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For Nepali Migrant Workers, the 2022 Fifa World Cup in Qatar Is a Game of Death · Global Voices
Saprina Panday

A Nepali migrant worker killed in Qatar ‘accident’ being photographed by his brother. Image by Gail Orenstein. Copyright Demotix (20/2/2012).
Several thousand migrant workers from India and Nepal have died in Qatar since the country was controversially awarded the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Last year in Qatar, a migrant worker from Nepal died every two days.
More than a third of those who died fell victim to alleged heart attacks, but Qatar is withholding many details about these incidents, as the nation prepares to host the world's most popular sporting event.
Three months ago, Qatar promised to investigate the causes of the rising number of deaths among migrant workers, and to introduce new laws in early 2015 to protect workers better, including reforms to its Kafala system — a state-sponsored system by which a worker is tied indefinitely to his Qatari employer, restricting the laborer's movements.
Over the past two years, however, despite promises to the contrary, Qatar has not published or collected statistics about deaths or injuries among migrant workers. As a result, many fear Qatar's latest promises are also empty. For this reason Qatar's first Workers Welfare Compliance Report in December, wherein the nation claimed to have improved living accommodations for migrant workers while creating special forums to bring contractors and workers together to discuss problems, was showered with skepticism.
The controversy over laborers’ safety has added to calls for FIFA — already weathering a storm of corruption allegations connected to the 2022 World Cup — to take the tournament away from Qatar and move it elsewhere.
Warning: the video embedded below about the abuse and exploitation of migrant workers in Qatar's construction industry contains graphic images, including footage of dead bodies being returned to Nepal.
#FIFA: DROP #QATAR!! #Nepal‘s #Slaves are dying like flies https://t.co/QM9wwevpC1 #HumanRights #Racism #Apartheid #UN #ILO #Football
— Cries fromthe depths (@Criesfromdepths) July 12, 2014
A UK-based Trade Union lawyer and member of The Labour Party's National Executive Committee tweeted her indignation:
6 o'clock news reports that migrant workers in Qatar still living in squalid conditions with passports confiscated under kefala. Outrageous.
— ellie reeves (@elliereeves) February 23, 2015
Suryanath Mishra, Nepal's last Ambassador to Qatar, who was recalled from her stint in Doha for denouncing working conditions of Nepalis there as akin to an ‘open jail‘, reiterated a demand to launch an investigation into the causes of the deaths.
Mishra is also pushing for an increase in the rate of pay for Nepali workers there: while Qatar is spending over $200 billion on the World Cup, many Nepalis are either not being paid, or earning considerably less than a dollar a day.
Without high expectations of change, poverty-stricken families in remote villages of the landlocked Asian country will continue to find themselves the recipients of red coffins, shipped back like presents containing the carefully wrapped corpses of their loved ones.
Warning: this article recounting the plight of migrants’ families, contains distressing and graphic images.
With a pending report on allegations of corruption in the bidding process to be released by FIFA this year, it is not surprising that many doubt the organisation and its promise to monitor this situation:
A comical FIFA voting sheet quite scarily v.close to reality as their corruption model no longer requires discretion pic.twitter.com/43bcg1usDp
— Dave Waters (@DaveWaters_) February 25, 2015
The article tweeted below was shared over 3,000 times, mocking the decision to hold a World Cup in winter and strongly hinting at corruption within Fifa.
This sums up the corruption, madness & abhorrence of #FIFA giving #Qatar2022 the world cup.Good article @marinahyde. http://t.co/mPY9cJjE44
— Grumpeegit Skinner (@grumpeegit) February 25, 2015
Some are calling for a boycott of the games along with messages against the President of Fifa, Joseph Blatter:
They're here… #BoycottQatar2022 & #BlatterOut t-shirts are on sale now! #Qatar2022 #FIFA http://t.co/w4ySXNqCjs pic.twitter.com/WXyzJWvYnJ
— The Boycott Cup (@theboycottcup) March 1, 2015
Qatar has 1.4 million migrants, of which 400,000 are Nepali workers. But besides periodic criticism, there does not seem to be much that the Nepalese embassy, opened in Doha in 2000 and presently lacking a chief of mission, can offer to stranded Nepali workers.
Almost a decade on from a Maoist insurgency which raged from 1996 to 2006, Nepal is still struggling to create an environment where the vast majority of people in the country can access a sustainable livelihood. Poverty has triggered a trend in labour migration that began as a trickle in the 1990s but boomed after the turn of the millennium. Nepal's Foreign Employment Act of 2007 sought to control migration outflows to ensure the safety of workers.
A report submitted by Nepal to the International Labour Organisation (ILO) reveals that despite the creation of multiple mechanisms — a Migrant’s Welfare Fund to provide for families of workers in case of death or injury; the use of  government-licensed agencies to recruit migrants; a labour desk to verify the authenticity of a migrant’s permit and a Department of Foreign Employment charged with regulating recruiting agencies, investigating and mediating workers complaints and frauds — migrants working abroad are still vulnerable.
Grievances are rarely passed on to the Department of Foreign Employment. Shockingly, at the time the report was submitted, the Department had no data from any embassy or consular office. Moreover, the Foreign Employment Promotion Board mandated to rescue stranded migrants has only done so on the few occasions mentioned in its annual report.
What the Nepalese government has done systematically, is maintain a record of the dead, note causes of death and allocate money for compensation and repatriation costs. This will not improve living conditions for Nepalese working migrants, nor will it stem the flow of citizens seeking work in the Gulf.
If Nepalis were to be physically stopped from leaving their struggling economy to find work abroad ‘Nepal would explode’ according to one economist at the Asian Development Bank.
A snapshot of the runway on a flight leaving Doha airport, heading for Kathmandu, Nepal on 31 August 2010. This is a journey many will not make alive. Image by Flickr user @elmar bajora (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
This is why Tristan Bruslé, a researcher who has delved in depth into the study of Nepali migrants working in the Gulf and Qatar in particular, has argued that it is the responsibility of the Qatari government as well as companies to ensure that those who are contributing to the riches of the country are given fair treatment. He has also pointed out that Nepalese migrants, who may not know how to read or speak English, are extremely vulnerable in the Kafala system.
One video, Qatar's World Cup, by Bluefoot Entertainment, follows several Nepali migrants from the time they arrive in Qatar to the tragic moment when their coffin is returned to their communities.
Warning: video contains highly distressing graphic images.
Comments on the video range from the expected to the less expected:
Anshuman Bhattacharya:
What are the Human Rights bodies doing about this situation? They seem so concerned about how terrorists are treated in prison and for an issue as big as this they seem to be absconding…
Udeep Shakya:
Why is FIFA quiet abt this matter? Do Blatter and Qatar think that they won't manage for 2022 if Kafala system is put out? No autopsy on the dead bodies, the Kafala system, no Trade Unions….. no Rights at all. Human rights organisation should come more stronger and Qatar better arrange good conditions for its workers. This noise will only get louder when the death toll will grow and might become a disaster for Blatter, FIFA, Qatar and all football lovers.
However, not everyone agrees that Qatar is to blame. One viewer, Diana Lopez, felt it was the migrants’ fault:
The claim about bad living conditions has been falsely blamed on Qatar. The only reason why the camps are so unhygienic is because people don't clean after themselves. If the people don't clean after themselves, who else will? Should Qatar hire another bunch of workers to clean the camps of other fellow workers? Then who will clean the camps of the workers that clean for other workers? It's a loop which can only be broken if they decide to clean after themselves.
In response to the Guardian's article about the staggering death toll among Nepali migrants in Qatar, the highest-rated comment on Reddit came from a user called housebuye and received 2287 points.
We need the teams to refuse to play. That is the only way change will happen.
That sentiment is echoed by others including the Senior Editor of Foreign Policy Magazine, Daniel Altman, who believes that the only people who would be able to bring collective pressure to bear on Fifa are players, through their representative, Fifpro.
So far the organisation has spoken out against the Kafala system, without mentioning a boycott.
“Abolishing the kafala system is a human rights issue that needs to be addressed as it affects all workers, including the professional footballers who ply their trade in Qatar,” Fifpro said last month.
In the meantime, a petition to ‘Free Qatar's Modern Slaves‘ is looking for a million signatures. As of now it has over 800,000.
But would signing it make a difference?
Some argue that the World Cup is only a step towards a much greater development plan for Qatar for which multinational companies such as Siemens have been quick to sign up. Siemens has in fact been granted an $8.2 billion contract to build the ambitious new metro system in Doha while companies from France and Britain have been awarded contracts for construction and consulting. Vested interests are everywhere.
Finally, ordinary Nepalis may reflect on the fact that last week's closure of the country's only international airport in Nepal due to a crash-landed Turkish Airlines flight, which led to thousands of ticket cancellations, might have saved a few lives. For those who took the decision to buy another one and head to Qatar, one can only guess when and how they will return.

author: Saprina Panday


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Myanmar Student Protesters Attacked by Police Gain Global Sympathy  · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

A young person from Nepal holds a placard expressing support to Myanmar student protesters
Students and activists from many parts of the world have been expressing their support to Myanmar student protesters who were brutally attacked by government forces last week.
The Facebook page ‘We Support Myanmar Students’ encourages everyone to show solidarity to Myanmar students by submitting photos or by organizing support activities. At present, more than 20,000 have liked the page.
Student protesters in the former capital Yangon were harassed and beaten by the police on March 5. Five days later, a student rally in the town of Letpadan was also dispersed by the police. More than 100 rally participants were detained, including monks and some journalists, although several were already released.
Myanmar students from various parts of the country have been protesting the passage of the National Education Law which was introduced by the government last year. According to them, the law will suppress academic freedom as it will centralize more authority in the hands of the military-backed civilian government.
A 400-mile march from Mandalay to Yangon was organized last January and it was supposed to reach its destination early this month but it was blocked by government forces. Instead of allowing the students to peacefully conclude the march, the police decided to break-up the rally. Many quickly condemned the use of violence by the police to stop the rally.
Support for the protesting students also came from other countries. Through Facebook and Twitter, students and activists are using the hashtag #wearemmstudents to show solidarity to the student protesters, especially those who are still in detention. Below are some of the photos featured on the Facebook page ‘We Support Myanmar Students’.
Support from Palestine
Support from China
Support from Bangladesh. Facebook page of Anik Rahman
Support from Thailand
Support from the United States of America
Support from Zambia
Support from Vietnam
Support from Brazil
Support from Canada. Facebook page of University for Peace
Support from Malaysia
The Panzagar group, which launched the flower speech campaign to counter online hate speech, also began promoting the white flower symbol on Facebook and other social networks to condemn violence in society.
Image from Panzagar
Meanwhile, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights expressed concern about the reported “excessive and disproportionate” use of force against the protestors. In response, the government vowed to probe the incident.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Mong Palatino


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Somali Americans Fight to Save Their Lifeline of Cash for Relatives Back Home · Global Voices
PRI/PRX's The World

Buses in Hargeisa, Woqooyi Galbeed, Somalia. Photo by Flickr user Charles Roffey. CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
This article and radio report by Ryan Katz for The World originally appeared on PRI.org on March 10, 2015, and is republished as part of a content-sharing agreement.
Abdi Awali has a routine he's followed every month for years: He heads to a money-transfer business by his house in Minneapolis, gives the teller some basic information and slides $100 through a slot. Then he logs onto Facebook and checks in with his aunt in Somalia.
Yes, she got the cash. Confirmed.
“She’s a single mom, you know,” Awali says. “She doesn’t have a job, she doesn’t have healthcare, nothing. It’s not much to us but it’s a big deal to them. Just $50 or $100, it’s enough for the whole month.”
Every day, people in the US wire money to relatives in other countries. Those payments, called remittances, help pay for everything from rent and food to school supplies.
For Somalis, the cash transfers are a critical way to get money from abroad, as Somalia largely lacks formal banks. But Somali Americans were recently barred for sending cash home. That’s when Merchants Bank of California — the main US bank still willing doing business with the mostly Somali-run transfer companies, called hawalas in Arabic — stopped the transfers cold.
Many other banks have backed away from sending money from the US to Somalia, facing pressure from the Treasury Department not to put cash in the hands of terrorists. That worry is directed at the militant group al-Shabab, which, according to a study by the Institute of Security Studies, recruited members for as low as $50.
After Merchants Bank’s move, anxiety spread throughout the Somali American community, and an economic lifeline suddenly froze.
“The Somalia diaspora sends $1.3 billion every year to their loved ones in Somalia,” says Scott Paul, Oxfam America's senior humanitarian policy advisor focusing on East Africa. “That’s more than the country receives in humanitarian aid and foreign investment combined.” Most of that wired cash is used to meet basic needs.
Abdulaziz Sugule, the head of the Somali American Money Service Association, is now urging small Somali-run money transfer companies — ones that had typically worked with Merchant and other banks — to partner with local banks in Minnesota. “This is a humanitarian issue,” he says.
So far, some of the banks are cooperating, but it’s unclear how long those partnerships might last.
The instability frightens Katra Ismael, a registered nurse who has sent money back to her family in Somalia for more than 20 years. “It’s your money that you earned and you want to pay for your families to have food on the table,” she says.
At Sagal Restaurant, a restaurant popular among Somalis in Minneapolis, Mohammad Noa worries the transfer freeze will affect his family in a different way. He has six children back home and thinks that shutting off money transfers will create opportunity for violent groups like al-Shabab.
“When the children cannot go to school because they don’t have the money to pay their fee, they’re going to be vulnerable and listen to recruitment deals,” he says.

author: PRI/PRX's The World


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The Facebook Pages Behind Sunday’s Anti-Government Protests in Brazil · Global Voices
Taisa Sganzerla

Anti-Rousseff protesters in São Paulo on December 6. The sign says: “We are fighting for your freedom, for you family and your children”. Photo: Vem Pra Rua Brasil Facebook group.
Brazil's ideological divides deepen as thousands are expected to march on Sunday in at least 50 cities across Brazil demanding the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff, of the Worker's Party.
On Friday, unions supportive of the Worker's Party called a ‘counter-rally’ to defend Rousseff from what they claim is the beginning of a coup.
Rousseff, who was re-elected only five months ago in Brazil's most competitive vote since the end of the country's military dictatorship in the 1980's, has seen her approval ratings shrink from 42% to 23% since November, according to a study released last month by Datafolha, a research institute.
Last week, as she was addressing the nation on International Women's Day, people went to their windows banging pots and pans in protest in a dozen Brazilian cities.
But who are the people behind this cacerolazo? Are they the same activists that mobilized by the thousands and took to the streets in Brazil in 2013?
In 2013, what were typical leftist rallies against a bus fare hike that started at the end of May got transformed into a fusion of groups from different ends of the political spectrum with a myriad of demands participating in the largest protests the country has ever seen.
But as the demonstrations gathered pace, the leftists social movements who initiated the rallies grew increasingly marginalized and harassed. By the end of June the left had completely vanished from the streets, claiming the protests had been hijacked by the right.
The right had managed to mobilize the masses before since the Worker's Party came into power in 2002. In 2007, the movement ‘Cansei‘, or ‘I'm tired’ emerged, with protesters demanding then President Lula step down, but the movement lost momentum after a few months.
The difference now — thanks to flagging economy and a series of corruption scandals — is that those voices have managed to attract more centrists to the cause.
Different shades of opposition
Four Facebook pages have been prominent in mobilizing this new crop of anti-government sentiment: Movimento Brasil Livre (Free Brazil Movement), Vem Pra Rua (Come to The Street), Revoltados Online (Online Outraged) and SOS Forças Armadas (SOS Armed Forced). Two of the four demand the impeachment of Rousseff, while another goes further and demands that the Brazilian army intervene.
A banner on a anti-Dilma protest in November: “Our flag will never be red”. They also demand: “the end of the Marco Civil bill“. Photo posted by Revoltados On Line on Facebook.
What they share is their heavy reliance on social media to spread their word and mobilize their followers and their non-partisan nature: they all claim to have no connections to any of the political parties in power, not even PSDB, the main party opposing Rousseff in the capital Brasilia. They also claim to survive entirely on donations from their followers.
The movements have also adopted an anti-socialist tone, drawing frequent comparisons between the Worker's Party government and those of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela and Castro's Cuba.
Posted by Revoltados Online.
The following is an overview on each movement based on available sources:
Movimento Brasil Livre (60,000+ likes):
“Neither Bolivarianism nor militarism”
Created last year, this movement openly advocates liberal values in the vein of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher. In their manifesto, they defend a free press (“with no government regulations that might influence them”) and economic freedom (“a market free of abusive regulations and suffocating taxes”). One of the movement's founders, 18-year-old Kim Kataguiri, owns a popular Youtube channel where he lectures their followers on “how to argue with leftists” and, satirically, on the Cold War and the perks of communism.
In an interview with El País in December, the movement's young members said that among their goals is “rebranding” the right:
A esquerda se apropriou da cultura, da arte, da música, daquilo que é considerado cool ou moderno. Hipster. Nossos amigos artistas não podem revelar sua ideologia porque sofrem uma repressão cultural se não forem de esquerda.
The left has appropriated the culture, art, music, everything that is considered cool or modern. Hipster. Our artist friends cannot reveal their real ideology because they suffer reprisals if they are not leftists.
Last month, amid more protests against another bus fare hike in São Paulo, MBL hosted a public lecture where it advocated free market solutions to solve the city's expensive public transportation system. By opening the service up to competition among private firms, costs would decrease and quality would improve, they claimed.
Revoltados Online, +700,000:
Marcelo Reis, administrator of the Facebook page “Revoltados On Line”, on a protest in São Paulo in November. Photo posted by Revoltados Online.
The oldest of the four pages, and also the most popular. Founded in 2010, it is often regarded as a common-sense page, sharing cheesy messages like ‘all politicians are thieves’, and ‘save the environment’, but became specifically critical of the Worker's Party after Rousseff became president in 2011.
It is constantly being accused of spreading false rumors about politicians online — such as the rumor that ex-president Lula's son is a partner in a muti-million dollar company and owns a luxury jet. This is was later rebuffed by Forbes magazine.
The page's founder Marcello Reis is known for not holding back on criticism on social movements and unions traditionally connected to the Worker's Party, like the MST (Land Reform Movement) or CUT (Worker's Central Union), which he refers to as “terrorists”.
In an interview with news website IG, he said he had previously defended a military intervention, but “changed his mind” and says the movements should try for a more democratic tool like the impeachment.
During the cazerolazo last Sunday, the page shared countless videos where people called president Rousseff a “slut”, or “cow”. Reis says this was just the people exercising their freedom of expression.
VemPraRua.net 320,000+ likes:
A banner from movement “Vem Pra Rua” calling for the protests today: “No parties, no politicians, only the people”.
Vem Pra Rua is the most moderate of the four pages — it is the only one currently against the impeachment of President Rousseff. In a recent press release, they said they are “against any kind of violence of extremism (separatism, military intervention or palace coup)”.
Their positions are somewhat general and vague. In the same press release, they defend “economic freedom and support to free enterprise”, “more meritocracy, less populism”, and, at the same time, “equality of opportunity to all” and “education, healthcare, security, infrastructure to all”.
SOS Forças Armadas, +5000 likes
The only group demanding military intervention. While the members of the three other pages have had a lot of exposure in the media in the past weeks, this group has been largely ignored. The other pages have been vocally trying to distance themselves from the idea of an army intervention.
One of the posts shared by the page “SOS Forças Armadas”, a quote attributed to Plínio Salgado, from the 1930's Integralist movement. “Integralism is not anti-democratic, when it condemns the parties it's because it aims to substitute them for corporations, organisms that in our days are the only ones able to express the popular will […]”.
Military rule is a sensitive topic in Brazil, as the country spent 21 years under the military after deposing leftist president João Goulart, who was viewed as sympathizer of the communist bloc during the Cold War, in 1964.
The page mostly shares photo montages with quotes by Plínio Salgado, the former leader of Brazil's “National Integralist Action”, a movement from the 1930's often popularized as “Brazil's fascists”. The page has declared full support for the protests today.
Global Voices contacted all four groups, but they declined to provide an interview.
A “third way”?
Cartoon by Objetos InAnimados
Despite being accused of wanting to implement a ‘new Cuba’ in Brazil, Rousseff began her second term announcing a series of austerity measures, including trimming unemployment and retirement benefits, having promised in last year's campaign that she would never “touch” Brazilian labor rights.
Leftist activists, who largely supported her re-election campaign in 2014 under the motto ‘voting critically’, have a different set of criticism of Rousseff's government. They took umbrage at her backing a proposal to decriminalize abortion in the 2010 elections, were vocally against the construction of the Belo Monte dam in the Amazon Forest and, most importantly, resent the Worker's Party's alliances with conservative parties and politicians — including conservative evangelicals — during its recent history.
Those activists are not willing to ally themselves with the liberals taking part in today's protests. They rebuffed the panelaço on Sunday, dubbing it “the veranda protest”, a term that implied the protesters were wealthy citizens living in apartments facing out onto the streets. They also criticized the sexist slurs aimed at Dilma Rousseff by some of the protesters.
São Paulo acaba de inventar o Protesto Gourmet. Na varanda, de pantufa, sem atrapalhar o trânsito. Non dvcor dvco.
— Marília Juste (@mariliajuste) March 9, 2015
“São Paulo has just invented the Gourmet Protest. On the balcony, in slippers, without botching the traffic.
Ana Paula Freitas, who agreed with Sílvia's post noted:

author: Taisa Sganzerla


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Watch Out for MozFest East Africa 2015 · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

MozFestEA will take place from July 17th – 19th 2015, at Victoria University, Kampala, Uganda under the theme,“Building solutions for Africa's challenges, together on the web”:
MozFest East Africa is an annual event that brings together educators, innovators, learners and makers from East Africa and beyond to share experiences and build the web together laying a foundation for growth of the internet and information technology in Africa.
The event is exponentially spreading across Africa to help address the technological challenges faced in the African continent through meaningful collaborations.

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Five Young Feminists Still Missing in China · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Five young women have been missing for more than a week. Photo from Free Chinese Feminists Facebook group.
The five young women who were arrested by Chinese police ahead of the International Women's Day have now been missing for more than one week. On 12 March they were criminally detained on suspicion of “picking quarrels and provoking troubles” but the police refused to reveal further information.
Civic groups in Hong Kong will protest to representatives of the mainland Chinese government in the city on March 21 demanding their release.
The five women's rights activists are Wu Rongrong, Wei Tingting , Wang Man, Zheng Churan and Li Tingting, also known as Li Maizi. Their families and lawyers have been unable to reach them since their detention and police are refusing to provide any details on their arrest.
Both the United States and the European Union have expressed concern on the Five. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, criticized the Chinese authorities for arresting the Five under the premise that they planned  to cause disturbances:
In China speaking out against sexual harassment is “creating a disturbance.” Disturbance is restricting NGOs fighting for universal rights.
— Samantha Power (@AmbassadorPower) March 12, 2015
Chinese authorities should immediately release “Beijing+20 five.” Sad reflection on “women’s rights are human rights.” #FreeBeijing20Five
— Samantha Power (@AmbassadorPower) March 12, 2015
A spokesman for EU Foreign Affairs and Security Policy also made a statement urging China to release the young feminists immediately and to give them access to legal assistance.
A woman worker from mainland China holding a placard and calling for the release of the Five. Photo from Free Chinese Feminists.
Despite hostile political conditions, women, students and workers’ organizations from mainland Chinese continue to speak out for the release of the five by uploading photos on social media and signing petitions.
And Chinese authorities are keeping track of the names on the petitions. @swye105 reported on Twitter:
Chinese students who signed petition for release of women's rights activists reportedly face pressure from school officials #FreeTheFive
— Ye Shiwei ☂ 葉詩蔚 (@swye105) March 15, 2015
Outside China, feminist and civic groups from all over the world have condemned the Chinese authorities’ brutal crackdown. Amnesty International has launched a campaign page on Tumblr and a Twitter tag #FreeTheFive to collect supporting messages and pictures from all over the world.
Ad hoc feminist group, Free Chinese Feminists, launched a signature campaign and a postcard campaign. The group urged supporters to send the postcard to Beijing police demanding the release of the Five.
Send a postcard to Beijing Police demanding the release of the Five. Photo from Free Chinese Feminists.
In Malaysia, a country with a large Chinese population, 26 organizations from local civil society co-signed a statement condemning the Chinese authorities and expressing concern over the safety of the young feminists.
Taiwan feminist groups expressed their outrage over the arrest and urged their President Ma Ying Jeou to include issues related to human rights and gender equity onto the agenda of the cross-strait dialogue.
Since Chinese authorities continue to play dumb amid criticism, a number of civic groups in Hong Kong have decided to protest in front of the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government and present a statement signed by 50 local civic groups and 2,500 individuals on March 21.
Currently the 59th session of the Commission on the Status of Women is taking place at the United Nations Headquarters in New York to review the challenges that affect the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, which stands for gender equality and female empowerment. The detention of the five feminists in Beijing has now become a case study on the barriers to achieving those aims.

author: Oiwan Lam


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Government Takedown Requests from Russia Double, Facebook Reports · Global Voices
Tanya Lokot

Images mixed by Tetyana Lokot.
Facebook, one of the most popular social networks in Russia, reported that content restriction requests from the Russian government increased nearly two-fold during the second half of 2014.
In a new installment of their Global Government Requests Report, spanning a period from July 2014 to December 2014, Facebook reported only two government requests for user account data in Russia, and said it did not fulfill any of them. In contrast, Facebook received no government requests for Russian users’ data during the first half of 2014.
At the same time, Facebook reported that it restricted access to 55 pieces of content in Russia, based on requests from Russian authorities (compared to 29 content restriction requests fulfilled during the first half of 2014). The network did not specify how many requests overall were received, and what percentage were fulfilled.
We restricted access in Russia to some content reported by The Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology, and Mass Media under local laws prohibiting content that promotes drug use and self-harm, extremist activities, unsanctioned mass riots/marches, and for violating the integrity of the Russian Federation.
Compared to the first half of 2014, the new categories of restricted content on Facebook in Russia include content about “unsanctioned mass riots/marches” and content “violating the integrity of the Russian Federation.”
In December 2014, Facebook blocked Russian users’ access to the event page of a mass protest in support of opposition figure Alexey Navalny, causing widespread consternation from the RuNet. Facebook representatives subsequently vouched not to block any further protest-related content or pages in Russia.

author: Tanya Lokot


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How Nigerian Bloggers, Writers, Activists Wrote a Book in Five Days · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Nigerian writers, bloggers, activists at work. Photo by Luis Antonio Delgado. Used with permission.
Barbara Ruehling, a filmmaker and Book Sprint facilitator, talks to us about a Book Sprint in Nigeria, which brought together Nigerian bloggers, writers and activists to write a book in five days.
Ndesanjo Macha (NM): Hi Barbara, before we talk Book Sprints, could you please tell us briefly about yourself?
Barbara Ruehling (BR): I'm Barbara Ruehling (@antropofilm), I'm a social anthropologist and filmmaker, and since 2013 I have been working as a facilitator for Book Sprints.
NM: What is a Book Sprint?
BR: A Book Sprint is a method for rapid collaborative book production. It brings together a group of experts on a specific subject to write a book in no more than five days. Together they conceptualize, write, and produce a book without any written preparation. The group is led by a facilitator who uses a well-refined methodology to guide them through the process. The final product is high quality content, revised, edited, designed and ready to print immediately and as e-book formats.
NM: How did you get involved with this initiative?
BR: I was trained to be a Book Sprint facilitator by Adam Hyde who developed the Book Sprints method six years ago. Initially, Adam was looking for a fun and rapid way to produce documentation for free and open software. He received so many requests that he could no longer facilitate all Book Sprints, so he trained me and later a few other facilitators. Since then we have tested and proven the method to work in many fields such as art history, science, and governance transparency, to name just a few. The genres range from software manuals to governance guidebooks to university textbooks and even fiction. We recently made our first fiction Book Sprint in Nigeria!
Book Sprints facilitator Barbara Rühling. Photo by Luis Antonio Delgado. Photo used with permission.
NM: Can you tell us about how eight Nigerian bloggers, writers and social activists came together to write a book for five days? Who are these writers?
BR: The 8 participants in the Book Sprint in Nigeria were a group of fantastic people, bloggers, writers, satirists, political commentators, activists. They were invited by the Boell Stiftung in Nigeria that was looking for ways to mobilize young people in Nigeria to think and talk about the upcoming national elections in 2015. Nigeria has a growing reading culture, blogs and twitter are booming, and so a book seemed a good way to reach these people.
The writers are:
Rafeeat Aliyu (@cosmicyoruba) – Blogger, writer of fiction and non-fiction, history nerd.
Elnathan John (@elnathan) – A full-time writer.
Yas Niger (@YasNiger) – Blogger, writer.
Pearl Osibu (@Pearlosibu) – Blogger, writer, designer.
Chioma Agwuegbo (@ChiomaChuka) – Blogger, writer.
Kalu Aja (@kaluaja) – Financial planner and coach.
Azeenarh Mohammed (@xeenarh) – Noisemaker, privacy enthusiast, digital security trainer.
Fola Lawal (@SheCrownLita) – Publisher.
The cover of the book written in Nigeria in 5 days. Book cover art by Henrik van Leeuwen. Used with permission.
NM: How did you select the writers?
BR: Azeenarh Mohammed (@xeenarh) hand picked the group for the Book Sprint, first of all because they are brilliant writers with interesting views, but also to represent a good balance of genders, religions, ages, and regions. I think she did a great job! As a facilitator I only consult the organizer how to choose participants, otherwise I stay neutral towards the content.
NM: Why Nigeria?
BR: We have done Book Sprints all over the globe, and I'm really happy that there have been more and more Book Sprints outside of Western Europe and North America, in countries such as Colombia, Burundi, Ethiopia, and Nigeria. The Heinrich Boell Stiftung in Nigeria invited us to write and publish a book before the elections in 2015.
NM: What is the central theme of the book?
BR: The book was born out of the need to provoke young Nigerians to think about their country ahead and beyond of the national elections. We started out with the working title “The Future We Want” and the idea to come up with a common vision within all the political, religious, and ethnic diversity of the country. The writers first wrote up a political critique juxtaposed with visions of alternative futures which they then turned into a series of provocative fictional stories. The stories center around a market town that could be any and everywhere in the country, and thus remains nameless. Nameless also became the title of the book.
NM: Can you explain how the methodology of Book Sprint works?
BR: The methodology works through a high level of collaboration which is assisted by the facilitator, and a collaborative writing platform designed specifically for that purpose. By high level of collaboration we also mean that there are no individual authors in Book Sprints. Everyone is a writer, editor, and contributor in equal terms. That way we make sure that everyone's input is included, and in the end almost everyone has worked on almost every section of the book. This is a very intense process that builds high levels of motivation and trust within the group. It's the facilitators’ task to enable that kind of environment.
The topic is decided by a host organization before the Book Sprint, but everything beyond that is created by the group during those five days. The facilitator guides them through the process of finding a concept and a structure for the book, writing the different sections, revising, rewriting, and restructuring them. A remote team of an illustrator, a book producer, and a proofreader work simultaneously with the writers, so that when the writers are finished by the end of day 5, the illustrated, designed, and revised book is made available immediately.
NM: What role does social media play in the project?
BR: Of course we love to tweet (@booksprint) and blog about our adventures, and we also increasingly upload voices of the participants to our vimeo channel. To write the book itself, however, it is invaluable to sit face to face in the same space.
NM: I understand there is a movie capturing the story of the book?
BR: The story of the Book Sprint in Nigeria was so fascinating, we made a short documentary about it with visual artist Luis Antonio Delgado. You can watch it here. I've wanted to make a film that tells the story of Book Sprints for a while, and the one in Nigeria was ideal because it captured in content what the method itself is all about: bringing together diverse voices to create a common vision. With the elections at the doorstep it is also a very timely and important subject.
NM: Is the book available online?
BR: The book has a Creative Commons license and is available for free online, on the website of the Boell Foundation. The writers also uploaded it to smashwords and okadabooks.
NM: What has been the reaction on social media?
BR: There was quite some buzz on Twitter, Nigerians are among the most active twitterers on my timeline for sure! One of the participants, Chioma Agwuegbo, blogged about her experiences each day at the Book Sprint.
All the others writers tweeted about it, for example Elnathan John after it was printed the day after the Book Sprint:
The book we wrote in 5 days is ready.
We titled it Nameless. And it is free! I'll let you know how you can get it.
— Elnathan John (@elnathan) November
15, 2014
When 2,000 print copies were distributed at the Ake Arts&Books Festival the following week, it was applauded by prominent writer Ayo Sogunro (@ayosogunro):
Finally! The book Nameless, by my folks: @xeenarh @elnathan @SheCrownLita @ChiomaChuka @Pearlosibu and others too. pic.twitter.com/x2CfNqqzDr
— Ayo Sogunro (@ayosogunro) November 20, 2014
Later, one of the participants, xeenarh (@xeenarh), even created an online survey about the book:
You've all read nameless? Pls fill out my 2 min survey :) @sagaysagay @ayosogunro @antropofilm @dirtytinker @aeesher https://t.co/mx1pgYcKLf
— xeenarh (@xeenarh) February 11, 2015
In a review of the book, blogger Folakemi Odoaje wrote:
What is incredible about Nameless is showing that all of Nigeria social, economic, religious and political issues are not
peculiar to a region or tribe – we all suffer the same fate therefore our collective efforts is imperative (…) I loved the mix of Nameless writers, everything about it. For those who believed our main problem lie in one region or the other, here the
writers are as diverse as Nigeria is, their biographies at the end of the book.
NM: Where is the next Book Sprint?
BR: The next one is with the Public Library of Science (PLOS) in California, and we have a couple of other Book Sprints already lined up for this year. I'm hoping for one in Asia, we haven't had any Book Sprint in that region yet!


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Human Rights Watch Website Temporarily Blocked at Egypt the Future Conference  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

A screenshot shows that Human Rights Watch website is blocked in Egypt for wifi users at the “Egypt the Future” Conference held in Sharm El Sheikh. Photograph shared by @S_Elwardany on Twitter
A block on Human Rights Watch website was lifted at an economic conference in Egypt after a journalist raised the alarm on Twitter.
Egyptian journalist Salma Elwardany tweeted to her 80K followers on Twitter that Human Rights Watch website was blocked at the Egypt Economic Development Conference, also known as Egypt the Future, which ended in Sharm El Sheikh yesterday:
Human rights watch website blocked on Egypt the future conference wifi pic.twitter.com/t25FwATJGE
— Salma Elwardany (@S_Elwardany) March 15, 2015
She noted:
Says “the URL is banned based on the EEDC policy” #pt
— Salma Elwardany (@S_Elwardany) March 15, 2015
During the three-day conference, billions of dollars were pledged in support of Egypt's economy. But many were concerned that the blocking of websites and censorship may well be in the future plans of Egypt too.
Elwardany later tweeted that the site was back up:
Human rights watch website is working now on EEDC wifi pic.twitter.com/W01D92z2qy
— Salma Elwardany (@S_Elwardany) March 15, 2015
And added:
I'll delete the original tweet since hrw is now working on EEDC wifi and organizers say it was a technical issue and now it's back up
— Salma Elwardany (@S_Elwardany) March 15, 2015
Recently, Egypt announced that it has formed a committee to look into ways to block websites related to “terrorism,” reported Ahram Online. It said:
Egypt's premier Ibrahim Mahlab is forming a committee to study possible amendments to national security laws in order to remove websites linked to “terrorism”, cabinet spokesperson Hossam Kawish has told Ahram Online.
The committee's recommendations will help courts to issue verdicts to remove any content on the Internet that is related to “terrorism”, Kawish explained.
The report added:
In early February, Egypt called on the international community to “monitor extremist websites that incite violence and terrorism, and to halt broadcasting channels linked to the Muslim Brotherhood.”

author: Amira Al Hussaini


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Israeli Bloggers Ask: Why is Gaza Not an Issue in the Upcoming Israeli Elections?  · Global Voices
Elia J. Ayoub

Gaza under attack: A scene from a 10-minute documentary entitled Disregarding Gaza, directed by Tamar Glezerman and Arianna LaPenne, which asks the question, “Why is Gaza not an issue in the upcoming Israeli elections?”
As Israel heads to the polls on Tuesday, the situation in Gaza is not on the agenda of any of the major parties. A new documentary, made by Israeli bloggers, asks why.
The short documentary, directed by Tamar Glezerman and Arianna LaPenne, poses the question: “Why is Gaza not an issue in the upcoming Israeli elections?”.
The documentary, less than 10 minutes in duration, and entitled ‘Disregarding Gaza‘, is essentially a series of interviews with bloggers of Israeli-Palestinian blog-based web magazine +972 with the goal of examining “the mainstream media landscape, and its marginalization of the Palestinians, the occupation and the war in Gaza.”
The documentary starts with a statistic which says that over 90 per cent of Israeli Jews supported the last war on Gaza, followed by the number of casualties on each side (72 Israelis and over 2,200 Palestinians). After showing the city of Tel Aviv as an air raid sirens tears into the background and Gaza under bombardment, the documentary takes us to Nabi Saleh in the West Bank, where a group of Palestinians and Israelis are protesting the occupation. Two photojournalists and members of ActiveStills, the Israeli-Palestinian collective which covers Israel and Palestine, Keren Manor and Oren Ziv, tell us how, in Ziv's words, most West Bank protests are “attacked and blocked by the army”.
Screenshot from ‘Disregarding Gaza’ showing a Palestinian stone-thrower facing Israeli soldiers
Tel Aviv-based +972 blogger Dahlia Scheindlin claims that the Israeli mainstream media “essentially portrays a very simple narrative that is constantly being reinforced”. Giving examples, she mentions the fact that Gaza has been under blockade since 2007 and the common occurrence of Palestinian non-violent actions such as diplomatic strategies and weekly unarmed demonstrations in the West Bank.
Screenshot from ‘Disregarding Gaza’ showing a Far-Right rally protesting a Mixed Jewish-Arab wedding.
Noam Sheizak, +972's Executive Director, claims that the average Israeli already feels that “the world is against us anyway” and that any attempt to criticize the country makes things worse. But, “at the same time”, he says, he feels privileged for being an Israeli Jew because he can still say “pretty much whatever [he wants]”, adding that Israel is still “a somewhat functioning democracy” for Jews, but “for Palestinians and Asylum Seekers, not so much.”
Screenshot from ‘Disregarding Gaza’ showing a Far-Right rally during the War on Gaza. They were chanting “Gaza, Gaza, Gaza is a cemetery!” and “There are no schools in Gaza, because there are no children left in Gaza!”
Haggai Matar, a Union Leader and +972 contributor, says that the Israeli military is seen as almost beyond criticism. “If they don't tell most of their horrifying stories that were happening in Gaza, then how can you expect people to criticize the war when they hear no criticism of the war on the media, when they don't hear the worst of details but only the IDF's spokesman's line?” he asks.
Screenshot from ‘Disregarding Gaza’ showing a panel encouraging Israelis to support the IDF.
Oren Persico, +972 blogger and Media Critic, analyzed the way the Israeli media covered the war. He compares the coverage of the Rafah Incident in which over 130 Palestinians in Gaza were massacred in a single day by the IDF in Yediot Aharonot and Israel Today, “which are read by 70pc of Israelis”, versus the coverage by Haaretz, read by 5pc of Israelis, “the elite.” The ‘incident’ was a result of Israel's infamous Hannibal Doctrine whereas the IDF would risk the life of one its soldiers to avoid dealing with a hostage situation. The soldier in question was Lt. Hadar Goldin, who ended up dying during the “massive use of infantry, artillery and air fire” in Rafah, as Jpost described it.
Persico showed how Haaretz featured the captured soldier in its headline and relegated the news of “at least 123 dead in Rafah” to the bottom of the page. Yediot Aharonot on the other hand, dedicated its entire front page on that day to the abduction and made no mention of Palestinian casualties. And it's only on Page 8 of that same journal, in the middle of a commentary, that Yediot Aharonot mentions that “the IDF bombed heavily in Rafah”.
Screenshot from ‘Disregarding Gaza’ showing Persico holding a copy of Yediot Aharonot
The documentary then takes us to Bi'ilin, site of the now-famous weekly nonviolent demonstrations against the Separation Wall that have been occurring since 2005 and which regularly attract international activists , including 1975 Nobel Peace Prize winner Mairead Maguire. Interviewed this time Samer Badawi, a +972 blogger who was in Gaza during the last war. Badawi speaks of how he saw “the three fronts of modern warfare [land, sea and air] all directed at a civilian population.”
Screenshot from ‘Disregarding Gaza’ of a video taken in Gaza on August 2014 by Samer's host, Jehad Saftawi
Badawi tells us that what was completely different in this last war was the shelling, “because it was completely random.” He described the deafening sound emitted during bombing campaigns, saying that the only difference between being dead and alive is the sound. “Everybody hears the same thing. If you hear the sound, you're okay. That's basically it. That's the difference between being alive and being dead.”
Screenshot from ‘Disregarding Gaza showing Samer Badawi explaining what it felt like to experience the shelling of the neighborhood he stayed in.
The documentary ends with Keren Manor of ActiveStills talking about the nonviolent weekly demonstrations in Bil'in and what it represents for her: “By coming to these places almost every week for more than 10 years, we want to say that these things are happening even if they don't show it in the mainstream media. They're happening, and they're happening every week, and every day.”
Screenshot from ‘Discarding Gaza showing a Palestinian mother confronting an IDF soldier.
Finally, Noam Sheizat warns of the danger of dividing the conflict into “Pro-Palestinian” and “Pro-Israeli”: “There is a tendency to divide the conversation into a ‘Pro-Palestinian Voice’ and a ‘Pro-Israeli Voice’, and if you criticize Israel, if you criticize Zionism, if you criticize the Israeli government, you're immediately a “Pro-Palestinian” or a “anti-Israeli” and vice versa. We [+972] don't do this separation, pro-that or pro-this. We want to ask, what sort of community can we build here?”

author: Elia J. Ayoub


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Open Letter Asks UN Human Rights Council to Probe Abuses in Vietnam · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

An open letter signed by 27 groups and 163 individuals is asking the United Nations Human Rights Council to probe the human rights abuses committed by the Vietnamese government. The signatories are also demanding the removal of Vietnam's membership in the UN human rights body.
We urge member states to vote against Vietnam based on its continuing rampant human rights violations. It is time for the Vietnamese government to learn that it can no longer escape accountability.
Some of the violations allegedly perpetrated by the government include the persecution of bloggers, censorship, religious oppression, wrongful convictions, abuse of political prisoners, and harassment of activists.


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The Butterfly Effects of Panamanian Social Media · Global Voices
Ariel Moreno

“I <3 My Jungle.” Image shared on Panamanian social networks as a response to Rita García's online comment.
Immigration in Panama is a hot topic, and social networks are stoking the fire. Small acts online have a tendency to affect people's lives in big ways.
Most recently, Panamanian lawmaker Zulay Rodriguez attracted the scorn of Internet users abroad with a speech in parliament where she used the word “scum” to describe Colombian citizens captured in Panama, blaming foreigners for various crimes throughout the country, and advocating an end to the state's Crisol de razas (melting pot) program, which seeks to facilitate the naturalization of thousands of undocumented immigrants.
The Colombian Foreign Ministry and the Panamanian press also condemned the speech. Rodriguez later apologized for her words, but Internet users have continued to debate her remarks. Not surprisingly, Panamas's immigrants have been especially aggressive about responding.
Venezuelan immigrant Rita García answered Rodriguez's speech with a controversial tirade against Panamanians, comparing them to “monkeys” and saying they're incapable of respecting foreign cultures. After a massive backlash, García deleted her inflammatory post, but not before it had been shared widely across the Internet. Outraged Internet users responded with a petition on Change.org calling for her deportation, quickly collecting more than 17,000 signatures. Panama's immigration officials later contacted García, but she and her husband had already lost their jobs and left the country.
On Pin Radio, Alejandra Farías, another immigrant from Venezuela, wrote an article titled This Is Why Venezuelans Are Thrown Out, where she expressed her outrage and argued that García's case should be a lesson to other Venezuelan immigrants to Panama:
¿Quién se cree Rita García de Zedde para ofender y no recibir ningún escarmiento?. Yo estoy a favor de su deportación. ¿Cuántos venezolanos no quisieran tener ahorita, el empleo en el banco Panameño que tenía Rita?. ¿Cuántos venezolanos viven meses separados de sus familias tratando establecerse para trasladar a esposa e hijos con alguna comodidad? ¿Cuántos Venezolanos exiliados salen todos los días a “patear calle” a ofrecer sus productos, mostrar sus negocios o a repartir hojas de vida?
Who thinks Rita García can offend others without being punished? I'm in favor of her deportation. How many Venezuelans right now would not want to have the job that Rita had at the Panamanian bank? How many Venezuelans spend months separated from their families, trying to settle down, so that they can send for their wife and kids to immigrate comfortably? How many Venezuelan exiles go out every day to “walk the streets” to offer their products, display their businesses, or hand out resumes?
The online response wasn't all attacks, though. There were also shows of appreciation for immigrants from Panamanians like Shaila Valdez, who shared several words of welcome in on Facebook:
I love my Colombian who manicures my nails perfectly, and does my hair removal divinely. I love the one who tends to me in a restaurant and says “good morning,” “one moment,” and “come back soon” to me!!!
I love my Dominican who gives me a beautiful blow out, and plays her beloved bachata for me, while she shows me photos on her cell phone of the children she left behind in the Dominican Republic.
I love the Chinese man who stands at the corner of my block and greets me with a “WHAT'S UP” and the woman with a “HOW ARE YOU, GIRL?”
I love the Italian who makes oven-baked pizzas and while I wait tells me that the man who founded the pizzeria many years ago was his grandfather.
I love the German who brings me beer and apple shots, while he teaches me to say “good morning” and “thank you very much” in German, while we celebrate Oktoberfest…
I love the immigrant who comes here to make my Panama bigger and more productive, who comes here to move forward humbly… I love them because I want people in other countries to love my people when they arrive in search of a better future.
Panama, the bridge of the world and the heart of the universe.
Migration in Latin America is a complicated process, of course, and the incident with Zulay Rodriguez and Rita García show how the Internet can amplify ill will, just as it can bridge divides between people. It's up to individuals which kind of social media they'd rather have.

author: Ariel Moreno


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Vietnamese Photojournalist Continues Hunger Strike After Four Years Behind Bars · Global Voices
Media Legal Defence Initiative

Young photo journalist Minh Man Dang Nguyen has been on hunger strike for prolonged periods of time in recent months to protest the ill-treatment she has received while in detention in Vietnam. As a result of her repeated hunger strikes, she recently weighed only 35 kg.
Minh Man. Photo used with permission.
Minh Man was arrested almost four years ago for taking photos of activist graffiti at an anti-China protest in Ho Chi Minh City. In January 2013 she was convicted alongside 13 other bloggers and activists for committing “activities aimed at overthrowing the government” in what was described as the country's largest subversion case in years. She was sentenced to eight years in prison and five subsequent years of house arrest. Despite calls for her release, Minh Man is still in prison.
In addition to the lengthy prison sentence and subsequent house arrest, Minh Man is also subject to another form of punishment: increasingly unfair and discriminatory treatment in detention.
Since November 2014, Minh Man has been held in near-solitary confinement in a separate area of the prison that resembles a high-security detention facility. The reasons for this are unclear, but the “disciplinary zone” of the prison where she is held was reportedly newly built for the sole purpose of detaining prisoners of conscience.
Unlike other prisoners, Minh Man is prohibited from taking part in any physical activities and exercise. Interaction with non-political prisoners is not possible. Political prisoners are also regularly verbally attacked and provoked. To make matters worse, Minh Man’s visitation rights have on occasion also been limited. For instance when her mother, once a prisoner of conscience herself, was denied access to her daughter recently. These actions are all aimed at heightening the psychological pressure caused by near-solitary confinement and creating a climate of fear and paranoia.
Minh Man’s treatment is part of a bigger trend. In a 2013 report on prisoners of conscience in Viet Nam, Amnesty International noted that many political prisoners were held in harsh conditions that amounted to cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment. They were subjected to ill-treatment, including by other prisoners, with no intervention from prison guards. Amnesty International further reported that they were often held in solitary confinement or in isolation for lengthy periods of time as punishment. Former prisoners of conscience have confirmed this and reported that they were subjected to solitary confinement and verbal abuse, were denied books and received inadequate food and drinking water, which caused them additional health problems.
As underlined by the UN Human Rights Committee and the UN Special Rapporteur on torture, prolonged solitary confinement, particularly where combined with isolation from the outside world, may amount to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.
Minh Man was joined in in her hunger strikes by Ta Phong Tan, a former police officer and founding member of the Club for Free Journalists, who is serving a ten-year sentence in the same prison as Minh Man. In July 2012, Ta Phong Tan’s mother died from her injuries after setting herself on fire in front of government offices in protest of her daughter’s detention.
The Media Legal Defence Initiative has updated the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention on the deterioration of Minh Man’s situation after an earlier petition was filed in December 2014 in the hope that this will support her courageous struggle for improvement of prison conditions.

author: Media Legal Defence Initiative


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7 Pakistani Performances You Don’t Want to Miss at the SXSW Music Festival · Global Voices
Sahar Habib Ghazi

“First stop Islamabad Airport. We are off to play at one of the world's biggest music festivals, South by Southwest #SXSW in Austin, Texas!” Posted on the Khumariyaan Official Facebook page.
The SXSW Music Festival, one of the largest and most influential music events in the world, will feature its first-ever Pakistani showcase this year on March 18.
Pakistan isn't the image most music fans conjure up when they think of trance, indie rock, progressive rock and jazz. But that's exactly what people attending the Pakistan Showcase at SXSW will be witnessing. Six wildly different performances will show a glimpse of the country’s rich and diverse but underexposed music scene.
Besides the showcase, Pakistani rapper Adil Omar will also perform at SXSW on March 19.
Pakistan's music industry is underdeveloped. Most musicians act as both artists and entrepreneurs – they handle all aspects of music production and distribution themselves, from creativity to finance and marketing. They also suffer from a lack of intellectual property right protections. Since 2007, live concerts have become less frequent, due to the constant threat of bombings in the country.
So the showcase in Austin is a huge opportunity for the six artists and bands flying from Pakistan to perform. The showcase was made possible through funding from the US government and an Islamabad-based non-profit called Face, which organizes concerts and promotes Pakistani music. The artists will not receive compensation from SXSW for their performance, but they will be able to attend all events at the festival for free.
Here are the Pakistani artists and bands playing at SXSW this year.
MHB plays progressive rock and jazz renditions over South Asian Sufi poetry. Two years ago, the band's lead guitarist Mekaal Hasan braved visa troubles to collaborate with musicians in India. They released the first collaborative India-Pakistan album of its kind last year. This video is a live performance of “Ghunghat” off their album “Andholan” in Baroda city, Gujarat, India:
A Lahore-based indie rock underground band, whose lyrics in English are commentary on society and politics in Pakistan. The band is from the capital of the country's most populous province Punjab. In a recent interview with the daily Dawn, a band member said, “Playing abroad gives Pakistani musicians credibility.”  This video was released in March and uploaded onto Vimeo by Piphany Productions:
A Manganiyar classic folk singer from Umerkot at the entrance of the Thar desert in southwestern Sindh. Last summer, she jammed with an urban musician to produce something beautiful for the Internet.
Hyper-folk instrumental jams from Peshawar, in the northwestern Khyber Pukhtunkhwa province. Khumariyaan blends sounds from the hometowns of its members, who play percussion, the string rubab, the ‘zeer baghali’ — a native Pushto Instrument that faced near extinction — and the western guitar.
Punjabi dhol or drum masters, the Tanveer brothers grew up in Daska, a small town near Sialkot. Dhol performances are essential elements of wedding processions and Sufi shrine celebrations. Sain Tanveer is famous for his “dhol spinning” technique, which attracted thousands of people when he performed at he Sufi Shrine of Shah Jamal in Lahore. His technique involves hanging four dhols at a time around his neck and playing them while spinning.
This video was uploaded by Zeejah Fazli, an Islamabad-based guitar player who will perform with them in Austin. Fazli also runs Face, which is sponsoring the event.
The pop singer was famous in the 1990s as a part of a band Awaaz. Recently, he has reinvented himself as a cultural activist through an animated TV show “Burka Avenger” with a female superhero. Haroon created and produces the series. Here's a song by Haroon and Pakistani rapper Adil Omar from the series:
The 23-year-old rapper is also playing at SXSW, but he isn't a part of the Face-sponsored showcase. He is playing on March 19 at the Trophy Club. This video was released yesterday:
Pakistan has many different languages and sub-cultures, but musicians from one area rarely get exposed to the sounds of other areas. Part of Face's mission is to connect musicians from different backgrounds and cultures within Pakistan.
A cultural attache at the US Embassy in Islamabad took a special interest in pitching Pakistan's showcase to SXSW organizers in 2013, according to a US State department magazine report.
In 2014, Jennifer McAndrew invited a senior SXSW producer to the Music Mela, a huge conference in Islamabad, being put together by Face through a $55,000 grant from the US Embassy. She wanted to develop “a long-term linkage between Music Mela and SXSW.”
In 2014, more than 28,000 music industry professionals and musicians attended 2,300 acts representing 57 countries at SXSW.
The main Pakistan SXSW 2015 Showcase is on Wednesday, March 18, 2015, at 8 p.m. in the Victorian Room at the Driskill Hotel, 604 Brazos Street, in Austin, Texas.

author: Sahar Habib Ghazi


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Back-to-Back Murders of Journalists Raise Concerns in Colombia · Global Voices
Lully

Journalist Edgar Quintero. Photo: Private file from Colombia Ombudsman website.
Edgar Quintero was the second journalist killed in Colombia in a three-week span. Known simply as “Quintin,” Edgar Quintero was the 57-year-old program director of the show “News and More” on Radio Luna for the channel Toledar. He was shot in Palmira, Valle del Cauca on March 2 as he entered a bakery near his office.
Twitter users were quick to condemn the murder. The group TWlTTEROS CALI was one of the first to weigh in:
Asesinan en Palmira esta noche de lunes a periodista de Radio Luna de Todelar. Edgar ‘Quintin’ Quintero. pic.twitter.com/xr9rR5sW5V
— TWlTTEROS CALI (@TwiterosCali) March 3, 2015
A Radio Moon journalist from Toledar, Edgar ‘Quintin’ Quintero, was killed March 2, in Palmira.
Cesar Montoya posted a photo in solidarity with the journalist:
ASESINADO EL PERIODISTA QUINTIN QUINTERO DE PALMIRA @WRadioColombia @noticierodelafm pic.twitter.com/I7O42glAIo
— Cesar Montoya (@cesarmontoya1) marzo 3, 2015
I am Quíntín. KILLED IN PALMYRA, THE JOURNALIST QUINTIN QUINTERO
Flora Tristan, meanwhile, posted a popular quote in his honor:
Periodista Édgar Quintero, de la emisora Radio Luna, de Palmira, fue asesinado en la noche de este lunes. pic.twitter.com/rIqPjV56af
— FloraTristán (@floratris) marzo 3, 2015
“When a journalist is silenced, your right to know is silenced.” Journalist Edgar Quintero, of Radio Luna, Palmira, was killed on Monday night.
Many complained that the media failed to afford the news of Quintero's murder its due importance, while several national and international associations have denounced the crime and demanded an investigation into the murder, in light of other threats against the independent media.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemned the crime and “urge[d] the authorities to conduct a thorough investigation into all the possible reasons and to find those responsible for it.” At the same time, it emphasized that Quintero was the second journalist killed in Colombia in less than three weeks, referring to Luis Peralta of Radio Linda, who was murdered in El Doncello, Caquetá, a province in the south of the country.
Reporters without Borders also condemned the killing, “express[ing] concern about the climate of impunity that prevails in the country”:
Exhortamos a las autoridades a no descartar la hipótesis de que el crimen podría estar relacionado con su profesión y a desarrollar investigaciones exhaustivas, independientes e imparciales en estos dos casos“, señaló Claire San Filippo, responsable del Despacho Américas de nuestra organización. “Este segundo caso recuerda la precaria seguridad de los actores de la información en el país. La impunidad generalizada no permite que los periodistas ejerzan su profesión con tranquilidad ni que las víctimas y sus familias obtengan justicia. Debe ponerse un alto a esta situación, los responsables de estos crímenes deben responder por sus actos“, añadió.
We urge the authorities not to rule out the possibility that the crime could be related to their profession, and to conduct thorough, independent, and impartial investigations into these two cases.
This second case recalls the media and information workers’ precarious security in the country. The widespread impunity [enjoyed by those who persecute journalists] prevents reporters from doing their jobs safely, and it makes it hard for the victims and their families to obtain justice. This situation must end, and those responsible for these crimes must answer for their acts.
The organization highlighted other issues, as well:
Entre 1980 y 2012, 27 periodistas han sido asesinados en el departamento del Valle del Cauca; nueve de ellos en el departamento de Caquetá, según datos de Reporteros sin Fronteras. Además de los asesinatos, RSF ha denunciado las numerosas agresiones cometidas en el departamento de Valle del Cauca, como el intento de asesinato del que fue víctima el 19 de noviembre de 2013 Diego Gómez Valverde, director del Canal Universitario, cadena televisiva de la Universidad del Valle, de Cali (este). Ese mismo año el periodista Yesid Toro tuvo que huir de la región debido a las amenazas. El 28 de septiembre de 2014 el grupo paramilitar “Los Urabeños”, que se encuentran en la lista de Predadores de la libertad de prensa de RSF, amenazó de muerte a ocho periodistas de diferentes medios de comunicación de Cali y de Buenaventura. Sus nombres aparecieron en una nueva lista negra difundida cuatro días después de que otros dos periodistas fueran amenazados de manera similar por la banda criminal “Los Rastrojos”. Los Urabeños actúan en los 337 municipios del centro y de la costa caribeña, en particular en las grandes zonas de Cali y Medellín.
Colombia, el segundo país más mortífero del continente americano para el gremio periodístico, sigue siendo muy peligroso para ejercer este oficio.
Between 1980 and 2012, 27 journalists have been murdered in the province of Valle del Cauca; nine of them in the province of Caquetá, according to Reporters without Borders.
Besides the murders, RSF has denounced the numerous attacks in the province of Valle del Cauca, such as the attempted murder of Diego Gomez Valverde, director of the University Channel and a broadcaster of the Universidad del Valle, in Cali (east) on November 19, 2013.
Also in 2013, the reporter Yesid Toro had to flee the region because of threats. On September 28, 2014, the paramilitary group “Los Urabeños,” which is on the RSF list of “Predators of Press Freedom,” threatened to kill eight journalists from different media in Cali and Buenaventura. Their names appeared in a new blacklist broadcasted four days after two other journalists were similarly threatened by the criminal gang “Los Rastrojos.” The Urabeños operate in 337 municipalities in the center of the country and on the Caribbean coast, particularly in the large areas of Cali and Medellin.
Colombia is the second deadliest country in the Americas when it comes to practicing journalism.
Meanwhile, the Federation of the Press Associations of Spain (FAPE) joined in protest with the International Federation of Journalists (IFP) and the Colombian Federation of Journalists (FECOLPER):
A comienzos de 2014, la FECOLPER lanzó un informe sobre la crítica situación del periodismo en el país. Según el mismo, en Colombia  “informar es cada vez más una profesión de peligro y ello se refleja en crímenes como asesinatos, atentados, amenazas, destrucción de instalaciones o equipos, interceptaciones ilegales, detenciones ilegales, desplazamiento forzado y acoso en sus distintas manifestaciones”.
La FIP y la FAPE se unen a la FECOLPER en la fuerte condena a esta nueva afrenta a la libertad de expresión y, preocupados por la alta tasa de impunidad  en estos hechos, exigen que se investiguen hasta las últimas consecuencias para dar con los autores materiales e intelectuales de este asesinato.
Early in 2014, the FECOLPER launched a report about journalists’ critical situation in the country. According to this document, reporting in Colombia is increasingly “dangerous profession,” as reflected by “crimes like murders, attacks, threats, destruction of facilities or equipment, illegal wiretapping, illegal detentions, forced displacement, and harassment in its various manifestations” .
The IFJ and the FAPE, united with the FECOLPER, strongly condemns this new affront on the freedom of expression and—concerned about the high rate of criminal impunity in these cases—demands a full investigation to find those responsible for this murder.
Meanwhile, the Foundation for Press Freedom (FLIP) condemned Quintero's murder and urged local authorities to press ahead with the investigations.
The Organization of American States (OAS) issued a press release calling for a resolution to the crime, emphasizing the freedom of expression and journalists’ right to their profession.
El principio 9 de la Declaración de Principios sobre Libertad de Expresión de la CIDH señala: “el asesinato, secuestro, intimidación, amenaza a los comunicadores sociales, así como la destrucción material de los medios de comunicación, viola los derechos fundamentales de las personas y coarta severamente la libertad de expresión. Es deber de los Estados prevenir e investigar estos hechos, sancionar a sus autores y asegurar a las víctimas una reparación adecuada”.
La Relatoría Especial para la Libertad de Expresión es una oficina creada por la Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos (CIDH), a fin de estimular la defensa hemisférica del derecho a la libertad de pensamiento y expresión, considerando su papel fundamental en la consolidación y el desarrollo del sistema democrático.
The principle Number 9 of the Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) states: “the murder, kidnapping, intimidation, or threats to social communicators, as well as the material destruction of communications media, violate the fundamental human rights and strongly restrict freedom of expression. It is the duty of States to prevent and investigate such occurrences, to punish their perpetrators and to ensure that the victims receive due compensation.”
The Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression is an office created by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), to stimulate hemispheric defense of the right to freedom of thought and expression, given its fundamental role in the consolidation and development of the democratic system.
Meanwhile the Circle of Journalists of Bogota (CPB) lamented the news and denounced that the murder took place, despite several warnings:
Había recibido amenazas por cuanto en sus informaciones denunciaba actuaciones corruptas de funcionarios en su región; situación que conlleva -como se ha señalado varias veces por Nuestro Gremio- la necesidad de que la Fiscalía General tome  medidas judiciales urgentes, como la creación de una Unidad Especial de Investigación o asignación de un Funcionario Especial para cada caso, a fin de que indague y se conozca inmediatamente a los autores materiales e intelectuales, para que una sentencia condenatoria, genere confianza y la justicia opere como debe ser en un Estado de derecho.
He received threats owing to his exposés on local public servants’ corrupt behavior. The situation—as has been repeatedly pointed out by our union—called for an intervention by the Attorney General, such as the creation of a Special Investigation Unit or the assignment of a Special Officer for each case, in order to investigate and immediately determine the nature of the threats and individual authors, in order to facilitate trust and allow justice to operate as it should in a constitutional state.
For now, Colombian officials say the case is in prosecutor's hands.
Una investigación que aclare de manera pronta el asesinato del periodista Edgar ‘Quintín’ Quintero en Palmira, pidió la Defensoría del Pueblo Regional Valle del Cauca a la Fiscalía y la Policía de ese departamento. Para que se investiguen los dos asesinatos de Quintero el 2 de marzo y de Peralta el 14 de febrero, y finalizo expresando hechos graves.
The Ombudsman for Valle del Cauca asked the prosecutor and the police to conduct a prompt investigation into the murders of journalists Edgar ‘Quintin’ Quintero, in Palmira, on March 2, and Luis Peralta, on February 14, and to come to reach a conclusion quickly.

author: Lully


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Call for Urgent Climate Change Action After Cyclone Pam Devastates Vanuatu · Global Voices
Kevin Rennie

Following the devastation of Pacific islands nation Vanuatu by Category 5 Cyclone Pam, John Englart (aka @Takvera) looks at links with climate change:
Vanuatu has suffered its worst disaster on record with the impact of Category 5 Tropical Cyclone Pam, with the President of Vanuatu blaming climate change for extreme weather (Guardian 16Mar2015).
…Cyclone Pam and the devastation of Vanuatu and other Pacific nations is one more step on the road to a climate agreement in Paris in December 2015.
John also speculates about Australia's contribution to foreign aid and its role at the UN Climate Change Conference COP21 in Paris later this year.
His post also has links to organisations where you can give donations for emergency relief for Vanuatu.

author: Kevin Rennie


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Israel’s Elections: ‘It’s Us or Them’, ‘Anyone but Bibi’ and Everything in Between · Global Voices
Maya Norton

Israel elects its next Knesset on March 17, 2015. Pictured: party ballots from 2013. Source: Danny Zelazo on Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0).
Only hours before the polls open in Israel this morning, March 17, 2015, for the 20th election of the Israeli Knesset (parliament), the major candidates for prime minister are still making game-changing announcements.
Sitting Prime Minister Binyamin (“Bibi”) Netanyahu declared:
“I think that anyone who moves to establish a Palestinian state today and evacuates areas is giving radical Islam an area from which to attack the State of Israel.” Adding, “If [political opponents] Tzipi [Livni] and Buji [Isaac Herzog] set up the next government, Hamastan 2 will be established on these hills.”
Netanyahu's Likud (“Consolidation”) party campaign sticker likewise proclaims, “It's us or them” (“זה אנחנו או הם”).
Netanyahu's election sticker: “It's us or them. Only the Likud [Party]. Only Netanyahu.”
Within hours, Tzipi Livni, the top seat of the HaTnua (“Movement”) Party and a leading member of the joint electoral coalition, the Zionist Union, announced she would relinquish her plans with partner Isaac (“Buji”) Herzog to hold a joint prime ministerial seat in which Herzog would serve the first two years and Livni would assume the seat thereafter. The decision to remove the shared seat option was intended to eliminate controversy, swaying swing voters in the final hours of decision making.
On citizen media, Yair Zivan noted that not all politicians spent the last hours of the campaign focused on the overarching issues. He cited Yesh Atid's (“There is a Future”) top candidate Yair Lapid, who prioritized personalized voter communication.
24 hours before polls close and @LapidAtid is answering questions from voters on his Facebook page. Over 1500 comments in 20mins #Israelex
— Yair_Zivan (@Yair_Zivan) March 16, 2015
Responding to recent events, Yair Rosenberg tweeted:
What I love about Israel's elections: unlike America's, there's still the magic of surprise on the day, as polls can't tell us who'll win.
— Yair Rosenberg (@Yair_Rosenberg) March 16, 2015
Avi Mayer, one of the Israeli blogosphere's most vocal advocates, echoed:
With 11 hours to go until polls open here in Israel, the parties are still fighting for every vote. Exhilarating and exhausting. #IsraElex
— Avi Mayer (@AviMayer) March 16, 2015
On December 8, 2014, the Israeli Knesset voted to dissolve the sitting government and schedule new parliamentary elections. Parties running for election range from far left to extreme right, from a joint Arab party ticket to the religious conservatives, Shas. Each party must reach a threshold of 3.25 per cent of the vote — a controversial move that limits representation of the smaller parties in the Knesset.
Google Israel's Election Day doodle illustrates the ballot box. (Source: March 17, 2015.)
This short, friendly video provides a comprehensive overview of the process. Every citizen over the age of 18 has the right to vote. Election Day is a national holiday, free from work and school, and all you need to do to vote is show up at your polling place with your national identification card. (If you don't remember where you voted last, go to this website and enter your ID number; Hebrew). Unlike other countries, no pre-registration is required. The 11,000 polling stations around the country are open from 7 am until 10 pm.
Israelis vote by selecting a paper ballot with their chosen party's name from a tray, placing the ballot in an envelope, which they seal and insert into a locked box. An election oversight committee is present in the voting room should any questions arise. Only one person can enter the room at a time and voting is done behind a screen or curtain to ensure privacy.
This is the first year that Arab parties will run on a united platform. Known as the Joint List, Balad, Hadash, Ta'al, and the United Arab List agreed to combine agendas to ensure they would reach the voting threshold, maximizing their Knesset representation and limiting the ability of Netanyahu's Likud party to form a parliamentary coalition. They are expected to reap a maximum of 15 seats.
Left-wing journalist Noam Sheizaf opines:
Dream scenario tomorrow: Joint List wins 15 seats & due 2 rising participation, Liberman stays out of the Knesset #IsraelElections
— noam sheizaf (@nsheizaf) March 16, 2015
Avigdor Lieberman is the founder and head of the “ultra-nationalist” Israel Beiteinu (“Our Home”) party and the current Minister of Foreign Affairs.
The V15 Campaign (Hebrew) (“V” for victory) was formed with a similar strategic agenda: to oust Netanyahu, as evidenced by its motto, “Anyone but Bibi.” A combined effort of the Zionist Union, the Arab list, Meretz (“Vigor”), and other leftist parties, the campaign's most famed political drama was sending a moving van to Netanyahu's home in February. In the words of activist Hagai Hirschfeld:
He will have to move in a month, so we came to help him. Bibi’s lived here too long. We have already packed his corruption, his indecision, and his lies, so all he has to do is stand up and leave.
Despite the theater of the campaign, a significant portion of voters are still undecided. The Times of Israel‘s Raphael Ahren reported on Twitter:
18 percent of Israeli voters are still undecided, election researchers tells me #IsraElex
— Raphael Ahren (@RaphaelAhren) March 16, 2015
Khulud Khamis, who works for the Arab feminist organization Kayan and is the author of the new novel Haifa Fragments, which offers a nuanced look at Arab women's lives in Israel and Palestine, explained her struggle deciding how to vote — or if she should vote at all:
To vote or not to vote. That is not the question. The Joint Arab List has at first thrown me into confusion. I’ve always perceived voting as a personal responsibility as a citizen. But for the first time in my life, I had my doubts. I was confused. How can I vote for a list that has Islamists and nationalists and polygamists in it? So I decided I would not vote.
But as the days passed, I realized that more than a responsibility, voting is my right. And it is a hard-earned right that women before me struggled for on my behalf. How can I not vote?
… I am voting for the Joint Arab List because I’m sick of the old. With all its challenges and problematic aspects, I think it’s time to embrace change and uncertainty, because the old ways surely didn’t get us anywhere. So I am giving a chance, in the hopes that it will lead to change. Sometimes, we have to stride forward, change direction, and embrace uncertainty.
Even for those whose votes are decided, there is no obvious choice. Jen of Tel Aviv reported a family split at the voting booth:
Tomorrow our family of 4 is going to vote; at least 3 political parties involved. Will it make a difference? #IsraelElections
— JenT (@wysiwygjt) March 16, 2015
Popular blogger The Muqata posted a flow chart for those in search of electoral guidance, commenting, “Now it all makes sense.”
Enjoying the action, blogger Adam Vinokoor, contributed his own infographic to explain partisan woes.
The eponymous blogger of Anne's Opinions posts this visual, rearranging the paper ballots to spell out: “The truth – they are all liars” (“האמת – כולם שקרנים”):
Interestingly, “truth” or “אמת” is the ballot symbol for the Zionist Union.
The highest priority issue of the election appears to be security of the state, followed closely by its umbilical twin, Jewish/national identity. But socioeconomics are not easily forgotten by the voters. Noga Tarnopolsky reminds us of Israel's economic reality:
If Netanyahu loses power, this is why #IsraElex pic.twitter.com/qKdPUEWE26
— Noga Tarnopolsky (@NTarnopolsky) March 14, 2015
Despite the fanfare, the voters’ energy is positive. As we head into Election Day, journalist and blogger Sarah Tuttle-Singer's, “Guess Who I'm Voting For?” best illustrates the country's optimism.
And most of all, I am voting for the country that our founders imagined — a homeland based on exquisite principles of equality, fairness, and righteousness — the very values that are steeped in our ancient culture and peoplehood, culled through our own varied histories… values that honor the fundamental dignity of others who may believe different things and pray in different languages.
This election matters — we have reached a point where we must show the world who we are. And we must hold the mirror up to our own face, and hope we may like it enough to smile back.
So, yes, I am voting.
And I’ll tell you who I’m voting for:
I am voting for Israel.
Follow Election Day updates on social media at: #IsraelElections, #IsraElex (the original election hashtag), and #IsraelElex.

author: Maya Norton


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Can Kazakhstan’s Sabina Altynbekova Banish Brand Borat? · Global Voices
Chris Rickleton

Screenshot from Altynbekova's Instagram.
Teenager Sabina Altynbekova, a tall, attractive member of Kazakhstan's youth volleyball team, stole hearts from Japan to the Philippines and everywhere in between when playing in an international tournament in Taipei, Taiwan last summer. For many observers of Sabina-mania, including her parents, it was all a bit too much.
But while Sabina was playing volleyball and communicating with a new flood of fans from other Asian nations watching the tournament, she was unconsciously building brands, both her own and that of her country, which is still suffering PR damage from Sacha Baron Cohen's cult classic Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.
Sabina is possibly a bit more conscious about the branding game now, and it would be hard not to be. Her Instagram had reached 250,000 followers when Global Voices last wrote about her during peak Sabina-mania — now it has over 400,000 and lists an email sabina.manager@gmail.com, presumably belonging to a person that helps her model Swiss watches and visit adoring fans.
Moreover, while media in the countries where she gained her overnight following, such as Indonesia, are still running stories about her as of this month, she has now gained a considerable profile domestically in the country of 17 million.
Among the more intriguing of Altynbekova's Instagram posts since her viral appearance in Tapei came towards the end of last year, when she appeared to position herself as the anti-Borat:
Clap for Borat an unsuccessful attempt You talked a lot about our country (not a very good things), even though he had no idea what a beautiful our country Kazakhstan☝You failed, and you can't never imagine Kazakhstan in a bad light Your time is up. You may only to watch as our country is increasingly growing and becoming more beautiful✌
The post, written first in Kazakh with [Altynbekova's] Russian and English translations, went down well among Sabina's followers:
Yeah! NOW I CAN ONLY SUPPORT U. BECAUSE, YOU'VE DONE MORE THAN WE. THAN 1000 000 KAZAKHS CAN DO. OTHERS MAYBE LOVE U CAUSE OF UR WONDERFUL FACE AND UR TALANT, BUT I STARTED LOVE U, CAUSE OF UR BIG HEART AND LOVE. I HOPE, W
Таким гнелым людям как борат вернётся всё плохое. А тебя пусть ждёт тока хорошое красавица!
Let bad things come to all these rotten people like Borat and to you only good things, our beauty!
ему усы надо побрить тупым ножом..
We should shave [Borat's] moustache with a blunt knife
If that last comment and others like it seem extreme, it should be remembered that for the people on the end of Borat, the parody was nothing more than a racist sucker punch in which Kazakhs were depicted as insular, incestuous, anti-semitic sleazes and more besides. Had the film been about people from Nigeria, Jordan, Israel or even Romania (where it was filmed) Baron Cohen would surely have been buried by international outrage. Obscurity makes Central Asia a cost-free target for all-comers, at the same time as sparing its political elites scrutiny over human rights abuses.
But is Altynbekova right about Borat's time being up? Not really. Articles published on Kazakhstan by major media outlets still make mandatory references to the ‘Mockumentary’ and six years after its 2006 release a Kazakh sportswoman who won gold at a tournament in Kuwait was shocked to hear the sound of the Borat version of the national anthem playing instead of the real one. Just a few months ago, a Dutch international footballer claimed that the only thing he knew about the Central Asian country was that “Borat is from Kazakhstan.”
These and thousands of other name checks in popular culture suggest that while Brand Sabina may have beaten back Brand Borat in East Asia, it still has a way to go in other parts of the world.

author: Chris Rickleton


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TJournal’s Vadim Elistratov Reviews Russia’s ‘Homeland’ Adaptation · Global Voices
Kevin Rothrock

Russia's new TV series “Rodina” (left) and the US hit show “Homeland” (right). Image courtesy of TJournal.ru.
What follows is a full English-language translation of an article by Vadim Elistratov that appeared in Russian on the website TJournal on March 17, 2015.
A new Russian TV series called Rodina (“Homeland”) premiered on March 16 on the national TV network Rossiya-1. Directed by Pavel Lungin, the new series is based on the Israeli show Prisoners of War, which is also the basis for the hit American television drama Homeland.
TJ’s Vadim Elistratov watched the first episode and explains why it’s hard to dismiss the Russian adaptation as a failure, though its creators are clearly afraid of deviating too much from the original material, and the Russian series suffers as a result.
Vadim Elistratov, TJournal.ru.
‘Homeland’ vs. ‘Homeland’ by Vadim Elistratov
Russian fans of Homeland, which has become one of the major TV dramas of the last four years (winning critical acclaim and six Emmys), reacted with hostility to the announcement of a Russian adaptation, but news that director Pavel Lungin [Taxi Blues, The Island, Tsar] and high-caliber actors like Vladimir Mashkov [Tycoon, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol] and Vladimir Vdovichenkov [Leviathan] had joined the project gave some hope that the show at least wouldn’t be an embarrassment.
Now that the first episode has premiered, we know the show isn’t a disaster. But the creators are being a tad misleading when they cite the Israeli original, Prisoners of War, as source material: the first episode of Rodina is basically a frame-by-frame reproduction of the American show, and connections to the Israeli series (for which Rossiya-1 bought the legal rights) are weak.
Prisoners of War tells the story of two Israeli POWs returned home after 17 years in Syrian captivity, and their difficult time adjusting to normal life. The US show shifts the focus of the plot to spy intrigues: only one soldier, Nicholas Brody, survives enemy captivity, and he immediately attracts the attention of CIA agent Carrie Mathison. She alone suspects the “war hero” of being a double agent, turned by his terrorist captors and sent back to America to carry out an attack on US soil.
Rodina is patterned on Homeland in minute detail, though Lungin’s adaptation is of course less explicit than the US show, which airs on premium cable. The Russian show’s writers left in the sex scenes that are vital to the plot, but there are several noticeable redactions. For example, the Mrs. Brody character in Rodina walks in on her daughter trying to kiss a boy, not her smoking marijuana with a friend.
“Homeland” (top) and “Rodina” (bottom). TJournal.ru.
“Homeland” (top) and “Rodina” (bottom). TJournal.ru.
Also missing from the Russian premiere is the scene where the Carrie Mathison character starts dolling herself up to go out clubbing, with plans of sleeping with the first man she meets. In the US series, this scene was necessary to show that Carrie is so absorbed in her work that her relationships with men are purely functional. It’s unclear why the Russian show’s writers removed this bit.
“Homeland” (top) and “Rodina” (bottom). TJournal.ru.
Lungin also weakens Rodina’s realism by setting it in 1999. The main characters constantly use mobile phones, they install miniature hidden cameras in the suspected terrorist’s apartment, and they generally ignore every aspect of the timeframe chosen for the show. The reasons for picking 1999 are obvious: it was easier then to imagine a major terrorist attack on the Russian heartland, but this nuance is clearly no excuse for the show’s many historical inaccuracies.
“Homeland” (top) and “Rodina” (bottom). TJournal.ru.
“Homeland” (top) and “Rodina” (bottom). TJournal.ru.
“Homeland” (top) and “Rodina” (bottom). TJournal.ru.
Despite some changes, Rodina was clearly made with the fear that writers might break something that already works, and so the Russian creators even went to great efforts to make sure the actors starring in their adaptation resembled their counterparts on the American series. On the one hand, this approach works: Lungin has made a show that’s paced just as well as the US version. On the other hand, however, the show so far looks mostly like an unnecessary, forced Russification that likely appeals only to viewers who refuse to watch American TV for some ideological reason.
From a technical standpoint, Rodina is inferior to Homeland in every way: its cinematography, music, and production costs.
But Homeland didn’t get to be so popular for its cinematography—it was its storyline, its good acting (and here you can count on Mashkov to deliver), and the series’ capacity to portray the lives of intelligence agents in moral shades of grey. The show’s creators frequently make viewers feel uncomfortable, confronting them with images of the brutality of intelligence agents and, from time to time, encouraging them to sympathize with terrorists and their families. Lungin’s adaptation will gain significance, if he’s able to address these issues, though it would be something unprecedented for Russian prime-time television.
“Homeland” (top) and “Rodina” (bottom). TJournal.ru.
For now, there’s only one reason to watch Rodina: to notice the interesting differences in the mentalities of Americans and Russians. The subtle distinctions speak volumes. For example, the Nicholas Brody character, standing in front of the US Capitol building, seems like a genuine threat, but in the same scene in Rodina, his Russian counterpart, standing in view of the Kremlin, looks positively harmless.

author: Kevin Rothrock