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50 Shades of Erdogan’s Propaganda · Global Voices
Arzu Geybullayeva

Thousands protest in Istanbul against corruption and Erdogan's government in Dec. 2013. A banner with Fethullah Gulen and PM Erdogan's pictures reads: “One is no better than the other”. Fulya Atalay for Demotix.
Joseph Stalin described the work of writers as being akin to the “engineering of human souls.” He was referring not just to any type of writing, but to the writing of propaganda.
Today in Turkey, under the leadership of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), this type of “engineering” has proven relatively successful. Immediately following the 2013 Gezi Park protests, then-Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan managed to convince his political base that the protests were nothing but the work of an “international interest lobby”.
He has wielded the myth of the “parallel lobby” — a label for opponents real and invented — in countless public speeches ever since. Pro-government media have been essential in helping to get the message out.
CNN's Christiane Amanpour was indignant after Turkish pro-government daily Takvim published a fake interview with her in which she ‘confessed’ to being forced to cover the Gezi protests in a way that cast a negative light on Turkey. Screenshot taken from Hurriyet Daily News report on the subject.
From the CIA, to the international Jewish conspiracy, to an interest rate lobby, to Lufthansa Airlines, to a mysterious telekinetic attack by dark forces; the list of so-called “lobbies” has become extensive. But only one man was sufficiently controversial to offer up the real, living and breathing enemy to take state propaganda to the next level.
Fethullah Gulen, a Pennsylvania-based Turkish preacher and visionary, was Erdogan's ally before he became his enemy. After AKP's first landslide victory in 2002, the pair worked together to re-shape Turkish politics, long-dominated by a secular military elite. But as Erdogan looked to extend his power, Gulen's undoubted influence inside the government became a hindrance. By the time the Gezi protests took place, it had reportedly collapsed. Since a coup attempt the government blames on Gulen took place last year, vicious attacks on the preacher's network in the government-controlled media have reached a crescendo.
While there remain credible suspicions regarding Gulen's involvement in the 2016 failed coup attempt, other charges leveled at him verge on ridiculous.
Among these are the suggestion, prompted by Erdogan himself, that Gulen's movement may have been responsible for shooting down a Russian plane that allegedly entered Turkish airspace during a mission in Syria in late 2015. Ankara was looking to repair damaged relations with Moscow at the time Erdogan made the claim.
Pro-government tabloids also alleged that the assassination of Russia's envoy in the country in 2016 was the work of a Gulenist hand. Photo taken from the website of the ‘Silenced Turkey’ advocacy group.
Clearly, Fetullah Gulen and his movement serve the same broad and convenient purpose that Trotskyites and Tsarists did for Stalin. They help the autocrat lend credibility to actions that would otherwise make no sense, and in doing so, defeat his real enemies: truth and democracy.
Erdogan demands brown uniforms for Turkey coup defendants after suspect wears ‘Hero’ t-shirt in court https://t.co/5Esn9zLEuB via Yahoo!
— THE WORLD NOW (@WorldNewsNgayon) August 8, 2017
In a Washington Post blog exploring why authoritarian leaders resort to lies, Xavier Marquez notes:
In open democracies, a public commitment to certain implausible claims (e.g., the claim that Barack Obama was a Muslim, or was not born in the U.S.) may draw sharp lines between groups, mobilizing supporters while enraging the opposition without being “literally” believed. But implausible lies are more important in the murky environments of many authoritarian regimes, where secrecy and fear make it difficult for rulers to know if their subordinates are truly loyal. These regimes typically need to “dramatize” their cohesion, showing in convincing ways that they are in fact unified to deter internal challengers.
Indeed, peddling “implausible claims” has become a norm in Turkey. In the crackdown that followed last year's failed military coup, more than 100,000 employees lost their jobs.
The government sees Gulenist enemies of the state wherever it wants to, especially in what remains of the free press.
In countries like Turkey the free press is now behind bars. The remaining press became Erdogan's propaganda aparatus.
— Chris taylor (@Nightrider1001) August 23, 2017
Deniz has been arrested because of covering Erdoğan's son-in-law's leaked e-mails. Detained for terror propaganda. Is Journalism terror?
— Bülent Mumay (@bulentmumay) February 27, 2017
#Erdogan mixes terror propaganda and free speech. But what about good old independent journalism? https://t.co/3xE6LP3u09 @CPJ_Eurasia
— jean-paul marthoz (@jpmarthoz) January 24, 2016
“There can be no unlimited freedom of press… The West does the same to her journalists” President Erdoğan at foreign investors meeting. pic.twitter.com/2RPACYTyoV
— dokuz8 NEWS (@dokuz8_EN) July 12, 2017
Erdogan's crackdown has extended itself to international visitors and foreign governments as well.
On July 5, Turkish police stormed a training for Turkish human rights defenders on one of the Istanbul islands, arresting all of the participants as well as two trainers from abroad. The case has now been internationally branded as #Istanbul10. Those detained have been accused of “committing a crime in the name of a terrorist organization without being a member.”
Erdoğan attacks foreign press, foreign analysts and foreign embassies for supporting or tolerating Turkey's enemies.
— Ankaralı Jan (@06JAnk) July 16, 2017
Turkey's foreign ministry has let the world know that it believes the Gulenist scourge is active beyond the country's borders, too.
Outside Turkey, Gulen is best known as an educator, with schools using his approach to education located in nearly one hundred countries across the world. Even before the 2016 coup, Turkey had begun putting heavy pressure on many countries — notably in Africa and Central Asia — to close the schools. That pressure has been ramped up in the aftermath of the failed putsch.
Ironically, prior to Erdogan's fallout with Gulen, the schools were seen as institutions of excellence that created Turkophiles in much of the developing world and contributed to the country's growing “soft power”. Writing for Al-Monitor back in 2015, Fehim Tastekin noted the counter-productive nature of the drive to close the schools.
Unfortunately, if the intensity of state propaganda over the last few years is any indication, Erdogan and AKP have moved well beyond considerations of “soft power”.

author: Arzu Geybullayeva


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Local Groups Warn Suicide Is on the Rise Among Iran’s Impoverished Arab Ahwazi Community · Global Voices
Rahim Hamid

Iran's Ahwaz region is experiencing unusually high unemployment and poverty rates amongst its indigenous Arab population. The past few months have seen a violent upswing in Arab Ahwazi suicides. Photo of Arab workers in Iran provided by Patriotic Arab Democratic Movement in Ahwaz. Used with permission.
The self-immolation of a man named Jassim Moramazi on 27 August has thrust the desperate situation of poverty and unemployment for Iran's Ahwazi Arab community into the spotlight.
Moramazi was married with a child, living in the Al-Thawra neighborhood of Ahwaz in southwestern Iran. He had suffered from anxiety, depression and shame due to the helplessness he felt about him and his family's situation, according to Ahwazi rights groups working inside Ahwaz who wished to remain anonymous.
A graphic video shared on YouTube reportedly captured the moments after set himself on fire. Several people managed to quickly extinguish the flames, and Moramazi was admitted to Taleghani hospital in Ahwaz city. Local sources stated that his burns were too severe for doctors to treat. He died shortly afterward.
His wasn't the only case of suicide among the Ahwazi Arab minority in August, and local activists are warning of a spike in the number of men taking their own lives. The Ahwazi Centre for Human Rights reported that several others — Hamid Maniat, Ali Hazbawi, Sayed Falah Moussawi, and Shahab Bani Tamim — hung themselves within the month.
Their stories shared one thing in common: They were all family men who felt helpless in their ability to provide for their families because of persecution by the Iranian government or their inability to secure employment to provide for their families.
The region where the Ahwazi Arab community is most present in Iran has been troubled by a deep economic crisis that has hindered its indigenous Arab population from securing its most basic needs.
Until a century ago, Arab Ahwaz was a primarily autonomous region in Iran until the Pahlavi monarchy took over and made an effort to end ethnic autonomy across Iran in 1925. The Ahwaz region is responsible for some of Iran's biggest oil and gas fields, and some of the most nourishing and arable lands for Iran's agricultural industry. Despite these valuable resources, the region's economy continues to struggle, and the indigenous population see little of the rewards of this wealth. They are often the victims of untreated illness, hunger and deprivation.
The Iranian regime systematically denies Ahwazi Arabs jobs in the local oil, gas and petrochemical industries. The government has also constructed a multitude of dams diverting water from Arab areas to Persian areas such as the Isfahan, Yazd, Kerman, and Qom provinces. These dams have only served to worsen the devastation from a drought currently plaguing the region, destroying the local agriculture, fishing, and palm industries.
The unemployment rate among the Ahwazi Arab youth has now risen to 81%. Nour Mohammed Pur, Iran's general director of cooperatives, work, and social welfare, stated that 5% of Ahwazis looking for jobs have pre-high school education, 55% of those seeking work only completed secondary school, and 45% of those Ahwazi job seekers hold university degrees.
Karim Dohimi, an Iranian Ahwazi rights activist based in London, told Global Voices that the situation of “poverty, unemployment and racial ethnic discrimination” has led to a “massive increase” in the number of young Ahwazi men turning to suicide.
Dohimi said unemployment in particular has worsened recently, thanks to a combination of large numbers of ethnic Persians arriving in Ahwaz, and anti-Arab discrimination in hiring practices:
The preference of officials and institutions’ authorities in recruiting non-Arab workforces deprive the local Ahwazi Arabs of access to employment opportunities in all sectors. This is a part of the systematic policy of the occupying regime that intends to kill the spirit of national resistance of young Arabs, forcing them to search for subsistence outside their homeland of Ahwaz. There are people who have had to change their first and last name so as to hide their Ahwazi Arab identity to get hired as even Arabic names cannot be tolerated in the workplace let alone speaking Arabic or wearing Arabic clothes.
Given the conditions that Ahwazi Arabs are forced to bear, human rights defenders are sounding the alarm before things become explosive. It remains to be seen if the world sits up and takes notice.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Rahim Hamid


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Tepache and Pulque: Two Traditional Mexican Beverages Looking for Their Place in the Present · Global Voices
J. Tadeo

Tepache vendor in an open-air market or tianguis in Mexico City. Author's image.
Mexico City has gradually turned its back on traditional drinks and foods. With the arrival of large multinational commercial consortiums and fast-food chains that have branches in virtually every neighborhood in the city, the dishes and brews that grandparents and other ancestors consumed run the risk of falling into disuse or disappearing.
Here we’ll take a look at two of the drinks that fall into this category.
Tepache is a low-alcohol drink, similar to beer but sweet. Its current form has an intense amber color and is made primarily of fermented pineapple, sweetened with piloncillo (panela) and seasoned with cinnamon and other spices. It is believed that its etymology is in the náhuatl word “tepatli”, which means “corn drink”.
The chronicler Memo Bautista wrote about this beverage on the website Crónicas de Asfalto:
El tepache no es curativo como algunas personas creen. En todo caso, es la piña la que ayuda a limpiar el riñón. Lo que sí hace este brebaje, y muy bien, es quitar la sed. Sin embargo, aunque es muy popular por su sabor dulce y su casi nulo porcentaje de alcohol —sólo uno por ciento, hasta los niños lo consumen— casi no existen locales donde se sirva exclusivamente esta bebida. La entrada de la industria refresquera al país en la década de los 50 provocó que el tepache poco a poco fuera quedando relegado, al grado que actualmente en la Ciudad de México existen menos de diez tepacherías, dedicados exclusivamente a este producto.
Tepache does not contain healing properties as some people believe. In any case, it’s pineapple that helps to clean the kidneys. What this concoction does, very well, is to quench the thirst. However, although it is very popular because of its sweet taste and its almost zero percentage of alcohol – only one percent, even children consume it – there are almost no places where this drink is exclusively served. The entry of the soft drink industry in Mexico during the 1950s caused tepache to gradually be relegated, to the extent that currently in Mexico City, there are less than 10 tepache bars, dedicated exclusively to this product.
This drink is served cold and is usually enjoyed in the mornings and afternoons to quench the thirst caused by the hot temperatures. As mentioned by Bautista, few establishments exclusively sell it, so it is usually found in open-air markets, or tianguis, where it is consumed in disposable cups or even in bags. This is what one of the people who drinks tepache said on Twitter:
Cuando voy a los tianguis siempre pido mi tepache sin hielo, para que le quepa más al vaso, porque seré pobre, pero pendeja nunca☝?
— Rita Salas (@RitaaSalas) 1 de agosto de 2017
When I go to open-air markets, I always ask for my tepache without ice, in order for more to fit in the glass, because I'll be poor, but never stupid
When speaking about one of the few establishments dedicated solely to the sale of tepache, Bautista said:
El Oasis huele a dulce, a fruta, despide un ligero aroma a fermentación pero no es desagradable. El olor provine de los siete barriles donde se está llevando el proceso de degradación de la piña y demás frutas que lleva la receta que esta familia ha conservado por 55 años, durante tres generaciones.
[The establishment] El Oasis smells sweet, fruity, it gives off a slight aroma of fermentation but is not unpleasant. The smell comes from the seven barrels where the degradation process of pineapple and other fruits is taking place, based on the recipe that this family has kept for 55 years, for three generations.
Being a homemade product, perhaps traditional, tepache doesn’t have a secret recipe. Nor is it available canned or pasteurized and packaged to ensure its conservation. It can be prepared by anyone interested in doing so. The basic steps to follow can be found in wikiHow.
Tepache
Cascara de Piña Fermentada en Agua
Piloncillo
Canela
Hielo
para este Calor de Verano pic.twitter.com/G0TyTC9PJa
— DANIELA (@DANIELASCORT) 31 de julio de 2017
Tepache
Pineapple peels fermented in water
Piloncillo
Cinnamon
Ice
for this summer heat
Another option in the catalog of consumable liquids found in Mexico City is pulque. It is also a drink that has an ancient story, according to the website Del Maguey (another name given in Mexico to Agave):
La bebida es de al menos 2,000 años de antigüedad. Es la savia, llamado aguamiel o agua miel, que se convierte en pulque a través de un proceso de fermentación natural que puede ocurrir dentro de la planta, pero por lo general se lleva a cabo en una “Tinacal” (lugar de producción). La bebida se convirtió en un elemento tan importante social, económica y, como consecuencia, religiosamente, que mitos, leyendas y cultos proliferan alrededor de él y su fuente, el maguey.
En las grandes civilizaciones indígenas de las tierras altas centrales, Pulque se desempeñó como un intoxicante ritual para los sacerdotes −para aumentar su entusiasmo, para las víctimas− de sacrificio facilitan su paso, y como bebida medicinal.
The drink is at least 2,000 years old. It is the sap, called aguamiel or honey water, which becomes pulque through a natural fermentation process that can occur inside the plant, but is usually carried out in a “Tinacal” (production site). The beverage became such an important element socially and economically, and as a consequence, religiously, that myths, legends and cults proliferate around it and its source, the maguey.
In the great indigenous civilizations of the central highlands, pulque served as a ritual intoxicant for the priests to increase their enthusiasm, for the victims of sacrifice to facilitate their passing, and as a medicinal drink.
But, in mid-2017, this brew is no longer used for religious purposes, although it is used to achieve alcoholic intoxication. Unlike tepache, the alcoholic content of pulque is considerable, so it is not customary to offer it to minors, nor in contexts other than social get-togethers or for mere recreation.
Pulque can be served natural or with added flavors (strawberry and pineapple are some that have a higher demand); it has a dense body, perhaps even a milky consistency and is normally opaque.
Pulque flavors. Image shared by Šarūnas Burdulis on Flickr, used in terms of Creative Commons 2.0 license.
The website Regeneración describes the preparation process:
Este sabroso licor, que quita todas las penas, las propias y las ajenas se obtiene de las pencas del maguey cuando la planta está madura, mediante el siguiente proceso: primero con una barreta, se retira la parte central y el corazón del maguey, generando una cavidad o cajete, en lo que se denomina castración; posteriormente, la cavidad se deja madurar durante aproximadamente un mes y se debe tapar con una manta para que no se introduzcan los insectos y el polvo. Posteriormente, se raspan las paredes y se succiona el aguamiel con un acocote (el recipiente con el que se extrae la bebida) y se deposita en un garrafón de 20 litros que se llama tinacal, en lo que se llama la maduración de la bebida; a continuación, viene la preparación de la semilla, que consiste en que el aguamiel se pone en un barril de madera donde se fermenta al cabo de varios días y se obtiene una bebida de color blanco, ácida y viscosa llamada pulque.
This tasty liquor, which removes all sorrows, our own and those of others, is obtained from maguey leaves when the plant is ripe, by the following process: first, you remove the central part and the heart of the maguey with a tool, creating a cavity or bowl, in what is called extraction; the cavity is then allowed to mature for about a month and must be covered with a blanket so that insects and dust are not introduced. Subsequently, the inner walls are scraped and the aguamiel is sucked up with a bottle gourd called an acocote and is deposited in a 20-liter jug called a tinacal, in what is called the ripening of the drink; then comes the preparation of the seed, which consists of the aguamiel being placed in a wooden barrel where it is fermented for several days and turns into a white, acidic, viscous drink called pulque.
Twitter user Alex B shared a seemingly old sheet of information about the different ways to measure pulque:
Un poco de cultura popular pic.twitter.com/NSRibjN50n
— Alex B (@JAJA2075) 11 de agosto de 2017
A little bit of popular culture
Contrary to what happens with tepache, pulque can sometimes be found (although not very easily) packaged and refrigerated in commercial premises. There are also establishments dedicated to its sale called pulque bars. These have resurfaced in recent years and their popularity among young middle-class people is on the rise; this is perhaps due to the tendency in the whole country to return to mezcal, another traditional drink that, like pulque, also comes from maguey (or agave).
Canned pulque. Image shared by Eliazar Parra on Flickr, used in terms of Creative Commons 2.0 license.
Tepache and pulque are elements of the ancient culture of Mexico City struggling to survive in the era of soda, energy drinks, and of course, national and imported beer that are easily found in most shops and entertainment centers.
These beverages provide a choice free of synthetic agents and artificial colors when they are made with the traditional recipes. Why not try them out?

author: J. Tadeo


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Were the Dozens of Civilians Killed in Recent Airstrikes Victims of Trump’s New Afghan Strategy? · Global Voices
Chris Rickleton

A-10 Thunderbolt II fighter aircraft taxi to their parking spots upon arrival on Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, March 31, 2013. The aircraft are part of a new deployment from Moody Air Force Base, Ga. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. David Dobrydney)
Citizens of Afghanistan have reacted in fury and disbelief after two airstrikes carried out by US and Afghan forces targeting militants left over two dozen civilians dead at the end of last month.
On August 28, a bombing raid focusing on militants in Zir-e Koh area of western Herat province left 15 civillians dead according to the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA). Unofficial reports place the civilian cost of the raid at 20 lives or more. Two days later, another joint airstrike by Afghan and American forces against the Taliban killed 11 civilians and wounded 16 others in Pol-e Alam district in southern Logar province.
Citing local sources, some reporters put the death toll higher. Emran Feroz, a journalist, tweeted:
Scenes from today's US airstrike in Logar, Afghanistan, that killed at least 28-31 civilians. pic.twitter.com/xFfJKsLJpv
— Emran Feroz (@Emran_Feroz) August 30, 2017
Ali Mohammad Latifi, another journalist, also put the toll at 28 in a tweet:
Locals say 28 civilians, frm Khost, killed by US airstrike in Logar, day after 13 civilians were killed in Herat | https://t.co/LT8YrjUG7a
— Ali M Latifi (@alibomaye) August 30, 2017
The attacks caused anger in Afghanistan and have raised concerns over US President Donald Trump's new Afghanistan strategy which is likely to escalate assaults on militant positions while sparing US servicemen as many risks as possible.
Afghanistan's former President Hamid Karzai condemned the second attack in a tweet:
Hamid Karzai condemns in strongest terms U.S. airstrikes in #Logar province that killed civilians including women and children. Calling…
— Hamid Karzai (@KarzaiH) August 31, 2017
Mujib Mashal, Afghan senior reporter for the New York Times, warned that such attacks might affect relations between Afghanistan and the U.S, recalling deteriorating relations during Karzai’s second term in office:
For context, we need to remember that civilian casualties (& local anger) was one of the things that made Karzai-Obama relationship so toxic https://t.co/kUtsTwmyS9
— Mujib Mashal (@MujMash) August 31, 2017
Sardar Hussain Bakhtari, an Afghan Facebook user blasted the airstrikes in a post:
در حمله هوایی نیرو های خونخوار آمریکایی در لوگر تعداد از هموطنانم شهید زخمی شده است
آمریکا هرگز به خیر ملت ما نیست بهتر است مثل که
قشون سرخ از کشور بیرون رانده شود تروریست در کجا است آمریکا کجا را بمباران میکند ملت باید علیه آمریکا
بخیزد و هشدار جدی بدهد
لعنت بر آمریکا شیطان
مرگ بر آمریکا
In an airstrike by the blood-thirsty American forces in Logar, a number of my countrymen were martyred and wounded. The U.S. is not here for the good of our nation and the wise way is to take them out as we did with the Red Army. Where are terrorists and Where Americans throw bombs? The nation should rise against the U.S. [presence]. Curse be upon the demon America! Death to America!
The war against militancy in Afghanistan continues to trouble the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) and the United Nations, who have both condemned the spike in civilian casualties. UNAMA has recorded a 43 percent increase in civilian casualties in Afghanistan caused by aerial operations during the first six months of 2017.
The new U.S. strategy on fighting terrorism in Afghanistan focuses on American troops providing air support for the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF). According to a report by Reuters, from the time Trump assumed office in January 2017 until August 20, there were 2,244 air strikes, up from 1,074 strikes during the whole of 2016.
According to the new U.S. strategy, four different groups are the targets of such attacks: the Taliban, the Haqqani Network, Islamic State-Khorasan Province (IS-KP), and al-Qaeda.
Civilian fatalities, however, are common in strikes since insurgent groups such as the Taliban typically use villages as shelters.
In November last year, a U.S. airstrike killed 30 civilians and wounded 25 in the northern province of Kunduz, stirring immense fury in Afghanistan. The year before, U.S. airstrikes infamously hit a hospital operated by Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) in the same province, killing 42 civilians, including patients and medical staff at the hospital's Trauma Centre.
In the first 12 years since Washington led an invasion of the country, the U.S. military bombed at least eight wedding parties. In the aftermath of such bombings, grieving and angry residents often portray the attacks as deliberate.
The rising insurgency in Afghanistan cannot be defeated without air support from the United States and NATO, who have promised to invest some $7 billion in the Afghan Air Forces over the next four years.
But as time goes on, airstrikes that cause civilian bloodshed are losing the Afghan “hearts and minds” Washington once claimed it was fighting for.

author: Chris Rickleton


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A Hashtag Pokes Fun at the Shared Quirks Among Bangladeshis · Global Voices
পান্থ রহমান রেজা (Pantha)

Image of a rally celebrating Pahela Baishakh, one of the largest folk festivals of Bangladesh. Image from Flickr by Aapon. CC BY-NC 2.0
As a country, Bangladesh is still very young. But as a nation, Bengalis have more than a thousand-year-old heritage. Bengalis are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group from the former Bengal region in South Asia, which is presently divided between Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal. The region was part of several ancient pan-Indian empires and later was invaded and ruled by the Mughals and the British.
In Bangladesh, 98% citizens belong to the Bengali ethnic group. There is a great diversity in the faces and customs of Bangladeshi Bengalis due to this history, but they, of course, have many shared characteristics.
With biting humor, one Bangladeshi technology expert is using Twitter to point some of them out using the hashtag #আমিবাংলাদেশী (#IAmBangladeshi).
Omi Azad is an information technology specialist who works for economic and business development consultancy firm GDP Global. He maintains a blog titled Reality Bites, where he writes about different issues.
For months he has been tweeting about behaviors he's noticed among his fellow Bengalis. For example, human-powered rickshaws rule the road in Bangladesh's capital Dhaka and elsewhere in the country. The drivers apparently have reputation for tacking on surcharges:
রোদ হলে, বৃষ্টি হলে, ছুটির দিনে, খুব সকালে, সন্ধ্যার পরে – মোটামুটি সব অযুহাতেই ভাড়া একটু বেশী! #আমিবাংলাদেশী রিক্সা ওয়ালা!!
— Omi Azad (@omiazad) July 24, 2017
If it is a sunny, hot day, if it rains, on public holidays, or if it's at night, they will find some excuse to ask for an extra fare. #IAmBangladeshi rickshaw driver!
In Bangladesh, many people use pirated software even though they can afford the licensed software. Azad wittily comments:
আমি কম্পিউটার ব্যবহার করে যত টাকাই রোজগার করি-না-কেনো, মরে গেলেও সফটওয়ার টাকা দিয়ে কিনে ব্যবহার করবো না!! #আমিবাংলাদেশী
— Omi Azad (@omiazad) July 23, 2017
I can earn more than enough with my computer, but I will not use a penny to buy licensed software till my death. #IAmBangladeshi
There are almost 30 million internet users in Bangladesh, and almost two-thirds of them use Facebook. It's common to see posts written in the Bangla language using the Roman alphabet instead of dedicated Bangla fonts. In the not-so-distant past people died for the right to use Bangla language in Bangladesh, which led Azad to write:
বাংলা আমার গর্ব! কিন্তু আমি সবসময় ইংরেজী হরফে বাংলা লিখবো!! #আমিবাংলাদেশী
— Omi Azad (@omiazad) July 19, 2017
Bangla is our pride. But I will always write Bangla in Roman fonts. #IAmBangladeshi
As pedestrians, Bangladeshis don't always obey the rules, Azad comments:
আমরা সবসময়ই ফুটওভার ব্রিজের নিচ দিয়ে রাস্তা পার হবো… #আমিবাংলাদেশী
— Omi Azad (@omiazad) July 17, 2017
We will always jaywalk under the foot overbridge. #IAmBangladeshi
Not only that, Bangladeshis do not move from the street even after the car honks, he claims:
চলার পথে হর্ণ দিয়ে আপনি হাতি/জলহস্তি/গন্ডার সরাতে পারবেন, আমাকে পারবেন না। #আমিবাংলাদেশী
— Omi Azad (@omiazad) August 9, 2017
You can move an elephant/hippo/rhino with the horns of your car, but not me. #IAmBangladeshi
Omi Azad makes even more wry observations:
অন্য ব্যাংকের এটিএম থেকে ১৫ টাকা ফি দিয়ে টাকা তুলবোনা। কিন্তু তার বেশী রিক্সা ভাড়া দিয়ে আমার ব্যাংকের বুথে যাবো! #আমিবাংলাদেশী
— Omi Azad (@omiazad) August 3, 2017
I will not withdraw money from the nearest ATM, because it's from a different bank and it charges 15 Bangladeshi taka extra for my card. Instead, I will pay rickshaw fare that's more than that amount to go to one from my bank. #IAmBangladeshi
প্রতি মাসে ময়লার ভ্যানকে চাঁদা দিলেও ময়লা আমরা জানালা দিয়েই ফেলি। #আমিবাংলাদেশী
— Omi Azad (@omiazad) July 29, 2017
We pay garbage collectors each month. But we toss litter from our window to the street below. #IAmBangladeshi
ঠিকভাবে আমার ঠিকানা কিভাবে লিখতে হয়, আমি এখনো জানিনা। আমাদের মধ্যে অনেকে GPA 5 #আমিবাংলাদেশী
— Omi Azad (@omiazad) July 23, 2017
We don't know how to write the correct address of our home. But we have secured a GPA 5 in our exams.
আপনার অফিস সকালে শুরু হতে পারে, আমি ১০টার আগে ডিউটিতে আসিনা। #আমিবাংলাদেশী @Uber ড্রাইভার
— Omi Azad (@omiazad) August 24, 2017
Your office can start in the morning at the usual time, but I don't start my day before 10 AM. #IAmBangladeshi Uber driver.
And despite all of this, Bangladeshis remain proud and complacent. Azad twists a popular idiom to express that:
আপনারে বড় বলে বড় সেই হয়, লোকে যারে বড় বলে সেই বড় নয়!! #আমিবাংলাদেশী
— Omi Azad (@omiazad) July 31, 2017
Those who brag about themselves become great. It doesn't matter what people think. #IAmBangladeshi

author: পান্থ রহমান রেজা (Pantha)


text:
Ishinomaki’s Reborn Arts Festival: Art Therapy for a Tsunami-Scarred City’s Soul · Global Voices
Airi Sugihara

One of the striking artworks dispersed throughout Ishinomaki during the 2017 Reborn Art Festival. Photo by the Author, and used with permission.
Most people would imagine that a place that was hit by a tsunami six years ago would still be struggling, with shops closed and the city still rebuilding itself. That was what I expected a few weeks ago when I visited Ishinomaki in Miyagi Prefecture, where the 9.0 magnitude earthquake and the 10-meter tsunami it caused struck on March 11, 2011, causing major damage to the area.
But I was in for a surprise.  Arriving at the well-kept train station, I stepped out into a bustling, thriving city where people were lining up for buses and cars driving along the streets. As I delved deeper into the city, however, I started seeing the hidden aftermath of the tsunami: faded signs on buildings, abandoned houses, contaminated land.
The city of Ishiomaki in Miyagi Prefecture. Photo by the Author, and used with permission.
During my five days in Ishinomaki, I met many people, both from Ishinomaki and from outside, who had one thing in common: they wanted to help. The area had received lots of financial aid and recovered physically, but the city still lacked its former energy and vitality. That’s why the Reborn Art Festival was created.
The festival, which is centered on art, music, and food, offered something for everybody in the local community. Striking works of public art were dispersed throughout the city. Local restaurants and shops offered special menus and items. Nationally acclaimed singers and bands performed each day in front of appreciative crowds. I had the privilege of talking to Mr Gota Matsumura, the festival’s executive director, about his earthquake and tsunami experience, and his hopes for the event.
A post shared by Miho Uesugi (@uepoooning) on
When the earthquake struck, Mr Matsumura was at his office. He recounted in a matter-of-fact tone how the tsunami waters rose to the first floor of his building. Luckily for him, he was on the second floor. The glass walls of his office had all shattered in the earthquake. Unable to leave the building, he ended up spending the night there with his colleagues. That night, he rescued a stranger from a car that was floating on the murky waves, wrapping him in blankets and giving him whisky to warm him up. Everybody was desperate to survive, he said, so it felt like they were all in the same boat. He would see small lights being waved in the distance, and be comforted by the idea that others were in a similar situation to his—struggling, but also alive.
A post shared by REBORN-ART FESTIVAL (@rebornartfestival) on
A day later the tsunami had receded, leaving the roads covered in mud. He described the scene of people picking through the mud searching for their valuables, which were, of course, impossible to locate. They sought refuge at a nearby elementary school, where they sat crammed in with all the other people awaiting help. There was very little space in the schools, with about two people to a tatami. Soon people began to worry about their relatives and close friends. Mr Matsumura’s colleagues would go around posting messages with their names at each school that sheltered refugees, to show that they were alive. Accordingly, there were people going around to the schools searching for the names of their loved ones, and he recalls seeing people breaking down and falling to their knees at the sight of a familiar name.
Mr Matsumura said that the motivation for producing the festival is rooted in his tsunami experience. He told me he eventually found his car some time after the tsunami, a few miles down the road. But he was lucky—many people lost not only their possessions, but relatives and friends as well. Yet he remembers being disappointed that after the waters subsided, some people went looking for material possessions like money and cars before searching for their loved ones.
A post shared by REBORN-ART FESTIVAL (@rebornartfestival) on
The fact that art isn’t necessary for survival, Mr. Matsumura says, is exactly what makes it so important. He saw many people come to appreciate this value after losing loved ones in the earthquake and tsunami. He’d like those who attend the Reborn festival to find joy and meaning in the seemingly silly and insignificant things in life, and regain an appreciation for the beautiful and the abstract and for intangibles like relationships and pleasurable experiences. For in spite of being in some ways completely unnecessary, those are the most necessary aspects of life.

author: Airi Sugihara


text:
Jamaica’s New Anti-Crime Strategy Gets a Cautious Thumbs up, at Least for Now · Global Voices
Emma Lewis

A Jamaica Constabulary Force vehicle spotted in Spaulding, Jamaica. Photo by Jason Lawrence, CC BY 2.0.
It has been a long, hot summer for the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF). The island has been reeling from an intense and sustained increase in crime — primarily murders — which now total over 1,000 for 2017.
The crime wave has understandably created increased anxiety among Jamaicans. August has seen the highest number of murders this year — the most since the 2010 security operations in Tivoli Gardens.
UNICEF Jamaica tweeted some disturbing statistics:
Child murders have increased 46% this year ?
STATS: @JamaicaConstab pic.twitter.com/czrWd7rV4s
— UNICEF Jamaica (@UNICEFJamaica) August 25, 2017
Public concern has grown, not only over the number of young murder victims, but also over the stress and trauma that children in volatile communities endured over the school vacation. As the new school term starts this week, worry is also mounting over the possible impact this may have on their ability to function normally and focus on learning.
One young writer even posted a Facebook video regarding the murder of a fourteen year-old, her own age.
On September 1, 2017, Prime Minister Andrew Holness announced the first “Zone of Special Operations” (ZOSO) to be established in the district of Mt. Salem, near Montego Bay, an area where gang warfare has been steadily increasing over the past three years.
To understand the current situation we need to backtrack a little, to mid-July, when Governor General Sir Patrick Allen signed off on the cumbersomely named legislation, the Law Reform (Zones of Special Operations) (Special Security and Community Development Measures) Act, 2017.
In essence, the Act allows the prime minister, on the advice of the National Security Council, to declare any high-crime area of Jamaica a zone for special security operations and community development measures. Cordons and curfews will not be permanent features of ZOSOs, rather, they will be implemented in the short term. An important provision of the new law is for a Social Intervention Committee to be established in each ZOSO. This committee will assess conditions in the zone, including physical infrastructure, health conditions, housing and other social amenities.
There was a six-week pause after the legislation was passed at the close of the parliamentary session, after an intense 12-hour debate in the Upper House. Parliament then went into recess, while security forces underwent training for the ZOSO. During this period, Opposition Leader Peter Phillips became increasingly vocal about when the first ZOSO would be announced, while there was much media speculation on which troubled community the prime minister would select on the advice of his National Security Council.
In the interim, the Office of the Prime Minister shared information on the Act via a social media posts:
The Zones of Special Operations Law pays special attention to human rights. #ZOSO pic.twitter.com/A5UHUOcwTi
— Andrew Holness (@AndrewHolnessJM) August 27, 2017
Since the September 1 announcement, the prime minister has kept up a continuous flow of tweets and posts providing updates and information on the ZOSO. He visited Mt. Salem on Sunday with a formidable team, including the area's Member of Parliament (MP), the Attorney General (AG), the Minister of National Security and the Minister of Foreign Affairs. The politicians even interrupted a game of dominoes:
NOW: PM @AndrewHolnessJM, Security Min. Montague, AG @MalahooForteQC & Foreign Affairs Min. @kaminajsmith touring Crawford St., Mount Salem pic.twitter.com/DOUlK232xv
— Abka Fitz-Henley (@AbkaFitzHenley) September 3, 2017
One tweeter sarcastically observed:
Opinion poll: Where should Andrew Holness establish his first Zone of Special Operation?
Viewer response: Gordon House
— Chamois (@dxzzleprock) September 1, 2017
(Gordon House refers to the Houses of Parliament.)
A major concern emerged on Twitter, when one media house accused another of leaking the information about Mt. Salem ahead of the Prime Minister's announcement — thus potentially giving criminals warning to leave the community. One listener commented:
RJR news at 630 reported it then corrected themselves to say it's just a curfew in Mount Salem now PM declares Zoso in same place- #leak?
— Antoine Latabodi (@unclemiltywho) September 1, 2017
Perhaps inevitably, some political mischief got in the way. A flyer — allegedly from the opposition People's National Party (PNP), offering a free hotline and other “benefits” — turned out to be fake:
This image was not posted by the PNP. It is obvious that mischievous persons are working to taint our image. pic.twitter.com/Q47tnJWnog
— PNP Jamaica (@JamaicaPNP) September 4, 2017
Nevertheless, the Prime Minister tweeted:
Don't be misled, there is only one #ZOSO Customer Service Hotline pic.twitter.com/6fSWFRXiDA
— Andrew Holness (@AndrewHolnessJM) September 2, 2017
The Opposition has, however, established its own telephone line — quite apart from the official ZOSO number — to assist citizens in the area who may have complaints related to human rights abuses by the police or military:
We have established 361 9676 so that citizens who feel that they have been abused can make a report and will be passed on to our legal team. pic.twitter.com/u95E1MOsz0
— PNP Jamaica (@JamaicaPNP) September 4, 2017
While some questions remain regarding aspects of the plan that have not yet been implemented, ZOSO (which immediately established a social media presence) shared details about substantial rewards for the recovery of weapons, ammunition and for information on wanted men at a Sunday press conference by the Prime Minister and security officials, broadcasted live on Facebook:
Tell what you know and get some dough. https://t.co/dOFZvZsFMY
— Leahcim Semaj (@LSemaj) September 4, 2017
Huge rewards for information leading to the recovery of illegal weapons and ammunition. #ZOSO pic.twitter.com/fJVjR60QhK
— ZOSO Communications (@ZOSOJamaica) September 3, 2017
ZOSO also shared photographs of the residents of Mt. Salem interacting with security forces:
Citizens within #ZOSO exchange pleasantries with members of the Joint Force at a check point in Mount Salem. pic.twitter.com/70zzAlHWcv
— ZOSO Communications (@ZOSOJamaica) September 3, 2017
Will the declaration of a zone simply push criminals into another area? Blogger Dennis Jones observed:
Many security operations in Jamaica have tended to create what I term ‘whackamole’ situations, where crime is ‘tackled’ in one area, only for it to move its centre to another area. How good the security forces will be in avoiding that will need time to assess.
…One hopes that not only will the spate of killings decline rapidly, and stay down, but the finding of perpetrators needs to also increase significantly, if the local population and the nation are to believe that things are really changing in terms of criminal justice. For example, it’s all well and good to cite the number of murders in Mount Salem in recent years, but how many were ‘solved’ and where are the culprits?
University administrator and columnist Martin Henry echoed his sentiments:
Our security forces, with full respect for human rights, must move to take control of the town centres and commercial hubs and transport centres by sheer presence. September morning, as the children head back to school, would be a great time. The forces must control with presence the known urban crime hotspots. They must police the softer quality of life laws as well, which will not only improve quality of life but send a massive national signal of seriousness of intent in restoring law and public order. We will need roaming rapid response backup units.
ZOSOs, on their own, especially if too few, are very likely to produce the balloon effect of pushing crime into other areas. Let's do it right this time and tackle this national public emergency on a broad enough front, in a sustained enough manner, and with enough resources provided for real success.
Human rights activist Rodje Malcolm was concerned about the issue of freedom of movement:
Stories from the zone: man can't go to job interview because he can't leave his house. Girl lives in St. Mary can't go home to family.
— Rodjé Malcolm (@Rodje_) September 1, 2017
Nevertheless, the Jamaica Constabulary Force sought to reassure the public that ZOSO would be very different from the Tivoli operations.
There were some minor complaints from residents, mostly relayed via the media. Some were concerned about not having any ID to show the security forces (a new national ID system is to be introduced in the next year). One septuagenarian complained that he was prevented from taking his morning exercise:
Mount Salem resident telling PM that soldier prevented him from doing his walking exercise recommended by his Doctor but Police allowed him pic.twitter.com/JQDslCrWsz
— Abka Fitz-Henley (@AbkaFitzHenley) September 3, 2017
Former public defender Greg Christie — who regularly tweets about human rights issues — was more positive, declaring:
1/3 The GOJ has gone further than any has ever gone to guard against human rights abuses as it implements its anti-crime #ZOSO initiative.
— Greg Christie (@Greg0706) September 2, 2017
(The GOJ is an acronym for the Government of Jamaica.)
Whatever their views or their political persuasion, however, one thing is clear: Jamaicans want to be rid of the spectre of crime, which has impacted many lives. One regular tweeter and media personality emphasised:
EVERY SINGLE WELL THINKING DECENT HONEST LAW ABIDING CITIZEN wants @ZOSOJamaica to work and produce desired results..not time for politics
— Rodney Campbell (@rodneytwit) September 3, 2017
I understand the point @rodneytwit is making! Simply all Jamaica wants @ZOSOJamaica to work for a better country..including a “clean” force!
— judz lanimac (@judzlanimac) September 3, 2017
Hopes aside, the latest anti-crime program remains a work in progress.

author: Emma Lewis


text:
Mayan Muslims of Mexico Are Redefining Indigenous Identity · Global Voices
Elizabeth Rivera

Screenshot from mini-documentary produced by Zoomin.TV Latinoamerica and published on Youtube.
The Southern Mexican state of Chiapas  is known for having a diverse population of people from various ethnic and faith groups, creating a unique social interplay of people whose cultures com together and intertwine with one another.
For a long time, the region’s communities, many of whom are indigenous, witnessed a conversion from Catholic groups to Evangelist ones and the fusion of these new beliefs with a vision of the world that remained compatible with Mayan traditions. However, it is the Tzoztil communities from San Cristobal de las Casas who have most recently caused a stir in the media, due to a rise in conversions to the Islamic faith.
Many reports and online commentaries have reacted towards these communities with shock, rejection and fear. In a time when indigenous groups are already targets of racism and discrimination, these recent conversions to Islam have brought to the surface debates surrounding the complexity of identity as well as a rise in online attacks from those who fear what these changes might mean in Mexico:
Hace rato leía en mi TL que indígenas musulmanes de Chiapas, no se sienten indigenas ni se identifican con el EZLN
— Mr. Kievs (@NoloDz) May 28, 2016
I've just read this on my TL: that Chiapas’ indigenous Muslims don’t feel indigenous, nor do they identify with the EZLN.
@MarckLibsan date una vuelta por los altos de Chiapas,aquí hay indígenas Musulmanes una buena bomba de tiempo
— El Desilusionista® (@gatobscuro) November 14, 2015
Go and take a look at the highlands of Chiapas, here there are indigenous Muslims, a big time bomb.
@PedroFerriz tengamos cuidado que en Chiapas los musulmanes siguen creciendo ya que juegan con la ignorancia y necesidad de los indigenas
— Julio Cesar Perez G (@jcpg100) November 26, 2013
We need to be careful. In Chiapas, Muslims keep growing. They play on the indigenous’ needs and ignorance.
Indigenas de chiapas D: musulmanes? Wtf?
— malvania (@suupergirl) September 28, 2010
Indigenous of Chiapas D: Muslims? Wtf?
Members of the Tzotzil Muslim community report being victims of discrimination, targets of defamation campaigns.
The online media company Zoomin.TV Latinoamérica has collected testimonies that reflect the difficulties and social adaptation process that converts to Islam face. Despite what some may think, the Tzotzil people’s ancient traditions are not simply forgotten or thrown away but instead adapted to the practice of Islam:
Soraya: Piensan que tenemos algo en la cabeza [por usar el pañuelo]. Un ejemplo de lo que decían es que tenía piojos.
Layla: Cada vez que salgo con el pañuelo… No me hacen preguntas, pero las miradas… Y me dicen que es malo, que soy terrorista.
Manuel: Cambio a musulmán, pero mi comida eso sí no.
Roberto: Teníamos una imagen mala del musulmanismo [sic], pero vemos que son gente muy sencilla. Y sobre todo que le dan cariño y respeto a toda la gente.
Soraya: They think that [we use the headscarf because] we have something on our heads. One example of things they say is that they have lice.
Layla: Every time that I go out wearing the headscarf…no-one asks questions, but they give you looks… they say to me that it is bad, that I’m a terrorist.
Manuel: I’ve become a Muslim, but changing my eating habits? That ain’t gonna happen!
Roberto: We had a bad image of Muslims [sic], but now we see that they are very kind people, and above all they are caring and respect others.
Despite these problems, members of other faith groups and residents of San Cristóbal recognize that Tzotzil Muslims are peaceful members of the community and are figures that combat stereotypes about Islam.
The number of Tzotzil Muslims continues to grow and their communal activities are developing. Families study the Koran and the new generations learn Arabic from an early age. The community organises group trips to participate in the Hajj, the annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia. For many members of the community, this is often the first time they travel outside of Mexico and have the opportunity to meet Muslims from all over the world.
Islam was first introduced to Chiapas by missionaries from the Murabitun World Movement. The missionaries arrived in the country looking to create links with leaders of the Zapatista uprising, an event that took place in Mexico in 1994, the same day that the North American Free Trade Agreement came into effect.
At first, the objective of the armed uprising, led by the Zapatista National Liberation Army (Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional, EZLN), was to create a new state model and defend indigenous populations. These peoples had, historically, had their rights violated. According to the document sent by the Muslim missionaries, they were hoping to unite and support this Zapatista cause, but it seems that the EZLN didn’t respond to them.
Nevertheless, one person did respond to the missionaries’ invitation to Islam, and that was Salvador López, who now goes by the name Mohammed Amín. Amín was the first Muslim originating from the region. It was at this moment that the region's Muslim community was established and started to grow, though this was not without internal and external conflicts. Often such conflicts resulted in divisions within the new community, and today Chiapas is home to four different groups of Muslims.
The work of Paulina Villegas, Marcela Zendejas  and Lasso de la Vega, published in the magazine ‘Letras Libres’ (Free Letters) –and later leading to the creation of a documentary – tells the story of these communities and explores the complexity of their history, from beliefs inherited from pre-Columbian cultures to the melting pot of Chiapas today. The testimonies collected by the authors reflect a new direction in an ancient history and a spiritual quest of identity that connects many around the globe:
El entramado de este islam que se extiende en el sureste de México está compuesto por varios ejes, tales como una identidad étnica compartida, condiciones socioeconómicas específicas, elementos de transnacionalismo y multiculturalismo debido a las peregrinaciones y viajes que han realizado, y un fuerte sentido de pertenencia. Los matices y particularidades que definen este islam indígena son precisamente las prácticas, los usos y costumbres resultantes de la adaptación y simbiosis entre los chamulas y “su” islam.
The fabric of the Islam that extends to southeast Mexico is influenced by various central points, such as a shared ethnic identity, specific socioeconomic conditions, and elements of transnationalism and multiculturalism, due to pilgrimages and travels that they have undertaken. These are linked with a strong sense of belonging. The nuances and particularities that define the Islamic faith of these indigenous communities are its practices, uses and traditions that stem from an adaption and symbiosis between the people of Chamula and “their” Islam.
They continue:
…lo que es más importante reconocer: que los indígenas no católicos –ya sean evangélicos, pentecostales o musulmanes– no son cajas vacías donde se depositan ideologías extranjeras, sino dueños y estrategas de su propia historia […] Esta reflexión constituye un reto importante y necesario en un país donde hablar de grupos indígenas se reduce con frecuencia a moldes racistas y falsos estereotipos, en un país donde la diversidad no es realmente asumida ni comprendida como sinónimo de riqueza. Porque resulta que en Chiapas, desde hace mucho tiempo, se descubren y crean nuevas formas de ser indígena a través de luchas y procesos históricos. Porque la identidad étnica, tanto como cualquiera otra forma de identidad, es dinámica, se redefine y reinventa en el tiempo para mantenerse viva.
…the most important thing is to recognize that the indigenous people who are not Catholic – whether they be Evangelical, Pentecostal or Muslim — are not empty shells on which foreign ideas are simply planted, but instead masters and directors of their own story […] This reflection poses an important but necessary challenge in a country where discussion of indigenous groups is often reduced to racist tropes and false stereotypes. Where diversity is not really accepted or perceived as enriching to society. It just so happens that for a long time in Chiapas, ideas of what it means to be indigenous are being reconstructed and discovered through a continued struggle as well as through natural historical processes. Just like other forms of identity, ethnic identity is dynamic, it redefines and reinvents itself over time in order to stay alive.

author: Elizabeth Rivera


text:
A Year After Newspaper Ban, Independent Media Remain Under Siege in Oman · Global Voices
Gulf Center for Human Rights

“The website has been suspended by decision of the information minister”, a note on the homepage of the banned Azamn newspaper says.
It has now been more than a year since Omani authorities closed the independent Arabic-language newspaper Azamn over its coverage of corruption in the Sultanate. Yousef Al-Haj, one of the paper's editors, remains in prison, serving a one-year jail sentence. Two other Azamn editors, Ibrahim Al-Maamari and Zaher Al-Abri were also detained and put on trial, but later released.
Oman has been ruled since 1970 by Sultan Qaboos bin Said, who came to power after overthrowing his father, Said Ben Timor. Since then, he has held the most important positions in the country besides being its sole Sultan: Prime Minister, Minister of Defense, Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, Minister of Finance, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Chairman of the Supreme Council of Planning, and President of the Central Bank.
The Sultan’s years of ruling have been characterized by the persistent efforts of the security forces, especially the Internal Security Service (ISS), to confiscate public freedoms, including freedom of the press, and to torture and intimidate human rights defenders, independent journalists, bloggers and other activists, and imprison them. Authorities are systematically curtailing peaceful and legitimate activities in the field of human rights and preventing citizens including activists from expressing their views freely – whether online or offline– about the public affairs of their country such as corruption in government agencies and institutions.
The targeting and closure of Azamn newspaper and the imprisonment of three of its editors last year is a severe blow to press freedom in the country. Azamn is an independent newspaper that reported on corruption in Oman (which is an absolute monarchy) since its establishment in 2007, until it was banned by the authorities in August 2016.
On 28 July 2016, security forces arrested Ibrahim Al-Maamari, Azamn's editor-in-chief, after the paper published an article on 26 July 2016 entitled “supreme parties tie the hands of justice”, which addressed corruption in the judiciary, and the interference of senior officials in judicial decisions. The report accused government officials of pressuring judges in the country's Supreme Court to overturn a verdict in an inheritance case
The July 26, 2016 edition of Azamn newspaper which featured on its front-page a report with the headline: “supreme parties tie the hands of justice”. Photo source: the Facebook page of Azamn
On 3 August 2016, the ISS summoned Zaher Al-Abri, member of the editorial committee, to appear before the Special Division, and detained him upon arrival. On 09 August 2016, the ISS arrested deputy editor Yousef Al-Haj, who was acting as the newspaper's editor-in-chief after Al-Maamari’s arrest. The newspaper was closed indefinitely after the Minister for Information gave the order that “the publication and circulation of the newspaper by all means, including online, is not allowed starting on 9 August 2016.”
On 26 September 2016, the Court of First Instance in Muscat held its final hearing in the trial of Al-Maamari, Al-Haj, and Al-Abri, and issued prison sentences against them. The court also ordered the newspaper to close permanently. Al-Maamari and Al-Haj were both convicted of “disturbing public order”, “misuse of the Internet”, “publishing details of a civil case”, and “undermining the prestige of the state.” Al-Haj was further found guilty of violating a publication ban and slander. They were both sentenced to three years’ imprisonment, a fine of 3000 Omani Riyals (US $7,800) each and banned from working as journalists for one year. Al-Abri was sentenced to one-year imprisonment and fined a thousand Riyals (US $2600) after being found guilty of using “an information network [the Internet] for the dissemination of material that might be prejudicial to public order.” His bail was set at 5000 OR (US $13000), and he had already been released on 22 August 2016 prior to sentencing.
At a hearing held on 26 December 2016, the Court of Appeal acquitted Al-Abri while sentencing Al-Haj to one year in prison and Al-Maamari to six months in prison, to include the time they spent in detention. On 10 April 2017, Al-Maamari was released from the Central Prison in Muscat, after serving his six-month sentence, leaving Al-Haj in prison serving his one-year sentence.
The court of appeal also revoked the decision to shut down “Azamn” newspaper which was issued by the Ministry of Information.
Despite the court's decision to lift the ban on Azamn, the Omani government has continued to target the newspaper. On 8 January 2017, the Minister of Information issued a directive that extended the closure of “Azamn” for three months. On 8 May 2017, the Minster of Information personally signed another directive which extended the closure of “Azamn” for an additional three months – once again challenging the Court of Appeal's decision to re-allow the newspaper to publish.
The ongoing closure of Azamn and the targeting of its journalists is not the only case of press freedom violation that has recently taken place in Oman. Other violations include the blocking of the website of the independent magazine Mowatin and exercising pressure on Albalad, the country's first independent online newspaper, to put an end to its operations.
By continuing to close Azamn and imprison its journalist Al-Haj, it seems that Omani authorities are still unwilling to put an end to the broader crackdown on press freedom.
The Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR) urges the authorities in Oman to:
1. Immediately and unconditionally release Yousef Al-Haj;
2. Provide a secure environment for Azamn newspaper to carry out its journalistic work;
3. Protect freedom of the press in the country; and
4. Ensure in all circumstances the ability of human rights defenders and journalists in Oman to carry out their legitimate human rights work without fear of retaliation and without any restrictions, including judicial harassment.
The Gulf Center for Human Rights (GCHR) is an independent, non-profit and non-governmental organisation that works to provide support and protection to human rights defenders (including independent journalists, bloggers, lawyers, etc.) in the Gulf region and its neighbouring countries by promoting freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly. This post was written by the center's executive director Khalid Ibrahim.

author: Gulf Center for Human Rights


text:
Cambodia Daily Closes Down After Government Threatened It with Hefty Tax Bill · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

#SavetheDaily. Source: Facebook page of Cambodian Center for Human Rights
Cambodia Daily printed its last issue on September 4, 2017 after the government slapped it with a $6.3 million tax bill.
The paper’s owner, Deborah Krisher-Steele, explained how the tax case led to the closure of the paper which started operation in 1993:
The power to tax is the power to destroy. And after 24 years and 15 days, the Cambodian government has destroyed The Cambodia Daily, a special and singular part Cambodia’s free press. The Daily has been targeted for an astronomical tax assessment, leaks and false statements by the tax department and public vilification by the head of government.
Cambodia Daily appealed for audit and negotiation with regard to the tax issue but the government refused to reconsider the case. Some think the tax department’s unwillingness to address the petition of Cambodia Daily reflected the stance of Prime Minister Hun Sen, who had earlier accused the people behind the hard-hitting paper of being “thieves” and “servants of foreigners”.
Cambodia Daily started operations in 1993. Source: Facebook
Media groups like the Southeast Asian Press Alliance believe the closure of Cambodia Daily is linked to the 2018 elections:
We view these closures as part of a broader campaign to muzzle critical voices and to clamp down on freedom of expression ahead of the July 2018 national election. Media freedom is a fundamental component of any democracy, and it must be preserved in order for next year’s election to be free and fair.
Cambodia's ruling party has been in power for three decades. It continues to dominate local politics but it lost many seats in the 2013 general elections.
Aside from Cambodia Daily, radio stations that broadcast programs of the political opposition in 19 provinces have stopped operating due to alleged licensing violations.
2. Bernie Krisher, the publisher, never took a cent from Cambodia. He never profited from the country or its people.
— Kevin Doyle (@doyle_kevin) September 3, 2017
The loss of @cambodiadaily would be a tragedy for Cambodian democracy. Sadly without it, my morning is not complete. pic.twitter.com/z8SY3NzjYX
— Sopheap Chak (@sopheapfocus) September 3, 2017
The alleged government crackdown on critical voices has not only targeted the media but also foreign NGOs and opposition leaders.
The government’s representative to the UN office in Geneva denied allegations that only critical media houses were targeted:
The fact is that currently numerous newspapers, non-governmental organizations, and radio stations are in operation freely and harmoniously in Cambodia except a handful of them, why? Because the latter do not fulfill their duties in respecting the existing law and regulation of the host state.
Government spokesman Phay Siphan insisted that the filing of a tax case against Cambodia Daily is not politically-motivated:
The Daily itself is speaking with political intentions to cover up that they don’t want to pay taxes. They wrote to the prime minister to help. This has nothing to do with prime minister – it is an issue with the department of taxation.
The last edition of Cambodia Daily. Source: Facebook
Alan Parkhouse, an editor of Khmer Times, expressed concern about the situation of local journalists working for Cambodia Daily. But at the same time he also wrote about other financial matters involving the paper:
The Daily, which for most of its 25 years operated as a non-profit NGO newsletter training local journalists, also never paid to use stories from news agencies like Reuters or Agence France Presse and in the past it never paid for the right to reprint stories from major newspapers in the United States.
This free access to wire services and lifting rights from other papers was done under the guise of being a charity or NGO newsletter set up to train local journalists.
Whatever the liability of Cambodia Daily, the paper was not given enough time to respond to the tax case and other violations it allegedly committed.
The statement issued by the Overseas Press Club of Cambodia summarizes the concern of human rights groups about the political impact of the closure of a popular newspaper:
…the Kingdom lost a significant aspect of its media diversity. It lost a training ground for a generation of Khmer journalists. It lost a beacon of free speech. It lost its most prolific chronicler of current affairs, a paper whose 24 years of daily editions will long serve as a first draft to modern Cambodian history.

author: Mong Palatino


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Damascus International Fair, the Syrian Regime’s Attempt to ‘Beautify’ Wounds of War? · Global Voices
Leen Alabed

The official poster for the 59th Damascus International Fair.
The annual Damascus International Fair returned for its 59th time and its first since the 2011 Syrian uprising. It opened on August 17, 2017, and lasted for 10 days, with participants ranging from the textiles industry to the agricultural industry.
According to Syrian state media outlet ‘SANA’, international exhibitors joined from 23 countries — those that President Bashar al-Assad's government considers “friends of Syria”, such as Russia, Iran, Venezuela and China.
The fair also saw the presence of private companies from countries that cut off relations with the Syrian regime, including France, Germany and Britain.
The fair’s general director, Fares al-Kartally, told AFP that the return of the fair was possible due to the return of calm and stability in most regions in Syria. However, less than 10 miles (16 kilometers) away from the fairground, fighting was ongoing in rebel-held areas of the Damascus suburbs of Al Hajar Al Aswad and Babbila.
The regime's well-known spokesperson, Bouthaina Shaaban, was quoted in SANA saying, “We are at the beginning of the road towards reconstruction.”
Attendees standing outside the entrance to the Fairground on the third day of the Damascus International Fair. Source: SANA News Agency, Syrian state media organization.
Due to heavy destruction sustained during the war, major reconstruction efforts have taken place throughout Damascus. Areas that were besieged, leading to a lack of basic necessities like water and electricity, saw improvement in the days before the exhibition.
The road to the Damascus International Airport went through a transformation with trees being planted, cleaning campaigns and lights being installed prior to the exhibition. The airport itself also underwent repairs and upgrades to its amenities and security so that it is now equipped with new surveillance cameras and inspection devices, screens, flight schedules, and air conditioning systems.
The head of the Damascus Chamber of Industry, Samer el-Debs, told AP:
This comeback is an indication that the war in Syria is coming to an end… after all what happened, all the economic sanctions against Syria and systematic attempts to destroy Syria, we see that this fair has been reopened.
In the days preceding the exhibition, the Syrian pound’s exchange rate rose against the US dollar, which the Damascus Center for Research and Studies linked to the return of the fair and the re-entry of Syria into the trade and economic market.
Syrians who do not support the Assad government largely viewed the fair as a cynical public relations event.
According to Syrian economic analyst Abdel Nasser AlJassem, the return of the fair counts as yet another one of the “beautification steps” that the regime is taking to promote a sense of stability and portray the economy, especially the industrial sector, as doing well.
But reality contradicts this, Al Jassem wrote on Al Araby. According to the regime itself, 80% of industrial facilities have stopped, and Syria is importing even the most basic food and consumer goods.
A newly built amphitheatre in the Dummar Cultural Center, part of the Damascus Opera House. Source: Damascus Opera House Facebook Page.
The regime made a big push this summer to assert the return of stability and the defeat of “terrorism” in the country in an effort to put Syria back on the map economically. The Ministry of Tourism launched several campaigns to encourage travel to coastal towns and to war-ravaged Aleppo by promoting videos of clubs and parties in the city. The campaigns paint these areas as ‘secular’, ‘westernized’, and glamorous.
And a new open-air amphitheatre was recently built by the Ministry of Culture at the Dummar Cultural Complex in Damascus. It was made to resemble Bosra’s well-known Roman amphitheatre and fits up to 3,000 attendees. The theatre is meant to host several festivals, plays, opera nights and musical concerts. Tickets for each event will be priced at 1,000 Syrian pounds, equivalent to 1.93 US dollars at date of posting, to attract as many attendees as possible.
During the fair’s opening ceremony, Syrian Prime Minister Emad Khamis gave a 15-minute speech announcing a “new season of victory” explaining that the reopening of the exhibition proves that “the will of Syrians for life was and still is stronger than terrorism… [that] it is the victory flag of life over murder, honesty over treason, right over wrong and sovereignty over dependency.”
Critics view the reconstruction attempts not only as a way for the Assad government to push towards economic recovery and social repair, but as a way to re-assert their power, reward loyalists and punish the opposition.
Assad himself gave a speech on August 21, 2017, saying that Syria has “lost its best youth and its infrastructure,” but has “won a healthier and more homogeneous society”.
Azmi Bishara, a prominent Arab intellectual and political analyst, criticized Assad's statement as “Hitlerian“, interpreting it to mean Assad confirming that genocide and displacement are core doctrines of the regime. He tweeted:
الأسد: “خسرنا خيرة شبابنا والبنية التحتية لكننا ربحنا مجتمعا أكثر صحة وتجانسا”. جملة هتلرية صريحة تعلن الإبادة والتهجير عقيدةً رسمية للنظام
— عزمي بشارة (@AzmiBishara) 20 August 2017
Assad: “We lost many of our young men and infrastructure but we gained a healthier and more homogenous society”. An explicitly Hitlerian sentence proving that genocide and displacement are official regime doctrines.
To Swiss-Syrian writer Joseph Daher, this represents the result of the international community prioritising the so-called war on terror. In an extensive analysis for independent news site Syria Untold, he wrote:
This is the culmination of the focus of the major international and regional state actors on the “war on terror”, and consensus around Bashar Al-Asad remaining in power, both of which have strengthened the confidence of the dictator and the ruling class in Damascus.
Reflecting on Assad's statement, Palestinian-Syrian activist Razan Ghazzawi said:
Assad's “healthier and homogeneous society” is built by systematic killings, demographic evacuations & wiping out whole neighborhoods.
— Razan Ghazzawi (@RedRazan) 21 August 2017
This is the future Assad is promising to locals in Syria: Be part of homogenous society built by murder, displacement & on-going losses.
— Razan Ghazzawi (@RedRazan) 21 August 2017
How can we who want other society, a heterogeneous space, to resist the violent disciplining machinery of the state?
— Razan Ghazzawi (@RedRazan) 21 August 2017
Middle East analyst Steven Heydemann at the Brookings Institution said the Assad government was failing to address critical post-conflict issues in a meaningful way:
The answer lies in the principles and priorities that guide early recovery and post-conflict reconstruction. Not surprisingly, where these are designed to mitigate the grievances and governance failures that caused mass violence, prospects for recurrence go down. Where they are likely to amplify pre-war grievances and failures, prospects for recurrence are much higher. Everything we know about the Assad regime’s approach to reconstruction confirms that it will aggravate the factors that drove millions of Syrian citizens into the streets in 2011, and then into an armed uprising. Post-conflict reconstruction that does not address critical questions of institutional legitimacy and capacity, or provide for citizen security, justice, and political inclusion, is unlikely to be stable.
Opposition website Enab Baladi made the same point, arguing that the Damascus International Fair didn't even succeed at providing a flawless spectacle. Journalists were not allowed to attend the fair, the prime minister's speech “provoked media uproar because of spelling, grammar and pronunciation mistakes” and a truck was forced to take back dozens of attendees after their bus didn't show up.
International Exhibition … Optimism of the Damascene Interrupted#EnabBaladi #Syriahttps://t.co/skhMmxDZVu
— Enab Baladi (@EnabBaladi_Eng) August 28, 2017

author: Leen Alabed


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Gauri Lankesh, a Journalist Who Was Critical of India’s Right Wing, Is Gunned Down Outside Her Home · Global Voices
Vishal Yashoda Manve

Gauri Lankesh in 2012. Image from Flickr by Hari Prasad Nadig. CC BY-SA 2.0
Veteran Indian journalist Gauri Lankesh was shot to death by assailants riding motorcycles on September 5, 2017, outside her home in the tech hub of Bangalore, highlighting how increasingly dangerous India is becoming for reporters.
Lankesh, 55, was the editor of a Kannada-language tabloid called Gauri Lankesh Patrike that took a fierce stance against Hindu nationalist organizations and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
In November 2016, Lankesh had been convicted of defaming two politicians from India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), of which Modi is the leader, and sentenced to six months in prison. According to reports, she had secured bail and was appealing the case.
In a series of recent interviews with various Indian publications including TheWire.in and NewsLaundry, Lankesh had stated she was worried about the state of free speech in India after receiving hatred and vitriol online.
Police are investigating her killing and have not arrested any suspects.
The Press Council of India, the official body representing journalists, condemned Lankesh's violent end and stated:
Whatever differences she had with anyone, it was certainly not the way to attack an outspoken journalist who was defenseless and had nothing to offer by way of resistance. Such attacks on the freedom of press will not be tolerated.
And several protests across India have been planned by various journalist groups.
India slipped by three spots to 136th out of 180 countries in the 2017 Press Freedom Index published by the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders. The report highlighted Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's “brand of nationalism and growing self-censorship” as contributing to the slide.
And in May 2017, Indian media watchdog The Hoot said 54 journalists had been attacked in India in the last 16 months, and seven had been killed (although there was only “reasonable evidence of their journalism being the motive for the murder” in one of the cases).
Lankesh's death was the latest in a series of murders not only of journalists, but of outspoken figures who challenged Hindu nationalism, or “Hindutva politics,” and promoted a secular, diverse India. In 2016, leftist ideologue MM Kalburgi was shot dead in a similar manner in Bangalore.
For years, Lankesh had warned of the shrinking space for alternative thought in a climate dominated by Hindu nationalists. In November 2016, she told Indian website NewsLaundry about her struggle to fight against right-wing politics:
Unfortunately, today anybody talking in support of human rights and against fake encounters [extrajudicial killings] is branded a Maoist supporter. Along with that, my criticism of Hindutva politics and the caste system, which is part and parcel of what is considered ‘Hindu dharma’, makes my critics brand me as a ‘Hindu hater’. But I consider it my constitutional duty to continue – in my own little way – the struggle of [12th-century Hindu philosopher] Basavanna and [20th-century Indian social reformer] Dr. Ambedkar towards establishing an egalitarian society.
In March 2017, she spoke at the National Convention of Human Rights Defenders on “Reclaiming Rights and Asserting Freedom” in Delhi:
Now death threats has become a common factor in Karnataka. Whether it is attacks on pubs and homestays, in the name of cultural protection of women or attack on dalits….in the name of cow protection.
And just days before her murder, Gauri tweeted about the Rohingya crisis and India's stand on their plight. She also expressed her displeasure over “infighting” amongst those opposing right-wing politics and propaganda.
why do i feel that some of `us’ are fighting between ourselves? we all know our “biggest enemy”. can we all please concentrate on that?
— Gauri Lankesh (@gaurilankesh) September 4, 2017
Indians took to Twitter to express their shock over Lankesh's killing. Karnataka's Chief Minister Siddaramaiah tweeted strong words:
In fact, this is an assassination on democracy. In her passing, Karnataka has lost a strong progressive voice, and I have lost a friend.
— Siddaramaiah (@siddaramaiah) September 5, 2017
Prominent Indian journalists Barkha Dutt and Sagarika Ghose weighed in:
this is chilling scary and outrageous. So far always took online death & rape threats with a pinch of salt. Now we must all pause &wonder https://t.co/YuaukqGInS
— barkha dutt (@BDUTT) September 5, 2017
Just cannot believe it. A fearless voice against Hindutva politics. Devastated to hear this dreadful news https://t.co/0ooVncqCYe
— Sagarika Ghose (@sagarikaghose) September 5, 2017
Member of Parliament and former minister Shashi Tharoor tweeted:
Assassination is the most extreme form of censorship. #GauriLankesh said things some people did not like2hear. She was killed4doing her job. https://t.co/T3oWE0CrIk
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) September 5, 2017
Here's what Suman Sen Gupta, a cultural activist from Kolkata, said:
We will continue to fight . They are afraid so they are targeting our writers and thinkers #Kalburgi # Pansare # GauriLankesh Rest in Power https://t.co/FZfqG0Z2GK
— suman sengupta (@sumonseng) September 5, 2017
And Mumbai-based Anjali Damania questioned:
Systematic campaign of killing logical opposing voices? First it was Dabholkar, Kalburgi, Pansare. Now a journalist #GauriLankesh murdered?
— Mrs Anjali Damania (@anjali_damania) September 5, 2017

author: Vishal Yashoda Manve


text:
Hurricane Irma Hits an Already Crisis-Ridden Puerto Rico · Global Voices
Ana Portnoy

Screenshot of the video “Hurricane / Huracan Irma in Puerto Rico” uploaded by YouTube user “Detodo Unpoco”.
At the time this article was written, Hurricane Irma was hours away from making its pit stop in the archipelago of Puerto Rico. Its first rain showers and gusts of wind were just making themselves known, and people were still hammering wood panels over their windows, making last-minute supermarket runs, using Facebook live and risking their lives to witness the life-threatening sublimity of the rising tides and swells.
While some were enjoying their last chuleta frita y arroz con habichuelas [Fried pork chop with rice and beans], the Electric Power Authority (AEE) was predicting the worst for certain areas and towns in Puerto Rico, the worst case scenarios ranging from power outages lasting from 3 to 4 months. Other areas were still being evacuated from the northeastern coastal living areas, where Hurricane Irma was predicted to hit the hardest. While many of the refuge sites are well equipped, others, like the one in the neighboring island of Culebra — an island municipality of Puerto Rico — are running short on power plants and other essential resources.
Applied Energy Systems (AES), a corporation that generates coal-based energy, has been fined by the Environmental Quality Board (JCA) for not properly covering toxic ashes, AGREMAX (a compound of coal combustion derivatives) and coal waste that they dump and produce near the town of Peñuelas and other neighboring towns and areas. The uncovered ashes, AGREMAX and coal waste are at the mercy of Irma’s hurricane and tropical storm winds and running waters, representing a profound health risk to communities far and wide.
Moreover, Puerto Rico is currently facing one of the most detrimental financial and socio-political crises of its contemporary history, faced with a $74 billion debt and $49 billion in pension obligations. The recipe for this debt disaster has involved draconian budget cuts, austerity measures and neoliberal politics, further worsening a decades-long fall into precarity. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is running out of funds, which leaves one to only hope that Congress and the Senate will reinstate and provide more funding.
Meanwhile, Puerto Ricans try to prepare for what comes ahead. The perspectives are grim, and the sense that they are being left behind, by both the government and the media, further aggravates deep feelings of discontent. As Maureen O'Danu writes, the status of Puerto Rico can also be seen by the importance given to the island's grievances in the international and US media, as she puts it in her article “In the Eye of Hurricane Irma There is (Too Much) Quiet“
Right now, as I’m typing this, the leading edge of Hurricane Irma is hitting the Virgin Islands (US and British) and Puerto Rico. Let me rephrase that: Right now, as I’m typing this, Hurricane Irma is hitting the United States. […] And yes, the devastation for Florida or Georgia or the Carolinas is likely to be devastating. And that will be a huge story. But *so is* the story of the Hurricane passing directly over Puerto Rico, our long neglected US territory, and over the US Virgin Islands, another US territory that depends on tourism for its survival.
O'Danu goes back in history and reflects on the inequalities of other states, and argues that racism is one of the reasons why Puerto Rico's disaster will not make the headlines outside of the island:
[…] because racism, as we wake up tomorrow morning, we will not be subjected to hundreds of pictures of the devastation in Puerto Rico, which *will be worse* than Houston for a myriad of reasons. We will not hear the rescue stories, the stories about pets. We will not have major companies putting donation pages for Puerto Rico on their splash pages of their Internet spaces. We will have ugly shades of the “poor savages, shouldn’t we do something”? We will have hand wringing and expressions of sadness and pity.
Also, in the anxiety of the preparations, Medium author Kristen Fink writes:
I write this with a cup of Café Lareño on one hand. I am counting the hours until the stillness turns to chaos. I can already notice how little by little people are saving their phone battery for the emergency. There are less jokes now, more compact information, and many goodbyes. […] This monster could take everyone back to zero, a fresh start. Those who live on the coast have been told to evacuate, the waves could reach up to 35 feet and winds are over the 150 mph mark; they might get back to a sandy mountain where their home once was. There are many unprotected windows and roofs just because the people who live in them cannot afford the means to make them safe. There are bosses forcing people go to work even under these hazardous conditions. Some people will only be without power for a couple of days while others will be left without a home forever.
I´m hoping for a little humanity to come back after all of this.

author: Ana Portnoy


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In Quest for ‘Ideological Security’, China Pushes to Extend Communist Party Influence Inside Tech Firms · Global Voices
Jack Hu

Remixed from pixabay's image.
At a recent symposium of the Chinese Communist Party, officials urged internet firms to strengthen their “party building” efforts, in order to maintain “ideological security” within their firms.
This marks a new phase in Chinese president Xi Jinping's campaign to enforce party control over different kinds of corporations, which has extended far beyond collective-owned and local private companies to encompass joint ventures with foreign firms and listed arms of state-owned enterprises on the Hong Kong stock market. These companies are facing rising pressure from the government to set up party branches intended to fortify their loyalty Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Internet firms form a critical component of this strategy.
In fact, the first  ‘party building’ symposium for internet companies was held in Beijing soon after Xi Jinping launched the campaign in 2016. Weibo, Jingdong, Baidu, Sohu, 360 and Lets TV had already set up their party branches back then.
Following the Soviet model of a planned, ideologically-bound economy, party branches are present in all state and collective-owned enterprises (SOEs). At the end of China's Cultural Revolution, former CCP leader Deng Xiaoping introduced a series of reforms intended to reduce the power of the CCP in the corporate sector, and to replace the planned economy with a market economy. The reforms also encouraged the development of new small-to-medium-sized private enterprises, privatization of SOEs, and foreign investment in joint corporations.
Companies that came about in this new economic sector were not required to establish a party branch. But now informal political pressure to do so is getting stronger and stronger.
The campaign to press private and foreign firms to establish a party branch is intended to strengthen the leadership and control of the CCP in the economic sector. Similar to the media sector, which has been asked to parrot the party line, the CCP expects online media outlets to flood the Internet with positive energy, in lockstep with the party itself.
Setting up a party branch is an effective way to show loyalty to CCP. Companies that have a party branch typically get allocated funds for party committee activities, which include elections, meetings and gatherings. A corporate party committee typically serves as an advisory body within the company, but because the CCP is part of the Chinese state apparatus, the committee's influence often goes beyond a mere advisory role.
In less than one year, at least 34 Beijing based Internet firms have established party branches. The total number of CCP members working in these firms has reached 6,000, according to Tong Liqiang, head of Beijing cyberspace affair office ‘s report  during the “party-building” meeting.
In this context, some private and foreign owned corporate tried to “entertain” the Chinese government's call by appointing mid-ranking staff members to head their Communist Party committees. But the CCP wanted its members to occupy more influential positions.
Du Feijin, Beijing’s party propaganda director, called for stepping up party leadership and enrolling more employees into the party among Beijing-based internet firms. During the recent August 25 party-building meeting, cyber security powerhouse 360.com was presented as a model in the incorporation of the party-leadership into the firm.
Qi Xiangdong, the party secretary of 360.com, extolled party members who have played increasingly important role in the company:
我们在党建工作中，主要抓融合，也就是找到党建和业务的契合点。最近五年，“互联网+”不断发展，网络攻击也日益增多。安全公司的使命已经从保护网民上网，发展到了保护国家安全、国防安全…去年，360选择从美国退市，变成了一家真正由中国人办的安全公司，这个决定也得到了全体员工的支持。现在公司有800多名党员，党员率是8%；在360企业安全集团，党员的人数占15%；40位合伙人里有10名党员，占比25%。责任越重的员工中，党员比例越高。
In the process of setting up party branch [in the firm], the most important strategy is integration, the integration of party and business. [For example] in the past five years, with the development of Internet +, there have been more and more cyber-attack. The mission of the firm has been extended from the protection of individual's online security to the protection of national and military security… Last year, 360 has chosen to exit from the U.S stock market and transformed into a security firm owned by Chinese. The decision has all the staff's support. Now the company has more than 800 party members and the ratio is 8 percent [among all the employees]. The ratio of party member is 15 percent in the whole 360 corporate. Among the 40 partners, 10 are party members, the ratio is 25 percent. The more important posts in the company, the higher ratio of party members.
Even smaller scale enterprises are compelled to set up a party branch. Ofo, China’s popular bike-sharing startup, established a party committee on July 1, the birthdate of the Chinese Communist Party. Dai Wei, founder of Ofo, became party secretary of the company, asserting that party building “could promote company’s development.”
The party-building campaign has also worked in tandem with China's new cybersecurity law. It has empowered the authorities to shut down any websites with content that violates “socialist core values.” In June, a large number of entertainment media outlets on social media were shuttered on these grounds.
Indeed, among all of China's internet firms, the CCP wants primarily to obtain a stronger grasp over content service platforms and social media outlets. In addition to giant content service platforms like Baidu and Sina, smaller scale but influential content platforms like the question and answer platform Zhifu, location based friend-finder Momo, book and film review platform Douban, social media based News Headline, and keyword based news subscription platform Yidianzixun have all set up party branches.
Zhifu, Chinese question and answer platform, had its first party meeting on August 22. The site's chief editor, Yu Yangyang, is also the party secretary. Yu vowed to be loyal to the CCP during the party meeting:
对党忠诚、为党分忧、为党担责、为党尽责
To be loyal to the party, share the party's concern, pay responsibility and duty to the party.
As the site's chief editor, he said he would
坚持党管媒体原则, 通过知乎平台传递“社会正能量”。
Stick to the principle of media led by party. Would use Zhihu as a platform to spread positive energy to the society.
By February 2017, Zhihu had more than 9 billion page views per day, and 69 million registered users, 20 million of whom visit the site each day, on average. The question and answer site has become one of the most influential knowledge production platforms in Chinese-speaking world.
Even China’s cartoon video website, Bilibili.com, has built a party committee in Shanghai, which was mockingly described by one internet user as “magical socialism”. Just two months ago, Bilibili was blocked for hosting too much foreign entertainment content.
As explained by state-affiliated media outlet Guangcha, Internet companies’ party building has significant impact on the ideological front. The commentator cited the example of PPTV, a Chinese video streaming website:
PPTV斥巨资投入《人民的名义》拍摄，助推《人民的名义》全网飘红。互联网企业的党员们说，“互联网企业，就应该带着责任感去生产积极的、充满正能量的内容和产品。”
PPTV has made huge investment on TV drama, In the Name of People, and turned the drama into a hot topic online. Party members in the Internet companies recite: Internet firms should take up the responsibility to produce positive energy contents and products.
Most of the Internet companies in China are privately owned or under joint ventures. Some are listed in Hong Kong or the US stock markets. Establishing Communist Party committees, which could exercise special power to advise their boards on operational, personnel and strategic matters, could damage shareholders’ interest and market integrity.
More importantly, if internet firms are acting as an extension of the CCP by exercising ideological control over individual citizens, users’ rights and privacy will be further threatened. The recently published “Regulation on the Management of Internet Comments,” for example, specifies that comment service operators should manage their users by rating their “social credit” and to restrict people with low credit from making comments. If such “management” is taking over by party members within corporations, who see the online public sphere as an ideological battle field, dissenting voices would very likely be blacklisted.
Just a decade ago, many Chinese people saw the internet as a liberating force that could help people speak out against injustice and make change. But now, as major operators of the Internet are under strict political control, the once open and free space is looking more and more like a virtual panopticon.

author: Jack Hu