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Brazil Accused of Spying on Belo Monte Dam Opponents · Global Voices
Raphael Tsavkko Garcia

[All links in Portuguese unless stated otherwise.]
An activist collective opposed to the construction of the controversial Belo Monte hydroelectric dam [en] on the Xingu River in northern Brazil uncovered a spy in its midst [en] who confessed to infiltrating the group allegedly at the behest of the dam company and Brazil's federal intelligence agency.
The Movimento Xingu Vivo Para Sempre (Xingu Alive Forever Movement), a collective of organisations, social movements, and environmentalists in the region of Altamira, Pará that are against the power plant there, which is currently under construction, discovered the mole during an annual planning meeting on February 24, 2013.
According to the report on its website, the group found that “one participant, Antonio, who had recently integrated into the movement, was recording the meeting with a spy pen”:
Em dezembro [de 2012], segundo o depoente, ele passou a espionar o Xingu Vivo, onde se infiltrou em função da amizade de sua família com a coordenadora do movimento, Antonia Melo. Neste período, acompanhou reuniões e monitorou participantes do movimento, enviando fotos e relatos para o funcionário do CCBM [Consórcio Construtor de Belo Monte], Peter Tavares.
Foi Tavares que, segundo Antonio, lhe deu a caneta para gravar as discussões do planejamento do movimento Xingu Vivo. O espião também relatou que este material seria analisado pela inteligência da CCBM, e que, para isso, contaria com a participação da ABIN (Agência Brasileira de Inteligência), que estaria mandando um agente para Altamira esta semana.
In December [2012], according to the man, he began to spy on Xingu Vivo, which he infiltrated based on his family's friendship with the coordinator of the movement, Antonia Melo. During this period, he followed meetings and monitored the movement's participants, sending photos and reports to Belo Monte's Consortium Builder (CCBM) employee Peter Tavares.
Tavares was the one who, according to Antonio, gave him the pen to record Xingu Vivo's planning discussions. The spy also reported that this material would be analyzed by the CCBM's intelligence, and for that he'd count on the participation of the Brazilian Intelligence Agency (ABIN), which would be sending an agent to Altamira [that] week.
In his statement, recorded by Xingu Vivo, the CCBM spy confesses that he received 5,000 Brazilian reais (2,532 US dollars) to pass information to the agency about the movement's activities:
The movement asked federal prosecutors to assure the spy's safety and of the members of the Xingu Vivo, who say they feel “in a situation of risk and under threat”, besides asking for the investigation of the complaints.
In a brief statement [.pdf], ABIN denied any involvement in the espionage in conjunction with the CCBM. CCBM has not released any statement.
ABIN, established in 1999 as an instrument of the federal government, was appointed as the successor of the National Intelligence Service, an agency that actively spied on popular and labor organisation during the Brazilian military dictatorship from 1964-1985 in order for them to be better controlled or even crushed.
Strike in Belo Monte – November 2012. “More than 17 thousand laborers working n the construction of the Belo Monte Dam, a project estimated to cost R$ 25 billion”. Photo by Altamiro Borges (CC BY 3.0)
The agency has had its eye on Xingu Vivo in the past. In June 2011, ABIN published a report on the collective, saying that the organisation “has received support from foreigners and international NGOs whose activities in the country are partly financed by international organizations and foreign governments”. The movement's response to the report was cited by the humanities research institute Humanitas Unisinos, from the University of Vale do Rio dos Sinos, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul:
O relatório sigiloso da Abin é “patético” porque as verdades que ele arrola “são mais do que públicas”. Estão no sítio web do Movimento que são seus parceiros e apoiadores. “Não precisava o governo gastar dinheiro dos contribuintes com essa “investigação’”, diz nota do Xingu Vivo. “Constrangedoras, porém, são as mentiras pelas quais o contribuinte também paga”, agrega. O Movimento desafia a Abin a comprovar que recebe apoio de governos.
The confidential ABIN report is “pathetic” because the truths which it lists “are more than public.” They are [stated] on the website of the movement as its partners and supporters. “The government didn't need to spend taxpayers money with this “investigation”, says the Xingu Vivo note. “Embarrassing, though, are the lies by which the taxpayer also pays”, adds. The movement challenges ABIN to prove that they receive support from governments.
Several organisations and social movements have signed a joint statement condemning ABIN and expressing solidarity with the Xingu Vivo movement.
ABIN's symbol.
The Workers’ Cause Party, in a statement released by Diário Liberdade on April 9, slammed the spying revelation:
A espionagem dos movimentos populares e sindicais não é exclusividade dos regimes militares. Em realidade, nunca foi erradicada, já que a “transição democrática” de 1985 manteve a maior parte dos privilégios dos militares e políticos ligados à ditadura. De uma só vez, a serviço dos empresários e do imperialismo, o governo do PT dá espaço para a ala direita da burguesia, que sempre esteve no comando dos órgãos de repressão, fazer o que bem entende contra o povo trabalhador.
The espionage of popular movements and unions is not unique to military regimes. In reality, it was never eradicated, as the “democratic transition” from 1985 retained most of the privileges of the military and politicians linked to the dictatorship. At one time, at the service of entrepreneurs and imperialism, the government of the Workers Party (PT) gave space to the right wing of the bourgeoisie, which has always been in control of the organs of repression, do what it pleases against working people.
Blogger Candido Cunha denounced that ABIN's own website reports a standing agreement between the agency and Eletronorte, which is part of the Belo Monte's Consortium Builder, since 2009:
Além do trabalho voltado a salvaguardar os conhecimentos de interesse estratégico para o Brasil, a Abin assessora a Eletronorte na elaboraração do planejamento estratégico de segurança para a proteção de suas infraestruturas críticas – instalações, serviços e bens que, se forem interrompidos ou destruídos, provocarão sério impacto social, econômico e/ou político.
In addition to the work aimed at safeguarding the knowledge of strategic interests for Brazil, Abin advises Eletronorte in the development of strategic security planning for the protection of their critical infrastructure – facilities, services and assets which, if disrupted or destroyed, would have serious social, economic and/or political impact.
Dock workers under surveillance
Port of Suape, João Cândido ship. Photo by C.A.Müller (CC BY-SA)
But this is not the only construction site where opposition to governmental projects has allegedly come under surveillance by the Brazilian Intelligence Agency.
The agency faces allegations that it has also spied on workers at the port of Suape in the northeastern state of Pernambuco, in the city of Cabo de Santo Agostinho near Recife.
According to a report by Partido da Causa Operária (Working Cause Party), the espionage dates from March 2013 and aims to “investigate a possible strike by workers against the Provisional Measure of Ports, which would remove the power of state governments to bid new cargo terminals and reduce labor rights.”
The Provisional Measure of Ports, MP 595/12, a proposed Presidential act, provides for, according to various social movements, the privatization of Brazilian ports.
Blogger José Accioly republished a note by the Institutional Security Cabinet (GSI) – which coordinates ABIN's investigations and responds to the Presidency of the Republic – rejecting the accusations that it was spying on the union movement of Suape. But secret documents from ABIN, obtained and published by Brazilian news website Estadão.com.br, confirmed that it was monitoring the unions.
Operation “Risk Management”, formally known as the Office “Mission Order 022/82 105″ of March 13, 2013, not only disavows the GSI, reporting that the espionage occurs in all 15 coastal Brazilian states and its ports in order to avoid strikes and negative reactions to the Provisional Measure of Ports.
Retired teacher and engineer Ossami Sakamori compared the mood of government opponents during the military dictatorship and the mood of those opposing the government today:
O clima que os opositores ao regime vivia, era o mesmo clima que os opositores do poder da República vive hoje.  Não sabemos de onde virão as represálias, porque estamos sendo monitorados, sim. Os achincalhamentos que recebemos, via rede social é a parte visível do processo.  O que temo são as ações desenvolvidos pelos órgãos de inteligências contra os opositores do regime de hoje, pelos agentes invisíveis aos olhos do cidadão comum.
The climate that opponents of the regime lived through, was the same as opponents of the Republic's power experience today. We do not know where the retaliation will come from because we are being monitored, yes. The mockeries we receive via social network is the visible part of the process. What I fear are the actions undertaken by intelligence agencies against opponents of the regime today, by the agents invisible to the eyes of the average citizen.
Several political parties, including the Democratic Labour Party (PDT), the Brazilian Socialist Party (PSB) and the Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB), said they will “summon the minister of the Institutional Security Office, General Jose Elito Carvalho Siqueira, and the director of the Brazilian Intelligence Agency, Wilson Roberto Trezza, to give explanations to the House of Representatives Working Committee the agency's monitoring and intimidation of the union movement.”
Even employees of ABIN, represented by the National Association for Intelligence Officers (Aofi), reported in a note that they feel uncomfortable with the focus put on spying on social movements under General José Elito. The union Força Sindical issued a statement declaring it unacceptable that a party with its origins in the labor movement can use “organs of repression” against these workers.

author: Raphael Tsavkko Garcia


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China Bans Media from Quoting Foreign News · Global Voices
Abby Liu

China's media authority has announced new regulations barring news outlets and other organizations from reporting on foreign media coverage without permission.
The General Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television's unveiled the tighter controls in a notice [zh] released on April 16, 2013, less than a day after The New York Times announced it had won a Pulitzer Prize for the newspaper's report on the hidden wealth of Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao's family.
In response to that October 2012 report, the Chinese government blocked the New York Times website as well as Wen Jiabao's name on Sina Weibo.
In addition to requiring Chinese media to have authorization to use foreign media content, the regulations also clamp down on organizations and journalists sharing information on social media, such as popular microblogging site Sina Weibo, that wouldn't normally be included in publication.
The notice, published by China's state media Xinhua, reads [zh]:
各类新闻单位均不得擅自使用境外媒体、境外网站新闻信息产品。坚决制止和依法查处采编人员以网络为平台牟取非法利益等行为。新闻单位设立官方微博须向其主管单位备案并指定专人发布权威信息，及时删除有害信息。
All news outlets are not allowed to use news information from foreign media or foreign websites without permission. It is firmly forbidden for journalists and editors to use the Internet as a platform to seek illegal benefits; such behavior will be investigated and punished according to the law. To start an official Weibo account, news agencies should first report to authorities for record and appoint a staff to be responsible for posting authoritative information and deleting harmful information in time.
Most of the stories from the foreign pages of state-run newspaper were sourced from international news agencies. According to The Telegraph, the ban on the use of foreign media would have a big impact on Chinese newspapers.
The news has triggered online outrage among many Weibo users, especially among journalists. Beijing-based journalist “Qingdeng Xiaxiangmingbian” wrote [zh]:
Internet in China by Karen Roach via Shutterstock
青灯下香茗边：舆论监督是一个健康社会的必需品，批评的尺度就是民主的尺度，‘若批评不自由，则赞美无意义’。正确结论来自多元化的声音，而不是权威的选择。
Public opinion supervision is essential for a healthy society, the scale of criticism is the scale of democracy, “if criticism is not free, then praise is meaningless”. The correct conclusion is from a wide range of voices, rather than what is chosen by the authority.
Web user “Lida Suibi” questioned [zh] if having such a tight grasp on the media is even effective in the long run:
什么是有害信息？我觉得，信息只有真假之分。新闻的唯一目的是转播真相，这是人类社会的基本需求。在新中国历史上，被宣传管理部门定义为有害信息的绝大部分信息，事后都被证明是正确的。思想屏蔽也许有效一时，但掩耳盗铃之策非长久之道。
What is harmful information? I think there's only true and false information. The purpose of the news is to broadcast the truth, which is the basic need of a society. Most of the harmful information as defined by the propaganda department throughout the history of the Chinese republic proved to be accurate. Blocking information and opinions may be effective temporarily, but such a policy of self-denial won't work in the long run.
Another web user “Yun Mu” echoed [zh] the sentiment with a Chinese idiom:
欲盖弥彰！
The more one tries to hide, the more one is exposed.
“Ye Laodie aiLvse” wrote [zh] sarcastically:
这要变朝鲜了吗？
Are we going to become North Korea?
Journalist Liu Xiangqian pointed out [zh] the lack of a new media law in China:
是法律法规严重落后于事物的发展！互联网到目前为止还不被认为是法律意义上媒体，何况自媒体！
Laws and regulations are seriously lagging behind in the development of things! The Internet has not been considered media in the legal sense, not to mention citizen media!

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Abby Liu


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China Comes Down on Apple After Calling Company ‘Arrogant’ · Global Voices
Gloria Wong

China's industry and commerce authority has said that it will tighten its oversight of Apple as well as punish the technology giant for failing to comply with Chinese laws following a month-long media blitz accusing the company of “arrogance”.
A little more than a week before the State Administration for Industry and Commerce's announcement, Apple CEO Tim Cook issued a rare public apology to Chinese consumers on behalf of Apple in response to the barrage of negative press in China's state-run media slamming the Apple's warranty policy as discriminatory toward Chinese consumers.
“We realize a lack of communication in this process has led to speculation that Apple is arrogant and doesn't care about or value consumers’ feedback,” Cook said in the Chinese-language apology published on April 1. “We sincerely apologize for any concern or misunderstanding this has brought to customers.”
The scathing media attack against Apple began on March 15, 2013 on International Consumer’s Day when China Central Television (CCTV) aired an annual investigative special on consumers’ rights in which Apple was singled out as providing poorer after-sales service to Chinese customers, including offering only a one-year warranty instead of the legal requirement of two years. In the days after, several state-run news outlets piled on the company, such as the People’s Daily newspaper which called Apple “incomparably arrogant”.
China has become Apple's second largest market after the United States and the company told the Chinese government's news agency earlier this year that China would over take the US soon. According to a report released last November, Apple had 71.4 percent of the Chinese tablet market, with Lenovo at a lowly 10 percent and Samsung at a derisory 3 percent.
Many observers saw Cook's apology as less than genuine, pointing out that Apple simply cannot afford to lose China as its most promising market.
Chinese blogger @Foxshou explains Apple's market strategy in China.
But many Chinese consumers, the supposed victims of Apple's poor policy, came to the company's defense.
On popular Chinese microblogging site Sina Weibo, many netizens raised doubts about the government's motive behind its relentless criticism of Apple. Some speculated that it could be part of the government’s strategy to steer people's attention away from real problems at home, such as food safety and environmental pollution.
Liu Liang [zh] (@陆亮的微博) summed up a prevailing sentiment online following Apple's apology:
: 苹果道歉了，但四川地震豆腐渣学校，无人道歉； 有毒奶粉，无人道歉； 隐瞒萨斯，无人道歉； 河南艾滋病村，无人道歉； 黄浦江几万头死猪污染水源，无人道歉。
Apple apologized, but no one apologized for the shoddy schools that collapsed in the Sichuan earthquake; no one apologized for tainted milk powder; no one apologized for SARS cover-up; no one apologized for AIDS villages in Henan, no one apologized for the over 10,000 dead pigs that polluted the Huangpu river.
Prominent blogger Li Chengpeng  [zh] (@李承鹏) used a vivid analogy to illustrate this:
当他不想让一个人说真话时，通常却会去批评此人早上不刷牙。一些人上当去注意不刷牙时，就忘了听真话。这是几十年惯用手法了。
When he doesn't want to hear the truth from someone, he tends to accuse that person of not brushing their teeth. When others pay attention to not brushing the teeth, they forgot to listen to the truth. It has been the trick for decades.
Others maintained that the Chinese government is practicing national protectionism. Some were furious with the government's selective blindness when it comes to poor services among domestic monopolies:
@气怪叔：央视口诛笔伐搞臭苹果，苹果道歉之后还是不依不饶，请央视痛斥移动联通电信3家同样霸王条款的公司，为更多人群谋福利，每年315对电信垄断巨头选择性失明是怎么个意思？
“Angry Uncle”：CCTV made every effort in damaging the reputation of Apple and went to the extent of punishing Apple after it made the apology. Please severely blast China Mobile, China Unicom, and China Telecom [the three major telecommunication companies in China] in order to protect more customers’ rights. Why every 315 selectively turns blind to the telecom monopolies?
@丛心开史：央视咬了苹果手机，苹果道歉并改变歧视条款。这说明央视咬力猛过鳄鱼，杀伤力更不在话下。但我们不解的是，央视为什么不咬一下联通，移动和两桶油，这些国内的三条蛆远比烂苹果要恶心得多！
“Wo Shi Cong Huangyu”: CCTV takes a bite out of Apple and pressured Apple to change, from which we have a grasp of how powerful CCTV is — even more powerful than a crocodile. With such a power, why doesn't CCTV take a bite out of China Mobile and China Unicom, whose services are much worse than Apple!
When in China, do as the Chinese do
Apple is not alone in having been singled out for consumer rights issues by state-run media. In recent years, big foreign corporations such as Carrefour, Hewlett Packard, and KFC have all come under scrutiny.
The recent campaign against Apple even reminded netizens of Google's spat with China’s state media back in 2009. Unlike Google who refused to bow to Chinese government's policy of censoring the Internet and migrated its search engine out of China, Apple quickly yielded to Chinese political pressure, conforming like their Chinese counterparts:
@贾_矜持：刚看到苹果道歉的新闻，我恍惚了一下，跟09年的谷歌好像。一个将不作恶写进公司章程的企业，面对这片神奇的土地遭遇各种‘理所应当’的阻力的时候，试图坚持底线的调整自己，但最终还是被赶了出去
“Faking Shyness”: Hearing about Apple's apology, I am reminded of the Google controversy in 2009. The company tried to adjust itself while holding its principles, but was still driven out in the end.
The “Rashomon” of Apple's apology
Netizen “Fox Shuo” (@阑夕), who has been following Apple's market strategy in China [zh], wrote an analysis of Apple's apology, which has circulated widely on China's social Web. The article [zh] compared the affair to “Rashomon“, a Buddhist story that depicts a world where everyone tells lies for the sake of their own benefit, and the truth is therefore confined:
最后，对毒害空气、猪烂江河视而不见的，对你说，我为你伸张了正义，争取了权益，打击了歧视你的外国手机厂商。而那傲慢的一方，除了按图索骥式的修补一些遭受攻击的漏洞之外，未尝真的对中国消费者提升了片刻的尊敬，它的字典里从来就只有“用户体验”，这个动辄由中央媒体绕过用户代为主张、规定什么权益可以被允许争取什么权益不准争取的奇葩国家，还真是坐实了它的国际形象。
The result is that [the Chinese government] which turns a blind eye to toxic pollution and pig cadavers cries out for justice for its people through attacking the foreign mobile phone company; while the arrogant company, although following the rules and closing the loophole of its service, has never shown real respect to the Chinese consumers. In its dictionary, we can only find a term called “user experience”. The established international image for this strange country is that consumers are represented by the central government, which has a final say on what rights can be fought for.

author: Gloria Wong


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Double Standard? Protesting Foreclosures and Abortion Clinics in Spain · Global Voices
Lourdes Sada

There's been an ongoing debate in Spain's Parliament on the reform of current mortgage laws after the Plataforma de Afectados por la Hipoteca [Platform of People Affected by Mortgages, or PAH] proposed the Popular Legislative Initiative (ILP) [es] in defense of those whose houses are in foreclosure.
The PAH has made its voice heard recently through passive but overwhelming escrache protests [a form of targeted public demonstrations] in banks and the governing Popular Party (PP) headquarters, and outside the private residences of members of the PP, which currently holds an absolute majority in Parliament making it, in a sense, the only party that currently holds legislative powers.
PAH Madrid explains [es]:
(Se) informará a los Diputados de los partidos que pretenden rebajar sustancialmente el contenido de la ILP sobre la situación de los hipotecados. (…) se irá a informar a los Diputados presencialmente, por ejemplo en actos públicos. Puesto que muchos no conocen de primera mano el sufrimiento de la población, es necesario ir a llevar la realidad de los afectados allá donde estén los Diputados.
This will teach the politicians who try to cut substantial provisions relating to mortgages from the ILP. (…) We will personally inform our politicians, one way is through public demonstrations. The thing is that most politicians have no first hand knowledge of the suffering that is going on among the people, needing that reality be brought to where the politicians are.
Such protests are not welcomed by politicians who feel that the boundaries of their personal lives are not being respected and their privacy invaded. Maria Dolores de Cospedal, Secretary General of the Popular Party, dubbed the last 13 days of escrache protests “pure nazism”:
[Cospedal] considera que las polémicas protestas domiciliarias (…) reflejan “un espíritu totalitario y sectario” y un intento de “tratar de violentar el voto” y las reglas de la representatividad democrática. Así, en su opinión, “por muy loable y defendible” que sea la causa de las víctimas de desahucios, “pierde todo el sentido” con estos “acosos”.
[Cospedal] thinks the controversial home protests (…) reflect a “totalitarian and sectarian spirit” that aims to “bring violence to the vote” and the norms of representative democracy. In her opinion, no matter how “laudable or defendable” the eviction victims’ cause may be, the cause “loses its credibility” in this harassment.
In response, PP members have asked police to require a 300 meter perimeter from protesters, requesting that they identify protesters, and in some cases altogether stop the “escraches.” However, some judges and police are refusing to intervene.
According to Judges for Democracy [es] member Joaquim Bosh:
A PAH escrache protest in Zaragoza. Photo from the blog El ventano
[las medidas] represivas y policiales no son la solución para resolver el conflicto (…) cualquier protesta que tenga un carácter pacífico no tiene por qué constituir delito. (…) mientras no haya un riesgo concreto, debe prevalecer el derecho de la libertad de expresión de los manifestantes.
repressive measures and police involvement are not the solution for this problem (…) a peaceful protest does not constitute a crime. (…) until there is a true risk, we must preserve freedom of expression and the right to protest.
Nevertheless, a strong police presence has been felt at recent “escraches” ensuring that protesters keep a safe distance from their intended targets. In some instances, this presence has resulted in the arrest of protesters. Some PP members, like national boardmember Sigfrid Soria, have said they cannot be bothered to worry about the protests. Soria recently tweeted the following, which was denounced by fellow PP members and resulted in his dismissal from organizational responsibilities within the Party.
SigfridSoria: Eso sí, como un perroflauta me acose por la calle, me intimide o agreda, la ostia que se lleva ni se la va a creer
If these potheads are going to come after me on the street and try to intimidate me or be aggresive towards me, they're not going to believe the response they're going to get.
Meanwhile, Deputy Secretary General of the Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) Elena Valenciano criticized the forcefulness with which PP members are trying to surpress the escraches. She points out that clinics performing legal abortions have endured protests for years and the government has never stepped or limited these groups’ freedom of expression. To further her point, Valenciano uploaded a photo to her Facebook page of one such protest at a clinic.
A photo of protesters blocking the entrance to an abortion clinic posted on Facebook by Elena Valenciano.
In fact, these types of protests have been happening since Spain passed its abortion law in 1985. Groups such as Pro-Life, Right to Live, Youth for a Cause and Make You Listen organize protests the first Friday of every month and every 28 December (Holy Innocents’ Day) outside abortion clinics. While these groups insist that these protests are strictly peaceful, the contrary has happened numerous times in recent years.
In Decemeber 2007, the Family Planning Federation (FPFE) began collecting signatures for its petition
(…) para apoyar a Victoria Virtudes, Vito, trabajadora de la Clínica CB Medical de Madrid por las agresiones físicas, verbales y las amenazas constantes a las que está siendo sometida por parte de grupos de extrema derecha, así como el acoso al que están siendo sometidas las clínicas autorizadas de Interrupción Voluntaria del Embarazo (IVE).
in support of CB Medical Clinic worker Victoria Virtudes. Virtudes was the victim of physical and verbal agression and continued threats at the hands of various right-wing extremist groups protesting authorized practicioners of voluntary termination (IVE).
In 2009, Santiago Barambio, President of the Association of Accredited Clinics for Voluntary Termination (ACAI), claimed:
Todavía no nos han matado, pero un hombre prendió fuego en mi clínica hace 10 años y aún no se le ha juzgado.
They haven't killed one of us yet, but a man set the clinic on fire ten years ago and has yet to face a trial.
Madrid based clinics Isadora and  Dátor are the most protested clinics of recent years. Empar Pineda, feminist and ACAI spokesperson, commented on the matter on the website pensamientocritico.org:
Empar Pineda next to a defaced wall of the clinic where a stone was thrown through the window.
(…) grupos ultras y nazis, que en un plazo de dos meses destrozaron en dos ocasiones los ventanales a pedradas, no repararon en que podía haber alguien dentro barriendo las consultas, por ejemplo.
(…) no es fácil entrar tranquilamente a trabajar después de haber visto las pintadas que embadurnan las paredes del edificio, tales como “Hitler asesinó menos inocentes que vosotros”. “Aquí se asesina, ¡impidámoslo (…) Ni tampoco reponerse con facilidad del impacto emocional que sienten las recepcionistas cuando por teléfono les dicen “¡Sois asesinas de niños!”, o cuando les preguntan “¿Dónde guardáis la trituradora?”
In a two month period right wing and extremist groups threw rocks through the clinic's front window on two different occassions, never even considering that it could seriously injure a person inside.
(…) there's nothing easy or calming about coming into work after seeing the doors graffittied with things like “Hitler murdered fewer innocent people than you all” or “Murders committed here” (…) Nor can you imagine the emotional tolls it takes on receptionists to receive phone calls of people saying things like “Child murderer!” or “Where do you guys hide the baby grinder?”
Luisa Torres, head of communications for the Dátor clinic, addressed a protest outside the clinic's doors on 28 December 2012 and said:
No es tan fácil para las mujeres, que al acudir a sus citas se encuentran con un grupo de personas dispuestas a inmiscuirse en su vida privada. Al ver este despliegue algunas se dan la vuelta, otras llegan a la esquina y llaman por teléfono o anulan sus citas.
This isn't an easy thing for a woman to do, especially when coming means facing such a volatile group that's willing to invade their personal lives. Such a sight makes someone turn around and run the other way. Others turn the corner only to call and cancel their appointments.
Although the Right to Life spokesperson maintains that the group keeps their distance from the escrache protests, it's possible the biggest beneficiary of the PP's attempt to prohibit- or at a minimun regulate- the “escrache” protests will be the clinics themselves.

author: Lourdes Sada


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Egypt’s Jewish Community Leader Laid to Rest · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Carmen Weinstein, Egypt's Jewish community leader, has died at the age of 82. Zeinobia, at Egyptian Chronicles, collects reactions from the funeral service, which gathered a lot of media attention:
There is a huge surprising media presence as well security presence where those invited to the funeral have to show their IDs. I am surprised to see such media presence as I knew from a friend who is attending the funeral it was private event.

author: Amira Al Hussaini


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Give the Egyptian President a Bath!  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi has left a stench – on Twitter. Blogger and activist Nawara Negm started the hash tag #حموا_الرئيس [ar], which translates to “Give the President a Bath, after reading in a Lebanese newspaper that some German officials complained about Morsi's body odour to the Egyptian foreign ministry.
She tweets [ar]:
الرئيس لما راح المانيا بعض المسئولين بلغوا الخارجية المصرية انها لازم تنبه مرسي ان ريحته مش حلوة
@nawaranegm: When the President visited Germany some officials informed the Egyptian foreign affairs ministry to alert Morsi that his smell is not nice
This tweet was retweeted 110 times, starting a discussion on the, well, the President's smell.
According to Al Khabr News:
اشتكى رؤساء دول قابلوا الرئيس المصري محمد مرسي أنه ليس نظيفاً وان الرائحة التي تصدر عنه هي كريهة، ولذلك أبلغوا مدير المراسم في القصر الجمهوري ليلفت نظر الرئيس مرسي الى الموضوع.
A number of heads of state who have met with the Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi have complained that he is not clean and that a bad smell emits from him. This is why they have informed the head of protocol at the Presidential Palace to draw the president's attention to this matter.
Negm advices the the president:
هو ممكن يكون بخيل، طب يعني ده فص شبة وليفة وصابونة نابلسي وكلونيا خمس خمسات حتى.. بدل الفضيحة الدولية دي
@nawaranegm: He might be stingy but he could at least used shabba (an astringent), a loofah (sponge), Nabulsi soap, or the 555 cologne and avoided this international scandal
Alyaa Gad picks up the thread, advising Morsi to lose his extra pounds.
زيادة الوزن والكرش يعطل وظائف الكبد وأهمها قدرته على تخليص الجسم من السموم- اللي ريحتها معفنة- فيسافر عبيرنا المهبب عبر القارات!
@AlyaaGad:  The increase in weight and the bulging stomache effect the functioning of the liver, most importantly its ability to rid the body of poisons, which smell rotten. This is why its stench travels across continents.
Meanwhile, the jokes continue on Twitter.
@mazzahi tweets:
صاحي من النوم كسلان ومش قادر اقوم اخد دش الصباح, الظاهر عندي أعراض #مرسي! #حموا_الرئيس وحمووووني :))
@mazzahi: I just woke up from bed too exhausted to have my morning shower. It seems that I have Morsi's symptoms. Give the president a bath and me too!
Elham adds:
حموا_الرئيس الجدع دا اكثر واحد اتهزأ في سبعة شهور ياحرام
@inspiration_k:  This man has been ridiculed more than anyone else over the past seven months. Poor thing!
And Omar Mitkees asks:
حموا_الرئيس و لا لسه?
@o_mitkees: Have they given the president a bath or not yet?


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Children Back in Guinea Bissau After Senegal Fire · Global Voices
Sara Moreira

The blog of the Association of Friends of Children (AMIC) reported [fr] that 20 ‘talib’ children from Guinea-Bissau who had been caught in a raging fire at an Islamic school in the capital of Senegal, Dakar, in early March, have now been handed back to their families. As Rising Voices reported back in June 2011, families from Guinea-Bissau often entrust the care of their children to Koranic teachers from neighboring Senegal, where they are promised to receive religious education.

author: Sara Moreira


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Muslims Mourn Boston Marathon Victims  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Free Arabs’ co-founder Nasser Weddady – representing the American Islamic Congress – spoke today at an Interfaith Memorial Service in Boston alongside President Obama. To read the speech and watch the video, click here.


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Podcast:China-Africa Relations Through Social Media · Global Voices
Abby Liu

The China in Africa Podcast discusses how social media is influencing China's engagement in Africa.


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Saudi Account of Boston Marathon Bombings · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Saudi student Wael Omar Moathen shares this eyewitness account [ar] of his experience at the Boston Marathon bombing. Ahmed Al Omran offers a translation here:
Like any human being who lives in this city, I picked up my camera and  headed to Mile 26, the last mile in the race. I was taking photos and  enjoying the cheers.
Click on the link above to read his experience as the horror unfolds.


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Saudi Arabia’s First Female Lawyer?  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Arwa al-Hujaili has become Saudi Arabia's first female legal trainee – or three years of apprenticeship ahead before she earns her full legal licensure to become a lawyer. Free Arabs has more here.


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Saudis Condemn Boston Marathon Bombings  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

At Riyadh Bureau, Ahmed Al Omran sums up Twitter reactions from Saudis living/studying in the US following the Boston Marathon bombings here.


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Snow, Charity, Football: Scottish Fans Earn Praise in Serbia · Global Voices
Danica Radisic

Dijana Djurickovic also contributed to this article.
March 26, the day of the football match between Serbia and Scotland for the World Cup 2014 qualifications didn't get off to a good start. Somewhat unexpectedly at the end of March, even for the Balkans, it began to snow in Novi Sad, where the match was set to be played. While fans on both sides were hoping the snow would stop and melt away by the evening of the match, several of the Scottish fans who had arrived that day from Scotland to support their national team were casually walking and sightseeing around Novi Sad – in kilts, of course.
Predrag Kercov (@KercovP) commented [sr]:
Koji carevi ovi Skoti, svuda su po Novom Sadu i setaju tako u kiltovima dok napolju pada sneg.
What kings these Scotsmen are, they are all over Novi Sad and walking around in kilts while it's snowing #ManliestManAlive
The sequence of events that followed restored humanity's faith in football fans in two swift kicks.
First, the fans of the Scottish national team – who are members of the Tartan Army Sunshine Appeal charity – found the time to visit underprivileged children at the SOS Children's Village in Sremska Kamenica near Novi Sad and make a donation of £1,500, but that wasn't where these do-gooders stopped. As updates of the possibility of the match being cancelled due to snowfall kept rolling in, the fans of the Scottish national team who had been strolling around and doing good in Novi Sad all day were on the pitch, kilts and all, with snow shovels in hand, cleaning the snow with the workers of the Karadjordje Stadium.
Soon enough, the “men in skirts,” as some media dubbed them, were being praised by Serbia's fans all over social media sites and news channels.
Djordje Mladenovic (@djordjem_4) wrote [sr]:
Škoti u kiltovima zajedno sa radnicima očistili sneg na “Karađorđu”! […] Svaka čast, ovako se reprezentacija voli!
Scotsmen in kilts cleaned the snow at “Karadjordje” with workers! […] Respect to them, this is how you love a national team!
Valentina (@vaxi81) wrote [sr]:
Skoti dosli, bez ijednog incidenta, donirali 1500 funti decijem selu i ocistili sneg.
The Scots came, without a single incident, donated 1,500 pounds to a children's village and cleaned the snow.
Dijana Vukomanović (@vukomand) wrote [sr]:
Momci u suknjama su pravi muškarci! Čiste, da bi se posle zabavljali. I dele poklone našoj deci. Bravo Škoti! […]
Guys in skirts are real men! They clean, so they can have fun later. And give gifts to our children. Bravo Scotsmen! […]
Milan Dinic (@milandinic) wrote [sr]:
Skoti su pokazali kako se promovise zemlja, nema ko nije cuo da su cistili sneg i to u kiltovima.
The Scots have demonstrated how one's country is promoted, there isn't anyone who hasn't heard that they cleaned snow and in kilts too.
Rolam Garos (@CeksGari) wrote [sr]:
Ovi Skoti sto su doputovali u NS da gledaju pokusaj fudbala u najavi i sad ciste sneg na stadionu su nevidjeni carevi. Postovanje za njih.
These Scotsmen that traveled here today to watch an attempt at a football match and ended up cleaning snow at the stadium are yet unseen kings. Respect to them.
The match, as promised by the Scottish Football Association and other officials, was played that evening. Scotland lost 2:0 to the Serbian national team, but good humor and gratitude were still present among both Serbian and Scottish fans following the match.
Andrija Kokanovic (@kokan87) tweeted this summary [sr] of the day:
Skoti vrlo darezljivi danas, ciste sneg, daruju decje selo, poklanjaju posed lopte…
The Scots are very generous today, cleaning the snow, gifting the children's village, giving away possession of the ball…
Glihor (@Zlorub) summed it up [sr] this way:
Skoti su danas ubini vise nego prethodna Vlada: ocistili sneg, donirali pare i poklonili nam dva pogotka.
The Scots have managed to do more today than our previous Government: cleaned the snow, donated money and given us two hits.

author: Danica Radisic


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Astronaut Tweets Breathtaking Pictures of the Middle East from Space · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, currently in space aboard the International Space Station, is sharing pictures of breathtaking views from around the world on Twitter. Here are a few shots he shares of the Middle East from space.
Ankara:
While orbiting over Turkey, he shares this photograph of Ankara, the capital. He tweets:
@Cmdr_Hadfield: Ankara, capital of Turkey, ancient city, home to 5 million of us and source of Angora wool. pic.twitter.com/x8EutOO5WH
Ankara from space. Photograph by @comdr_hadfield
Tel Aviv:
Over Israel, he shares a picture from Tel Aviv, saying:
@Cmdr_Hadfield: Tel Aviv, with over 400 thousand Tel Avivim on Israel's Mediterranean coast. pic.twitter.com/OlqprC3rrM
Tel Aviv from Space. Photograph shared by @Cmdr_Hadfield on Twitter
Egypt:
Egypt, gets two photographs. The first if of the Nile and the second is of Egypt's bustling capital Cairo.
The Nile:
@Cmdr_Hadfield:
The Nile flowing into the delta at Cairo at night, like a living thing. pic.twitter.com/Zdzm0RmTWa
The Nile from Space. Photograph shared by @Cmdr_Hadfield on Twitter
Cairo:
@Cmdr_Hadfield: Cairo at night. You can see El Gabalaya Park. Are the pyramids lit up? pic.twitter.com/umsYK4N9nO
Cairo from Space. Photograph shared by @Cmdr_Hadfield on Twitter
Egyptian blogger Mostafa Hussein asks:
@moftasa: what's el Gabalaya park though?
It seems that the map they have in space is different from ours.


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Trinidad & Tobago: Caribbean Digital Expo, V2.0 · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

This was an event for people in the private and public sector tasked with making sense of fast moving changes in the digital realm.
BitDepth reports on the second Caribbean Digital Expo conference.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Urban Art Festival Highlights Neighborhood in Puerto Rico · Global Voices
Ángel Carrión

[Links are to Spanish-language pages unless otherwise noted.]
The fourth annual urban art festival known as Santurce es Ley (Santurce is Law), an event during which visual, performance, and musical artists come together to create street art in the midst of the Santurce neighborhood, was held during the weekend of April 5-7.
Over the last several decades, what was once among the most important urban centers in Puerto Rico—a bustling cultural and commercial hub—gradually deteriorated into one of the most run-down neighbourhoods in the capital city of San Juan. Empty buildings abound; sidewalks are in disrepair; and even a cursory glance reveals profound social inequality.
In recent years, efforts have been made to revitalize Santurce, perhaps the most well known being the arteSanturce alliance of cultural institutions. But these efforts, which include everything from community-wide outdoor activities to commercial, cultural, and real estate projects are for the most part centered on one of Santurce's main arteries, Ponce de León Avenue. Moreover, the negative side of these developments has been gentrification, and the relocation and elimination of entire communities.
Santurce es Ley is the brainchild of artist Alexis Busquet [en]. This year's focal point was Calle Cerra (Cerra Street), a street that played a pivotal role in the history of Puerto Rico's music industry. Today Calle Cerra is home to many members of the Dominican community, who are very marginalized in the country. During the weekend-long event, it became Puerto Rico's mecca for murals. Below are some of the pictures I took as I walked along the Calle Cerra in the days following the festival.
Artistic installation by Colectivo Camiseta (La CoCa).
The topic of agriculture echoed throughout this year's celebration of Santurce es Ley.
An urban farm on Calle Cerra.
A mural in the urban farm created for this year's festival.
In addition to an eye-catching mural, this abandoned space now boasts a plant nursery, something I had not expected to find.
This mural, one of the urban exhibit's most impressive, seems to be a metaphor for Puerto Rican capitalism. By Colectivo Basta.
Another interesting mural on Calle Cerra.
Detail of the facade of a building with the symbol of Santurce.  (Historically, Santurce was known as San Mateo de Cangrejos, the Spanish word for crabs.)
Despite the favourable reception of the Santurce art festival, it also received critiques. One of the strongest arguments was that people who live in the area do not participate in the artistic activities and are not represented, the majority being immigrants from the Dominican Republic. Daniel Nina, writing in El Post Antillano, says the following:
Tendríamos que pensar esta convocatoria de Santurce es Ley como un proceso a democratizar. Me pregunto, para la quinta edición en el 2014, ¿cuántos de los artistas serán dominicanos, de ahí mismo, de la comunidad de la pobreza y la desesperanza? A los organizadores les pedimos que tomen nota. Inventen un Santurce es Ley que sea representativo de la diversidad cultural de la región, y no exclusivo de unos afortunados que por razón de ser intocables, invaden comunidades a su predilección.
We should think about Santurce es Ley as an opportunity for greater democratization. I wonder about the fifth edition in 2014; how many of the artists will be Dominican, from right there, from a community of poverty and despair? We ask that the organizers take note. Put together a Santurce es Ley that is representative of the cultural diversity of the region and not just of the fortunate few who, because they are considered beyond reproach, take over communities at will.
The organizers responded to the criticism on Facebook. The gauntlet has been thrown, but we will have to wait until next year's festival to see whether the organizers are willing to take it up. You can see more photographs of the murals painted during the festival here and here.

author: Ángel Carrión


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#Yemen: A US Drone Hits Dhamar · Global Voices
Noon Arabia

After a three month break in Yemen from U.S. drone strikes, a drone last night, April 18th, 2013, killed five Qaeda suspects. The last reported US strike in Yemen by TBIJ (The Bureau of Investigative Journalism) was on January 23rd, killing as many as seven alleged militants. Only two days before, on January 21st, President Obama's Inauguration Day, three US drone strikes hit Yemen, killing four suspected al Qaeda militants.
Last night, Yemeni activist and journalist Farae Al-muslimi, from the village of Wessab, in the province of Dhamar, broke the news of the US drone strike. He tweeted:
@almuslimi: An hourish ago while I was enjoying a friendly dinner with my American friends ( some r officials ) , US strike drone targeted my villag …
@almuslimi: I was so happy the last three months that US Strike drones were stopped in #Yemen. Didn't know they will relaunch to my village.!
The target of the US strike as reported by Saba state news agency was Hamid Radman al-Manea, known as al-Radmi, and four of his guards, while they were returning to his house. He was a former member in the republican guards, an elite forces led formerly by Saleh's elder son and was also suspected to be associated with Al-Qaeda.
Al-muslimi added:
@almuslimi: Al-radmi was away from wessab for years. last year he came back and became social figure known for solving social problems btwn ppl. #Drone
@almuslimi: Al-radmi was in continues contact with government officials, he  prayed Maghrib wth th Gen secretary of the Local council tonight 1/2 #Drone
@almuslimi: the car of th local council gen secretary was exactly behind Al-radmi's car as thy both were coming from place thy solved problem in. #Drone
Many Yemenis wondered why were ‘suspected’ militant targets always killed by US drones. Since the suspect's location was known, they seldom questioned why they are not instead captured by Yemeni forces, interrogated and put on trial if proven guilty. Why wasn't there a “capture and interrogate list” instead of Obama's “kill list”? What was the motive behind their extrajudicial extermination? Were the so-called suspects really plotting against the US or did they have enemies in Yemen or Saudia Arabia who wanted them dead?
Almuslimi pointed to that in the following tweets:
@almuslimi: There was nothing easier than arresting Al-radmi if he is wanted. He was ACTUALLY with governmental official at the moment he was droned.!
@almuslimi: 3- Al-radmi was in a continues meetings with local council leadership and attended their meetings to solve problems and raise peoples needs
@almuslimi:5- No one ever [knew} even the security leaders, th governor, or anyone he was in the killing list.! a security source jst told me in the phone:1/2
@almuslimi: ” i wld have arrested him myself wn i jst saw him less than a week ago or even sent my weakest soldier to do so”. 2/2 #Yemen #Drones
Almuslimi, like many Yemenis who visited the US and enjoyed a US education, was devastated with the news of yet another US strike on his country and this time on his peaceful village. He tweeted:
@almuslimi
Wessab, my village, is no doubt th most peaceful ppls and one of th poorest areas in Yemen. congrats, u jst made violence attractive to them
@almuslimi: #USA taught me English 1 day & took my life frm super miserable 2 very promising. 2day, it droned my village. The most divided feeling ever
@almuslimi: I never thought perhaps at the moment i was cheering the glass with my close american buddy in Sana'a, his govt was droning my village.!
A protester in the US holding a sign condemning President Obama's policies, including the use of predator drones.
The current flawed US Counter-Terrorism policy using drone strikes was widely criticized and opposed in mass rallies across the US last week. In Yemen, it is certainly creating more animosity towards the US administration, even from many US educated youth such as Almuslimi himself, who wrote a powerful piece about this.
This policy, instituted by President Barack Obama, has allegedly resulted in the deaths of hundreds of innocent Yemenis, and unfortunately it does not differentiate among militants, ordinary Yemenis and US radio reporters.
Since the policy took effect, AQAP has been successful as never before. Those who have lost relatives to drone fire make up a whole new generation of AQAP recruits.
The drones have made it difficult, shameful and even dangerous to say “America can be befriended”, or “America is not an enemy”.
Yemeni President Abd Rabu Mansour Hadi expressed his approval for the strikes last September during a visit to the US

author: Noon Arabia


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Young Haitian-Dominicans Demand Their Right to a Legal Identity · Global Voices
Pamela Martínez Achecar

Around 50 Dominican young men and women of Haitian ancestry, organized in the Movimiento Reconoci.do [es], marched from the San Pedro de Macorís Cathedral to the National Palace in Santo Domingo demanding the restitution of their documents, and therefore their Dominican nationality, taken away arbitrarily through an administrative ruling -R12- issued by the Central Electoral Board (JCE) in 2007.
The marchers denounced the abuse and inconsistencies of the JCE, which wants to send between 19 and 22 thousand files to the Department of Immigration (DGM), taking them unilaterally from the civil registry to move them to the book of immigration without any investigation.
In the article, “A State that Harms Itself” [es], published on her blog, social activist Gloria Amézquita says:
La indocumentación de la población dominicana de ascendencia haitiana, cristaliza varias de las fallas del Estado Dominicano en materia de derecho a un nombre y a una nacionalidad.
The non-documentation of the Dominican population of Haitian ancestry cristalizes a variety of the Dominican state's flaws in matters of the right to a name and a nationality.
Many supporters have joined together under the hashtag #LevantaTuVoz [es] (#RaiseYourVoice) on Twitter and have maintained constant coverage of the events through the official @Reconoci_do account.
The march departed at 8 a.m. from San Pedro de Macorís, after being blessed by Father Luis Antonio,
Dominican youth of Haitian ancestry protesting for their rights. Used with permission.
parish priest of the San Pablo Apóstol Cathedral, from which they left towards Santo Domingo and on Friday, April 12, to the National Palace, where the affected youth requested a statement from President Danilo Medina, as the first president of the nation who expressed in the campaign prior to his election that the problem of Dominicans of Haitian ancestry would be on his agenda.
The youth made a call to social movements, churches, labor unions, artists, politicians, athletes and society in general to join the march: “Respect for our rights is a guarantee that everyone's rights be respected. The JCE should return “our seized documents,” said the organizers.
Throughout its route, the march was guarded by police officers and an ambulance, both of which joined as a gesture of support.
Viceminister of the Presidency Henry Molina receives the documents. Used with permission.

author: Pamela Martínez Achecar


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Catalan Wikipedia Reaches 400,000 Article Milestone · Global Voices
Cristina Simón

The Catalan edition of Wikipedia Viquipèdia, a fundamental support to a language and culture historically discriminated against because it belongs to a stateless nation, has registered a record number of active users, with its article count reaching 400,000.
Viquipèdia contains half as many articles as the Spanish Wikipedia, even though 420 million people speak Spanish in the world, and there are under 10 million Catalan speakers.
At a time when Catalonia is involved in a debate about becoming independent from Spain, Viquipèdia‘s role in raising global awareness about the region and its people has increased massively. This is one of the main motivations that compels 1600 active Catalan Wikipedists to edit.
Viquipèdia's first article [ca] was the first non-English article to go live on Wikipedia. It was published only two months after the original version of the Wikipedia in English went live. Out of the free encyclopedia's 285 language editions, Catalan Wikipedia now ranks at number 15 in terms of article count. It occupies first place in an index compiled by the Wikimedia Foundation, which measures the quality of the thousand most important articles.
On the evening of 12 April 2013, the Viquipèdia article counter reached 400,000 [ca]. Everyone had been preparing to celebrate the milestone for a while, and it finally arrived with article Heli-4 [ca]. This is how David Parreño (@dapamont), 17 year-old active Wikipedist and Wikimediacat (@Wikimediacat) communications coordinator, announced it [ca]:
@dapamont: URGENT | Nota: La Viquipèdia en català assoleix els 400.000 articles i marca el rècord d'usuaris actius http://ves.cat/dJrG  #viquipèdia
@dapamont: URGENT | Notice: Wikipedia in Catalan reaches 400,000 articles and registers a record number of active users http://ves.cat/dJrG  #Wikipedia.
Tool for Defending Catalan Culture
The Catalan version of Wikipedia is unique, because it has become central to the activism around the language.
According to a study by Amical Viquipèdia (@Wikimediacat), the association that promotes the free encyclopedia among the Catalan community, this is one of the main motivations that compel Catalan Wikipedists to edit. Àlex Hinojo (@Kippelboy), project manager at Wikimediacat [ca] and creator of@CatalanMuseums, says [ca]:
Molta gent diu que edita perquè és divertit, per aprofundir en un tema…i per fer país. Com en altres temes, la societat civil catalanoparlant sempre manté un cert activisme en favor de la seva llengua.
Many people say they edit because it's fun, they can provide more information about a topic…and they are building a country. Catalan-speaking civil society always maintains a certain activism in favour of its language, just as it does with other topics.
WikiMarathon at Drassanes Reials (Barcelona), on Wikipedia's 12th anniversary. March 2013. Photo by @Kippelboy.
A study by Mark Graham (@geoplace), researcher at Oxford University, based on figures obtained by combining geolocated data from WikiLocation and Georeferenzierung, shows that 35,000 articles have been created in Spanish territory with coordinates in Catalan, and nineteen thousand in Spanish. According to Graham,“nowhere else in the world enjoys such a high visibility for a language that is relatively little spoken.”
Viquipèdia is viewed by Catalan-speaking users as a tool for defending their culture, which can occasionally create friction with the Spanish edition due to the issue of identity. Wikipedists not only translate; they often bring their own cultural perspective, which can clash with other cultural perspectives. Despite the desire to understand, conflicts are not always easily resolved. A news item that appeared in the digital newspaper Vilaweb [ca] in December 2012, told how blogger Joan Inglada [ca] (@jinglada) translated the entry about writer Anna Rosselló [es] into Spanish, but another Wikipedist changed ‘Catalan writer’ to ‘Spanish writer in Catalan language’, even against Rosselló's will. In the end, Inglada requested the article be removed. Because of this, Inglada investigated other articles, such as the one about Valencian author and reference in Catalan culture, Joan Fuster, and found identical corrections, as detailed in an entry in his blog [ca].
M. Graham's map showing largest languages by country. Image used with permission.
For years, Catalan Wikipedists have been negotiating with the Wikimedia Foundation, the international Foundation that promotes Wikipedia and its sister projects, to obtain official recognition for the Catalan version, since the organisational structure of the free encyclopaedia is based on border criteria and Catalonia is a stateless nation. Hinojo says [ca]:
Existeixen diverses associacions locals arreu del món anomenades “chapters”. El que passa és que aquestes associacions es basen en delimitacions frontereres i nosaltres ens basem en interessos temàtics (la cultura catalana), i no fronterers. En ser un país sense Estat, vam proposar a la Wikimedia Foundation que ens donés un “reconeixement oficial” com a “chapter” i portem més de 4 anys de negociacions. Encara no tenim l'aprovació oficial.
There are different local associations around the world called “chapters”. These associations are based on border boundaries and we are based on topical interests (Catalan culture), not borders. Since we are a stateless nation, we suggested that the Wikimedia Foundation give us “official recognition” as a “chapter” and we've been in negotiation for over 4 years. We still don't have official approval.
As a temporary solution to this situation, the Amical Viquipèdia (@WikimediaCat) was created in 2008 to pave the way. This association, which currently has around 60 members, promotes the online encyclopaedia in Catalan through activities such as WikiMarathons, competitions in schools, and collaborations with institutions such as universities, museums and libraries.

author: Cristina Simón


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Chileans Debate Whether Wealth Weighs in Glaciers or Gold · Global Voices
Kalynne Dakin

Two of humankind’s most treasured resources–water and gold–have instigated a conflict between an indigenous community and a Canadian mining company over an isolated swath of Chile’s Atacama region.
Responding to the Diaguita community's plea, a Chilean court halted operations at one of South America's most promising gold mines last Wednesday, April 10, 2013. The action followed an investigation by the SEA (Environmental Superintendent) [es], which filed several charges against Minera Nevada, S.P.A., a subsidiary of Barrick Gold, for new and persistent violations.
In January, the company reported it had failed to properly construct a drainage system for acidic waste, where the SEA’s ground water tests subsequently proved contamination.
Environmentalists joined the opposition, reiterating that Barrick Gold’s $8.5 billion Pascua Lama mine is not worth grave damage to ancient hunks of glacial ice that serve as freshwater reserves for the Huasco Valley region. Netizens like civil engineer Francisco Navarro (@fconavarro1) [es] agreed:
@fconavarro1Hay temas ambientales pendientes de Pascua Lama, s.e. es necesario hacerlo sustentable. Chile no puede darse gustitos de US$8500 millones
@fconavarro1There are environmental issues pending in Pascua Lama, S.E. it is [sic] necessary to make it sustainable. Chile can’t afford US$8.5 billion treats
The day the court issued the injunction, Greenpeace Chile (@GreenpeaceCL) [es] celebrated a record 11,000 signatures on its online petition against the mine, as Trendsmap Santiago (@TrendsSantiago) [es] reported that #pascualama was trending.
(@GreenpeaceCL) Hasta cuándo podrá destruir nuestros recursos naturales? Dile #Noabarrickhttp://gpcl.org/noabarrick
(@GreenpeaceCL) How long will they destroy our natural resources? Say #Noabarrick http://gpcl.org/noabarrick
Greenpeace’s petition had surpassed 15,000 sponsors on Thursday afternoon, with many retweeting #NoaBarrick [es] (#NotoBarrick).
Although the country's economy has historically relied on its natural resources, resistance to exploitation has become its own trend in Chile, where courts quashed a popular movement against a multi-billion dollar hydroelectric dam last year.
Photo by Flickr user antitezo, under a Creative Commons license (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
Samuel Leiva, campaign coordinator for Greenpeace Chile, wrote an editorial called “¿Tiene coraje la nueva institucionalidad ambiental?” [es] (“Does the new environmental institution have courage?”) about the country’s new environmental framework–adopted in December 2012–for the Investigative Journalism Center (CIPER):
Al entrar en vigencia los Tribunales Ambientales y la Superintendencia de Medio Ambiente, la capacidad de revertir o al menos compensar los daños al medio ambiente tiene una oportunidad de ser realidad en un país que ha apuntado al crecimiento económico por sobre el debido cuidado de la naturaleza.
The enactment of the environmental tribunals and the Environmental Superintendent, the capacity to reverse or at least offset environmental damage has the opportunity to become a reality in a country that has put economic growth above the due care of nature.
Some believe the case of Barrick Gold–one of the largest of six violators the new enforcement has investigated to date–to be the first major test of the new system's efficacy. Chilean Senator Guido Girardi expressed [es] his doubts when the court’s swift response transcended that of the environmental ministry:
La autoridad ambiental está siendo superada, Pascua Lama fue paralizada por los tribunales. Esto no fue resuelto ni por la autoridad de salud, ni por la autoridad ambiental habiendo evidencia de contaminación del agua. Esto sólo es reflejo de la debilidad de nuestra institucionalidad, debemos sacar una Ley que proteja los glaciales como bien nacional de uso público.
The environmental authority is being overcome: Pascua Lama was paralyzed by the courts. It was not resolved by the health authority, nor by the environmental authority having evidence of water contamination. This only reflects the weakness of our institution; we must make a new law that protects the glaciers as national property of public use.
Situated in the Southern Cone’s high-altitude borderlands, the controversial mine will continue to operate on its eastern, Argentine side. Miguel Bonasso (@bonassomiguel) [es], an Argentine journalist and author of a book titled “El Mal: El Modelo K y la Barrick Gold” [es] (“The Evil: The K [Kirchner] Model and Barrick Gold”) applauded Chile’s latest actions:
(@bonassomiguel): ¡Gran triunfo! La justicia chilena suspendió el Proyecto Pascua Lama en defensa de los glaciares. Ahora debe fallar la Corte Argentina.
(@bonassomiguel): Grand triumph! The Chilean Justice suspended the Pascua Lama project in defense of the glaciers. Now the Argentine court must rule.
Barrick, which has frequently voiced a commitment to sustainability, replaced two high-level executives at Pascua Lama earlier this week. The company must respond to the SEA’s charges by April 30, while separately preparing its defense for Copiapó’s court of appeals.
The Movimiento Socioambiental del Valle del Huasco [es] (Huasco Valley Environmental Movement) wrote [es] that Barrick is not welcome to stay in the area and demanded that Chile cancel its environmental permit:
Aclaramos que no queremos compensaciones económicas para nuestras comunidades, lo que exigimos es que  se le revoque la Resolución de Calificación Ambiental a Pascua Lama por haber destruido tres glaciares de nuestra cordillera y haber acelerado el derretimiento de otros cuatro
To clarify, we don’t want financial compensation for our communities; what we demand is that you revoke Pascua Lama’s Environmental Quality Resolution for having destroyed three glaciers in our mountain range and having accelerated the melting of four

author: Kalynne Dakin


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China Censors Film Director’s Censorship Slam  · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Feng Xiaogang, one of the most famous movie directors in China, when giving a speech when he accepted the honor of Director of Year from the China Film Directors Guild on 12 April, criticized the censorship system in Chinese movie industry. However, in the video showing his speech, the word “censorship” was covered by a beep sound. Tea Leaf Nation has the full story.

author: Oiwan Lam


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East Asia’s Appetite for Eels Pushing Species to the Brink · Global Voices
I-fan Lin

In Japan, summer is the season of eel.
On the sweltering midsummer days between mid-July and early August, it's traditional to eat a plate of golden-brown broiled unagi kabayaki, or broiled eel. The popular dish is believed to help people stay healthy during the hot weather.
But the tradition is now at risk. Skyrocketing demand for glass eels, once considered a highbrow delicacy, is pushing fishermen to exhaust the population and causing prices to soar. A number of East Asian countries including Japan have proposed ideas on how to preserve the wild eel, but there are so far no concrete efforts underway to curb the trend.
Ida Tetsuji, a columnist from Nippon.com, a Japanese news website, described how the production of eels has been increased fourfold over recent decades to satisfy the increased eel consumption:
Domestic eel production in Japan held at about 40,000 tons a year through the mid-1980s. This was supplemented by imports from Taiwan, which ranged from about 25,000 tons to a high of around 40,000 tons. […] In 2000 a record high of over 130,000 tons of eel products were imported from China and Taiwan, and domestic sales volume rose to almost 160,000 tons, also a record high. This was almost double the volume of sales 15 years earlier.
Specially cooked eels in Japan. Photo from ysishikawa (CC: AT).
A common misconception is that glass eels can be farmed to keep up with the increased demand. However, eels are catadromous, meaning that part of their life circle is in freshwater and part in saltwater. Since there was no current method to reproduce the eel larvae, the fishermen need to catch the wild glass eels when they enter the river and travel upstream and farm them in ponds.
So without a way to replenish the eel population in the face of such demand, the number of these glass eels caught by fishermen in recent years continues to decrease. “Dogfamily”, an independent reporter in a Taiwanese citizen news portal, Newsmarket, reported [zh] the reality on March 18, 2013:
過去亞洲一年日本鰻苗捕獲量接近100噸，但近4年產量急遽下滑，2010-2012的產量遽降為41、35、26噸；以台灣為例，過去一年有20噸，但2010-2012僅剩4、4、2噸，今年（2013）約1.5噸。
Total eel production. Figure from the TRAFFIC report written by Vicki Crook.
The price of glass eels has soared as a result. Dogfamily [zh] pointed out:
幾年前，鰻苗1尾10元[…]今（2012）年的平均價達到180元/尾。以每公斤6000尾來換算，一公斤的鰻苗要價108萬，接近黃金的市價。即使價格如此驚人，但因為捕撈量嚴重不足，苗戶的收入還是下降。
The shortage in supply has resulted in smuggling activities, Dogfamily [zh] explained:
即使台灣經濟部已訂定3月31日前鰻苗禁止出口，但在日方出價高的誘惑力之下，苗商仍透過各種管道以走私的方式將苗輸出至日本。去年12月間，桃園機場就查獲以行李箱攜帶20,000萬尾鰻魚苗走私的案件。根據業者私下透露，1月15日前捕獲的鰻苗，幾乎是100％供應到日本。
European eels have already been listed in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in June 2007. Earlier on this year, the U.S had considered submitting a proposal for an international trade regulation on eel catches in CITES. At the same time, the Japanese Environment Ministry also designated the Japanese eel as a species at risk of extinction on its red list of endangered freshwater and brackish water fish in last February. However, the move is not legally binding.
In reaction to the pressure for eel preservation, a number of East Asian countries, including Japan, China, Taiwan, and Korea have held several conferences and several preservation procedures have been proposed, including rehabilitation of the eels’ natural environment, restrictions on eel export, and release of adult eels in the rivers.
Production of different species of eels. Figure from the TRAFFIC report written by Vicki Crook.
Nevertheless, with such a huge consumer market, eel merchants will continue to find new ways to make profit. In fact, the Japanese merchants have turned to African eels as an alternative, Dogfamily [zh] reported:
美國意圖將鰻魚列入貿易保護名單的舉動使得日本相當緊張，開始尋找替代的鰻魚來源，最近觸角伸向馬達加斯加的養殖業者，將購買非洲鰻來因應日本鰻價格節節升高以及美洲鰻前途未明的情況。
At the same time, international NGO, the Wildlife Trade Monitoring Network (TRAFFIC) has also discovered that the Philippines has started exporting large amount of Japanese eels and Luzon eels, a newly discovered species, out of the country:
In July (2012), TRAFFIC surveys found almost 50 listings from businesses in the Philippines offering eel fry or glass eels for sale through online B2B platform Alibaba.com. Several reported they could supply for export hundreds of kilos of glass eels of a variety of eel species every month.
Amount of caught eels. Figure from the TRAFFIC report written by Vicki Crook.
To break the demand-supply cycle, some Japanese have started consumer campaigns to reduce the consumption of eels. Ida Tetsuji on Nippon.com wrote:
Consumers and distributors of eels also bear considerable responsibility for the situation. As a result of the unsustainable inflow of large quantities of imports, eels, formerly considered a deluxe food, have turned into a cheap item sold in bulk through convenience stores and supermarkets […] We need to take this opportunity to transform the eel business from its low-profit, high-volume “quantity over quality” model back to a “quality over quantity” approach. Otherwise the stocks will become even more seriously depleted, and we are liable to sink into a descending spiral in which consumers tire of low-quality eels and stop buying them, causing the eel industry’s profits to decline further and the business as a whole to weaken.
Tirrano, a Japanese blogger from Decent Point, also believed [ja] that despite the gravity of the problem, the solution is rather easy:
どうしたらよいか、激減した原因の反対のことをすることなら簡単に始められそうです。つまり、不必要の多くのウナギを食べないこと、安いからといってウナギを食べないことです。日本の消費量がとてつもなく多すぎるのです。それを30年前ぐらいに激減させればいい。それには、スーパーなどの特売にある、それほどおいしくはない、ウナギを無理して食べないことです。

author: I-fan Lin


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Guatemala’s Genocide Trial Declared Invalid  · Global Voices
Renata Avila

Five weeks of harrowing testimony from dozens of survivors and witnesses of massacre, forced disappearances and rape stand void, as Guatemala's much awaited and watched “genocide trial” has been declared invalid.
Efraín Ríos Montt, the country's de facto dictator from 1982-83 and his former intelligence director  are being prosecuted for the massacre of 1700 Indigenous Maya Ixil people during Guatemala's civil war.
Victims of Guatemala's war have waited thirty years for justice, and it took twelve years to reach the debate stage. Many fear that the defendants might not live until that phase can be reached again. Investigative journalist Allan Nairn writes on his blog:
Many dozens of Mayan massacre survivors risked their lives to testify.  But now the court record they bravely created has been erased from above.
Judge Patricia Flores told a court in Guatemala City that the order had come from the country's top courts to suspend the trial because she had been wrongly removed from the case, prompting complaints that the ruling made a mockery of justice.
Apparent breach of due process
Rios Montt was formally charged in January 2012 by Judge Flores, but she stood down from hearing the case until 5 weeks ago, because of her involvement in another case which also implicated Rios Montt.
In the last week, Rio Montt's lawyers made Judge Flores the focal point of their efforts, arguing that these procedural errors meant the current trial should be annulled. On Wednesday, April 17, the defendants’ lawyers presented a writ requesting that the procedures be suspended.
A day later, Judge Flores ruled that due process was not respected and reversed the trial to the preparatory phase, meaning that the procedure is again open to appeals and that all the testimonies and expert witnesses presented in the case will have to present their evidence in court again.
But, Julio Prado, a prosecutor, believes that the Constitutional Court's orders were to admit the trial's evidence [es] and simply return the case to its original tribunal so the trial can procede.
‘Threats of violence killed the case’
Two days earlier, prominent former government officials and signatories to the country’s peace agreements which ended the civil war issued a public declaration expressing concern that the trial is threatening the peace process and dividing Guatemala.
President Perez Molina, who has also been implicated in the trial by a witness, also endorsed the statement. Molina is a former army General and the founder of Kaibil School, a soldier training school whose practices come close to torture.
Investigative Journalist Allan Nairn was one of the witnesses proposed by the accusers; he interviewed President Perez Molina in the Ixil area back in 1983. In recent days, Nairn had written a personal account of the case but “was asked to keep it private until a trial verdict had been reached.” He has now published it in his blog as “A firsthand behind-the-scenes account of how Guatemala's current President and threats of violence killed the case”:
It would be mistaken to think that this case redounds to the credit of Guatemala's rulers.
It was forced upon them from below.  The last thing they want is justice.
But they agreed to swallow a partial dose because political forces were such that they had to, and because they thought that they could get away with sacrificing Rios Montt to save their own skins.
I was called to testify in the Rios Montt case, was listed by the court as a ‘qualified witness,’ and was tentatively scheduled to testify on Monday, April 15.  But at the last minute was I was kept off the stand ‘in order to avoid a confrontation with the [Guatemalan] executive.
Reactions to the court's decision immediately emerged on social networks. The International Center for Transitional Justice (@theICTJ) reported the news using the hashtag #GenocideGT:
@theICTJ: Judge Flores orders that the genocide case and all proceedings up to this point are invalid. #GenocideGT
Using the same hashtag, Latin American  History professor Kirsten Weld (@kirstenweld) wrote:
@kirstenweld: I think we all got excited and inspired by the testimonies; forgot how diabolically clever the military is. #GenocideGT
The Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala (@NISGUA_Guate) reported the reaction from Marilena Bustamante, sister of Emil Bustamante [es], one of the men who disappeared during the war:
@NISGUA_Guate: As court adjourns, M. Bustamante begins to yell “INJUSTICE!” Others present in audience yell, “why don't you shoot her”
Cultural Survival (@CSORG) quoted documentary filmmaker Pamela Yates:
@CSORG: “I am shocked because they got this far; to have procedural issue stop trial at this state is shocking. And possibly illegal.”—@pameladyates
Journalist Xeni Jardin (@xeni), who has been following the case for Boing Boing, added:
@xeni: “This decision amounts to laughing at the victims, mocking the victims.” Genocide tribunal prosecution, pleading judge reconsider annulment.
Xeni later reported:
@xeni: A candlelight vigil is taking place right now outside the Guatemalan Supreme Court. Ixil people leading.
Although the future of the whole trial is uncertain, Guatemalans are using social networks to speak their mind and to organize demonstrations online and offline using the hashtag #sihubogenocidio (Yes! It was genocide).
Maya Ixil women listening to the trial.
Picture by James Rodriguez Mimundo.org More images can be found here.
The following days will be crucial for the future of justice and accountability in Guatemala and abroad.
A chronology of the debate phase and all the content discussed until now can be found here; and a complete timeline of events, documenting the victims’ long struggle, can be found here.

author: Renata Avila


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Iran: Act Like a Man, Dress Like a Woman! · Global Voices
Farid

A man dressed in a red dress with a veil on his head was paraded by security forces through the streets of Marivan in the Kurdistan province of Iran on Monday, April 15, 2013. A local court decided this would be the punishment for three men, reportedly found guilty in domestic disputes. The exact circumstances are unclear, but the mere idea of this punishment has angered many.
Women in Marivan held a protest against the sentence on Tuesday, saying it is more humiliating to women than it is to the convicted men. According to one human rights activist,  security forces physically attacked protesters [fa]. A video shows women marching through the streets.
Shared on the Facebook page ‘Kurd Men For Equality’
Online, several Kurdish men have photographed themselves dressed as women as part of a Facebook campaign to say, “Being a woman is not an instrument to punish or humiliate anybody.” The photos appear on a Facebook page named Kurd Men for Equality.
Namo Kurdistani writes:
To show my solidarity and support to the “womanhood” and their suffers and torments during the history mostly have done by “men” [sic]. as we have faced recently a stupid judge”s order to punish a person by putting on him the feminine customs, so it is one of the times that we should gather around each other and condemn this stupidity, brutality and inhumanity against the womanhood; the half of society as well as at least half of the human being on the earth. I am supporting womanhood by the at least I can do for them.
The Facebook page of the Women's Association of Marivan also condemned the act and wrote [fa]:
Security forces dragged a convicted Marvani’s man in the city. They dressed him as a woman and wished by this act to humiliate him. The Women's Association of Marivan condemn this action and consider it an insult to women. Kurdish women protested against this act [one day after].
Mohmmad Mostafai, an Iranian lawyer and human rights defender says [fa]
Iran’s judiciary has no right to order such punishment which goes against human dignity. Dressing convicts like women is not something you can find in the laws of the Islamic Republic.
History repeats itself
More than three years ago, Iranian authorities attempted to use the same method of humiliation against a student activist, but failed.
Back then, Iranian authorities claimed that Majid Tavakoli dressed as a woman to escape after delivering a speech in Tehran on Student Day. However, human rights activists in Iran published a report from an eyewitness saying: “All the pictures published by the state media are false and a clear use of immoral means against student and civil activists in Iran.” At the time, hundreds of Iranian men photographed themselves dressed as women in hijab to support Tavakoli.

author: Farid


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No More Apologies – Japan’s Facebook Users Share ‘Fake’ Propaganda  · Global Voices
Keiko Tanaka

A thousand Japanese facebook users unknowingly endorsed and shared a fictitious image [ja] that seemed to be an official publication and highlighted the negative impact Japan's apologetic stance in history has on the country's children.
A citizen journalist traced the image, which even has the official government seal of Japan in its top-left corner, (although the government does not use this seal for its official publications) to a right-wing Facebook page.
Fabricated image widely shared on the Internet. Vertical text: “Mommy, Daddy, did my ancestors do wrong things? Does that make me a bad Japanese? – How do you respond to your children?”
Horizontal text: “Let's teach our children the true history. Government publication”
Facebook user Tsubasa who liked the image wrote[ja] in support of a patriotic view:
自虐的な教科書には、もううんざり(´・ω・`)ちゃんとした教科書を、今の子供達に読んで欲しい!!戦争を美化するつもりは、ありませんがその当時の先人が、何を想い何のため戦い散ったのかを、教えて欲しいです。
I'm sick and tired of introspective history textbooks. I want the children today to learn from legit textbooks. I don't mean to glamorize the war, but people need to think what they fought and died for.
The fabricated image took a life of its own on Facebook when it was shared along with famous quotes, from Indian jurist Radha Binod Pal, Thailand politician Kukrit Pramoj, Indonesian scholar Arifin Bey and British historian Arnold J. Toynbee, that reinforced the idea that Japan's war posture was always for Asia's liberation.
Earlier this year, Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, almost offended China and Korea, when he signaled that he would “review” the country's apologies made in the past for its World War II aggression. Later, he backtracked and said would not review Japan’s wartime history and that he would abide by the official stances of his predecessors on the issue.
Facebook user Rie noticed it was fake:
この画像は偽造です。確認しましたが、このような政府広報はありません。誰かが何らかの意図を以て「政府広報」を偽造し、フェイスブックで拡散するのは異常な事態だと思います。一体何の目的で偽造するのでしょうか。分からない。
This image is fake. I've checked and I can tell you there's no such government publication. It's insane for somebody to intentionally create a fake government image and amplify it on facebook. I don't understand why they do this on purpose.
Citizen journalist Norifumi Ohtani at Miyazaki Citizen Media criticized [ja] social media users who shared this image without verifying its source and traced the image to right wing activists who apparently fabricated the image, and gave it an official government seal.
The image of the uniformed child originated from an online shopping site for children's school-bags. Ohtani wrote a series of analysis [ja] on how the image was edited and right-wing text and a government seal were added, before it was appropriated on a Facebook page and shared without context.
I saw this on my Facebook feed on April 15, 2013. […] Apparently this image gained more than 1300 Likes with many comments. I wondered when this image was released by the Cabinet Public Relation Office. So I checked the website of the Office [ja] but I couldn't find one like this.
Then I thought, maybe this image is a fabrication. So I searched for more information.
The one I saw on Facebook was posted by “Japanism“[ja], a Facebook page that has 4,617 likes.
There was no reference of source in the description of the image so I searched on Google with words like “Cabinet Public Relations Office Let's teach our children the true history” and arrived to this page.
It directed me to a Twitter account that intentionally amplified this image.
With that clue, I got on Twitter and found a blog named “Wake up! Japanese spirit and the eyes of patriot” [ja] in this blog post [ja] of January 14, 2013.
He adds:
It is okay to quote blogger's posts, but when you quote, make sure you name the source.
I think people should refrain from abruptly sharing facebook images, [out of context] when they do not reflect the agenda of the author.
Maybe it's nice to pause for a second and verify where the source comes from.
The alleged creator of the image was a Facebook fan page called “反日対策協議会” [eliminate anti-Japanese activity]. They have since admitted [ja] that it was fake, meant to be ‘parody.’ The Facebook page of Japanism also added a comment [ja], apologizing for sharing the image without checking where it came from.
Ohtani criticized [ja] the ‘parody’ which mislead citizens, saying that right-wing activists went too far in disguising themselves as a government publication.

author: Keiko Tanaka


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Raped? Take Money, And Shut Up! Says Indian Police · Global Voices
Chirag Sutar

Capital city Delhi's police offered the father of a five-year-old survivor of abduction and rape $38 in hush-money to forget the brutal assault, unleashing rage across a country battling with rising rape cases.
The five-year-old was brutally raped in Delhi’s Gandhi Nagar locality over a period of four days allegedly by her neighbor. The girl had gone missing on April 14, and the incident came to light on April 19, 2013.
According to regional language news reports, the family members and neighbors searched for the missing girl on their own for a day, and incidentally the accused neighbor, also pretended to help in this search. Since no leads could be found during that day, a case for missing person was registered with the local police station on April 15, 2013.
Nearly four days while the search was still on, the girls father heard a voice from a room below. Consequently, the police was called and the lock was broken. The girl was found in a deplorable condition and the accused had absconded.
Delhi lawyers protest for justice for the 23 year old student who was gang raped in New Delhi. Image by Louis Dowse. Copyright Demotix (3/1/2013)
The details of this rape, like the December 2012 Delhi-gang rape case (see Global Voices report), are horrific. Medical investigations confirmed that the girl was sexually assaulted – a plastic bottle of oil and a candle was found in the girls stomach.
However, the troubles for the girls family did not stop here – police and governmental apathy followed.
Reports suggest that the girls father was discouraged from filing the complaint, and was offered Rs 2000 (equivalent to 38 dollars) as a price for not going public.
The gravity of the incident and the police and governmental response to it has enraged many.
Shuddhabrata Sengupta at Kafila expresses his rage:
Must Delhi’s police commissioner not be compelled to resign, for his abysmal failure in terms of dealing with sexism and for failing to address the contempt for citizens that is now clearly endemic to the Delhi Police’s work culture?
Can we take this daily routine of insults lying down? How long can this continue?
Vishal Dadlani (@V1SH4L) a musician from India on April 19 tweeted:
@V1SH4L: What on earth is India coming to? The police now offers hush-money to parents whose little daughters are raped!? Those cops need to be hung!
Pritish Nandy (@PritishNandy), a journalist from India commented on the well-documented corrupt practices in Indian police force by recalling this :
@PritishNandy: Remember Justice Mulla's famous words: There is no criminal force in India that can compare with the crimes of the Indian police force.
In his another tweet, he reminded about the existing lackadaisical attitude in the Indian administration:
@PritishNandy: Mamta Sharma Chairperson of National Commission for Women says she will only go to see girl child tomorrow as today is a holiday.
A Delhi-based Twitter user (@cyclingsultan) who describes himself as a ‘Hippie Muslim, Sapiosexual, Cyclist and Sybarite’ asserted a rather shocking aspect relating to this story:
@cyclingsultan: The Delhi police told the rape survivor's relatives: ‘They told us that we should be happy the girl has been found & pray for her recovery’.
Rituparna Chatterjee (@MasalaBai), an entertainment editor, expressed her dismay at such an attitude:
@MasalaBai: Whom do you go to when your police says ‘be grateful that she (raped child) was found alive'? What is your recourse as a powerless citizen?
To add insult to injury, the girl was treated at an ill-equipped municipal hospital and only moved to a better hospital after much public pressure and protests. The five-year-old girl is reportedly in a very critical condition.
Women have reacted strongly to the gross nature of physical harm done to the girl.
R sheikh Bawazir (@Lucifer_sam666), an architect, educator, and photographer wrote:
@Lucifer_sam666: Kill that bastard, what kind a sick man would insert a 200 ML bottle inside a 5 year old child, I'm beyond tears.
Meanwhile, Arunoday Mukharji (@ArunodayM) [hi], a journalist from India, shared some startling data about rising rape in India:
@ArunodayM: Delhi 2011: 572 cases of rape. 2012: Rape cases increase to 706 and molestation cases rise to 727. Dreading the end of 2013 #Delhirape
Incidentally, post the Delhi-gang rape incident, the Indian government made amendments to the existing rape law, and passed a stronger version.
Taking this into account, an Indian twitter user Kapil (@kapsology) wrote:
@kapsology: Anti-rape law ka achaar daal lo jab police hi aisi hai toh
@kapsology: What use is an anti-rape law if the behavior of police is untrustworthy
A steady out-pour of dismay is being expressed on social media against Indian police and governmental apathy since the incident came to light.

author: Chirag Sutar


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Russian Journalist and Election Observer Speaks about Her Arrest · Global Voices
Daniel Alan Kennedy

On April 16, 2013, RuNet Echo published an article about Svetlana Lokotkova, a Russian journalist and election observer who was arrested and removed from an overnight train for alleged intoxication. Lokotkova was charged with “minor hooliganism” and faces 15 days in jail if convicted. Lokotkova denied the charges and used Twitter [ru] and Facebook [ru] to post pictures of injuries she claims to have received at the hands of the police. Her version of events was apparently contradicted when pro-Putin television station NTV aired “amateur footage” [ru] of her in police custody, where she appeared confused and unsteady on her feet. The NTV report also quoted extracts from her Twitter feed that seemed to suggest she had been indulging herself both before and after boarding the train (Lokotkova made references to Saratov's “outstanding hospitality” and recovering from a cold using “traditional methods” [or “folk remedies”]).
Svetlana Lokotkova, 6 April 2012, photo by Svetlana Lokotkova, used with permission.
Lokotkova later contacted RuNet Echo, and agreed to outline what happened on the train and in the police station in her own words. She also spoke about social media as a tool for political activism.
First, Lokotkova contests the fact that she was intoxicated at the time of her arrest. In fact, she strenuously denies consuming any alcohol at all:
в поезде я пила только чай с медом и сок. в материалах дела, представленных полицейскими в суд, есть показания проводницы вагона, в котором я ехала. в своих письменных объяснениях полиции проводница поясняет, что я села в поезд трезвой, и что в поезде я не пила. кроме того, как я уже говорила, в последнее время я живу в таком бешеном ритме, который чисто физически не позволяет даже задуматься о выпивке.
on the train I drank only tea with honey and juice. in the case materials, which the police have submitted to the court, there are testimonials from from the conductor of the train-car. in her written account she explains that I was sober when I got on the train, and did not drink while on the train. besides, as I already said, recently I've been living at such a frantic pace, that I physically haven't even had the time to think about drinking.
Instead, she attributes her wooziness and apparent intoxication visible in the video to a combination of physical illness and emotional distress:
у меня была очень сильная простуда, кашель, с утра была температура 38,8. […] сразу после того, как меня притащили в отделение полиции, с моей шеи сорвали сумочку со всеми документами и кошельком (впоследствии из него пропало около 10тыс. рублей), грубо сильно толкнули так, что я упала на пол и ударилась головой. впоследствии врачи у меня зафиксировали закрытую черепно-мозговую травму-сотрясение мозга. и кроме того, у меня сильно поднялось давление. уже на следующий день, когда все успокоилось, у меня было давление 160/130. так что в момент выложенного полицейскими видео давление было никак не меньше этих цифр. а по ощущениям – где-то 180/140: жутко кружилась голова, все плыло перед глазами.
I had a very bad cold and a cough, and since that morning my temperature was 38.8 degrees [101.8 F]. right after they dragged me to the police station, they ripped my purse from my neck, containing all my documents and wallet (from which about 10,000 rubles later disappeared), rudely pushed me so that I fell to the floor and hit my head. later, doctors determined that I received a closed head brain injury. in addition, my blood pressure rose a lot. the next day, when everything was calmer, my blood pressure was 160/130. so when the police were shooting the video my blood pressure could not have been any lower. but, actually, I felt like it was 180/140: my head was spinning, everything was blurry.
Lokotkova also argues that the tweets read on television, which NTV clearly implied were evidence of alcohol consumption (“folk remedy” being a common euphemism for liquor), were taken out of context. She says she was simply using actual folk remedies like honeyed tea to cure her cold, which she claims to use commonly:
поскольку лекарства вообще не люблю принимать, предпочитаю народные средства – травяные настои, мед, малина
since I do not like to take medicine, I prefer folk methods — herbal infusions, honey, raspberries
She elaborated:
под словами “опять угощают” я подразумевала домашние котлеты, которыми меня угостили соседи. в прошлый раз, когда я ехала из саратова, меня угостили домашними пирожками с капустой. […] а под словами “лечусь народными средствами” – как уже выше пояснила – я подразумевала средства народной медицины для лечения простуды, главным из которых во все времена был и остается мед. медом меня угостили другие соседи.
by “getting entertained again” I meant the homemade cutlets that my neighbors [in the train car] treated me to. the last time I was coming from Saratov, I was treated to homemade cabbage pirozhki. […] and by “recovering using folk remedies” – as I said earlier – I meant folk medicine for curing colds, the main [ingredient] of which has always been and always will be honey. I was treated to the honey by another neighbor.
Lokotkova also described what happened to her in the police station:
со мной обращались очень грубо, издевались морально и физически. били, толкали, пытались затащить в камеру […], несколько раз прищемили дверью руки, ко мне не пускали врача, отобрали паспорт и телефон.
they treated me very roughly, abused me morally and physically. beat me, pushed me, tried to drag me into a cell […], several times they squashed my hands in the door, didn't let me see a doctor, and took away my passport and telephone.
Finally, Lokotkova explained why it was that she refused to undergo a medical test for drunkenness. She cited the fact that she was charged with hooliganism (which does not require a blood alcohol test), not drinking in public (which does). She also says that the way she was offered the test was procedurally incorrect. Instead of officially recording the need for a test, and offering a choice of medical institutions:
меня обманом вывели из помещения полиции (сказали, что идем покупать билет на поезд до Москвы), уже на улице скрутили, силой затолкали в машину, отобрали телефон, привезли посреди ночи в какое-то здание без опознавательных знаков (во всяком случае, я не увидела никакой вывески, хотя просила мне ее показать), завели в кабинет, где была одна-единственная женщина, вручили ей направление на мое освидетельствование. а когда я сказала, что в таких условиях я проходить не буду, на оборотной стороне этого листочка написали, что я отказалась.
they tricked me into leaving the station (told me that we are going to buy a train ticket to Moscow), on they street they tied me up, pushed me into a car, took away my phone, drove me through the night to some unmarked building (at least I didn't see a sign, even though I asked to show me one), took me to an office where there was one single woman, gave her a referral for my examination. and when I said that I would not go through with it under these conditions, on the back of that sheet they wrote that I refused.
This moment was also recorded on the video published after the case gained notoriety. Interestingly, although the video is clearly being shot with a hand held camera, or perhaps a smartphone, Lokotkova believes that the footage came from some sort of security camera:
я не знаю, кто снимал. но насколько я поняла, в этом отделении полиции идет круглосуточная запись на видеокамеры, и именно запись с этих камер была использована.
I don't know who shot [the video]. as far as I understand, at that police station there is 24 hour video recording, and it was these cameras that were used.
Despite the fact that she thinks her tweets were misinterpreted, Lokotkova remains positive about the use of social media, and particularly impressed by the effectiveness of social networking for practical action.
абсолютно все без исключения мои друзья и даже почти совсем незнакомые люди в ФБ меня поддерживали, выражали сочувствие, предлагали помощь, координировали действия по моему вызволению из полиции. предложения о помощи поступают до сих пор – все в шоке от этой истории. в твиттере появилось несколько (3-4) бота-тролля с 20-ю подписчиками и с реальным заданием (в одном из твитов оно даже сохранилось) – как поливать меня грязью и выводить из себя идиотскими сообщениями. в ситуациях, подобных той, что произошла со мной, я считаю, что соцсети гораздо более эффективны, чем СМИ: люди координируются друг с другом, консультируют друг друга, находят телефоны полиции, прокуратуры, распределяют усилия – кто кому звонит, что предпринимает. так, например, в ФБ совсем недавно создана группа прямого действия, участники которой в частности помогали и моему вызволению.
absolutely without exception my friends and even people I didn't know have supported me on Facebook, expressed their sympathy, offered help, and coordinated actions to get me released. Offers of help are still coming in – everyone is shocked by the story. on Twitter, there are a few (three or four) troll-bots with 20 followers each and an actual assignment (which is still around in one of the tweets) to heap dirt on me and to harass me with idiotic messages. in situations like the one that happened to me, I think that social networks are a lot more effective than [traditional] mass media: people coordinate with each other, consult one another, find the phone numbers of the police, the prosecutor's office, and divide the labor – who calls whom, who does what. for example on Facebook this direct action group [ru] was recently created, members of which in particular helped get me released.

author: Daniel Alan Kennedy