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Turkey’s President and the ‘Treason’ of Family Planning · Global Voices
Arzu Geybullayeva

Erdogan. Official Flickr, public domain.
In the past 72 hours, international media coverage of Turkey has been replete with headlines such as “Go forth and multiply: Turkey President Erdogan warns Muslims”; “Turkey’s Erdogan warms Muslims against birth control”; “Family planning not for Muslims, says Turkey’s President”; and “Turkey’s Erdogan: No Muslim family should engage in birth control”.
This is what President Erdogan likes to call “New Turkey”, and for women civic campaigners, it is a highly problematic one.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's remarks that birth control is ‘treason’ are far from the first that he and his administration have made regarding women and their life choices.
In March, marking the International Women’s Day Erdogan said, a woman was “above all else a mother” adding that men and women are not equal, a point he had made before back in 2014 when he also accused feminists of failing to accept motherhood.
And in 2014, Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc said that women should not laugh in public, triggering a wave of responses from Turkish women who tweeted at the Arinc with the #kahkaha [laugh] hashtag while posting pictures of themselves laughing.
On a practical level, the government controlled by Erdogan's AKP (Justice and Development Party) has proposed limiting abortion rights, the morning-after pill and caesarean sections, although none have become official policy.
Ironically, at about the same time Erdogan was discussing a ban on birth control, First Lady Emine Erdogan was delivering a fiery speech at the closing ceremony for an event in Istanbul “Mobile Solutions Address: Women” where she called for an end to the exploitation of women’s labor.
“The elimination of barriers such as wage differentials, glass ceiling obstacles [invisible but real barriers to advancement in a profession, typically applied to women] are requirements for equity,” she said.
Her husband’s earlier remarks about women needing to have at least three children — which would create obvious obstacles to women's advancement in the workplace — went un-noted during her address.
VATANDAS BIR DOGUM KONTROL'E MERAK SARMAMISTI ONA DA EL ATTI !!!………….😒😒😒
— Payiz (@mamimam62) May 30, 2016
Birth control was the only thing he had not become interested in, but not any longer.
Ulkenin yarisi koyun oldugu icin dogum kontrol yontemlerini bilmiyor zaten.. oyuzden endise edicek bi durum yok.
— Onur (@Hintcupp) May 30, 2016
Half of the country are sheep who don't know what birth control is anyway… So no need to be concerned.
Commenters also alluded to the serious conflict boiling over in the country's east that they felt more deserving of Erdogan's attention.
Van'da 2 polis sehit olmus…
Sen hala dogum… Kondom…kontrol hapi. 3 cocuk… Hamileler disarda gezemez vb daha bi cok….
— Gökçe (@JazzMixed) May 30, 2016
Two police officers die in Van. And yet you are still talking about birth and condom control [and families having a minimum of] 3 children. Soon you will be saying pregnant women should not walk outside in public
Kürtaj bitti,şimdi dogum kontrol haplari ve nufus planlamasında. Sıra; muslumanin gecede en az kaç posta atması gerektiğinde inşalllah
— MuNaFUCk (@ulas_ozkan) May 30, 2016
He is done with abortion, now its birth control and population planning. Next in line: how many times a night we can have sex, God willing.
According to World Economic Forum's Gender Gap Index from 2015, Turkey ranks 130th out of 145 countries. A report released by Turkey’s Ministry of Family and Social Policy last year concluded 40% of women suffer from domestic violence.
Perhaps these are issues for the government's attention, rather than a ban on “treasonous” birth control.

author: Arzu Geybullayeva


text:
When Immigrants in Spain Can’t Find Work, Some Resort to Selling Beer on the Street · Global Voices
L. Finch

Screenshot from the documentary “Road Beers.”
Empty, crumpled cans of beer litter the ground of a trendy neighborhood in Madrid. Dawn will soon blush the sky above, but the barrio is hardly deserted. “Nobody goes to bed in Madrid until they have killed the night,” American writer Ernest Hemingway wrote in 1932 about Spain's capital city, and his observation rings true eight decades later.
Revelers continue to prowl the uneven stone streets, while garbage men start their daybreak shift clearing what's left of last night's botellón – a term which means “big bottle” in Spanish and refers to the custom of drinking with friends outdoors.
They aren't the only ones on their feet at this early hour. Street vendors hoping to make one last sale stand guard over shopping carts full of beer. Others weave their way through the neighborhood in search of customers, cans clinking in the bags they carry. Many are immigrants who turn to peddling beer when they can't find any other work.
Scenes like these play out every weekend — and some weeknights too — in Madrid and elsewhere across Spain. Young people fill the city's plazas for a good time, and street vendors scratch out a bare living by plying them with beer.
A short documentary recently published on Vimeo introduces viewers to one of these vendors: Hashem, a man from Bangladesh who says he has been peddling beer in Madrid for five years.
Filmed in 2015, “Road Beers” by Dennis Harvey profiles Hashem as he sells beer day and night, working long hours to wire money to his family. Hashem, who says he was a member of a local city council back in Bangladesh, explains that he came to Spain after a change in government led to violence.
He says he has looked for other work, but hasn't been able to find any. “I don't like selling beer,” he tells the filmmaker, but “I need the money for sending.”
Peddling beer is illegal and can carry fines of 150 euros (about 167 US dollars) or more. Hashem says police have fined him many times, but he doesn't have the funds to pay:
Many times police take [away the beer] and fine, take and fine, so it's very difficult this job.
Hashem is undocumented and says he hopes to one day obtain legal residency so he can visit his family without the fear of being prevented from reentering Spain on the journey back. In the meantime, phone calls and Facebook are how he stays in touch.
This phenomenon isn't new. In fact, six years ago I interviewed two such vendors from China for a story published on international news site Global Post. A man named Yu told me that without papers and regular work, he had no other options but to hawk beer to pay off the debt he had accumulated migrating to Spain.
In China, he said, Spain was seen as a land of opportunity, but reality wasn't matching his hopeful expectations.
And Liu, a woman who had left her young son behind in Shanghai, said she began selling beer on the street as a last resort after positions as a nanny and a convenience store clerk turned sour. “I regretted it the first day I came,” she said:
We don’t want to do illegal things. We don’t want to do this, but we’re forced to do this.
At the time, Spain was plunging head first into a brutal economic crisis that at its peak in 2013 saw joblessness reach nearly 27%. Since then, the country has slowly edged away from the brink, but the unemployment rate continues to be one of the highest in the European Union (although the true number of unemployed is likely lower than the official count, due to under-the-table work that goes unreported).
In the first quarter of 2016, unemployment was 19.81% for those with Spanish citizenship, according to the Spanish National Institute of Statistics’ Labor Force Survey. For immigrants, who represent about 10% of the country's population of 46.5 million, it was 29.72%. If you take people from European Union countries out of the mix, the out-of-work figure for foreigners rose to 33.18%.
Against this tough economic backdrop, authorities have cracked down time and again on street beer sales. Vendors, however, haven't stopped selling.
Immigrants don't have a complete monopoly on the practice. The author of a blog called No Tengo Curro (I Don't Have a Job) spoke with a Spanish street beer vendor in May 2015 and conveyed the man's advice on how his unemployed countrymen and women could get in on the business. In a comment below the post, the blogger admitted not knowing what would happen if a person, once caught, doesn't pay the fine, but maintained that doing something is better than nothing at all:
No te asustes hombre, no pasa nada, bueno si, que si no te buscas la vida en este país, no comes.
Don't be scared, man, nothing's going to happen, well, yes, it will, if you don't earn a living in this country, you won't eat.
In Madrid, the regional government doubled the fine for public drinking from 300 to 600 euros (about 670 US dollars) in 2012, but botellones haven't disappeared either. The country's youth unemployment hovers near 45%, and what jobs are available generally offer new recruits low salaries and high insecurity. Paying a street vendor one euro for a beer and knocking it back with friends in a plaza is a lot more economical than footing the bill for a brew at the bar.
So for the time being, the street beer in Spain continues to flow.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: L. Finch


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Attack on Vegan Café in Georgia Opens New Front in Culture War · Global Voices
Eurasianet

A movie screening on May 29 at Tbilisi’s vegetarian restaurant Kiwi Café, seen here on opening night on July 4, 2015, was disrupted by sausage-wielding assailants, who threw chunks of grilled meat into diners’ dishes and came to blows with staff. The café claims the more than one dozen assailants created “an anti-vegan provocative action.” (Photo: Kiwi Café)
The following is a partner post from EurasiaNet.org written by Giorgi Lomsadze. Republished with permission.
Sausage is the new weapon of choice in a simmering culture war in Georgia.
On May 29, assailants brandishing sausage burst into the tiny vegan Kiwi Café, a countercultural outpost in Tbilisi’s Old Town, spraying diners and their dishes with chunks of meat and fish, and assaulting café staffers. The clash reportedly spilled out onto the street; the assailants fled before police could arrive.
Employees identified the attackers as members of Georgian Power, a nationalist group with perceived skinhead leanings. Giorgi Gegelashvili, a café employee, told Georgian Public Broadcasting that members of the radical group had a history of antagonizing staff and patrons, apparently due to strong opposition to the values that the café supports, which he identified as nihilism and pacifism. “Several days earlier, they attacked one of our friends and customers, cursed at him and spit into his face, and threatened to stage a pogrom at the café,” Gegelashvili said.
Georgian Power denied involvement in the fray, maintaining that it does not harbor an anti-herbivore agenda. “Forcing meat upon vegetarians is not our priority,” the group said in a statement posted on their Facebook page on May 31.
Rather, the group asserts that its chief concerns include the continued Russian occupation of Georgia’s breakaway Abkhazia and South Ossetia territories, and the Georgian government’s prevailing philosophy of liberalism. The group also claims that some of its members are on a tomato-only diet and “haven’t seen grilled meat in a while.”
The Kiwi Café incident underscores Georgia’s emergence as a frontline state in a broad, regional culture clash that pits Russia, which casts itself as the defender “traditional” values, against the European Union and United States as the proponents of Western values. The Georgian government signed an EU association agreement in 2014, and has long sought NATO membership. But a sizable segment of society in Georgia, a strongly Orthodox Christian nation, has misgivings about Western integration – worrying specifically that the influx of Western values undermines local cultural traditions.
Advocates of “traditional” values in Georgia – including nationalists and social conservatives – have become more vocal of late. Tbilisi, for example, in mid-May hosted a conclave of traditional values proponents – a gathering officially titled as the World Congress of Families – during which speaker after speaker railed against the spread of pernicious ideas advanced by the EU and US governments. “Liberalism is the enemy,” stated Levan Vasadze, a congress organizer.
The values debate to date has centered on traditionally hot-button issues, including LGBT rights and abortion. But now it seems a new fault line is opening up concerning the matter of dietary choices. Ultranationalists appear to view non-meat eaters as un-Georgian and, therefore, a threat to the country’s well-being.
The Kiwi Café incident produced a cornucopia of social media comment – ranging from outrage to amusement. Since force-feeding everyone is the preserve of Georgian grandmothers, some joked online that it must have been an attack of the “bebiebi,” Georgian for “grandmothers,” who were fed up with their grandchildren not eating properly. Others said, tongue-firmly-in-cheek, it was an ambush organized by the meat-packing industry.
But for many, the battle at Kiwi Café was not just a random occurrence, but a disconcerting symptom of a revival of radical nationalism that had devastating effects on the country two decades ago.
Georgian Power’s Facebook page is ablaze with supremacist rhetoric and photos of men in masks with raised clenched fists. The group asserts that “Georgia is for Georgians,” a slogan that was popular under the country’s first, nationalist president, Zviad Gamsakhurdia (1991-1992), who presided over a period of prolonged instability, featuring civil warfare and ethnic conflict.
The group also has vented hate toward foreigners, liberals and LGBT people. Its activities are not limited to online agitation. Last year, an individual reputed to be a prominent figure in the group shared videos of Africans and Arabs harassed and punched in downtown Tbilisi. Police launched an investigation then, but nothing came of it.
Civil society activists complain that the Georgian police have been generally lackluster in investigating violence directed recently at members of the political opposition, LGBT groupsand foreigners.
Kiwi Café staffers said that police officers accused them of provoking the May 29 incident and failing to restrain several neighbors who sided with the attackers. Authorities opened an investigation into the Kiwi Café incident the day after the attack. Critics of police conduct believe that public expressions of outrage over the incident helped prompt the police to act.
The Kiwi Cafe issued a statement May 31 that characterized the incident two days earlier as an assault on civil society. It went on to cast the cafe as a rallying point for tolerance. “You can show your support in this difficult time by simply visiting our cafe,” the statement said. “We will be extremely grateful if you come to show there is a lot of us who care, who believe this is important.”

author: Eurasianet


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Cambodia’s Government Mistakes Singapore for Libya in Video Warning Against ‘Excessive Civil Rights’ · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Screenshot of the video depicting the Singapore skyline as Libya. Source: YouTube
The Cambodian government recently released a video warning citizens about the destructive social impact of using civil rights like protest and freedom of expression “excessively”.
The video, entitled “Using The Rights In An Anarchic Way,” was uploaded on the government’s official YouTube channel and has since been made private. It cited the experience of Libya and Syria, using past and present photos, to tell Cambodians about the danger of “misusing” their rights in a way that brings chaos in society.
However, the video erroneously depicted the Singapore skyline as Libya before the country witnessed a revolution and then was engulfed by war. Fortunately, the video was reposted by Preah Vihear Memorial before the original video was made private:
The government’s Cambodian Human Rights Committee, which produced the video, acknowledged the technical error but insisted that it was only minor and unintentional.
But it’s not just the geographical blunder that made the video controversial. For some activist groups, the message of the video equated human rights advocacy with anarchy.
The video's narrative placed the blame for the suffering in Libya and Syria on their own citizens for provoking the conflict in their respective countries:
This is the result of how the rights were misused…The excessive use of rights will bring about destruction, broken families and loss of hundreds of thousands of lives, loss of habitat, bloodshed… As a result, all the rights were lost.
Both Libya and Syria experienced popular uprisings against their authoritarian rulers in 2011 that progressed into devastating civil wars. The militant group ISIS, which has a presence in both countries, has only worsened the situation.
Near the end of the video, the country’s defense minister discusses how color revolutions — referring to the non-violent revolutions that took place in several countries formerly belonging to the Soviet Union and perceived to be fanned by external Western forces — in other countries could be replicated in Cambodia. Activists believe the minister was referring to the ‘Black Monday’ weekly protests organized by human rights groups against a looming crackdown on political opposition. The government insists illegal assemblies by groups which intend to disrupt peace and order in society will not be tolerated by the police.
The defense minister also tried to imply that groups espousing civil rights are linked to the Khmer Rouge when he said in the video that “We have to prevent the second return of the genocidal regime in Cambodia.” The Khmer Rouge is accused of killing more than a million people in Cambodia in the 1970s.
Chak Sopheap, the executive director of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, is worried that:
The goal of this video is clearly to intimidate ordinary people from the full and peaceful exercise of their human rights, and represents a serious misrepresentation of both domestic and international human rights law. It is a rather unsubtle reminder that this government is not beyond resorting to serious violence, if necessary, to hold on to power.
Perhaps the intention of the government in releasing the video was to threaten the public; but in the past two days, more people noticed the gaffe in depicting Libya as Singapore. Some of the tweets below reflect the sentiments of many Internet users:
LoLLLLLLLL can't even propagate! Very embarrassing. Where is Cambodia's pride? https://t.co/gbB4CjQ0xm
— Virak Ou (@ouvirak) May 30, 2016
Peak Orwellian as Cambodia govt video blames Syria/Libya conflicts on “civil rights,” promises army will prevent https://t.co/jWHrdID5ea
— Kevin Doyle (@doyle_kevin) May 30, 2016
OMG guys, you won't believe this but rights are actually bombs! We must stop using them! Phew thanks #CambodianHumanRightsCommittee!
— Thida Leiper (@thidaleiper) May 30, 2016
A technical mistake? A deceit? Or does it show the inability of those officials? https://t.co/o6UQXc6kAN
— HEM Sokly (@HEMSokly) May 31, 2016

author: Mong Palatino


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China Mandates State-Private Management Model to Censor the Internet · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Remix image from Hong Kong Free Press.
China recently introduced a new policy intended to regulate live-streaming platforms. According to business magazine Caixin's report, authorities will soon require popular video streaming platforms to sell between 1 and 10 percent of their shares to a so-called state-owned enterprise, which has the power to oversee the platforms’ production and decision-making.
This unique share arrangement, known as “Special Management stakes”, is similar to the idea of a “golden share“, which empowers the holder to outvote all other share holders. While a typical golden share holder would not intervene into daily operation of the business, the Chinese version stresses the stakes in “management”, which includes pre-screening, decision making on investment and new partnerships, right to censorship and decision making on the appointment of top business and content management personnel.
The initial list of SOEs to take part in the venture are mostly state-owned media groups, including China National Radio, China Radio Internationals, Beijing Media Network, Hunan Media Network, and Shanghai Oriental Pearl Media Co.
The State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television (SAPRFT) urged major online video platforms, including Youku & Tudou, Let's TV, Tecent TV and others, in a meeting on May 18 to voluntarily sign an initial agreement with the above SOEs by June 10 and complete the contract by July.
The new regulations also forbids foreign investors for holding domestic live-streaming businesses. That's why Youku & Tudou, which was listed in the New York Stock Market, has completed privatization last month and would return to China's A-stock market soon. The Shanghai based stock market has restriction on direct foreign capital investment.
Baidu's video streaming platform iqiyi.com which had received capital investment from Providence Equity Partners LLC is also going through privatization and has planned to be listed in China's A-stock market in 2017.
The video streaming business sector has been booming in recent years. China is host to some 50 livestreaming platforms, the majority of which operate in a market-oriented commercial model.
The idea of “special management stakes” was based on a party Central Committee decision made in November 2013 which intended to take control of national media organizations. However, the current implementation appears to be a forced state-private joint venture.
Xiang Ligang from the telecommunication industry told state-owned Global Times that the joint venture arrangement aims to explore a new way to supervise the Internet:
For many years, there have been various problems on different media platforms. Most of these websites are privately run…In the past, the government has had little influence over the operations of video websites. The government cannot punish [the websites] on a daily basis or shut down [a website] at will as it would trigger a backlash […] To some extent, [the special management stakes] show the government's attitude, which is that it wishes to find a way to exert influence on these websites.
The new way is described as “a mechanism to exert preventive measures” by communication scholar Zhu Wei.
Different from conventional media outlets which have officials from the propaganda department sitting in their offices and pre-screening content before it is published, online media practice post-publication censorship by reactively following instructions delivered to web administrators. The authorities seem to find that such practice have too many loopholes.
Exiled economist He Qinglian anticipated that authorities would make use of their “special management stakes” to appoint management staff who would cater to censorship requirements, such as the pre-screening of live-streaming video programs. The move will also effectively “nationalize” private corporations in strategic areas: observers suspect that the online video sector is just the beginning of a national scale compulsory state-private joint venture campaign.

author: Oiwan Lam


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Colombia City Combines Gardening and Hip Hop to Revive Community · Global Voices
Dylan Lebecki

Hiphopper “El Aka” and another participant practicing Agro-Art. Photo by Louise Møller, previously published at Rapolitics.org and AgroArte. Used with permission.
Si el hip hop es calle, debajo de la calle hay tierra, nosotros somos esas plantas callejeras que se resisten a que le echen cemento, y el cemento es el olvido, es decir que no pasa nada.
If hip hop is the street, [and] below the street there's earth, we are these plants that grow through the cracks in the pavement. The cement is a way to pave over what's really happening—to say that nothing's wrong.
The quote above belongs to the hip hop artist “El Aka”, who says there's a link between his music and agriculture. He works with excluded youths from Comuna 13 in Medellín, Colombia, where he founded the program “Seeds of the Future”, which marries—unconventionally, for many people—hip hop and agriculture. El Aka says one of the most important ways to cultivate a sense of community is to blend “the recuperation of memory” and “the visibility” of people living in a particular area.
“Seeds of the Future” is dedicated to the young people overlooked in Medellín's recent urban improvements. Medellín, a city once best known for drug trafficking, is today miraculously renowned for its urban innovations. But this shimmering legacy doesn't belong to everyone, El Aka says:
En la ciudad que la están planteando como la más innovadora, nosotros decimos que es la ciudad más aniquiladora. [El mismo día] que le dieron ese título mataron a 25 jóvenes.
In a city that they're describing as innovative, we say that it's becoming more deadly. [The same day] that they gave the city this title, 25 youths were killed.
Hip hop is an international urban culture movement that embraces the following four elements: graffiti, break dance, rap, and DJs. In Medallo (as the residents of Medellín refer to their city), hip hop has been an important trend since the 1980s—especially in the city's lower-income neighborhoods. Many young people grow up admiring their local “hiphopper” idols and dream of someday gaining celebrity on the local scene, as well. In a country like Colombia, which has been in a state of internal war for more than 60 years, and in a city like Medellín, which has been one of the roughest, bloodiest areas of the country, hip hop has played a vital role in popular resistance, in the creation of memory, and the weaving together of a fragmented society.
“Seeds of the Future” demonstrates how organized projects are capable of creating and sustaining alternative communities where victimization and social invisibility have dominated in the past:
Nuestro proceso nació como […] resistencia frente a una escombrera que tiene más de 300 cuerpos enterrados después de las operaciones militares acá. Si no juntamos las manos con otros y otras, en este país continuaría pasando lo mismo de siempre. La idea es proponer. Hemos estado asesinándonos [desde] hace 60 años. Hemos entendido que este país lo hemos construido nosotros y nosotras.
Our process was born as […] resistance in front of a garbage dump where approximately 300 bodies were buried after military operations. If we don't join hands, in this country the same thing will keep happening. The idea is to propose [change]. We have been killing each other for 60 years. We understand that we built this country ourselves.
Seeds of the Future unites approximately 60 youths from Comuna 13 who together practice “AgroArte”. In other words, they link agro (or sowing) with art (hip hop). In this way, they teach young women and men to sow seeds, to work the land, and cultivate gardens. At the same time, the participants write and sing their own musical hip-hop creations, and they use their lyrics to document events and feelings in their own lives. By planting seeds, moreover, they take ownership of physical spaces that have been marked by violence. The spaces then are transformed into “scenes of life” that symbolically capture the theme of resistance against violence.
Many of the people in Medellín come from rural areas of the country, fleeing violence in their regions. In fact, Colombia has one of the highest numbers of internally displaced people in the world. With so many people relocating to the city, agricultural acts like sowing seeds and gardening are ways for refugees to remember their lives before they were driven from their homes by armed groups.
The participants work together, without defined leaders or hierarchies, in a circular structure that avoids power concentrating in the hands of any one or few. The goal of this project is to create a proud neighborhood community. By retaking spaces that were previously scenes of violence and military operations, Seeds of the Future transforms these areas into spaces of remembrance and dignity.
Nosotros no creemos en la burocracia ni en los políticos, nosotros creemos en la capacidad de la gente de crear. De exigir a través de las acciones.
We don't believe in bureaucracy or in politicians, we believe in the capacity of people to create. And to make demands through their actions.
The program also represents a meeting place where neighbors come together to improve the community. This collaborative approach aims to make coexistence smoother and form more trusting relationships.
Some songs from Seeds of the Future can found below:
The following video (in Spanish) shows El Aka and AgroArt in action:
For those interested in learning more about what's done at Seeds of the Future, the YouTube channel of AgroArt, Barrio Bajo Producciones, has many more videos.

author: Dylan Lebecki


text:
Russian Strip Club Threatens to Take Job-Hunting Website to Court for Refusing to Publish Dancer Vacancy · Global Voices
Tanya Lokot

The “Golden Girls” ready for a court battle. Image edited by Kevin Rothrock.
A Russian striptease club is threatening to take a job-hunting website to court over the latter's refusal to publish a job ad for a show ballet dancer at the club. The Russian Striptease Club Association is supporting the club in question.
According to a report by the website “theRunet,” the club “Golden Girls” claims it has previously posted other job ads on the website, Superjob, without any issues. However, this time, the moderator at Superjob blocked the job opening. When Golden Girls asked the website why the ad wasn't published, a representative reportedly said, “Historically, we don't work with bordellos. It's nothing personal.”
So now the club plans to sue Superjob for “defamation of character,” calling it a necessary measure to protect its “business reputation,” according to Evgeny Shapovalov, a spokesperson for both Golden Girls and the Striptease Club Association:
Вакансия подразумевала просто хореографические номера, не имеющие эротического элемента. Но, видимо, чрезмерно ретивый сотрудник этого удивительного агентства ликвидировал вакансию, а когда мы с ним стали выяснять в переписке, почему, он ответил «с борделями мы не работаем».
[…]
…таким образом целый класс людей оказывается выведен за рамки правового поля, а, согласно конституции, каждый человек имеет право на труд.
The job opening referred only to choreographic activities, without an erotic element. But apparently, the overly industrious employee of this wonderful [job] agency deleted the job ad, and when we contacted him to ask why, he said “we don't work with bordellos.” […] This means a whole class of people ends up outside the legal limits, and according to the constitution, every person has a right to labor.
The job portal's CEO, Natalya Godzhayeva, initially vented her frustrations with the strip club's complaint in a post on Facebook, but she later deleted the text (or threw it behind a privacy wall). (Nevertheless, theRunet recorded a screenshot of the original post.)
Мы баним такие вакансии. Ну правила у нас такие и все тут. Нужны повара, секретари, проджекты, программисты, приходите. Если ищете стриптизерш, извините, не поможем.
We ban such job openings. Those are our rules, period. If you need chefs, secretaries, project [managers], programmers, you're welcome. If you're looking for strippers, sorry, can't help you.
Incidentally, this isn't Golden Girls’ first time in the limelight. Three years ago, in 2013, together with the Association, it was instrumental in creating a special photo calendar for Russian President Vladimir Putin, themed around Russia's involvement in the Syrian conflict and titled “Make Love Not War.”
Superjob's president, Alexey Zakharov, told reporters he has no official comment regarding the incident, “just yet.”
Если эти мутанты поведут себя неправильно, тогда мы их будем учить правильному поведению. А пока не вижу смысла нигде упоминать название этого борделя :) Это же для них бесплатная реклама. Обойдутся :)
If these mutants do it wrong, then we'll teach them how to behave properly. For now I don't see any point in mentioning this bordello's name anywhere. This is free advertising for them. No way:)
Roman Alypov, a lawyer, told theRunet that the strip club had a good chance of proving in court that comparing it to a “bordello” could be construed as an insult. Alypov says Superjob could end up being compelled to publish the job ad, after all.
Golden Girls and the Association say they're willing to wait for 30 days for an apology from Superjob, and then they say they're taking the matter to court.

author: Tanya Lokot


text:
Spain’s Archbishop of Valencia and His Crusade Against the ‘Gay Empire’ · Global Voices
Lourdes Sada

Cardinal Cañizares at his inaugural Mass in Valencia. Screenshot from a YouTube video from the Archdiocese of Valencia.
In recent years, Spain “has witnessed a major escalation against families by political leaders, aided by other powers such as the ‘gay empire’ and certain feminist ideologies,” the Archbishop of Valencia, Antonio Cañizares, said in his homily during a Mass that was celebrated at the Valencian headquarters of the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family.
The Catholic cardinal also said Spain is the European country “where there have been more abortions, divorces, and civil partnerships,” and denounced legislation that promotes “gender ideology” (referring to the idea that the differences between males and females are social constructs) as “the most insidious thing in the history of mankind.”
Cañizares belongs to the hardliner wing of the Catholic Church, which dominated Spain during the papacies of John Paul II and Benedict XVI, but seems to be on the decline with Francis I. Even so, some of its leaders still insist on attacking the LGBT community and have recently been involved in bitter controversies.
As expected, his statements sparked fierce discussions. On Twitter, the archbishop’s words were taken with humor, and the avalanche of tweets and memes placed the words “Gay Empire” among the trending topics on May 19.
Apuntad este nombre para una sauna: Imperio Gay
— Tuerto real (@XPuertoReal) May 20, 2016
Make a note of this name for a sauna: Gay Empire
Si esto no es fruto del imperio gay ya no sé yo. pic.twitter.com/mvXTyFikJ2
— PascÜ (@PascuOnFire) May 19, 2016
If this isn’t the fruit of the gay empire, I don’t know what is.
Imperio Gay. pic.twitter.com/QEevtJkDrC
— Proscojoncio (@Proscojoncio) May 19, 2016
Gay Empire.
Cardenal Cañizares: El Imperio Gay está preparando un ataque contra la familia https://t.co/fk0W8ObkRvpic.twitter.com/WwfGFh4vXv
— Cabroneti (@cabroneti) May 20, 2016
Cardinal Cañizares: The Gay Empire is planning an attack on Christian families.
Buenafuente, character of Darth Gayer. Photo from eldiario.es with license CC BY-SA 3.0
Humorist Andreu Buenafuente, on his show Late Motiv, declared himself to be “a big fan of Cañi” and dedicated his monologue to the cardinal:
Cañizares, los días que sale el arco iris, no sale de casa. Él cree que vendrá Elton John y se lo va a llevar al infierno a ver vídeos de George Michael hasta que los ojos le sangren.
Cañizares, on the days that a rainbow appears, does not leave his house. He thinks Elton John will come and drag him down to hell to watch George Michael videos until his eyes bleed.
But not everyone sees the humor in the cardinal’s homily. Paco Ramírez, director of the Spanish Observatory Against LGBT-Phobia issued a harsh “Open letter from the Gay Empire against Druid Getafix Cañizares.” In it, he describes the cardinal as “out of his mind” and cites scientific studies that “have discovered that irrational homophobia and intolerance are due to psychological problems and that these people are prone to psychotic disorders which, in extreme cases, can lead to schizophrenia.” Ramírez also accuses Cañizares of inciting homophobic violence:
Como Panorámix el druida de “Astérix y Obélix”, se empeña en seguir defendiendo con furia y rencor una concepción de la sociedad y de la Iglesia caduca y que ya no existe, el mundo ha cambiado y su Aldea Gala de la ortodoxia fundamentalista se ha convertido en un burbuja traslúcida que no le permite ver que sus homilías en vez de difundir el mensaje de amor y concordia del Evangelio son un altavoz para el odio, la confrontación y la incitación a la violencia.
Like Getafix the Druid from [the French comic strip] “Astérix and Obélix,” he is determined to continue defending with fury and bitterness a concept of society and the Church that is outdated and nonexistent. The world has changed and his orthodox fundamentalist Gaulish village has become a translucent bubble through which he cannot see that instead of spreading the Gospel’s message of love and harmony, his homilies are a loudspeaker for hatred, confrontation and inciting violence.
In a society such as Spain’s, which is increasingly secular and traditionally tolerant of minority sexual identities, few voices have defended Cañizares. On periodistadigital.com, the user ‘Mar’ showed her agreement with the archbishop:
Me adhiero completamente a sus declaraciones señor Obispo. Hay q ser valiente para expresarlas. Hoy por hoy los vicios están de moda, entre ellos la homosexualidad y el feminismo. Pero qué es esto? Tan vacío está el ser humano que necesita llamar la atención de cualquier forma? El exhibicionismo y la agresividad de estos grupos lo confirman.
I fully concur with the Bishop’s statements. You have to be brave to express them. Today, vices are fashionable, including homosexuality and feminism. But what is this? Are humans so empty that they need to attract attention by any means necessary? The exhibitionism and aggressiveness of these groups confirm that.
On Infocatolica.com, Edith asserted that she is aware of the “problem”:
Todos ya nos estamos dando cuenta de la furibunda dictadura gay.
We are all becoming aware of the furious gay dictatorship.
Cardinal Cañizares with the “cappa magna” in 2007, during an ordination of priests in Toledo. Photo from laicismo.org
But most Internet users condemned the words of Cañizares, calling his speech stale and obsolete:
Androcentritis (en eldiario.com): A ver si se enteran estos hombres célibes y castos de que la única autoridad que tienen es con respecto a sus subalternos y que no pretendan meterse en las camas ni en las braguetas de los miembros de la sociedad civil del siglo XXI (no XI ni XII).
Androcentritis (on eldiario.com): Let’s see if these celibate and chaste men are aware that the only authority they have is with respect to their subordinates and they don’t intend on meddling in the personal lives or the bedroom habits of the members of civil society in the 21st century (not the 11th or 12th).
Roberto (en infocatolica.com): El Cardenal Cañizares cumple su misión, como pastor de la Iglesia defender el modelo de familia católica; el problema que es que gran parte de la población ha dejado de ser católica (si es que alguna vez lo fue) y entonces la forma de entender la familia, la sexualidad, las relaciones, etc para mucha gente ya no está centrada en la fe y en la moral que se deriva de ella.
Es un problema que se va a dar cada vez más, lo obispos y sacerdotes en cuestiones de moral (aunque su mensaje vaya dirigido a todos), tendrán que considerar que solamente la comunidad católica va a ser la receptora de sus mensajes, y esta comunidad va a ser menos numerosa y mas envejecida.
Roberto (on infocatolica.com): Cardinal Cañizares fulfills his mission as pastor of the Church to defend the model Catholic family; the problem is that much of the population has ceased to be Catholic (if it ever was), so the way many people understand family, sexuality, relationships, etc,. is no longer centered on faith and the ethics that derive from it.
It is a problem we’re going to see more frequently, bishops and priests on moral issues (although their message is addressed to everyone) will have to consider that only the Catholic community will receive their messages, and this community will be elderly and less numerous.
As for the legal implications that the archbishop’s comments might have, Lambda, an LGBT rights advocacy group, has filed a formal complaint with the district attorney for hate crimes “for his homophobic and sexist comments that only serve to incite hatred against those who do not fit into the archaic standards upheld by the Catholic hierarchy.”
Amid the controversy, Pope Francis demanded the archbishop’s presence at the Vatican – an unexpected hearing in which, according to eldiario.es, “the cardinal’s words were the bulk of the conversation.”
(…) el Papa Francisco no quiere que los obispos españoles sigan boicoteando el cambio de mensaje que pretende hacer llegar desde la Iglesia. Y menos, en un momento en el que “España está viviendo un momento electoral y político muy complicado” en el que la Iglesia “debe ser instrumento constructivo, y no elemento desestabilizador”, apuntan fuentes eclesiásticas.
(…) Así, mientras desde el Vaticano se han abandonado las palabras gruesas contra los homosexuales, los divorciados o cualquier cuestión relativa a la moral sexual, algunos obispos (…) siguen empeñados en hacer del sexo un caballo de batalla.
[…] Pope Francis does not want Spanish bishops to continue boycotting the change of message he intends on disseminating from the Church. What is worse, ecclesiastical sources note, is that this is happening at a time in which “Spain is going through a very complicated time electorally and politically” where the Church “should be a constructive tool, and not a destabilizing element.”
[…] So, while the Vatican has dropped the use of heavy words against homosexuals, divorced people or any other issue concerning sexual morality, some bishops […] insist on being committed to making sex into a matter of contention.

author: Lourdes Sada


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Ugandan Man Arrested Over T-Shirt Featuring Opposition Leader · Global Voices
Prudence Nyamishana

A screenshot of Samson Tusiime's Facebook post.
Twitter in Uganda was buzzing on Sunday, 29 May with the hashtag #FreeSamwyiri. The Twitter campaign followed the arrest of a Ugandan man named Samson Tusiime allegedly for wearing and distributing T-shirts bearing the photo of Ugandan opposition leader Kizza Besigye.
Police allege that he was organizing “illegal” demonstrations and had plans of distributing similar T-shirts countrywide. According to Uganda's Independent newspaper, two other Ugandans, Ismail Muyinda and Asia Nanyanzi, were also arrested.
Tusiime had posted a message on Facebook on 28 May wearing the T-shirt in question, saying he was looking for his friend Ysmyl Muyinda (presumed to be the same Ismail Muyinda reported as arrested above), whose company produced and printed them. He wrote that he had gone to different police stations looking for his friend. When friends noticed that Tusiime himself had gone missing, they started a hashtag #FreeSamwyiri. Police later confirmed that he was arrested.
The case has agitated many Ugandans, who are in shock that a T-shirt could be enough to arrest someone. Joel Nevender, a Ugandan blogger, asked the police:
You're arresting @Samwyri for exercising his freedom of expression? Because of t-shirts? T-shirts? #FreeSamwyri
— Joel B Ntwatwa (@nevender) May 29, 2016
While Ogutu Daudi tweeted:
Can we come out and stop calling this a democracy because it isn't. Bloody tshirts. Put us in yellow jumpsuits why don't you. #freesamwyri
— iamogutudaudi (@iamogutudaudi) May 29, 2016
In recent months, Ugandan authorities have been especially intolerant of criticism. President Yoweri Museveni won a controversial fifth term in office in February 2016 in an election that the country's political opposition claims was rigged. Opposition members and other activists have been challenging Museveni's victory with a series of protests they've dubbed the “defiance campaign.”
Since the February election, authorities have arrested Kizza Besigye and other opposition figures multiple times as well as blocked social media twice in the interest of “national security”.
After Tusiime's arrest, Josephine Karungi wondered:
Some things are terribly hard to spin…ati now we arrested him because why…you can't really say it was the tee shirt can you?
— Josephine Karungi (@jkkarungi) May 30, 2016
Patoraking, a university student, thought that this act was worse than the days of Idi Amin, the Ugandan dictator who ruled Uganda from 1971 until 1979:
Our parents can nolonger even tell us “During Amin's time, …..” because this time we r in is even worse than Amin's time #FreeSamwyri
— Patoranking (@pyepar) May 29, 2016
Chapter Four Uganda, a legal aid organisation, responded to the outcry by sending their legal team to the police station:
Our officer is at SIU Kireka to obtain a statement from @Samwyri for appropriate legal action #FreeSamwyri
— Chapter Four Uganda (@chapter4uganda) May 30, 2016
SIU Kireka stands for Special Investigation Unit at Kireka in the capital Kampala.
It is not yet known which exact charges will be laid against him. However, Qatahar Raymond, a Ugandan journalist who has been following Tusiime's case since he was arrested, speculated that he might be charged for inciting violence.
We learn that @Samwyri and his friend will likely be charged with ‘inciting violence’ if they are charged, that is.
— Qatahar Raymond (@qataharraymond) May 30, 2016

author: Prudence Nyamishana


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Why Some Chinese Fail to See Racism in Qiaobi’s Viral Detergent Commercial · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Screen captures of the Qiaobi detergent ad. Via Hong Kong Free Press.
A viral detergent commercial showing a black man being stuffed into a washing machine by his Chinese girlfriend and “washed” into a handsome, light-skinned Chinese man sparked outrage outside China this week for its overt racism.
The detergent company, Qiaobi, quickly apologized and withdrew the commercial, but its public statement accused foreign critics of overreacting. Many Chinese web users supported their defensive stance, saying the ad only reflects cultural differences rather than racism and proclaiming that it is impossible for Chinese to be racist toward black people.
在国外，可能是会被认为种族歧视，但是在中国，可能就不是这样，只是一则广告而已！这是每个国家的文化不同，所以会有不同的看法！
Outside China, people may find this ad racist. But in China, it is different. It is just an ad. Each country has its own culture, and viewpoints are also difference.
可以再拍一个浑身毛茸茸的白人塞进洗衣机洗一洗。告诉美国人，我们不仅歧视黑人，也歧视白人，你满意了吧。
The company can produce another ad and stuff a hairy white guy into washing machine. Tell the Americans that we discriminate against blacks and whites. Are you satisfied?
没觉得有什么问题，请不要把种族歧视政治正确强行引进中国
There is no problem with the ad. Please don't import the political correctness about racism to China.
黄种人没有搞过黑人奴隶制，没搞过强迫黑人奴隶劳动，没搞过大规模贩卖黑奴，也没有三K党，更没有种族隔离制度。所以，冤有头债有主，白人歧视黑人才是种族主义，黄人歧视黑人不过是文化差异。 白人才是天然种族主义者。
Yellow-skinned people have never enslaved black-skinned people, have never forced them into labor or sold them on the open market. [We] don't have the Ku Klux Klan or racial segregation. Go after your real enemy. Only when white people discriminate against black people is it racism. The discrimination against black-skinned people by yellow-skinned people is just cultural difference. Whites are born racist.
To prevent the avalanche of negative press from spinning into a diplomatic crisis, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hua Chunying stressed that spot was an isolated incident and that the Chinese are “good brothers with African countries”.
Though the commercial is indeed an isolated production, the denial of racism against black people existing in China and the claim that the Chinese are nothing but “good brothers” to black people are inaccurate, two anthropology students argued on investigative journalism platform The Initium.
But, they said, such racism has become so normalized that many Chinese fail to even see it.
The Chinese Communist Party, after taking control of China in 1949, did attempt to unite with their “oppressed African brothers” against Western imperialism. And Chinese officials have used the “brothers” rhetoric to describe the current “One Belt One Road” plan to extend the reach of Chinese trade to Eurasia and parts of East Africa.
Nevertheless, China has seen a rise in racism against black people since the country began to open up economically and moderate its nationalism somewhat, the two students wrote. Throughout the 1980s, there were numerous racist incidents targeting African students at Chinese universities, they explained:
80年代的中國在今天令許多人心生嚮往，然而那個時代也有它被遺忘的黑暗一面。其中一例，便是驅趕非洲學生的校園運動。對「劣等民族」的偏見，加上對非洲人獲得留學生優惠的不滿，對愛滋病傳播的恐懼，和保護本民族「純正性」的呼籲一起，激起了綿延80年代的中非學生衝突。
1979年7月3日，上海的一名馬里學生被中國學生毆打，並因為膚色較淺而被後者一邊喊着「太淺了」，一邊不斷潑墨水。雙方在宿舍門口爆發鬥毆，導致50名外國學生和24名中國學生受傷。在此之後，一百多名非洲學生聚集到天安門廣場遊行，呼籲停止送非洲留學生到中國，因為中國「反非洲傾向非常嚴重」。而中國政府僅承諾加強上海學生的「國際主義」教育，否認事件與種族歧視相關。
1979年後，中非學生之間的衝突不但沒有停止，反而繼續擴大。1979到1989年的10年間，南京、合肥和杭州等地，陸續有反黑人事件發生，每次均有數百人涉及。如1988年12月29日，華中科技大學的300名中國學生向留學生宿舍扔石頭，並砸傷了一名斯里蘭卡學生。中國學生給校方寫信，要求驅逐非洲學生。因為「非洲學生和中國女生的交往破壞了中國社會的穩定」。類似這些事件，往往以女性和非洲黑人交往為導火索。與非洲學生交往的中國女生，也被污名化成了「漢奸」和「妓女」。
Many people see the positive developments of the 1980s but forget about its dark side. One example is the campus campaign against African students. The conflicts between the Chinese and African students in the 1980s were driven by prejudice against the “inferior race”, discontentment about the subsidies received by African students, fear over the spread of HIV and the call to protect the purity of the Chinese race.
On 3 July 1979, a student from Mali was beaten by a group of Chinese students. The Chinese students said the student's skin color was too light and poured ink on him. The scuffle outside the student hostel developed into a gang fight, with 50 foreign students and 24 Chinese students injured. Later, more than a hundred African students demonstrated in Tiananmen square, urging governments to stop sending African students to China because China had very serious anti-African sentiments. Chinese officials promised to improve the Shanghai students’ education on “internationalism” and denied the incident was racist.
The conflicts between Chinese and African students did not stop after 1979. Between 1979 and 1989, in cities like Nanjing, Hefei and Hanzhou, similar incidents took place. Every time hundreds of people were involved. For example, on 29 December 1988, 300 Chinese students from Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan threw stones at foreign students, injuring a student from Sri Lanka. The Chinese students wrote letters and demanded the university expel African students because “dating between African students and Chinese girls had disrupted the stability of Chinese society”. The trigger for such incidents usually involved romantic relationships between Chinese women and African men, with the Chinese female students being labelled as “traitors of the Han Chinese” and “whores”.
Chinese authorities tightened their grip on university campuses after the Tiananmen pro-democracy student movement of 1989, and as a consequence racist campaigns came to an end. But clamping down on these very public displays of racism didn't eradicate racism, the authors argued:
然而枱面上種族歧視的消失，讓公開的反思變得更不可見。中國的種族觀念，不但沒有得到指出和討論，反而變本加厲地發展成了對「劣等民族」的鄙夷。
The disappearance of attention-grabbing racial discrimination marked an absence of public discussion, debate and reflection on Chinese racial prejudice. Such racial prejudice has now become normalized as discrimination against the “inferior race”.
They further pointed out that the internet has played a major role in this normalization of discrimination:
中國網民們，則激進地傳播反黑文章，把子虛烏有的黑人移民視為中國21世紀最大的危險——甚至上升到「亡國滅種」。在「小粉紅」發源的「晉江論壇網友交流區」裏，年輕女性為主的網民經常討論廣州「黑人圍城」的主題，熱度也不下政治討論。
中國民族主義也和種族階序的想象結合在一起。著名的民族主義動漫《那年那兔那些事》，就在第二季中用動物形象描述了非洲人——好吃懶做愚蠢不堪的河馬。中國援非的歷史也被簡化成了「第一世界不和我們玩」的無奈。而性和帶着生殖意味的種族想像，也仍然是排斥黑人的核心焦點。在百度貼吧，微信朋友圈裏傳播的反黑言論，乃至今天這則廣告中，黑人都像是目的不純，只想睡中國女人的渣滓；與黑人交往的中國女性被污名化為「重口味」或者「窮，沒受過教育」。
Chinese netizens have radically spread anti-black opinions online. They say the migration of black people to China is the most dangerous issue in the 21 century and call it “a matter of life and death for the nation and for the race”. On the online forum Jinjian, a virtual community for Chinese Communist Party supporters, the city of Guangzhou [where there is a sizable African population] having been “seized” by black people is a major hot topic among young female netizens.
Chinese nationalism is constructed according to racial order. The nationalistic cartoon Year Hare Affair depicts the African as a hippo — a lazy and stupid animal — in its season two series. China's aid for Africa has also been simplified as a last resort because “the first world refused to play with us”. Sex and reproduction is at the core of anti-black sentiment. On online forum Baidu, in WeChat circles and in the ad we're discussing today, black people are portrayed as scumbags who only want to have sex with Chinese women. Women who date black people are usually labelled as having “strong tastes” or being “poor and uneducated”.
Popular Chinese culture since the 1980s has also reinforced Chinese people's “yellowness” in contrast with scientific achievement and modernization. In the Chinese documentary “River Elegy”, for example, the Yellow River is used to represent China's stagnant, closed-door civilization, while the blue ocean represents the “democratic and open” Western society, the authors wrote.
All this has contributed to today's racism against black people in China, they said:
而到了「走向中華民族偉大復興」的今天，之前還是階級兄弟的亞非拉同胞已經被拋諸腦後，黃種人略差於白種人的自我歧視也被放棄，中國人開始要求和白人平起平坐。這一切如兩個世紀以前的白人們一樣，依然要騎在黑人的頭上來完成。
Today, as the country is approaching “the great revival of the Chinese nation”, the history of African brothers has passed and the inferiority complex about yellow skin vis a vis white skin has been abandoned. The Chinese want to be equal with white people, but like white people, they have to achieve their status by standing on top of black people.


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Azerbaijan: Khadija Free, But Other Political Prisoners Await Their Turn · Global Voices
Arzu Geybullayeva

Photo by Aziz Karimov for EurasiaNet.org, creative commons.
At the end of March, in a letter published in the Washington Post and written from her prison cell in Azerbaijan, recently freed investigative reporter Khadija Ismayilova noted the significance of President Ilham Aliyev’s impending visit to Washington DC for the Nuclear and Security Summit:
To get an invitation to this event from President Obama, he had to pardon several political prisoners. Although they have been released from jail, they remain confined within the country, barred from leaving, and justice has not been restored. This is a very costly invitation for Aliyev, who for years refused to accept international pressure or criticism on this issue.
Indeed, just three years ago, while standing next to European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, President Aliyev said: “First of all, I'd like to say that none of my political opponents are in prison. This is absolutely wrong information. At the same time, I'd like to tell you that there are no political prisoners in Azerbaijan.”
At that time, Aliyev had been buoyed by a resolution adopted during the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) session in January 2013, which had rejected a report about political prisoners of Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan was also doing well economically, with its key crude oil export at around $100 per barrell.
“I think that this chapter is closed,” Aliyev told an RFE/RL reporter questioning him on the prisoners at the meeting with confidence.
Since then, Azerbaijan worked hard to stamp any reference to political prisoners out of his nation's vocabulary.
The fact the country did not have any political prisoners has since become an official mantra, repeated continuously at every single international event where Azerbaijan receives criticism for its poor record on fundamental rights.
At home, activists, journalists and political figures who did end up behind bars would never be sentenced based on their activism or opposition to the government.
Instead, they were labeled as prisoners of all kinds but the political kind, charged with crimes ranging from hooliganism and illegal drug possession through tax evasion and abuse of power.
But while authorities kept stubbornly and stupidly repeating the claim, by 2015, the list of political prisoners noted by rights groups was at around a hundred.
Would authorities in Baku have adopted a different tactic if PACE had adopted a resolution on political prisoners in the country?
That is an unknown, but it certainly seems unlikely that Ismayilova would have been freed from jail May 26 without concerted international pressure from Washington and the West.
So perhaps, if international pressure had been stronger back when Azerbaijan was intensifying its crackdown in 2013, rights defenders like Intigam Aliyev and Rasul Jafarov and members of the N!DA youth movement might not be behind bars now.
In the March letter Ismayilova further explained why the release of these political prisoners was so important.
“Aliyev is shamelessly trying to use political prisoners as bargaining chips to advance his foreign policy agenda,” wrote Ismayilova.
Or, as Aliyev might put it:
Our political system is a model of the European political system.
— Ilham Aliyev (@presidentaz) November 22, 2014
While Khadija Ismayilova has been released, police detained a photo journalist and youth activist on the same day she left jail.
Two weeks before her release two more activists were detained and reportedly tortured in detention.
Another political activist was detained June 1 upon his return to Azerbaijan from Ukraine, amid plans to attend his mother’s funeral.
With 70 political prisoners still behind bars, Azerbaijan is almost operating a ‘one in, one out’ policy, relaxing repression ever so slightly as it looks for loans from Western financial institutions during a period of vulnerability for its hydrocarbon-dependent economy.
Those fighting for freedoms inside and outside of Azerbaijan will continue calling for the release of remaining political prisoners including journalists and bloggers Seymur Hezi, Nijat Aliyev, Abdul Abilov, Rashad Ramazanov, Faraj Karimli and Araz Guliyev as well as political activists Fuad Gahramanli and Ilgar Mammadov. The list also includes religious activists.
Whether any of these people will be joining their families anytime soon is anybody's guess.
Most probably their fate will depend on which prominent leaders are prepared to join Aliyev at the political prisoners poker table for another round of bluffing and raising.


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Cambodia’s ‘Black Monday’ Campaign Seeks Freedom for Detained Human Rights Activists · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Detained human rights defenders in Cambodia. Image from @LICADHOCanada
Every Monday since May 9 of this year, activists in Cambodia have been urging the public to wear a black t-shirt in support of a campaign advocating the release of jailed human rights activists.
The “Black Monday” campaign was initiated after police arrested four officers from the human rights group ADHOC and an election official on charges of bribing a woman to remain silent regarding a sex scandal involving Kem Sokha, the country’s second-most prominent opposition leader. ADHOC insists the group was merely extending legal aid to the woman as part of its advocacy work.
The detention of the activists and the criminal charges against members of the political opposition inspired various groups to come together to form the “Black Monday” campaign, which the government has labeled an “urban insurrection.” Officials have also threatened to arrest more activists, if protests are held without the required permits. Police have even told activists that they must first obtain the state's permission before posting contrary views on Facebook.
The “Free Human Rights Defenders” campaign can be monitored online using the hashtag “#FreeHRDKH.”
Black Monday for free Human Right Defender in Cambodia.#BlackMonday #FreeHRDKH #Justice16 #Cambodia pic.twitter.com/UYxgpYhAY7
— Sochet Chhay (@Sochet_Chhay) May 30, 2016
Wearing black is NOT against #Cambodia‘s govt but to insist on the govt releasing humanrights defenders #BlackMonday pic.twitter.com/5MytGZWSqT
— OU RITTHY (@ritthyou) May 23, 2016
#BlackMonday #freeHRDKH #Cambodia pic.twitter.com/1d0RaIkpeT
— FreeHRD-KH (@freehrdkh) May 23, 2016
As many as 83 civil society groups have also signed a statement condemning the actions of the Cambodian government:
The government’s fear of people wearing colors is ludicrous. Authorities targeted us just for wearing a black T-shirt, which is a peaceful expression of dissent.
Cambodia’s ruling party has been in power for more than three decades already. It was accused of manipulating election results in 2013, which prompted the opposition to boycott the parliament. The boycott ended in August 2014, leading many to expect a new “culture of dialogue” between the country’s major political parties. But last year, opposition leaders complained of political harassment when criminal cases were filed against them. Sam Rainsy, one of the country's opposition leaders, was forced to go into exile (again) to avoid detention after the government revived an old defamation case against him.
This week, the ruling party voted to press charges against Kem Sokha, even though he enjoys parliamentary immunity.
On May 31, the spokesman of the United Nations Secretary General expressed concern about the political situation in Cambodia:
The Secretary‑General is concerned about the escalating tensions between the ruling and the opposition parties in Cambodia, particularly the arrests or attempted arrests of parliamentarians, who enjoy parliamentary immunity. A non‑threatening environment of democratic dialogue is essential for political stability and a peaceful and prosperous society.
Last month, UN human rights experts issued a strongly-worded statement about the systematic campaign of Cambodia’s ruling party to harass the opposition and members of the civil society:
The investigators’ relentless quest for a confession by the young woman, their subsequent outright reliance on it to initiate the other ‘bribery’ cases against defenders, as well as public statements by senior State officials portraying the accused as guilty, generally suggest that this entire episode is nothing more than a politically-motivated persecution of civil society.
EU embassies in #Cambodia call for halt to ‘judicial harassment’ of opposition leader and civil society #FreeHRDKh pic.twitter.com/FNVmffx5Du
— Ye Shiwei (@swye105) May 31, 2016
The “Black Monday” campaign is also attracting support from activists in other countries:
Free all HRD defenders in Cambodia. #FreeHRDkh @freehrdkh #blackmonday pic.twitter.com/UlnIpM4DyY
— Damar Juniarto (@DamarJuniarto) May 23, 2016
In solidarity with the people in #Cambodia. It is #BlackMonday. #freeHRDKH pic.twitter.com/TZb9FI8rfp
— Kathryn Raymundo (@katray) May 23, 2016


text:
How Madagascar’s The Dizzy Brains Is Rocking Its Way Into European Hearts · Global Voices
Rakotomalala

The Dizzy Brains appeared on the French famous television show “Le Petit Journal,” which aired on CANAL+ 14/04/2016 in primetime. (Screen shot from the TV show)
A young rock group from Madagascar The Dizzy Brains is capturing the imagination and attention of the music scene in Europe. The band's unique style is a blend of punk and garage rock and their provocative lyrics tell stories about politics, power and protest in Madagascar.
Since their songs challenge authority, the band was shunned from most concert venues and radio stations in Madagascar, but the band developed quite a following underground on social media and outside the country. They are currently touring Europe, with more than two dozens shows planned this summer.
The Dizzy Brains grabbed audiences in France after their appearance on the popular French television show “Le Petit Journal” on April 14, 2016. During the show, one member of the band sparked a buzz on Malagasy social networks and blogs because he openly challenged Madagascar's new prime minister, urging him on to do more for the country: “just do your job, man!”  This bold and spontaneous plea was the talk of the town in Madagascar for a while and fitted quite well with the group's musical identity based on protest and civic engagement.
“What sense does it make to work a terrible job when you won't be worth 3000 Ariary (0.08 euros) to them ?” Screen shot of their performance on the TV show – “Le Petit Journal” aired on 14/04/2016 -
To get familiar with this unique group, here are three milestones about The Dizzy Brains that have stood out in their short yet already impressive careers.
Brothers Eddy and Mahefa Andrianarisoa sing and play bass, while Poun plays the guitar and Mirana plays the drums. The group was founded in 2011 by the  Andrianarisoa brothers. Their ear for rock music came from their father, an avid listener of 70s English punk rock such as the Kinks (a band also started by two brothers).
The Dizzy Brains’ first album, “Môla Kely,” was released in December 2013 and addresses the brothers’ lives growing up in endemic poverty and rampant corruption.  One of their most famous songs, “Vangy,” provocatively expresses their anger at living conditions they know too well:
A quoi bon se fatiguer pour un boulot pénible, tu ne vaux pas plus que 3000 Ariary, ce n’est même pas le prix d’une prostituée.
What sense does it make to have a terrible job when you won't earn more than 3000 Ariary; it's not even the price of one prostitute?”
Eddy explains why rock seemed to be the logical way to tell the world about censorship in Madagascar:
Faire du rock à Madagascar, ce n’est pas une carrière, ça ressemblerait même plutôt à un combat permanent. D’abord, dans la rue, tu te fais constamment racketter par les flics pour aller d’un point A à un point B. Ensuite, si tu veux jouer, tu n’as pas le choix. Il faut passer par l’underground et tenir bon. Tu dois te produire dans les petits bars de nuit, les cabarets assez glauques.
Making rock music in Madagascar is not a career, at this time, it's was more of an endless battle. Before, you would be stopped in the streets by the police for going from point A to point B.  If you wanted to play music, you didn't have the choice.  You had to go underground and wait.  You had to play in small bars and shabby nightclubs.
Demanding and provocative lyrics didn't make the group many friends.  Eddy explains the difficulties they experienced in their home country:
On ne passe jamais à la radio ni dans les salles de concerts, parce que les gérants auraient trop peur d’avoir des problèmes après notre passage. On arrive quand même à se produire dans les bars. On se fait surtout connaître via les réseaux sociaux.
We were never played on the radio, never played shows, because the managers were too afraid of what would happen to them if we did.  We played a lot in bars, and we were known mostly on social media.
Mahefa adds:
Si tu tombes sur un programmateur de soirées cool, on te file l’équivalent de 100 euros pour tout le groupe. Mais le plus souvent, tu tombes sur un patron bourré. Lui va te laisser jouer dans un premier temps. À un moment il va quand même venir te dégager de la scène à coups de pied au cul si ce qu’il entend de ta musique ne lui plaît pas. On a connu ce genre de situations un peu borderline tout le temps. On est restés parmi les mendiants, d’accord, mais ça ne nous a pas empêchés de persévérer. Alors maintenant, quoi qu’il nous arrive, on a la peau dure.
If you happen upon a cool night club manager, you total 100 euros for the whole group.  But more often, you find the managers drunk.  He'll let you play the first time, and in a minute he'll kick your ass because he doesn't like your music.  We were always running into these borderline situations. We waited around with beggars, but that didn't stop us from persevering.  Now, whatever hits us, we have thick skin.”
The Dizzy Brains’ style has always intrigued Jean-Louis Brossard, the director of the Trans-Musicales festival in Rennes:
Ces gamins, donc, ils font du rock. Ils vont me mettre le feu, j’en suis persuadé. Parce que le rock, enfin ce qu’il véhicule de révolte contre quelque chose, ça a sans doute un peu perdu de son sens dans nos pays occidentaux. Alors que chez eux, à Madagascar, ce qu’ils chantent à un sens. Ça vient vraiment de la rue
These kids absolutely rock.  They are going to make the fire, I'm sure of it.  Because rock, in the end, is the vehicle of rebellion, and that's without a doubt a little lost in the West.  While in Madagascar, what they're singing has meaning.  This is coming from the streets!
The group captivated their audience in Brittany as they took the stage with the Breton flag:
The Dizzy Brains also shook the crowd at “Printemps de Bourges” a few months later, and hit a peak during their appearance on “Le Petit Journal.”  With the recklessness of a group who has nothing to lose, the group sang with verve and floored Yann Barthès with their French speaking abilities.
The group continues to tour Europe and the young musicians continue to educate the world on their home country of Madagascar.

author: Rakotomalala


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Is Social Media Helping to Perpetuate Violence in Afghanistan? · Global Voices
Rustam Ali Seerat

Facebook. The Taliban's best friend? Widely shared.
On May 31, twelve bus passengers were found dead on the side of the road in the outskirts of Kunduz province, after being abducted the day before by the Taliban insurgent group. Bloody images flooded social media the same day.
The Taliban subsequently made a statement via their Facebook page announcing that the murdered people were government soldiers. The posting and page have since been removed from Facebook.
خبر مهم:
صبح امروز در منطقه انگورباغ شهر کندز ۲۶تن عساکر فعال اداره کابل که با استفاده ازموترهای ملکي سفر میکردند، شناس…
Today, in the Angur Bagh area 26 active soldiers of the Kabul administration that were travelling with civilian vehicles were singled out and arrested. Six of them were killed while trying to escape and the rest of them were taken to safe places for questioning.
Posted by Al Emarah TV on Tuesday, May 31, 2016
Undoubtedly social media in Afghanistan is a reflection of Afghan society itself, a society riven by internal conflicts that have been exacerbated by two major superpower invasions in the last four decades.
But social media's powers of amplification ensure that even those who are not looking for gruesome images of violence — whether captured by the country's independent media or a growing force of smartphone-wielding citizen journalists — are powerless to filter them.
Regularly checking into social networks in Afghanistan means a near everyday diet of bloodshed and hostility, a round-the-clock intake of bombings, executions and massacres.
But what effect is this having?
Images of violence are shared by both opponents and supporters of the Taliban and other insurgent groups.
The first group shares the pictures in order to draw attention to the horrors committed by insurgents, while the second group does so to propagate the militants’ successes against a weak central government and the Afghan National Army (ANA).
Seemingly, both of these groups are a free source of public relations for the insurgency.
The Taliban in particular exploits social media effectively.
The group regularly posts pictures and statuses that demonstrate military gains made against the ANA, while their civilian supporters use platforms like Facebook to broaden the organisation's appeal and highlight the shortcomings of authorities in Kabul.
Some social media users caution others not to share pictures depicting the group's exploits precisely for this reason. And while Facebook does not allow participation by organizations engaged in “terrorist” activity, or content” that expresses support for groups that are involved in the violent or criminal behavior,” the company struggles to keep such content off of its platforms.
After all, they argue, insurgents benefit from being able to show the population its presence in strategic areas of the country such as Kunduz province in the north.
یکی از اهداف طالبان از سلاخی مسافران ، ایجاد جنگ روانی و پراکندن وحشت در بین مردم است.
کسانی که صحنه های دلخراش مسافران را نشر می کنند نه تنها به خانواده این قربانیان جفا می کنند بلکه ناخواسته در جهت تبلیغ طالبان قدم بر می دارند.
The Taliban, by killing passengers [on public transport] are launching psychological warfare that terrorises the people. Those who share the bloody pictures of victims not only irritate [victims’] families but also unintentionally assist the Taliban in their propaganda. Posted by Hassan Faryaar on Tuesday, May 31, 2016
But beyond photos displaying the disturbing handiwork of the Taliban or other groups, there are other forms of violence taking place in the Afghan social media space.
A parliamentarian from the northern Balkh province, Mohammad Natiqi, recently wrote on his Facebook that his children had grown depressed reading the comments under his Facebook posts due to the number of insults made against their mother, including the fairly regularly repeated insult translating as “fuck your wife”.
نشست فرزندانم
من چهار پسر و دو دختر دارم همه شان غیر سیاسی اند البته یکی علوم سیاسی خوانده اما نمی دانم چه قدر علاقه به…
My sons and daughter checked my Facebook, they went mad after reading all these comments containing abusive words towards their mother. Posted by Mohammad Nateqi on Saturday, November 14, 2015
This torrent of abuse is common to Afghan social media culture.
According to monitoring conducted by Salam Watandar, a local radio station, President Ashraf Ghani is on the receiving end of an average 1,500 abusive words per week on his Facebook page alone.
Women users of social media in particular are singled out for abuse and harassment by male users, which has encouraged many not use their real names or pictures in their profiles.
The Ministry of Telecommunications of Afghanistan acknowledges this when stating that although 28 % out of roughly one million Afghan Facebook users are identifiable as women, the real percentage may be higher due to the number using nicknames and pseudonyms.
Aryana Sayeed, a female Afghan singer last February revealed messages she had received from wealthy suitors who had asked her to sleep with them for money:
I am not sure if I should blame these rich businessmen who think they can buy anything and anyone with money or blame those who have sold themselves and let such people play with them in any manner they desire. I hope soon enough the day will come when Artists would earn their living from their art, real talent and hard work and not hurt the name an image of an “Artist” rather than in ways that enable these individuals to actually dare propose something like this to an Artist.
Ps. I decided not to reveal the name and other personal information of this individual as it would have ruined the name of his family. I hope he has learnt his lesson.
Posted by Aryana Sayeed Music on Saturday, February 6, 2016
Clearly, social media use is growing rapidly in Afghanistan, as is the negative online behaviour that endorses militarisation and sexual violence.
While the government does its best to stem the Taliban insurgency in real time, an insidious torrent of online violence ripping through the fabric of social relationships in the country is being ignored completely.

author: Rustam Ali Seerat


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Islamic Council’s Endorsement of ‘Light’ Domestic Violence Doesn’t Go Over Well With Pakistani Women · Global Voices
Sana Saleem

#TryBeatingMeLightly: A photo series featuring Pakistani women. Photos by Fahhad Rajper
Over the past decade, Pakistan's parliament has passed multiple laws addressing violence against women. From sexual harassment in the workplace to “honour killing,” these laws were drafted by veteran women rights activists and lawyers and pushed through the two houses of parliament (the National Assembly and Senate), despite staunch opposition from religious political parties.
Earlier this year, the Punjab Assembly passed the long-awaited “Protection of Women Against Violence Bill,” dealing with the hurdles women face when reporting rape and other kinds of abuse. In response, the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII)—a twenty-member constitutional body, created in 1962, that provides non-binding advice to the government on religious aspects of the law and society—has drafted its own “model women's protection bill.” The CII's proposal, among other things, “allows” a husband to beat his wife “lightly.” This aspect of the legislation, in particular, has gone over poorly with many people—so many that activists around the country are now calling for the abolition of the CII.
This is not the first time the CII has come out with such statements. In the past, the council called for lowering the age of consent for marriage and declared DNA evidence in rape investigations to be un-Islamic. The CII's non-binding advice didn't influence any actual policy change in this instance, but it received considerable criticism.
With the “model women's protection bill,” however, many believe the CII crossed the line.
Other features of the “model bill” concern property ownership, marriage, politics, motherhood, and even violence against women. While the draft law “allows” husbands to beat their wives lightly, the legislation would also criminalize acid attacks and honour-killing. (It's worth noting that laws criminalizing these forms of violence and various other kinds already exist in Pakistan. In fact, human rights groups have had to fight for these protections.)
The draft law also suggests that women should have the free will to marry, and it entertains the “possibility” of women becoming judges, but would forbid women from receiving foreign guests, ban formula milk for babies, and mandate that mothers breastfeed for children's first two years.
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has strongly criticized the CII's proposal, stating, “As much as the HRCP wanted not to dignify with any comment the ridiculous CII recommendations regarding ‘light beating’ of women, the commission thinks it is imperative that every right-respecting person must condemn such counsel unreservedly. The irony of calling the measures women protection should not be lost on anyone.” The HRCP isn't the only group that's condemned the draft legislation. Pakistanis throughout the country have reacted with shock, anger, and even humour, writing online with the hashtag “#TryBeatingMeLightly.”
Renowned model and actress Humaima Malick chimed in:
#TryBeatingMeLightly and watch yourself reduce to just a little man.
— Humaima Malick (@HumaimaMalick) May 30, 2016
#TryBeatingMeLightly and I will break each one of your fingers LIGHTLY :)
— Asma Haji (@asmU11) June 1, 2016
Wese I don't fully agree with #TryBeatingMeLightly answer to violence cannot be violence, its not abt equality its abt a destructive culture
— Aisha (@HariMirchein) June 1, 2016
#TryBeatingMeLightly pic.twitter.com/4iUFvlTQLv
— Bushra (@filmyjoyo) June 1, 2016
#TryBeatingMeLightly and stop calling yourself a man if you hit your wife. Join a circus instead, idiots!
— Salman Siddiqui (@salmanioo) June 1, 2016
It didn't stop there. Social media was abuzz with demands to abolish the council.
Lawyer and columnist Ayesha Ijaz Khan expressed the end of her tolerance for the CII:
It is high time we get rid of the CII. If #Pakistan is to progress there must be no tolerance for the #CII. https://t.co/mjoduuusha
— Ayesha Ijaz Khan (@ayeshaijazkhan) May 28, 2016
Veteran activist Valerie Khan had strong words for CII head cleric Mulana Sherani:
CII is the SHAME of Pakistan and Sherani sahib should be tried under anti-terrorist court for promting violence against Pak citizens.
— Valerie Khan (@valekhan) May 26, 2016
Humaira Khan questioned the council's priorities:
Everyday news of violence against women of Pakistan but CII's priority to ensure women aren't protected by law! #WPB #Abbotabad #Karachi
— Humeira Kazmi (@humeirakazmi) April 29, 2016
Meanwhile, writer Sehar Tariq, who works in the development sector, thinks the CII deserves the silent treatment:
Why does pak and intl media give so much attention to a group or geriatric old men telling women what to do? #CII #Pakistan
— Sehar Tariq (@sehartariq) May 26, 2016
Photographer, Fahhad Rajper's unveiled a photo series featuring Pakistani women of different ages and backgrounds speaking out against the controversial legislation. The series is aptly titled “#trybeatingmelightly.”
Needless to say, Pakistani women and men aren't taking the suggestions by the CII lightly.

author: Sana Saleem


text:
No Apologies, But Most Japanese View Obama’s Historic Visit to Hiroshima Positively · Global Voices
Nevin Thompson

Iconic image of Obama comforting Mori Shigeaki, a hibakusha A-bomb survivor at Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park on Friday, May 27. Screencap from ANN.
Following President Barack Obama's historic visit to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in Japan on May 27, a nationwide poll conducted by Kyodo News showed that 98% of Japanese respondents viewed the American president's visit to Hiroshima positively. In the poll, 74.5% of respondents accepted the fact there was no apology for the 1945 atomic bombings.
This was the first time a US president had visited Hiroshima since the city was destroyed by an American atomic bomb on August 6, 1945.
While there was some debate that Obama's visit to Hiroshima was intended to be an apology for the destruction inflicted on Hiroshima, the president's trip was intended to recognize what had happened more than seventy years before, and also make a plea for nuclear non-proliferation.
About 30% of the population of Hiroshima was killed by the blast the subsequent firestorm that raged through the city. At least 140,000 people would die as a result of the bombing by the end of 1945.
The sheer scope and violence of the destruction that occurred at Hiroshima, and then again three days later at Nagasaki on August 9 has ignited a debate about whether or not the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki should be considered war crimes, acts of state terror or a pragmatic way to end the Pacific War and spare human life.
Obama's historic visit to Hiroshima occurred after a G7 meeting in Japan, and followed US Secretary of State John Kerry's visit to the city on April 11, as well US Ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy's equally unprecedented visit in 2015.
President Obama's visit to Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park included a wreath-laying ceremony, a short speech and an exchange with hibakusha, the survivors of the atomic bombing.
Cables leaked by Wikileaks in 2011 show that there has long been strong opposition by American officials to a visit by President Obama to Hiroshima. According to the Asahi Shimbun and other news outlets, US officials were extremely anxious that any exchanges between Obama and survivors of the atomic bombing not leave the impression that an apology of any kind was involved.
Instead, the meeting produced the iconic image of American President Obama hugging Mori Shigeaki, a survivor of the American bombing who went on to research and track down the fate of American prisoners of war who were in Hiroshima at the time of the Aug. 6, 1945, bombing and died as a result.
謝罪の言葉はなくとも
この行動に全てがつまってると感じた#Hiroshima pic.twitter.com/w8c6ZKX5dk
— 泰志 (@IamT81N) May 27, 2016
While there were no words of apology, this one act expresses the feelings everyone has (on this day).
Many Japanese newspapers reprinted the full text of Obama's speech in Hiroshima, which in part calls for the abolition of nuclear weapons:
But among the nations, like my own, that hold nuclear stockpiles, we must have the courage to escape the logic of fear and pursue a world without them. We may not realize this goal in my lifetime, but persistent effort can roll back the possibility of catastrophe.
Cabinet's support rating jumps to 55.3% but Obama speech wows 98%: survey | The Japan Times https://t.co/N5Pw1fiSFM
— Ayako Mie (@jt_ayakomie) May 30, 2016
Not everyone was satisfied with President Obama's visit. For example, atomic bomb victims in Nagasaki, which was also attacked in August 1945, said they wished the president would have visited their city too.
まもなくオバマ大統領が広島訪問しますが、もう一つの被爆地、長崎市の平和公園にも朝から多くの人が訪れています。平和公園では核廃絶の集会が開かれ、原爆犠牲者の冥福を祈り黙とう。被爆者の男性は「長崎にも来てほしい」と訴えました（博） pic.twitter.com/QwhOxetvmA
— 日経新聞写真部 (@nikkeiphoto) May 27, 2016
Although President Obama will shortly begin his visit to Hiroshima, people have been gathering since morning in a Peace Park in Nagasaki, the other city that was bombed in 1945. Those gathered in Nagasaki are calling for an end to nuclear weapons, and are praying to the victims of the atom bomb. One hibakusha says he wishes Obama would also have come to Nagasaki.
As well, surviving Korean hibakusha pressed for a formal apology from the United States, along with a visit to the A-Bomb cenotaph in South Korea.  Korea was a Japanese colony at the time of the bombing, and at least 70,000 to 100,000 Koreans were in Hiroshima and Nagasaki when the bombs fell.
Re: 朝日新聞:#Obama visit progress but not enough, #Korean #hibakusha say #Hiroshimahttps://t.co/7EXtBaB99w pic.twitter.com/Ani8KdgnXV
— 河内丸（裁判員制度を即時廃止せよ） (@Kawachi_Maru) May 28, 2016
Some Japanese Twitter users wondered why President Obama only spent ten minutes visiting the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum following the ceremony at the Peace Park:
オバマ大統領、原爆資料館には10分くらいいたらしいけど…ちょっと短すぎない？そんな短時間で何を見れたんやろ…
— あんみつ@miwaいきもの (@ikkii441) May 27, 2016
President Obama only spent ten minutes in the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum… wasn't his visit a little bit short? What could he possibly have seen in so short a time?
However, Twitter user @satoss_kiki‘s reflections on the perceived shortness of Obama's visit inside the museum went viral.
Although the self-described “housewife from the sticks” (田舎のおばちゃん, inaka no obachan) has just 263 followers on Twitter, her rebuttal to the idea that Obama's visit to the museum was overly short was retweeted nearly 30,000 times:
原爆資料館をたった10分で出てきて、正直意味あるの？と思ったが、何がなんでも行きたいと言って無理矢理ねじ込んだ10分だったというアナウンサーの言葉を聞いて、こういう報道は大事だと思った。「たかだか10分」じゃなくて「どうにか10分」だったんだよね。
— さと (@satoss_kiki) May 27, 2016
While you may think that the President's ten-minute to the museum was meaningless, but keep in mind that Obama despite his busy schedule he managed to make time to go there. It wasn't “just ten minutes” to the President.

author: Nevin Thompson


text:
Singapore Police Seize Computers, Demand Passwords From Advocates Over Facebook Posts · Global Voices
Kirsten Han

Teo Soh Lung and Roy Ngerng. Photos from International Service for Human Rights and The Heart Truths (Roy's blog).
Singapore police launched investigations this week into two individuals, blogger Roy Ngerng and former political detainee Teo Soh Lung, and the online news website The Independent Singapore, after authorities alleged that they had breached rules related to election advertising.
Under Singapore law, election or campaign advertising is banned on the eve of Polling Day, so as to allow Singaporeans a 24-hour campaign silence period to “reflect rationally on various issues raised at an election before heading to the polls.” This is known as known as Cooling-Off Day. Campaign advertising is also banned on Polling Day itself.
Among some of the exemptions to this restriction are the transmission of personal views by individuals to other individuals on a non-commercial basis, and campaign posters and banners lawfully put up before Cooling-Off Day. While smaller media outlets and blogs are banned from reporting on the election, mainstream print and broadcast media are allowed to continue reporting as they wish.
On 27 May 2016, the Elections Department, under the purview of the Prime Minister's Office, announced that it had lodged police reports against The Independent Singapore, Ngerng and Soh Lung “for publishing several online articles and postings that may be tantamount to election advertising” on both Cooling-Off Day and Polling Day.
It is worth noting that both Ngerng and Soh Lung are outspoken advocates for transparency and promotion of democratic principles who have faced challenges from authorities in the past. Soh Lung, a lawyer and former candidate for the Singapore Democratic Party, was detained without trial in the late 1980s under Singapore's Internal Security Act. In 2014, Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong sued Ngerng for defamation over a blog post in which Ngerng alleged that the leader was involved in corruption.
On 31 May both Ngerng and Soh Lung reported to police headquarters at the Cantonment Police Complex for interviews. They were interrogated by the police for over two hours. Police then took them to their respective homes and searched the premises, seizing many of their electronic devices including desktop computers, laptops, hard drives, memory cards and mobile phones. Police did not show either Ngerng or Soh Lung a warrant before beginning their searches, saying that as the investigation had to do with an arrestable offence, no warrant was necessary.
Jeannette Chong-Aruldoss, a lawyer who had accompanied Teo, shared videos of seven police officers in Teo's home:
In another video, Chong-Aruldoss showed that two of the police officers in Teo's home had failed to produce warrant cards. One officer claimed that she had left her warrant card in the car:
Another lawyer, Remy Choo Zheng Xi, described on Facebook what he had witnessed when arriving at Teo's home:
I asked the IO, Angie Ng, why the police had to seize her electronic devices given that Soh Lung was not disputing the publication of the articles on her personal Facebook page on cooling off day. Soh Lung was willing to cooperate with the police by giving them all necessary information relating to the offence under the Parliamentary Elections Act which were being investigated.
The response was: “this is an arrestable offence, and we do not need to tell you how we conduct our investigations”. I pointed out politely but firmly that it was disproportionate to seize her personal electronic devices which contained personal data, upon which another officer mentioned that I could be charged with obstructing investigations.
Soh Lung was released from police custody after the search of her home. But Ngerng was brought back to the police station where he was made to hand over passwords to his laptop, phone and Facebook account.
He wrote about his experience on Facebook upon his release:
When I thought I was done, several police officers surrounded me. I was to be brought home. They were going to “raid” my home, I was told.
My phone was taken away from me.
When I wanted to speak to Jeanette – the lawyer who was representing Soh Lung, they refused to let me. And dragged me away.
I insisted I wanted to know my rights and whether it was legal for them to do what they were doing. They would not let me speak to Jeanette.
My mom was at home when the police came. She was in shock. I have never seen my mom so traumatised before.
I do not remember how long the police were there. Two activist friends came to check on me. The police would not let them into my home.
The publisher and editor of The Independent Singapore also reported for police interviews on 31 May and 1 June respectively, and had their electronic devices similarly seized.
The investigations have been condemned by local civil society groups such as the Community Action Network (CAN):
This is police harassment; as Singaporean citizens Teo and Ngerng are entitled to share their personal opinions on political issues. This should not be treated as suspicious, much less a crime warranting long interrogations and searches.
A petition hosted by CAN also called upon the state “to ensure the immediate return of all confiscated property to Ngerng and Teo, the removal of any data obtained from them from state and police possession, and an immediate and total cessation of the investigative process.” It received 140 signatures.
Function8, a group of former political detainees – including Teo – advocating for the abolition of laws allowing detention without trial, also issued a statement condemning the investigations:
Function 8 deeply regrets the actions of the police in this unnecessary seizure which is an invasion of privacy and an act of intimidation against Roy and Soh Lung. In our view, it is part of a chain of recent incidents that encroach upon the work of civil society which contribute to the legitimate exercise of good citizenship.
The Elections Department and the Singapore Police Force issued a joint statement on the evening of 1 June, saying that they had observed “what appeared to be deliberate and serious breaches of the rules,” and that the police needed to examine the electronic devices used to publish the posts for “evidentiary purposes”.
This is not the first time Cooling-Off Day rules have been allegedly breached. In 2011, PAP candidate (now Member of Parliament) Tin Pei Ling was reported for posting a comment on her Facebook page. The police later said that the posting had been made by a friend without Tin's knowledge. A stern warning was issued.
In 2015, PAP candidate (now Minister of Foreign Affairs) Vivian Balakrishnan said that the post that had appeared on his page on Cooling-Off Day had been caused by a Facebook bug.

author: Kirsten Han