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The Right to be Forgotten: Spain and Google Before the European Court · Global Voices
Lourdes Sada

A professor fined for urinating in public when he was a teenager. A civil servant whose online information made him an ETA [the Basque terrorist organization] target. A businessman whose assets were seized due to a social security debt. Mocking from students, the risk of attack, rejected by banks. People who have made every effort to make a fresh start, yet for years have had to bear the consequences of appearing in the Official State Bulletin after being convicted.
The European Court of Justice in Luxemburg. Photo taken from the European Parliament website, with permission.
More than a year ago, Spain's Data Protection Agency (AEPD in Spanish) required Google to omit personal information in its search results in order to comply with a  Spanish law that aims to protect the privacy of an individual's personal information [pdf]. Google contested AEPD's suit before Spain's National Court (AN). But in an effort to comply with general privacy norms, the AN referred the case to the European Court of Justice (ECJ), in Luxembourg, in February 2011, questioning the most appropriate ruling to uphold European precedence. On 26 February the case appeared before the ECJ, which will issue its non-binding ruling on 25 June of this year.
This case, which coincides with the current debate in the European Parliament regarding a draft law that would adapt legislation to the digital era and allow a judicial body to grant European Union citizens the right the be forgotten, returns the issue of freedom of expression and the right to privacy and control over personal information to the forefront. As noted by Sevach [es] in his blog Contencioso.es [es]:
Google crece y crece como una inmensa bola de datos que mezcla información valiosa como penosa y se ha convertido en la ventana que, más allá de la legítima pesquisa para formarse, investigar o divertirse, permite regodearse en la intimidad de personas accediendo a anécdotas, incidentes de su pasado, que ya no tienen interés o que fueron desmentidos o privados de efecto.
Google is continuing to grow as a massive source of information, mixing valuable information with the useless, becoming a site that beyond the legitimate inquiry to develop skills, research, or enjoyment, allows one to take delight in the intimate details of another, accessing less than flattering information that at best may no longer be relevant or applicable to one's life and at worst information that had been denied or altogether omitted.
Ruth Benito summarizes the premises of this process in her blog Con la venia, señorías [es]:
Los boletines oficiales en papel, (…), no tenían la repercusión que actualmente tiene un boletín oficial electrónico. Lo que se publicaba en un boletín oficial en papel o en un periódico en papel, dejaba pronto de ser fácilmente accesible. (…) Ahora lo que se publica en un boletín electrónico o en un periódico digital queda de forma permanente e indefinida en Internet, a nuestra disposición en breves segundos cómodamente desde el sofá de nuestra casa. Internet se ha convertido así en una extensión de nuestra memoria.
A paper copy of the official bulletins doesn't have the same reprecussions as those from the electronic edition. What's published in the paper version of the Bulletin or in a newspaper is information that stops being readily available rather quickly. (…) But now that things are produced electronically, their presence is a permanent fixture on the internet; all of which is at our disposal in seconds from the comfort of our homes.  The internet has transformed into an extension of our memory.
In the article What is the right to be forgotten? [es] on Quo.es, Iñaki de la Torre Calvo explains Google's claim:
Google, por su lado, dice (muy resumidamente) que ellos simplemente se limitan a mostrar al usuario dónde encontrar información sobre la persona requerida, pero que  y que si quieren que esos detalles personales desaparezcan, que se lo digan al propietario/editor de esa página para que los “descuelgue”.
[Google] repone que omitir los resultados de cualquier cosa sin discriminación es una lesión al derecho a la información de cada ciudadano. El problema quizá no es tanto que el robot encuentre esa web con una sentencia o una foto desagradable, sino en qué puesto coloca ese resultado.
Google, for its part, says (very summarily) that they simply show the user where they may find their desired information, but  and if individuals want these personal details to not longer be available, then they need to contact the information's host site to take down the information.
[Google's] failure to produce results from any inquiry without discrimination would be to the deficit of every individual's right to information. The problem isn't as much that this robot finds an unflattering statement or photograph, but rather the order in which it lists these results.
Figures on privacy and the internet in the EU. Image taken from the European Parliament website, with permission.
Opinions are divided among internet users. Zadig states in an El País article [es]:
El que tenga más que ocultar seguro que resulta más interesado en la regulación de Internet que el otro que tenga una vida, vamos, más transparente. Así que mejor que se sepa todo, porque de mentiras ya estamos por las narices, y ocultar la Verdad es alabar a la Mentira.
He who has more to hide is of course more interested in the regulation of the internet than one who who lives a more transparent life. It's better to know it all because the level of lies we're currently among are outrageous. To conceal the truth is to exalt lies.
Meanwhile CeciliaHadadBeltramo and José Luis Calzada tweeted:
@CeciliaHadad: es importante el derecho al olvido para los usuarios porque las personas se reciclan y tendrían que poder hacerlo en la red.
The right to be forgotten is important because people change, their image on the internet should too.
@jlcalzada: En esto del “derechoalolvido” Google hace lo que le sale de los algoritmos
In this “right to be forgotten” let's remember Google does whatever they algorithmically want.
Rafael Díaz Arias says in his article on periodismoglobal.com [es]:
Y es que -parece obvio recordarlo- ningún derecho es absoluto. Todos están interrelacionados y todos tienen que estar al servicio de los otros, pero en caso de conflicto tiene que predominar el que sea más esencial e irrenunciable para la dignidad personal.
(…) En Europa se da más peso a los derechos de la personalidad que en Estados Unidos, pero también allí la jurisprudencia (constitucional) del Tribunal Supremo considera la privacidad como un derecho irrenunciable.
The fact is- which seems obvious to say- that no right is absolute. They're all interrelated with each at the mercy of the others, but in the instance where there's a conflict the one that triumphs is the one that is most essential and undeniable to personal dignity.
(…) Europe gives more weight to the rights of individual than the U.S., but there the Supreme Court also considers privacy to be an inalienable right.
Peter Fleischer, Google's Global Privacy Council, defends the freedom of expression on his blog:
Peter Fleischer speaking at Euroforum. Photo from his blog “Privacy…?”
More and more, privacy is being used to justify censorship. In a sense, privacy depends on keeping some things private, in other words, hidden, restricted, or deleted. (…) Privacy is the new black in censorship fashions. It used to be that people would invoke libel or defamation to justify censorship about things that hurt their reputations. But invoking libel or defamation requires that the speech not be true. Privacy is far more elastic, because privacy claims can be made on speech that is true.
The ECJ's definitive decision, which will be binding for the 27 EU member states, will be issued in the next nine to twelve months. Other countries in the EU such as Austria, Greece, Italy and Poland are also in the process of similar cases.

author: Lourdes Sada


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Video: Ukrainian Lawmaker Flouts Law, Berates Airport Employee · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Member of Parliament Vadym Kolesnichenko, of the ruling Party of Regions, arrived at Kyiv's Zhulyany Airport to take a plane to Sevastopol, Crimea on March 2, 2013. Yulia Pinizhanina, an employee of Air Onix, asked Kolesnichenko for his passport at check-in, but he gave her his MP's card instead. Since only the passenger's passport is considered an acceptable form of ID for air travel in Ukraine, Pinizhanina refused to register Kolesnichenko for the flight when he failed to produce the needed document. Her decision angered the politician.
Unaware of being filmed by a fellow traveller standing nearby, Kolesnichenko accused Pinizhanina of being rude to him and of violating the Constitution. He threatened her with dismissal and, among other things, said he would enjoy watching her prosecuted and cleaning streets afterwards.
Journalist Ivanna Kobernik, who happened to be at the airport at the time of Kolesnichenko's emotional outburst, wrote [uk] about it on her Facebook page very soon, around noon on Saturday. A bit later, the short anonymous video of the politician's conversation with the airline employee was posted on YouTube [ru, uk], receiving over 94,000 views in a week:
Ukrainian politicians are known to be a wild bunch, so hardly anyone following the airport scandal was surprised by the fact that a lawmaker was caught disregarding the laws he and his colleagues had produced.
On Facebook, user Olha Miroshnyk left this comment [uk], for example:
If only the MPs were flying without passports! My acquaintance, a local [elected official], has no idea where his driver's license is and has been driving with his deputy's ID card for ten years, with traffic police even saluting him!
User Oleksandr Spryahaylo wrote [uk]:
A representative of a legislative organ demanded that an airport employee violate a law in his favor… That's why we live the way we do.
This story would have remained just another thread in the ongoing public discussion of Ukrainian politicians’ consequence-free conduct, had Kolesnichenko limited himself to his spontaneous, early-morning verbal attack on Pinizhanina. But he chose to continue on the online battleground, via his Ukrainska Pravda blog.
A screenshot of Vadym Kolesnichenko's March 2 blog post.
In a lengthy post [ru], which appeared some 12 hours after the airport incident, Kolesnichenko wrote that this was the first time since 2006, when he got elected to Parliament, that he was asked for his passport at domestic flight check-in. He explained that he had acquired his economy class ticket, free of charge, using his MP's ID card, a routine procedure for Ukrainian lawmakers, and at first he thought Pinizhanina's request was a joke – especially since the Crimean Prosecutor Vyacheslav Pavlov had had no problem registering for the same flight with his work ID, not his passport, just ahead of Kolesnichenko.
On his blog, Kolesnichenko did not repeat his forecast as to Pinizhanina's potential future employment as a street cleaner, but elaborated on the legal action he intended to take against her, claiming that she had committed a criminal offense defined in Article 351 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine [en] (“Interference with activity of a National Deputy of Ukraine or a deputy of a local council”).
The online community's reaction was swift.
A Facebook group [ru, uk] was set up to draw attention to Pinizhanina's case and prevent Kolesnichenko from getting this diligent airline employee [photo; ru] fired.
Journalist Olga Chervakova wrote [ru]:
A reminder: in order to get this person [Kolesnichenko] employed, we voted for him. And for him to receive his salary, we pay taxes.
User Anna Oshchypok wrote [uk]
[…] This case shows that this public figure – an MP and just a human being – completely lacks culture! Who elects these people? The majority of Ukrainians, it turns out. I hope we'll eventually grow mature enough to be more thoughtful when voting!!
User Tanya Husack wrote [ru]:
[…] A Ukrainian MP who has DARED TO THREATEN A UKRAINIAN CITIZEN!!!!…. MUST be held criminally responsible.
LJ user wetally came up with a few ideas [uk] on how to sue Kolesnichenko: according to him, the Criminal Code [en] Article 27.4 (“The abettor is a person who has induced any other accomplice to a criminal offense, by way of persuasion, subornation, threat, coercion or otherwise”), Article 365 (“Excess of authority or official powers”) and Article 383 (“Intended misreport of a criminal offense”) could prove useful – but only, of course, after Kolesnichenko is stripped of his parliamentary immunity.
A screenshot of the Air Onix ownership data from the National Commission on Securities and Stock Market, posted by Serhiy Leshchenko on his blog.
In his blog post, which has been shared around 1,200 times on Facebook alone, Kolesnichenko also concluded that the airport incident must have been part of a political “provocation” carried out “on direct orders from the airline's management or other officials who oppose the Party of Regions.” Ukrainska Pravda journalist Serhiy Leshchenko promptly responded [ru] to this statement on his blog, posting documents and links that show that Air Onix actually belongs to an Austrian company allegedly owned by family members of the leader of the Party of Regions, PM Mykola Azarov.
Commenting on the connection between the Kolesnichenko episode and the disastrous state of Ukraine's infrastructure, journalist Andrey Chernikov described [ru] what happens when the Ukrainian politicians’ claustrophobic yet comfortable little planet crosses the orbit of the planet that ordinary Ukrainians live on:
[…] [the current ruling elite] has started devouring itself. […] 99.9% of the roads are ruined, there is garbage in cities and villages – and all this surrounds mansions of the people in power, too. It is well-known that the ubiquitous stench doesn't give a damn about 5-meter fences and 50 bodyguards. […] The paradox is that they aren't bothered by this, even though they should be.
[…]
[…] Neither the ruling elite, nor the oligarchs can enjoy the results of their work anymore, even [if they pay for it]. Next time an official feels like complaining about a power outage at home, there's a 100% chance that he will have to pour all his wrath on his fellow party member who owns some [local energy supplier]. Or if a large chocolate producer is no longer able to deliver its products throughout the country because the roads are ruined and expensive vehicles are breaking en masse – it will be somewhat awkward to complain to the PM, because the PM says that nearly 100% of the roads have already been repaired, and to ask him to repair a road is worse than a no-confidence vote and more like a suicide. […]
The general picture looks like this: the owners and consumers of all that exists in the country is a group of people who call themselves the power and the masters of life, and since they cannot file complaints against each other for low-quality goods and services, they are forced to quietly make use of whatever's available. And if the party tells them to, they'll be savoring the stench that has filled the country's air.
As for Kolesnichenko and his crusade against the Air Onix employee who was just doing her job, on Tuesday, March 5, the police said [uk] there appeared to be no reasons yet to open a criminal case against Pinizhanina. On Wednesday, March 6, Kolesnichenko was already busy with something else: he was making headlines [uk] for his low opinion of the Ukrainian anthem, which he considered not inspiring enough.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Video: Greece Austerity Protests Teargassed · Global Voices
Asteris Masouras

A reportedly peaceful attempt to revive the mass anti-austerity “indignant protests” of 2011 on the evening of March 10 in Syntagma square, Athens, was met with teargas and police brutality, as shown in this video of an arrest, uploaded by Eleftherotypia daily:
Riot police reportedly targeted journalists, as shown in this video uploaded by News247. Photos by Nikolas Georgiou on Demotix also show protesters affected by teargas.

author: Asteris Masouras


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Beijing Air Pollution Satire Deleted · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

The above image showing Mao wearing a mask to mock at the air pollution in Beijing has been censored in Sina Weibo. (Via Blocked on Weibo)

author: Oiwan Lam


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Bikini Babes Advocate for Breastfeeding · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Three bikini girls advocated for breast feeding at the Hong Kong-Shenzhen border on March 8. Screen capture from Beijing Cream's uploaded video.


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Challenges in Learning a Foreign Language · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

Eileen from the blog Bearshapedsphere writes about language learning and how native speakers can sometimes be insulting or “diminish the value of good performance by minimizing the effort that’s put into [learning their language].”
I’ve been [in Chile] for almost nine years. And yes, I speak [Spanish] well (though I still have an accent, and always will). But remember those people who have been here for a while and don’t speak (by their own admission) super well? They get hassled for not trying hard enough. But me? For speaking well, I get told “well, you’ve been here a long time.”

author: Silvia Viñas


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Digitizing the National Library of Vietnam · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Since 2006, the the National Library of Vietnam has partnered with the Vietnamese Nôm Preservation Foundation to digitally preserve the special collection of the library which features some 4000 ancient texts in Hán and Nôm, the former ideographic writing systems of Vietnam.

author: Mong Palatino


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Myanmar’s Exiled Broadcaster to Return Home · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Democratic Voice of Burma or DVB, which has been broadcasting news about the democracy movement in Myanmar from its head office in Oslo for more than 21 years, has announced its plan to return to Myanmar soon. The group said recent reforms in the country has allowed its “former underground reporters in the country (to) get official press accreditation” from the government.


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Indian Censor Board Restricts Papilio Buddha, A Gandhi Critic Movie · Global Voices
Inji Pennu

Papilio Buddha, a Malaylam language feature film written and directed by Jayan K. Cherian, has joined the long list of movies troubled by censorship in India in recent times. The film mainly focuses on the atrocities committed against Dalits, women and the environment and it has been accused of defaming the Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi. The film had initially been banned by censor board until it recently got cleared for screening with the “adult” certification.
With the recent banning of the movie Vishwaroopam by the Tamilnadu state government to the various fatwas against art across India, the most recent one in Kerala where a writer’s statue was vandalized, India is taking ten steps backwards to every small progressive step it is trying to achieve.
Author Salman Rusdhie on a recent interview to a television channel asserts:
“This is a different kind of emergency; it's a cultural emergency in India. Culture is the new target and artists do not have gangs to defend themselves. Culture and art is not hard to attack”
It is common knowledge, without free thinking, which is essential to produce art, no society will ever achieve higher social status which India yearns for in this century. While religious organizations are notorious for such behavior, Indian Government itself gives them all a shot in the arm by banning a movie because the Indian Censor board took offense in the movies portrayal of Gandhi, the nation’s most respectful figures of the freedom struggle.
Deedi Damodaran writes in the Hindu about the decision of censor board on Papilio Buddha:
Thumbnail of Papilio Buddha poster courtesy Jayan Cherian's Facebook page
Our society is not yet ready to face the statements this film makes. The film deals with gender and Dalit issues in a raw manner, and I feel these are causes that are inseparable. Here we have a woman who was raped at her workplace coming back to rebuild a very active life. Papillio Buddha chooses not to beat about the bush. It is bold and clear and relevant. No wonder the state was worried by the revelations made so loudly and unapologetically.
Lois Munoz Merka comments on Facebook:
Many controversial films are rejected by the countries they were exposing. I think it's so important for this film to be seen everywhere to shed light on the Dalits. Many people around the world were unaware of apartheid in South Africa.
കറുത്ത വിപ്ലവകാരി (karutha viplavakari) supports the movie in a Facebook comment on the page:
ചരിത്രസത്യങ്ങള് മൂടിവെച്ചു അടിസ്ഥാനജനതയെ ചാതുര്വര്ണ്യ വ്യവസ്ഥയുടെ കൈപ്പുനീര് കുടിപ്പിച്ച് ദൃശ്യമാധ്യമ മേഖല കൈയടക്കി വെച്ച സവര്ണ്ണ സിംഹാസനങ്ങളെ തകര്ത്തെറിയുവാന് പപ്പിലിയോബുദ്ധക്ക് കഴിയട്ടെ എന്നാശംസിക്കുന്നു!
Thumbnail of Papilio Buddha poster courtesy Jayan Cherian's Facebook page
The main stream media infested with the upper castes have for long suppressed the Dalits and hope this movie can shatter their golden thrones
The common perception of Gandhi in India and his stance on Dalits is questioned in the movie which is what made the censor board fluster. But Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, a renowned Dalit scholar and who was one of the main architects of the Indian constitution has written extensively on Gandhi and the FB page for the movie displays the quote from his book ‘What Congress and Gandhi have done to the untouchables’, published in 1945.
“There was nothing noble in the fast. It was a foul and filthy act. The fast was not for the benefit of the Untouchables. It was against them and was the worst form of coercion against helpless people to give up the constitutional safeguards of which they had been possessed under the Prime Minister’s Award and agree to live on the mercy of the Hindus. It was a vile and wicked act. How can the untouchables regard such a man as honest and sincere?
Arundev E asks on his G+:
പാപ്പിലിയോ ബുദ്ധ’ യുടെ കാര്യത്തില് മറന്നു പോയ  ആവിഷ്കാരസ്വാതന്ദ്ര്യം ‘വിശ്വരൂപ'ത്തിനു വേണ്ടി ഓര്ത്തെടുക്കുന്നത് പുരോഗമനപരമാണ്. ഹൃദയം നിറഞ്ഞ നന്ദി.
It is interesting to note that the same people who forgot about Papilio Budha is now speaking about freedom of art in the case of Vishwaroopam.
Amidst the denial of certification, there has been private screenings earlier in Kerala. Anivar Aravind who viewed it in a private screening has this to say about the movie.
തീര്ച്ചയായും കണ്ടിരിക്കേണ്ട ചിത്രം . നിരവധി റിവ്യൂകളില് പറഞ്ഞതുപോലെ പ്രമേയപരമായും ആഖ്യാനപരമായും പുതുമകള് നിറഞ്ഞതും ഒരു മിലിറ്റന്റ് ദളിത് രാഷ്ട്രീയപരിസരത്തുനിന്ന് നോക്കിക്കാണുന്നതുമായ ചിത്രമാണിത്. ഗംഭീരന് വിഷ്വലുകളും ശക്തമായ വിവരണവും. സെന്സര്ചെയ്യേണ്ട ഒന്നും ഇതിലില്ല. ഈ ചിത്രം കാണേണ്ടതും ചര്ച്ചചെയ്യേണ്ടതും അംഗീകരിക്കപ്പെടുകയും വിമര്ശിക്കപ്പെടുകയും ചെയ്യേണ്ടതും അത്യാവശ്യമാണ്.
It is a must see movie. As many reviews have written, this is about dalit politics taking a militant path. The cinematography as well as the scripting is excellent. There is nothing to censor in this movie. This movie needs to be seen, discussed and accepted.
The movie was sidelined even at the supposedly liberal film festivals. Madhyamam, a Malayalam newspaper writes about the movie not screened at the IFFK film festival of 2012:
‘പാപ്പിലിയോബുദ്ധ’യെ ഒഴിവാക്കിയതിലൂടെ പ്രാന്തവത്കരിക്കപ്പെട്ട ഒരു ജനതയുടെ ജീവിതവും പോരാട്ടവും അന്തര്ദേശീയ സദസിന് മുമ്പാകെ ചിത്രീകരിക്കാനുള്ള അവസരമാണ് ഐ.എഫ്.എഫ്.കെ നഷ്ടപ്പെടുത്തിയത്. ഉന്നത ജാതിക്കാരും പ്രമാണിമാരും നിയന്ത്രിക്കുന്ന ഏതൊരു ഭരണകൂട ഏജന്സിയേയും പോലെ, ചലച്ചിത്ര അക്കാദമിയിലും ദലിത് വിരുദ്ധ സമീപനം പ്രകടമാണ്. അവരുടെ പുരാതനമായ സംവേദന ശക്തിയെ കുഴപ്പത്തിലാക്കുന്ന ഒരു കലയും അവര്ക്ക് സഹിക്കാനാവില്ല. ‘പാപ്പിലിയോ ബുദ്ധ’ ഒഴിവാക്കപ്പെട്ടത് ഒറ്റപ്പെട്ട സംഭവമല്ല. കഴിഞ്ഞ ഡോക്യുമെന്്ററി ഫെസ്റ്റിവലില് ആനന്ദ് പട്വര്ദ്ധന്െറ ‘ജയ് ഭീം കൊമ്രേഡ്’ (Jai Bheem Comrade) സിനിമയുടെ ദൈര്ഘ്യം കൂടുതലാണെന്ന് കാണിച്ച് ഒഴിവാക്കിയിരുന്നു. ‘
What could have been an excellent venue to display before the international audience, the life and struggles of the Dalits, a great opportunity was lost by not screening Papilio Buddha at the film festival. Just like all the government agencies are ruled by the upper caste and the powerful, the Government's own movie society also metes out the same anti Dalit treatment. Any art form which is ready to debate with the common discourse is avoided. At an earlier festival, Jai Bheem comrade, the movie by Anad Patwardhan was avoided for its political stance .
Blogger Vellezhuthu writes what happened when the movie was screened at theater in Thiruvanathapuram, Kerala.
ഇന്നലെ 10 മണിക്ക് അജന്തയിൽ വച്ച് ക്ഷണിക്കപ്പെട്ട സദസ്സിനു മുൻപാകെ ജയൻ കെ ചെറിയാന്റെ പാപ്പിലിയോ ബുദ്ധ പ്രദർശിപ്പിച്ചു. 48 മിനിട്ടുള്ള സിനിമ പ്രദർശിപ്പിച്ചു ഡിവിഡിയും പ്രൊജക്ടറുമായി ആളുകൾ പോയ ഉടനെ പോലീസ് വരുന്നു. പ്രദർശനം നടത്തിയവരെ അറസ്റ്റ് ചെയ്യുമെന്നു പറയുന്നു , തിയേറ്ററിനെതിരെ കേസെടുക്കുമെന്നു പറയുന്നു, സെൻസർ ബോർഡിനു കത്തെഴുതുമെന്നു പറയുന്നു. ജഗപൊക. കണ്ടവരെയും പിടിക്കുമോ?
After the screening of Pappilio Budha, police came in and started to threaten the people present there including the theater owner and threatened they would file cases against the theater. They also threatened they would write to Censor board. Will they arrest the people who viewed it also?
Ben Prasantha wonders about the freedom in India in his blog:
സ്വതന്ത്ര പരമാധികാര റിപ്പബ്ലിക് രാഷ്ട്രത്തില് ഒരു കലാകാരന് സ്വതന്ത്രാവിഷ്കാരം നടത്തിയതിന്റെ പേരില് തന്റെ കലാസൃഷ്ടി ബഹുജന സമക്ഷം പ്രദര്ശിപ്പിക്കാന് അനുമതി നിഷേധിച്ചു എന്ന് പറയുന്നത് വല്ലാത്ത ദുര്യോഗം തന്നെ. കുറെ നാളുകളായി എന്റെ മനസ്സില് ഉറഞ്ഞു കൂടിയ ചോദ്യത്തെ ഒരിക്കല് കൂടി ഓര്മിപ്പിച്ചു ഈ സംഭവം. ഇന്ത്യ സ്വതന്ത്രയോ?. എന്റെ സത്യാന്വേഷണ പരീക്ഷണങ്ങള് എഴുതിയ ഗാന്ധി വിമര്ശനങ്ങള്ക്ക് അതീതന് അല്ല .സത്യങ്ങള് തുറന്നു പറയുമ്പോള് എന്തിനാണ് പേടിക്കുന്നത്?? ആരെയാണ് പേടിക്കേണ്ടത്?
In the sovereign free republic of India, an artist is denied permission to display his art in public. It is riveting to the say the least. That makes me ask the question which was in my mind for a long time, Is India really free? Gandhi who wrote, ‘Experiments of Truth’ is not someone above criticism. Why is everybody worried about the truth?
Ajith Kumar A S is a Dalit musician, writer and filmmaker based in Thiruvananthapuram writes about the movie and his difference of opinion.
Papilio Buddha has been acclaimed by Dalits and even left liberals as a film that addresses caste and violence against Dalits seriously. There are differences of opinion. I have serious problems with the film. I think it eroticizes the violence against Dalits and makes it enjoyable for the upper class/middle class sympathizers of Dalit issues. It gives a possibility of sympathizing over the violence of caste. Dalit bodies are just sites of violence, the film revolves around the atrocities and focuses mainly on the failures. The contemporary advancements of Dalits are ignored and it approaches the dominant left with a soft criticism.
Manoj vishwambharan writes on Utharakalam, an online media focusing on the subaltern, sums up the whole attitude towards the movie and why we need more such movies.
ശ്രീ ബുദ്ധന് ഇ എം. എസ് നമ്പൂതിരിപ്പാടിന്റെ സ്ഥാനത്ത് പ്രതിഷ്ഠിക്കപ്പെടുമ്പോഴും ചെരുപ്പുമാലയിട്ട ഗാന്ധിയന് നോക്കുകുത്തി എരിയപ്പെടുമ്പോഴും അതില് കണ്ട കീഴാള സ്ത്രീകളുടേയും സമുദായത്തിന്റേയും നിശ്ചയദാര്ഢ്യത്തെ പ്രതിനിധീകരിക്കുമ്പോള് ഈ സിനിമ സെന്സര്ബോര്ഡിനു മാത്രമല്ല, മലയാളി പൊതുബോധമണ്ഡലത്തിനു തന്നെ അസ്വാരസ്യമുണ്ടാക്കുന്നതില് എനിക്കത്ഭുതമില്ല.
ഇ എം എസിന്റെ ജാതീയതയെപ്പറ്റിയോ ഗാന്ധിയുടെ ജാതി വര്ണ്ണാശ്രമ വ്യവസ്ഥകളെപ്പറ്റിയോ ചരിത്രപരമായി വിശകലനം ചെയ്യുക എന്നത് എന്നെ സംബന്ധിച്ച് എളുപ്പമല്ല. പക്ഷേ എനിക്ക് ഉറപ്പായും പറയാവുന്നതെന്തെന്നാല് ഈ സിനിമയെ നിരോധിക്കേണ്ടത് ഇടതിന്റേയും വലതിന്റേയും രാഷ്ട്രീയബോധത്തെ നിലനിര്ത്തുന്നതിന് വളരെ നിര്ണ്ണായകമാണ്. അതേ സമയം തന്നെ ഇത് സാധാരണക്കാരന്റെ മുന്നില് പ്രദര്ശിപ്പിക്കേണ്ടത് ഒരു ദലിത്-കീഴാള രാഷ്ട്രീയ ധാരയുടെ നിര്മ്മാണത്തിനും പ്രവര്ത്തനത്തിനും അനിവാര്യമാണ്. പാപ്പിലിയോ ബുദ്ധ കേരളവും ഇന്ഡ്യയും കണ്ട ഏറ്റവും നല്ല സിനിമയാണെന്ന് വാദിക്കാനല്ല എന്റെ ശ്രമം. അതേ സമയം തന്നെ കേരളത്തിന്റേയും ഇന്ഡ്യയുടേയും സാംസ്കാരിക ചരിത്രത്തെ അലോസരപ്പെടുത്താനും പുനരാലോചിക്കാനും നമുക്ക് കൂടുതല് പാപ്പിലിയോ ബുദ്ധകളെ ആവശ്യമുണ്ട്.
When Buddha's picture is replaced instead of the erstwhile veteran communist leader E.M.S Namboothiripadu and when Gandhi is adorned with a garland of slippers in the movie, when the men and women in the movie are seen determined to represent their true Dalit culture, this movie will not only agonize the Indian Censor Board it would also agonize the common intellect of the society as well. I am none to analyse the caste favoritism of E.M.S or Gandhi. But I am sure this ban on the movie is a must for the left and the right politicos to safeguard their politics. At the same moment, this movie needs to be screened to an ordinary person to achieve a balanced political stance in their minds about Dalit identity. I am not here to talk about the merits of the movie as a whole but this is a movie which questions the unquestionable cultural history and this movie will make us think about the common propagated political myths. We need more Pappilio Buddhas like these.

author: Inji Pennu


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Iran: Foreign VPNs Blocked · Global Voices
Farid

Several blogs and news sites reported that Iranian authorities have blocked many foreign-based virtual private networks, or VPNs, severely restricting access to many websites.

author: Farid


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Propaganda & Mystery in Russia’s Browder-Magnitsky Case · Global Voices
Kevin Rothrock

Conspiracies are the stuff of Russian politics, and the anarchy of online political discourse makes the RuNet an especially exciting place to watch conspiracy theories unfold. Consider the never-ending saga of Bill Browder and the late Sergei Magnitsky, the two key figures in a multimillion-dollar tax fraud scam. For years, Russian federal investigators and Browder’s firm, Hermitage Capital Management, have traded accusations about who’s to blame for the theft of 230 million dollars.
Last week, on March 6, 2013, the national television network NTV (notorious for producing sensationalist documentaries against the anti-Kremlin protest movement) aired a special report [ru] targeting Browder with a wide array of accusations. Titled “The Browder List” (a pun on “the Magnitsky List”), the TV program implicates Browder in several mysterious deaths (including Magnitsky’s), questionable corporate practices throughout the 1990s and 2000s, and a whole mess of tax evasion schemes (including the exploitation of the mentally handicapped in Kalmykia). None of these allegations are new (newspaper Moskovskii Komsomolets commissioned a video documentary [ru] on the Kalmykia story in 2010), and they mostly address Browder’s character (e.g., “look at what a scoundrel he is!”), rather than the substance of how the $230 million disappeared from state coffers.
Stanislav Apetian, aka Politrash, 6 March 2013, screen capture from NTV program “The Browder List,” YouTube.
There was one bit, however, in NTV’s report that did highlight something potentially vital in the tax fraud case—and it came from a blogger. And it wasn’t just any blogger, but Stanislav Apetian, known online as “politrash,” who recently joined the analytical staff at the new Kremlin-friendly think tank The Civil Society Development Foundation. In “The Browder List,” Apetian argues that “expert analysis” disconfirms a key claim made by Hermitage Capital that state officials reregistered their subsidiaries (effectively stealing them), in order to request illegal tax rebates. Browder contends that federal investigators managed this reregistration with the use of corporate stamps (their “seals” for official documents) confiscated in a June 2007 search of Hermitage’s Moscow office. According to Apetian, an analysis of the tax rebate forms proves that the stamps seized in 2007 were not the ones used by the thieves. In other words, the key evidence linking state authorities to the crime is no good.
The “expert analysis” supposedly disproving Browder’s version of events seems to date back to September 2008, roughly nine months after the massive tax refunds were issued and a full two months before Magnitsky was ever arrested. In an obscure weekly publication [ru] called “Business Tuesday” (Деловой вторник), someone calling himself Gleb Novoselov authored an attack piece against Browder, titled “Pure English Swindling.” In that article (now available only [ru] where others have archived it), Novoselov makes the following claim:
Были проведены судебно-криминалистические экспертизы, которыми установлено, что печати на доверенностях нанесены штампами, не соответствующим оригинальным печатям, изъятым в ходе обысков офисов подозреваемых компаний «Файерстоун Данкен» и «Эрмитаж Капитал» («Hermitage Capital»). а подписи доверителей были подделаны.
Expert forensic analyses were conducted, showing that the stamps on the legal documents do not match the original stamps seized during the searches of Firestone Duncan’s and Hermitage Capital’s suspect subsidiaries, and the principals’ signatures [on the reregistration forms] were forged.
Gleb Novoselov, however, appears to be a pseudonym, as he’s published nothing since (or before). Curiously, “Gleb Novoselov” is a character in Oleg Blotskii’s semi-official biographies [ru] of Vladimir Putin, released in two volumes in 2001 and 2002. In a May 2010 blog post, conspiratologist Vladimir Pribylovsky—seemingly unaware of the September 2008 article—mused [ru] that Blotskii’s Novoselov could be a disguise for MVD police general Boris Miroshnikov (later fired [ru] by President Medvedev in January 2011), pointing out the similarities in their history and relationship to Putin.
In November 2010, the press service head of the MVD’s investigative committee, Irina Dudukina, made official [ru] what for two years had been Gleb Novoselov’s mysterious intimation: the government’s expert analysis shows that the seized stamps weren’t used in the phony tax rebate applications. Two months later, in January 2011, anonymous blogger Kovane guest-authored an English-language assessment of the Magnitsky-Browder case on the blog “The Kremlin Stooge,” highlighting the disconfirmatory “expert examination” of the corporate stamps. (In July 2012, Apetian posted a Russian translation [ru] of this post on his LiveJournal blog.)
Another anonymous blogger, tskgml, has also published extremely in-depth reports on this case, specifically addressing the corporate stamps issue. In August 2012, in part three [ru] of a five-part series, tskgml compared legal records hosted on Browder’s own website, russian-untouchables.com, highlighting one report that Hermitage staff (Vadim Kleiner and Ivan Cherkasov) actually asked state investigators not to return the corporate stamps until the investigation was completed, despite the authorities’ readiness to hand them back.
Without access to the raw findings of the MVD’s expert analysis, it’s impossible to assess whether or not the confiscated stamps were used in the tax rebate scheme. If these stamps were not used, it would signify a watershed moment in the case, and erase the key link in the paper trail commonly thought to incriminate state officials like Pavel Karpov and Artem Kuznetsov. But what is the nature of the expert analysis? What does it actually say? And will it take the tenacity (or possibly the nefarious ties) of Russia’s bloggers to find out?

author: Kevin Rothrock


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São Tomé and Príncipe’s Youth Skeptical of Government Promises · Global Voices
Mário Lopes

On March 6, 2013, the Minister of Youth and Sports of Sao Tome and Principe, Albertino Fernandes, presented the government's intention to train three thousand athletes, to create one thousand jobs and to build four hundred houses for young people until 2014. People present at the press conference, such as Nenesio Afonso and members of the National Youth Council (in a statement), did not believe such promises. The journalist Waldner Boa Morte denounced he was intimidated when questioning the Minister.

author: Mário Lopes


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Serbia’s First Startup Weekend · Global Voices
Veroniki Bacharidi-Krikoni

Startup Weekend in Belgrade, March 22, 2013.
Logo by official website
Balkans.com news portal informs netizens details about the upcoming Startup weekend in Serbia on March 22, 2013. Organized by HRH Crown Prince Alexander’s Foundation for Education and Culture, the event will take place at The Royal Palace in Belgrade. “Whether you have a business idea or a skill that is necessary in building a successful startup, this event is one that aspiring entrepreneurs should not miss”.
There is limited entrance to the event, so if you are interested, apply now at www.belgrade.startupweekend.org!

author: Veroniki Bacharidi-Krikoni


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Mercedes for President of Dilapidated Slovak University  · Global Voices
Tibor Blazko

Blogger Tomáš Homola blogs [sk] about a new Mercedes Benz E car recently acquired for 63,096 Euros for Professor Karol Mičieta [sk], the Rector/President of Comenius University in Bratislava. Homola describes Mičieta's connection to politics, and also recalls that the Ministry of Education just a short time ago was forced to cancel renting of an Audi A6 [sk] for about 3,000 Euros per month from a company whose owner is the former Minister of Economy allegedly deeply involved in the Gorilla scandal. The saddest part of the story is the extremely poor condition that the university building is currently in (see images in Homola's post).
(Related in-depth GV posts are here, here, and here.)

author: Tibor Blazko


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The Curious Case of Hugo Chávez and Peru · Global Voices
Juan Arellano

[Links are to Spanish-language pages unless otherwise noted.]
As we all know, Hugo Chávez [en], president of Venezuela, died [en] on March 5. But what we are perhaps less familiar with is the relationship between Chávez and Peru. It began in 1974 when Chávez arrived in the country [en] as a young cadet and part of the Venezuelan military delegation come to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Ayacucho [en], which secured the independence of Peru. It is likely that this event inspired Chavez's admiration for General Juan Velasco Alvarado [en], the erstwhile President of Peru and architect of the so-called Revolutionary Government of the Armed Forces.
Later, in 1992, President Fujimori gave asylum to 93 members of the Venezuelan military, followers of Chávez, who had mounted a failed coup [en] against Carlos Andrés Pérez [en].
The next noteworthy event in this relationship took place in 2000, when it was rumoured [en] that the Chávez regime (he was now president) had provided protection to the fugitive Vladimiro Montesinos [en], a close advisor to then Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori [en].
Hugo Chávez also had a cameo in the Peruvian presidential elections of 2006 [en], where his support [en] for the candidate Ollanta Humala was the country's worst-kept secret. Humala lost the campaign; so when he ran again and won the elections of 2011 [en], he avoided overt ties to Chávez. In 2006, Casas del Alba were established in Peru. Officially an organization offering humanitarian assistance, it has nevertheless been investigated on several occasions because of accusations that it functions as a front for interference and meddling by proponents of “chavismo”.
Hugo Chávez and Ollanta Humala outside the Miraflores palace in Venezuela. Photo shared by Flickr user chavezcandanga, under license by Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
Another incident that provoked speculation occurred when cans of fish turned up bearing labels with photos of Humala and Chávez, apparently as part of an aid package sent to the victims of the 2007 earthquake in Pisco [en]. But Chávez's interest in the victims was not confined to foodstuffs, he also donated 100 new homes in a housing project, christened Simon Bolivar, in the badly damaged town of Chincha, a fact that local residents contrasted with the scant support provided by the government of then President Alan García.
So it is understandable that reactions to the Venezuelan president during his tenure were more conflicting in Peru than other Latin-American countries. Most of the political class, except on the left, did not sympathize with his ideas. Neither was he a favourite in journalistic circles, with the same exceptions. But the response to his death in the blogosphere has been more moderate.
For example, Jorge Enrique Seoane Morla, of Metro Press & Photo, wonders what the future holds for those countries who were recipients of aid from the Chavista regime in Venezuela. He comments:
Equivocado o no pretendió, ser el aglutinador de una América Latina en torno a si mismo y a una “Revolución Bolivariana” en la cual los intelectuales e historiadores peruanos no creen ni aprueban. Es más, muchos, en el Perú, creen que Simón Bolívar fue nefasto para los intereses peruanos […] El Perú de Ollanta Humala (y de Nadine [esposa de Humala]), felizmente que se distanció de Venezuela y la infiltración de las casas ALBA. Somos Libres.
Rightly or wrongly, he tried to bring Latin America together, binding it to him in a Bolivarian-style revolution that Peruvian intellectuals and historians neither believed in nor supported. Moreover, many in Peru think Simón Bolívar was detrimental to Peruvian interests […] Happily, the Peru of Ollanta Humala (and his wife Nadine) distanced itself from Venezuela and meddling by the casas ALBA. We are free.
A while ago the blogger Luis Vigil republished an article by the historian Antonio Zapata, which focused on the relationship between Chávez and Fujimori:
Algunos medios de comunicación no querrán acordarse, pero Humala no es el aliado principal de Hugo Chávez en nuestra historia política, sino Fujimori. El manto autoritario hermana al Perú de la década de 1990 con la Venezuela de los últimos años.
Some of the media may not wish to remember that it is not Humala who is Hugo Chavez's main ally in our political history, but rather Fujimori. The corresponding mantle of Peruvian authoritarianism in the 1990s is Venezuela in the last few years.
Juan Acevedo, a well-known Peruvian cartoonist, posted a brief assessment of Chávez on his Facebook profile and concluded:
Cuando Chávez surgió, su discurso me pareció bienintencionado y simplón. Como él se entendía, era un soldado y como tal batalló e hizo bastante. […] Chávez, como Fidel, Velasco, y otros, sin ser iguales entre sí, creyeron que podían cambiar la historia y se la jugaron a fondo desde sus tareas de gobierno. Cometieron errores, por supuesto, y gruesos, pero se la jugaron. Otros se acomodaron nomás y encima con eso se pretendieron novedosos. Ojalá no cejemos de apostar a que podemos cambiar lo que es injusto, lo que está mal, lo que es feo, lo que es falso…
When Chávez emerged, his rhetoric seemed to me to be simplistic but well-meaning. As he saw it, he was a soldier and as such fought well and hard. […] Chávez, like Fidel, Velasco, and others, without being clones of one another, all thought they could change history, and they took risks in the way they governed. They made mistakes, of course, and big ones, but they took chances. Others simply adapted and on top of that claimed they were innovative. Let us not give up believing we can change what is unjust, what is wrong, what is bad, what is false…
Professor and journalist Hugo Neira recalls the Venezuela he knew over the years and writes quoting his own old articles:
lo que vi, nunca me gustó. La extrema descomposición social de uno de los países no solo entre los más ricos del continente sino con una renta petrolera envidiable. Vi la degradación de la vida venezolana en medio del esplendor de sus clases medias, ciegas a la pobreza de los cerritos y al desamparo de los pobres en medio de ricos que no merecían sus fortunas. Hasta que pasó lo que pasó. Llegó Chávez. “Llegó el llanero, no tan solitario, y se va a quedar un buen rato, tiene apenas 50 años, y va a revertir los dividendos petroleros hacia abajo. El método puede no convencernos, pero es lo que ocurre en países rentistas, Venezuela hoy y Argentina ayer, cuando el egoísmo social deja crecer una masa enorme de excluidos.
I never liked what I saw. The drastic breakdown of society in a country that was not just one of the richest on the continent but with enviable oil revenues. I saw the deterioration of life in Venezuela in the splendour of its middle classes, blind to the poverty in the nearby hills and to the helplessness of the poor in the midst of the wealthy who did not deserve their fortunes. Until what happened happened. Chávez arrived. “The lone ranger has come, only he isn't alone, and he is going to stay a while; he is barely 50, and he is going to make sure the oil dividends trickle down. We may not buy into his method, but that is what happens in rentier sates, Venezuela today and Argentina yesterday, when general selfishness allows a huge portion of people to live increasingly at the margins of society.
Neira continues:
No me gustó Chávez pero tampoco la Venezuela anterior a Chávez. Así de sencillo […]: “A Chávez lo auparon para otra cosa, para que corrigiera una democracia corrupta, pero se ha inventado esa « democracia directa », cuando toda la que se vuelva directa deja de serlo. No le gusta la palabra compromiso ni mediación, es decir, no sólo lo que a Venezuela le falta sino la esencia de toda política. Chávez es un político de la antipolítica, como lo fuera Fujimori. Lo llamaron para curar la peste y aportó el cólera. Pero, aun así, nadie lleva por completo razón, ni la oposición ni las bases chavistas, cada una con su ulcerada y parcial verdad venezolana.
I didn't like Chávez, or Venezuela before Chávez. It's that simple […] “Chávez was elevated for other reasons, so he would fix a corrupt democracy; instead he invented that ‘direct democracy’, where in becoming so direct, it became less democratic. He doesn't like the words obligation or mediation, something not just missing from Venezuela but that is the essence of all politics. Chávez is an anti-politics politician, as was Fujimori. They called him in to cure the plague, and he brought cholera. Even so, nobody is 100 percent right, not the opposition, not the Chavista base, each one suffering their own Venezuelan ulcerating half-truth.
But beyond all these opinions, Peru was respectful in the wake of Chávez's death. The congress observed a minute of silence in his memory, although not without objection [en] by those who considered him a dictator. Outside the Venezuelan embassy in Lima, sympathizers arrived to express their condolences and pay hommage. The government, for its part, declared [en] three days of national mourning, and Presidente Humala led a delegation that travelled to Caracas [en] for the funeral [en] of President Chávez. Meanwhile, the mayor of the province of Chincha announced the construction of a bust in honour of the Venezuelan president.

author: Juan Arellano


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Thousands of Dead Pigs Found Floating in Shanghai River · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

A two-day clean-up effort has recovered 3,323 dead pig bodies from the Huangpu River, which cuts through the middle of Shanghai. Local media are reporting that the pigs came from Jiaxing, in Zhejiang province, where over 20,000 pigs have been found dead in villages since the beginning of the year because of swine flu [zh]. While the public is very anxious about the potential pollution caused by the decaying pig carcasses, local authorities quickly asserted that the dead pigs had not polluted the water supply. Shanghai's water comes from Yangtze River and authorities claim the pigs died of cold weather, not a virus. However, most netizens are skeptical of these claims.
Testing Paper (验算纸) invited [zh] the leaders to prove to the public that the water is safe:
黄浦江漂浮千头死猪，浙江农业厅说猪是冻死的并非猪瘟，专家又说水质达标没有任何问题，也就是说，都是放心猪可食用？那不如。。。不如捞上来请领导们吃了吧。
The Zhejiang Agriculture Department said that the dead pigs floating in the Huangpu River died of cold weather rather than swine flu. The experts also said that the water quality has not been affected. Does that mean that the pigs are safe to eat? Why don't we serve the leaders some of the Huangpu river pigs’ meat?
A collection of photos of dead pigs near the Huangpu River. Image from Lawyer Gan Yuanchun. Public Domain.
Liu Junluo (劉軍洛）wondered [zh] why the local authorities did not release the details concerning the dead pigs in advance:
【问责#死猪#】嘉兴日报报道，从黄浦江打捞出来的死猪源于#嘉兴猪瘟#，“1月份全村死猪10078头，2月份8325头，这几天平均每天的死猪300多头，村里死猪处理站葬猪的大池子挖了一个又一个”。而目前，被打捞出的仅有1200头，那剩余的会不会已经上了老百姓的饭桌？这种骇人听闻的事，为什么不提早公布？
[Responsibility concerning the dead pigs incident] According to Jiaxing Daily, the dead pigs in Huangpu River came from a virus in Jiaxing. In January, 10,078 pigs were found dead in a village. In February 8,325 more were dead. In the past few days, on average 300 pigs were dead everyday. The village has kept digging holes to bury the pigs. So far around 1,200 were found in the river. Had other dead pigs been served at people's dinner tables? Why doesn't the government alert people about this news?
Weibo user Changan Xianling (@长安县令) added more background information about the incident:
很多人疑问，为什么近3000头大肥猪竟然可以逃到上海？一般来说，早就进入人们的肚子里了。原来前一段时间，卖死猪肉的被判刑了！去年11月，嘉兴宣判17人制售死猪肉案！董某等17人开设非法屠宰场屠宰死猪7.7万余头，销售金额累计达865万余元，主犯董某、陈某、姚某等人被判无期徒刑！
Many people have raised questions concerning the dead pig incident in Huangpu River. How did the 3,000 pigs make it to Shanghai? Usually, they would have ended up in people's stomachs. The reason is that not long ago, people who had sold pork from dead pigs were tried and convicted. Last November, a court case in Jiaxing tried 17 people who had sold 77,000 dead pigs for 8.65 million RMB (1.4 million USD). The main perpetrators, Dong, Chen and Yao have received life imprisonment.
Many questioned why there were so few reports concerning the dead pigs incident. @I Am Zuo Anlong (我是左安龙) looked to [zh] the authorities to be accountable for the incident:
这么重大的社会新闻，居然没有见到责任部门，相关部门表示态度。尤其当前正处在全国两会期间，没有见到任何一级人大、人大代表追责。我们的社会怎么了？难道除了争权夺利什么都不要了？
Such big news and there isn't any government authority to take responsibility and comment on the incident. Now we have the Two Congress, but no representatives to be accountable. What has happened to our society? Is there anything left apart from power struggle?
Li Mingseng (李鸣生) mocked the nature of news in China:
2000多头死猪神秘潜入黄浦江，不是新闻；2000多万上海人喝了半个月的死猪肉汤，也不是新闻；上海水务局称黄浦江水质均符合国家生活饮用水卫生标准，才是新闻！
More than 2,000 dead pigs entering Huangpu River is not news. More than 20 million Shanghai people drinking dead pig soup for half a month is not news. That the Shanghai Water Supply Bureau claimed that Huangpu River's water quality is up to the national drinking water standard is news.
Brother Excellence (卓越兄) wondered [zh] why there hadn't been any discussion in social media until the dead pigs appeared in the Huangpu River:
【悲哀：猪击败中国媒体】我们有微博传播、微信传播、客户端传播、短信传播、网站传播、电视传播、报纸传播，可嘉兴发生猪瘟，死了上万头猪。这么大的事情，却要靠死猪自己来传播——直到死猪顺黄浦江漂到上海，公众才知道。在新媒体时代，要靠猪传播信息，这是谁的悲哀？
[Sad news: Pigs have beaten the Chinese media] We have information distribution tools like micro-blogs, mobile chat, web portals, SMS, websites, television, and newspapers. Yet the swine flu that killed thousands of pigs in Jiaxing has to rely on the dead pigs for spreading the news — not until the dead pigs floated into Shanghai did the public learn the news. In the new media era, we still depend on pigs to obtain information, isn't that sad?
Environmentalist Dong Liangjie wanted [zh] to know the truth:
事件在升级中，特别呼吁彻查公布真相。呼吁水厂检生物毒素。不要因为开二会就遮掩，更不要有侥幸心理;出了问题没人能负起历史责任。
The incident has caught the public attention. I urge the authorities to reveal the truth and the water supply factory should look into the bio-toxicity data. Don't cover up the truth because of the Lianghui. Don't risk your credibility. If anything goes wrong, the consequences would be too heavy to bear.


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TV Journalist Attacked In Maldives · Global Voices
Rezwan

Ibrahim ‘Aswad’ Waheed, Head of News of Raaje TV, an independent television channel, was attacked by unidentified persons recently in the Maldivian capital Male. Maldivian journalists joined in protests demanding press freedom and protection of journalists which can be seen in pictures at photo-blogger Bug's blog.

author: Rezwan


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Video: Chinese Journalist Fights Censorship · Global Voices
Abby Liu

Committee to Protect Journalists features a special report about media censorship in China. In the report, Jonah Kessel tells a video story about Chinese Journalist Liu Jianfeng who reports on social issues amidst pressure from China’s state-controlled media.

author: Abby Liu


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Video: The 70’s Generation in China  · Global Voices
Abby Liu

WORDS OF A GENERATION records personal stories and perspectives from the 70's generation in China who grew up on the perimeter of China's past and live at the forefront of its future. The videos focus on seven core topics: work, consume, love, connect, play, explore and dream.


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World Day Against Cyber Censorship · Global Voices
مؤسسة حرية الفكر والتعبير

March 12 is World Day Against Cyber Censorship. International press freedom advocacy group Reporters Without Borders organized the first World Day Against Cyber Censorship in 2008, calling on activists, movements and organizations around the world to participate by reminding their constituents of the importance of protecting free expression online.
Image by RSF, published with permission for reuse.
The Internet and social networks have been conclusively established as tools for protest, campaigning, and circulating information, and as vehicles for advancing human rights and democratic values. The aim of the day is to defend human rights online, promote Internet accessibility for all, and expose enemies of Internet openness — along with governments that are gradually becoming more controlling over how their citizens use the Internet.
Reporters Without Borders will mark the day by releasing its annual “Enemies of the Internet” report at 12:01am (Paris time) on March 12. This year's report focuses on Internet surveillance and describes not only the actions of governments with repressive online surveillance regimes, but also examines the role of corporate actors in this area.
The Egyptian Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression posted the following video [ar], calling out activists and bloggers to blog, tweet, and to spread the word about the day:
We know that other groups are actively participating in the day as well. Please post comments here, or tweet at @Advox and tell the community how you're honoring World Day Against Cyber Censorship!

author: مؤسسة حرية الفكر والتعبير


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Angry Mob Torches Christian Neighbourhood in Pakistan · Global Voices
Qurratulain (Annie) Zaman

Riled by blasphemy charges, a Muslim mob of 3,000, torched 100 houses in Joseph Colony, a largely Christian neighbourhood in Pakistan's second largest city Lahore, on Saturday, March 9, 2013.
The residents of Joseph Colony, within Lahore's Badami Bagh area had already fled their homes on Friday night and the early hours of Saturday, after the police warned them of a potential revenge attack over an alleged blasphemous remark made by Sawan Masih, a 28-year old sanitation worker from their community.
Pictures of Joseph Colony's burnt houses were circulated on social media by the Express Tribune Facebook page. In these pictures, a jubilant mob is setting beds, washing machines and household stuff on fire.
@norbalm (i N O R B A L M ™) With Pride I BURN & Record it with my Mobile #Lahore #BadamiBagh pic.twitter.com/3agi09KxE2
Mob setting fire and recording via mobile. Image courtesy Twittter user @norbalm
@TahaSSiddiqui (Taha Siddiqui): See burnt homes in #Lahore via @etribune pic.twitter.com/rJBRFBj0vz
Pakistan's Blasphemy Law is a sensitive issue; Punjab Governor Salman Taseer and the Federal Minister for Minorities, Shahbaz Bhatti were assassinated for their opposition to the law.
Reza Habib Raja writes in Pak Tea House:
In countries like Pakistan, it is the reverence of religion (which at times does not even have neat correspondence with actual adherence to its rituals) which is the main culprit. A law implemented in the name of religion is often impossible to repeal. People may not be following religion in their personal capacities, but fully understand its power in collective settings.
The Blasphemy Law is often used against religious minorities in the country. The Constitution of the country also discriminates against religious minorities. Non-Muslims are barred from becoming head of the state and other institutions according to the 1973 constitution.
Pakistan's Christian minority shouts slogans against the attack on their community members in Lahore, during a protest in Hyderabad. Image by Rajput Yasir. Copyright Demotix (10/3/2013)
Reza Habib Raja in his blog in Pak Tea House states it's not only the law:
Much more than the law, it is the mindset. I really don’t think that merely repealing the law will change anything. In fact law can only be repealed if there is a sufficient majority in the assembly. And that majority will only repeal it, if majority of the electorate wants it to be repealed. I really don’t think that any party has the political courage to even present the possible repealing as an agenda point in its political manifesto.
BoloBhi, a right-based organization tweeted a video made by Saad Sarfaraz Shiekh about the Badami Bagh incident.
@BoloBhi (Bolo Bhi): “As sweepers, we clean their houses. They would die in the garbage if we didn't ” voices from #Josephcolony http://vimeo.com/61458898
@salmansid (Salman Siddiqui): Just imagine being a Christian or an Ahmedi or Shia 4 a second in #Pakistan what future will u think u'll have 4 urself, ur family here?
Blogger and columnist Sonya Rehman interviews one of the residents of Joseph Colony:
Beena Sarwar, a Pakistani journalist based in the US writes in her blog post, ‘Planned attack on Christian properties in Lahore; protest demonstrations Sunday':
The mob was given a free hand to burn and loot; it destroyed more than 150 houses and shops, as well as a church, including bibles and religious symbols (blasphemy case against perpetrators, anyone?). This is not the first time this has happened. Remember Shantinagar (1997), and Gojra and Kerian. (2009)
Pak Tea House  blog sums up the situation in Pakistan:
Religion has been elevated to such level and in a way that any debate on it has become impossible. Consequently, as a society we are completely impotent to even condemn those who misuse religion for committing horrifying acts. This impotence is the real tragedy and is even more horrifying than the actual act.

author: Qurratulain (Annie) Zaman


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Arab World: Pope Alert, White Smoke  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Arab netizens joined the rest of the world today in awaiting news of a new pope, who will replace Benedict XVI.
As soon as the white smoke bellowed from the Sistine Chapel, Lebanese Nada Akl quipped:
@Nada_Akl: Pope alert, white smoke
Libyan Ismael wondered:
@ChangeInLibya: That's alot of white smoke. Are you sure it's just the ballots they're burning in there? #Suspicious
Syrian Karl Sharro said:
@KarleMarks: Once again, the cardinals have defeated us. They managed to elect a new pope before we managed to come up with a single funny pope joke.
And Egyptian Alyaa Gad joked:
@AlyaaGad: White smoke from the Sistine Chapel indicates that the cardinals finished having their (burned) dinner and now it's time for a joint. #Pope
Arab netizens also played guessing games on the name of the new pope, which has not been announced at the time of writing this post.
Lebanese-American Asad Abukhalil announced [ar]:
تسرّب إسم البابا الجديد: جورج دبليو بوش. مبروك.
@asadabukhalil: The name of the new pope has been leaked: it's George W. Bush. Congratulations.
And Free Tunisian noted:
فاليري سئلت عن هوية البابا الجديد فأجابت نازحة ” أكيد قطري … أنهم يشترون كل شيئ
@tounsiahourra: Valerie [a reader] asked me about the identity of the new pope so I answered joking: “It is certainly a Qatari. They buy everything.”

author: Amira Al Hussaini


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Argentina’s Jorge Mario Bergoglio Elected Pope · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

Argentinian Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio has been elected as the new Pope of the Catholic Church. #Bergoglio and #OrgulloArgentino (Argentinian pride) are current trends on Twitter in Argentina.


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Skip the Cigarettes, Breathe in Beijing’s Air · Global Voices
Abby Liu

The former head of Google China and influential Micro-blogger Kai-Fu Lee posted[zh] to his 32 million fans on Sina Weibo an imaginary conversation between a Beijinger and a Shanghainese:
Beijinger: “We Beijingers are the most fortunate, we can open the window and have free cigarettes.” Shanghainese: “That's nothing, we can enjoy pork soup simply by turning on our faucets!!”
This sarcastic dialogue refers to the terrible air pollution in Beijing and the dead pigs found floating in Shanghai’s main water source, the Huangpu river. The dialogue was retweeted over 61, 790 times since it was posted on March 13, 2013.


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Fears of Ticket Hikes As China Scraps Indebted Railways Ministry  · Global Voices
Abby Liu

China has decided to dismantle its powerful but indebted railways ministry in a bid to boost government efficiency and tackle corruption, a move that some Chinese Web users worry could mean higher ticket prices on the horizon.
The massive monopoly will be split into two arms, with its administrative powers coming under the Ministry of Transport. A company will be established to run China’s commercial railway operations.
The Ministry of Railway leaves a massive debt of 2.66 trillion yuan (420 billion US dollars), and officials have not yet decided how to deal with it, Wang Feng, deputy director of the State Commission for Public Sector Reform, said on March 11, 2013. That decision will be “left for the next step,” he said.
The ministry has long been a target of accusations of corruption and a hotbed of scandal. In 2011, a collision between two high-speed trains triggered outrage online. In 2012, Chinese questioned the frustrating ticket-booking website that cost the railways ministry 300 million yuan (47.8 million US dollars) to build, as well as promotional video that cost 18.5 million yuan (2.94 million) to produce.
Chinese media have welcomed the break-up of the ministry. China Daily commented:
China's state-owned Jiangsu TV reports about the scrap of the Ministry of Railways (A screen shot on youku)
The just-unveiled plan to reshuffle State Council agencies may not be as broad or thorough as some anticipated, but even with some apparently ‘interim’ arrangements, it is a welcome move.
However, the move triggered [zh] an outpouring of pessimistic response on the popular Chinese microblogging site Sina Weibo. Many worried that it would a rise in the price of train tickets. One Web user “Su Qun” wrote [zh]:
苏群: 铁道部变成公司，对老百姓或许并不是什么好事。。。过去的问题只是买不到票，将来可能会变成买不起票。。。铁路寡头没有私营公司竞争，又有经营压力，就会想方设法把2万亿旧账转嫁到车票上。。。过去有行政铁笼，一没了束缚，就成森林之王，和石油公司一样。
The Ministry of Railways will turn into a company, which might not be a good thing… In the past, the problem is just that we cannot get a ticket, maybe in the future, we will not be able to afford one… The railway company will not have any competition with private companies, yet they will face economic pressure. They will try many different ways to pass the 420 billion US dollars in debt onto the train tickets. They used to be bound by the administration. Now it's gone. They have become the king of the forest, just like oil companies.
User Laoxu echoed [zh]:
老徐时评: 铁道部最后一任部长盛光祖讲，票价是偏低的今后将按照市场规律办事。你们不是总嚷嚷要撤了铁道部吗，又一个牛 逼闪闪的垄断性国企即将诞生，从此将放开手脚去追逐市场利润…
The last Minister from the Ministry of Railways, Sheng Guangzu, said the fare is rather low. In the future, they will set the price in accordance with the rules of the market. You guys called for the ending of the Ministry of Railways; now a shiny monopoly of state-owned enterprise is born. They will soon be chasing market profits…
User “Wuyue Sanren” thought [zh] the move is a trick to get rid of the ministry's enormous debt:
五岳散人: 铁道部被合并取消这事儿大概我算是明白了，这招叫做金蝉脱壳。一旦取消合并之后，是政治上、舆论上的负资产会消失，部委都没了，骂人都找不到主语；经济上市场化，抛掉债务转成商业行为，等于切割不良资产。高，真他妈高。
I understand why the Ministry of Railways has been scraped. This trick is called “escaping by crafty scheme”. Once scraped, the negative equity in politics and from public opinion will disappear. Since the ministry is gone, no one can find a subject to blame. Adopting a market-oriented approach and making the debt the responsibility of a commercial enterprise is the same as cutting a non-performing asset. This is damn brilliant.
Economist Lu Zhengwei also asserted [zh] high debt is the momentum for the reform:
鲁政委: 铁道部已成历史，有关部门誓言市场化改革，所有这一切的推手，其实是高负债使 然：＂甩包袱＂＂嫁丑女＂一直是中国30多年来的改革推进逻辑。那么，让下个十年的政府改革动力，预计也只能来自财政赤字的爆棚。还是20世纪初的熊彼特 有远见：财政，是理解一切制度变迁的关键。
High debt is the momentum for the reform of the Ministry of Railways. The Ministry of Railways has become history. The relevant departments vowed to enact market-oriented reforms, all of which are pushed by high debt. “Marry the ugly woman” has been the logic behind reform for the past 30 years. So, the government reform momentum in the next decade is also expected to come from the bursting of the budget deficit. Just like [economist] Joseph Alois Schumpeter from the early 20th century said: Finance is the key to understanding all institutional change.
Journalist Xiao Feng from New Weekly [zh] concluded [zh]:
肖锋 : 新铁路总公司背2.6万亿巨债，势将宣布新一轮涨价。这应和了“改革=涨价”的老路子。以改革之名，行涨价之实，医改如此，教改如此，房改如此，撤并铁道部亦如此。如此如此。
The new Railway Company will have a huge debt of 2.66 trillion yuan(420 billion US dollars), which will lead to a ticket price increase. This is the old way of “reform = price increase”. In the name of reform, the real deal is the increased prices, so is health reform, education reform, and housing reform. The break-up of the Ministry of Railways is also the same.


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Italy: Fire Destroys Interactive Museum ‘Città della Scienza’ in Naples · Global Voices
Marisa Petricca

[All links point to resources in Italian, unless otherwise noted]
On the evening of 4 March 2013 a large fire destroyed the “Città della Scienza” [en], a pioneering science museum in Bagnoli, Naples.
The  public centre was built between 1989 and 1992 in the former industrial area of Bagnoli, in the ex-headquarters of  ILVA-Italsider, closed down due to the crisis in the steelworks sector and the pollution it was creating. This state-of-the-art centre was based on the Cité des sciences et de l'industrie [en] in Paris, a project by Vittorio Silvestrini, president of the IDIS-Città della Scienza Foundation. In the last 10 years the structure had approximately 350 thousand visitors per year. Its attractions included an interactive museum, a planetarium, a conference space, a training centre and an art exhibition area.
The shocking news particularly surprised the locals who immediately started discussing it various social networks (in particular Twitter). Some of them did not hide the fact that they believed it to be an act of arson by the Camorra [en]:
@sechi1964: sono stato a Cittá della Scienza pochi mesi fa. Un luogo che, da solo, sapeva rappresentare il riscatto di Napoli. Quel rogo brucia tutti noi.
@sechi1964: I visited the Città della Scienza just a few months ago. It was a place that, on its own, was able to represent Naples’ redemption. That fire burns us all.
@itsmeperp: La camorra brucia la città della scienza e poi aspetta il fiume di soldi della ricostruzione. E noi.. paghiamo.
@itsmeperp:The Camorra burns the Città della Scienza and then waits on the floods of money for the reconstruction. And we…pay.
@MiguelCavalle: Brucia la Città della Scienza a #Napoli e la #RegioneCampania corre a ricostruire… E perché non arrivare ai problemi prima che brucino…?
@MiguelCavalle: The Città della Scienza in #Naples is burning and the #CampaniaRegion rushes to rebuild… Why not solve problems before they burn…?
Marcello Signore writes on his blog:
Da ragazzino andavo sempre alla “Città della Scienza”: ci ho visto i dinosauri, le mostre interattive, ci ho ascoltato conferenze. Ci ho ricevuto anche un premio, il mio primo premio, il “premio poesia”, non lo dimenticherò mai. la “Città della Scienza” era a 500 metri da casa mia, ma a me sembrava un posto molto più lontano. Rappresentava il cambiamento, il miglioramento, l'evoluzione.
When I was a child we used to go to the “Città della Scienza”: I saw dinosaurs, interactive displays, listened to conferences. I even won a prize, my first prize, the “poetry prize”. I’ll never forget it. The “Città della Scienza” was 500 metres from my house, but it seemed much further to me. It represented change, improvement, evolution.
On Naples’ newspaper website, IlMattino.it, many locals reflect on the event:
Natalia 13ful: siete il cancro della nostra terra. solo a pensare alle 170 persone rimaste disoccupate, e alle loro famiglie, per i vostri sporchi interessi.
Natalia 13ful: You are the cancer of our land. Just think of the 170 people that have been left without jobs, and their families, for your dishonest profits.
Pietro Treccagnoli: Si capiranno, forse, le origini e gli obiettivi del dolo. Ma qualcosa resterà sempre inspiegabile, soprattutto ai napoletani: come si può vivere in una città dove la scienza non produce coscienza.
Pietro Treccagnoli: We might understand, perhaps, the origins and the reasons for the arson. But something will always remain unexplainable, especially for the Neapolitans: how can we live in a city where science doesn’t produce conscience.
Francesco Grillo: Purtroppo dall'incendio viene fuori il messaggio che Napoli non si può ancora consentire il lusso di essere normale: dovranno essere spesi tanti soldi – tre miliardi di euro circa – in ricerca nei prossimi sette anni a Napoli per volontà della Commissione Europea: ma con il disastro di ieri sera si assottigliano le speranze di prendere anche quest'ultimo treno.
Francesco Grillo: Unfortunately out of the ashes comes the message that Naples cannot yet allow itself the luxury of being normal: lots of money will need to be spent – about three billion euros – on research in the next seven years in Naples with the European Commission’s support: but after yesterday’s disaster there is little hope even of getting this last train.
The well-known writer Roberto Saviano [en], author of the book on which the film Gomorra [en] was based, comments:
@robertosaviano: Dolo o incidente? Da sempre i clan vorrebbero edificare a Bagnoli: le fiamme a Città della scienza sono il fallimento di una Napoli diversa.
@robertosaviano: Arson or accident? The mafia clans have always wanted to build in Bagnoli: the flames at the Città della Scienza are the failure of a different Naples.
The Fiasco Job Blog reports:
Napoli oggi è di cenere – ha scritto Roberto Saviano – 160 dipendenti non sanno più’ nemmeno se e quando ricominceranno a lavorare…uno scheletro sul mare. Completamente distrutto lo science center, il planetario, sei capannoni per dodicimila metri quadri e danni per oltre venti milioni di euro. Resta il teatro, da lì bisognerà ripartire.
Today Naples is in ashes – wrote Roberto Saviano – 160 workers do not know if or when thy can return to their jobs… a skeleton by the sea. The science centre, the planetarium and six warehouses of twelve thousand square metres have been completely destroyed and the damages are for over twenty thousand euros. All that remains is the theatre, from there the reconstruction must begin.
Città della Scienza, aerial view after the fire. Photo taken by Mattino.it
The flames were brought under control after 13 hours and investigations suggest that the arsonists were experts, setting alight the building just after closing time so as to not have any witnesses. It is suspected that the fire had 12 different points of origin which suggests that the people responsible wanted to destroy the entire structure — as confirmed by the initial investigation. One day perhaps the courts and the investigations will reveal the true causes (political, economic or the Camorra) of this destruction.
As far as reconstruction is concerned, the Minister for Territorial Cohesion, Fabrizio Barca, quickly announced that 5 million euros had already been made available and that the total would reach 20 million including funds for the redevelopment of industrial areas. Another ambitious promise was made by Franceso Profumo, Minister for Education, Universities and Reseach: the Città della Scienza would be rebuilt in about 18 months. An important clarification was made by the Governor of the Campania region, Stefano Caldoro, confirming the construction site: “No one wants to move the science centre away from Bagnoli to another part of the city. I can assure you of this”.
In the meantime local authorities and well-known faces alongside simple citizens have started various initiatives to contribute to the reconstruction. On Facebook, the Ricostruiamo Città della Scienza group has been created, while the first (crowdfunding) fundraising campaign on the  DeRev website has already raised more than 51,000 euros on March 12. The MADRE (Donna Regina Modern Art Museum) in Naples has announced that it wants to donate 10% of next months intake to the cause. Carlo Rubbia [en], winner of a Nobel prize for physics, suggests creating an ad hoc committee for the reconstruction.
International media have also covered somewhat the event — such as the French website CetteSemaine [fr]:
“Un des cent pôles d’excellence italiens”, “un des meilleurs incubateurs de nouvelles entreprises”, ex-”meilleur musée des sciences en Europe”, à la fois “centre de congrès, centre de formation et pépinière d’entreprises”, etc. voilà ce qu’était la Cité des Sciences de Naples. En respirant un peu plus la cendre, la suie et la lance à incendie, elle pue désormais un peu moins l’ode à la recherche technologique qui sème partout la mort…
“One of the hundred poles of excellence in Italy”, “one of the best incubators for new businesses”, the ex-“best science museum in Europe”, “a conference centre, training centre and an entrepreneurial hothouse” all at the same time”, etc. This is what the Città della Scienza was. Now there is only ash, soot and fire hoses. It now smells a little less of eau de technological research, spreading death everywhere…
While the English website Ecsite, the European Network of Science Centres and Museums, offers details about the donation drive:
Yesterday evening a large fire has totally destroyed our Science Centre in Naples. Our dreams, 20 years of work, everything we put in this project caught fire in few hours during the night. We need the support of everybody, wherever you are, to believe in a new start.” Any contribution to the reconstruction of Città della Scienza can be done through the Bank Account: IBAN IT41X0101003497100000003256 BIC IBSPTINA. Ecsite, the European network of science centres and museums, extends a resolve to support Città della Scienza in this difficult time. The centre is a founding member of Ecsite and has been an active and instrumental member in the organization, hosting an Ecsite Conference and taking its Presidency from 2007 to 2009.
Finally, local students have made their voices heard through various public demonstrations, including a protest march downtown Naples on 8 March. This was followed by another protest the next day and a well-attended flashmob, held on the morning of 10 March in front of the fire site — at which the following photo was taken:
Città della Scienza, Naples, 10/03/2013. Photo by Ornella Sarrocco, from Facebook.

author: Marisa Petricca


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Naming China’s Censorship Beast · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

The Chinese government announced plans to merge two censorship departments, the General Administration of Press and Publication and the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) on March 10, 2013. The proposed name of the new agency is extremely long and netizens are putting forward their own innovative names, including State Administration of Castration (阉局) and Ministry of Nothing after Cutting (一剪没). More from China Beat.


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New Pope, Jorge Bergoglio, is Argentinian · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

Argentinian Jesuit Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio is the new Pope of the Catholic Church. Starting today, March 13, 2013, Bergoglio will be known around the world as Pope Francis.
Netizens were quick to react to the announcement that for the first time an Argentinian, and a Latin American, will be leading the Catholic Church.
From Buenos Aires, Rodrigo Hernán Torres (@RodrigoH_Torre) [es] wrote:
@RodrigoH_Torre:#Bergoglio es nuestro nuevo Papa FELICITACIONES! Y todo el exito en este nuevo desafio y camino que comienza, es un momento historico
@RodrigoH_Torre:#Bergoglio is our Pope, CONGRATULATIONS! And I wish him all the best in this new challenge and path which is just starting, during a historic time.
Jorge Bergoglio, image from Wikimedia Commons
Several users have been relating the news to football, like Aaron Zamost (@zamosta) who referred to Diego Armando Maradona's “hand of God”:
@zamosta; Pope Francis is only the second most famous Argentinian to know the hand of God. http://bit.ly/KpI47u
Even US-based TV presenter Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) had something to say about Argentinian football:
@piersmorgan: Argentina now has the No1 Catholic, and No1 footballer, on the planet. #Bergoglio #Messi
On a more serious note, Caren Kalafatich (@CarenKalafatich) [es] tweeted:
@CarenKalafatich: Somos argentinos, y es nuestra esencia: Festejamos un “Papa” pq es “argentino” y no hablamos de #Bergoglio como hombre y su conservadurismo
@CarenKalafatich: We are from Argentina, and this is our essence: We celebrate a “Pope” because he is “Argentinian” and we don't talk about #Bergoglio as a man and his conservatism.
Several users are questioning the new Pope's alleged involvement in Argentina's 1976-1983 dictatorship, like Guillermo Prein (@GuillermoPrein) [es]:
@GuillermoPrein: El Cadernal #Bergoglio elegido Papa a pesar de su no explicada participación en ella última dictadura y del cerco a pederastas como Grassi
@GuillermoPrein: Cadinal #Bergoglio elected Pope in spite of his unexplained participation in the last dictatorship and the “fence” around pedophiles like Grassi
We will bring you more coverage of citizens’ reactions and analysis from Argentina and Latin America. Stay tuned.


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“Palestine in the Heart” of a Uruguayan Activist · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

Uruguayan activist and journalist María Landi shares her reports on Palestine in her blog Palestina en el corazón [es] (Palestine in the heart). Radio Mundo Real [es] recently interviewed Landi on current events in Palestine.


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Grievance of a Young Indignant Santomean · Global Voices
Mário Lopes

Vídeo intitulado “Porquê que os Santomenses não se indignam?”
Danilo Salvaterra published [pt] a video on Facebook that shows a young boy from São Tomé and Príncipe complaining about the general lack of basic infrastructures not only in Diogo Vaz (where the teenager lives and the video was recorded), but also in the rest of the country. He mentions access to education, sanitation, electricity, among other things.


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Cigarette Vendor Sets Himself on Fire, Self-immolations Continue in Tunisia · Global Voices
Afef Abrougui

Adel Khadri, a 27-year-old cigarette street vendor set himself on fire on Tunis’ main street Habib Bourguiba Avenue on March 12, 2013. According to eye witnesses, Khadri shouted: “This is a young man who sells cigarettes because of unemployment,” before flames consumed his body. Khadri passed away early this morning at Ben Arous’ Burns Hospital.
Collective blog Nawaat reports [fr]:
Le jeune vendeur à la sauvette qui, désespéré par ses conditions de vie, s’était immolé, est décédé mercredi à l’aube, dernière illustration en date des tensions sociales en Tunisie auxquelles le nouveau gouvernement devra faire face une fois investi. “Il est mort aujourd’hui à 5 h 30 du matin des suites de ses graves brûlures“, a dit Imed Touibi, le directeur du Centre des grands brûlés de Ben Arous (banlieue de Tunis) où le jeune homme de 27 ans, Adel Khadri, était hospitalisé.
Anguished by his living conditions, the young street vendor, who set himself on fire passed away at dawn on Wednesday. This is the last illustration of the social tensions in Tunisia, which the new government, once in place, should deal with. “He died today at 5.30am from severe burns”, said Imed Touibi director of the Centre of Severe Burns in Ben Arous (a Tunis suburb), where the young 27-year-old man was hospitalized.
Quoting the privately-owned radio Mosaique FM, author of the blog Massir Destin reports [fr] on the number of self-immolations in Tunisia:
Oh mon Dieu!!!
Le nombre d'immolations par le feu en Tunisie:
2 en 2010
91 en 2011
63 en 2012
11 en 2013
Source Mosaïque fm. Mais on n'a pas précisé le nombre de décès.
Oh my God!!! The number of self-immolations in Tunisia:
2 in 2010
91 in 2011
63 in 2012
11 in 2013
Source: Mosaique FM. But they have not reported on the number of deaths.
Emergency services arrive at Habib Bourguiba Avenue to transfer Khadri to hospital. Image via Alqarra TV Facebook page
On December 17, 2010, Mohamed Bouazizi, a fruit street vendor from Sidi Bouzid set himself on fire when police confiscated his wares. His desperate act ignited social justice and pro-democracy protests in Sidi Bouzid and eventually the entire country, forcing autocratic ruler Zeine el Abidin Ben Ali to flee to Saudi Arabia 18 days later. However, 24 months after the ouster of Ben Ali, Tunisia is still going through intense socioeconomic difficulties, further intensified by a political crisis deepened by the assassination of opposition leader Chokri Belaid on February 6. High prices, a 16.7% unemployment rate and disparities between regions are all making the lives of Tunisians, especially underprivileged groups, harder. Khadri, was not only suffering financial destitution, but according to his brother [fr] had stomach health problems but did not have enough money to get treatment.
Benoît Delmas, a Tunis-based journalist writes [fr]:
Adel Khadri est-il mort pour rien ? La question semble indécente mais elle est suscitée par le silence politique qui a entouré l’annonce de cette immolation. Laquelle renvoie inévitablement au point de départ de la révolution tunisienne lorsque Mohamed Bouazizi, un vendeur à la sauvette de fruits et légumes, s’aspergea d’essence et s’immola à Sidi Bouzid, le 17 décembre 2010. Avant et après Bouazizi, d’autres cas similaires furent notés. La mort, au petit matin, d’Adel Khadri devrait interpeller toute la société tunisienne. Un pays qui n’offre aucun espoir à sa jeunesse est un pays qui s’étiole, s’effondre. Il ne s’agit pas d’exiger des remèdes miracles mais de demander à la classe politique, majorité ET opposition, de bien vouloir travailler pour le bien commun, l’intérêt national, le peuple. Les chicaneries politiciennes qui polluent toutes les vieilles démocraties ne sont pas d’une urgence absolue pour un pays qui vit librement depuis seulement deux ans et deux mois.
Did Adel Khadri die for nothing? The question seems indecent, but it is provoked by the silence of the political class, surrounding the announcement of this self-immolation. This is inevitably a return to square zero for the Tunisian revolution, when Mohamed Bouaziz, a fruit and vegetable street vendor sprinkled himself with gas and set himself alight, on December 17, 2010. Prior to and after Bouazizi's [self-immolation], similar cases were registered. The death of Adel Khadri at dawn, should be a call for the entire Tunisian society. A country which offers no hope for its youth, is a fading and collapsing country. It is not a question of asking for miraculous remedies, but rather calling upon the political class, both the majority AND opposition, to work for the common good, the national interest and the people. The political chicaneries which are tainting old democracies are not an urgency for a country which has been living in freedom for only two years and two months.

author: Afef Abrougui


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South Koreans Rip ‘Chicken Hawk’ Politicians As War Rhetoric Heats Up · Global Voices
Lee Yoo Eun

South Koreans are taking aim at the increasingly pro-war rhetoric coming from draft-dodging politicians in the country's government now that North Korea has nullified the armistice between the two Koreas.
“Chicken hawk“, meaning someone who is pro-war but has shirked his or her own military duty, has become standard vocabulary for South Koreans online as criticisms of hypocrisy mount against the political class for solely promoting extreme military action [ko] against North Korea.
Two years of military service is mandatory in South Korea for every able-bodied man, but countless politicians have managed to avoid service. The ruling conservative Saenuri party, many of whom are warmongers, are reported to have a rate three times higher of draft dodgers [ko] than the other parties, and nine out of the new administration's 17 nominees are facing accusations of [ko] illegally evading military service.
Web users in South Korea retweeted this tweet discussing the country's chicken hawks more than 255 times:
@odoomark: ‘치킨호크(chicken hawk)'라는 말이 있습니다. 자신은 전쟁이 무서워 징집을 기피하면서 남들에겐 국가와 자유수호를 위해 전쟁터에 나가라며 등을 떠민 정치인들을 일컫는 말입니다. 비겁한 사람일수록 두려움을 감추기 위해 용기를 과장하는 법입니다.
Draft-dodging is an epidemic in South Korean society, especially rampant among the upper class who [ko] fake injuries or illness and forge medical documents to corroborate their excuse, or who acquire foreign nationality and stay abroad until the age of 37 to get exempted. It was easy to find angry tweets aimed at them.
A member of the United Nations Command Security Battalion/Joint Security Area (UNCSB/JSA), Scout Platoon, returns from a patrol of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between South and North Korea. Upload by Flickr user @expertinfantry (CC BY 2.0)
@junniya 군미필자들이 나라와 국민들을 전쟁으로 내몰고 있는 형국[…]
@jollymankr: 소위 치킨 호크라는 자들, 전쟁을 모르니까 더 전쟁광이 되는 건 아닌가 하는 생각도 드네요. 말하자면 피는 고사하고 최소한 군대라도 가서 땀도 흘려 본적이 없는 자들이니, 피는 그냥 남들이 흘려주는 거라 생각 하는 거 아닐지.
@chsk92a: 군대도 안간 것들이 전쟁 불사를 외치고 있네. 만일 무슨 일 벌어지면 여기 있는 인물들을 최전방으로 보내야해.
@LawyerHanWoong: 치킨호크인 이 자들은 그 정체를 숨기기 위해 빨갱이 종북을 입에 달고 사는 경향이 뚜렷합니다!
Net users pointed out the parallels between the context behind the term's usage in the United States and in South Korea:
@peterya: ‘치킨호크’. 과거, 전쟁불사를 외치면서도 정작 징집을 기피한 미국 공화당내 매파의원들을 일컫는 말이다. 2013년 대한민국. 씽크로율 100%
@mettayoon: 조지 부시의 ‘테러와의 전쟁’ 때, 미 행정부의 중심축인 이른바 ‘네오콘'들은 알고 보니 모두 ‘치킨 호크'였다고 합니다. […]지금 새누리의 강경론자들은 어떤가요?

author: Lee Yoo Eun


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Survey: Sexuality Rights on the Internet · Global Voices
Solana Larsen

The Association for Progressive Communications is calling on sexuality rights activists to complete a survey describing how internet regulation affects them.

author: Solana Larsen


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“Ten Years Without Zoran Djindjic”: Serbia Honors Slain Politician · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Zoran Djindjic, the first democratically elected Serbian Prime Minister, was shot to death on March 12, 2003. On the tenth anniversary of Djindjic's assassination, thousands of people marched in Belgrade to honor his memory.
Author and political activist Jasmina Tešanović paid tribute to Djindjic on the Huffington Post blog:
[…] He was the most important Serbian politician of the 20 century, who managed to step into the 21st, who toppled Milosevic, who was eventually killed by state mafia resisting his progressive steps toward a modern Serbia.
[…]
Djindic was a very popular man. Even people who didn't agree with him liked him. His enemies thought well of him. His murderers, too.
Where are these people now, what are they thinking, what about their future and conscience? I don't think it is a matter of a democratic party, his family. Not even of politicians and philosophers who are swearing on his grave using his words. It is a matter of all of us who gained a part of our civil identity in Serbia thanks to his political courage.
We can say all we want to say, in favor or against his politics, but thanks to him, history advanced in big steps forward — and without him, history limps and crawls back into the dark.
On the German Marshall Fund's blog, Djindjic's former Senior Foreign Policy Adviser Ivan Vejvoda wrote this:
Ten years ago today, Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic was assassinated by a sniper at the entrance of the cabinet office in Belgrade, marking a tremendous blow to the fledgling process of democratization in Serbia. While the conspirators, including the sniper, were condemned in a court of law and are serving long prison sentences, the identity of those who ordered his killing remains unknown.
[…]
Vehemently opposed to Slobodan Milosevic’s regime during the period of Yugoslavia’s bloody civil war, he eventually won a peaceful election in 2000. He was the chief architect of a victory in which political parties, civil society, a democratic media, and — notably — the student movement Otpor all played key roles.
[…]
A decade later, Serbia finds itself exactly where Djindjic wanted it to be at the end of 2003, showing the extent to which his assassination slowed Serbia’s democratic reforms. […]
Kiran Mohandas Menon wrote this on OpenDemocracy.com:
In the two years in which he led Serbia, Zoran Djindjic strengthened its democratic and economic structure, cracked down on organized crime and ended its international isolation, with his pro western policies aimed at European integration.
An often controversial figure, Djindjic also initiated and strengthened cooperation with the International Crime Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and handed them Slobodan Milosevic. It was brave acts such as that which cemented Djindjic’s status as arguably the most important and respected figure in modern Serbian politics. It would also cost him his life.
[…]
In February 2003, Djindjic escaped an attempt on his life when a truck tried to crash into his car on a Belgrade highway. However a month later, on the March 12, 2003, Djindjic was fatally shot by a member of the Zemun clan, one of Serbia’s most notorious mafia groups, while standing outside the Serbian government building. Zoran Djindjic was 50 years old at the time of his death. His funeral drew tens of thousands of mourners, bringing the nation to a standstill.
[…]
A decade since his tragic death, Zoran Djindjic’s vision and memory have inspired and guided the people of a nation.
Below is a short documentary [sr, with English subtitles] directed by Aleksandar Mandić – “Ako Srbija Stane” (“If Serbia Stops”) which features “a collection of edited speeches given by Djindjic on a speaking tour in Serbia shortly before his death”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqMTCP_yPaw
A photo from Djindjic's funeral was posted [sr] on March 12 on the Facebook page devoted to the slain politician, with this caption:
March 12, 2003. The day when Serbia stopped! – Zoran, thank you for the vision!
Nearly 6,000 people ‘liked’ this post, nearly 1,400 shared it, and over 330 commented on it. User Petar Stantic wrote [sr]:
12.03.2003. Everything stopped… and began to slowly move backwards… Zoran, thank you for that little bit of a hope, and for a vision…
On Twitter, @AnjaKosanovic shared this photo [sr] from the memorial march, #SetnjaZaZorana (“A Walk for Zoran”):
#SetnjaZaZorana :-( <3 pic.twitter.com/CJSIFrr9Bc
— Anja Kosanovic (@AnjaKosanovic) March 12, 2013
@Ketyly91 (Katarina Pavlovic) re-tweeted @AnjaKosanovic's photo and wrote [sr]:
Zoran Djindjic lives through all the people in this column [#WalkForZoran] […]
@MajaVidenovic wrote [sr]:
Today I am walking for Zoran. For the land he wanted and created. For what I deeply believe in! [#ZoranDjindjicLives] [#WalkForZoran]
@mali_uli (Ana Milovanovic) wrote [sr]:
[#WalkForZoran] According to my quick estimate, some 30,000 people are taking part in today's walk.
More photos from the Walk For Zoran were posted by @milosdjajic (Milos Djajic) and @DankoRunic (Danko Runić): here, here, here and here.
Not everyone was as enthusiastic about the event.
In his tweet, @BorisTrivan alluded [sr] to the economic situation in Serbia, whose unemployment rate was 22.4 percent in October 2012:
Djindjic would have been especially happy that thousands of people do not have jobs, so they have time to go for a walk…
Predrag Azdejković [sr], a Serbian LGBT rights activist and editor of GayEcho.com [sr], addressed his post [sr] on his B92 blog to the Serbian politicians who walked at the head of the column on March 12, ex-President Boris Tadić among them:
After the Walk For Zoran, I have just one question. Do you have no shame? I'm posing this question to the individuals in the front row of this fashion show.
Many people are saying that Serbia would have been better if Zoran Djindjic had not been murdered. I'm asking the charlatans from the front row whether they feel any responsibility for the fact that Serbia is no better ten years after his murder? Do you have no shame because of that? You are incompetent, and I think Djindjic is turning in his grave! Are you ashamed because, while you were in power, those behind the murder were not found and the political background was not brought to light? No. You're only ashamed because you're not in power.
But it is important that everyone today is having fun as [the first deputy PM Aleksandar Vučić], who once attached the sign for [a boulevard named after Ratko Mladić, accused of committing war crimes and on trial in the Hague], today lay the wreath for Zoran Djindjic. Nice, have fun, but I cannot. I am frustrated by the so-called Djindjic's successors, who are not even a pale copy of him, but a bunch of political losers! How can you not be ashamed!

author: Veronica Khokhlova