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Facebook Gives a Voice to Missing People in Mexico · Global Voices
Mercedes Matz

Screen capture from the Facebook group “Missing and Kidnapped in the State of Puebla.”
In Mexico, friends and families look for missing people by sky, sea, and land, and also online in Internet ads. These desperate searches can exhaust the resources of whole households, and so many people have turned to social media and other digital platforms as an effective way to get the word out. Among them, Facebook has become the most popular.
The names of these groups are often brutally straightforward, like “Desaparecidos y levantados en el estado de Puebla” (Missing and Kidnapped in the State of Puebla) — a group created to disseminate information about and help locate missing people in that state.
Every search poses special difficulties, pains and uses many resources. To make matters worse, attempts to find missing people often collide with the incompetence or even the corruption of state officials who are supposed to help.
Below, we review some ongoing searches now underway in Mexico on Facebook.
Screen capture from the Facebook page “Finding Horacio Castillo and Son.”
On April 14, 2014, Horacio Castillo Reyes and Horacio Castillo Herrera – 47 and 24 years old, respectively – were last seen in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, in the north of the country. The next day, the family was supposed to move to Mexico City, but the plans never materialized after family members tried unsuccessfully to call them and contact them online. During one of the phone calls, a man answered the father's cell phone. According to relatives, “He said he had found the device. We called again and he told us to stop screwing around or they would kill us, too.”
While dust gathers on their files in the drawers and desks of the institutions responsible for locating these men, their loved ones keep the case alive by posting regular updates on the Finding Horacio Castillo and Son Facebook page. In each message, they urge readers to join the search and share the page.
Ayúdalos a regresar a casa, no seas indiferente al dolor. Ellos no son solo un número más de los miles de desaparecidos… son un padre, un hijo, un hermano, un esposo, un tío y un abuelito. No vamos a descansar hasta encontrarlos”.
Help them return home. Do not be indifferent to the pain. They are not just one more of the thousands missing… they are a father, a son, a brother, a husband, an uncle, and a grandfather. We will not rest until we find them.
Screen capture from the Facebook page “Find María Fernanda.”
Relatives of Fernanda Azpeitia Amador, who disappeared on Aug. 28, 2016, launched the Find María Fernanda Facebook page to use as a mailbox for receiving information about the young woman's whereabouts. The family also used this space to share updates about the investigation and news related to the case. Recently, there are reports of threats coming from organized crime addressed to the agency working on the case. Amador's mother writes:
Mi vida era tranquila, controlada, todo en orden, hasta que comenzó esta pesadilla, esta angustia que no permite que mi vida continúe, necesito encontrar a mi hija”.
My life was quiet, controlled. Everything was in order until this nightmare began, this anguish that does not let my life go on. I need to find my daughter.
Image translation:
Help find her!
María Fernanda Azpetia Amador
22 years old. Went missing yesterday Aug. 28, 2016 at 10 a.m. She went out to get a cab in the city of Guadalajara on 8 de Julio Avenue and Patria in Polanco Borough. Please let me know any information you may have about her. Thank you. She’s wearing a black dress with black booties. Long black hair, light brown eyes, 1.75 meters [5'9″] tall. Contact the Attorney General or email me. Thank you so much for your help. Help by sharing please.
María Fernanda was last seen getting into a taxi heading home after leaving the apartment of her former sister-in-law, who is considered a suspect in her disappearance, as is her brother, the victim's ex-boyfriend. Waiting at home for the 22-year-old woman is her small daughter and her family members.
Fernanda's family has denounced the inefficiency of police investigators. Five months after her disappearance, her mother wrote:
Hoy, hace cinco meses desde que te escuche por última vez. (…) Hoy, hace 5 meses que la indiferencia ha logrado que yo no te encuentre”.
Today, it's been five months since I last heard you. […] Today, it's been five months that indifference has made me not find you.
Daniel Ramos Alfaro was last seen on Oct. 2, 2013. Ramos is a teacher in rural Mexico and a member of CONAFE (National Council for Educational Development) in Uruapan, Michoacán. His forced disappearance at the hands of the military took place months before the tragic mass kidnapping of 43 students in Ayotzinapa.
You can learn about Ramos’ story in a video shared on a Facebook page dedicated to his case. On the day of the incident, Daniel went to the rural community of Betania and the town of Nuevo San Martín, Michoacán, to teach basic education classes, as he had done for four years. He never reached his destination on Oct. 2, but his belongings were found later that day on the road he traveled. The date and place of his disappearance coincided with an operation that the Mexican army had carried out to eradicate marijuana in the area.
Screen capture from the Facebook page “Standing Together for Daniel Ramos Alfaro.”
Image translation:
Standing Together for Daniel Ramos Alfaro
Daniel Ramos Alfaro
Student and rural CONAFE teacher
Kidnapping victim in Betania, Uruapan, Mich.
#Missing #CIdh #CNDH #ONU
Daniel Ramos Alfaro
4 years educating kids in low-income communities
Families that create Facebook pages for missing loved ones try sincerely to share their agony. This is especially true for the mothers who operate Facebook accounts for their missing children.
Screen capture from the Facebook page “Searching for María José Monroy Enciso.”
This phenomenon is certainly on display with “Searching for María José Monroy Enciso,” who was kidnapped in 2010, when she was just 11 months old. The perpetrator tried to murder the girl's mother, but she survived. Although he was arrested, he has kept the child's whereabouts a secret.
Today, the mother tells her story in detail using Facebook, hoping to reach someone who has information about the location of her baby, who is now a 7-year-old girl.
Una bebé de 11 meses, que tomaba medicamento por convulsiones; una bebé inocente e incapaz de valerse por sí misma; una niña inocente, incapaz de comprender el peligro que la rodea. Ahora tiene 7 años y vive con una familia que no es la de ella, bajo una identidad falsa, un nombre comprado con dinero manchado de dolor e injusticia. Llegó a finales de septiembre o principios de octubre de 2010 a casa de sus raptores, debieron bautizarla, debieron cambiarle la edad un mes más o un mes menos posiblemente. Ella nació el 14 de octubre, hoy, su cumpleaños debe ser otro…”
An 11-month-old baby who was taking medicine for seizures; an innocent baby unable to fend for herself; an innocent girl, unable to understand the danger surrounding her. She is now 7 years old and lives with a family that is not hers, under a false identity, a name bought with money stained with pain and injustice. She arrived in late September or early October 2010 at the house of her captors, they must have baptized her, they must have changed her age – one month later or maybe a month before. She was born on Oct. 14, today, her birthday must be another day…”
Image translation:
Who is Majo?
Maria Jose was an innocent 11-month-old baby who never did anything bad to anybody. Our only mistake was not having money. It only took seconds for a childless couple to like her and pay for her to be taken under a false identity.
She took medicine for seizures. She has a distinctive birthmark on one of her wrists. She was stolen 9/21/2010 Edomex. #Formajo
Searching for Majo
Majo turned 7 years old on Oct. 14, 2016 and we continue to look for her. Call (55) 36514726 and 73571192 with any information
“Desaparecido” (Missing). Picture by Flickr user Eduardo Nasi. (CC BY-NC 2.0)
Official figures in Mexico indicate that 27,659 people went missing between 2007 and 2015, while the organization FUNDEM (United Forces for Our Missing People in Mexico) says the country was missing as many as 300,000 people by 2016.
Meanwhile, the National Research Foundation for Stolen and Missing Children found that 45,000 children were abducted for sexual or labor exploitation and organ trafficking purposes — all in the short timespan between 2013 and mid-2014.

author: Mercedes Matz


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Controversial ‘Crashing Airplane’ Advertisement Stirs Serbian Presidential Elections Debate · Global Voices
Filip Stojanovski

Images from the video promoting candidacy by Aleksandar Vučić for president of Serbia.
Serbia will hold presidential elections this April, and current Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić this month announced his candidacy for president. Just a few day later his campaign published a video commercial comparing the country to an airplane in danger of crashing, which naturally stirred debate on social media.
The video tells the story of an airplane branded with the slogan “Serbia 2017″. The plane has two pilots, symbolizing the prime minister and the president who share the responsibility for running the state. ‘The pilots’ argue about the direction of the plane, shaking it from side to side, causing passengers to panic.
However, the video then reveals that all is well with the “Serbia 2017″ airplane. The turbulence was merely a bad dream of one of the passengers, Prime Minister Vučić, who worries about the future.
He declares:
Ovo bi mogla da bude najgora noćna mora. Naša zemlja je kao i ovaj avion, poverena na upravljanje dvojici ljudi. Predsedniku i premijeru. I ako ta dva čoveka vode državu u različitim pravcima, nećemo moći da očuvamo stabilan kurs koji trenutno imamo.
This could have been our worst nightmare. Governance of our country, just like this airplane, has been entrusted to two persons. The president and the prime minister. If these two men lead the country in different directions, we would not be able to maintain our present stable course.
Towards the end of the ad, the two pilot characters, who emerged out of the cockpit to listen to him, agreed with his sentiments: “Well said!”
Finally, they dash back to the unmanned cockpit and the words of Vučić's campaign slogan “Faster, Stronger, Better, Serbia” appear on the screen.
Vučić's eventual decision to run for president is controversial in the context of his previous statements that appeared to rule him out of the race.
As documented by the political accountability website Istinomer (Truth-o-meter), he gave at least seven public statements during 2016 in which he explicitly claimed he would not be a candidate in the upcoming presidential elections.
However, in December he started backtracking and said that he would make a final decision in January or February.
Vučić's presidency bid, announced in an interview with RTS, the Serbian Public Broadcaster, triggered caustic reactions on Twitter and other social networks.
Zašto se lepo ne ukine funkcija predsednika Srbije? Em ne služi ničemu, em pravi razdore i probleme.
— Istok Pavlović (@istok) February 16, 2017
Why don't they simply abolish the function of the President of Serbia? There's no use in it, and it even creates discord and problems.
The ‘airplane’ advertisement added fuel to arguments that his prior reluctance to run was just political calculation:
Jasno vam je, računam, da je proizvodnja Vučićevog avio spota trajala bar 20-ak dana, toliko o tome da se do pre neki dan premišljao.
— Biljana Lukić (@BiljanaLuki) February 18, 2017
It is clear, if we do the math, that the production of Vučić's airplane video [commercial] took at least 20-odd days. So you can see if he really had second thoughts until the last moment.
Niko u istoriji politike nije napravio predsednicki spot u kome je spreman da u smrt otera gradjane ako nije onako kako on hoće.
— Tatjana Vojtehovski (@TVojtehovski) February 18, 2017
No one in political history has released a [campaign ad] showing he's ready to take citizens to their deaths if they don't do his bidding.
Twitter user Jovana Gligorijević pointed out that very similar video was used by a political party in Ukraine. She commented ironically, “Oops, the Ukrainian scenario,” mocking a stock phrase used by pro-Russian propagandists to caution against pro-Western political alignment in former communist countries.
Another Twitter user referred to the destiny of Vesna Vulović, a flight attendant who was famous as the sole survivor of a plane crash in 1972.
Jasna poruka za gradjane:
Avion simbolizuje državu pa ako slučajno niste Vesna Vulović,odselite se u Kanadu.
— taoci kosmara (@TaocKosmara) February 18, 2017
This is a clear message to the citizens:
The airplane symbolizes the state, so unless you happen to be Vesna Vulović, you'd better move to Canada.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Filip Stojanovski


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Hackers Target Iranian Activists’ Mac Devices With Revamped Malware · Global Voices
Center for Human Rights in Iran

Suspected state-sponsored Iranian hackers targeting civil human rights users have a new virus targeting Apple computers. Image from Flickr, used under Creative Commons.
This report was first published on the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran website.
Until recently, Iranian civil and human rights-focused users of the Windows and Android operating systems were the people most vulnerable to hacking attacks that most likely came from the Iranian government. But these types have attacks now have begun to affect Apple users, using malware (software that damages or disables computer systems) that targets users’ Apple devices, according to a new report by Iran Internet researcher Collin Anderson and security researcher Claudio Guarnieri.
Anderson, who co-runs the Iran Threats website, told the Campaign that the hackers are targeting the computers of civil rights activists with a revamped version of the MacDownloader malware, which was previously used to target industrial infrastructures. MacDownloader was designed to steal victims’ computer passwords by luring them to a fake prompt box that invites account holders to provide or reset their passwords.
A statement issued by Iran Threats on February 6, 2017 detailed the process:
A macOS malware agent, named MacDownloader, was observed in the wild as targeting the defense industrial base, and reported elsewhere to have been used against a human rights advocate. MacDownloader strangely attempts to pose as both an installer for Adobe Flash, as well as the Bitdefender Adware Removal Tool, in order to extract system information and copies of OS X keychain databases. Based on observations on infrastructure, and the state of the code, we believe these incidents represent the first attempts to deploy the agent, and features such as persistence do not appear to work. Instead, MacDownloader is a simple exfiltration agent, with broader ambitions.
After hackers gain the OSX Keychain information, they can potentially copy passwords for other tools such as email, websites, software and hardware and access virtually all the information stored by users on their computers and online.
“My fear is that many people switched to Mac (Apple) because they were concerned about malware and security issues (thinking Mac would better protect them), but doing this alone does not solve the issue,” Anderson, who is based in Washington, DC, told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. “So this is why this report is serious: it’s informing Mac users that they still have to be vigilant.”
Internet and social media apps are heavily restricted and censored in Iran, with hardliners in the government viewing any form of Internet freedom as a threat to the sanctity of the Islamic Republic. Research has shown that Iranian hackers, often directed by hardliners within the country’s government, periodically launch hacking campaigns against civil and human rights activists and organizations to disrupt or intimidate them into ceasing their peaceful activism.
Anderson tells us:
There’s no simple remedy, and the best protection is to be skeptical about the software that one downloads, and to be cautious about the emails they receive. As we show in the report, antivirus software typically relies on having detected a piece of malware before flagging it as malicious….Since the Iranian attacks are targeting a small population (rights activists), the detection rate by those products is low. Antivirus is not sufficient in protecting against targeted attacks.

author: Center for Human Rights in Iran


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Islamist Groups Demand Removal of Sculpture in Front of Supreme Court in Bangladesh · Global Voices
Rezwan

The Supreme Court of Bangladesh situated in the capital Dhaka. Image via Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 4.0
In Bangladesh, right wing religious groups are demanding the removal of a sari-clad sculpture of the Lady Justice in front of the Supreme court. They have threatened a countrywide movement from February 24 if their demands are not met by authorities.
The sculpture was created from stainless steel by renowned artist Mrinal Hoque and is scheduled to be officially opened in April this year. The statue is currently in position outside the court but is still being decorated.
Hefazat-e-Islam and other Islamist political parties such as Islami Oikya Jote claim the statue of Lady Justice resembles the Greek deity Themis and is offensive to the religious sentiments of the Muslim-majority country. They also urged the government to reform the country's judiciary.
Mufti Foyzullah, joint general secretary of Hefazat-E-Islam told journalists: “This [sculpture] has been cast in a sari and presented in a way that gives into vulgarity.”
Hefazat-e-Islam Bangladesh came into the limelight in 2013 during the #Shahbag protests when they demanded a ban on free mixing of the sexes and capital punishment for “atheists and blasphemous bloggers”. They introduced their 13-point demand on April 6, 2013 in Dhaka. In addition to capital punishment for blasphemy the group demanded compulsory Islamic education and a ban on the proliferation of sculptures across the country.
A number of people like Noor Hossain supported the demand to take down the brand new statue:
গ্রিকপুরাণের কল্পিত দেবী থেমিস রোমানদের কাছে ন্যায়ের প্রতীক হতে পারে, কিন্তু সংখ্যাগরিষ্ঠ মুসলিম স্বাধীন দেশের নাগরিক হিসেবে আমরা তাদের ইতিহাস ও ঐতিহ্য থেকে ধার করে কেন হীন ঔপনিবেশিক ধ্যানধারণা লালন করবো? [..]
আমাদের প্রতিবেশী হিন্দু অধ্যুষিত ভারতের সুপ্রিমকোর্ট-প্রাঙ্গণে কোনো ধরনের মূর্তি স্থাপনের নজির নেই। [..] তাহলে আমাদের হাইকোর্টের সামনে কেন গ্রিক দেবীর মূর্তি স্থাপন করা হবে?
Deity Themis may be the symbol for justice for the Greeks according to their mythology. But why should we, as a majority Muslim independent country, borrow from Greek history and heritage with its mean colonial mentality? [..]
There is no instance of such foreign statues in the supreme courts in our neighbour India. [..] So why should there be a sculpture of a Greek deity in front of our Supreme Court?
The Attorney General Mahbubey Alam dismissed the demands as irrational and baseless. The sculpture (Justitia), is a personification of the neutrality of the justice system and is found in many countries of the world, including Islamic countries like Iran, he said.
Rafi Chowdhury wrote on Facebook:
হেফাজত মূর্তি আর ভাস্কর্য এর অর্থ বোঝার মতো যথেষ্ট শিক্ষিত নয়।
মূর্তি অপসারণ হলে হেফাজত নিষিদ্ধ করার দাবি তুলবো।
এদেশ এদের কথায় চলবে না, চলবে ৭১ এর চার মূল নীতির উপর ।গনতন্র- সমাজতন্ত্র- ধর্মনিরপক্ষেতা-বাংগালী জাতিয়তার ভিত্তিতে ।
Hefazat is not educated enough to understand the difference between a statue of a deity and a sculpture. If the sculpture is removed, I will start demanding a ban on Hefazat. The country should not be run by their demands, we should honour the four founding principles of our country; democracy, socialism, secularism and Bengali nationalism.
There were some angry reactions in Twitter:
Hefazat in Bangladesh the tricky traders now appointed the agent & subcontractors to protect Islam; as it their father's property.
— Akkas A Mollah (@AkkasAMollah7) February 18, 2017
#Bangladesh Islamists including Hefazat-e-Islam will someday demand changing country's name and nat'l language as both r unIslamic. #Islam
— momo man (@MOM0man) January 27, 2017
Single statue at Dhaka's supreme court enough to get Hefezat-Islam issuing ultimatums & threats=tyranny #Bangladesh https://t.co/EZUeFr3W8i
— Joseph Allchin (@J_Allchin) February 12, 2017
Abdur Rahim Rana wrote on the Ishtishon blog:
আজ হেফাজত বলছে ইসলামে মূর্তি হারাম তাই সুপ্রিম কোর্টের মূর্তিটি সরিয়ে ফেলতে হবে।
কিছু দিন পর বলা শুরু করবে, ইসলামে নারী নেতৃত্ব হারাম! শেখ হাসিনা গদি ছাড়। এই তো শুধু বলার বাকি।।। [..]
সাধুগন সাবধান, হেফাজতী আগ্রাসন না ঠেকাইলে অস্তিত্য খুজিয়া পাইবে না।
Now Hefazat is saying a Statue is haram in Islam so the sculpture in front of Supreme court should be removed. After some days they will say a woman leading a nation is haram, so (Prime Minister) Sheikh Hasina must go. This remains to be said. [..]
Please beware, if you don't pay heed to this Hefazati aggression, your existence will be threatened one day.
The state minister for cultural affairs, Asaduzzaman Noor, also criticized Hefazat's demand:
হেফাজত এমনভাবে বলছে মনে হয় এটি গণপ্রজাতন্ত্রী বাংলাদেশ নয়, যেন ইসলামি প্রজাতন্ত্র বাংলাদেশ।
Hefazat is speaking like this is not the People's Republic of Bangladesh, as if it is the Islamic republic of Bangladesh.
It remains to be seen whether or not Hefazat's claim that hundreds of thousands of people are ready to take the streets to bring the sculpture down if it is not removed by the authorities has substance.

author: Rezwan


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Uproar After a Syrian Judge Says Taking a Second Wife Could Fix ‘Spinsterhood’ · Global Voices
Rami Alhames

A mass wedding organized for members of Assad's army, the ‘Syrian Arab Army’ or (SAA). Source: Al Baath Media.
Syrians took to social media to express their outrage after Damascus’ first Sharia judge Mahmoud Maarawi, who heads the religious court that oversees personal status issues for Syria's Sunni Muslims, the country's majority, suggested that Syrian men could marry a second wife to solve the ‘problem’ of ‘spinsterhood’ (عنوسة), a derogatory term mostly used to refer to an unmarried woman.
Speaking with state-owned newspaper Tishreen on February 5, 2017, Maarawi said it was a ‘solution’ to the fact that the Syrian women population outnumbers that of the men in regime-held areas; according to some estimates, women could comprise up to 65% of the population (although this cannot be verified).
But in Damascus, for example, the relative absence of men has been noted by many visitors and there has been a general decline in marriage rates. One activist from Homs told The Syrian Observer in May of 2016 that:
People believe the rise in spinsterhood is related to the decreasing number of young men, including those who flee abroad or who join the military forces fighting in the country, in addition to the large number who have been killed. This exacerbates the problem and negatively affects young women and families, given the social norms that stigmatize unmarried women, divorcees, or even widows.
The story was immediately picked up by pro-opposition websites such as Enab Baladi:
القاضي الشرعي الأول بدمشق يقترح الزواج بثانية للقضاء على العنوسة#عنب_بلدي #سوريا #دمشقhttps://t.co/qw5hhhKm3O
— عنب بلدي (@enabbaladi) February 6, 2017
Damascus's first Sharia judge suggests a second wife marriage to tackle the issue of spinsterhood
His statement was also mocked by supporters of the Assad regime:
انا مستعد حقق مطالب القاضي الشرعي بدمشق بس بدي بيت بالمزة فيلات غربية و محل بشام سنتر و دبابة t90
— العميد (@liongeneral19) February 7, 2017
I agree with Damascus's Sharia first judge, but I demand a house in Mazzah [an affluent neighborhood] and a shop in Sham Center Shopping and a Tank T-90.
من لم تقتله الحرب ، قتلته زوجته بعد فتوى القاضي الشرعي بدمشق .
— zouher mahmoud (@Abo_mahmoud1977) February 8, 2017
If the war didn't kill a man, his second wife will certainly do it, thanks to the judge's fatwa
A Facebook user, Ghassan Makdsi, made the argument that in most of the Middle East, the general population suffers from clerics’ involvement in ordinary citizens’ everyday lives:
مشكلة الوطن العنوسة والحلّ هو النكاح !!؟؟
المشكلة أنه مازل هناك رجال دين تتدخل في الحياة العامة للمواطن بل بالحياة المنزلية لابل بالحياة الشخصية ..
المشكلة أنه لا يزال هناك رجال دين في السلطة تفكر كما يفكر رجال الدين لدى داعش ..
المشكلة أننا نعتبر من يتولى إدارة زمام الدولة هم من الطبقة المثقفة العلمانية المدنية ..
المشكلة الأكبر للأن لم يخرج أحد للإعلام السوري ويقول له ,,سكر تمك,, فأشكالك هم من دمروا الوطن ..
المشكلة إن فتواه ليست لسد رمق المواطن السوري ولا لسد جشع التجار ولا لكبح جماح العفيشة والسارقيين ولا لمن يخطف لقاء مال .. ولا للأولاد التي تنام في شوارع البرد والموت ولا للمهجريين الذين يموتون في العراء
فتواه فقط لأجل النكاح .. القاضي لا يشغل باله إلا بالنكاح ..
The country's problem is spinsterhood and your solution is sex?
The problem is that there are still clerics intervening in the everyday life of citizens, inside their homes even in their very personal lives.
The problem is that are still religious men in power who think like the clerics of Daesh (ISIS).
The problem is that we consider that those who are in control of the state's administration are part of the educated secular class.
The biggest problem is no one from the media in Syria came out to say ‘shut up’ to those whose mentality destroyed our country.
The problem is that his fatwa is not to feed the Syrian citizen, nor to stop greedy traders, nor to reduce the number of thieves. Not for the kids who are sleeping in the cold, deadly streets, nor for the refugees who are dying outdoors.
His fatwa is only about sexual intercourse.. this what this judge cares about.
Away from religious ‘solutions’ for Syrian women, Syriatel, the main mobile provider in Syria owned by Rami Makhlouf, a cousin of Bashar Al Assad and Syria's wealthiest man, held its fourth group wedding on January 30, 2017 to marry 30 couples in Damascus.
The forth mass wedding in Damascus, organized by Syriatel for the members of the Syrian Arab Army. Source: Facebook Page

author: Rami Alhames


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Aussie Media Cop Criticism for Coverage of Olympic Swimming Gold Medalist’s Meltdown · Global Voices
Kevin Rennie

Hackett (left) at the Melbourne homecoming parade for 2008 Olympic Team – courtesy Sarah Ewart (Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0)
The public meltdown of Australia Olympic gold medal swimmer Grant Hackett triggered frenzied coverage in both the mainstream and social media. The Australian media have copped considerable criticism for their approach.
Grant Hackett has been a national icon since his 1500 metres freestyle victories at the 2000 Sydney Olympics and the 2004 games in Athens. He has held a number of swimming world records and retired in 2008. He made a much-publicised comeback at the 2015 World Championships but was not selected for the 2016 Olympic team.
Hackett's issues with medication, mental health and his family have been public knowledge for some time. The latest controversy began with Hackett's arrest on February 15 following a ruckus in the home where he was living with his parents. Even the Australian Swimmers’ Association general manager and fellow swimming competitor, Daniel Kowalski, responded strongly to the news:
Grant Hackett needs tough love in wake of arrest: Australian Swimmers’ Association boss Daniel Kowalski… https://t.co/86bf4qqy3u @Barrakkhan pic.twitter.com/O9Jj0CPoos
— Barrak (@BarrakKhan) February 15, 2017
Some tweeps had much harsher judgments. This tweet compared Hackett with former Australian Football League champion Ben Cousins whose drug-related incidents are notorious:
Grant Hackett is basically Ben Cousins in goggles.
— John Johnsonson (@JohnJohnsonson) February 15, 2017
However, Collezione Santina's sympathetic tweet was more typical of the social media response:
#GrantHackett you're important to all of us. you're greatness is in our memories. All our doors and homes are open to you. #areyouok
— Collezione Santina (@AltaModaSydney) February 16, 2017
Hackett had added fuel to the chatter about conflict with his family in January with his own very public contribution. Jessica Dietrich was not the only journalist to re-post this photo from Hackett's instagram account.
Grant Hackett: “My brother comments to the media… but does anyone know he beat the s**t out of me” @7NewsSydney @Y7News pic.twitter.com/X5IKpxkM9a
— Jessica Dietrich (@jessdietrich7) February 15, 2017
The account is now private.
The role and responsibilities of the media, both old and new, have been a focus of much of the online commentary:
#grantHackett typical Australian media, the guy give his life to make Australians proud now they abandon him and make fun of the hero
— Avereh Alex (@dariushfar) February 18, 2017
Members of the mental health community such as John Mendoza have similar requests:
What is going on? Grant Hackett the lead story on @abcnews. Media leave the family alone. #Mentalhealth is a personal matter. Not public
— John Mendoza (@johno0910) February 16, 2017
The hypocrisy of the media…advocates supporting mental health & promoting awareness..but hounding Grant Hackett down the street ?
— Clare Rowe (@clarezrowe) February 15, 2017
Media: Please consider the impact of sustained coverage on the #mentalhealth of a celebrity – important to be respectful #GrantHackett pic.twitter.com/fxU24SHz6E
— Mindframe (@MindframeMedia) February 16, 2017
Regrettably, the private family problems continue to be played out in the public arena. Dave Thomson is clearly unimpressed:
FFS leave them alone. Seems like Grant's family are one of his biggest problems…especially his brother #CutThemLoose #GrantHackett https://t.co/jrH73hUz7n
— Dave Thompson (@thebundyeel) February 19, 2017

author: Kevin Rennie


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China Argues Over Which Country is Behind Kim Jong-nam Assassination · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Screen capture from NTD TV news.
In Western and South Korean media coverage the February 12 murder at Kuala Lumpur airport of Kim Jong-nam, half brother of North Korea's supreme leader Kim Jong-un, was immediately interpreted as an indicator of serious and growing tensions between China and estranged ally North Korea.
The broad, if unverifiable assumption at present is that Pyongyang ordered the hit on on the regime sibling, who lived with his two families in Beijing and Macau under China’s protection, in order to eliminate a potential pretender to the throne. If this version is true, it would be a major embarrassment for Beijing, whose relations with its communist neighbour are souring by the day.
Thus far, most Chinese state-affiliated media outlets have withheld from commentary on the news, reflecting, perhaps, a certain paralysis in China over how to react to the shock development. Certainly, after China's criticisms of North Korean nuclear policy, the two countries are no longer “close like lips and teeth”, as Modern China's founder Mao Tse-Tung once said.
Nevertheless, Chinese nationalist commentators who tend to see U.S hegemony as a major source of threat to the country — and North Korea as a traditional ally — filled the void of silence with speculation that pointed a finger at South Korea instead.
They accuse Seoul of carrying out the assassination in order to gain public support for deploying the controversial Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile defence system that the United States supports, and which has ratcheted up tensions with the north.
Few users of the Chinese Twitter equivalent Weibo seemed to buy that theory, however.
The nationalist-leaning Global Times first quoted the online conspiracy theory in its news report dated February 17:
网上有阴谋论大胆推测，韩国保守派人士可能涉事，因为他们一向都对朝鲜持有强烈敌意，暗杀金正男后再将责任嫁祸于朝鲜，可令平壤政府受到国际谴责
There is an online conspiracy that the [government] in South Korea may have been involved in the incident as they are hostile towards North Korea. They may have killed Kim Jong-nam and blamed North Korea for the act, so that international society would condemn Pyongyang.
The paper then quoted Lu Chao, a researcher at the Liaoning social science academy to provide backing for the conspiracy theory:
韩国政界和媒体对金正男之死炒得不亦乐乎，各媒体不断“爆料”，这对他们来说好像兴奋剂一样。韩国似乎把这条消息当成抹黑、颠覆朝鲜的一个“重磅炸弹”，从这一角度来看，已经超出了新闻的范围，有很大的政治目的性。
South Korean politicians and media are overjoyed with the news about Kim Jong-nam’s death. These media outlets keep publishing “breaking news” [on the topic]. The effect of the incident is like LSD. South Korea sees the news as a “powerful bomb” to defame and subvert North Korea. From this point of view, it is no longer a piece of news but part of a political plot.
Seemingly, commentators such as Lu Chao view the  THAAD system as a greater threat to Chinese national security than North Korea's nuclear tests, despite increasing evidence that China has as much reason to fear Kim Jong-un's unpredictable regime as other countries in the region.
On Twitter, prominent Chinese journalist Gao Yu condemned those still backing North Korea:
金正男马来西亚遇刺，是震惊世界的恶性恐怖事件，刚刚听到VOA对中国两位学者的采访，他们认为这件事对中朝关系影响不大，金正恩大权在握，政权巩固，反而说这为刚刚上台的美国总统川普制造难题。中国产生这样泯灭人性的学者只能令人齿寒，也让世人看清杀（姑）父弑兄的金三胖有恃无恐搞核恐假谁威！ pic.twitter.com/ADbzPK98nJ
— 高瑜 (@gaoyu200812) February 15, 2017
The assassination of Kim Jong-nam in Malaysia is a terrorist incident. But I just heard two scholars talking to VOA who argued that the incident would not affect North Korea’s relationship with China because the fact Kim Jong-un remains in power creates difficulties for U.S President Trump. Such cold-blooded scholars are terrifying. Their view tells the whole world who is supporting Kim Jong-un, the maniac who killed his uncle and his brother.
On the Weibo comment thread under a China Central Television news report on the topic, most commenters stated their belief that North Korea was the most likely culprit in the assassination.
地球人都知道，这是三胖子在向中国示威而已。三胖子发射导弹，原以为会获得中国支持（因为这几年都是毛左路线），想不到这次不同，毛左开始失去控制权，中国严厉指责朝鲜，并通知要断绝对朝支持（包括禁止进口朝鲜煤），双方立即谈崩。三胖子担心中国扶持喜欢改革的正男上台。。果断出手杀了正男，。
The whole world know that the incident is a protest against China by Fatty the Third (Kim Jong-un). The fatty launched missiles and expected Chinese backing for his actions […] But this time, China condemned North Korea and claimed that it would stop giving support to North Korea (and banned North Korea coal import). Relations broke down. Fatty was worried that China would support the reformist Jong-nam to take over the leadership… and Jong-nam was killed.
蠢货才会相信朝鲜是中国的小弟，事实上中国是朝鲜大后方。中国对朝鲜内外政治毫无影响力，却不得不提供各种资源输血
Only the stupid ones believe that North Korea is China’s little brother […] China cannot exercise any political influence over North Korea, but it has to offer supplies to the country.
预感，中国要协助北朝鲜统一南北朝鲜了。萨德，是中国协助的理由。。。。。威胁到了，中国的安全。。这步棋下的很波折啊。只有，南北朝鲜统一了，中国的东北边防和东部海防环境才会安稳，前提是，中国协助统一。。如果是美国协助统一，就是另一回事了。
My gut feeling is that China will help the reunification of North and South Korea. As to THAAD being a threat to Chinese national security… that is very far fetched. Only when the two are reunified will northeastern China and [the region] know peace. But China has to help out… if the U.S takes the lead in reunification, it might be another story.
Unlike certain nationalist armchair pundits, meanwhile, residents of the northeastern region of China fear North Korea far more than they fear THAAD and South Korea:
不想说啥，我只知道三胖搞核武，我们这里都地震好几次了，去年最厉害的一次，上课的孩子们都跑到操场疏散，最后校长紧急决定放假。呵呵。替他叫好的，想想大东北的安危再说话。别忘了你是中国人。
I don’t want to say too much. All I know is that because of Kim Jong-un’s nuclear tests, we have experienced a few earthquakes here. The most serious earthquake happened last year, when kids in school had to run to the sports fields and the school headmaster decided to cancel the school day because of security concerns. Those who cheer for [Kim Jong-un], please think about the safety in Northeastern China. And don’t forget you are Chinese.

author: Oiwan Lam


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Fleeing the Shells of War, Kachin Civilians Struggle Against Freezing Cold in North Myanmar · Global Voices
The Irrawaddy

Kachin civilians have set up a camp in the China-Myanmar border to escape the renewed hostilities between the Kachin Independence Army and the Myanmar army. Photo by Myo Min Soe / The Irrawaddy
This article by Myo Min Soe and Nan Lwin Hnin Pwint is from The Irrawaddy, an independent news website in Myanmar, and is republished by Global Voices as part of a content-sharing agreement.
The text refers to the local war involving the military of the Myanmar government and the Kachin Independence Army. Despite the ongoing peace process initiated by the government which came to power last year, various armed ethnic groups across Myanmar are still engaged in an armed conflict with the military of the national government. These wars have produced a refugee crisis. The article below illustrates the impact of the war on the civilian population
Nearly 2,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) arrived at Shait Yang village in Laiza District, an area controlled by the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), on January 21, 2017. These IDPs came from the Zai Awng and Hkau Shau camps in Waingmaw Township.
They had to flee the camps in darkness on January 19 when artillery shells—fired in a battle between the Myanmar Army and KIA—rained down around their camps. These civilians rushed into Shait Yang village, which is situated on the Myanmar-China border. They expected that Shait Yang would be safe because there were no soldiers there, and because the Chinese and KIA had an agreement not to deploy soldiers too close to the frontier. An IDP and refugee relief committee struggled to assist the new arrivals.
The weather offered no help—the area is one of the few in Myanmar with snowfall. At night, the temperatures dropped to -4 degrees Celsius (25 degrees Fahrenheit). On January 25, when The Irrawaddy visited, some residents in the camp lacked clothes warm enough to protect them from the bitter cold. Some built fires to stay warm.
“My legs are killing me. They are numb due to the cold,” said 60-year-old Laphai Zau Ra, who wore only a worn-out blue sweater. He said that he’d had no time to grab other clothes when he ran for his life, away from the artillery shells at Zai Awng.
Another IDP, Kawt Mai, said she was afraid of the nighttime because the temperatures were becoming extreme.
“I have never experienced this kind of cold in my life,” she said. “It seems very long when I wait for the day to break.”
The refugee camp is situated in one of the few places in Myanmar with snowfall. Photo by Myo Min Soe / The Irrawaddy
A Kachin refugee trying to get warm in the camp. Photo by Myo Min Soe / The Irrawaddy
Kachin civilians gathering firewood to survive the bitter cold temperature. Photo by Myo Min Soe / The Irrawaddy
Children help their families in gathering firewood around the camp. Photo by Myo Min Soe / The Irrawaddy
Almost 2,000 fled their villages after recent skirmishes between the Kachin Independence Army and the Myanmar army. Photo by Myo Min Soe / The Irrawaddy
Kachin children playing in the camp. Photo by Myo Min Soe / The Irrawaddy
Kachin civilians who fled artillery attacks now struggle against the bitter cold temperatures in an IDP camp in Shait Yang, Laiza District. Photo by Myo Min Soe / The Irrawaddy
Photo by Myo Min Soe / The Irrawaddy

author: The Irrawaddy


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Thousands Joined ‘Walk for Life’ to Protest Extrajudicial Killings and Revival of Death Penalty in the Philippines · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

The ‘Walk for Life’ lasted for four hours at Luneta Park in Manila. Photo from the Facebook page of CBCP News
Thousands of Filipinos joined the ‘Walk for Life’ event organized by the Catholic Church in protest against the rising ‘culture of violence’ in the country.
The action was aimed against the proposed revival of the death penalty law, the implementation of the Reproductive Health law, the proposal to lower the minimum age of criminal responsibility, and continuing drug-related extrajudicial killings.
The Philippines has a Catholic-dominated population. Catholic bishops wield strong influence over the politics of the country.
The ‘Walk for Life’ is seen by many analysts as the first major protest against the government’s bloody ‘war on drugs’. As of this writing, 7,000 have been killed in the past seven months after the government of President Rodrigo Duterte launched its aggressive campaign against illegal drugs. Police and other state forces are accused of committing extrajudicial killings in urban poor communities.
According to the organizers, more than 20,000 joined the ‘Walk for Life’ in the country’s premier national park in Manila. The people came from at least 21 Catholic dioceses in Luzon and from other Christian churches. The police claimed about 10,000 participated in the event. But the number could be higher if the ‘Walk for Life’ events in other provinces are included.
Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of Manila, who joined the event, urged the faithful to uphold life:
Let’s not stop walking for life. We should do it everyday. Nothing will happen if we will not walk for life everyday.
Non-violence does not mean it is passive. Active. But we believe that we cannot stop violence also by violence. If the response to violence is also violence, we double the violence. We shouldn’t be doubling or propagating violence. We should match it with non-violence.
Below are some images from the four-hour rally which started at 4:00 a.m.
Snapshots of the crowd at Quirino Grandstand as sun rises. @Team_Inquirer pic.twitter.com/0g1FXlVVzv
— Julie M. Aurelio (@JMAurelioINQ) February 17, 2017
Cleanse, reform and enforce rules.#NoToDeathPenalty #WalkForLifePH pic.twitter.com/p5quznAlVJ
— CBCPNews (@cbcpnews) February 17, 2017
Among the participants in the rally are relatives of victims of drug-related extrajudicial killings. Photo courtesy of Kathy Yamzon
Children rights advocates also joined the ‘Walk for Life’ to protest the government's proposal to lower the minimum age of criminal responsibility. Photo from the Facebook page of Alan Lacon
#WalkForLifePH We are against extrajudicial killings, reimposition of death penalty, sexism, lowering of MACR, corruption under DU30 regime. pic.twitter.com/VUTWSPxzdU
— Hon Ms Asia Pacific (@Ms_Asia_Pacific) February 17, 2017
Good morning from #WalkForLifePH! ❤ pic.twitter.com/r4ILmIuUUu
— Diane (@mrydeyen) February 17, 2017
‘Huwag kang papatay’ banner is Filipino phrase for ‘Don't Kill’

author: Mong Palatino


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Whale-Themed ‘Suicide Groups’ Present Opportunity for Internet Crackdown in Central Asia · Global Voices
Akhal-Tech Collective

Blue whale cartoon. Public domain.
In Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, a game played online that supposedly leads teenagers down a path to suicide has offered authorities a useful pretext to crack down on the internet.
The game, which the governments of both countries refer to as “Blue Whale” (translation from Russian) is played in groups on the Russian Facebook equivalent Vkontakte.
Supposedly, anonymous administrators of closed groups on the network use the service (as well as Whatsapp and Skype) to instruct players of the game to carry out specific tasks that include self-harm. After fifty days — in some documented cases — they are told to commit suicide.
The hashtags for the game include #SeaOfWhales, #BlueWhales, #WhalesSwimUpwards and #WakeMeUpAt420. Whales appear to be used in branding for the game because, like dolphins, they have been known to die in circumstances that resemble suicide.
Nevertheless, for all the panic that surrounds the groups, only one student across both countries was thought to have potentially committed suicide as a direct result of them, and Kazakh police later ruled out the link.
The game's sudden appearance in both countries raises questions. At the end of January, a number of outlets in Kyrgyzstan (with Russian government-owned Sputnik.kg taking the lead) published articles on the game's “arrival” in the country. One of Kazakhstan's government-backed television stations broadcast a report on the game a day after the Sputnik report, with other Kazakh media outlets not picking up the thread until about a week later.
In Kyrgyzstan, media reports on January 30, January 31 and February 1 mostly presented the game as a spreading virus infecting the country's schools. Some reports said the game had emerged towards the end of last year or at the turn of 2017, but there are few explanations as to why there was zero media coverage of it prior to January 30.
Many parents have accused the government and the media of blowing up the threat. In Kazakhstan, the head of a parents’ association complained on February 8 that the social menace posed by the game had been made much greater by the ever-growing hype surrounding it.
In Russia itself, the game is “no longer trending” by most accounts. The young man that Russian authorities view as its brainchild, Filip Budeikin, is facing jail for driving at least 15 teenagers to suicide.
In a frank and chilling interview with the saint-petersburg.ru media outlet last year, Budeikin maintained the real figure was 17 and said his victims “died happy. I gave them that which they did not have in their real life: warmth, understanding, connection.”
While a controversial Gazeta.ru report on the so-called death groups or suicide groups Budeikin and others created attributed 130 deaths in Russia to their existence, that figure has been widely disputed.
In neighbouring Kazakhstan, “Blue Whale” hasn't led to a single proven death, though there have been several reports of self-harm. Nevertheless, on February 14, a court in the country's largest city Almaty approved the request of the district prosecutor, who submitted an order that would ban the circulation of such games:
Решением суда удовлетворено заявление прокурора Наурызбайского района Алматы о прекращении деятельности на территории Республики Казахстан распространения продукции иностранных средств массовой информации, склоняющих детей к суициду.
The court grants the request of the Almaty Nauryzbayskovi district prosecutor's office regarding the termination of activities and distribution through foreign media [using the term “foreign media” to refer to VKontakte] of products inclining children to suicide on the territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
The court order only refers to the so-called “whale groups” or “death groups” at present, rather than VKontakte as a whole. In that case, the groups would probably need to be closed by VKontakte moderators at the government's request.
The Kazakh government is clearly uncomfortable with its inability to decisively regulate content on VKontakte. On February 13, the country's interior minister called for tighter legislation regarding social networks:.
Здесь выход должен быть такой: мы должны в законодательном порядке обязать владельцев держать все данные на казахстанских пользователей в Казахстане или же обязать их работать в Казахстане через казахстанских провайдеров. Вот тогда будет [контроль].
This is how it should be: we should pass laws to obligate the owners [of social media] to keep all data on Kazakhstani users inside Kazakhstan, or obligate them to work in Kazakhstan via Kazakh [Internet Service] providers. Then there will be [control].
Kyrgyzstan's response has been more haphazard. Shortly after news emerged of an underage suicide on February 1 that police later said was not connected to the game, police asked the owner of a travel agency to paint over a piece of street art he had commissioned — that also had no connection to the game — which featured a Beluga whale.
Whale-themed street art in Bishkek that was painted over after panic surrounding the so-called ‘Blue Whale’ game erupted. Image from Kloop.kg, creative commons.
They then raided schools, and, according to schoolchildren, checked students’ mobile phones for connections to the group.
Most recently, the state committee on communications said that it would block social media users using hashtags associated with the game. To do, this, the committee acknowledged on February 14, it will need Russia's help, given that VKontakte's servers are located there.
Мы будем инициировать запрос коллегам из Роскомнадзора в России, так как перечень хэштегов в основном используется в социальной сети “ВКонтакте”, чтобы они удалили со своего сервера этих пользователей, эту информацию
We will send requests to our Roskomnadzor [Russian communications regulator] colleagues in Russia, as these hashtags are mainly used on the social network “VKontakte”, so that they might remove [these users] from their servers.
Russia's state communications regulator, Roskomnadzor already censors media reporting on suicides and has played an active role in shutting down the VKontakte “death groups” in Russia.
These initiatives might be characterised as mere over-reactions if the governments of Central Asia did not have prior, long-running vendettas against social media.
Kazakhstan is keen to clamp down on social media after it proved a useful tool for mobilising people in massive protests against the government last year.
Under outgoing President Atambayev, Kyrgyzstan has actively targeted users of Facebook critical of the head of state, calling several in for questioning.
Both countries seem unwilling to block social media outright (except on rare occasions), which might incur international criticism and rob them of a useful thermometer to gauge the public's political mood.
What emerges instead is a piecemeal approach, in which certain subtexts provide incremental justifications for authorities in the two republics to place social media under greater scrutiny and include it in more legislation.
Then, there is the regional setting.
In February last year, an obscure group called the Organisation of Eurasian Cyber-Security sent emails to media outlets in various ex-Soviet countries containing an appeal to leaders of the countries to secure their “cyber-borders” and block, if necessary, websites such as YouTube and Facebook that could threaten political stability.
One Kyrgyz media outlet made a faithful — but fruitless — attempt to find out who or what the OECS was. The Knews.kg outlet noted the organisation's website had listed addresses in Moscow and the Kazakh city of Almaty that did not check out when tested, and that the website had been designed to look like that of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation, a multilateral military body led by Russia.
Most outlets in Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Armenia made no fact-checking efforts and simply reprinted the sensational appeal.
The website linked to the OECS has since disappeared. Similar to the recent, bubble-like emergence of the “blue whale” groups in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, no one can say for sure who was behind it.
The number one cause for suicide is untreated depression. Depression is treatable and suicide is preventable. You can get help from confidential support lines for the suicidal and those in emotional crisis. Visit Befrienders.org to find a suicide prevention helpline in your country.

author: Akhal-Tech Collective


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A Dozen or More Things Tropical Cyclone Dineo Should Have Taken Away From South Africa · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

ropical Cyclone Dineo nearing landfall over Inhambane Province, Mozambique on 15 February 2017. A Public Domain image by NASA’s Aqua satellite.
South Africans have reacted to the country's brush with tropical cyclone Dineo in humour. They are using the hashtag #ThingsDineoShouldTakeWithHer to share jokes about the near escape.
Last week, Dineo hit parts of Mozambique, where it left seven dead, Zimbabwe, where it caused severe flooding and South Africa where it resulted in heavy precipitation and some flooding.
Hlume Dladla thought Dineo should have taken Nkandla, the homestead of South Africa's president Jacob Zuma:
So Nkandla is safe? #Dineo please come back… #ThingsDineoShouldTakeWithHer pic.twitter.com/p18NH9wDW6
— Tweets In Xhosa (@HlumelaDlala) February 18, 2017
In 2014, a report by South Africa's Public Protector Thuli Madonsela found that President Jacob Zuma unduly benefited from security upgrades to his Nkandla homestead, which cost tax payers about 250 million rands, or US $25 million. The “security” upgrades included a cattle kraal. The public protector asked Zuma to repay part of the money back to the state.
James Sethogo, reminded Twitter of this controversy, writing:
#ThingsDineoShouldTakeWithHer including the cattles pic.twitter.com/xmzGgGZ5XZ
— James Sethoga (@jamessethoga) February 17, 2017
Kechane Neo wrote:
#ThingsDineoShouldTakeWithHer people who constantly reminds us that we've gained weight and that we need to loose it. TF???
— 21 February ?? (@khechane_neo) February 18, 2017
Another user would not have minded if the cyclone took 10% of South Africa's population — the rotten 10%:
Corrupt politicians, sure we'll lose 10% of our population but it'll be worth it.#ThingsDineoShouldTakeWithHer
— Just A Gamer (@Tebza992) February 18, 2017
Queen B shared the following image and quipped:
#ThingsDineoShouldTakeWithHer people who shave off thier eyebrows only to draw them back and mess it up like this #TSAon3 pic.twitter.com/NSeUzBjz5O
— Queen.B wa ga Seleke (@QsSeleke) February 17, 2017
Tumie has had enough of the text message that informs mobile phone subscribers of the state of their internet data:
The person who sends this SMS :” your data bundle has been depleted.”#ThingsDineoShouldTakeWithHer
— tumie_online (@tumelorangata) February 17, 2017
Calven Lusenga observed:
#ThingsDineoShouldTakeWithHer people who talk to other people knowing very well that they didn't even brush their teeth
— Calven Lusenga (@CalvenLusenga) February 16, 2017
Mohau, a student, suggested:
#ThingsDineoShouldTakeWithHer assignment dead lines
— MOHAU (@Serabelem) February 17, 2017
Posting a photo of the recent chaotic scenes at the South Africa's parliament, Yoshani wrote:
#ThingsDineoShouldTakeWithHer the guys that squeezed Juju's balls. #Dineo ??? pic.twitter.com/zppdhjmk9G
— Yashani D (@Ashley_Dorothy) February 16, 2017
Juju is the nickname of Julius Malema, the leader of the radical opposition party in South Africa, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF). EFF members, including Julius Malema, were forcibly removed from the parliament for interrupting the 2017 State of the Union address by President Zuma.
Kabelo simply tweeted the following photo, accompanied by a single word:
#thingsdineoshouldtakewithher Doom… pic.twitter.com/1wum3JaWzD
— Kabelo Ⓜoahloli (@KMoahloli) February 17, 2017
The man spraying Doom on the photo is a controversial South African pastor Lethebo Rabalago who claims that he can heal people using this favoured brand of insecticide.
Echoing Kebelo's sentiments, Mwilima wrote:
All the fake prophets , take them with Dinnie #ThingsDineoShouldTakeWithHer
— Mwilima Mabakeng (@M2_Mabakeng) February 18, 2017
Bizzare acts by South African “prophets” in recent years have included eating grass, snakes and drinking petrol, which supposedly becomes pineapple juice after prayer.
Andile tweeted:
#ThingsDineoShouldTakeWithHer
People who tell their women not to wear waves & makeup then cheat on them with women who have waves & makeup. pic.twitter.com/WMkws6AoQG
— Andile (@AceMsuthu) February 16, 2017

author: Ndesanjo Macha


text:
Free Expression Under Fire as Venezuela Takes CNN Spanish Off the Air · Global Voices
Laura Vidal

“Let's get rid of CNN's signal and your basic food basket will appear.” Detail from the series “Se acabaron los problemas” (The problems are over) by Eduardo Sanabria (EDO). Used with permission.
The Venezuelan government and CNN's Spanish language service clashed for a final time on Feb. 15, when state authorities issued an official order to remove the channel from cable and satellite TV stations.
CNN says the order is a response to its story “Passports in the Shadows,” which where the network presented evidence that that Venezuelan consular staff illegally sold visas and passports to Syrian and Iraqi citizens.
When issuing its order, Venezuela's National Communications Commission (Comisión Nacional de Comunicaciones, or CONATEL) did not specify the broadcast that prompted its crackdown, but censors did accuse CNN of “distorting the truth” and inciting “external attacks”:
Tal procedimiento obedece al contenido que viene difundiendo [CNN en español] de forma sistemática y reiterada […] contenidos que [pueden constituir] agresiones directas que atentan contra la paz y la estabilidad democrática de nuestro pueblo venezolano […]
Puesto que sin argumento probatorio y de manera inadecuada difaman y distorsionan la verdad, dirigiendo las mismas a probables incitaciones de agresiones externas en contra de la soberanía de la Republica Bolivariana de Venezuela
This decision is the result of content that [CNN in Spanish] has been systematically and repeatedly disseminating. […] Content that [could constitute] direct attacks that threaten the peace and democratic stability of our Venezuelan people […]
This is due to the fact that without convincing arguments they inappropriately defame and distort the truth, leading to probable incitement of external attacks against the sovereignty of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.
Foreign Minister Delcy Rodríguez accused the channel of cooperating with U.S. military operations and conducting a military media campaign against Venezuela.
The blowback on social media has been significant, especially after CNN in Spanish announced that it would broadcast for free on YouTube. Many Internet users have described this move as a perfect mockery of the government's censorship attempt:
#15F Hasta el que no veía CNN, lo va a ver, encima gratis. Gracias CNNE por dedicarle tanto a Venezuela. #conclucensura@MCarolinaMarinA
— Reporte Ya (@ReporteYa) February 16, 2017
Even those who didn't watch CNN will watch it now, and for free. Thank you CNN in Spanish for your dedication to Venezuela.
Others have welcomed the move against CNN, expressing concerns about the consequences of some of the network's broadcasts, like the story “Passports in the Shadows.” Coverage like this, critics say, justifies suspicions that CNN was fomenting support for a foreign invasion of Venezuela.
Facebook user Luigino Bracci Roa posted the following message online:
Compas, yo sé que lo de CNN puede parecer un exabrupto. Pero, ¿a ustedes les pareció poca cosa el programa “Pasaportes a la sombra” que transmitió Fernando del Rincón la semana pasada? Estaban acusando a Venezuela de VENDER PASAPORTES de forma masiva a “terroristas” de Hezbollah, para hacer un ATENTADO A ESTADOS UNIDOS […]¿A USTEDES LES PARECE ESO POCA COSA? ¿No recordamos lo que le pasó a Irak y Libia? Al margen de si Trump pueda iniciar o no un ataque contra Venezuela, igual es necesario reaccionar contra ese tipo de matrices de opinión.
Friends, I know that the CNN measure might seem like an overreaction. But did you think the program “Passports in the Shadows” broadcast by Fernando del Rincón last week was no big deal? They were accusing Venezuela of SELLING PASSPORTS en masse to Hezbollah “terrorists,” to carry out an ATTACK ON THE UNITED STATES […] DOES THAT NOT SEEM LIKE A BIG DEAL TO YOU? Don't we remember what happened in Iraq and Libya? Quite apart from the question of whether or not Trump might initiate an attack against Venezuela, it's still necessary to react against these kinds of smears.
For many Internet users in Venezuela, the government's actions represent just the latest attempt to censor the media and restrict the availability of news reporting:
Caricatura EDO para @ElNacionalWeb : Encuentre las 4 diferencias #Cnn@CNNEE / Sacaron a CNN #CNNEEpic.twitter.com/ySszDOg01E
— Eduardo EDO Sanabria (@edoilustrado) February 15, 2017
EDO cartoon for @ElNacionalWeb: Find the 4 differences. They kicked out CNN.
While CNN has promised to circumvent Venezuelan television by streaming for free online, CONATEL has also announced plans to limit the network's Internet signal. Another large obstacle will be the country's generally slow Internet connection, which is an important component of national censorship and affects more than just CNN.
In fact, Venezuelans have some of the slowest and most precarious Internet connections on the continent.
The problem becomes even more complex when you consider Venezuela's complicated foreign currency exchange controls. Telecommunications companies in the country say the scarcity of dollars affects the quality of service and the companies’ livelihoods. In April 2016, telecom companies complained that foreign currency funds vital for paying connection service providers took 18 months to be approved.
The same companies also say limitations on purchases and imports make it difficult, if not impossible at times, to maintain the equipment needed to operate.
CNN's departure from Venezuelan screens further reduces the number of channels providing information that is independent from the Venezuelan government. The vast majority of Venezuelan media outlets have been nationalized, bought by entities linked to the governing party, or they reduced their informational content in order to survive the political pressures of Chavismo.
While this appears to be the end for CNN on Venezuelan television, it's hardly the first time the network and government have clashed. The cable news network undoubtedly has its flaws, but even a biased news outlet offers virtues in a system as closed and dominated by the state as Venezuela. Unfortunately, even that trace of plurality bites the dust with the decision to kick CNN off the airwaves.

author: Laura Vidal


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Local Language / Global Network: Designing Mobile Technology for Indigenous and Minority Language Users · Global Voices
Derek Lackaff

The photo by Derek Lackaff taken in rural County Galway, Ireland in January 2016
A version of this post was originally published at r12n on Medium.
Last summer, an Irish woman named Caoimhe Ní Chathail sent her mobile phone company a tweet to let them know that she was having some trouble using their website. For months, the site had been rejecting her name as “invalid” because it contained an accented Irish letter (í). The mobile company’s response was to ask if Caoimhe could just use the “English version” of her name. This very public exchange caused a minor uproar on Irish Twitter: an Irish company seemed to be questioning the acceptability of using the Irish language online in Ireland. Within a few weeks, the company had actually updated its site so it would not reject Irish names, but this small incident illustrates the type of interactions that speakers of Irish frequently face in their interactions with digital media.
Irish (Gaeilge) is the first official language of Ireland, a recognized minority language in Northern Ireland, and an official language of the European Union. Instruction in the language is mandated throughout primary and secondary school. The language has a rich literary heritage, and is used in radio, television, and across the internet. Second language learners outside Ireland can find formal opportunities to study the language at universities like Notre Dame or University of Sydney, or more casually at a MeetUp or using free apps like Duolingo. Despite this support and interest, Irish is considered to be “definitely endangered.” Current estimates suggest that there are only about 40-70,000 daily speakers out of the Irish population of 4.6 million. Irish is a community language spoken outside of school in very few areas, most prominently in specially-designated rural regions called Gaeltachtai. Irish is thus a minority language in Ireland where most people use the majority language — English — in their daily life.
Percentage of people who speak Irish daily outside the education system, 2011 Census. By SkateTier CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
A recent report suggests that Irish could actually die out as a community language within a decade or two. This puts Irish in the company of thousands of other human languages that could disappear in the coming years and decades without active intervention. While the technical classification of languages and their endangerment levels is somewhat contested, the global trend is toward less linguistic diversity as languages like English, Spanish, or Chinese displace local and indigenous languages. Although languages have come and gone throughout human history, colonialism, assimilation programs, and globalization have put massive pressures on languages of fewer speakers over the past century. In the United States over 150 indigenous languages still have living speakers, but decades of cultural suppression have left these languages in a very precarious position. There are still 2,000 speakers of Lakota, for example, but most first-language Lakota speakers are now in their 60s and 70s. Intergenerational transmission of a language — grandparents and parents to children — is the core process in a language’s survival, so language preservation and revitalization is often a race against time.
There are many reasons why users should be empowered to use their own language, and for preserving linguistic diversity. A language represents an unbroken connection to a particular culture and perspective, and encodes unique information about humans and the world. Access to a heritage language provides profound benefits to peoples who are resisting and recovering from colonialism. With my colleague William J. Moner, I recently started a research project that examines the use of a minority language — Irish — across mobile media. We suggest that lessons from the Irish experience might be applied to the other thousands of endangered human languages, and that interaction designers have an important role to play in the language revitalization process.
Communication technologies, and social media more specifically, present both opportunities and challenges for minority language preservation and revitalization efforts. Benefits include the ability to widely distribute cultural and news media, as well as learning materials; and the opportunity to improve the prestige of the language, and promote its use among younger generations. This last point becomes increasingly salient as global youth cultures move towards always-connected communication contexts exemplified by mobile messaging platforms like Snapchat, Facebook Messenger, and WhatsApp.
Digital communication platforms potentially enable members of language communities to remain in contact with one another whether they are local or distant. However, as the personal computer loses primacy to mobile communication devices, interaction and input rely more on advanced processes like speech recognition and gesture typing than on traditional keyboard typing. While accepting basic textual input from a keyboard is a trivial computational exercise, providing more advanced functionality such as spelling correction or speech processing is more expensive in terms of time and resources. Some observers have started sounding alarms, such the poet and musician Sjón regarding his native Icelandic language (330,000 speakers):
The broader and more serious implications are for the language as it is used in daily life. Technology is moving towards AI and speech-controlled applications, and the companies developing it do not see preserving languages spoken by few as their responsibility. When the day comes that we have to speak to our refrigerators in English (which I believe is not far in the future), Icelandic will retreat very fast.
And Icelandic isn’t even technically endangered.
The computerization of minority languages provides several new opportunities for language preservation and revitalization. These opportunities include easier and less intrusive language documentation, for example by using mobile apps like Aikuma. They include new opportunities for pedagogy and learning, as new text, audio, video, and computer-assisted learning software becomes easier to produce and disseminate. Among my favorite examples are the game Never Alone, which was developed in close collaboration with Alaska Native storytellers.
Another fun example is the Lakota-dubbed version of Berenstain Bears now available on Youtube. Finally, software localization or translation, particularly of open-source software, is an area of particular promise for minority languages. Kevin Scannell, a computer scientist at Saint Louis University, lists many software applications — including desktop apps like Mozilla Firefox and LibreOffice, and webapps like Gmail and Twitter — that are now available in Irish thanks to his and others’ contributions.
Globally there has been a massive shift towards mobile, and it’s clear mobile devices shape the use of a language in different ways than personal computers do. The first generation of mobile text platforms was primarily composed of mobile phones with small screens and numeric input pads. Because the standard numeric keypad only had 12 buttons, most characters were entered using multiple button presses to cycle through available options. For example, a user would press the button labeled “2” six times to produce the Á character, first cycling through the characters A, B, C, 2, and Ä. Predictive text is an input technology designed to ameliorate some of these problems, allowing the software to “predict” which word a user intended to produce based on a reduced number of button taps. Predictive text increases text input speed by as much as 30%, and was broadly implemented for global languages, but support for minority languages with smaller commercial markets languished.
Sure beats button mashing on a feature phone.
Touchscreen devices such as the Apple iPhone and iPad characterize the second generation of mobile platforms. Such devices typically employ a “soft keyboard” that appears onscreen when text entry is necessary. For a minority language with a script closely related to a majority language, basic input of text is likely not a problem. Modern Irish, for example, uses the majority of letters from the Latin alphabet with five accented vowel characters (síneadh fada) that can be accessed from an English keyboard with just an extra key tap. Typing characters one at a time, however, is probably a foreign concept to most touchscreen device users. For users of global languages, software keyboards provide advanced features such as gesture typing, spellchecking, and automatic corrections. These types of interface technologies greatly increase the convenience, accuracy, and speed of text input on mobile devices, and this may introduces a bias toward the majority language even for fluent minority language users.
To better understand how minority language users interact with mobile technologies, we developed and conducted an online survey of young Irish speakers and learners in Ireland. The survey was derived from one used in a previous study of teenage speakers of Frisian, a minority language spoken in the Netherlands. As might be expected, these participants tended to be very heavy users of social media, particularly of mobile social media apps. They reported divergent levels of language proficiency: understanding of Irish was fairly high, speaking proficient was a bit lower, and writing was significantly lower.
These users had a lot to say about their experience using Irish in social and mobile media, and the various obstacles they faced, and three broad themes emerged from their responses to open-ended questions. The first theme was that the audience for Irish was much smaller than the audience for English. Most of the participants have many friends who speak Irish, but many hesitated to use the language socially in digital media. In fact, many suggested that it would be “unusual” or “abnormal” to see Irish in their feeds. No users reported that they attempt to segment their audience by language, for example by using Facebook lists.
The second, related theme was that users note their networks are linguistically pluralistic, and they were concerned that posting in Irish would exclude or offend those who didn’t speak the language. This finding was in many ways paradoxical, as participants also generally feel that the language is an important part of their culture and personal identity.
The third theme was that the mobile media context presents specific technical challenges. Even fluent users are faced with additional challenges in producing written Irish on a mobile device — rather than using advanced gesture typing with autocorrect, they are forced to laboriously input text letter by letter. In many cases, the keyboard actively works against them, as the English autocorrect marks all their Irish as misspelled, or “corrects” their Irish words into English. The challenge of producing “correct” Irish on a mobile keyboard is exacerbated for many potential Irish users who are not completely fluent. Several mentioned that they had been publicly critiqued or shamed by “grammar snobs” or prescriptivists for writing “incorrect” Irish online.
These findings suggest some specific issues that interaction designers might consider in designing for minority language users.
Most of our respondents find that current mobile interfaces inhibit the use of Irish. Whether it is accessing accented characters or battling the autocorrect in another language, the interface itself can push users toward the majority language. In some smaller language communities, users have no problem with switching keyboard layouts, disabling assistive technologies like gesture typing and autocorrect, and typing words out a letter at a time. However, in a minority language context such as the Irish example, users make the valid assumption that everyone in their network is proficient in English, and thus elect to take the path of least linguistic and technical resistance. Many of the fluent Irish users in our sample send English messages to their Irish speaking friends and family, even if they speak Irish with them in person and on the phone.
We also find that social media popularity metrics push Irish users towards using the majority language. Such metrics tend to be simplistic but are prominently featured on every post or update: think “likes” or “comment counts” or “retweets.” In the attention economy in which social media users are encouraged to perform, anything that might limit engagement — like the use of a minority language — will be avoided.
Second, all minority language users live and communicate in a complex cultural context. Irish has a deep and complex set of associations for Irish people, ranging from a sense of heritage and pride, to concerns about political conflict or painful experiences learning the language in school. Further, it is safe for Irish users to assume that English will be understood by their entire local network, while Irish will only be understood by some of their Irish network and none of their global network. This complicates the sustained use of Irish, particularly for younger generations. If the goal is to encourage casual, creative use of the language, there may be value in designing to promote new language norms, for example with monolingual platforms that remove the social ambiguity of bilingualism. Other minority languages will have different relationships with the majority language, warranting other types of designs.
Finally, languages have specific and unique linguistic requirements related to their orthography, morphology, and computational resources. Irish is somewhat unique as a minority language in that it is comparatively well-resourced. For example, several inexpensive or free functional Irish keyboard input technologies are already available for mobile devices, but adoption seems to be low among the potential userbase we surveyed. None of our participants mentioned using the Adaptxt keyboard, a free iOS and Android keyboard that provides high-quality Irish predictive and autocorrect functionality and easy language switching. A few users noted that they used the Swype keyboard, which is a separate download, but has full support for Irish. There are active centers of research in Irish computational linguistics, such as the ADAPT Centre collaborative in Dublin. Kevin Scannell suggests that for Irish, the challenge is not a dearth of technical resources or support, but actually connecting users with these resources: effectively marketing Irish-language software and interfaces to potential users, and convincing operating system developers and device manufacturers to integrate Irish language technologies into their products. There are indications that this may be happening for some languages — the latest version of Google's GBoard keyboard app for iOS and Android supports Irish, and allows for autocorrect and prediction in multiple languages simultaneously.
Teresa Lynn, a researcher with the ADAPT Centre, gives a TEDx talk on Irish and social media.
Language vitality requires practice in spaces where people are active in a mutual exchange of ideas and where conversation may occur. As global technology giants like Facebook and Google, for example, move aggressively into developing regions of the world, questions of linguistic self-determination and colonial resistance are becoming increasingly important. Encouraging the everyday use of endangered languages –in both offline and online contexts — warrants a strong push for participation and engagement by minority language activists, designers, and developers in these spaces.
As communication technologies move into increasingly intimate and developing cultural contexts, and as social media platforms facilitate communication within these contexts, the tensions between local languages and the global technologies will continue to vex both local communities and interaction designers. While Irish is a unique minority language, its examination provides insights into how global and local practices are mediated through mobile interfaces.

author: Derek Lackaff


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Twitter Walks a Fine Line in Russia · Global Voices
Jack Margolin

Image by Pixabay and Kremlin Press Service. Edited by Kevin Rothrock.
On February 9, Twitter user “The OSINT” posted a screenshot of an unusual email he received from Twitter explaining that some of his tweets would not be available in Russia due to a request to block them from Roskomnadzor, the agency that oversees Russian media and is responsible for censoring material that is deemed illegal.
In the email, Twitter explained that requirements set by the Office of the Prosecutor General in 2015, adjusting and broadening a 2006 law on the regulation of information, justified Roskomnadzor's request. The Prosecutor General's 2015 requirement, which amended the so-called “Lugovoy Law,” provides for the restriction of information resources containing “appeals to mass riots, extremist activities or participation in mass actions.” The requirement has been used to censor a number of information outlets, including Twitter, the hosting service Github, and a variety of Ukrainian publications.
Roskomnadzor has used similar legal arguments to order Russian Internet providers to restrict access to blogs run by influential opposition figures, including Alexei Navalny and Gary Kasparov.
According to Twitter Legal, some of my tweets will now be withheld in Russia on request of the Governement ? pic.twitter.com/gvXbnKlw3F
— The OSINT (@theosint) February 9, 2017
The OSINT—an anonymous contributor to the citizen journalism platform Bellingcat—is an unsurprising target for Roskomnadzor, given the ire Bellingcat has drawn from the Kremlin and Russian media for its reports on corruption in Russia, Moscow's war in eastern Ukraine, and the downing of flight MH-17. It is likely that The OSINT's frequent criticism of Russian policy and state-controlled media made the user a target for content restriction.
Despite the fact that they complained about “extremist content”, I have no doubt they want to silence me for speaking out against Putinists.
— The OSINT (@theosint) February 9, 2017
But The OSINT isn't the only user to have his tweets blocked in Russia. The Russian government submits thousands of requests each year to Twitter for content removal, presumably using Twitter's Content Removal Requests procedures for government agencies. This process requires government agencies to demonstrate how content on the network stands in violation of local law. If the company approves the request, the content in question will be censored or “geo-blocked” within the country.
According to Twitter's most recent transparency report, from January to June of 2016, Russian authorities made 1,599 content removal requests and reported 1,698 accounts for violations. Twitter restricted 10 accounts and geo-blocked 182 tweets within Russian territory during that time period, putting Russia among the top six countries to have their block requests approved by Twitter.
This trend is not entirely new: 2015 saw a massive uptick in the number of Russian requests to withhold content. Still, Russian censorship pales in comparison to the undisputed leader of the pack, Turkey, where Twitter geo-blocked more than 1,500 tweets and 222 accounts in the first half of 2016 alone.
Both countries have a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty with the US, which can compel companies like Twitter to honor foreign government requests if they are submitted through the appropriate channels and accompanied by a court order. But only Turkey appears to have used this process in 2016, which may explain its sky-high numbers.
Source: Twitter
Earlier this year, several popular Russia-related parody accounts were temporarily removed from Twitter. Twitter initially claimed that this was due to violations of the rules governing parody accounts, but later restored the accounts after, one suspects, determining that their parodic intent was sufficiently clear. Though their temporary ban resulted in an outcry from certain corners of the Twitter community, the decision to withhold these accounts was made as a result of suspected violations of Twitter's terms of service. Twitter's action against these accounts was likely the result of flagging by other users, rather than direct state requests.
But it is easy to wonder whether Twitter has made any concessions to Russian government requests as part of an effort to continue operating in Russian territory. In the spring of 2015, Roskomnadzor delivered explicit threats to Facebook, Google and Twitter, instructing them to comply with the agency’s removal requests targeting “extremist content,” or risk being fined or banned altogether. What's more, Russia has attempted to force foreign Internet companies to store Russian users’ data on Russian soil—a requirement that Twitter and other companies have thus far been able to sidestep. In November 2016, however, the professional social networking website LinkedIn was effectively blocked in Russia for violating this law. Observers interpreted this as a move intended to pressure foreign companies to begin storing data on servers inside Russia.
As a consequence, platforms like Twitter appear to be walking a fine line, finding a middle ground that allows them to uphold, at least nominally, their claim to support the freedom of expression while avoiding expulsion from Russia. This approach suggests that the prefers to conduct selective censorship, rather than risking total expulsion from states like Turkey and Russia.
Since Iran’s Green Movement in 2009, Twitter and other social media platforms have been widely viewed as key facilitators of the free flow of information in the face of oppressive governments. Countries like Russia and Turkey, however, have responded to technological innovation with legal innovation, such as the server localization law, leaving companies like Twitter that have built much of their brand on the idea of free expression in a challenging position.

author: Jack Margolin


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A Veteran of the Malvinas War Shares His Healing Journey to the Past · Global Voices
Romina Navarro

A monument to those fallen in the Malvinas War located in the city of Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego Province, Argentina. Photo by David Bolt, published to his Flickr account under a Creative Commons License.
Miguel Savage is an Argentinian veteran of the Malvinas War — the ten-week-long conflict between Great Britain and Argentina over ownership of the archipelago off Argentina's coast, known in Argentina as the Malvinas Islands, and in Britain as the Falkland Islands. In 2000, after nearly twenty years of silence, Savage decided to return to the islands to confront the ghosts of his past and heal his wounds.
Also known as the South Atlantic War, the 1982 conflict resulted in nearly 1,000 casualties, mostly on the Argentinian side.
In his book, Malvinas, viaje al pasado (Malvinas, Journey to the Past), published in 2011, Savage detailed his painful experience, grimly describing the “absurd war.” Barely 19 years old, Savage and his fellow Argentinians faced three major enemies: the cold, the British, and their own leaders.
His memoir also includes a moving story about meeting and befriending a British veteran, which Savage says expanded his perspective on the conflict.
In this interview with Cadena 3 (a radio station based out of Córdoba, Argentina), Savage told the incredible “story of the blue sweater” he found on an island farmhouse. He says it saved his life.
In 2006, Savage was finally able to make another visit to the islands to return the sweater to Sharon, the daughter of its original owner.
El pulóver era de su papá quien había fallecido a causa del estrés luego de la guerra. Tomé unos mates con ella, lloramos juntos.
The sweater had belonged to her father, who passed away after suffering PTSD after the war. We had a couple mates and cried together.
Below, you can watch the talk Savage gave at the TEDx Río de la Plata conference in January of 2013 (subtitles in English):
Creo que hay tres formas de enfrentar situaciones de gran sufrimiento: tapar todo, victimizarse o abrazar la herida y transformarla en algo positivo. Es por eso que narro con alegría mi historia de vida, compartiendo los aprendizajes y la resiliencia.
Lo dedico con emoción a la memoria de los que murieron en el 82, y los que luego se quitaron la vida. Argentinos y británicos.
I believe there are three ways to cope with situations of great suffering: by blocking everything out, by playing the victim or by embracing the pain and turning it into something positive. This is why I gladly tell my story, sharing the resilience and the things I have learned.
With all my heart, I dedicate this to the memory of those who died in '82, and those who took their own lives, Argentinians and British.

author: Romina Navarro


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Government in Azerbaijan: It’s a Family Affair! · Global Voices
Arzu Geybullayeva

Mehriban Aliyeva. Creative Commons.
On February 21, Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev announced that his wife, Mehriban Aliyeva, would take the country's First Vice President position. This is a brand new post created following a recent and controversial referendum on constitutional changes that were widely interpreted by watchers of the authoritarian country as boosting the ruling family's powers.
While the news itself was thoroughly predictable, some of the reactions from social media users in a country where freedom of expression is subject to regular government crackdowns were nothing short of priceless.
Soon when the Aliyevs sit down for dinner it will be covered as “the country's leadership just had a meeting on security”.
Belated Valentine's Day present.
We are a friendly family, we are a friendly family [play on words; Mehriban means friendly in Azerbaijani].
Family is the foundation of society
Mehriban Aliyeva seems to be one step ahead of Claire Underwood. #HouseofCards https://t.co/VSs9H5ljfO
— Ali Kıncal (@AliKINCAL) February 21, 2017
Some disagreed that it was a late Valentine's present, arguing instead that it was an early present for International Women's Day, which is marked on March 8 and celebrated with gusto in the former Soviet Union. Rinat Balgabayev, a popular Facebooker in Azerbaijan's Caspian Sea neighbour Kazakhstan cracked:
Azerbaijan's president just made his wife Vice President. How are we (men) going to be able to top him on March 8?
But others more in the know figured it must have been President Aliyev's gift for their wedding anniversary, which just happens to be on February 22…
Serious analysts saw the appointment as marking the official beginning of one-family rule in Azerbaijan, as well as a further darkening of the country's human rights prospects.
Former political prisoner Anar Mammadli wrote:
Azerbaijan's government continues to astonish the world. Despite expectations, there were no snap parliamentary or presidential elections. Overnight, family rule was formalized.
While Khadija Ismayil, a world famous journalist recently released from jail wrote:
Although Ilham and Mehriban have now joined in unholy political matrimony to give Azerbaijan's autocratic system a monarchic feel, it is worth noting that power in the country is already hereditary in nature. Aliyev, 55, inherited the country's top job in 2003 from his late father Heydar, who had led Azerbaijn since before its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

author: Arzu Geybullayeva


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Hong Kong Police and Pro-Beijing Groups Protest After Court Convicts Officers of Assaulting Activist · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Pro-Beijing groups rallied against the court's ruling. Image by Ellie Ng from Hong Kong Free Press.
Seven police officers in Hong Kong were convicted on February 14 of assaulting a pro-democracy activist in 2014 during the Occupy Central protests demanding citizen nomination of the city's top leader.
Tsang Ken was handcuffed by the officers and brought to a dark corner, where the officers punched and kicked him. Although the assault was videotaped and aired on television news and medical records showed that Tsang had sustained injuries, the case was only brought to the court in June 2015, almost two years after the incident.
The court sentenced the officers to two years in prison. On Facebook, many applauded the result, some joking that it was the best Valentine's Day present.
Judge David Dufton said when handing down the sentence that the court needed to “make an example” out of the case to ensure that no officers would attempt to commit the offence in the future:
The defendants damaged Hong Kong’s reputation in the international community… There was no justification to take Tsang to the substation for the assault.
Police groups objected to the conviction and prison sentence, and Police Commissioner Steven Lo Wai-chung has given permission to raise funds for the seven convicted officers.
Pro-Beijing groups were outraged and rallied on Saturday against the outcome. During the rally, the protesters demanded the city's Chief Executive CY Leung grant amnesty to the seven. They criticized the court for being lenient on Occupy Central protesters and harsh on the police officers “who were just performing their duty”.
Occupy Central was a protest movement that took over downtown Hong Kong for three months at the end of 2014. Participants demanded that Beijing let the people of Hong Kong, a special administrative region of the mainland, to choose their own candidates for chief executive, instead of just allowing a vote on pre-selected candidates. Occupy protesters withstood violent police efforts to clear their camps using tear gas and pepper spray with the help of umbrellas, leading some to dub the movement the “umbrella revolution.”
A number of pro-Beijing celebrities also spoke out on Facebook in opposition to the police officers’ conviction and sentencing. Film director Clinton Ko wrote (and later deleted):
黄絲法官徧幫亂港反港份子。本土港獨暴徒縱火，打警察，破壞公物，狗官就輕判，甚至判無罪，實在徧破至極。
Yellow ribbon [pro-democracy] judge is siding with those who bring chaos to Hong Kong. For the pro-independence rioters who set fires, beat up police and destroyed public property, the dog judge gave a light sentence, some were found not guilty. This is extremely biased.
Another pro-Beijing lawmaker, Junius Ho, commented through a Facebook video:
They didn’t point a gun at protesters. They only hit Tsang twice in a corner to vent their anger [… ] Small punishment in order to prevent someone from making a bigger mistake in the future.
The case also attracted responses from mainland China. State-affiliated tabloid Global Times ran a commentary criticizing Judge David Dufton for the judgement and blaming the “colonial legal system” for “violating the spirit of law” (Hong Kong was a British colony for 156 years until 1997):
它延续了殖民地的色彩，并没有像香港政府一样建立起对中国宪法和基本法的忠诚，因此遇到与政治有关的案件时，它就容易跑偏，背离法律的基本精神。[…]这样的情况不符合香港的根本利益，甚至会让香港的司法体系从基础上受到侵蚀。
[The legal system] is tainted with colonial color and has yet to establish loyalty to China’s constitution and [Hong Kong's] Basic Law. So when dealing with political cases, its judgement is off track and has violated the spirit of the law. […] This is against Hong Kong's interest and will bring harm to Hong Kong’s legal system.
Social media celebrity Cai Xiaoxin from mainland China publicly stated that he would pay 10,000 yuan, or approximately 1,400 US dollars, for someone to beat up Judge David Dufton.
And Tiffany Chen, wife of Charles Heung whose family is tied to one of Hong Kong's largest and most powerful organized crime groups, the Sun Yee On Triad, also spoke out against the judge's decision on Weibo.
Applied social sciences professor Chung Kim-Wah found the situation ludicrous and pointed out that the police actions had damaged the force's reputation. He urged the head of the police to apologize to the public for the officers’ misconduct:
香港警察淪落到要靠江湖夫人撐，有冇諗吓點解？係唔係覺得好風光？前後兩位一哥會否感到羞恥？[…] 警隊曾經一度被市民評價為最能得到信任的紀律部隊，近期已經跌到排名最低[…]。試想像一下：作為一個最主要的執法隊伍，竟然有四分一市民不信任，以後可以點做？
每一個警務人員都有責任想一想可以如何救亡，要點做才可挽回聲譽，又可以怎樣重建受到嚴重破壞了的警民關係。警隊一哥及高層對此就更是責無旁貸。但他們表現如何，大家有眼睇。佢哋正在葬送警隊。
Now the wife of the triad leader speaks up for Hong Kong's police. Has anyone tried to reflect on the collapse of the police's image? Or should they take pride in it? Have the former and current heads of the police force any sense of shame? […] Once the police force had been viewed as the most trustworthy law enforcement department, but recently it has fallen to its lowest point. […] Just imagine, as a major law enforcement force, a quarter of the citizens do not trust them. How can they perform their job?
Every police officer should think hard to save their reputation and re-establish their relationship with citizens. It is the key responsibility of the head of the police force. But now they are burying themselves alive.
In fact, the outrage and weekend protests ignited a huge amount of angry criticism against the police on online media outlets and social media. As media worker Lam Yin Bong argued on Stand News:
有警察犯事不可怕，樹大自有枯枝，可怕的是，有警察犯事，只因事關佔中政治正確，整個建制陣營和執法部門，就可以將所有法治公義，和自己身為執法人員應有的態度完全拋之腦後。
Police misconduct is not frightening as these are single cases. What's frightening is police wrongdoing can be justified by politics. The whole pro-establishment and law enforcement department can then put aside judicial justice and the integrity of law enforcers.
Fearing that Hong Kong’s rule of law has been undermined by Pro-Beijing groups, a lawyer collective issued a statement demanding that the secretary for justice take action to ensure that the judiciary can exercise its judicial function free from any contemptuous attacks.


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In Georgia, Concern Mounts as Tussle over Key Broadcaster Reaches Endgame · Global Voices
Akhal-Tech Collective

Flag of Georgia. Creative commons.
The public mood in Georgia and in particular the capital Tbilisi is tense as the country's highest court prepares to deliver a final verdict on the ownership status of Rustavi 2, a leading channel associated with the UNM opposition party loyal to former President Mikheil Saakashvili.
In recent years, with the UNM out of government, Rustavi 2 has been a source of critical reporting on the UNM's rivals in the Georgian Dream coalition government backed by Georgia's richest person Bidzina Ivanishvili.
This was reflected in the massive numbers — around 10,000 people according to some accounts — that gathered in central Tbilisi at the weekend to protest Rustavi 2's potential transfer to new owners.
Тысячи людей в Тбилиси?? пришли на митинг в защиту оппозиционного телеканала “Rustavi 2″. pic.twitter.com/C2Jh5GGAhb
— Alexander (@avaza1972) February 19, 2017
Thousands came to the meeting in support of the opposition TV channel Rustavi 2.
The tussle over Rustavi 2 stretches back at least as far as the autumn of 2015 and is now reaching a conclusion.
According to the DF Watch Tbilisi-based watchdog:
The Supreme Court is to decide a private lawsuit against Rustavi 2 filed by one of the company’s former owners, Kibar Khalvashi, who claims he was forced to give up his ownership of the TV company during the Saakashvili presidency. He won in Tbilisi City Court and also in Appeals Court.
If the businessman wins the case in the Supreme Court, which is the final recourse in the country’s judiciary, he will take over the company and put in place a new management.
Khalvashi has been accused of acting on the orders from and being backed by the authorities; winning the lawsuit might therefore mean that Rustavi 2 loses its editorial independence, according to UNM and some analysts.
Rustavi 2 is a strongly supportive of Saakashvili’s party and a critical voice against the government.
The ruling is being seen as a key test of Georgia's judicial institutions. The South Caucasus country is the most democratic in the region but a longer tradition of Soviet-style authoritarianism looms over national politics.
Fate of Rustavi 2 will undoubtedly determine future of Georgia, democracy can't survive without freedom of speech!
— eka tkeshelashvili (@tkesho3) February 19, 2017
It is not only UNM supporters concerned about the potential neutering of the channel.
#Media is a natural ally of society. It can show flaws! …And never make mistakes, which already made by your opponents. Support #Rustavi2
— Giorgi Koberidze (@GiorgiKob) February 19, 2017
Major hit on #Georgia‘s free media; the gov't about to hand over Rustavi2 to its loyalists. https://t.co/gkkVDsoXrc pic.twitter.com/CQctAi2Vfk
— Devi Dumbadze (@ilikilar) February 18, 2017
As noted in the tweet above, Rustavi 2 stopped broadcasting over the weekend to protest the ongoing legal wrangle and alleged pressure on Supreme Court justices from the government. It has since returned to the airwaves.
#Rustavi2 has returned to broadcasting. #Protest at #Rustaveliave #freedomofpeech #Tbilisi pic.twitter.com/poX4v7Lfrw
— Anna Makharadze (@Makharadzeana1) February 19, 2017
It is not yet clear when the supreme court will issue its ruling.