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Buddha’s Beads Fetch Millions for Farmers in Central Nepal · Global Voices
Sanjib Chaudhary

Monk's prayer beads, Sera Monastery. Image by Flickr user Swetha R. CC 2.0.
In news guaranteed to delight Buddhists and botanists around the world, a special kind of tree from central Nepal, the seeds of which are used to make a type of Buddhist prayer beads, has been described as a new species: Ziziphus budhensis.
A research article in the Indian Journal of Plant Sciences by Khem Raj Bhattarai and Mitra Lal Pathak states:
The seeds are highly valued and are used to make garlands. The garlands made by beads are used by Buddhist people for worship to ‘delight Lord Buddha’ and for spiritual peace and locally called Bodhichita. Smaller seeds are more highly prized than larger ones, and a garland of 108 beads of high values seeds costs up to 80 thousand Nepalese Rupees (ca. $800).
Known as Bodhichitta among the Buddhists and called Buddhachitta locally, the trees are so far known to be found only in the small area of Kavreplanchok. The tree is endemic to Nepal, and it's found nowhere else.
Further, the research says Buddhachitta is clearly different from the species of Ziziphus already known to grow in Nepal, and it did not match with the Ziziphus species reported in India, Pakistan, Bhutan, Bangladesh, and China.
Given popular beliefs about the beads, the trees and their seeds produce, are in high demand, with prices skyrocketing on seeds until recently thought to be worthless. Today, they are a treasured commodity in India, China, Singapore, Japan, and Korea.
As for recent reports the beads are being exported to these countries.
काभ्रेमा फल्ने एकपाथी ‘बुद्धचित्त'को भाउ २५ लाख ! http://t.co/Rp5qilQq2D pic.twitter.com/OupwEAEvS7
— puspa dulal ‘पुदु’ (@dulalpuspa) August 3, 2015
A pathi (3.2 – 3.6 Kgs) of Buddhachitta growing in Kavre costs 25 lakhs
According to a legend, among the three plants left by Lord Buddha during his meditation, the plants in Lumbini and Namobudhha of Kavre died and only the one in the Timal region, in Nepal, survived—giving way to the current population.
In another story, the Tibetan Guru Padma Sambhav left a tree of Bodhichitta while he was in Kavre for meditation.
As reported by Setopati, ever since the Dalai Lama stated four years ago that the Budhhachitta from Nepal is of the best quality, the use, demand, popularity, and price of the beads has skyrocketed.
The Timal region boasts a Buddhachitta trade worth one billion Nepali rupees ($9.8 million). The local farmers who grow Buddhachitta trees sometimes earn hundreds of thousand rupees by selling a single tree.
As the trade has increased, however, so has the threat. Fearing robbery, traders have even started chartering helicopters to collect the Budhhachitta beads from farmers, reported the popular Internet portal Onlinekhabar:
‘बुद्धचित्त’ किन्न हेलिकप्टर चार्टर !: १ साउन, काठमाडौँ । झट्ट हेर्दा स-साना गुच्चाजत्रा, वनमा त्यसै खेर जाने… http://t.co/NaR19jGynQ
— Nepal & Nepali (@yesWeDonepal) July 17, 2014
Helicopter charter to buy Buddhachitta!
As reported by Nagariknews, some farmers with Buddhachitta trees have begun sleeping under the trees to save the seeds from theft.
Nagarik News – रातभर ‘बुद्धचित्त’ को बोटमुनि http://t.co/uPAZMILTir via @nagarik_news
— मीमांसक (@ozone_adhi) July 24, 2014
Spending the night under Budhhachitta tree
Seeing the benefits of Buddhachitta, farmers have started planting even more trees on their lands. The researcher duo Bhattarai and Pathak say there is great potential to develop commercial farming of this species, creating lucrative revenue streams.
While people are in awe about this miracle tree, a forthcoming documentary “Beads of Meditation” is poised to unravel the religious, cultural, and scientific aspects of Budhhachitta.
वृत्तचित्रमा बुद्धचित्त https://t.co/YjPgTDpz8h pic.twitter.com/9cGf4xIRfA
— Annapurna Post (@Annapurna_Post) May 19, 2015
A documentary on Buddhachitta

author: Sanjib Chaudhary


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Can Talking About Trash Drive Political Change in Lebanon? · Global Voices
Elia J. Ayoub

The Lebanese government has resorted to dumping garbage in areas like this hillside in Monte Verde, just outside of Beirut. PHOTO: tol3etre7etkom.
I wish I could explain what it feels like to be disgusted by one’s own country. It’s a painful sentiment. You feel guilty for even feeling it in the first place, but you just can’t help it. You’re aware of your own privilege and you know that despite it all, you still have a relatively comfortable life. But that’s just not enough anymore.
There’s clearly something wrong with Lebanon, and we all know that we’re part of it. I’m not just talking about the many problems that we face today: I’m talking about something truly fundamental regarding this country’s way of perceiving itself.
We’ve been somehow conditioned to an odd mixture of institutionalized apathy and institutionalized helplessness. We’ve stopped dreaming beyond the few meters of exclusive space that we’ve built around us, because we don’t see a country that is receptive to discussion of its own issues. We’re engulfed in our own sectarian lunacy and we never fail to remind ourselves how we’re failing to do anything about it.
This is how we’ve been conditioned, and this is the only way we know how to function. Somehow, along the way, we’ve separated our individual day-to-day concerns from those of people who are different from us, even when, more often than not, those concerns are identical.
I’ve been fortunate enough to experience a Lebanon that isn’t tainted by such helplessness. I’ve experienced political happiness, a term broadly defined by the anthropologist David Graeber as the experience of being able to make sense of a situation through a realization of common purpose—a sense that you trust the people around you because you’re all dedicated to solving the same problem.
More recently, I experienced it my interactions with طلعت ريحتكم(‘tol3et re7etkom’, meaning ‘You Stink’), a grassroots movement created as a response to the government’s inability to solve the trash crisis.
After residents of Naameh city shut down their landfill, which served the areas of Beirut and Mount Lebanon—roughly half of the population of the entire country—we’ve been drowning in waste. The government had known for years that the Naameh landfill would reach full capacity, but failed to develop any alternative, environmentally sound solution to the disposal of Beirut’s waste. Instead, the government has opted to distribute the waste around various empty spaces, most of which are located next to residential areas  and forests. The environmental and health consequences have been severe.
Lebanese government waste disposal services have resorted to dumping trash in empty spaces, regardless of other activities in taking place in the immediate environment.  PHOTO: Joey Ayoub/Hummus for Thought.
Tol3et re7etkom is dedicated to sustainable solutions put forward by environmental experts and centered around a return to a municipality-level system of trash management, along with the implementation of nationwide recycling. A few days ago, I met with the core organizing team. We were from different age groups, mostly young men and women, and from several sectarian backgrounds. Most of us were quite experienced at this whole trying-to-change-the country thing, but some were quite new. And although we came from different political backgrounds, we understood intuitively that this cause required everyone’s involvement.
So we started talking, and in the end we arrived at a simple conclusion: that the situation at hand is pretty straightforward. The ongoing trash crisis has, once again, exposed the loosely organized gang of warlords-turned-politicians that we call our government as essentially useless. They have been incapable of dealing with a relatively simple crisis which they’ve had years to prepare for. They never took any initiative, for reasons well known to most Lebanese, and have been doing what they do best: postpone action until a catastrophe hits the country.
We know what the cause of the problem is, we know how to solve it, and we know what will happen if we fail to do so. tol3et re7etkom is demanding that the government implement an immediate and eco-friendly solution to the trash problem that would reverse the damage done as a result of garbage dumped in reserves, wells, and near residential areas. The movement is asking any bids submitted for providing trash management solutions be vetted by environmental experts and include only sustainable practices. And lastly, tol3et re7etkom would like to see everyone responsible for this crisi held accountable, and a transparent investigation conducted regarding the money that have been wasted and/or stolen.
It’s a true joy seeing people working relentlessly for something they truly believe in. We know what we’re up against, but we also know that this has to happen. We have to keep the momentum going. And we’re already seeing actual change taking place on the ground. More and more municipalities are beginning to adopt their own sustainable alternatives to our current inefficient system. It’s our job to maintain that pressure, for all our sakes.
For more information on tol3et re7etkom activities, see their Facebook page and IndigeGogo campaign.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Elia J. Ayoub


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Meet the Humans of Kibera, Africa’s Largest Slum · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Aerial view of Kibera slum in Nairobi, Kenya. Photo released under Creative Commons by the owner Schreibkraft.
Inspired by the well known Humans of New York photography blog, Humans of Kibera is a project by Kibera News Network (KNN), a group of young citizen video news journalists from Kibera in Nairobi, Kenya. The project documents the lives of the residents of Kibera—the largest urban slum in Africa—on a Tumblr blog.
Here's a selection of images and stories from Humans of Kibera:
In 2012, during the GlobalVoices Summit in Nairobi, Rising Voices partnered with Map Kibera Trust and Kibera News Network to bring together members of the Global Voices community and groups in Kibera to share experiences and to participate in a joint citizen journalism activity.
Members of the Global Voices community and Map Mathare

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Nigerians Go Back to High School With Tens of Thousands of Hilarious Tweets · Global Voices
Nwachukwu Egbunike

Screen Shot of Humorous Nigerian Tweets
Within the last 24 hours, more than 193K tweets about unforgettable and rib-cracking laughter generating secondary school life in Nigeria have spread across Twitter with the hashtag #SecSchoolinNigeria.
Students in Nigeria spend six years in Secondary School, the US equivalent is 7th-12th grade. The first three years are known as Junior Secondary School and the remaining three years are called Senior Secondary School. These six years aside from being mandatory are also a tussle between competitive academics, intense socializing and fun-filled leg-pulling.
According to the analytics site Topsy, the first tweet that used the hashtag was sent on August 3 from Philadelphia, US based Melanin Mami's account. She alludes to the competition between SS3 (11th grade) and SS2 (12th grade) students.
#secschoolinnigeria. Ss3 guys go for Ss2 girls, Ss3 girls notice and then look for any small thing to fight with the Ss2 girls.
— Melanin mami (@_Faleke) August 3, 2015
Her tweet was RTed over a thousand times. Two days later the hashtag exploded, being used more than 194K by August 6. Some of the tweets are shown below:
Dining hall prefects in Nigerian secondary schools have a reputation of being ‘well fed’, with a propensity to ‘sell’ the food meant for feeding fellow students:
My typical day when I was dining hall prefect. #secschoolinnigeria pic.twitter.com/QNDfJPAQNQ — Amara Nwankpa (@bubusn) August 6, 2015
For the students that tried to show off with their parents cars at school:
#SecSchoolInNigeria When you sneak your father's car to school and you want everybody to notice you. pic.twitter.com/iBHMfU3Etn — AYOKUNLE Odekunle (@Oddy4real) August 6, 2015
Many Nigerian high schools run a senior and junior (Junior Secondary School – JSS) section. It is common for male students in the junior school (7th, 8th and 9th grade) to wear shorts while their counterparts in the senior category wear trousers:
#SecSchoolInNigeria When you've got swag but you have to wear shorts cos you're in JSS. pic.twitter.com/1nuWx3X4rI — Dr Erhumu (@drerhumu) August 6, 2015
The disparity between junior and senior students is rife in Nigerian public schools. Thus, the tweet below captures the humour evident in ‘displeasing’ a senior student:
#SecSchoolInNigeria when you're a junior, they're serving bread in dining hall and ss3 boys are on your table pic.twitter.com/ArjqrZ8nZF — Folarin (@FolaFowosere_) August 6, 2015
Bibi recounts a likely conversation with the house mistress:
House Mistress: Do you remember the ss3 students that vandalised tuck shop? Me: #SecSchoolInNigeria pic.twitter.com/Q5BQmKpHqY — Bibi (@boluxxxx) August 6, 2015
A typical scenario when the teacher forgot about a scheduled test but a class representative is over-efficient:
#secschoolinnigeria When your class rep wants to remind the teacher about the test. pic.twitter.com/pg6K2VEneO — Drink Water (@OscaRankinG) August 6, 2015
That awkward moment when ‘senior’ students get punished:
#SecSchoolInNigeria Seniors be like pic.twitter.com/bpkXmDu5bs
— Mano (@UgoMano) August 6, 2015
Or the victory dance that erupts after a mean head girl is caught on the wrong side of the law:
#SecSchoolInNigeria when that wicked Head Girl finally gets caught cheating in an exam. pic.twitter.com/9E3CmAbusj
— Chisomaga (@SirKatchaz) August 6, 2015
Nothing ignites one to dance like the stroke of a cane on one's back:
When the cane lands in the centre of your back and your can't scratch it #Secschoolinnigeria pic.twitter.com/5Ob2CxMCMZ — HENRY Okelue (@4eyedmonk) August 6, 2015
But the dance is more joyful, if, despite the many strokes of canes received, one still tops the class:
#SecSchoolInNigeria When you've been declared the best graduating student ………. after all the flogging in school pic.twitter.com/kLwiYFXO2k
— Abang! (@AbangMercy) August 6, 2015
Not being in the ‘noise making list’ was a big achievement in high school:
#SecSchoolInNigeria when you have been making noise and your name is not on noise makers list pic.twitter.com/bkoOZ7UUKy
— Yoruba Baby Boy (@dammydr3zy) August 6, 2015
If you want to be a school prefect, then you better laugh at all manner of jokes from your school principal:
#secschoolinnigeria when the principal cracks a dry joke but you really need that Senior prefect post😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/0dPpDijNn7
— MissWorld (@Bammie_sanuce) August 6, 2015

author: Nwachukwu Egbunike


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Puerto Rico Defaults on Its Debt for the First Time in Its History · Global Voices
Ángel Carrión

The brunt of the government's default is hitting Puerto Rico's ordinary citizens the hardest. Image taken by OliverZena and released into the public domain.
For the first time in its history, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico failed to pay $58 million of a debt that amounts to $483 million that was due on August 3. The $58 million is mostly owned by ordinary Puerto Ricans through savings and credit unions, which bought government bonds from Puerto Rico's Public Financing Corporation (Corporación para el Financiamiento Público).
The government chose to default on this debt for strategic reasons. The people who own the debt (mostly ordinary Puerto Ricans) do not have the legal power to fight in court, like Puerto Rico's external creditors do.
Puerto Rico and Greece have been highly discussed topics recently all over the world. Comparisons between the two have been made for at least the past two years (see this previous Global Voices post from 2012, titled “Puerto Rico: The New Greece?“). However, Puerto Rico's situation could very well be vastly more complicated—and even more painful—than Greece's.
If having a debt of over $72 billion—which Puerto Rico must pay before all other considerations, according to its Constitution—isn't a big enough problem in itself, the situation becomes even more problematic when considering that Puerto Rico has no legal framework to restructure its debt.
A law passed last year by the Puerto Rican Legislature that would have allowed public corporations to declare bankruptcy, but US federal courts declared it unconstitutional several weeks later. The courts argued that only the federal government could legislate on issues related to bankruptcy—a somewhat perverse argument, given the fact that Puerto Rico was excluded from being able to file for bankruptcy under Chapter 9 of the Internal Revenue Code. The result is that Puerto Rico cannot avail itself of federal laws to restructure its debt, but neither can it create its own laws.
The only remaining option, it seems, is to persuade Congress to enact legislation that would provide the appropriate legal framework. As Sergio Marxuach of the Center for a New Economy wrote recently:
What Puerto Rico does not need right now is more austerity, because the capacity to repay its debt ultimately depends on restoring economic growth. At the same time, there can be no economic recovery without debt sustainability and that, in turn, is not possible without significantly restructuring at least some of its debt.
Luis Gallardo Rivera, writing for the digital magazine La Respuesta, explains an interesting though unlikely alternative that the government could use to alleviate the situation significantly:
The founders of Puerto Rico’s Constitution, on the other hand, worked into its Article 6, Section 2 a prohibition against spending more than 15% of revenue on public debt. Said Article states that debt payments must be made before any other public expenditures. Though the Puerto Rican government has traditionally applied this priority to all of Puerto Rico’s debt, only $14.7 billion of it is backed up by this constitutional clause. Analysts and politicians alike have referred to this difference as the island's “extra-constitutional” debt. Some […] consider the extra-constitutional nature of the public debt to be illegal and thus null. […] Despite this, it is unlikely that the government will assume this stance.
The US Congress has all but refused outright to help alleviate the crisis. Prior to this, the White House stated that it, too, would keep its distance by not intervening directly in Puerto Rico's fiscal problems (read: no bailout). Nonetheless, president Obama has said publicly that Congress should act, in order to provide Puerto Rico with the necessary legal framework to restructure its debt, joining many other influential voices that have called for similar action from Congress, ranging from presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton to the editors at the New York Times. Whether or not Congress heeds their advice remains to be seen.

author: Ángel Carrión


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Russian Internet, Say Hello to Barbra Streisand · Global Voices
Darina Gribova

Image edited by Kevin Rothrock.
Before the Internet, some people out there in the world probably celebrated the “Streisand effect” as that special charm “the Queen of all Divas” brings to her music and films. In 2003, however, the term got a new meaning, when the famous singer and actress tried to sue a photographer for publishing photos of her house. She was trying to protect her privacy, but instead she exploded the public's interest in her home, driving Internet users to look up the “forbidden” images. The Streisand effect is the comedy of unintended public interest, and it's as alive in Russia today as it was in California 12 years ago.
RuNet Echo recalls four of the most prominent times the Streisand effect hit the Russian-language Internet, when banned articles, shut-down websites, and pirated movies exploded online not unlike Streisand's Malibu mansion in 2003.
The best way to promote is to prohibit, and sometimes all it takes is signaling the intention to ban something. Threats are no laughing matter in Russia, either. Roskomnadzor, the Kremlin's media watchdog agency, has demonstrated repeatedly that its warnings should be taken seriously.
When the Moscow-based website The Village received a letter earlier this month, saying it must delete an article titled, “The Sect of Success: How Business-Youth Makes Millions of Dollars in Emotions,” several leading Russian media outlets immediately urged their audiences to read the text as quickly as they could, while it was still available. If The Village refused to obey the government order, the warning said, the entire website could be blocked.
The warning from Roskomnadzor turned out to be fake. But whoever faked it certainly achieved their goal: the article in question has now been viewed more than 200,000 times.
The Russian gangsta rap group Krovostok (“Blood Groove”) won a moment of fame last month, after a Yaroslavl court decided to label some of its songs illegal and ban their circulation in Russia. The court particularly didn't like that the group's lyrics “form personal traits like cynicism, permissiveness, and false values.” The effect was inevitable: even those who don't usually listen to this kind of music became interested. The forbidden fruit, after all, is the sweetest.
“Впервые на территории Российской Федерации тексты группы признаны незаконными. Не экстремистскими, <…> а именно незаконными. Это, безусловно, нас радует. Если наши песни действительно вне закона — то это алмаз на рынке, если говорить с иронией”.
“It's the first time within the territory of the Russian Federation when texts of a music band are declared illegal. Not extremist, […] but illegal,” said the group's producer, Dmitry Fain. “That certainly makes us happy. If our songs are really beyond the law, it's market gold, ironically speaking.”
The situation with Andrei Zvyagintsev's film, Leviathan, is not technically a case of “Streisand effect,” as nothing was banned or prohibited. There was a component of illegality, however, insofar as a pirated copy of the movie leaked onto the Internet a month before its theatrical release in Russia, granting the film a certain buzz that accumulated 4 million viewers by the time it hit the cinema. The movie was also heavily discussed both in the press and on social networks, in no small part because of its illicit availability.
Watching Leviathan online also turned out to be the only way to see it unedited, without its obscene language edited out for mass distribution in Russian movie theaters.
Before being frozen as a “monument to itself” by its founder, Lurkmore, a popular RuNet meme encyclopedia, was a target of frequent government censorship. (Read more about this at RuNet Echo here.) In 2012, Lurkmore even caved to pressure by Roskomnadzor, agreeing to block Russians’ access to a series of articles, in order to be removed from the Internet blacklist. Instead of damaging Lurkmore, the scandal led to a spike in traffic to the site (close to 4 million visitors on the day of the controversy).
According to Lurkmore‘s definition, the “Streisand effect” is an “effect of explosive content distribution on the Internet, when there are rumors concerning the prohibition or restriction of this distribution […] If something is forbidden, it's definitely significant.”
In most cases, the explosion of interest is provoked unintentionally. As the example of The Village shows, however, some people have even learned to trigger the public's interest in that which is “forbidden,” by faking the Streisand effect. In any case, the latent energy of millions of Internet users is always waiting to be unleashed.

author: Darina Gribova


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“We Will Choke You”: How Indian Women Face Fatal Threats on Facebook While Trolls Roam Free · Global Voices
Sahar Habib Ghazi

Image of strangling statues in Prague, taken by Flickr user David Sim, mixed by author. CC BY-2.0
When Global Voices contributor Inji Pennu set out to write about Preetha G Nair, the feminist activist who briefly lost access to her Facebook account after facing a deluge of misogynistic harassment, she was seeking to support a woman who reminded her very much of herself.
What Inji got instead was much of the same—brutal harassment and threats of violence. One Facebook user threatened to choke her. Two days later, on August 4, Inji's Facebook account was suspended.
An automated message from Facebook told Inji that another user had reported her account for violating the company’s Community Standards, alleging that she had used a “fake” name in her profile, even though she does not. The same thing had happened to Preetha just days before. Both suspect that the reports came from trolls seeking to silence them.
Many of the accounts of those who so viciously attacked Inji and Preetha are still online. Some have been suspended, but have responded simply by creating new accounts or group pages.
The author of this post can't access her friend Inji's Facebook page, because it is suspended.
In a blog post titled “Leaning out from Facebook” Inji writes:
Many of us women are here [on Facebook] to escape from patriarchy forced down upon our throats by marriage, by family, by caste, by religion. We are shunning all this to exist as a human. Yet Facebook is throwing us back into the dark dungeons asking us to stay where we were. Does Facebook think we rightfully belong there?
Inji, who has written for Global Voices since 2011, lives in Miami, US, but remains in close contact with friends and family in Kerala, India, her home state, where other targeted women reside.
Several Indian women activists wrote Facebook posts supporting Inji. Many of them were also viciously attacked on Facebook. Some of their Facebook accounts were reported for nudity, which has led to to one additional account suspension so far. Maya Leela's account has been suspended for the past three days.
In her note supporting Inji, Jina Dcruz wrote:
What happens when you complain to Facebook about misogyny and abuse against a woman? The profile of the complainant gets taken down. Inji Pennu s profile is now taken down supposedly for identity verification. Either Facebook is supporting hate mongering and misogyny OR its high time to revise their community standards (Especially for regional language pages) and identity verification practices. I really hope its the latter and they will take action soon!
Frustrated by Facebook's actions, some Indian women supporting Inji and Preetha came together to form a Cause page on Facebook called “Against cyber attacks on women.” Within a few hours they had more than 700 likes. Their about section says “This page is to call your attention on increasing cyber attacks on women in Facebook. We demand that Facebook change its lousy policies.”
Preetha Nair, who has 5,000 Facebook friends and 17,000 followers, wrote a Facebook post on July 19 critiquing a misogynistic remark by Kerala-based politician G. Sudhakaran. Shortly afterwards, Preetha became the target of a vicious cyber-bullying campaign that led to her account being suspended by Facebook. The account was soon reactivated, but Preetha was then subjected to another massive online attack, after she spoke out against another politician on July 27.
Soon a fake profile page that called Preetha a prostitute appeared. This is a common intimidation tactic used by bullies targeting women in South Asia, where a reputation for looseness can lead to ostracization of a woman and her family. Many activists reported the fake profile, but it stayed online until August 2.
A Facebook post in Malayalam threatening to choke Inji Pennu on Miami beach.
Impressed by Preetha’s guts and grit, Inji contacted Preetha and wrote about her on Global Voices. Shortly after, Preetha's fake profile page disappeared from Facebook. But the trolls then turned to Inji. People began harassing and vowing to hurt her. “I’ll choke you on Miami Beach,” one Facebook user threatened. And then her account was suspended.
A message from Facebook informed Inji that someone had falsely reported her profile for using a fake name, in violation of Facebook’s requirement that users create profiles using their real (or “legal”) names. If she wanted to regain access to her account, Facebook said, her only option was to send the company a scan of her ID.
Like Preetha, Inji comes from Kerala in southern India. For both women, Facebook had become a space for exchanging ideas and critiques in a way that is not acceptable in public life in their region. But what once felt like a safe space for open expression has rapidly become one of fear and abuse for Inji, Preetha, and others like them.
Preetha and Inji have been left fearful of speaking out and unable to use the platform. And day after day, new Facebook pages emerge, ridiculing them and other women, calling them prostitutes, and threatening to hurt them and their families.
In South Asia, a woman’s reputation is strongly linked to her family’s standing in society, and an attack on a woman’s reputation, especially one of a sexual nature, can lead to irreparable social damage and even shunning of her and her entire family.
The pinned post on the newly launched Against cyber attacks on women page reads:
When we have to report abuses which are written in regional languages, Facebook seems to behave in complete absurd ways.[…]A page which has abuses showering on a woman and her minor kid in a regional language gets retained by FB policies, but the people who report the page gets banned from using FB. What kind of policies are these?
Although Facebook has taken down many of the posts denigrating Inji, Preetha and others, some of this content remains live, and it is constantly being replenished by trolls.
Facebook's Community Standards on bullying and harassment pledges to “remove content that appears to purposefully target private individuals with the intention of degrading or shaming them.” But removing content does not necessarily stop a user from reposting it elsewhere. Facebook says that consequences for multiple violations of Community Standards “vary depending on the severity of the violation and the person's history on Facebook,” leaving it unclear how the company handles situations like this one. In contrast, the women targeted here have had their accounts suspended altogether, a much more severe punishment that leaves them unable to speak on the platform.
After Inji's story was published — and her account suspended — she received an email from a person called Varnika Gupta, who said she was with an Indian PR firm called IMAGE Public Relations that handles Facebook's policy communication in India. Gupta asked for Inji's phone number, wanting to offer a statement in response to her story about Preetha.
Inji was hesitant to respond to the email, because there was no way of knowing whether this was a legitimate Facebook employee or contractor.
Screenshot of email message from Varnika Gupta.
In our conversations with Facebook, they assured us that they were investigating the matter and confirmed Varnika was a valid Facebook contact.
Once a profile has been taken down or suspended by Facebook, a user has to upload copies of one government-issued ID or two non-government issued IDs on to Facebook. Facebook assures users that the uploading process uses encryption and that they delete ID information once verification is complete.
But Inji believes that sending Facebook a scan of her ID could lead to other risks, some of which she is not willing to take. “I feel this is a violation of my privacy,” she says. Inji adds:
I have no guarantee of what they will do with this information or whom they might share it with. I also fear that they will reinstate my account using my full name, including my caste name. This could have dangerous implications for my family members in India.
The caste system in India is a deeply-entrenched and prevalent centuries-old system of class hierarchy. Some castes are more vulnerable than others and for members of those groups, revealing caste names could result in greater harm to them and greater impunity for the attacker.
Similarly, before the cyber-bullying campaign, Preetha existed just as Preetha, the way she liked it, and which facilitated her work advocating against the caste system. When a troll reported her account for abusing Facebook's real name policy, Facebook required her to send them a copy of her ID in order to reinstate her account. When she complied, her account once again became active, but this time it had her full legal name on her profile, thereby exposing her caste affiliation. On Facebook she wrote on open letter to Mark Zuckerberg:
When some people, who had disagreement with my political positions, reported my account, I was compelled to start using my casteist patriarchal surname. I believe this is a clear violation of my right to execute my political choice. This type of blocking profile is against the principle of democracy and any values that FB claim it espouses. I request you to allow users to make this a space of political statement too. You sent me the message that “you use real life name, so that friends know who they are connecting with”. Do you believe that around 5000 friends+17000 follows connect me without knowing who I am? Do you believe, it is not possible for some senseless people to report against an account having different political opinion? All these cases exist; you are simply deleting people’s account on mass reporting.
I got this name at the time of my birth and have been holding this for so many years. But in a democratic space I can use my body, words and name as tools of political activity. If FB finds it difficult to accept, kindly say so, kindly accept that it is an undemocractic, patriarchal, casteist space where regressive rules and laws are followed even today!
Ellery Roberts Biddle contributed to this story.

author: Sahar Habib Ghazi


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Before and After the Bomb: an Interactive Tour of Nagasaki · Global Voices
Nevin Thompson

Atomic Bomb Epicenter in 2015 – Urakami, Nagasaki. Photo by Nevin Thompson.
The Nagasaki Archive has used Google Earth to create an interactive map of Nagasaki before and after an atomic bomb was dropped on the southwestern Japanese city on August 9, 1945.
The web tool essentially collects and curates information from around the web, matching survivor stories on YouTube, for example, with the precise location where these individuals were in Nagasaki when the bomb detonated.
The Google Earth plugin for Windows or Mac OSX 10.6+ is required to run the Nagasaki Archive.
The site also features similar web tools that explore the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, as well as the bloody Battle of Okinawa earlier in 1945 that saw up to 150,000 civilians killed.

author: Nevin Thompson


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China Steps Up Internet Surveillance With “Cybersecurity Police Stations” at Major Websites · Global Voices
Hong Kong Free Press

The entrance of a China police station. Photo taken by Flickr user: Alexandra Moss (CC: AT-SA-NC)
[Editor's note: This post was written by Ryan Kilpatrick, originally published on Hong Kong Free Press on August 5. It is republished on Global Voices under the content partnership agreement.
Since 2006, China has had “cyber police” officers tasked with enforcing laws concerning online content and behavior on major websites. These law enforcement officials do their work at physical offices at the headquarters of major Internet firms, where they take action once the company identifies an online “crime” taking place. It is unknown precisely what technical tools they use to do this, but as of this week, the system is set for an upgrade.]
China plans to set up “cybersecurity police stations” within major websites and Internet firms to scour for inappropriate content, state media revealed Tuesday as the country further tightened its grip on the Internet.
People’s Daily reported that the stations would be operated by the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) and would be set up within “important websites” nationwide.
Chen Zimin, vice minister of the MPS, said at a national web security conference in Beijing that the offices will be charged with “inspecting the operation of websites and enforcing laws governing online activities.” He added that they “should work hard to uncover and prevent various illegal acts online.”
The new establishment of “Cybersecurity police stations,” together with regulation of illegal content and activities, and with mass surveillance of so-called “sensitive content,” may empower authorities to more effectively crack down on crimes and illegal activities, along with protests and political activity, in a more effective manner.
Until now, managing online discourse has been delegated to Internet content providers on a largely ad hoc basis.
Businesses are held liable for all content appearing on their websites, and are expected to prevent the appearance of politically or legally objectionable content – either through automated means or by manually policing their sites. Letting material deemed inappropriate slip through the net could result in reprimands for the company responsible.
China has taken an increasingly aggressive position on internet control since the ascendancy of President Xi Jinping in late 2012.
The Central Cybersecurity and Informatisation Leading Group, predecessor to the Cybersecurity Administration of China, came into being under Xi in 2014 to develop guidelines for the PRC’s online security policies.
Advancing the idea of “Internet sovereignty” to justify and increase in state control over online activity, the administration unveiled a new cybersecurity law in July that allows authorities to cut Internet access during “public security emergencies”.
Such measures were previously exercised in Xinjiang and Tibet during periods of unrest.

author: Hong Kong Free Press


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How India’s Porn Ban Backfired And “Brought the Entire Nation Together” · Global Voices
Subhashish Panigrahi

“Sex with assistance,”
Khajuraho, Madhya Pradesh, India. Photo by Kaiban via Flickr (CC BY-ND 2.0)
Indian social media networks have been on fire this week, after someone leaked a copy of the Department of Telecommunication's secret order to ban 857 websites thought to contain pornographic content.
The order was issued to Internet service providers, who duly complied, but this didn't last long. Many criticised the government for act, calling it “talibanisation” or extreme censorship. Others pointed out that some of the sites blocked didn't contain pornography at all — humor and file-sharing sites were also swept up in the ban. The department soon announced that the ban was temporary, and would be permanently applied only to sites that contained child abuse or pornography.
Commentary online ranged from those criticising the government's actions as censorship and a violation of individual rights, to those supporting the ban on the grounds that it protects citizens from private videos going public. Several posts also mocked the outcomes of the move.
The most dangerous time for a govt is not when it is attacked but when it is laughed at #PornBan
— vir sanghvi (@virsanghvi) August 4, 2015
Among those who praised the ban was activist and lawyer Kamlesh Vaswani, who once made an abortive appeal in the Indian Supreme Court to have pornographic sites blocked:
“Under Prime Minister Modi’s good governance and the good faith with which this government has been working,” Mr. Vaswani said in an interview, “they have been instrumental in blocking the 857 websites that I have been looking to get blocked.”
- Kamlesh Vaswani
Others such as Twitter users Sudhir Chaudhary and Reddit India pointed out the ironies behind the move and had some fun at the government's expense:
It's interesting how #PornBan has brought the entire nation together.Issues like poverty,terrorism,unemployment could never unite INDIA..
— Sudhir Chaudhary (@sudhirchaudhary) August 6, 2015
For those without access due to #PornBan, some vintage, desi stuff. Old thread on Reddit: http://t.co/6QycQmQlU0 pic.twitter.com/L2LPXIfM96
— Reddit India (@redditindia) August 2, 2015
Indian member of Parliament Baijayant Jay Panda shared a map of the world showing devices connected to the Internet which highlighted India's poor connectivity, and quipped:
Maybe this was bcz of the #PornBan? Let's see if this part of the world lights up tomorrow or over the next 5 yrs 😎 https://t.co/igCtrM5EIn — Baijayant Jay Panda (@PandaJay) August 4, 2015
And Twitter user Tinu Cherian joked that the ban in fact had the unintended effect of giving porn sites more attention than usual:
#PornBan but the entire list of 800+ websites is public. Ban is now lifted. Thank you GOI for educating the public with a big list.
— Tinu Cherian Abraham (@tinucherian) August 4, 2015
Others pointed out that after the US, UK and Canada, India is the world's fourth largest consumer of online pornography. In the previous week, when the news of the ban was ramping up, news sites and social media users shared workarounds and hacks that would allow users to access porn sites via proxy servers:
Thanks me later :-) #pornban pic.twitter.com/STcRG5fbPb
— shailesh kumar (@sheeludon) August 4, 2015
Pranesh Prakash, lawyer and Policy Director at the Bengaluru-based Centre for Internet and Society, first shared the list of blocked sites and asked a tough question concerning child pornography:
Question to fellow lawyers: Wouldn't an ISP official viewing child porn before blocking it be culpable under s67B IT Act?
— Pranesh Prakash (@pranesh_prakash) August 5, 2015
Not all of the ISPs who blocked the 857 sites have unblocked all of them. Nikhil Pawa of MediaNama pointed at the dilemma now faced by the ISPs:
[..]if child porn is found on any of the unblocked sites in the list, the ISPs will be held liable for the content under Section 79(3)(b). Now, how exactly are the ISPs expected to determine whether any of the 857 sites have child pornography or not? Can they be expected to watch each and every video, and determine whether someone in the porn video is above or below the age of 18?
The blocking of websites in India is not new. In the past, the government has ordered ISPs to block as many as 32 websites, including the code repository Github, video streaming sites Vimeo and Dailymotion, and the Internet Archive, which was reversed after heavy criticism.
The never-ending debate continues, with some arguing that adult citizens should be given freedom of choice, while others argue that the objectionable adult content on these web sites is having an adverse impact on Indian society and culture.
According to Sandip Roy of First Post, there is no happy ending to the porn ban:
Online pornography might not be as pressing an issue for the national economy as the Land Bill or GST but by rushing into without thinking it through and then doing a wishy-washy half U-turn with a “lift” that’s not quite a “lift”, the government has ensured that this porn story will not have a happy ending for anyone.

author: Subhashish Panigrahi


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How Social Media Moved People to Act in Flood-Ravaged Myanmar · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Inspecting the flood situation in the town of Bago. Photo from the Facebook page of Aung San Suu Kyi
Myanmar’s flooding crisis, caused by several days of monsoon rains and Cyclone Komen, has affected 330,000 people already in 12 states and destroyed a million acres of farmland. This is the largest natural disaster to hit the country since Cyclone Nargis killed more than 100,000 people in 2008. But unlike in 2008 when people relied heavily on government broadcasts for information, many residents today are able to monitor the flood situation through social media.
Chit Win, a PhD student at the Australian National University, observed how social media allowed people to verify the impact of the floods:
During Cyclone Nargis we knew very little and were told very late about the situation and how the disaster was being handled. This time the flood is being covered minute-by-minute via social media and we can see how authorities have responded, for better or for worse.
Aside from providing realtime information about the floods, social media also inspired many to give donations or to organize relief missions. Some of the popular Twitter hashtags used to mobilize volunteers are #MyanmarFlood and #SaveMyanmar.
Ma Khin Zar Mon, a volunteer with the Facebook group People to People, recognized the widespread use of social media today compared to the absence of these popular online tools in 2008:
We did not have so many volunteer groups at that time. This year, there are a lot of volunteers who are coming out to help people. Of course, social media is the main part.
Through social media, some flood victims are able to complain about the slow delivery of aid. A viral video on Facebook showed how the military wasted some relief goods by dropping a bag of rice on muddy waters.
It was also on Facebook that the government apologized for the mistake:
We feel very sorry to learn that some relief items fell into the mud, and some [sacks] were broken. We are trying not to repeat that kind of incident.
Meanwhile, a junior official from the Irrigation Department became famous by providing constant information about irrigation dams to counter online rumours suggesting many had been destroyed.
At the time of writing, he already has 24,000 Facebook followers.
Map of flooded regions in Myanmar. UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
Room for solidarity
In the meantime, some have been getting creative in sending relief to flood victims, like this former sailor who built a boat made from empty water bottles:
Former sailor crafts plastic bottle boat to help #Myanmar flood relief effort: http://t.co/Admg4WqC7w pic.twitter.com/mQC9dsiCWv
— Coconuts Yangon (@CoconutsYangon) August 6, 2015
The cartoons below reflect the sentiments of many: there is sense of solidarity on one hand but also disappointment with a slow government response.
Lending a Helping Hand http://t.co/X9S2uLKPTG pic.twitter.com/YgowFJ0iQY
— The Irrawaddy (@IrrawaddyNews) August 5, 2015
I Think the Coast is Clear for Now! http://t.co/uNEXBgIj0u pic.twitter.com/9U6T7L8IRw
— The Irrawaddy (@IrrawaddyNews) August 3, 2015
A partly man-made disaster
Environmental degradation is at the root of severe flooding in Myanmar. But as Ko Aye Chan Maung, another student at Australian National University, explains, much could have been done to mitigate the effects of the deluge.
Deforestation, unsustainable land-use practices, damming projects and lack of policy initiatives for disaster risk management have compounded the effects of these latest torrential rains.
Damming rivers and streams and blocking natural water ways contributed to unlikely floods in some parts of the country. This has worsened because of a lack of well-planned risk management strategies.
Like in 2008, the international community has been quick in delivering relief to the flooded regions over the last few days. Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is appealing for more aid to start the rehabilitation of destroyed villages:

author: Mong Palatino


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Is Another Political Crisis Looming in Guinea-Bissau? · Global Voices
Manuel Ribeiro

Guinea Bissau's parliament. Photo: Flickr by Colleen Taugher. CC 2.0.
Guinea-Bissau Prime Minister Domingos Simoes Pereira has accused the country's President, Jose Mario Vaz, of “deliberately trying to tear his government apart by creating a political crisis as a pretext to sack everyone.” The Prime Minister has vowed to use “all legal resources available” to prevent the dissolution of the current government. In an address to the nation, Simoes Pereira asked the people of Guinea-Bissau to “remain calm”:
Primeiro-ministro da Guiné Bissau acusa presidente da República de querer derrubar o governo http://t.co/DBIH4Ujwul pic.twitter.com/lZRG4vVCUz
— África 21 Digital (@africa21digital) August 6, 2015
Guinea-Bissau Prime Minister accuses the President of the Republic of wanting to break down the Government.
The blog Progresso Nacional has called on President Mario Vaz to “step down by tomorrow” (August 7, 2015), claiming the “Arab spring has arrived in a Lusophone country.”
CHEGOU A PRIMEIRA PRIMAVERA ÁRABE NUM PAÍS LUSÓFONO ILUSTRES LEITORES AMANHÃ VAMOS ASSISTIR A PRIMEIRA PRIMAVERA ÁRABE NUM PAÍS LUSOFONO SI KILA KA ACONTECI NÔ NA DITA KU NÔ MAMÉ O PROBLEMA É SÉRIO MAS MUITO SÉRIO!!!! Publicada por Progresso Nacional à(s) 22:03
The first Arab spring has arrived in a lusophone country. Dear readers, tomorrow we are going to assist in the first Arab Spring in a Lusophone country […] This is serious, very serious!!!
The African Union has expressed concern about this institutional disagreement in the Guinean government and has asked both parties to “reach an agreement by coordinating the need for harmonization through dialogue,” according to Ovidio Pequeno, the African Union representative in Bissau.
Guiné-Bissau: UA preocupada com dificuldade de relacionamento entre líderes http://t.co/0iMLt9xFT7 — Portal Áfricas (@portalafricas) August 6, 2015
Guinea-Bissau: The African Union is worried about the disagreement between [these] leaders.
Guinean Twitter users have been buzzing about the unfolding crisis in their country:
Deus abencoe a amada Guine Bissau. As cores do futuro… Vistas daqui! pic.twitter.com/VLtFrcPZsB
— bernardino Goncalves (@bernalfg) August 6, 2015
God Bless beloved Guinea-Bissau. The colors of the future … can be seen from here!
Others consider this a childish episode between politicians:
Infantilidade política na #Guiné-Bissau.
— MAMA SAMBA CANTÉ (@maudocante) August 6, 2015
Political childishness in Guinea-Bissau.
Timor-Leste's Nobel-Peace-Prize laureate José Ramos-Horta says the news coming from Bissau is “alarming,” and argues that “there is no need to sack the government”:
Ramos-Horta considera não haver razões para demitir PM da Guiné-Bissau http://t.co/myly52c4ZO pic.twitter.com/tanbzFshLa
— 1001Pts Portugal (@1001ptsPT) August 6, 2015
In the past, the military has played a frequent and prominent role in governing Guinea-Bissau, amidst problems with narco-trafficking and coups in 2010 and 2012. For the past year, since Domingos Simoes Pereira came to office in 2014, the country has enjoyed relative peace.

author: Manuel Ribeiro


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Muhammadiyah Wants Indonesia be a Key Player in the World · Global Voices
Arpan Rachman

Indonesian President Jokowi attends the national congress of Muhammadiyah. Photo from the official Facebook page of Persyarikatan Muhammadiyah.
Muhammadiyah, one of Indonesia’s largest Islamic organizations, is officially holding its 47th congress in Makassar, South Sulawesi, this week. President Joko Widodo and several ministers, as well as ambassadors from neighbouring countries, attended the opening ceremony at Karebosi field on Monday, August 3.
Indonesia is the world's largest nation with a Muslim-dominated population. In recent years, the government has actively promoted the idea of a modern and moderate Islam amid the rise of extremist religious movements in the region and other parts of the world.
Muhammadiyah is an influential Islamic organization in Indonesia which claims to have a membership of 55 million aside from owning thousands of schools, clinics, and hospitals across the country. It has partnered with the government in endorsing Indonesia as the voice of moderate Islam.
No fewer than 6,000 people are participating in this year's congress, in addition to another 300,000 cheerleaders who aren't formally registered as participants, but will nonetheless enliven the event.
In addition, the chairmen of Muhammadiyah's special branches—present in 16 countries—will also be attending, along with several sister organizations who chose the name Muhammadiyah. While these sibling organizations don't have the same structural organizational relationship Muhammadiyah has in Indonesia, they do develop the same religious ideas, the same strategy of struggle, and even the same logo. The branches include representation in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Mauritius. Guests of the Community of Sant’Egidio, the organization's Catholic community (based on Rome) also attended.
The event is held concurrently with the congress of First Century of Aisyiyah—a women's organization of Muhammadiyah—and will take place over five days.
With a large population and abundant resources, Muhammadiyah has pledged to encourage Indonesia to emerge as a key player in the world. That promise was made by Din Syamsuddin, chairman of Muhammadiyah.
The theme of the congress is the “propagation of enlightenment towards Indonesia progression”. Muhammadiyah wants to establish Indonesia as a country that is also founded by Muhammadiyah, which bound together communities even before the country was born.
Prof Din Syamsuddin, chairman of Muhammadiyah. Photo from the group's official Facebook page
Peserta Sidang Tanwir Muhammadiyah #Muktamar47 pic.twitter.com/hbtDuiO4Wg
— #Muktamar47 (@muhammadiyah) August 1, 2015
Participants of Muhammadiyah’s Counseling Meeting
The congress ends today, August 7, with a closing ceremony attended by Indonesian vice president HE Jusuf Kalla.

author: Arpan Rachman


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“No Country For Secular Bloggers”: Niloy Neel is the Fourth Bangladeshi Blogger To Be Killed in 2015 · Global Voices
Rezwan

Murdered blogger Niloy Neel, Image by Reza Sumon. Copyright Demotix (7/8/2015)
On Friday, August 7 at approximately 1:45pm, five assailants armed with machetes entered the flat of blogger Niloy Neel and killed him brutally. When his wife and sister attempted to save him, the attackers threatened to kill them too.
Niloy is the fourth blogger to be killed in Bangladesh over the last six months. All those killed were secular and critical of conservative religious political movements in the country. Many more have been attacked, subjected to death threats and ostracized by religious hardliners for their writing.
Blood on floor of blogger Niloy Chakrabarti's home after he was hacked to death in Dhaka. (Credit: Getty Images) pic.twitter.com/pPB0QhT9zv
— Sara Yasin (@missyasin) August 7, 2015
I am #Niloy_Nil. Stop killing in the name of religion.
— Tapas K. Baul (@Tkbaul) August 7, 2015
The blogger had written under the pen name “Niloy Neel” in Istishon (meaning “station” in Bengali) as a member of a Bengali group blog that covered political and social issues. Expat blogger Arif Rahman noted that he completed a Master's degree in philosophy from Dhaka University in 2013.
Neel was vocal about secularism and wrote for the platform “Ganajagaran Mancha,” demanding capital punishment for 1971 war criminals. Dr. Imran H Sarkar, a leader of Ganajagaran Mancha, writes on Facebook:
#NiloyNeel was writing for women rights, indigenous peoples, even for all other minorities. He was critic of religious extremism that provoked bombing in mosque and killing thousands of civilians.
He was one of the voice for Social Justice, secularism, human rights and loud for #AvijitRoy justice. He frequently got threatened by islamic militants those are trying to destroy this country by terrorism.
The names of these bloggers and others under threat appeared on a list of 84 people submitted to a special government committee by a group of conservative Muslim clerics who accused the bloggers of “atheism” and writing against Islam. Government officials responded by blocking critical websites and making arrests, of bloggers and leaders from the religious right, at the height of #shahbag protests in 2013. Some media outlets, including prominent right-wing blogs, have even propagated the ideathat all bloggers are atheists who “hurt the feelings” of religious Bangladeshis. Eleven of the bloggers on the list (including Niloy) have been killed over the past two years.
Niloy also was active in Facebook, where he shared his opinions on political issues, but also described the threats he was facing. On May 15, 2015, he wrote:
আমাকে দুজন মানুষ অনুসরণ করেছে গত পরশু। ‘অনন্ত বিজয় দাশ হত্যার’ প্রতিবাদে আয়োজিত প্রতিবাদ সমাবেশে যোগদান শেষে আমার গন্তব্যে আসার পথে এই অনুসরণটা করা হয়।
I was followed by two people two days ago while returning home after attending a protest programme demanding justice for the murder of blogger Ananta Bijoy Das.
He went to the police station to file a complaint (general diary), and wrote his experience:
First, a police officer told me personally that the police do not usually register such GDs since the officer who registers it will be accountable for ensuring security of the justice seeker. And if the person faces any problem, that police officer may even lose job for negligence in duties.
Niloy soon after removed all his photos from his Facebook profile as a precaution.
Golam Mortaza questions the government for inaction:
ব্লগার বা অনলাইন লেখকদের ‘নাস্তিক ‘ হিসেবে চিহ্নিত করে হত্যা করা হচ্ছে। এই হত্যাকারীদের বিরুদ্ধে ব্যবস্থা নেয়া মানে ‘নাস্তিক ‘ হত্যাকারীদের বিরুদ্ধে ব্যবস্থা নেয়া। নাস্তিকদের যারা হত্যা করছে, তাদের বিরুদ্ধে ব্যাবস্থা নেয়া মানে নাস্তিকদের পক্ষ নেয়া। সরকারের দৃষ্টিভঙ্গি এরকমই। সরকার বক্তব্যে কোনো রাখঢাক নেই। স্পষ্ট বক্তব্য ‘আমরা নাস্তিক হিসেবে পরিচিত হতে চাই না। ‘
Bloggers or online writers are being labeled as atheists. Its like taking actions against the killers is the same as taking action against the killer of atheists. To take action against against the killer of atheists is taking sides with the atheists. The government thinks in this way. They are not hiding it. They are saying by their actions “We dont want to be labeled as atheists”.
One powerful group targeting secular bloggers is Hefajat-e-Islam Bangladesh, an association-based fundamentalist Islamic group in Bangladesh that has sought to ban the right of women to work outside of home and promoted the execution of so-called atheist bloggers.
Shaugat Ali Sagor writes in Facebook:
৮৪ জন কেন ৮৪০০ ব্লগারের জীবনের চেয়েও সরকার যে নাস্তিকদের সমর্থক নয় সেটার প্রমান দেওয়া জরুরী। ৮৪ জন ব্লগারের জীবনের বিনিময়েও যদি হাটহাজারীর হেফাজতওয়ালারা খুশি থাকে, সরকারকে হেফাজতে রাখে- সেটিই বরং দরকার।
আশ্চর্য! হাসপাতালের মর্গে একেকটা লাশ যেমন একেকটা নাম্বার, মানে সংখ্যা মাত্র।একেকজন ব্লগারও যেন কেবল নাস্তিক মাত্র। তারা রাষ্ট্রের নাগরিকক নন- কাজেই রাষ্ট্রের কোনো প্রটেকশন তারা পান না, তারা মানুষ নন- তাদের কোনো মানবাধিকার নেই। আর হ্যাঁ, খুন হয়ে যাওয়া ‘ব্লগারটি’ নাস্তিক ছিলেন- এই কথাটি একবার মুখ দিয়ে বের করা গেলে, সেটি প্রচারে হেফাজত আর সরকারের সমর্থকরাও একাকার হয়ে যান।'ব্লগার নামধারী নাস্তিকরা দেশের স্থিতিশীলতা নষ্টের চক্রান্তে লিপ্ত, সরকারকে বিব্রত করতে চায়’- নিকট অতীতে কোনো কোনো এমপিকেওতো এমন কথা বলতে শুনেছি।
Why only 84? Even if the number of the dead bloggers is 8400, it is far more important to prove that the government is not aiding the atheists. Even if the lives of 84 bloggers can make the Hefajat-e-Islam Bangladesh happy, keep the government safe [from political pressure] then that is important.
Amazing! The dead bodies of fallen bloggers in the morgue are just numbers. All the bloggers are only atheists. They are not the citizens of the land – so they do not get any protection. They are not human – they have no human rights. And yes, if you can somehow establish that the murdered blogger was an atheist, everyone including the government keeps preaching it. Some members of parliament have said in the past that “in the name of bloggers, atheists are disturbing the stability of the country, they want to embarrass the government.”
Jyotirmoy Barua, a lawyer and activist writes that bloggers need to unite:
রাস্তায় প্রতিবাদ করা ছাড়া আর কোন কাজে ব্লগারদের একাট্টা হওয়ার কোন ঘটনা এপর্যন্ত ঘটেনি। এটাই ব্লগারদের সবচেয়ে বড় দুর্বলতা। একটি সংগঠিত দল বা গোষ্ঠী না হওয়া সত্ত্বেও তারা দল বা গোষ্ঠী হিসেবে টার্গেট।
তাই সংগঠিত হোন- নয়ত বাঁচবেন না। প্ল্যাটফর্ম তৈরি করুন। প্রতিরোধ করতে শিখুন। প্রতিবাদে কাজ হবে না। দেশে আইনের শাসন নেই, তাই চেঁচিয়ে লাভ হবে না।
So far the bloggers have not been able to unite on a platform other than protesting in the streets. This is the weak point of the bloggers [of Bangladesh]. They are not a united or cohesive group. But they are being targeted as a group.
So please unite – or you will not live. Build a platform. Learn to defend. Simply protesting is not going to work. There is no rule of law in the country – so crying aloud won't help.
Statement claiming responsibility for Niloy's killing sent to media houses from the email ansar.al.islam.bd @gmail. com
According to news reports Ansar-Al-Islam, the Bangladesh chapter of Al-Qaeda in the Indian Sub-Continent, has claimed responsibility for the killing of blogger Niloy, terming him an enemy of Allah. Witnesses reported that while retreating from Niloy's apartment, his attackers reportedly chanted slogans like “Allahu Akbar”.
An email sent to media houses in Bangladesh reportedly read: “Praise be the God! Soldiers of Ansar-Al-Islam [AQIS, Bangladesh Branch] carried out an operation to slaughter an enemy of God and his messenger (peace & blessings be upon him), whose name is Niloy Chowdhury Neel.”
Meanwhile on Friday the police apprehended Hefajat-e-Islam leader Mufti Izharul Islam Chowdhury over an unrelated incident. Chittagong-based radical group Hefazats Nayeb-e-Amir Izaharul is also the chief of Nezame Islam Party, which opposed Bangladesh’s independence in 1971. One item on Hefazat's agenda is to impose capital punishment on all the atheists in Bangladesh, despite the fact that atheists have the same rights as other citizens in Bangladesh.
In May, Global Voices published a statement issuing a call for safety for all Bangladeshi bloggers and pleading with the Bangladeshi government to bring the killers to justice. Hours after Niloy's killing, the Committee to Protect Journalists published a statement posing a question that many bloggers and human rights advocates today are asking:
How many more bloggers must be murdered before the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina acts decisively to stem the violence and impunity?

author: Rezwan


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Russia Hacks the Military Again (Its Own) · Global Voices
Aric Toler

Anonymous International, a Russian hacker collective who chose Humpty Dumpty as their mascot, strikes again—this time, at the Ministry of Defense. Images mixed by Tetyana Lokot.
With news of the US suspecting Russia of hacking into the Pentagon e-mail system still buzzing, it seems almost ironic that Russia's own Defense Ministry would fall prey to a similar information security issue. And yet, the mysterious Russian hackers Anonymous International have released official documents that they claim expose poor information security practices within the government department.
The group, known for its regular hacks and leaks of government and state communications, released an open letter on Friday, August 7, alleging that Russian Ministry of Defense officials have been emailing sensitive documents to one another for the last four years via free email services.
The open letter is addressed to Aleksandr Bezverkhny of the counterintelligence department of the FSB, Russia’s state security service and modern successor to the KGB. As detailed in the open letter, Anonymous International sees the “incompetence” of the Russian Ministry of Defense as “criminal negligence.”
Через бесплатные почтовые сервисы типа yandex.ru, mail.ru и американский gmail.com передавались незашифрованные служебные документы, часто представляющие собой секретную информацию, связанную с обороноспособностью РФ. В частности, таким образом передавались доклады и информация по вопросам, обсуждавшимся на совещаниях у министра обороны РФ и его заместителей. Информация проходила по незащищенным каналам электронной почты в открытом виде, легко доступная большинству заинтересантов.
Through free email services, such as yandex.ru, mail.ru, and the American gmail.com, they have transmitted unencrypted official documents, often containing secret information related to the defense of the Russian Federation. In particular, they used this method of transferring documents related to reports and information discussed in the meetings with the Minister of Defense and his deputies. The information that passed through the unsecured email channels in open view, easily accessible to the majority of those interested.
In addition to the open letter, Anonymous International (also known as Shaltai Boltai [Russian for Humpty Dumpty]) released proof of their allegations by providing a redacted document detailing the deployment of Iskander missile complexes and Pacific Fleet nuclear submarines.
However, Anonymous International are not simply moral crusaders seeking to improve the information security of the Defense Ministry. The group is attempting to sell some of the information intercepted from the Ministry of Defense on joker.buzz, a site that allows users to auction off stolen or sensitive information. According to the auction listing, the information (for the low price of 350 bitcoins, currently worth almost $100,000) includes four years of email correspondence with Ministry of Defense official Roman Filimonov’s assistant and the content of the assistant’s iPhone and iPad. The group did, however, offer a 50 percent discount on the price for Russian counterintelligence officers, “should they be able to prove their credentials.”
Unexpectedly, Dmitry Peskov, President Putin’s press secretary (and expensive watch owner), provided an official response to the allegations in the Anonymous International leak. Speaking with journalists on August 7, Peskov said that Russian special services would be tasked with verifying the authenticity of the reports. Putin's spokesman also called using free email services to pass sensitive government information “beyond insane” and “completely unacceptable.” This statement from Peskov was immediately relayed on most Russian state media outlets, including TASS, Interfax, and Rossiyskaya Gazeta.
RuNet Echo has provided extensive coverage of the various leaks by Anonymous International over the past two years. Like the previous leaks, the letter shaming the Defense Ministry seemingly attempts to humiliate the Kremlin, as well as particular figures within the government. However, this leak is unique in that it has received a quick—and widely broadcast—response from the Kremlin.
Though many may point to intra-Kremlin feuds and machinations driving both the leak and the reaction to it, perhaps the swift response from the Russian state was inspired by recent reports of Russian cyberattacks against the Pentagon. Though this leak isn't any more or less damaging to the Kremlin's reputation, it presents a convenient opportunity to save face and demonstrate that Russia is actually taking information security seriously.

author: Aric Toler


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“They Can’t Take Our Flag!”: Madagascar Outraged at 2015 Indian Ocean Games · Global Voices
Lova Rakotomalala

Marthe Ralisinirina raises the flag of Madagascar during the 2015 Indian Ocean Island Games medal ceremony. (Screen capture from video)
Update (August 7th, 6 PM UT): Following the continuous stand off between committee organizers and Madagascar, the Malagasy president just announced that Madagascar is withdrawing from the rest of the Indian Ocean Island Games.
The 2015 Indian Ocean Island Games in Réunion Island were supposed to be a celebration of camaraderie and sportsmanship. But they will more likely be remembered for the multiple organizational hiccups and perceived national slights that triggered patriotic outrage and accusations of neo-colonialism on the part of the host country.
The Indian Ocean Island Games have been around since 1976. A multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from seven Indian Ocean countries—Mauritius, Seychelles, Comoros, Madagascar, Mayotte, Réunion, Maldives—the games seek to promote regional cooperation, develop sport and build mutual understanding in the same spirit as the Olympics. Most observers, however, would say that the 2015 edition of the Games did little to achieve the last of these objectives.
The most striking snafu occurred on August 7 following a track and field medal ceremony, and triggered calls for patriotic resistance across the online community in Madagascar (“They Cannot Take our Flag!” à la William Wallace). Malagasy Marthe Ralisinirina, winner of the 3000m steeplechase, stepped up to the podium to receive her gold medal, raising her country's flag above her head. Catherine Paoli, a member of the organizing committee, came running to the podium and snatched the flag out of Ralisinirina's hands. Here is the video of the incident:
Paoli later explained that the official rules prohibit the display of any flag besides the Olympic flag at that point in the ceremony. The flag was returned to Ralisinirina after the medals were awarded.
But Paoli's explanation did not help soothe the perceived affront to Madagascar's national symbol. And the incident drew further ire when it was discovered that the French flag was displayed at the award ceremony for Mayotte athletes.
Screen Capture of athletes from Mayotte raising the French flag at medal ceremony
The Mayotte situation had caused controversy even before the Games began. Mayotte is a French territory (like Réunion island), but is also part of the Comoros archipelago, so a compromise had been previously decided upon, wherein Mayotte's athletes would be presented under the Olympic flag and anthem. The Games committee announced that for the 2015 event, however, Mayotte's athletes would compete under the French flag and the French national anthem would be played when they were presented in the presentation parade. Comoros reacted to this slight by withdrawing from the competition.
Following the Comoros standoff, a new protocol was quickly introduced banning all flags and anthems at medal ceremonies. In a sporting event that is supposed to showcase national pride, the decision baffled many observers. As Nassimah Dindar, a member of Réunion's regional council, put it:
Au nom de quoi peut-on demander à des sportifs français, mauriciens, maldiviens, malgaches, seychellois, ou, s’ils étaient présents, comoriens, de camoufler leurs symboles nationaux alors même qu’ils en sont les porte-drapeaux et qu’ils font la fierté de leurs concitoyens ?
According to which rules can we demand that athletes from France, Mauritius, Maldives, Madagascar, Seychelles or Comoros hide their national symbols when they themselves are literally the flag bearers and the pride of their fellow citizens?
Other affronts to the team from Madagsacar included the fact that several Malagasy athletes did not receive their visa on time to attend the games and that family members of athletes were denied entrance to the opening ceremony. Some Malagasy officials were denied entrance to the stadium. Some athletes from Mauritius and Seychelles were also denied entrance to the dedicated cafeteria for athletes.
The outrage generated enough momentum online that a petition requesting a formal apology from the French government and Madagascar's immediate withdrawal from the games was created.
The petition and public outcry compelled the government of Madagascar to request official apologies from the Games organizers and the French government as well.
On August 7, the organizers of the Indian Ocean Island Games sent a formal letter of apology to the Malagasy Minister of Sport.

author: Lova Rakotomalala


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Zambian Businessman’s Lawyers Petition GoDaddy To Pull Down News Site · Global Voices
Gershom Ndhlovu

Zambian citizen media website Zambia Reports is facing legal threats from a local businessman, Rajan Mahtani, is petitioning GoDaddy, the website’s hosting company, to kick Zambia Reports off of its servers.
According to the Zambian Watchdog, a rival website, Zambia Reports has been accused of publishing defamatory articles on Dr. Mahtani, who is the founder of one Zambia’s biggest indigenous banks, Finance Bank and a chain of other businesses.
A letter said to have been written by Rajan Mahtani's US-based lawyers to GoDaddy. Used with permission of Zambian Watchdog.
The US lawyers have that GoDaddy cease and desist from hosting Zambia Reports and remove its contents from GoDaddy’s servers.

author: Gershom Ndhlovu


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Africa Taking a Proactive Position on Mitigating Disaster Risk · Global Voices
Kofi Yeboah

African leaders present at the 4th High Level Meeting on Disaster Risk Reduction. Photo by UNISDR.
Globally, Kenya and Ethiopia are among the top ten countries affected by disasters. In 2014, 6.8 million Africans were directly affected by a total of 114 recorded disasters according to United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR).
African governments have been keen to find a more strategic and localised plan to help reduce the effect of disasters on national and regional economies.
Disaster risk is defined as follows by the Asian Disaster Reduction Center:
Earthquakes, storms and torrential rains, are natural phenomena we refer to as “hazards” and are not considered to be disasters in and of themselves. For instance, an earthquake that occurs on a desert island does not trigger a disaster because there is no existing population or property affected. In addition to a hazard, some “vulnerability” to the natural phenomenon must be present for an event to constitute a natural disaster. “Vulnerability” is defined as a condition resulting from physical, social, economic, and environmental factors or processes, which increases the susceptibility of a community to the impact of a hazard.
Together African leaders have developed a new disaster risk reduction plan out of the Sendai Framework 2015-2030 to help reduce the cost of disasters.
The Sendai Framework is a 15-year, voluntary, non-binding agreement which recognizes “that the state has the primary role in reducing disaster risk but that responsibility should be shared with other stakeholders including local government, the private sector and other stakeholders.”
It has four priorities:
African leaders organised the first intergovernmental session on implementing the Sendai Framework 2015-2030 agreement since its adoption in March by the World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in Sendai, Japan. Africa is the first continent to have organised a Sendai Framework implementation plan.
Rosemary Forest, Disaster Project Cordinator for Move The World, emphasised the need for the plan to focus on protecting livelihoods and productive assets:
As #Africa meets 2 align its #DRR with #SFDRR – I hope 2 c commitment 2 protect #livelihoods & productive assets
— Rosemary Forest (@rosemaryforest) July 20, 2015
According to Ms. Margareta Wahlström, head of the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, “Africa is setting the pace for the post-2015 Development Agenda through its clear statement of high-level commitment to achieving substantial reductions in disaster losses.”
Marie Chantal Mfoula, Diplomatic and Policy Advisor at ECCAS, stated that:
Our hope is that at the end of our discussions, Africa will have a holistic programme that folds in resilient development, focusing on the need for dialogue between all stakeholders, such as those involved in climate change, the farming and pastoralist sectors, energy, health, urban and infrastructure development.
According to the UNISDR website, the African leaders developed some crucial targets in order to implement the Sendai Framework:
The governments endorsed a series of targets drawn up over the previous two days in Yaoundé by experts at the 7th Africa Working Group Meeting on Disaster Risk Reduction. Among them are creating a mechanism to share best practices by 2016, having risk-sensitive investment plans by 2017, and, by 2018, establishing strengthened early warning systems, a disaster risk trust fund, and standardized methodology, guidelines, procedures and tools for risk assessment and analysis. Besides asking the African Union to lead and coordinate the process, the Yaoundé Declaration also urges member states and Africa’s regional communities to align their own strategies with the Sendai Framework, and asks ministers of planning, economy and finance to fold disaster risk reduction into their policies. Finally, it calls on Africa’s development partners to prioritize support for implementing disaster risk reduction strategies. Last week, the European Union announced an 80-million-euro, five-year package to boost risk reduction in Africa.
Jonathan Fowler recommended that Africa needs to learn from Asia in order to reduce the impact disasters have on the continent:
#Africa needs to learn #DRR lessons from #Asia+#Caribbean says #ECOWAS at key #SendaiFramework #SFDRR meeting on #disaster risk reduction.
— Jonathan Fowler (@UNISDRjwf) July 21, 2015

author: Kofi Yeboah


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After 515 Days, Discovered Debris Raises More Questions For Flight 370 Families in China · Global Voices
Patrick Wong

On August 7, MH370 families sitting in outside the Malaysian embassy in Beijing. Photo from Twitter user: Tom Philips
After a week-long examination into debris that washed ashore on French Réunion Island by international investigative teams, Malaysia's Prime Minister “conclusively confirmed” that the flight wing wreckage came from the Beijing-bound Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.
But French partners in the investigation were more guarded in their press conference. They said they had very “strong presumptions” that the debris came from the Boeing 777, which disappeared in the early hours of March 8, 2014 after it left Kuala Lumpur.
Malaysia Airlines even sent an e-mail to families of the missing passengers on August 6, which said that the discovered debris has been jointly confirmed to be from Flight 370 by “French Authorities, Bureau d'Enquetes et d'Analyses pour la Securites de I'Aviation Civile (BEA), the Malaysian Investigation Team, Technical Representative from PRC and Australian Transportation Safety Bureau (ATSB).”
These contradictions rekindled frustration among the families of passengers on the missing plane.
Soon Chinese families gathered outside Malaysian Airlines Beijing office on August 6, demanding a full report on the plane crash, lamenting for their missing beloveds. They were barred from entering the building by a few dozen police officers formed. Malaysia Airlines declined the families request to be facilitated in flying to Réunion Island to see the wreckage.
The self-organized families committee issued a letter online, peppering Malaysia Airlines with series of questionable points regarding the wing debris:
对于这样草率并且不透明的认定，家属们很难认同，试问一个如此孤立的残骸，怎能证明飞机的确坠海？又如何能证明该部件是事故中脱落损坏的？若真坠海，为何当初调动了若干卫星扫测南印度洋，连122只海鸥都清晰识别，却无法看到一架由高空坠下的大型波音飞机？！至于曾断言飞机整体入海的“砖家”们，想必也太高估了驾驶员的水平。我们并不是阴谋论者，只是事件如此蹊跷，官方在明知飞机折返的情况下，还坚持诱导多国搜索部队在南海搜索！经家属亲自验证的马尔代夫居民称看到的大型客机直到今日也没有告知到底是哪个航班，来自哪家航空公司！为何飞机的折返点会在整个航行过程最容易产生混乱的空管区交界处？类似的未解答案还有太多太多……
Relatives are finding it hard to agree with this hasty and nontransparent confirmation. How can some debris prove the flight had fallen into the ocean? How did you prove this component broke from the accident? If [the flight] surely fell into the ocean, why were the the several satellites mobilized to scan the Indian Ocean, which clearly recognized 122 seagulls, unable to see a mega Boeing plane fallen from the sky? As for experts whose assertion that the flight was engulfed by the sea, they may overestimate the pilots’ skill. I’m not a person who believes there is a conspiracy [in the accident], but the events are so fishy with the [Malaysian] government knowing that the flight had turned back on the half way of the flight, but they have insisted on including multi-nation teams [in search of the flight] in the South Sea! Relatives of [passengers] had a confirmation from Maldives who had seen a mega plane, but it is still unknown what the flight number was, or which airline the flight belonged to? Why did the plane’s turning point appear at the border of the airspace on the flying route? So many questions are still left unanswered…
In a later interview with Chinese portal website Tencent, the families committee petitioned for a more transparent investigation into the plane’s final destination:
首先这片孤立残骸的鉴定过程并不足够公开透明，我们曾要求官方提供更多的详细照片和数据，分享给公众，由民间人士共同帮助鉴定残骸身份，但官方置之不理。其次，仅仅凭一个所谓残骸就断定飞机坠海，太过牵强，如果真的坠海，一定会有更多的碎片等物证，目前这样的残骸数量，对于飞机最后的下落并不具有任何说服力。
Firstly, the identifying procedure of the isolated debris is nontransparent to the public: our demands — which were ignored by the [Malaysia] government — were that the [Malaysia] government should provide and share with the public more detailed photos and data, and join with [independent] non-government associated people to identify where the debris comes from. Secondly, it is too far-fetched that this so-called debris can prove the flight had fallen into the ocean. If so, there must be more fragments as material evidence. The current wreckage fully cannot persuade where the flight went.
A widely circulated sticker highlighting the 515 sleepless nights of the families of passengers on the missing flight.
As China's ruling party-affiliated media the Paper reported on August 7, most families of the missing flight has been plagued by debt disputes left by passengers. But they continue to decline the official compensation unless the investigation reaches a reasonable conclusion.
Relatives continue to be immersed in grief, which is eroding their psychological and physiological condition. On Chinese Twitter-like Weibo, a relative— whose screen name is “A wandering fish”—showed the screenshot of the confirmation e-mail from the Malaysia Airlines on August 6, bringing her emotion nearly to collapse:
515天，我吃不下饭，睡不着觉，在外还要还要装的像正常人一样。几天前查血，血红蛋白已掉到62了。依然强打着精神等你回家。可我等到了什么？凌晨两点马航电邮我说，残骸确定是370的。为什么？我不明白为什么…为什么…
During the last 515 days, I cannot eat and fail to sleep, but I have to pretend to be a normal person outside the home. Several days ago I had a routine blood examination, the value of hemoglobin has dropped by 62 but I still braced up to wait for some news. However, what have I waited for? The e-mail from Malaysia Airlines on 2:00 a.m. confirmed the [wing] debris is a part of the flight 370. But why? I do not know why?

author: Patrick Wong


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As the Country Celebrates its Golden Year, Singaporeans Turn Nostalgic on the Internet · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Start of the jubilee weekend. Photo from the Facebook page of Singapore50
Singapore was a poor island when it became an independent nation in 1965. But in the past five decades, it transformed itself into a prosperous global city. This is the story many people all over the world will celebrate as the country marks its 50th founding year on August 9.
In recent weeks, Singaporeans have been participating in various initiatives that memorialize the achievements they have witnessed as a nation. Some of these online projects have made many people nostalgic — especially those that evoke memories of old Singapore.
For example, a 3D visualization studio has created several videos that showed old buildings and icons that no longer exist today. Meanwhile, the Twitter hashtag #GrowingUpSingaporean inspired netizens to share their childhood memories.
“The New Good Old Days”
Using computer graphics and visual effects, Sixtrees uploaded videos that “restored” famous icons and buildings that the young today can no longer see in the streets of Singapore.
The main objective is to relive memories for the earlier generation and introduce these to the younger ones for a deeper appreciation of the Lion City’s rich history and rise to success.
For Singaporeans, the videos can be used as creative learning tools to teach children about the history of their community. For non-Singaporeans, the videos are impressive examples of using new technologies to render a realistic portrayal of vanished landmarks of a particular place.
Below are some videos of the ‘new good old days’ of Singapore:
1. The National Theater of Singapore. The theater was demolished in the early 1980s
2. Merdeka Bridge Lions. The iconic lions guarding the bridge in the 1950s are now placed in a military institute
3. Tanjong Pagar Railway Station. Opened in 1932, the station was closed in 2011.
#GrowingUpSingaporean
The Twitter hashtag #GrowingUpSingaporean trended after Singaporean netizens actively shared their memories of growing up in the country. Many of the tweets are interesting stories about life in old Singapore which are no longer familiar to many children today. Below are some of the tweets using the hashtag:
#GrowingUpSingaporean Buying these erasers, poking staples inside, and spinning like beyblade pic.twitter.com/ZkxrzKz9pR
— iÅmai™ (@i4mai) August 3, 2015
We don't call TV shows by their name we call them by timings like “the 7 o'clock show” “the 9 o'clock show” 😂 #growingupsingaporean
— HAppY BiRthDay SHawN (@L0WKEYSARAH) July 15, 2015
#GrowingUpSingaporean Only 90s kids knows.. pic.twitter.com/GG47invjaw
— Zaidi Zaid (@ZackAmina) July 21, 2015
#GrowingUpSingaporean Our first ciggarette stick 😂 pic.twitter.com/sshEsJfdoN
— -you- (@sxrxzanaaa) July 21, 2015


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Fifteen People Killed in ISIS Attack on Saudi Security Forces Mosque in Asir · Global Voices
Mohammed Al Nemer

Photo of the mosque after the attack.
Another suicide bomb hit Saudi Arabia on Thursday, this time at a mosque inside a Special Forces headquarters in Asir, southwest of Saudi Arabia, killing 15 people and injuring nine. The attack, by ISIS, was carried out by Abu Sinan Al Najdi.
This is the fourth bomb attack on a mosque in Saudi Arabia, but the first on a non-Shia mosque. Last year, in November, eight people were killed in the Eastern province of Al Ahsa, when gunmen attacked a Shia community centre. The Al-Qaeda affiliate, ISIS, claimed responsibility for two following attacks in the Eastern Province, one in Qatif killing 21 worshippers, and the second in Dammam, which killed four people. Another bombing on a Shia mosque in Kuwait in June killed 27 people, was also claimed by ISIS. On July 16, a man was killed and two security officers were injured in a suicide car bombing in Riyadh.
“While a group of the personnel of special emergency forces in Asir region were performing Al-Dhuhur (Noon) prayer together at the forces headquarters,” reported the Saudi Press Agency, quoting an Interior Ministry spokesman.
The attack was at the headquarters of the special emergency forces in Asir, close to the Yemeni border. The ISIS said in a statement the bomber had used an explosives belt. The attack was claimed in online statements by a new IS-affiliated group, Al-Hijaz Province.
Saudi security forces launched a countrywide search that resulted in the arrest of more than 400 people alleged to be linked to ISIS, following last month's attack, the Interior Ministry said on July 18.
On social media, news of the Asir attack made headlines.
Alhadath KSA was the first account to report the attack saying:
#عاجل تفجير انتحاري بمبنى قوات الطواري بـ #عسير واستشهاد عدد من رجال الامن وهناك مصابين . #السعودية
— السعودية الحدث (@ALHADATH_KSA) August 6, 2015
A suicide bomber blows himself up in the emergency forces building in Asir. A number of security forces martyred and others injured
Footage inside the mosque shows Saudi security forces inspecting the site of the explosion:
Saad Alshahrani shares a photograph showing the Prince of Asir Faisal bin Khalid visiting the mosque after the attack:
الامير ” فيصل بن خالد يحضر الان لمقر الحدث فـ طوارئ عسير بعد الحادثة المؤلمة .. #تفجير_طواري_عسير pic.twitter.com/M4QqdwYV9t
— سعد الشهراني (@Saad_t8) August 6, 2015
Prince Faisal bin Khalid is during at emergency visit to the mosque after the painful attack.
People have shown respect and unity with the victims on Twitter. Akl Albahli writes:
حينما ترى عنف التشدد في قضايا إجتماعية تافهه تدرك مدى خطورته حينما يتبنى مشروع تهديم وطن عبر تحريكه كأدوات عمياء #تفجير_ارهابي_في_عسير
— عقل الباهلي (@AklAlbahli) August 6, 2015
When you see violent extremism in silly social problems you realise the extent of the danger when they adopt a program to wipe out the nation by using extremists like blind tools
Faeq Muneef reacts to the killing of people while praying:
تخصص الإرهابيون في تفجير المصلين الساجدين، حتى لكأن لهم دين شيطاني يأمرهم بتخويف المسلمين، ومنع الناس من عبادة الله #تفجير_طواري_عسير
— فائق منيف (@Fmuneef) August 6, 2015
Those terrorists are becoming experts in blowing up people who are praying as if they are moved by a Satanic religion which orders them to terrorise Muslims and prohibit people from their religious duties
Saudi writer Abdulla Alami adds:
تغييرالعقلية الذهنية الارهابية المتراكمة عبر 30 عام يتطلب أكثر من تنظيف وتطوير المناهج، ومراقبة المنابر، وملاحقة المخالفين #تفجير_طواري_عسير
— عبدالله العلَمي (@AbdullaAlami) August 6, 2015
Changing the mentality of terrorists that has accumulated over 30 years requires more than developing the [school] curriculum, and monitoring the pulpits of mosques, and the prosecution of offenders.
Minister of Labor Mufarrij Al-Haqbani assured:
نقف صفاً واحداً كالبنيان ضد من يحاول أن يسيء لهذا الوطن الشامخ بدينه وقيادته ورجال أمنه وشعبه #تفجير_طواري_عسير
— د. مفرج الحقباني (@MofarrigHaqbani) August 6, 2015
We stand united against anyone who offends this country and its men, leaders, security forces and people
Saudi Shiite cleric Sayyed Hassan Al Nemer added:
الإرهاب الأسود يسفك الدماء بغير حق من #الدالوة إلى #القديح مرورا ب #الدمام و #القطيف وأخيرا #تفجير_طوارئ_عسير حفط الله الوطن ورحم الشهداء.
— السيد حسن النمر (@alnemernet) August 6, 2015
Black terrorism is shedding blood unjustly from Dalalwa [the Ahsa neighbourhood where the first attack took place] to Qudaih [in Qatif] passing through Dammam and Qatif, and lastly the blast in security forces quarters in Asir. May God bless this nation and its martyrs.
Saudi journalist Adhwan Alahmari asks:
#تفجير_طوارئ_عسير سبقها استهداف مبنى الأمن العام قبل 11 عاماً. هل تم تنفيذ حكم الإعدام في المتورطين؟ أم تمت مناصحتهم فحسب؟
— عضوان الأحمري (@Adhwan) August 6, 2015
Before the mosque attack, general directorate of general security was targeted 11 years ago in Riyadh. Were those involved handed the death penalty? Or they were advised [through Saudi Arabia's rehabilitation program]?
Al Marid says the whole of Saudi Arabia is now being targeted by the ISIS and not just one sect:
#تفجير_طواري_عسير اليس هناك من شك بعدهذه الجريمةان المستهدف ليست فئةمن فئات المجتمع بعينها بل ان المستهدف هو الوطن بكل مكوناته وطوائفه/إصحوا
— المارد (@ALMARID_99) August 6, 2015
There is no doubt after this attack, it is not only a faction of society that is targeted, but it is the country as a whole with all its sects. Wake up!
Saudi writer Nabeel Almojil notes:
#تفجير_طوارىء_عسير قلناها مليون مرة جففوا منابع الاٍرهاب والتكفير والأمر ليس بحاجة لعمليات استخباراتية رموز ومنابع الإرهاب بيننا!!
— نبيل_المعجل (@NabeelAlmojil) August 6, 2015
We have said it a million times. Dry up the sources of terrorism. This doesn't need spy operations as their symbols and sources are amongst us
And Saudi lawyer Khalid Abo Rashed concludes:
بالأمس شيعة واليوم سنة لم يسلم المدني ولا رجل الأمن فالمستهدف واحد وهو الوطن وهذا مختصر الكلام #تفجير_طواري_عسير
— خالد أبو راشد (@KhalidAboRashed) August 6, 2015
Yesterday, the Shias were bombed, today the Sunnis. No one is immune, whether a civilian or a policeman. Eventually, the only target is the nation.

author: Mohammed Al Nemer


text:
Hong Kong Chinglish Page Conquers the Local Internet Overnight · Global Voices
Hong Kong Free Press

Kongish Daily challenges readers’ ability to understand phrases mixing Cantonese and English. The line, “What spring r u upping?” can be translated to “What the f**k are you talking about?”
[Editor's note: This post was written by Kris Cheng and originally published on Hong Kong Free Press on August 6. It is republished on Global Voices under a content partnership agreement.
Chinglish refers to spoken or written English influenced by the Chinese language. In Hong Kong, where the majority of residents speak Cantonese, the term “Kongish” helps capture the distinctive character of Cantonese-style Chinglish.
“Kongish” is used mainly in written form via SMS, chatrooms and social media as some find the Chinese character input system less convenient than English when using mobile devices.]
A Facebook page presenting Hong Kong news in the island's distinct brand of “Chinglish” attracted more than 15,000 likes overnight.
Kongish Daily, the motto of which is “Hong Kong people speak Hong Kong English,” became an instant sensation locally after it published a number of stories only people fluent in both Cantonese and English could understand.
One of the first posts on the page was the “$400k helicopter proposal” story, which has presently gathered more than 11,000 likes.
The page uses phrases like “even ng eat ng play” (literally “even not eat not play”), which means “even if we do not spend money on food and fun.”
In another post, Hong Kong actor Jackie Chan was referred to as someone “with so much rice”. This expression in Cantonese describes an individual who is rich.
‘Kongish’
Cantonese is widely accepted to have six tones. In 1993, the Linguistic Society of Hong Kong developed Jyutping, a Cantonese romanisation scheme. The system uses numbers next to romanisations of Cantonese words, which indicate their tones.
On the Kongish Daily, however, posts do not include tones. Readers have to guess the tone of a word based on romanised English words.
As such, readers need to have a strong grasp of Cantonese as well as Hong Kong pop culture to understand its articles.