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Urban Farming Is Booming in the US, but What Does It Really Yield? · Global Voices
Ensia

A child stands in an organic garden on a roof in Brooklyn, overlooking the Manhattan skyline. Photo by Flickr user Evan Long. CC-BY-NC-SA 2.0
This post by Elizabeth Royte was originally published on Ensia.com, a magazine that highlights international environmental solutions in action, and is republished here as part of a content-sharing agreement. It was produced in collaboration with the Food & Environment Reporting Network, a non-profit investigative news organization.Midway through spring, the nearly bare planting beds of Carolyn Leadley’s Rising Pheasant Farms, in the Poletown neighborhood of the American city of Detroit, barely foreshadow the cornucopian abundance to come. It will be many months before Leadley is selling produce from this one-fifth-acre plot. But the affable young farmer has hardly been idle, even during the snowiest days of winter. Twice daily, she has been trekking from her house to a small greenhouse in her side yard, where she waves her watering wand over roughly 100 trays of sprouts, shoots and microgreens. She sells this miniature bounty, year round, at the city’s eastern market and to restaurateurs delighted to place some hyperlocal greens on their guests’ plates.
Leadley is a key player in Detroit’s vibrant communal and commercial farming community, which in 2014 produced nearly 400,000 pounds (18,000 kg) of produce — enough to feed more than 600 people — in its more than 1,300 community, market, family and school gardens. Other farms in postindustrial US cities are also prolific: In 2008, Philadelphia’s 226 community and squatter gardens grew roughly 2 million pounds of mid-summer vegetables and herbs, worth US$4.9 million. Running at full bore, Brooklyn’s Added-Value Farm, which occupies 2.75 acres, funnels 40,000 pounds of fruit and vegetables into the low-income neighborhood of Red Hook. And in Camden, New Jersey — an extremely poor city of 80,000 with only one full-service supermarket — community gardeners at 44 sites harvested almost 31,000 pounds (14,000 kg) of vegetables during an unusually wet and cold summer. That’s enough food during the growing season to feed 508 people three servings a day.
In addition to raising vegetables, urban gardens can help families raise kids who enjoy the outdoors. Photo of Rising Pheasant Farms’ Carolyn Leadley and family by Marcin Szczepanski. Used with permission of the photographer.
That researchers are even bothering to quantify the amount of food produced on tiny city farms — whether community gardens, like those of Camden and Philly, or for-profit operations, like Leadley’s — is testament to the nation’s burgeoning local-foods movement and its data-hungry supporters. Young farmers are, in increasing numbers, planting market gardens in cities, and “local” produce (a term with no formal definition) now fills grocery shelves across the US, from Walmart to Whole Foods, and is promoted in more than 150 nations around the world.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations reports that 800 million people worldwide grow vegetables or fruits or raise animals in cities, producing what the Worldwatch Institute reports to be an astonishing 15 to 20 percent of the world’s food. In developing nations, city dwellers farm for subsistence, but in the US, urban ag is more often driven by capitalism or ideology. The US Department of Agriculture doesn’t track numbers of city farmers, but based on demand for its programs that fund education and infrastructure in support of urban ag projects, and on surveys of urban ag in select cities, it affirms that business is booming. How far — and in what direction — can this trend go? What portion of a city’s food can local farmers grow, at what price, and who will be privileged to eat it? And can such projects make a meaningful contribution to food security in an increasingly crowded world?
Like anyone who farms in a city, Leadley waxes eloquent on the freshness of her product. Pea shoots that have traveled 3 miles (4.8 km) to grace a salad are bound to taste better and be more nutritious, she says, than those that have traveled half a continent or farther. “One local restaurant that I sell to used to buy its sprouts from Norway,” Leadley says. Fresher food also lasts longer on shelves and in refrigerators, reducing waste.
New York City-based Gotham Greens produces more than 300 tons per year of herbs and greens in two hydroponic facilities. Photo by TIA (Flickr/CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Food that’s grown and consumed in cities has other advantages: During times of abundance, it may cost less than supermarket fare that’s come long distances, and during times of emergency — when transportation and distribution channels break down — it can fill a vegetable void. Following large storms such as Hurricane Sandy and the blizzards of this past winter, says Viraj Puri, cofounder of New York City-based Gotham Greens (which produces more than 300 tons [272 metric tons] of herbs and microgreens per year in two rooftop hydroponic operations and has another farm planned for Chicago), “our produce was the only produce on the shelf at many supermarkets across the city.”
Despite their relatively small size, urban farms grow a surprising amount of food, with yields that often surpass those of their rural cousins. This is possible for a couple reasons. First, city farms don’t experience heavy insect pressure, and they don’t have to deal with hungry deer or groundhogs. Second, city farmers can walk their plots in minutes, rather than hours, addressing problems as they arise and harvesting produce at its peak. They can also plant more densely because they hand cultivate, nourish their soil more frequently and micromanage applications of water and fertilizer.
As social enterprises, community gardens operate in an alternate financial universe: they don’t sustain themselves with sales, nor do they have to pay employees.
Though they don’t get as much press as for-profit farms and heavily capitalized rooftop operations, community gardens — which are collectively tended by people using individual or shared plots of public or private land, and have been a feature in US cities for well over a century — are the most common form of urban agriculture in the nation, producing far more food and feeding more people, in aggregate, than their commercial counterparts. As social enterprises, community gardens operate in an alternate financial universe: they don’t sustain themselves with sales, nor do they have to pay employees. Instead, they rely on volunteer or cheap youth labor, they pay little or nothing in rent, and they solicit outside aid from government programs and foundations that support their social and environmental missions. These may include job training, health and nutrition education, and increasing the community’s resilience to climate change by absorbing stormwater, counteracting the urban heat island effect and converting food waste into compost.
Funders don’t necessarily expect community gardens to become self-sustaining. These farms may increase their revenue streams by selling at farmers markets or to restaurants, or they may collect fees from restaurants or other food-waste generators for accepting scraps that will be converted into compost, says Ruth Goldman, a program officer at the Merck Family Fund, which funds urban agriculture projects. “But margins on vegetable farming are very slim, and because these farms are doing community education and training teen leaders, they’re not likely to operate in the black.”
Several years ago, Elizabeth Bee Ayer, who until recently ran a training program for city farmers, took a hard look at the beets growing in her Youth Farm, in the Lefferts Gardens neighborhood of Brooklyn. She counted the hand movements involved in harvesting the roots and the minutes it took to wash and prepare them for sale. “Tiny things can make or break a farm,” Ayer notes. “Our beets cost US$2.50 for a bunch of four, and people in the neighborhood loved them. But we were losing 12 cents on every beet.” Ultimately, Ayer decided not to raise the price: “No one would have bought them,” she says. Instead, she doubled down on callaloo, a Caribbean herb that cost less to produce but sold enough to subsidize the beets. “People love it, it grows like a weed, it’s low maintenance and requires very little labor.” In the end, she says, “We are a nonprofit, and we didn’t want to make a profit.”
Few would begrudge Ayer her loss leader, but such practices can undercut for-profit city farmers who are already struggling to compete with regional farmers at crowded urban markets and with cheap supermarket produce shipped from California and Mexico. Leadley, of Rising Pheasant Farms, realized long ago that she wouldn’t survive selling only the vegetables from her outdoor garden, which is why she invested in a plastic-draped greenhouse and heating system. Her tiny shoots, sprouts, amaranth and kohlrabi leaves grow year-round; they grow quickly — in the summer, Leadley can make a crop in seven days — and they sell for well over a dollar an ounce.
Nodding toward her backyard plot, Leadley says, “I grow those vegetables because they look good on the farm stand. They attract more customers to our table, and I really love growing outdoors.” But it’s the microgreens that keep Leadley from joining the ranks of the vast majority of US farmers and taking a second job.
Mchezaji Axum, an agronomist with the University of the District of Columbia (DC), the first exclusively urban land-grant university in the nation, helps urban farmers increase their yields whether they are selling into wealthy markets, like Leadley, or poorer markets, like Ayer. He promotes the use of plant varieties adapted to city conditions (short corn that produces four instead of two ears, for example). He also recommends biointensive methods, such as planting densely, intercropping, applying compost, rotating crops and employing season-extension methods (growing cold-tolerant vegetables like kale, spinach or carrots in winter hoop houses, for example, or starting plants in cold frames — boxes with transparent tops that let in sunlight but protect plants from extreme cold and rain).
“You learn to improve your soil health, and you learn how to space your plants to get more sunshine,” Axum says. Surveying DC’s scores of communal gardens, Axum has been surprised by how little food they actually grow. “People aren’t using their space well. More than 90 percent aren’t producing intensively. Some people just want to grow and be left alone.
“Using biointensive methods may not be part of your cultural tradition,” Laura J. Lawson, a professor of landscape architecture at Rutgers State University and the author of “City Bountiful: A Century of Community Gardening in America,” says. “It depends who you learned gardening from.” Lawson recalls the story of a well-meaning visitor to a Philadelphia garden who suggested that the farmers had planted their corn in a spot that wasn’t photosynthetically ideal. The women told their visitor, “We always plant it there; that way we can pee behind it.”
Noah Link checks on his bees at Food Field, a commercial farm in Detroit. Photo by Marcin Szczepanski. Used with permission of the photographer.
Axum is all about scaling up and aggregating hyperlocal foods to meet the demands of large buyers like city schools, hospitals or grocery stores. Selling to nearby institutions, say food policy councils — established by grassroots organizations and local governments to strengthen and support local food systems — is key to making urban food systems more sustainable and resilient, to say nothing of providing a living to local growers. But scaling up often requires more land, and therefore more expensive labor to cultivate it, in addition to changes in local land use and other policies, marketing expertise and efficient distribution networks.
“Lots of local institutions want to source their food here,” says Detroit farmer Noah Link, whose Food Field, a commercial operation, encompasses a nascent orchard, vast areas of raised beds, two tightly wrapped 150-foot-long hoop houses (one of which shelters a long, narrow raceway crammed with catfish), chickens, beehives and enough solar panels to power the whole shebang. “But local farms aren’t producing enough food yet. We’d need an aggregator to pull it together for bulk sales.”
Link doesn’t grow microgreens — the secret sauce for so many commercial operations — because he can break even on volume: His farm occupies an entire city block. Annie Novak, who co-founded New York City’s first for-profit rooftop farm in 2009, doesn’t have the luxury of space. She realized early on that she couldn’t grow a wide enough diversity of food to satisfy her community-supported agriculture customers in just 5,800 square feet (540 square meters) of shallow raised beds. “So I partnered with a farm upstate to supplement and diversify the boxes,” she says. Now, Novak focuses on niche and value-added products. “I make a hot sauce from my peppers and market the bejesus out of it,” she says. She also grows microgreens for restaurants, plus honey, herbs, flowers and “crops that are narratively interesting, like purple carrots, or heirloom tomatoes, which give us an opportunity to educate people about the value of food, green spaces and our connection to nature,” she says.
Sometimes being strategic with crop selection isn’t enough. Brooklyn Grange, a for-profit farm atop two roofs in New York City, grows more than 50,000 pounds (23,000 kg) of tomatoes, kale, lettuce, carrots, radishes and beans, among other crops, each year. It sells them through its CSA, at farm stands and to local restaurants. But to further boost its income, Brooklyn Grange also offers a summerlong training program for beekeepers (US$850 tuition), yoga classes and tours, and it rents its Edenic garden spaces, which have million-dollar views of the Manhattan skyline, for photo shoots, weddings, private dinners and other events.
“Urban farms are like small farms in rural areas,” says Carolyn Dimitri, an applied economist who studies food systems and food policy at New York University. “They have the same set of problems: people don’t want to pay a lot for their food, and labor is expensive. So they have to sell high-value products and do some agritourism.”
On a miserable March morning, with a sparkling layer of ice glazing a foot of filthy snow, a coterie of Chicago’s urban farmers toils in shirtsleeves and sneakers, their fingernails conspicuously clean. In their gardens, no metal or wood scrap accumulates in corners, no chickens scratch in hoop-house soil. In fact, these farmers use no soil at all. Their densely planted basil and arugula leaves sprout from growing medium in barcoded trays. The trays sit on shelves stacked 12 feet (3.7 meters) high and illuminated, like tanning beds, by purple and white lights. Fans hum, water gurgles, computer screens flicker.
FarmedHere, the nation’s largest player in controlled environment agriculture (CEA) pumps out roughly a million pounds (500,000 kg) per year of baby salad greens, basil and mint in its 90,000-square-foot (8,000-square-meter) warehouse on the industrial outskirts of Chicago. Like many hydroponic or aquaponic operations (in which water from fish tanks nourishes plants, which filter the water before it’s returned to the fish), the farm has a futuristic feel — all glowing lights and stainless steel. Employees wear hairnets and nitrile gloves. But without interference from weather, insects or even too many people, the farm quickly and reliably fulfills year-round contracts with local supermarkets, including nearly 50 Whole Foods Markets.
“We can’t keep up with demand,” Nick Greens, a deejay turned master grower, says.
Unlike outdoor farms, CEA has no call for pesticides and contributes no nitrogen to waterways. Its closed-loop irrigation systems consume 10 times less water than conventional systems. And with 25 high-density crops per year, as opposed to a conventional farmer’s five or so, CEA yields are 10 to 20 times higher than the same crop grown outdoors — in theory sparing forests and grasslands from the plow.
Is CEA the future of urban farming? It produces a lot of food in a small space, to be sure. But until economies of scale kick in, these operations — which are capital intensive to build and maintain — must concentrate exclusively on high-value crops like microgreens, winter tomatoes and herbs.
Reducing food miles reduces transit-related costs, as well as the carbon emissions associated with transport, packaging and cooling. But growing indoors under lights, with heating and cooling provided by fossil fuels, may negate those savings. When Louis Albright, an emeritus professor of biological and environmental engineering at Cornell University, dug into the numbers, he discovered that closed-system farming is expensive, energy intensive and, at some latitudes, unlikely to survive on solar or wind power. Growing a pound of hydroponic lettuce in Ithaca, New York, Albright reports, generates 8 pounds (4 kg) of carbon dioxide at the local power plant: a pound of tomatoes would generate twice that much. Grow that lettuce without artificial lights in a greenhouse and emissions drop by two thirds.
In the world’s poorest nations, city dwellers have always farmed for subsistence. But more of them are farming now than ever before. In sub-Saharan Africa, for example, it’s estimated that 40 percent of the urban population is engaged in agriculture. Long-time residents and recent transplants alike farm because they’re hungry, they know how to grow food, land values in marginal areas (under power lines and along highways) are low, and inputs like organic wastes — fertilizer — are cheap. Another driver is the price of food: People in developing nations pay a far higher percentage of their total income for food than Americans do, and poor transportation and refrigeration infrastructure make perishable goods, like fruits and vegetables, especially dear. Focusing on these high-value crops, urban farmers both feed themselves and supplement their incomes.
Urban farming is common in Ghana and other sub-Saharan countries. Photo by Nana Kofi Acquah/IMWI. Used with permission.
In the US, urban farming is likely to have its biggest impact on food security in places that, in some ways, resemble the global south — that is, in cities or neighborhoods where land is cheap, median incomes are low and the need for fresh food is high. Detroit, by this metric, is particularly fertile ground. Michael Hamm, a professor of sustainable agriculture at Michigan State University, calculated that the city, which has just under 700,000 residents and more than 100,000 vacant lots (many of which can be purchased, thanks to the city’s recent bankruptcy, for less than the price of a refrigerator), could grow three quarters of its current vegetable consumption and nearly half its fruit consumption on available parcels of land using biointensive methods.
No one expects city farms in the US to replace peri-urban or rural vegetable farms: cities don’t have the acreage or the trained farmers, and most can’t produce food anything close to year-round. But can city farms take a bite from long-distance supply chains? New York University’s Dimitri doesn’t think so. Considering the size and global nature of the nation’s food supply, she says, urban ag in our cities “isn’t going to make a dent. And it’s completely inefficient, economically. Urban farmers can’t charge what they should, and they’re too small to take advantage of economies of scale and use their resources more efficiently.”
That doesn’t mean that community gardeners, who don’t even try to be profitable, aren’t making a big difference in their immediate communities. Camden’s 31,000 pounds (14,000 kg) of produce might not seem like a lot, but it’s a very big deal for those lucky enough to get their hands on it. “In poor communities where households earn very little income,” says Domenic Vitiello, an associate professor of city and regional planning at the University of Pennsylvania, “a few thousand dollars’ worth of vegetables and fruit grown in the garden makes a much bigger difference than for more affluent households.”
History tells us that community gardening — supported by individuals, government agencies and philanthropies — is here to stay. And whether these gardens ultimately produce more food or more knowledge about food — where it comes from, what it takes to produce it, how to prepare and eat it — they still have enormous value as gathering places and classrooms and as conduits between people and nature. Whether or not cultivating fruits and vegetables in tiny urban spaces makes economic or food-security sense, people who want to grow food in cities will find a way to do so. As Laura Lawson says, “City gardens are part of our ideal sense of what a community should be. And so their value is priceless.”  Code Embed v2.1
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author: Ensia


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Will Topless Women Save Kenya’s Tourism Industry? · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Is going topless an effective strategy for reviving the Kenyan tourism industry following attacks from militant group Al Shabaab?:
Nominated Senator, Mbura allegedly asked women in the coastal region to go topless so that more tourists can visit the region. This has raised questions as to what the value of the coastal woman is. Is that all she is worth- An object of trade?

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Zanzibar’s ‘Solar Mamas’ Flip the Switch on Rural Homes and Gender Roles · Global Voices
PRI/PRX's The World

Fourteen year-old Nuru Sheha studies at night in the light of solar-powered LED lights at home in the village of Matemwe, on the Tanzanian island of Zanzibar. He family's first electrical system was installed by one of Zanzibar's 13 “solar mamas,” illiterate women trained in India to be solar power engineers. Able now to study at home for the first time, Nuru's mother says she is doing well in school and wants to be a teacher. Since girls are expected to do house chores during daylight hours, night is the only time they can study. She’s doing well in school and dreams of becoming a math and English teacher. Credit: Sam Eato. Published with PRI's permission
This article and radio report by Sam Eaton for The World as part of the Across Women's Lives project originally appeared on PRI.org on June 5, 2015, and is republished here as part of a content-sharing agreement.
Take a step back from Zanzibar’s white sand beaches and big hotels and you’re in a very different world. One where the island’s dusty, inland villages largely go dark once the sun sets. This is when the differences between people who have electricity and those who don’t are most pronounced.
Kasia Hassan is one of those without. The mother of nine lights her home in the village of Matemwe with tiny kerosene lamps. They’re barely brighter than a candle and fill her house with a thick black smoke. Hassan thanks God that one of her kids hasn’t knocked over a lamp and started a fire, something that happens a lot here in Tanzania.
Kasia Hassan, a mother of nine who doesn’t know her age, cooks dinner for her family in the dim light of traditional kerosene lamps called kibataris. The lamps emit a thick, noxious smoke and are prone to tipping over and starting fires, but Hassan says she hasn’t considered solar panels because it is something her husband would decide. Credit: Sam Eaton. Published with PRI's permission
But she says having electricity is something she’s never really considered. It’s a decision for men, she says, something for her husband to decide.
Just a few doors away it’s a very different picture. Instead of sitting in a dark, smoky room, Kanao Sharif Haji is weaving reed mats under bright LED lamps running off a battery charged by a small solar panel on the roof.
For this brighter, cleaner and safer system, Haji pays less than half of what her neighbor does for kerosene. But that’s only the beginning of her savings. Haji says the work she does at night has raised her family’s income by up to $15 a month — a huge sum in these parts.
Kanoa Sharif Haji, a 45 year old mother of eight, weaves reed mats at night under a bright solar powered LED light at her home in Matemwe. This new work at night earns her family an extra fifteen dollars a month, a huge amount in these parts. Credit: Sam Eaton. Published with PRI's permission
The prospects for her eight children are also brighter, especially for her 14-year-old daughter, Nuru Sheha, who studies beside her. Haji says Nuru is doing well in school and dreams of someday becoming an English or math teacher.
Haji’s family has benefited from a simple fix to a vexing problem. In sub-Saharan Africa electricity is still a far off dream for most. With the lowest electrification rate in the world and less than 10 percent of the rural population having access, Africa has been called the “society in eternal darkness.” According to the International Energy Agency, closing that gap with conventional power would cost an estimated $19-billion a year in investments over several decades.
Even solar panels are out of reach for poor families like Haji’s, if they have to buy them outright. So instead, they hired a group of local solar engineers to install and maintain their new system, for about three dollars a month.
That by itself is a big change in this isolated and very traditional place. But who those solar engineers are represents an even bigger change. They're Zanzibar’s 13 new “solar mamas” as they call themselves — all illiterate mothers from villages like Matemwe, who were quietly recruited and trained by an Indian NGO called Barefoot College.
So far these “solar mamas” have electrified more than 600 households on the island.
The system Mize Juma Othman was installing recently on a metal roof included the photovoltaic panels, a battery, an inverter, three LED lamps and a phone charger. It took half an hour to complete and once the power was switched on the owner of the house plugged in her phone, a new convenience she used to pay someone else to do.
Forty year old Mize Juma Othman installs a new photovoltaic panel on a home in Matemwe village, on the Tanzanian island of Zanzibar. Othman trained for six months in India to become one of the first 13 “solar mamas” in Zanzibar, able to install, troubleshoot and repair the systems. Credit: Sam Eaton. Published with PRI's permission
It was a moment when everything changed for her family, something Othman says she relates to.
She recounts her own journey to becoming a solar engineer, a choice that cost her her marriage. Othman says when she decided to go to India for the six month training program her husband was supportive at first. But then other men convinced him that her new knowledge would make her promiscuous. So he divorced her.
Othman says she’s now remarried, to a man who isn’t bothered by her career. Her salary of $60 a month doesn’t hurt.
She says she knew money before she knew men and hopes to pass that strength and knowledge on to her young daughter, and to women from all over Africa, something she’s about to get a chance to do. Othman and Zanzibar’s 12 other female solar engineers will be sharing her skills with other local women at a new solar training center funded in large part by the government here.
The new center “will bring us to the reality that once women are empowered, they can do anything,” says Asha Abdallah, with Zanzibar’s Ministry of Empowerment, Social Welfare, Youth, Women and Children.
Abdallah adds that many solar projects failed here because they were run by outsiders who never trained local people to take care of the equipment.  But she says this one’s different because it’s involving the communities themselves. The center will train two dozen women a year, each of whom will install and maintain 50 systems a year. It’s the first of six solar training sites Barefoot College plans to build in Africa, from South Sudan to Senegal.
And with prices for solar equipment falling fast, this community-led model is spreading quickly and changing minds in even the most traditional villages.
In Zanzibar’s Kandwe village, shopkeeper Pandu Matti Salum now stays open late because of his new solar system. Salum says his shop has become a gathering place for the village after dark, which also means more business for him. He says he now plans to expand his store, all thanks to the female solar engineers, who he says he supports 100 percent.
Kandwe village shopkeeper Pandu Matti Salum says says his new solar panel and LED lights have made his store has a nighttime gathering place and increased his sales. With the new income he says he plans to expand his shop, marry a third wife and have more children. Credit: Sam Eaton. Published with PRI's permission
Salum acknowledges the changing role of women in this conservative Muslim society, but the changes the solar mamas are bringing to his life only go so far. He says he has two wives and eight children, and with the growing success of his shop, he hopes to marry a third wife and have more children.
The strength of tradition is evident after dark in Kandwe, when only village men gather to pray at a small Mosque, lit by kerosene lamps, and there are no women on the streets. It’s a reminder that change takes time.
But as one of the solar mama’s put it, “we are 13 now, and when we are old, we will be many, many more,” bringing light, and change, to Zanzibar and beyond.
Two Solar Mamas carry equipment from their village workshop to a home in Matemwe where they will be installing a new system. A new center being built on the island will train a new batch of 24 female solar engineers, each of whom who will install and maintain 50 systems a year. It’s the first of six solar training sites Barefoot College plans to build in Africa. Credit: Sam Eaton. Published with PRI's permission

author: PRI/PRX's The World


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A Slave Girl Turned National Hero Joins High School in Pursuit of Higher Education · Global Voices
Sanjib Chaudhary

Screenshot of Shanta Chaudhary, Former Constituent Assembly Member, in an interview with Nepali journalist Dil Busan Pathak on the talk-show Tough Talk on News 24 Television.
It is a perfect story for a Bollywood film — a slave girl fights through poverty, reaches the Constituent Assembly of Nepal, pens an award-winning book, struggles against cancer and becomes the pride of her community.
Shanta Chaudhary was 8 when her parents sold her for $75 to scrub, cook, sweep 19 hours a day in #Nepal. http://t.co/3PsN2rKvQm #Kamalari
— Heather Marsh (@GeorgieBC) June 5, 2013
Now Shanta Chaudhary, a woman with indomitable spirit, is again in the news. She has joined the eighth grade of a local school in pursuit of higher education. While her son is studying in the ninth grade and her daughter in the seventh grade at a boarding school in the Nepalese capital Kathmandu, she has chosen a government school in her village.
Ex-lawmaker Shanta Chaudhary, who headed parliament committee on natural resources for 4 yrs, enrolled in grade 8 pic.twitter.com/WD3kpeMwKD
— Thira L. Bhusal (@ThiraLalBhusal) June 10, 2015
Chaudhary, an activist and a leader with the Communist Party of Nepal – Unified Marxist-Leninist, has gone from Kamlari to national hero.
Kamlaris
Kamlaris are young girls, belonging to the Indigenous Tharu community, who are kept as slaves by the rich living in Western Nepal.
Though slavery has been banned in Nepal, these girls are made to work day and night, lead a life of suffering, endure physical and sexual abuse and even get  murdered in mysterious circumstances at times.
Kamlaris get little or no money in return of their service. According to some estimates, several thousand girls still work as Kamlaris in Nepalese cities, including Kathmandu.
Although the government outlawed the Kamlari system in 2013, this has not stopped people keeping Kamlaris.
Below is the story of three girls who were rescued from slavery and are now activists in a movement to end the Kamlari system in practice:
PHOTOS: From slavery to freedom – Women freed from the #Kamalari slave system in #Nepal. http://t.co/cBkQAvPtP8 pic.twitter.com/H54VPvU6Jh
— Because I am a Girl (@biaagcanada) March 27, 2015
Like other Kamlari girls, Shanta faced attempted abuse from men and had to get married to save herself.
A story worth reading
Kamlari Dekhi Sabhasadsamma (from Kamlari to Constituent Assembly member) is the poignant tale of her journey from discrimination and exploitation as a Kamlari to an inspring figure for her community — a role model for girls enslaved and free.
In the tell-all book, she describes moments that still haunt her:
College student Shreepriya Poudel posts a review of Shanta Chaudhary's autobiography:
People tell me that it is necessary to learn about the lives of the less fortunate because it makes you more grateful for the life you have now. That to me seems like a selfish reason but I decided to stick to it this time. So here is a list, based on Ms. Chaudhary's book, of some of the things that a lot of people don't think about but should be grateful for. Maybe it will help us find better ways to live.
1. A roof over your head that doesn't leak.
2. Access to medicines, even if it is just a paracetamol.
3. A nation where laws are not only made but also implemented.
4. Newspaper, radio or television that ensures that other people cannot make a fool out of you.
5. Not having to go five days straight with nothing to eat.
6. Your paycheck, if you have one that gives you more than a meager seven dollars a year when you work 12 hours a day.
7. The freedom to hug and kiss your child when it cries.
8. The freedom to feed your child when it is hungry.
9. The fact that you did not go to bed on an empty stomach last night.
10. The fact that you haven't lived your entire life within a 50 km radius.
[..]
13. The fact that you have never been sexually abused by someone you cannot speak a word against.
14.Your job that pays you more than 80 cents a day.
[..]
18. Your clothes and the fact that you have more then two sets of them.
19. Your ability to read.
20. The fact that you did not/will not have to wait 7-8 years to buy a new set of clothing for your kids.
Once again, I do not pretend to know what duties one human being has towards another but trying to be as generous as possible seems like a good idea. If this list does not prompt you to reconsider some of your ideas about your personal wealth and privilege, something else will.
Apart from fighting for the rights of Kamlaris and her community, Chaudhary has been battling cancer for the last four years.
Shanta Chaudhary's personal/political struggle a great inspiration! Great to see her fighting spirit facing cancer. http://t.co/D1f9jmVx6h
— Chaukath (@ChaukathNepal) November 4, 2014
And by joining high school, she has renewed her crusade against discrimination and exploitation.

author: Sanjib Chaudhary


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Hungarian Activists Raise a Boatload of Cash to Counter a Government Campaign · Global Voices
Marietta Le

Katalin Erdélyi. Photo courtesy of Marietta Le. Used with permission.
Katalin Erdélyi is a Hungarian blogger, journalist, and activist. She led a fairly normal life, until she and her activist group became nationally famous earlier this month for launching a crowdfunding effort against the government’s anti-immigrant billboard campaign. The state's campaign is part of the “National Consultation on Immigration and Terrorism,” based on the results of an allegedly biased survey. The Hungarian government is spending 300 million forints (1 million USD) on a follow-up campaign.
Within days, tens of thousands of dollars came pouring in for the counter-campaign.
Some critics of the government's new effort have even begun tearing down or painting over the billboard signs promoting anti-immigrant messages. Social networks are flooded by photographs of billboard templates with altered texts, and a Hungarian news site ran a competition for the funniest. Many people, moreover, have started donating money to the counter-campaign run by Erdélyi's Vastagbőr blog and the Hungarian Two-Tailed Dog Party (a party which was originally just a joke).
Global Voices spoke to Erdélyi in Budapest about the counter-campaign, public sentiment on immigration in Hungary, and her organization's crowdfunding effort.
Global Voices (GV): As of June 12, 9 am, four days into the two-week crowdsourcing campaign,how much money do you have in your bank account at the moment?
Katalin Erdélyi (KE): 28.9 million forints [about 103,500 USD].
GV: That’s quite a lot for an activist and journalist from Eastern Europe. How did that money get there?
KE: Individuals donated because they want to support the counter-campaign of Vastagbőr [blog] and the Hungarian Two-Tailed Dog Party.
GV: Is it legal to receive that amount of money on your bank account? Isn’t the Hungarian Tax Authority after you?
KE: The Hungarian Tax Authority is not after me yet. The fundraising is totally legal, we accept donations only from individuals. We don’t accept money from companies, and for individuals the limit is 150,000 Forints [ca. 530 USD] per year. This way it doesn’t cause any problem.
GV: What will you spend the money on and what is the purpose of your campaign?
KE: Billboards. We want to send a message to the government.
GV: Why do you have to send messages to the government on billboards? That seems like an odd way to do it.
KE: Because the government is sending messages, presumably to refugees, on billboards, but in the Hungarian language; they are using an unspeakable tone, and we thought we should do something against it.
GV: For those who are not familiar with the situation in Hungary, can you explain what the government’s anti-immigrant campaign is about?
KE: Since 2010, the Hungarian government has always picked a group that they can declare an enemy of [Hungarian] society. Previously it was the banks, multi-national companies, later came the utility [company] costs, and now the immigrants are next. They send messages to them like “If you come to Hungary, you can’t take away Hungarian people’s jobs.”
GV: What do the statistics say and do Hungarian people feel that Hungary is “overflown with immigrants”?
KE: According to the statistics, Hungary is not overflown with immigrants. In the first place, many refugees who arrive to Hungary aim to get to western Europe. The other part of the problem is that the Hungarian government spends more money on this campaign than on the provision for refugees arriving to Hungary. This makes no sense at all.
GV: Who is the target audience of the government’s campaign? Someone like you?
KE: Maybe I am, but it has no effect on me. I think it’s quite obvious that [ruling politicians] are communicating only to their voters. Since the essence of all these hate campaigns is the government picking an enemy, from whom they can ‘protect’ the people, a way to become heroes in the eyes of the people, and a chance to get re-elected. This is what I see behind the anti-immigrant campaign too.
GV: Who is the target audience of your counter campaign?
KE: Our target audience are those self-conscious citizens living in Hungary or abroad, who, like us, think that the government’s hate campaign is very harmful, and would like to do something against it.
A Hungarian Two-Tailed Dog Party message using similar design to the official “National Consultation” billboards. Picture posted by Vastagbőr blog.
GV: Who is wiring the money, do you have any information about them?
KE: Because of the bank transactions we know a lot about those who donate, but we are not publishing any information about them. All I can say is that we receive a great deal of donations from Hungary and from abroad, as well. Wires from within Hungary come from Hungarians, as well as from people with foreign names. Not only English-sounding and German, but also more “exotic” ones like Spanish and Arabic, probably immigrants themselves. Wires come from abroad from people with Hungarian names, who have probably emigrated to a foreign country. In the meantime, wires come from abroad from foreigners as well. We have received donations from everywhere really—from Finland to New Zealand and China.
GV: How does this all work? What would I have to do if I wanted to support your campaign?
KE: We are collecting donations on a bank account, as well as on a PayPal account. You sign in to your online banking, wire your donation to our account, or you sign in to PayPal and wire via PayPal.
GV: Do I have to add a message in the payment details?
KE: You don’t have to but many people use this option which makes us really happy. Some only send us a “Go for it”, but some wrote they are happy to finally take part in something good, or just say “Stop the hate campaign”. When you are filling a 2,000 row Excel sheet and a quote from V for Vendetta comes up… They are very succinct and smart. The payment details field is a short thing and they make the message as concise, just like on Twitter.
GV: You mentioned you are keeping record of the crowdfunding in an Excel sheet and in you asked for help from your followers and friends on Facebook in doing this post on Facebook. Have people volunteered to help?
KE: I’m not ashamed of this, I’m a journalist and mathematics were never my strength. I know how to use [Excel] at a beginner level and that’s it. At the start of the campaign, I promised to keep the books in a public Google Spreadsheet, anonymizing the names to initials with each row showing a donation from someone. We thought that during the two weeks of our campaign we will reach our goal of 3 million forints (about 10,700 USD). We didn’t expect that it would be surpassed in a couple of hours. When I was there with a dataset of thousands of rows, then I thought I would ask for help. Our readers were super helpful, they helped with Excel, sent us functions, templates for the task. And the latest is a developer who wrote a macro which really makes it possible to update the donation spreadsheet in two seconds.
GV: There have been quite a few Facebook posts in the past few days praising the success of your crowdsourcing campaign and discussing how civil society organizations have been struggling with crowdfunding and fundraising in general lately. When you hear that more than 100,000 USD has been raised so far, you wonder what the secret is.
KE: I don’t think that’s a question. They raised 2 billion forints [7 million USD] when the “red mud disaster” happened. There are many successful fundraisers for hospitals and foundations, [but] maybe those are not as visible as this. Since ours is a political action, it received huge media attention. That’s why it looks big.
GV: I know you’re not allowed to give us the details of the planned campaign, but is there any chance you could leak a bit of information?
KE: On one of the [leaflets] we will print a section of the Criminal Code, paragraph #332 says that incitement to hatred, to hatred against a group of people is a crime. According to Hungarian law.
GV: Has the government provided any response to the counter-campaign?
KE: The government has not, but the Civil Cooperation Forum, an organisation supported by state and party funds has published a statement claiming that we are attempting to discredit the government from foreign funds, and that is outrageous, and we should account for each Forint, and we should publish the names. This is absurd because we are individuals who are fundraising, and we are allowed to publish the donors’ information only if they consent. They haven’t done that, so we are keeping their secret. Meanwhile the same organization has a legal obligation to publish their funding, and they are not fulfilling that.
GV: You said that the Hungarian Two-Tailed Dog Party is a co-organizer in the campaign. When did what was originally only a “mock party” become a political actor in Hungary?
KE: They were officially registered as a [political] party last year. Incidentally, at the time when they couldn’t take part in the elections anymore. The registration procedure took an [exceptionally] long time for the Hungarian authorities.
GV: Do you think the campaign is any help to immigrants and refugees who are already living in Hungary?
KE: We’re hoping for that. If only it changes the attitude of the society, opens people’s eyes up in order to not to fall for government propaganda — that would be a huge success.
GV: What has the effect of the “government propaganda” been?
KE: Many adopt the message promoted to them by the government, that immigrants are causing everything, that’s why there are no jobs, and we spend all the money on them…
GV: Atlatszo, the investigative journalism site where you work, has received an award for digital activism from the Index on Censorship in 2015. Are you a journalist or an activist?
KE: I am a 2 in 1. It says “journalist” in my employment contract. As a citizen, I’m an activist.
GV: Are you a member of the Hungarian Two-Tailed Dog Party?
KE: No. I’m a volunteer.
Disclaimer: GV author Marietta Le is a contributor to Atlatszo.hu.

author: Marietta Le


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Journalism Professor Elaine Diaz Is Testing the Limits of Media Freedom in Fast-Changing Cuba · Global Voices
PRI/PRX's The World

Credit: Courtesy of Elaine Diaz
This article and radio report by producer Joyce Hackel for The World about Global Voices author Elaine Diaz originally appeared on PRI.org on June 10 2015, and is republished here as part of a content-sharing agreement.
Cuba does more to muzzle its media than any country in the Americas. Its constitution doesn't permit an independent press. But the island's mind-numbing, government-run media just might meet its match when a young Cuban blogger returns to the island next week and tries to launch an online citizen journalism project.
“I don't expect too much support from the government. I'm kind of expecting tolerance, but I'm not sure if I can count on that,” says Cuban Elaine Diaz, author of the blog La Polémica Digital. “It's going to be really challenging.”
Diaz has just completed a year as a Nieman fellow at Harvard University. In a few days, she'll return to her job as a journalism professor at the University of Havana and launch Periodismo del Barrio, an effort to push the limits on investigative reporting in Cuba.
The project will focus on stories from communities vulnerable to natural disasters, like the hurricanes and heavy rains that are common on the island.
“Our main purpose is not to do breaking news,” she says. “It's kind of making the government, the local government accountable.”
Diaz admits that Cuba's government has not approved her project. And what she's planning to do isn't legal. That's why she's trying to register the effort in a third country.
“We are going to work in the same kind of limbo that a lot of citizen media are working in right now in Cuba,” she notes.
Diaz says she expects she'll receive pressure from Cuba's government. But she hopes the quality of the local media generated will sustain the project.
Periodismo del Barrio has advertised for three more journalists to join its staff. So far Diaz has received 96 applications, far more than she anticipated.
“People don't trust easily someone who launches a new media. That's why I wasn't expecting too many applications,” Diaz says. “But I think they trust me, they trust the project. They know that something really good could come out.”
Periodismo del Barrio, according to Diaz, will be modelled in part on “small media” that she's studied in the US, including outlets like the New Haven Independent, The Texas Tribune and ProPublica. And she's ready to act fast, because she says Cubans don't feel represented by government-run media and are ready to have a conversation about creating something new.
It's unclear whether the powers that be in Cuba are as ready as Diaz is. And it's far from certain what might be the repercussions for journalists who challenge authorities. But that's a risk Diaz is ready to take.


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Pakistani Digital Rights Advocate Nominated as TIME’s Next Generation Leader · Global Voices
Anushe Noor

Screenshot of Night Dad speaking about what privacy means to people. Click on the image to watch the video via Privacy International
Nighat Dad, a Pakistani digital rights activist and lawyer, has been added to the list of TIME's Next Generation Leaders along with five others for her struggle to protect women from online harassment and to spread awareness regarding digital rights.
TIME's Next Generation Leaders programme aims to promote the struggle of inspiring youth leaders. It enables leaders to elevate their struggle to the international level. It has give recognition to many leaders and highlighted many important issues.
Nighat Dad has been working to raise awareness about digital rights and online privacy, targeting human rights defenders and women, for about a decade. In 2012 she formed the Digital Rights Foundation Pakistan (DRF), a non-profit organisation that educates and trains people — especially young women — about privacy and security online, and how to tackle online harassment.
The organisation not only campaigns against online harassment, but also against laws that allow the government to carry out internet surveillance which intrudes on the basic right to privacy.
Her achievement was applauded across Pakistan, helping in turn to spread her cause.
Investigative journalist for the The News Umar Cheema tweeted:
Congrats to @nighatdad who's among 6 individuals named Next Generation Leaders by Time Magazine. #Pakistan proud of u http://t.co/gKgR7yeZ9A
— Umar Cheema (@UmarCheema1) June 2, 2015
Writer and activist Sheheryar Naqvi tweeted:
Proud moment. Congratulations @nighatdad pic.twitter.com/LrWP9Ry0Mi — Sheheryar Naqvi (@SheheryarNaqvi) May 31, 2015
Nighat Dad talked with Global Voices about her struggle and achievements.
Global Voices (GV): You have been nominated as TIME's Next Generation Leader. How does it feel to be a leader?
Nighat Dad (ND): It's a huge responsibility, actually. Even before this nomination, I have been working for this cause on the ground, but now as people look up to me I have to be careful in whatever I do. As a leader, you have to envision a future you believe in, and that is what I am doing. People have standards, so I have to remain careful in my actions.
GV: Being recognised at the international level for fighting for a global cause as a Pakistani woman, how do you feel?
ND: The cause I am working for was difficult from the start as we live in a patriarchal community. I was a single mother, and was working for digital rights of women without any support from stakeholders and peers. So achieving this despite all the difficulties, feels great.
GV: Do you think this recognition will spur you on to help you achieve your goal?
Yes, absolutely! Awareness is the first step to bring change, and I am spreading awareness. We have been working on different issues, and lobbying the government on the Cyber Crime Bill. So, through this recognition these issues will be highlighted
GV: Apart from this recognition, do you think you have been successful in protecting women from online harassment, given that women still face this issue in Pakistan?
ND: Exactly, the issue of online harassment is increasing day by day with the advancement of internet use and facilities. We have initiated the campaign but I have been unable to protect women so far. We are raising awareness in different institutions; colleges and bar councils. There is a long way to go, and we are struggling for it. We will achieve the goal.
GV: You have proven yourself an inspiration to Pakistani youth. What is your message for them?
ND: As I look at myself and my struggle, I see many difficulties I faced. Being a single mother and working for this cause, I didn't get support. Anyway, I kept on speaking about the issue. I was consistent and strong. So, if youth is speaking for a cause, they have the ability to bring change. They only have to be consistent.
GV: Finally, as someone that has contributed to Global Voices Advox in the past, how do you think GV can be more effective in discussing people's digital rights?
ND: I think Global Voices is playing a huge role in discussing people's digital rights as well as the rights of activists. It is doing its best in terms of raising awareness, however it can be more effective by highlighting the work of people working on ground.

author: Anushe Noor


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Three Videos That Explain Why Hong Kong Public Opinion on the Government’s Electoral Reform Proposal Is Divided · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Screen capture from YouTube Video: ‘Letter to Hong Kong 2020′.
The Hong Kong government will table an electoral reform package to the Legislative Council on June 17, ahead of elections to the position of Chief Executive — the island's top leadership position — in 2017.
Pan-democrat lawmakers are expected vote down the proposal since it follows the framework set by the standing committee of the legislature in mainland China, the National People's Congress (NPC).
According to the rules, any change to the political system on the island demands two-thirds support from lawmakers of both the direct electoral constituencies and functional constituencies in the legislature.
As the pan-democrats have more than one-third of the seats in the direct electoral constituencies, they have enough votes to veto the proposal.
The NPC framework, announced on August 31, 2014, requires that all legitimate candidates to the chief executive post obtain majority support from what is currently the Electoral Committee (EC) and would be renamed the Nominating Committee (NC), a body dominated by pro-Beijing members. It also restricts the number of legitimate candidates for elections to between two and three.
China's play
Beijing's apparent intervention into Hong Kong's election process has been regarded by pan-democrats in Hong Kong as a violation of the ‘one country, two systems’ principle viewed as key to guaranteeing Hong Kong's autonomy.
The chief executive is currently elected by a 1,200-strong EC with a nomination threshold of 150 votes of support, while the government's proposal demands 600 votes of support in the NC before the candidates are allowed to run for the election. With the current composition of the legislature, the proposed system ensures that only pro-Beijing candidates such as current Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying can make it to the ballot.
The following video, made by an independent civic group in Hong Kong, compares the two systems and invites viewers to make their own judgement on whether the electoral reform package is progressive or regressive.
Changing mood
On June 10, the results of a poll indicated that citizens who oppose the government proposal outnumber supporters: 43 percent of the respondents said no to the electoral reform whereas 41.7 percent said yes. The poll was conducted jointly by three major universities in late April after the government announced details of its proposal.
Previous polls showed that a majority of the respondents supported the government package, largely because the Chinese government refused to withdraw the August 31 decision and claimed that the idea of citizen nominations proposed by Hong Kong democrats was unrealistic.
The swing in public opinion occurred as the government decided to table the proposal without offering any concessions, such as the abolition of unpopular corporate voting in the legislature.
Furthermore, Beijing refuses to stipulate a timetable for further Hong Kong electoral reform, implying that the current proposal, once passed, may become Hong Kong's permanent electoral code.
The change in mood is an embarrassment to officials who lobbied pan-democratic lawmakers to vote “according to the people's will”. It also reflects the failure of a campaign that has included a series of high profile political advertisements and community visits featuring top government officials since late April.
The government slogan for the reform package is ‘2017 – Make it Happen’. Its most publicized advert begins by stressing ordinary citizens’ aspiration for universal suffrage and ends with three top government officials — Carrie Lam, Rimsky Yuen and Raymond Tam (known as The Trio) — calling on people to support the change.
It has been aired repeatedly on Hong Kong TV over the past few months:
Typical reactions on YouTube include:
This reform proposal is trying to turn 5 million voters into rubber stamps.
This is simply unacceptable.
You all HK government officers betray HK ppl!!! You think don't need to pay, you don't feel sorry, holding your overseas passport…pushing HK to hell…one day karma must come to you, you and your families.
George Orwell would be proud of you. Everyone else on earth just laughs.
Hong Kong netizens have been promoting a spoof version of the video called ‘2017 – Make it a Dead End‘ in which actors pretending to be the Trio suggest they betrayed Hong Kong's people for the sake of their careers. A more professionally-made video, meanwhile, depicts a character resembling Carrie Lam, chief secretary of the Hong Kong government, writing ‘A Letter to Hong Kong’ in 2022, recounting all the changes that happened once the electoral reform came into effect.
The video mocks the chief secretary, a long-time civil servant, as a hypocrite:
What next?
The electoral reform proposal indicates the Beijing government's failure to fulfill its political obligation to let Hong Kong's people decide on constitutional reform.
As the current government headed by CY Leung has ruled out any alternative reform plan, the next political reform proposal will be left to the next chief executive elected by the 1,200-member EC in 2017.
Before then there will be a council election in 2016 and pro-Beijing political parties have already started mobilizing the public to vote out the pan-democrat lawmakers while the pan-democrats appeal to their supporters to help them maintain their veto power in the legislature.
The pro-democracy Occupy Central protest in 2014 was a citizen-initiated attempt to press the Beijing government to withdraw the August 31 framework and leave more space for citizen participation in nominating chief executives. Its struggle goes on.

author: Oiwan Lam


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Arbitrary Arrests, Cybercrime, and Mass Mobile Adoption: Monitoring Digital Rights in Sub-Saharan Africa · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Free Zone 9 Vigil, August 2, 2014. Martin Luther King Memorial, Washington, DC. Photo by EthioTube via Facebook.
What is the state of freedom of expression online in Sub-Saharan Africa? To answer this question, Global Voices's Sub-Saharan Africa Editor Ndesanjo Macha interviewed the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) East Africa Representative Tom Rhodes, from Nairobi, Kenya.
Tom Rhodes (TR): I am the East Africa Representative for CPJ. I monitor and look out for journalists who may be in trouble across this region (East Africa) as well as other areas including the Horn of Africa and parts of Central Africa. Most of our work involves advocacy but we also provide direct assistance in some cases.
TR: While the number of blogs and news web sites are growing, seemingly exponentially, the level of suppression of online media is also growing. Generally press conditions are more free online than, say, in print, but this is changing as authorities grow more savvy in finding ways to suppress online critics.
TR: Many of the laws designed to curb cyber-crime or terrorism are also used to curtail online freedom through sweeping language that can be manipulated to silence online critics. Laws in Tanzania and Rwanda for example.
TR: At the moment it is not the legislation that targets online citizens but arbitrary, often unlawful arrests of netizens that pose the greatest threat. We are all following the trial of six bloggers in Ethiopia – the Zone9 bloggers whose trial has dragged on for over a year without any genuine charges presented over several court hearings. It is increasingly evident that the prosecution had no genuine legal reason to arrest them other than a desire to silence critics ahead of elections. The fact that authorities are targeting bloggers and social media users with arbitrary arrests casts a pall over netizens’ rights to free expression. Social media users in Kenya have also faced arrest over the past 1-2 years. Critical citizen media websites have been blocked in Zambia as well. It is a growing trend as authorities gradually learn the importance and influence of social media.
TR: Another tactic more and more governments are using in this region is social media itself. Authorities in Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Ethiopia and elsewhere are hiring staff to react to social media users with counter hashtags and social commentary. One tactic is to flood sites with comments to control the narrative or even induce the site to crash.
TR: Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo are perfect examples of this. Especially in the case of Burundi – social media acted as a communication tool to help civil society organise the protests in Bujumbura against the president's bid for a third term. The ability to organise and communicate to vast populations through mobile phones should not be underestimated. Sadly, most telecommunication companies are either state-owned or allies to the state and readily cut the signals when commanded to do so. We also saw the same tactics during the 2011 elections in Uganda and Cameroon.
TR: Perhaps the worst would be Ethiopia where websites are routinely blocked, forcing Internet users to find proxy sites, and bloggers are summarily jailed. Ethiopia has also imported sophisticated online monitoring equipment to spy on its citizens, making online communication challenging. EthioTelecom, the sole telecommunication provider in the country, is owned by the government. All of this is done despite the fact the country has one of the lowest Internet penetration rates in sub-Saharan Africa, if not the world, despite being Africa's second-most populous nation.
TR: There appear to be many social movements – including Global Voices!
TR: Yes, these are generally the excuses to censor online activity. But how often are court cases and arrests conducted for, say, pornography, in comparison to critical news reporting? I would venture that the latter is far more suppressed than the former.
TR: Yes, very much so – especially with the burgeoning use of mobile telephones for online access. In 2000, there were roughly 5 million mobile phones in Africa and now there are about 900 million. While many of these phones are not “smart phones” per se – many of them are – and we are seeing more and more mainstream media using citizen's footage and social media to capture in-time reporting to the point where citizens enjoy a more nuanced, holistic narrative of events across the continent.
Tom Rhodes is CPJ's East Africa Representative. Follow him on Twitter at @africamedia_CPJ.


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As Violence Rises, Some Venezuelans Pray to Dead Criminals for Help and Protection · Global Voices
Yessika Gonzalez

Images of the “holy thugs” against one of their graves. Photograph taken from Ismael Sánchez's Facebook profile. Main figure from the  “Corte malandra” or court of thugs.
The belief in life after death is common in different societies around the world. As such, funeral rituals constitute the beginning of a special relationship between the living and the dead. In Latin America, this is seen through the belief in the miraculous dead, magical-religious figures revered in several countries throughout the region.
For Francisco Franco, a Venezuelan historian and reference in studies of popular religion in Venezuela, the miraculous dead perform favors and miracles for the living after their death. Generally speaking, these figures were special characters, though no one too outstanding or extraordinary. Mostly, the miraculous dead were once common people:
Los muertos milagrosos en América Latina van a ‘subvertir’ el modelo de los anacoretas y santos medievales, pues sus vidas, sus leyendas y la mayoría de sus rasgos no corresponden con este modelo de ascetismo, sino que, por el contrario, han tenido una vida llena de excesos.
The miraculous dead in Latin America are going to “subvert” the model of medieval hermits and saints, since their lives, their legends, and the majority of their features do not correspond with this model of asceticism. On the contrary, they have had a life full of excesses.
The Court of Thugs, or Corte Calé, belongs to the cult of goddess María Lionza, one of the popular expressions of the most widespread magical-religious beliefs in Venezuela. These practices are based on the veneration of miraculous spirits and are divided into groups classified under certain hierarchies known as “courts”. María Lionza, along with Felipe the Black Slave and Indian Chief Guaicaipuro, make up the “Three Powers”, the foundation of a heaven of deities that presumably also represent the basis for mixing among white, African, and indigenous people in Venezuela.
The courts can be made up of political, historic, or religious figures. For example, the Court of Liberators is made up of heroes from Venezuela's War of Independence, such as Simón Bolívar, the main leader of this historical movement. The Heavenly Court, meanwhile, is formed by traditional Catholic figures (angels and saints). On the María Lionza Spiritualism blog, readers can find a ranking of the courts and its members.
The Court of Thugs is made up of malandros, a term used in Venezuela to refer to thugs or criminals. These cults are more often seen in urban slums, where violent deaths have increased at an alarming rate since the 1970s and residents see no possibility of protection from authorities. For believers of this cult, the spirit of these criminals can bestow divine favors on them. According to researchers dedicated to this phenomenon, these offenders have certain characteristics in common: in life, they were considered heroes in some way, who robbed for the benefit of their communities.
Followers of this cult visit the graves, build altars in their houses, or attempt to communicate with the spirits through special ceremonies. Some criminals commend themselves to these spirits before committing a crime, or ask them to facilitate access to material goods, such as weapons and motorcycles.
Ways of worship vary, depending on followers and circumstances. Not only criminals turn to them. Mothers, for example, seek to put their children under the protection of these spirits, particularly at night when the journey home through the violent urban slums is riskiest. They also ask them to watch over their children who are awaiting criminal proceedings in prisons. The thinking goes that only those who know the world of violence and bullets are capable of protecting those who live within that environment.
In a documentary from Venezuelan public channel Avila TV, Gonzalo Báez, the president of the Cultural Civil Association of the Followers of Ifá, explains that although the origins of the term calé are not clear, it is thought to be jargon for anyone coming out of prison and is used by inmates to confuse the guards. The documentary also explores the history of the cult's many central characters and explains that part of the mission of these spirits is to prevent others from following the same path that they went down.
Favors are paid by offering cold weapons, anise, tobacco, and certain drugs. These votive offerings include candles to illuminate the path of the spirits at higher levels. The Court of Thugs is considered a court of “low light”, unlike the Heavenly Court, for example, which is much closer to the Christian spiritual ideal. Screenshot from Avila TV documentary available on YouTube.
Though the Court of Thugs predates the World Wide Web, the cult has found a comfortable home online. Tributes to its figures are found on social media, where users give thanks for favors they believe were granted. This video, for example, shared by Enrique Jiménez on YouTube, shows a sequence of photographs illustrating daily life in the neighborhoods and spaces where this cult is practiced. The video brings together many of the symbols of the Court of Thugs: ex-voto (or votive offerings), altars, images of the miraculous dead, and salsa, the music that often accompanies these tributes.
The cult also has a presence on Facebook. For example, thug Ismael Sánchez, the main figure of this court, has a Facebook profile. In it, many followers leave comments and thanks for favors granted and protection received and share photographs of their graves iand the rituals that take place there. Other Facebook pages that are dedicated to María Lionza's cult and spiritualism in Venezuela share stories of these popular idols as well.
On YouTube, musical group Alma de Barrio shared a song they composed for another one of the cult's key figures, Pavo Freddy:
The lyrics read:
Y no te preocupes, que si tienes un problema, pónle ahí un cigarro, y le pones una cerveza. Cuéntale el problema, no te quedes tu dilema… Ese te resuelve, ese no te deja […] ¿Quieres que te indique el camino del bien? Invoca al Pavo Freddy, Corte Calé
And don't worry. If you have a problem, put a cigarette there for him and give him a beer. Tell him the problem, don't run from your dilemma… He will resolve it for you, he will not leave you […] Do you want him to show you the path of the good? Invoke Pavo Freddy, Corte Calé
In the documentary “Holy Thugs” (published by Vice), sociologist Tulio Hernández explains the role that the miraculous dead cult plays in the lives of followers:
Los santos malandros son básicamente la manera que tienen los sectores populares directa o indirectamente involucrados con el momento trágico que vive Venezuela, [en el que] los que mueren fundamentalmente son los pobres; y entre los pobres los jóvenes, y entre los jóvenes, los hombres. Es una manera de cicatrizar [la] profunda herida que [representa] la pérdida de un sector importante de su juventud.
The holy thugs are basically the way of people directly or indirectly involved in the tragic moment that Venezuela is currently experiencing, [in which] those dying are mainly the poor, and among the poor, the young people, among the young people, men. It is a way of healing [the] deep wound that [represents] the loss of an important part of their youth.
Court of Thugs stories and practices have made their way into the world of Venezuelan film and art, showing just how much the culture of violence has influenced contemporary Venezuela. At the same time, it raises questions about the basic elements of these popular practices. What are the values of a context in which criminals are identified as protectors? Can this be seen as a direct consequence of the state's absence in the everyday life of the masses?
This is an example of how excluded groups seek out protection that is more in line with the world that surrounds them; and many fear this veneration of the criminal could go beyond the religious and influence other aspects of the country, perhaps even the behavior of their elected representatives.

author: Yessika Gonzalez


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Former TV Producer Mostafa Azizi Sentenced to Eight Years in Prison in Iran · Global Voices
Center for Human Rights in Iran

Photo of Mostafa Azizi shared by the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, and used with permission.
This post first appeared on iranhumanrights.org and is published here in collaboration with the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran.
Branch 15 of Tehran Revolutionary Court has sentenced Mostafa Azizi, a former Iranian television writer and producer imprisoned since February 1, 2015, to eight years in prison, according to his son, who spoke with the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran.
Arash Azizi told the Campaign that his father has appealed the decision.
Mostafa Azizi was sentenced June 1 to five years in prison for “assembly and collusion against national security,” two years for “insulting the Supreme Leader,” and one year for “propaganda against the state.”
Arash Azizi also told the Campaign that his father’s lawyer has asked the court for his release on bail until the appeals court announces its final decision. “We hope they grant this request and that my father is released soon. We also hope that his verdict will be overruled by the appeals court,” he said.
Mostafa Azizi, 53, was formerly a writer and producer of television programs in Iran. He and his family emigrated to Canada in 2008. He returned to Iran in December 2014 to be close to his ailing father.
Security agents arrested him on January 2, 2015, and transferred him to the IRGC’s Ward 2-A at Evin Prison, where he stayed under interrogation for a year. He was then transferred to Ward 8 of Evin Prison, where he remains. He suffers from diabetes, heart disease, and rheumatism.
A source close to him told the Campaign in April 2015 that if he had thought he would be arrested, he would have never returned to Iran. “He is an artist, not a political activist. He is an artist who wrote his analysis of the social and political situation in places like his Facebook page, but he did not intend to break the law or insult anyone.”
Dozens of Iranian expatriates who have traveled to Iran, following assurances by President Hassan Rouhani regarding their safe passage, have been arrested, interrogated, prevented from leaving by having their passports confiscated, and, in many instances, imprisoned upon their return, due to the peaceful expression of views or lifestyles with which the government does not agree.

author: Center for Human Rights in Iran


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Georgian Society Growing Weary of the West · Global Voices
Joseph Larsen

Arial view of Tbilisi, Georgia. Photo by Matt Bateman, used under CC BY 2.0 license.
American author Robert Penn Warren touched upon the tide of history in his magnum opus All the King's Men:
For the West is where we all plan to go someday. It is where you go when the land gives out and the old field-pines encroach … It is where you go when you are told you are a bubble on the tide of empire. It is where you go when you hear that thar’s gold in them thar hills … Or, it is just where you go.
Warren never visited Georgia and couldn’t claim a window into the Georgian soul, but his message was intended as universal: When mankind needs to make a choice, it chooses West.
For Georgia that Western choice seems obvious. The country’s government is firmly committed to EU and NATO membership, despite the ruling Georgian Dream coalition's partial restoration of ties with Russia and last year’s sacking of pro-Western Defense Minister Irakli Alasania.
Public opinion surveys show that society consistently and overwhelmingly favors closer ties with the West. “In Georgia we still have quite high expectations and attitudes in favor of EU integration,” said Malkhaz Saldadze, a program coordinator at the Heinrich Boell Foundation's Tbilisi office.
Indeed, Georgia continues to sprint westward. But an increasing number of people are asking whether there really is gold in the Western hills. For everything the country has done to prove its commitment to the Euro-Atlantic cause, tangible results are far from evident.
The EU Association Agreement has done nothing to assuage Georgia’s recent economic woes, and the EU has given no clear signal that Georgia is a candidate for full membership.
According to an analyst in the Georgian civil service that spoke to Global Voices on condition of anonymity, the public is tiring of Western tepidness and needs assurances: “They [the EU] are creating anti-European sentiment by not giving clear signals.”
And despite the country’s firm commitment to NATO — 29 Georgian soldiers have been killed fighting in Afghanistan, for example — membership seems no closer than it did a few years ago. Disappointment with the pace of Euro-Atlantic integration is palpable in both official circles and on the ground.
Public opinion polls show West-weariness
A recent poll published by the National Democratic Institute (NDI) found that 26 percent of the country’s adults agreed that “Georgia will benefit more from abandoning Euro-Atlantic integration in favor of better relations with Russia.” In August 2014, only 19 percent agreed with the same statement.
The same survey found that 20 percent of Georgians disapprove of the government’s goal of joining NATO, nearly double the proportion giving that response in 2012.
As for EU integration, Georgian society is still overwhelmingly in favor. The NDI survey found that 68 percent of people support Georgia becoming a member of the EU. However, that number is smaller than the 78 percent who expressed support in August 2014.
Most alarmingly for Western onlookers, the poll found that 31 percent of people approve of the country joining the Moscow-led Eurasian Union. Many find this especially eyebrow-raising, given the country's 2008 war with Russia and the Kremlin's continued backing of separatist regimes in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, both regions that most of the international community recognize as Georgian territory.
Many blame a perceived lack of political will on the part of Georgia’s Western allies for fading public interest in the Euro-Atlantic project.
The quest to become a full-fledged NATO member looks as quixotic as ever; the country still hasn’t been offered a Membership Action Plan, and on March 2 French President Francois Hollande stated that “France’s position for the moment is to refuse any new membership.”
Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili channeled popular frustration on May 19 when he chastised the lack of progress on the European front: “The basic message is that Europeans don’t care about you, you are abandoned, you don’t have a choice and the European choice is doomed.”
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili speaks at the Riga Summit. Image by Georgia Today, used with permission.
Visa-free travel for Georgians off the EU agenda
May 21-22 brought the annual summit of the Eastern Partnership, an important forum for the EU’s relations with Georgia, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. This year's summit was held in Riga, Latvia.
Georgian leaders and members of the public expressed optimism the summit would yield the most tantalizing carrot dangled by the EU so far: visa-free travel to EU countries for holders of Georgian passports.
On May 5 Georgia’s President, Prime Minister, and Chairman of Parliament sent a joint letter to EU Council President Donald Tusk imploring the EU to grant visa liberalization.
Unfortunately for Georgia, the country’s delegation to Riga returned empty handed. Visa liberalization was not offered, and the Eastern Partnership’s Joint Declaration provided little reassurance to Georgian hopefuls.
“Since the EU made a declaration about the Riga Summit [prior to the Summit itself], nothing was said about visa liberalization at the Summit,” said the Boell Foundation's Saldadze.
Yet according to Misha Shavtvaladze, a political scientist at Tbilisi State University, the situation calls for patience. “Of course there was some expectation. But signals were weaker and weaker, gradually,” he told Global Voices. “Some reports issued by the EC indicated that we are not yet fully prepared for [visa-free travel]. I think we will get it soon. I still have expectations.”

author: Joseph Larsen


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Hope for a Nuclear-Free Taiwan · Global Voices
I-fan Lin

An anti-nuclear demonstration in April 2011. The poster attached to the boy says “I love Taiwan, and I do not want nuclear incidents”. Photo by coolloud.org. CC BY-NC 2.0.
In the first week after the Fukushima nuclear incident in March 2011, rice and noodles were sold out in the supermarket closest to my home in the Tokyo area, which is about 200 km away from the site of nuclear accident. In that week, not only Tokyo residents, but the whole world was in a panic about radiation contamination.
Today, in 2015, we still have concerns regarding the radioactive water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant leaking to the sea. Agricultural products from several prefectures in Japan are still prohibited from being imported into several countries, including Korea and Taiwan, despite bilateral negotiations between governments. On the other hand, in spite of moves by the Japanese government to restart nuclear power plants, all the nuclear power plants in Japan remain closed.
The Fukushima nuclear accident rang the knell for nuclear power not only in Japan, but also in Taiwan, which is also located on the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire. There are three active nuclear power plants in Taiwan, and two of them are very close to its capital city, Taipei. Because the first and second nuclear power plants are planned to be decommissioned in the future six years, the fourth one was built to replace these two. Nevertheless, after a huge demonstration in April 2014, the construction of the fourth nuclear power plant was stopped, and it is scheduled to be mothballed in July 2015. On the other hand, due to the safety concerns and problems with nuclear waste, the first and second nuclear power plants are considered to be decommissioned as scheduled, or even earlier.
“A nuclear-free home”, a popular slogan in anti-nuclear rallies in Taiwan, has finally become part of the social and political consensus. The chairpersons of the two major political parties, Kuomintang and Democratic Progressive Party, have both expressed their commitment to abandoning nuclear power and developing alternative energy strategies. On the other hand, the current government headed by President Ma Ying-Jeou (who will leave the office in 2016) still sees the vision of “a nuclear-free home” as an obstacle to economic growth.
In response to Ma's inertia with regard to nuclear energy, civil society is exploring various paths toward building a nuclear-free Taiwan. Their hope is to develop alternative energy sources to replace nuclear power, and to export this technology to boost economic growth. Taiwan’s three nuclear power plants generate only 10-20% of the country’s electricity supply. The prospect of cheap solar panels combined with powerful batteries is a source of hope, as Taiwan is a major manufacturer of solar cells. Geothermal power is also promising. Professor Kao Cheng-Yen, an anti-nuclear veteran, recently founded a geothermal power company, and Eric Chu, the mayor of New Taipei City, plans to build a geothermal power plant in New Taipei City in partnership with the Industrial Technology Research Institute.
Another strategy in Taiwan is efficient energy use. In South Korea, which has been affected by its own nuclear scandal, the mayor of the capital city, Seoul, declared a ‘One less nuclear power plant’ energy policy. In addition to generating electricity from renewable sources, they also put emphasis on energy efficiency and energy saving. Because energy efficiency and energy saving is easier said than done, the anti-nuclear citizens groups in Taiwan are trying to learn from the South Korean experience.
An anti-nuclear demonstration in April 2014. The police used water canons to evict protesters from the area. Photo by coolloud.org. CC BY-NC 2.0.
After the Fukushima nuclear incident, I attended several anti-nuclear demonstrations in both Tokyo and Taipei. What I observed in these demonstrations continues to surprise me: governments do not try to open discussions with the protesters, but devote their energy to suppressing their voices. During the April 2014 protest in Taipei, the police, started the eviction, aimed water canons at us protesters, who were just ordinary citizens demanding that the government reconsider its nuclear power policy. However, the government turned a blind eye to the actions of the police.
Going against Taiwanese people's aspirations for a nuclear-free home, President Ma's administration is attempting to extend the life span of the first and the second nuclear power plants. To solve the problem of the shortage of the storage space for nuclear waste, President Ma's administration proposes to send 1,200 highly radioactive used fuel rods overseas for reprocessing. This proposal, which was suspended by the Legislative Yuan this March, is expensive and ineffective, as the processed nuclear waste will eventually be sent back to the island. Moreover, several experts on the International Panel on Fissile Materials are worried about that reprocessing processes will have an impact on nuclear weapons proliferation, because approximately 2 tons of plutonium will be recovered from the reprocessing Taiwan's spent fuel rods. The deadlock on the storage of nuclear waste will not be loosened if President Ma's Administration and the Taiwan Power Company do not try a more flexible and practical approach, and start the conversation with the anti-nuclear citizen groups.
The path to a nuclear-free country is never easy, and it takes decades to see it come to fruition. Since next-generation politicians in Taiwan are ready to open the conversation with the anti-nuclear citizens groups and pave the way towards a nuclear-free country, it would be beneficial for the whole society to start the conversation between the government and the civil groups as early as possible.
(The author thanks Tan Uichi, a graduate student in the social sciences PhD program at Hitotsubashi University, for providing key information and comments for this article).

author: I-fan Lin


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Human Rights Activist Begins Hunger Strike for Migrants in Front of Macedonian Parliament · Global Voices
Filip Stojanovski

The growing migration crisis has recently also affected countries in southeastern Europe, with new issues arising almost daily. Reacting to the inhumane treatment of migrants who pass through Republic of Macedonia, renowned human rights activist Suad Missini started a hunger strike in front of the Parliament building in Skopje. He began the strike immediately after publishing his three demands in a Facebook post on Sunday, June 14, which garnered almost 300 likes and over 90 shares in just the first day.
I am just starting a hunger strike.
In front of the Parliament.
I demand urgently and immediately:
The strike will not end unless these demands are fulfilled.
Suad Missini
Thousands of refugees from Syria, Afghanistan, Somalia, Nigeria and other war zones pass through Macedonia, traveling from Greece towards Serbia on a path to try to reach Germany or other well-off EU countries. The migrants used to follow the railway tracks on foot, suffering horrific “accidents.” Lately the migrants buy bicycles, reportedly at inflated prices, in southern Macedonian towns and cycle on the main highway. Many of them fall victim to human trafficking rings and gangs of robbers. Some of the refugees are held as “witnesses” in the Reception Center for Foreigners “Gazi Baba” in Skopje in what Macedonian Ombudsman Idzhet Memeti has called “inhuman, unhealthy, and undignified” conditions.
The government is supposed to discuss the amendments to the  Asylum Law on June 16.

author: Filip Stojanovski


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In Turkey, in Search of a More People-Sensitive Gentrification · Global Voices
Ece Basay

Istanbul, Turkey. 23rd August 2013 — Demolition areas have become part of community life as the Tarlabasi area of Istanbul undergoes major redevelopment work. Whole building blocks are getting demolished and people are being evicted. Expensive hotels and shopping centers will take their place. Demotix ID: 2684393
June 7's sensational General Election in Turkey concluded with the long-ruling AKP (Justice and Development Party) losing its parliamentary majority. Among other things, AKP's one-party government was famous for turning Turkey into a land of building sites, bringing in hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue for construction firms and — allegedly — unscrupulous government officials.
Fatih Sulukule’de 577 konut, sağlık ocağı ve ticaret merkezinden oluşan sosyal donatılar yaptık pic.twitter.com/1srnbXPsza #selamolsunistanbul
— Derya Yercan (@deryayercan) May 17, 2015
We have built social equipment including 577 houses, a health center, and a trade center.
Sarı, mavi, yeşil, turuncu, mor, kırmızıyı alıp kahverengi ve beyaza çevirdiler. Sulukule'yi yok ettiler. pic.twitter.com/3AAeky33ZE
— Niyâzî (@Tonyukuk_Bilge) May 16, 2015
They have taken away yellow, blue, green, orange, purple, red, and turned them into brown and white.
They have destroyed Sulukule [an area of Istanbul undergoing aggressive re-development].
The themes of redevelopment and gentrification have been especially politicised in Turkey since the Gezi protests of 2013, which began with a conflict between Istanbul residents and the government over public spaces.
Kids play in Tarlabası. Photo taken by Soultana Kabouridou 23 August, 2013. Demotix ID: 2684393.
Two years later, pro and anti-gentrification groups continue to talk past each other as law suits over development works pile up in the background. Given the unrest and even violence already triggered by construction conflicts, the question arises: Is there a peaceful way out?
In order to find an answer, Global Voices spoke with Boğaçhan Dündaralp, an award-winning architect and a scholar who played a key role during the campaign to save the Kuzguncuk Garden.
Understanding gentrification
According to the Oxford Dictionary, gentrification is “the process of renovating and improving a house or district so that it conforms to middle-class taste.” For the past decade, this has been prevalent across Turkey, especially in Istanbul. Residents of certain districts — such as Sulukule and Tarlabaşı — have effectively been shifted out of their homes through a combination of enticements and coercion by developers looking to increase the value of that particular place. Critics of the process say its rapid, exclusively profit-driven nature is reinforcing growing social and economic inequality in Turkey and ignoring the security and happiness of the people living in these areas.
Boğaçhan Dündaralp explains how rapid gentrification can create long-lasting damage to community fabric:
When we consider the roots of ennoblement [gentrification], we realize that it comes from the word noble, and indicates a renovation of areas that are valuable within a given city, [and consists of] remaking them in accordance with their status and economic value. The outcome of ennoblement changes when there is an existing settlement involved. In this sense, ennoblement might also have a forceful aspect as well, creating a problem within the bigger picture. Because by considering only the economical aspects — instead of the whole — you root the place in purely abstract, mathematical values, and forget or refuse to pay for the possible consequences that occur outside the economic reality.
Who belongs where?
Dündaralp stresses the fact that the architects who take part in the projects such as Tarlabaşı are very successful and respectable people. When you talk with them, their main argument is that the people who reside in Tarlabası are not really from Tarlabası anyway, so when rapid gentrification takes place their displacement from a particular neighbourhood is not a historical loss.
However, while acknowledging that this point might be partly accurate, those people still create networks of relationships in a particular neighbourhood — networks that are destroyed when construction companies enter with bulldozers. When people are moved into new houses outside their old districts they cannot bring these vital networks with them, he says. Successful gentrification requires that a common language be built between different parties, including the residents, architects, companies and NGOs, who all understand and experience physical spaces from different perspectives.
A lack of historical continuity
It is this lack of understanding in terms of the historical or cultural significance people may assign to a space, that has made the gentrification process in Turkey so problematic, says Dündaralp.
One example of this was the recent attempt to demolish Camp Armen, a powerfully meaningful spot for Armenians, where the impoverished children of Anatolia — including Hrant Dink and his wife Rakel — stayed when they were forced to move to Istanbul between the 1960s and 1980s.
Although the demolition has been stopped thanks to the efforts of many activists, the future of Camp Armen is still unknown.
Dündaralp says:
What is it that requires protection? What is it that we would like to protect generations after generations? What should we protect so that the value of that particular place proceeds?
Saving only the physical object of history is not enough to establish this continuity. What is essential is to proceed from the perspective of the networks and relationships that make that place what it is.
On the other hand, there are the needs and expectations of today. But meeting the expectations of today while incorporating the perspective of historical continuity within these given relationships is a very different approach from what we are doing at the present moment.
Dündaralp explains that if one perceives a place only from an economic perspective, one can only produce economic solutions. Understanding the identities that have been built in connection with a place involves studying it in detail. During that process locations with meanings too heavy to be simply lifted by anyone who wishes may be uncovered. Instead of totally changing the meaning of these places for profit, one must respect what that particular place stands for and try to satisfy the needs of today within that context.
Is a common language possible?
Today, according to Dündaralp, the major problem in terms of discussing the changes happening in and around Istanbul — or Turkey — is that everyone has retreated to their own corner and clung doggedly to a given own point of view, leaving no space for discussion and mediation. Instead of  a culture of compromise, a mentality that takes its own point of view as the law has emerged, eroding trust and understanding. Thus, many people capable of working together are standing opposite each other.
Dündaralp observed this tension himself as well, when he was taking part in negotiations over the Kuzguncuk Garden:
For example, during the dialogue between the Kuzguncuk residents and the Municipality, radical ecologists also wanted to get involved by saying that ‘this is a garden, a green space and it has to stay that way, no person should enter.’ Now, if they knew the 20 years-old background of the garden, they would have never said such a thing. Instead, they would have realised that this garden has a very public identity.
Now you look at the garden and people are doing their sports in the morning, elderly people have started to make use of it more, children are there as soon as they get out of the school, farming continues, and the upper side is left as green space. As to the ideal image of the garden, we all had different perceptions and comments. Maybe no-one would say of the current garden ‘this is exactly how it was supposed to be!’ For some of us it is less, for some of us it is more.
Yet, essentially, we agreed on a precise point: The garden is safe from construction threats, and continues to provide public and farming space. Natural products were used in every arrangement […] The important thing is to be able to form this common aspect from our different visions.
For now, the solution found to the Kuzguncuk Garden problem is the exception rather than the rule, but Dündaralp remains convinced that small examples can lead to big change.

author: Ece Basay