be included in the plans to develop Mozambique's Nacala Corridor. Head of the Brazilian Cooperation Agency, Fernando Abreu, was quoted last month [pt] as saying that more information was needed, also claiming that there were no plans to resettle or move farmers from their land.
The leaks contain maps, showing which districts will be targeted for large-scale farming for export, allowing civil society organizations to verify exactly which communities could be affected in order to get a better idea of the potential impact. The leaked document identifies seven “clusters” for intensive development.
Justiça Ambiental and co-signers describe what kind of agriculture the plan will bring
Some of the projects within the plan will provide large areas of land to investors. The Integrated Grain Cluster, which is planned for Majune District, Niassa Province, will be managed by one vertically integrated company that will operate nine 5,000 ha farms, within a 60,000 ha zone, to produce a rotation of maize, soybeans and sunflower, mainly for export. According to the plan, ‘the project has a high profitability and the internal rate of return was calculated at 20.3% and the payback is 9 years.’
They go on to question whether there are any benefits for the Mozambicans in the region:
It is telling that only one of the seven clusters in the Master Plan is aimed at small scale farmers and family food production. And this cluster only proposes the same old failed green revolution model of development. The Master Plan puts no real thought and energy into the needs and capacities of peasants in the Nacala Corridor.
Corporations are the big beneficiaries of this Master Plan. They will get control over land and production and they will control the trade of the foods produced, which will be exported along the roads, rail lines and Nacala port that other foreign corporations will be paid to construct with public funds from Mozambique and Japan.
The National Farmer's Union foresaw a host of problems arising from the ProSAVANA project already last year. Landlessness, social upheaval, impoverishment, corruption, water pollution and ecological imbalance due to deforestation, the Union warned, could become a reality if the project went ahead as planned.

author: Janet Gunter


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Rios Montt Testifies in Genocide Trial · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

On the 26th day of the historic Genocide trial against former de facto head of state Efrain Rios Montt and his Head of Intelligence Jose Mauricio Rodriguez Sanchez, the prosecution and defense gave their closing statements and the main accused, Rios Montt, finally declared.
James Rodriguez shares a photo essay of the day in MiMundo.org.
For more information on the trial follow BoingBoing journalist Xeni Jardín (@xeni), user @RiosMonttTrial, Global Voices contributor Renata Avila (@avilarenata), and the hashtags #GenocideGT and #GenocidioGT.

author: Silvia Viñas


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RuNet Apprehensive over Surkov’s Dismissal, End of Political Era · Global Voices
Andrey Tselikov

RuNet Echo recently reviewed a London talk given by Vladislav Surkov, Russia's grey cardinal, the inventor of NASHI and “sovereign democracy,” wherein he claimed that the Kremlin has defeated the opposition. A few days later, Surkov was harshly criticized for some of his statements by Russia's Investigative Committee spokesman, Gen. Markov, in an Izvestiya article. This week, Surkov was dismissed [ru] from his post of Deputy Prime Minister and head of the ministerial apparatus. Failure to carry out Putin's electoral promises was cited as the official reason.
While it is commonly assumed that Surkov fell from grace a year earlier, when he was replaced as the powerful Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration by Vyacheslav Volodin, and given a post many viewed as a demotion, he was also thought to still be immune to political travails. And so, the RuNet reacted to his resignation with equal parts of disbelief, glee and worry.
As illustrated by this meme, Surkov is often credited with creating Russia's current party system — a set of false alternatives to United Russia. Anonymous image widely distributed online.
The glee is easy to explain — to the opposition Surkov is the architect of Russia's repressive political system, in short, a villain. Other Russia's Eduard Limonov was particularly ecstatic [ru]:
Нацболы радуются падению этого типа, поскольку с 2005 года он возглавлял гонения на нас (возможно и раньше,но в феврале 2005-го он создал организацию “Наши”, основной целью которой определил борьбу против Национал-Большевистской партии). […] то что наш  заклятый враг в настоящее время лишился власти, – отлично. […] Сегодня мы  выпьем за его уход. Гип-гип-ура!
The natzbols are happy for the fall of this guy, since he has headed our persecution from 2005 on (maybe even earlier, but in February of 2005 he created the NASHI organization, the main purpose of which he made the struggle against the National Bolshevik party). […] the fact that our sworn enemy is currently out of power, is great. […] Today we drink to his leaving. Hip hip hooray!
But then, why the worry? As Afisha's editor-in-chief Ilya Krasilshchik quipped [ru]:
вот и дожили до момента, когда увольнение суркова воспринимается как что-то плохое.
and so we've lived to see the moment when Surkov's firing is construed as something bad.
The reasons for this are a bit more complex. Many of those indulging in kremlinology assume that Surkov was fired after pressure from the Investigative Committee, a worrisome idea because it would mean that the siloviki are currently winning their battle against the “liberals” in the government (roughly speaking Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and his allies, who Surkov has supposedly joined). For Pavel Pryanikov, of ttolk.ru, the situation is reminiscent [ru] of the role the security apparatus had in the Soviet Union:
[…] Следственный Комитет сегодня – это аналог НКВД 1936 года, суперведомство с суперполномочиями. Ну и скорее всего теперь следует ожидать окончательной зачистки во власти сислибов […]
[…] the Investigative Committee today is analogous to the 1936-era NKVD, a super-institution with super-powers. And, more likely than not, we should expect a final purge of syslibs [system liberals] from power […]
If true, this is especially troubling news for Alexey Navalny, who has recently been incessantly harrying Investigative Committee head Gen. Bastrykin for the past year. Maksim Kononenko, a Kremlin supporter and a big fan of Surkov, was despondent [ru] for similar reasons:
Версия о том что теперь Маркины главные, конечно, наиболее вероятно, но лично мне о ней вообще не хочется думать.
The theory that now the “Markins” are in charge, is, of course, the most probable one, but personally I don't even want to think about it.
Instead, as a long shot, Kononenko is hoping that dismissals are simply one way for Putin to distance his most trusted allies from Medvedev's government, because he is planning to dissolve it some time soon. Kononenko's one-time boss, Marat Gelman (currently a modern-art promoter and gallery owner, Gelman used to be a political spin-doctor), was less optimistic [ru], thinking that the attack on Surkov signals a shift in the ruling paradigm:
Бояться должны все. Сначала вычистят сурковскую клиентелу, потом Медведевскую, потом Сечинскую.
Everyone should be afraid. First they'll purge Surkov's clientele, then Medvedev's, then [current RosNeft chairman] Sechin's.
Surkov's troll-face is his true face. Anonymous image widely distributed online.
DemVybor's Kirill Shulika agreed [ru], referring to Surkov's style of “governance through deception”:
Раньше были разводки, теперь они заменены уголовными делами и тюремными сроками. Сурков, как бы к нему ни относиться, во-первых, политический эстет, который не будет бить горшки молотком
Before there was trickery, now it has been replaced with criminal charges and prison sentences. Surkov, whatever you may think of him, is, first of all, a political aesthete, who won't break pots with a hammer
Boris Nemtsov had a similar idea, saying [ru] that Surkov's light propaganda touch is not needed any longer:
ПУТИН взял курс на репрессии и посадки. Сурков ему в этом деле помочь не может. Бастрыкина достаточно.
PUTIN has taken a course for repressions and prisons. Surkov can't help him with this. Bastrykin is enough.
The nationalist publication Sputnik&Pogrom took an all too familiar tack with its borderline racism when commenting on the story, but ended up making the same basic point [ru]:
[…] противостояние русского европейского образованного класса и советской азиатской рабоче-крестьянской власти более невозможно маскировать томными чеченоевреями, пишущими романы и рассуждающими про «дискурс», пытающимися примирить белых европейцев и советских монголов.
[…] the conflict between Russian-European-educated classes and the Soviet-Asian-worker-peasant government can no longer be masked with languid Checheen-Jews [Surkov is half-Chechen on his father side], who write novels and talk “discourse”, and try to reconcile white Europeans and Soviet Mongols.
Others are worried for a different reason. Surkov's political acumen is of such mythical proportions, that people have trouble believing his dismissal isn't simply the latest in a long series of grifts. The poet Igor Karaulov, for example, joked [ru] that Surkov will be sent to subvert the protest movement from the inside:
Через месяц на Болотной. Навальный (громко, призывно): “Кто мы”? Публика, хором: “Мы – сурковская пропаганда!”
In a month, on Bolotnaya Square. Navalny (loudly, invitingly): “Who are we?” The Public, all together: “We are surkovian propaganda!” [a play on the phrase “you are surkovian propaganda” used by opposition members, sometimes ironically, to label government supporters]
For some, there is a seed of truth in the joke. Alexander Artemyev, a journalist, tweeted [ru] that Surkov will soon be standing in the opposition ranks, along with another former Kremlin stalwart Gleb Pavlovsky, who became a fixture at anti-government events over the last year. Olga Romanova tweeted [ru] the same prediction. In a bit of a twist on this meme Yevgeny Levkovich, another journalist and opposition activist, darkly hinted [ru] at a new Kremlin project to create an American style two-party system, and thought that Surkov is perhaps being moved to this project.
We may never know the real reasons for Surkov's leaving, but the story is in all likelihood rather mundane. Which is why the theory [ru] put forth by Kirill Shulika on his blog is particularly attractive: Surkov simply did not like his job, which, unlike his creative policy-based position at the President's Administration, saddled him with heaps of bureaucratic work and late hours:
Получилось так, что в Кремле его сожрал Володин, а на должности, которую ему дали в качестве компенсации, он просто себя не нашел.
So it turned out that at the Kremlin he was consumed by Volodin, but at the position assigned to him in compensation [for the old one], he simply couldn't find himself.
Or perhaps the reason is even more simple, suggests Stanislav Yakovlev:
Почему ушел Сурков? Да заебали вы его.
Why did Surkov leave? He's just f*cking tired of your sh*t.

author: Andrey Tselikov


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South Korean President’s Spokesman Fired · Global Voices
Lee Yoo Eun

South Korean President's press spokesman Yoon Chang-joong was relieved of his duty over allegation that he sexually assaulted a 21-year-old intern during President Park's visit to the United States which he accompanied. A community website for Korean women living in the U.S, Missy USA, first revealed the case and a screen capture of Missy USA's report [ko] has widely spread online.


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VIDEO: Turkmenistan’s Pop Music Makes Love, Not Politics · Global Voices
Anna Fergana

In Turkmenistan, pop musicians tread a difficult path between carving out a distinctive image for themselves and ensuring they don't fall foul of the state.
Authorities in Ashkabad have never tried hard to hide their preference for a style Radio Free Europe terms “ethno-pop” over other musical genres. But with a surplus of performers in this oversubscribed category, artists have started to draw on foreign influences, both to help them stand out at home and to give them a chance to enter more lucrative markets in Russia and Turkey.
Nevertheless, whether in Turkmen, Russian, Turkish or less usually, English, the most popular topic for Turkmen artists to address is undoubtedly love, with few straying from this tried and tested formula.
The clip below is a traditional song revamped by Dovran Tokgaev, “Suw Almaga Gelmezmi?” (“Will She Come to Get Water?”). The production is fairly poor quality but the clip clearly portrays a shy, old-fashioned courtship between a girl in national dress and a horse-riding man who later serves his country in the army before coming back to claim her. The song was released over a decade ago:
Tokgaev is known for his peerless vocals. One fan, Shirin comments [tkm] under the clip:
DOvran in gowy goryan aydymchym! Sesine saglik!
Dovran is my favorite singer! Let his voice be healthy!
When not singing about love, Tokgaev's songs tend to be patriotic in tone, such as “Ashkabad [Turkmen capital] – The Best City in the World” [ru]. As such, he presents no dilemmas for the Turkmen government.
But Tokgaev is no longer top of the Turkmen pops, and faces challenges from the likes of Tach, who makes Turkmen teens go crazy. The video clip of Yar, one of Tach's songs, demonstrates [Tkm] the improvement in the quality of music videos over the years, and highlights Tach's slightly more modern approach to matters of the heart.
Yet Tach is not a model Turkmen citizen, having studied abroad, and often sings in English. His followers point out that he shares similarities with Turkish solo artists as well.
One of his fans, eberdiyeva uses [Tkm] a strong Turkmen word to sum up her feelings for the artist:
Bet
Cool
Another user,TurkmenPlanner, points out [Tkm] that Tach is not a professional singer and makes videos at home on his laptop. This situation is not uncommon in Turkmenistan, where making music profitable is a tall order.
Jivoyom eshtdik, vrode by erbet dyal.
Vsyo je hochu zametit chto dlya cheloveka kotoriy schitaet eto delo svoim “hobby” gde on je …pishit muzyku, slova, snimaet klip i vsyo eto obrabatyvaet bez specialnoy tehniki i ludey i lish tolko na svoyom nedorogom laptope v svobodnoe vremya. Tach, iz 10 vse 10.
I've seen him live, he is pretty good.
It is noteworthy that this person considers music his “hobby” and writes music, texts, and makes clips  on his laptop during his free time. Tach deserves 10 out of 10.
One undermining feature of the Turkmen pop world is poor copyright laws. Singers are often accused of stealing music or translating texts. Some commentators say this applies to Tach as well.
Muratkabaev asked [ru]:
normal passan poyot. klip toje horosho sinyali..pocemu muzik ne ego..?
The guy is cool. Clip is well shot as well…but why is the music not his own..?
These comments were echoed by other watchers of Yar, but TheAynulka disagreed [Tkm] with their criticism:
Poslushay yego svoi proizvedenie; Green Eyes, Girl From Lyon, With a Flower, Let it Burn. Jal chto on sochenyaet na angliyskom, i malo kto slushaet.
Listen, he has his own songs; Green Eyes, Girl From Lyon, With a Flower, Let it Burn. It is pity that he writes in English and not many people have heard of this.
Tach is not the only singer to generate mixed press. Ma-Ro, a Turkmen rapper, is another interesting character, and one who has drawn the wrong type of attention from Turkmen authorities. At the beginning of 2011, Ma-Ro was sentenced to two years imprisonment after an initial 15 day detention. At the time, Eurasianet.org's Sifting the Karakum blog wrote, citing the Turkmen Initiative for Human Rights [ru]:
Maksat (Ma-Ro) Karakbayev and Murad Ovezov were summoned to the Interior Ministry on January 28, and sentenced to 15 days of jail for giving an interview to a Turkish TV channel, TMB.
Some speculate that the real reason for Ma-Ro's arrest was the song “Sen Oyan” (“Wake Up!”) that the government perceived as a call for people to resist the state. As Radio Free Europe notes, Turkmen rap singers have been known to miss a beat when it comes to praising their country's Golden Age, choosing instead to focus on the difficult nature of everyday life in the isolated state. But how dangerous were Ma-Ro's lyrics?:
Bu aýdym, biziň dostlarymyz üçin, ýe, ýe, ýe / Ýyldyzlar dogandan soň güneş batýar /Sagatlar, günler, ýyllar ötýär / Çalyş sen dünýäde yz goýmaga / Wagt gelse, goýmazlar dolanmaga / Ine köp ýatma ukudan oýan / Hany bol oýlanda özüňe daýan / Aňsat däldir durmuş meni diňle / Egerde bolsa çyn dost sende / Ýeňersiň kynçylygy her demde / Her günde, her ýerde, köseneňde / Durmuşda arkadag bolsa saňa / Başararsyň ýetmäge arzuwlaryňa
This song is for our friends, yeah , yeah, yeah / The sun sets and stars appear / Hours, days and years pass / You should try to make something remarkable in this world / Because time doesn't wait and there is no coming back / Don't sleep for too long, wake up / And trust only yourself / Life is not easy, so listen to me if you are real, friend / You will cope with all troubles with every breath you take / Every day and everywhere when you feel sad / Let help come to your life / And you can reach your dreams
Fortunately, Ma-Ro was granted amnesty on the Day of the Turkmen Flag in February 2013, having served two years of a five year term, and will now continue advancing Turkmen hip-hop. Singer-government relations have long been a source of discussion for Turkmen netizens. Back in 2011, on the popular platform Ertir, Athena commented on his arrest [Tkm]:
ay indi aydymchylaram ovrenishdi oydyan gadaganchylyga. 3-4 ay yaly yitip gidip prezident hakda bir aydym chykaryp yzyna geliberyaler
Now even singers are used to limitations/prohibitions. They are in jail for 3-4 months and then they only need to sing one song about the president and they are back again.
Not all of Ma-Ro's songs have a serious political message. In fact, plenty of them are about love and his homeland, themes that meet [ru] with strong government approval. Authorities will no doubt be hoping “Sen Oyan” was a blip.
Sohbet Kasymow (right) has amassed popularity in Turkmenistan's pop scene over the last couple of years. Screen capture taken from his video Gelmedin (2012), uploaded by YouTube user Shatlyk Sopyyew.
The rising star of Turkmen pop, meanwhile, is Sohbet Kasymow. Kasymow is often likened to a younger Dovran Tokgaev, and his cheeky, fresh, student style has pushed him to the very apex of the domestic music scene. The clip below is his hit song “Sőỳgi”, which translates as… “Love”:

author: Anna Fergana


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Australia’s SandwichGate: PM Julia Gillard Better Take Cover · Global Voices
Kevin Rennie

The mainstream media have been accused of trivialising political coverage in Australia over an incident involving Prime Minister Julia Gillard and a sandwich on 8 May 2013. Apparently, it even went viral overseas both in the press and online.
Gawker got into the act with a tasteless [sic] image as lead and an unproven claim about the projectile [Vegemite is an iconic Australian sandwich spread]:
On Wednesday, Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard was visiting a high school in Brisbane when someone threw a sandwich at her.
And then, for a second, the world stopped.
Vegemite – Image courtesy: Flickr user Stephen Mitchell (CC License 2.0)
Or exploded, if the instant emergence of the #sandwichgate Twitter hashtag was any indication. It wasn’t to David Horton’s taste:
@watermelon_man: FFS journalists, with Sandwichgate you've finally lost, after many last chances, any claim to be thought of as a profession.
Craig must be a cuisine conspiracy theorist:
@Cutto1: So there was two sandwiches thrown at the pm. One from the book suppository, and one from the crusty roll, it’s a conspiracy. #sandwichgate
But this was not just a story of tweet oneliners. The Oz blogosphere also answered the call. Insert Clever Title Here satirized the mainstream media’s approach to reporting politics with a series of questions including:
1. Who threw the sandwich, what is their Facebook link and what is the worst photo of them that media can use.
4. What was the carbon impact of the sandwich?
5. What was in the sandwich?
9. Has Newspoll conducted detailed push polling on sandwich
Yale Stephens at The Red And The Blue wanted to hear about school policies not schoolyard pranks:
THE THROWING of a sandwich at Prime Minister Julia Gillard at a Brisbane school today really is small bier; it wasn’t an egg or something really capable of making a mark, and in any case — it missed. Yet this beat-up is even being reported in London tonight [The Telegraph], and people should move on to worthier issues.
However, he couldn’t resist a pun:
Forget about the sandwich folks; at the risk of mixing metaphors, it’s a red herring.
The whole incident seemed preordained as the Prime Minister was visiting a school fundraiser for breast cancer charity Australia's Biggest Morning Tea. Lyrics from Down Under by the iconic Men At Work area are apt:
He just smiled and gave me a vegemite sandwich
And he said,
“I come from a land down under
Where beer does flow and men chunder
Can't you hear, can't you hear the thunder?
You better run, you better take cover.”
Crikey cartoonist First Dog on the Moon presented this exclusive interview:
Head Ranga in sanger clanger!
Courtesy: First Dog on the Moon
Now if you think that #sandwichgate is inconsequential, the #skywhale narrative is the latest Oz happening to trend internationally. It is something else that might cause politicians to take cover.
Andrea Carew mused about the nation’s Capital, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary:
@UTLAU: Unfathomable, kind of weird but some of us like it, controversial, + full of hot air – yes #skywhale really DOES represent #Canberra
Vivien Mitchell who works for the Centenary of Canberra unit gave us a sneak preview:
@Viv54: #skywhale Australia's newest mega fauna; gracing our skies from 11 May 2013 @theskywhale_ pic.twitter.com/2valK1w6EV

author: Kevin Rennie


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Chinese Director’s Reported Seven Children Shocks Public · Global Voices
Owen Guo

China's one-child policy is once again under scrutiny after mainland media revealed that famous Chinese director Zhang Yimou might have fathered seven children.
Hailed as an accomplished fifth-generation director in the country, 63-year-old Zhang, who wowed the world in 2008 with his astonishing Olympic ceremonies, finds himself the brunt of fierce criticism after media reports said he has at least seven children. Frustrated netizens thronged to social media, seizing upon the case as yet another example that privilege is what it takes for one in China to flout laws and regulations.
Zhang kept his second marriage under wraps for years and now has two sons and one daughter with a 32-year-old women from eastern Jiangsu province, Southern Metropolis Entertainment reported[zh] on May 6, 2013. Zhang is rumored to have children with another two unnamed women. The director's eldest daughter with his first wife, whom he divorced in 1988, is 30-years-old and now lives in the United States.
Zhang Yimou has so far remained silent.
The so-called one child policy was introduced in 1979 to limit population growth in China, the world’s most populous nation. While the Chinese government say a total of 400 million births would have occurred had the policy not been implemented, critics say it violates human rights and consider it to be outdated given China’s changing demographics.
Exceptions are allowed. Spouses who are both only children in their own families are given the green light to have two children. In rural areas, a second child is legal only if the first born is a girl.
China's famous movie director Zhang Yimou. Screenshot from youku.
Despite so, the policy still applies to nearly 63 percent of the population and has been unpopular with many Chinese, as reports of brutal forced sterilization hit news headlines in the past few years. In one example, a woman from China's northeast Shaanxi province was forced into abortion last June seven months into her pregnancy, igniting a national outcry over what many said was an atrocity committed by local family planning officials.
For those violators, a hefty fine will be imposed. Fees vary from region to region.
Xinhua, the state news agency, reported  that Zhang is now being investigated for breaching the policy. But until details emerge one day on why his alleged seven children have gone unnoticed by family planning officials, the public anger is unlikely to subside.
“Fenghui Luzhuan de Fengge” vented his deep frustration [zh] on the popular microblogging site Sina Weibo:
哪个名人明星不超生？哪个平头百姓敢多生？只有继续努力去做自己的黄粱美梦
Who doesn't violate one-child policy if he or she is a celebrity or famous person? Who dares to do it if he or she is just a common citizen? The only thing we can do is to work hard to achieve our fond dream.
Weibo user “Christopher – Gold”, who is Chinese but residing in the US, wrote [zh]:
为何中国得不到世界尊重？看达官显贵二奶成群，看明星老男人婚变换妻，政协委员张艺谋享尽特权，四个女人七个孩子，百姓超生了，不整死也得罚死，他安然无恙，李安更是大导演，德艺双馨，奥斯卡获奖无数，夫妻白头偕老，老谋子的素养比老百姓都不如，不公平的社会永远得不到尊重.
Why China does not have the respect of the world? High-ranking officials and the wealthy are never short of mistresses, old male celebrities get divorced and change wives, CPPCC member Zhang Yimou has enjoyed his prestige, four women and seven children. While ordinary folks who would have broken the family planning policy would be tortured, or at least face heavy fines, [Zhang] is fine and [unpunished]. Ang Lee is even a bigger director, but he excels in both work and his moral standard, he earns multiple Oscars and has a lasting marriage, Old Zhang’s moral standard is not any better than ordinary folks, an unfair society will never earn respect.
Taiwanese-born director Ang Lee won a second best director Oscar for the 3D adventure “Life of Pi” in February, 2013. Responding to that criticism, another user under the name “Blinking Eyes” from Nanchang wrote [zh] hinting that a Communist mainland and a relatively democratic Taiwan, where director Ang Lee is from, might be the reasons behind the two different lifestyles of two directors:
两个制度下的两种人
Two different kinds of people in two systems.
“Beichan Dingxiang” concluded [zh]:
张艺谋超生事件成为了社会体制漏洞的照妖镜，三妻七子！让我们充分见识这个超级大国的荒诞和离奇.
The scandal of Zhang Yimou has become a monster-revealing mirror of the loopholes of the social constitution, three wives and seven children! It fully shows the absurdity and quirkiness of the country.
“Lala Linzhi Xiaoqi” made the case [zh] that the government should bear the responsibility:
最近好多人声讨张艺谋超生。我觉得一来计划生育本来就是很受争议的政策，二来前段时间发生过政府逼怀孕几个月、胎儿已经成形的孕妇流产事件，张的孩子都能打酱油了事情还没调查清楚，说明有的法律就是给没钱没权没势的人制定的。最该被声讨的不是张，而是政府。
These days many people are denouncing Zhang's violation of one-child policy. First, I think one-child policy is a very controversial policy, secondly, some time ago, there were incidents in which the government forced women several month into their pregnancy to go through abortion, Zhang's children are old enough to help the family with the chores, but many details still remain murky and need to be investigated, it shows laws are made for those who don't have the prestige and money. It's the government that should be mostly denounced, not Zhang.

author: Owen Guo


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Domestic Violence Protection for Everyone · Global Voices
Firuzeh Shokooh Valle

Blogger and feminist lawyer Verónica Rivera Torres writes [es] about the piece of legislations that seeks to extend the Law Against Domestic Violence (Law 54) in Puerto Rico to same sex couples:
Since our Supreme Court ruled that the Law of the Prevention and Intervention in Domestic Violence, known as Law 54, did not apply to same-sex couples, individuals and human rights groups have been waiting for the historic moment we are witnessing today.
Finally, after ten long years, the legislator Luis Vega Ramos has filed a measure to clarify what for many people was clear since Law 54 was created: the protection of all victims of domestic violence, regardless of their sexual orientation, marital status and gender identity.

author: Firuzeh Shokooh Valle


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Egypt: Cairo Urban Initiatives Platform · Global Voices
محمد عادل

Cairo Urban Initiatives Platform. Image from Cairobserver facebook page.
Supported by Ford Foundation and the British Council, Cluster has recently launched the Cairo Urban Initiatives Platform (CUIP), the first resource of its kind in Egypt.
CUIP is a bilingual Arabic/English community based, user-generated directory and shared calendar of events for the multiple art, culture, architecture, advocacy, urban development and interdisciplinary initiatives and organizations based in Cairo. (via Cairobserver)

author: محمد عادل


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Efraín Ríos Montt Found Guilty of Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity · Global Voices
Renata Avila

Guatemalan de facto dictator Efraín Ríos Montt was declared guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity. After organizing and fighting in courts for years, Guatemala's Ixil Maya indigenous achieved justice.
The verdict was live-tweeted and streamed [es].
While Ríos Montt was declared guilty and sentenced to 80 years in prison, former Intelligence Director José Mauricio Rodriguez Sanchez was declared innocent.
Rios Montt ruled Guatemala from March 1982 to August 1983 during the country's 36-year civil war. As Xeni Jardin explains in BoingBoing: “The 86-year-old former General and head of state was charged with the crimes over a counterinsurgency campaign in 1982-1983 that resulted in the deaths of 1,771 Maya Ixil.”
Rios Montt Genocide Trial Day 26. Photo by James Rodriguez of MiMundo.org, used with permission.
Guatemala's indigenous were severely impacted by the war; they lost land, houses, animals, crops, and had to live in hiding in the mountains. After the war the country offered little opportunities.
Today, the Ixil communities are among the poorest in the country, with up to 77% living in poverty [es]. In Guatemala, where up to 40% of the population is indigenous, eight out of 10 indigenous peoples are poor. Furthermore, racism impacts their education and employment opportunities.
In spite of their poverty, the survivors were not asking for reparations -they were asking for justice, as Mr. Benjamín Jerónimo, plaintiff of the genocide case, told the tribunal in the closing arguments of a very complex trial which Amnesty International summarized in ten facts:
Genocide was committed, crimes against humanity were committed and today, 100 witnesses came to tell the truth, to ask for justice for all that we suffered, publicly… We are not looking for vengeance, we are looking for a true peace with justice, with respect, with equality, with dignity, that is why we are here.
It takes more than ten hours to travel in public transport from the Ixil region to Guatemala City, where the trial took place. In spite of their modest income and the distance, members of the Ixil community were present in the courtroom every day, as photo records by James Rodriguez of MiMundo.org and the coverage by Xeni Jardin in Boing Boing show. Xeni live tweeted the final verdict from the courtroom.
Picture by James Rodríguez, Mimundo.org used with permission.
A video explaining all the evidence leading to the charges was aired this week by PBS in the United States, generating debate about president Reagan's involvement. The article “The Final Battle: Rios Montt's Counterinsurgency Campaign: U.S. and Guatemalan Documents Describe the Strategy Behind Scorched Earth” by The National Security Archive adds:
Ríos Montt's scorched earth tactics are documented in a collection of Guatemalan army records created in July and August 1982, connected to Operation Sofía — a series of counterinsurgency sweeps through the Ixil region to kill EGP combatants and destroy their “base of support” (the Maya Ixil population). The Operation Sofía documents were given to the National Security Archive in 2009 and the Archive in turn provided them as criminal evidence to the prosecutors in the genocide case.
The trial has been an example of open justice, with translation available for the Ixil peoples during the entire trial, unrestricted access to press and a strong interaction in social media.
Parallel to the debate in court, a conversation -a battle of ideas and facts- took place online.
Netizens used the hashtags #riosmontt, #genocidegt and #sihubogenocidio (“yes, it was genocide”), and there were livestreams here (audio), here (audio) and here.
There are also netizens who deny that there was a genocide, and they are using the hashtag #nohubogenocidio (“there was no genocide”) to share their views.
During the trial citizens all over the world took a pledge and shared a photo showing their support for justice.
International volunteers from NISGUA, Peace Brigades International, Collectif Guatemala and other NGOs worked and supported families of survivors during the trial. They also produced content in English and French to share with the world.
After thirty years, this landmark verdict materializing the spirit of the Genocide Convention and the enforcement of crimes against humanity is an insurance for each and every human being, as it sets a precedent for current conflicts around the world. It is a ray of hope for entire villages labelled as “the enemy” in Syria, for the suffering of the Rohingya in Myanmar, and for all the conflicts to come.
Furthermore, it also marks a new beginning for an inclusive Guatemala, embracing and learning from the values and differences of 24 nations, starting with the lessons of courage, patience and non-violent struggle for justice taught by the Ixil. As Salvadoran digital journal El Faro said, the Ixil peoples already achieved a victory [es].
Photo via @xeni: “Juana Sanchez Toma, Ixil rape victim whom we interviewed for @newshour. ‘I dreamed of justice. And now here it is.'”

author: Renata Avila


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Morality vs. Modernity: Thailand’s TV History · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Mr Brown Goes Around has written a comprehensive study about the history of television in Thailand. He also probed the impact of TV on various Thai political and cultural institutions:
So while tied to modernity, moving image technologies was also seen as a potentially morally erosive force


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“I Am a Director” · Global Voices
Firuzeh Shokooh Valle

Alternative blog Puerto Rico Indie reviews [es] the recent Puerto Rican film “I Am a Director,” which was partially financed through Kickstarter:
The film, made in the ‘mockumentary’ style or fictitious documentary, follows the steps of Carlos (Carlos Marchand), first-time filmmaker who longs to make a Hollywood-style film, but in Puerto Rico. Besides being a genuinely funny comedy, ‘I Am a Director’ succeeds in satirizing the mental process of many who believe that making films is to meet the artificial standards based on the immense American productions.


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Interfaith Groups: Stop Religious Violence in Myanmar · Global Voices
Juan Cebu

Interfaith groups in Myanmar are actively working for peace, understanding and harmony amid rising cases of violence against the minority Muslims in the country.
A recent case of anti-Muslim violence instigated by Buddhist mobs broke out in Oakkan, a northern district of Myanmar's former capital city Yangon, on April 30. Around 77 houses were burned down, nine people injured and one killed. It was the latest attack in a series of violence which targeted Muslim houses and shops in the cities of Nattalin, Bago and central Myanmar. The riot that happened at the central town of Meikhtila on March 20 was the second major conflict after the sectarian violence in the Rakhine state which displaced 100,000 people last year.
These riots and conflicts which challenge the efficiency of the civil government are occurring at a time when the country is undergoing a political transition to democracy.
Myanmar youth campaigners throw ‘Peace for Myanmar’ scarfs to a crowd. Photo by Thet Htoo, Copyright @Demotix (4/15/2013)
Ko Thant Zin, a Muslim who participated in ‘Pray for Myanmar campaign’ organized by various religious leaders, said [my] in an interview:
Our primary objective is to obtain peace for Myanmar. We don't want the troubles and the conflicts. We want to stop the clashes that hinder our path to democracy, as soon as possible. As a follower of Islam, I am sad for all this. But as a Myanmar, we cannot accept this situation. Most of the people in my country want to live peacefully and don't want conflicts. That's why our movement will be successful nationwide. Whether in Buddhism, Islam or any religion, there are people who insult or vilify other religions. If we are to feel bad about this, there would be no end to this. These are the acts of destruction. They are not the truth. Those who made videos that insult Buddha or Jesus, regard these acts like a game. We are hurt by this. In our religion, we have no right to vilify others. Even though we feel sad deep inside, we just have to suppress it because all we want is peace.
Similar interfaith alliance prayers [my], discussion panel [my] and blood donation drive [my] were also done in cities like Pathein and Myeik.
On the other hand, religious extremists and racists continue to create division in different communities. Social media hate comments and propaganda also played a role in inciting violence on the eve of the conflicts. This is unfortunate since Myanmar has recently implemented some reforms to promote freedom of speech.
Mon Mon Myat wrote an investigative report in the Bangkok Post, speculating who are the people behind the religious and racial hate messages. (Myanmar version also available here [my]). His research focused on the content and style of the messages that the writers used. It is suggested that the propaganda might be state-sponsored. He also wrote:
In Meiktila, the spark that ignited the violence is widely believed to have been a dispute between the Muslim owner of a gold shop and two would-be customers, both Buddhists.
But what could, and probably should, have been nothing more than a minor spat rapidly escalated into mass murder and rioting. And all thanks to a group of anonymous online rabble-rousers, relentlessly banging the drum for intolerance and hatred via their blogs and websites.
He stressed the fact that government needs to handle the violence decisively:
Whether or not these atrocities were committed by military or paramilitary groups, the fact remains that the government did nothing to bring those responsible for the killings to justice.
Meanwhile, Mandalay citizens have formed a “Conflict Prevention” [my] committee in response to these hate messages. On May 3, an anonymous group were trying to provoke a riot in the city of Mandalay. Fortunately, security was able to control the situation and three people were arrested.
On Facebook, Ye Htut shared his thoughts [my] on the recent protests by radical Islamic groups in Indonesia, which warned to call for Jihad against Myanmar:
The claims that the foreign religious extremists want to wage Jihad against Myanmar may damage the image of the Muslim people who want to live peacefully in Myanmar. As these claims can create misunderstandings on Islam, they can also affect our movement for the peace and religious harmony and the trust-building between the different communities that we are trying to develop.
He urged domestic media to be more careful in reporting this matter:
For the media, they should be careful not to increase the fear and doubt among the Buddhists when reporting about such claims. It should be noted that respective governments do not accept such claims. It would be appropriate if the media can ask and present the opinions of the leaders of Islamic organizations in Myanmar regarding such terroristic ideologies.
Blogger Nay Phone Latt also shared [my] his opinion:
Actually, through government policies we can change the situation that is making us worried. We can resolve by using firm and effective laws that truly rule. I think government should impose laws and policies that forbid religious insults in society and protect the minority religion from being dominated by others. Even if we don't want to revolve the issue by using laws, at the society level we can start by casting aside our hatred and shaking hands with one another. By creating peaceful coexistence as our focus, we can find solutions. Otherwise, if we resort to using violence, the circle of killings will not stop and it will turn our country into a hideous battleground. To prevent this, both the government and the people are responsible.

author: Juan Cebu


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Iran: SMS Calls for Internet Interruption Protest  · Global Voices
Farid

Sokhanesabz says [fa] that people send SMS to each other inviting Iranians to protest against internet interruption in front of Ministry of Communication on Saturday 11th May.

author: Farid


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“Mom, I Am in Love With a Woman” · Global Voices
Firuzeh Shokooh Valle

On occasion of the celebration of Mother's Day, tomorrow Sunday May 12, feminist activist Amárilis Pagán writes about the experience [es] of telling her mother she was in love with another woman:
The day I told my mom I was in love with a woman, she delivered a long and heartbreaking scream. It was as if someone had told her that her daughter had died… and to some extent I think that something like this happened. Something inside me died, and something inside her died too. She never accepted my relationship, and that love that filled my life for so many years is still unknown to her.


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Pakistan Election Updates and Results Online · Global Voices
Rezwan

Mehwish khan at ProPakistani compiles a list of sites which are providing live updates and results of the Pakistan general elections 2013.

author: Rezwan


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PHOTOS: Vietnam War-Era Posters · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Hello Saigon uploads some posters during the Vietnam War era. One poster features a quote from Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh:
For the interest in ten years, [we] have to plant trees. For the interest in 100 years [we] have to plant man.

author: Mong Palatino


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Mapping the Cuban Blogosphere · Global Voices
Firuzeh Shokooh Valle

Blogger Yasmín S. Portales comments on the challenges of mapping the Cuban blogosphere, including everything and anything written in blogs. This is her most recent project:
A directory is a map: you have the swamps of glorious battles swamps and the mountains of infamy. You include it all, or it's not a map. In other words, there is yet to be a map of the Cuban blogosphere.
The worst: The Cuban blogosphere is chaotic. Luckily I do not pretend to make sense of it, only reveal its current demographics.


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VI Conference Against Homophobia in Cuba · Global Voices
Firuzeh Shokooh Valle

Detail of the official poster of the VI Conference against Homophobia in Cuba. “Family is love, respect, inclusion.”
Cuban blogger and LGBT activist Francisco Rodríguez announces the events [es] of the VI Cuban Conference Against Homophobia to be held during the month of May in the island.


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Woman Rescued from Bangladesh Factory Rubble After 17 Days · Global Voices
Pantha Rahman Reza

The same day that the death toll of a nine-story factory collapse in Savar in the outskirts of Bangladesh's capital city of Dhaka rose to 1,055, now the deadliest building collapse since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, a female worker named Reshma Begum was found alive after being trapped in the rubble for 17 days.
Begum worked on the building's second floor as a sewing operator. As the building collapsed, the 24-year-old was trapped in a mosque inside the basement and survived 416 hours there by breathing through a pipe and scavenging for biscuits in the rucksacks of dead colleagues.
In the first few days after the structure caved in on April 24,2013, 2,428 people were rescued from the collapsed building. Hope that others survivors will be found among the rubble is fading fast.
Bangladeshi rescuers retrieve garment worker Reshma from the rubble of a collapsed building in Savar after 17 days. Image by Rehman Asad. Copyright Demotix (10/5/2013).
Begum told a news agency:
আমি ১৭ দিন পানি খেয়ে বেঁচেছিলাম। ভবন ধসের পরপরই আমি ভবনের নিচে আটকা পড়ি। পরে বাঁচার জন্য ভবনে অবস্থিত নামাজ ঘরে চলে যাই। উদ্ধারকারীরা ওপর থেকে নানা সময়ে বোতলজাত পানি পাঠান। আমি সেখান থেকে দুই বোতল পানি সংরক্ষণ করে রাখি। সেই বোতলের পানি আমি প্রতিদিন অল্প অল্প খেয়ে জীবন বাঁচাই।
I survived mainly by drinking water. I was trapped immediately after the building collapse. I quickly went to the prayer room for refuge. The rescuers dropped water inside in different times. I managed to collect two bottles and survived on them all these days.
Begum's miraculous survival has caused a stir among many. Hearing the good news, blogger Ashraf Shishir (@ashrafshishir) wrote:
@ashrafshishir: অনেকদিন পর বাচ্চা ছেলের মতো কাঁদলাম। এইমাত্র রেশমী অথবা রেশমাকে জীবন্ত উদ্ধার করা সম্ভব হয়েছে!…
Development worker Shahana Siddiqui (@shahanasiddiqui) tried not to cry for happiness. She tweeted:
@shahanasiddiqui: Holding back tears as I read through Reshma's miraculous save! Times of joy, times of pride #Bangladesh #savar.
Army and rescuers look through the pocket point in the rubble of Rana Plaza where they found Reshma located alive under the rubble. Image by Firoz Ahmed. Copyright Demotix (10/5/2013)
Baroness Sayeeda Hussain Warsi (@SayeedaWarsi), senior minister of state for foreign and commonwealth affairs of UK, responded after hearing the news of Reshma's rescue:
@SayeedaWarsi: Extraordinary & uplifting scenes of a young women rescued 17 days after #Savar building collapse. A ray of hope in the midst of tragedy.
Asif Touhid, a marketing professional, wrote on Facebook:
Reshma … Dear sister, you audacity to stay alive gave me inspiration and restored my faith on my people.
Journalist Kamrul Hasan (@_Kamrul_Hasan_) thanked all the rescuers who worked hard to pull out Begum alive:
@Kamrul_Hasan: এভাবেও ফিরে আসা যায়! অভিনন্দন বেশমা, আপনি বেঁচে থাকুন। অনেক অনেক ধন্যবাদ বাংলাদেশ সেনাবাহিনীসহ সকল উদ্ধারকারীদের।
@Kamrul_Hasan: Even this is possible! Congratulations Reshma, please stay alive and well. Many thanks to the Bangladesh army rescue team for their efforts.
The role of the media was questioned as they converged on the rescued Begum and tried to interview her. Journalist Tanvir Ahmed urged his colleagues on Facebook:
আপাতত উদ্ধারকর্মী আর চিকিৎসকদের সাক্ষাতকার নিয়ে তৃপ্ত থাকুন। এতদিন রেশমা কি খেয়ে বেঁচে ছিলো, তার জামা কাপড় এতো পরিস্কার কেন? এসকল প্রশ্নের চেয়ে মেয়েটির এখন শুধুই প্রয়োজন চিকিৎসা সেবা।
Please be content with interviews of rescuers and the medical team. Don't bother asking how she survived for so many days. Why are her clothes not worn out? Instead of answering these questions, she needs immediate medical help.
Relatives of missing or dead garment workers remain optimistic even 17 days after the incident. Image by Shafiur Rahman. Copyright Demotix (10/5/2013)
The readymade garments industry is the largest export earners of Bangladesh, so in the eyes of many the building collapse is a negative portrayal of Bangladesh's image. Keeping this in mind, Abu Maksud made Begum the face of Bangladesh in a post on on Facebook:
১৭ দিন ধরে ধ্বংসস্তুপে বেঁচে ছিল বাংলাদেশ। রেশমা- বোন আমার অন্ধকূপ থেকে তুমি ফিরে এসেছ, তুমি দেখিয়েছ বাংলাদেশ বেঁচে থাকে, ধ্বংসস্তুপেও বাংলাদেশ বেঁচে থাকে।
Bangladesh survived under rubble for 17 days. Sister Reshma – you have come back from the dead hole. You have shown that Bangladesh even survives under rubble.
Zafar Sobhan, editor of the Dhaka Tribune, concluded in an interview with Australian website News.com.au:
Reshma represents the best of Bangladesh, the nation's resilience in the face of unbelievable hardship, its courage, its strength, its determination to never give up whatever the odds.

author: Pantha Rahman Reza