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Colombia: Lawmakers Rush Bill on Author Rights and Intellectual Property · Global Voices
Lully

This March 20 the proposed Law 201 (2012) [es] was presented, somewhat hurriedly, to the Colombian congress. This proposed law reforms [es] the legislative and regulatory framework of intellectual property and the rights of authors. On March 23, only three days after its initial reading, the law was approved by the Senate and House of Representatives secondary committees.
Red Pa Todos (“Internet for Everyone”) has been collecting  petition signatures [es] asking the Colombian congress to debate the proposed law without unnecessarily rushing through procedures to vote on its approval.
The law attempts to conform to one of the obligations [es] arising from the implementation of a free trade agreement with the US (FTA). The law's proposal also coincides with the arrival of the President of the United States Barack Obama on April 14 in Cartagena, where he will attend the Summit of the Americas. The Colombian government plans to make an official announcement on the Colombia-US FTA at the summit.
These developments have unleashed several reactions [es] in traditional media [es], as well as numerous protests from diverse citizen media [es]. Activists and citizens have rejected the urgent, hurried attitude with which the law has been presented. Many connect this law to the previous “Lleras Law” that sought to regulate the liabilities for author's rights infractions as well as internet derived rights.
Anonymous, the famous hacktivist group so hard to define, shared a note about the law on Facebook [es] and also published a video on YouTube that was titled “#LeyllerasRecargada” (“#LawLlerasReloaded”):
On March 27, La Silla Vacía [es] reported on Anonymous’ recent actions:
La semana pasada, el primer debate de este proyecto de ley fue aprobado “a pupitrazo” [en un procedimiento de urgencia], y hoy, aunque no comenzó el segundo debate en el Senado, Anonymous está usando la estrategia a la que recurrió hace casi un año: la facción colombiana de este grupo difícil de definir envió un comunicado esta mañana criticando al Gobierno Nacional por presentar este proyecto y desde su cuenta de twitter @Anonymous_co llamó a sus seguidores para atacar la página del Senado que está caída desde hace unas dos horas.
For their part, Red pa todos [es] clarifies the difference between the Law Lleras and the newly proposed one:
En contenido el Proyecto de Ley 201 no es la Ley Lleras, esa se ocupaba de la responsabilidad de los proveedores de servicios de Internet por las posibles infracciones de sus usuarios, responsabilidad por hechos de terceros, mientras éste es una reforma al derecho de autor, toca plazo de protección, excepciones, definiciones, derechos conexos, reforma los delitos, habla de Medidas de Protección Tecnológicas, etc.
The group [es] also confirms that they are preparing a complete proposal to present to congress, airing 5 initial concerns including the following:
También podría violar derechos de usuarios si, como sucede en esta versión, no se consagra el procedimiento administrativo que el propio TLC contempla para ajustar cada 4 años esas excepciones. En el proyecto no se desarrolla el procedimiento sino sólo una facultad general para el gobierno de proponer cambios. Nos preguntamos entonces, ¿para qué el afán? Tampoco se están cumpliendo con todas las obligaciones del TLC, falta esta.
María Juliana Soto also expreses her concern [es] on the Fundación Karisma portal. The lawyer Iván Vargas Chaves provides an analysis on website equinoXio [es]:
Una de las grandes preocupaciones que nos atañen como ciudadanos de la sociedad de la información es el vernos obligados a dejar el bloqueo de contenidos en Internet en manos de una autoridad administrativa, y no de un juez como siempre lo ha sido, aquellas libertades que no son más que el reflejo de un Estado Social de Derecho, pues ante todo, es el juez mismo, en atención a la figura de reserva judicial, el único que luego de una ponderación y aplicación del debido proceso puede decidir sobre éstos, lo que se traduce en tener la certeza sobre la aplicación de garantías a la libertad de expresión e información y derecho de huelga y competencia.
Carolina Botero in her blog Carobotero-co asks that the law be debated over a prudent time frame [es], and argues that the congressmen are not well informed on the law's contents:
Sería bueno cumplir TLC a tiempo, pero sería mejor hacerlo bien, no sería el primer país en pedir plazo y al menos los congresistas la leerían
German (@germread) [es] refers to the term “pupitrazo” [es] while talking about the same topic on Twitter:
Hoy aprendí en mi visita al congreso la palabra #pupitrazo, Dícese de de congresistas que aprueban leyes #lleras sin leerlas y discutirlas.
The blog Hyperconectado [es] titled an article “The New Lleras Law” [es] and puts forward a series of questions for the government, including:
¿Por qué tan rápido quieren la aprobación? o ¿Por qué el gobierno no quiere una discusión abierta y transparente sobre el tema?
Geraldine Juárez at ALTI040 compares this law against others [es] and finds an interesting similarity, a “coincidence,” in how they have been presented for debate:
No es una casualidad que Ley Sinde, Ley Lleras, SOPA, etc…compartan la peculiar característica de la prisa. Su objetivo es excluir el debate público para evitar que sus abusivos fines y colusión de los gobiernos con las corporaciones, sean expuestas.
Finally, from the blog El Kilo, Arias publishes an open letter [es] to the Colombian congress, concluding with this call to accounting:
Si le queda dignidad, señor congresista, al menos discuta el proyecto, y tómese un rato para informarse acerca de lo que está legislando, antes de ponerle su firma.

author: Lully


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Egypt: Your ID, Your Rights Targets Women  · Global Voices
Tarek Amr

According to figures coming from the Egyptian Ministry of Interior, as many as 4 million women in the country do not have national identity cards. A woman without a national ID is not able to own land, she cannot buy or sell assets and she cannot even inherit from her deceased family members.
The lack of IDs also prevent women the access to various of public services, including education, healthcare, the right to vote and other basic social rights. And that's why a new campaign has been launched aiming to provide all women with national ID cards.
The campaign is called “Your ID, Your Rights” and their goal is to issue IDs to 2 million Egyptian women for free. It will start with a pilot for three months.
2 Million IDs to 2 Million Women
According to the campaign's Facebook page [ar]:
المرحلة التجريبية سوف تشمل الـ 3 شهور القادمة (ابتداءا من مارس) و سوف تبدأ في محافظة القليوبية و هي تضم 14 مركز و تهدف أكثر من 40 ألف سيدة لا تملك بطاقة رقم قومي. تم أختيار المراكز التالية فى محافظة القليوبية للمرحلة التجريبية: مركز بنها، مركز قليوب، مركز شبين القناطر ومركز القناطر الخيرية
According to UN report in 2006, 41% of the adult females in Egypt are illiterate. Photo courtesy of Ilene Perlman.
This isn't the first campaign of try to achieve the same goal, however this one is supported by various NGOs, including UN Women (United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women), UNDP (United Nations Development Program), MSAD (Ministry of State for Administrative Development), SFD (Social Fund for Development), MoFA (Ministry of Foreign Affairs), and others.
The campaign organisers are also making use of social media to spread awareness about the project. They have launched accounts on Twitter and Facebook to raise awareness about the campaign as well as gender inequality issues in the country.
On Twitter, they announced:
Your ID, Your Rights
Finally, they want people to help them raise awareness about the campaign by sharing and retweeting their posts on Facebook and Twitter.
And here's how they frame their appeal to netizens:

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Tarek Amr


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France: Lyon Hosts the World Wide Web 2012 Conference · Global Voices
Suzanne Lehn

The World Wide Web 2012 conference is hosted this year in Lyon, France, from April 16 to 20, and will feature many prominent figures of the Web, historic and current ones. Global Voices Online author Danica Radovanovic is presenting on the first day a paper about “one of the very popular social and communication dynamics on social networks and media”. Read more on her blog here.

author: Suzanne Lehn


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Greenpeace Blocked from Entering South Korea for Their Nuclear Stance · Global Voices
Lee Yoo Eun

South Korean immigration authorities blocked three Greenpeace staffers from entering the country. Kumi Naidoo, international executive director of Greenpeace tweeted about the incident and his several tweets are rapidly translated in Korean.

author: Lee Yoo Eun


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Guinea: Of the “Good Old Days” and Guinea’s Future   · Global Voices
Abdoulaye Bah

Ma Guinée Plurielle  wrote the following [fr] on the  Salte Afrique blog : “I became downright pessimistic about the future of Guinea. When I was a little boy, I heard that yesterday was better than today but tomorrow will be alright eventually. Twenty-five years later, I am still hearing the same old song. I wonder when tomorrow will arrive  and I would love to live in this inaccessible “yesterday”. Meanwhile, I gnaw on my brake living in this painful present.”

author: Abdoulaye Bah


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Is Facebook Trying to Re-enter China? · Global Voices
Violeta Camarasa

Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg has come back to China. Several local journalists and netizens spotted him and his girlfriend, Priscilla Chan, in Shanghai last Tuesday, March 27, and once more, rumors spread like fire through the Internet: Is the king of social media working on its reappearance in China?
Although Zuckerberg alleged it was just a vacation trip, netizens in China and worldwide have their doubts.
Star Chan, from the M.I.C. Gadget blog, posted on Tuesday:
This afternoon, some Chinese paparazzi spotted Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his Chinese fiancée in Shanghai, so Mark Zuckerberg has came back to China again! Holiday tour or business trip? According to inside rumor, Mark Zuckerberg and Apple CEO Tim Cook (yeah! Cook is also in China!) have flown together with a private jet on their trip to China.
Access to Facebook has been banned in China since mid-2009, when the country's authorities concluded that people participating in the riots that took place in the western province of Xinjiang had used the social network to organize the protests.
In February, however, Facebook revealed it was studying the possibility of re-opening in China, the world's largest Internet market, and now Zuckerberg has visited the country officially “on vacation”.
Other blogs, like Shangaiist, Ministry of Tofu and TechNode, have also discussed Zuckerberg's visit.
Gang Lu, at TechNode, wrote:
This is really interesting. Two great guys, representing two hottest tech companies of the world. Both visit China at the same time. One in Beijing, the other in Shanghai; One for business, the other is for vacation; One is the first time in China, the other is at his second trip and even understands a bit of Chinese; One is growing its business amazingly fast in China, the other has almost conquered the entire cyber world but is still not available in China. But I bet there is only one keyword in their mind right now, which is: China, China!
On Wednesday, Liu Kun [zh], PopCap Games [zh] manager in China, said on Chinese social network Sina Weibo that he had spotted Zuckerberg in Beijing and his activities there did not make think of vacations:
Mark Zuckerberg spotted in Beijing. Photo by Liu Kun
@Liu KunFacebook CEO 马克.扎克伯格！他离我仅3米的距离。现场实拍。Mark Elliot Zuckerberg！他来北京是解决VPN么？@李菁rekin9 @植物大战僵尸 @赵迅PopCap @ANDY田行智 @蒋涛CSDN @龙伟-大众点评 @宋炜
Zuckerberg's last visit to China took place in December 2010 and was also billed as a vacation trip, despite that he paid several visits to top Chinese Internet companies such as Baidu, Sina and Alibaba.
The possibility of seeing Facebook unblocked has boosted the hopes of those who want to see social and political change in the Asian giant. There is a widely held idea that social media–both local and global–can give the Chinese people the power that the Chinese Communist Party denies them. Local social media are already challenging the government's controls on information, and many Chinese netizens are eager to access global social networks. Zuckerberg himself has stated that Facebook can be an agent of change in China, like it has been in Egypt or Tunisia.
Alec Ross, US Secretary of State Senior Advisor for Innovation, spoke about China at a speech at the University of Hong Kong on March 19. When asked by a student about Chinese netizens’ demands for the US government to push Chinese authorities away from censorship and repression, Ross replied with the perfectly diplomatic answer that history shows that change in China can only come from its own citizens and social networks can be of great help.
Online discussions sparked by Zuckerberg's visit to China focus not only on the Internet industry but also on censorship, freedom of expression and the hope–or not–of seeing Facebook unblocked.
William Moss, of the new collective blog Rectified.name, imagines possible scenarios and players around Facebook re-entering China, and designed a table where he demonstrates that talking about Facebook and China means talking about politics and freedom of expression:
The basic math is that to even have a chance of operating here Facebook would have to apply the mandated censorship policies either just to users of its core service in China or to a spinoff service that is kept separate from the core service. It would also have to be prepared to surrender Chinese user information to the authorities if requested.
Star Chan's post at M.I.C. Gadget also notes:
And thanks to all the Chinese micro-blog users from Sina Weibo [zh] who have captured all the snaps! […] It should be noted that Zuckerberg won’t be able to update his Facebook account during his stay in Shanghai, thanks to the Great Firewall of China–unless he’s using a VPN.
Despite Facebook being blocked, almost 450,000 Internet users in China–according to socialbakers–access the social network by scaling the firewall with proxies, tunnels or VPN software, a practice not likely to change soon, if at all.

author: Violeta Camarasa


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Jamaica: Counting Crayons  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“Yes, the crime rate and garrison communities are atrocious. Yes, the decline in public morality is a cause for concern. But there are bright spots that shine beyond Jamaica's geographical boundaries”: Diaspora blogger Geoffrey Philp highlights one of them.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Kyrgyzstan: The Internet on Trial? · Global Voices
Chris Rickleton

The ongoing trial of an ethnic Russian journalist accused of inciting racial hatred in a series of online articles may have profound implications for Kyrgyzstan's regulation of the Internet, as well as testing the neutrality of the country's moribund  judicial system.
Vladimir Farofonov is accused under article 299, section one, which applies a charge of causing “national, racial, religious or interregional enmity” via “means of mass information”. Under conditions of judicial impartiality, the case's outcome would probably hinge on the difficulty of proving Farafanov's articles correspond to the charge at all, given that Kyrgyz law makes no provisions for the Internet as “means of mass information”.
Nevertheless, given that local courtrooms are often slaves to overriding political moods, it is far from certain that proceedings will devote themselves to this technicality alone.
Further complicating a case described by CPJ as “politically motivated”, Farafonov himself, appearing at the opening of his trial on March 28 [ru] said that over 11 of the 16 articles that had been brought as evidence against him at the trial were not written by him, something state prosecutors, not generally known for their mastery of the web, will have difficulty in disproving.
Moreover, the idea that the offending articles were written by more than one person has even been put forward by opponents of the very works attributed to Vladimir Farafonov.
Jyrgalbek Turdukozhoyev, an influential former editor of Bishkek-based online news agency, Kabar.kg, launched  a written invective against “the Farafonovs” in the Kyrgyz-language press last year, then gave an interview to “Kyrgyz Ruhu” newspaper, later translated and published online, in which he explained the decision to pluralize his target:
“In my article, I was far from “assigning” the list of articles published under the signature V. Farafonov, to one author, because for me it was clear that behind [the articles] is a whole group of authors, weaving and carrying nonsense,” he said.
To summarize this strange situation, then: An ethnic Russian journalist, born in Kyrgyzstan, faces the possibility of imprisonment (up to five years according to article 299 section one of the Kyrgyz criminal code) for inciting racial enmity in articles published online. The journalist himself denies he is racist (he cites a part-Kyrgyz wife in his defence), denies that he is the author of most of the articles (and many of his accusers appear to agree with him), while his legal team denies that the Internet falls under the umbrella of “mass media”.
N.B If this appears to have a touch of farce about it, it still pales in comparison to the decision of a provincial court in the South of the country to sentence two Jehovas Witnesses to imprisonment as Islamic radicals in May last year…
The right to incite?
But what exactly has Farafonov (or people pretending to be him) done to offend the Kyrgyz state prosecutor that brought the charges against him? An article on Eurasianet.org attempted to frame the accusations against the journalist in the context of some of the openly insulting rhetoric contained in the pieces attached to his name:
“[The journalist's] writing will hardly help his case. In September 2010, Farafonov wrote on byeli parus…that only 20 percent of ethnic Kyrgyz are “modern humans,” while 80 percent are “stupidly stuck in the Asian middle ages.”
In an August 2011 article about the murder of a Kazakh tourist in Kyrgyzstan’s Issyk-Kul region, published by Centrasia.ru, Farafonov calls the Kyrgyz press covering the story “prisoners of political darkness,” trapped in “absolute stagnation” akin to an era of “early feudalism.” Labelling the murder an example of “elementary Kyrgyz hospitality,” the author’s scathing references to “primitive” rural Kyrgyz were condemned by Kyrgyz-language newspapers….”
Inflammatory? Certainly. Capable of causing inter-ethnic discord? Intangible. But much Russian-language media coverage of the Farafanov case has focused on the perceived one-sidedness in the application of article 299. A quick scan of gezitter.org [ru], which translates Kyrgyz-language print media into Russian, reveals no shortage of chauvinistic articles [ru] that might be better suited to the specifics of the racial enmity charge, since they originally appeared in printed newspapers.
However, while organizations such as the International Crisis Group observed the Kyrgyz-language press’ role in fuelling tensions between Kyrgyz and Uzbeks in the run up to and aftermath of ethnic violence in 2010, no ethnic Kyrgyz editors or journalists have been brought before the courts since that time.
Commenting on Kloop.kg's facebook plugin, Bektour Iskender said:
I don't know whose side I am on in Farafanov's case. But the fact that Kyrgyz language newspapers aren't investigated for nationalism at all – this is certainly a fact IMO.
Take Sha noted that the case had important implications for press and internet freedoms in a country that generally enjoys a better track record in both than its neighbours:
Kyrgyzstan differs from CSI [former Soviet] countries in that you can write what you like and [the state] won't come and grab you, whether it is online, in forums…
But on Twitter, it was clear that Farafanov's writing had caused offence.
@tano-banzai: Farafanov is a ****
Meanwhile, @Samatdolotbakov articulated:
People, have you read the articles of #Farafanov “on the Kyrgyz”? Little **** has irritated me. The following tweets will be citations from his articles…
@Ryskulbekov agreed, tending toward the theory that the articles were written by a collective, rather than an individual:
@Ryskulbekov: @samatdolotbakov Samat, I consider, that these Farafonovs are the most genuinely destructive forces in our society
Once referred to as Central Asia's ‘island of democracy’, Kyrgyzstan has a reputation for political openness and media freedoms superior to the countries that it borders. The Tajik government's recent move to block Facebook, for instance, is an example of a decision that is almost unthinkable in Kyrgyzstan, where MPs actively use social media. Indeed, even aggressive “trolling” across the country's online space is “pluralist”, according to an excellent IWPR report about comment “wars” between Central Asian netizens and state-sanctioned anonymous posters.
But there are signs that this may change. Recently, the government enacted a long-ago-passed parliamentary ruling blocking the independent Central Asian news website, Ferghana.ru, which lawmakers felt stoked inter-ethnic tensions in its coverage of the June 2010 violence. The country's former President, Kurmanbek Bakiyev, had banned the same site during his own time in office, but that block lasted just a month, as he was overthrown in a bloody coup in April 2010.
Regardless of what Vladimir Farafanov has or hasn't written, his conviction would set a worrying precedent for state incursions into online territory. If he is found guilty, then the Internet – and everything written on it – could be considered “fair game” for zealous state prosecutors and a compromised judiciary.
Kyrgyzstani bloggers await a verdict with mixed feelings.

author: Chris Rickleton


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Malaysia: Online Media to be Regulated Soon? · Global Voices
Cindi Loo

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak announced at the recent Malaysian Press Institute awards that amendments to the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984 (PPPA) will be tabled in the Parliament soon. In addition to that, he also repeated his intent to regulate online media as the government cannot practise double standards when it comes to regulating the print and online media.
This announcement was made in conjunction with his speech to make reforms back in September 15, 2011 for Malaysia Day, wherein he promised to abolish the Internal Security Act 1960 (ISA), the Banishment Act (1959), and amend the PPPA as well as the Restricted Residence Act 1933:
Kajian semula komprehensif ini akan melibatkan Akta Kediaman Terhad 1933 dan Akta Mesin Cetak dan Penerbitan 1984 di mana prinsip pembaharuan tahunan akan dihapuskan dan digantikan dengan pengeluaran lesen sehingga dibatalkan.
However, this was met with skepticism, as pointed out by the Center for Independent Journalism, the “reforms” on the PPPA do not mean extending media freedom in Malaysia:
The government’s unreformed position when it comes to freedom of expression is reflected in its response to the Malaysiakini court challenge to the Home Ministry’s rejection of its application for a publishing permit. Deputy Home Minister Abu Seman Yusop in his affidavit-in-reply filed on Sept 12, 2011, said permits were a “privilege”, and the denial of permits cannot be equated to denial of the right to free speech. This position ignores the people’s right to information, especially those who do not have Internet access and are thus deprived of alternative, freer media that can afford a more critical perspective.
The Prime Minister also needs to clarify whether the government still plans to widen the scope of the PPPA to include online media, in apparent contradiction to its much-touted commitment to Internet freedom.
Some of the current provisions that curbs freedom of speech and expression found in the PPPA includes:
1. Under Section 5 of the PPPA, the Malaysian government still holds power over permits to publish newspapers. The Home Minister has sole power to grant or deny applications, revoke permits which have been issued (which according to the PM’s announcement will not have to be renewed annually), and set conditions before issuing them. There is no recourse to judicial review of the Home Minister’s decisions regarding the permits.
2. Under Section 3 of the PPPA, the Home Minister controls the licences to use printing presses.
3. Under Section 7 of the PPPA, the Home Ministry controls all publications (defined as books, articles, music, photographs, caricatures, reports, notes etc) in the country and can issue bans on those it deems “undesirable”.
Under the current context of law, the online media is not included under the PPPA, thus giving it more freedom to be critical and analyse the government's policies and announcements, much to the chagrin of the Ministers and politicians.
Aneesa Alphonsus, a Free Malaysia Today journalist, wrote that it is impossible to regulate the online media the way the government does to traditional media:
The misguided would continue to think of it as still being “the Internet” – another piece of technology, another channel that can and should be subjected to regulation.
Oddly, and with no intention of romanticising it, online media is in fact the de-regulation, or perhaps re-regulation, of traditional media.
By turning the existing power structures of public representation on its head – anyone with an internet connection now has a voice – online media assumed the people-centric role that traditional media has left behind.
Has this always been a good thing? There will always be those who take their new-found liberty for granted.
But to focus our laws on addressing these isolated incidents is to miss the bigger picture about what online media really stands for – a rebalancing of the way modern society has worked in terms of public representation
Some took to Twitter to voice their views on online media regulation:
@napiez: Dear @NajibRazak the online media doesnt need regulation. It's mainstream media that needs de-regulation
@annuarkhairi: Let's see what Tun M has to say about this. In a way he guaranteed regulation free online media during the MSC days.
@krybabe: Online media aside, MSM has stepped up to the plate – self regulation, code of ethics, MPC. Now ABOLISH PPPA & STOP threatening them alrdy
@hanimomo: Maybe the regulation of online media will help curb unsubstianted claims and vicious slanders?
@ssathyao1: wat is problem with our PM wanna regulate online media so that BE END can ctrl the media..freedom of speech only exist in msia thru online
@JBoey: @smellykatemoss they can regulate all they want but the online media will always be around and users will always find a way !
@vonHazrul: Anyone who thinks it's a grand idea to regulate online media should be patted on his back. With a shovel.
But until the proposed new law or amendments to PPPA is tabled on the Parliament, which is now in session, there's only speculation on whether this regulation is a sign of progression or regression in the media landscape of Malaysia.

author: Cindi Loo


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Myanmar: Construction Resumes in Suspended Dam Project  · Global Voices
tan

Weekly Eleven reported that construction of the controversial Myit Sone Dam in Kachin State in Myanmar which was suspended last year by the government has been resumed.

author: tan


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Myanmar: New Currency Exchange Rate · Global Voices
tan

The Central Bank of Myanmar set the new currency exchange rate of 818 Kyats per 1 US Dollar, as part of the move to implement a new floating currency exchange system. Previously, the official rate was 6.4 Ks. per 1 US Dollar.


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Nigeria: Ify Omalicha’s Last Dance · Global Voices
Nwachukwu Egbunike

Nigeria's arts community recently lost a  theater artist and poet: Ify Agwu Omalicha. She died in an auto crash on her way to Abuja. Ayodele Olofintuade laments that Ify death is a consequence of years of neglect and corruption that leaders of Nigeria “have perpetuated over and again”. As such denying Ify's son the joy of a mother's love. In this post, NigeriansTalk collates some tributes from Ify's colleagues.

author: Nwachukwu Egbunike


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Nigeria: Online Furore Over #DominionAir · Global Voices
Nwachukwu Egbunike

Nigeria’s cyberspace was aflame recently due of the launching of Dominion Air. Why would the advent of another brand name into the aviation space generate so much public discourse? It happens that this is no usual airline: it is alleged to be owned by an Evangelical “prosperity” minister, Bishop David Oyedepo:
A Nigerian Christian author, Preacher, founder and Presiding Bishop of Living Faith Church World Wide also known as Winners Chapel and its affiliated International churches known as Winners Chapel International, with headquarters in Ogun State, Nigeria. He is also the senior pastor of Faith Tabernacle, a 50,000 seat church auditorium reputed to be the largest church auditorium in the world by the Guinness Book of Records.The Winners Chapel network of churches is present in over 300 cities in all states of Nigeria, as well as in over 63 cities in 32 African Nations, Dubai, the United Kingdom and the United States of America.
Bishop David Oyedepo (Courtsey: yemojanews.com)
Forbes ranks Oyedepo as Nigeria's richest pastor:
Estimated net worth: $150 million. David Oyedepo is Nigeria’s wealthiest preacher… Oyedepo owns four private jets and homes in London and the United States. He also owns Dominion Publishing House, a thriving publishing company that publishes all his books (which are often centred on prosperity). He founded and owns Covenant University, one of Nigeria’s leading tertiary institutions, and Faith Academy, an elite high school.
Sahara Reporters claims that the floating of Dominion Air was due to the escalating cost of maintaining Oyedepo’s private jets:
The rising cost of maintaining four private jets has forced flamboyant Nigerian pastor, Bishop David Oyedepo, to set up a commercial airline that uses four airplanes that had hitherto served as part of his private fleet. Last year, as staff costs, fuel prices and landing fees escalated, Bishop Oyedepo had contemplated selling two of the jets. But when no buyers were forthcoming, he turned to Plan B: to set up Dominion Air and put the jets to commercial use.
The reactions on many Nigerian social platforms were varied.
Here are some sarcastic and critical twits:
@dangeldiva: So is the pilot going to pray before take-off? #DominionAir
 @nzesylva: As soon as the pilot puts off the ‘fasten your seat belt’ sign, all passengers are to close their eyes for praise n worship. #DominionAir
@FedUpNigerian: #DominionAirInflightEntertainment It’s not allowed to clap after landing, we can only shout hallelujah! #dominionair
@Ms_Mustapha: In flight magazines to be replaced with bibles #dominionair
@sheikhofeffizy: #dominionair…no fones or BB on board and carries only saints…
@kj_hova: Religion must not b taxd by govt. Howeva, its profit making ventures must b subject to company & income taxes etc. #DominionAir
@BuzorIbusaBoy: U complained about his jet, he got an airline, doesn't that tell u that he doesn't care….U still want to complain? #DominionAir
@ChikaUwazie: Now I see why Nigerians kill themselves to become a pastor #dominionair
Twitter users in support:
@OgbeniBen: For those criticising #DominionAir “(my) ♏v̶̲̥̅ People perish bcos they lack wisdom” its a̶̲̥̅ Go̲̣̥o̲̣̥d Move for we at Winners Family.
@drphilip2010: I hear the sound of #envy! #DominionAir #BishopOyedepo.
@lutoluh: If Oyedepo had kept his money in the bank or built a mansion in his village with it…none would be ranting right now! #dominionAir
Kathleen Ndongmo identifies “7 Things to Consider before Criticising Bishop Oyedepo”:
7- A “full time” pastor is not allowed to do business? He commits a ‘crime’ if he does? A full time politician can loot and that’s no crime?
6- Pick one: The man who loots ur treasury for his business or the man who uses ur voluntary donations for a business. Are we sentimental?
5- Tax the ‘church’ if government deems it fit. That’s an okay dynamic. For all you know, the ‘church’ will pay. Comfortably.
4- I grew up in the Catholic Church. Where ‘mission’ schools, ‘mission’ hospitals etc where a benefit to the community.
3- How can a man’s only crime for starting a business be the fact that he heads a Christian ministry?
2- If an atheist starts a business [like an airline] that works [for the customer] will there be uproar? Does faith nullify?
1. Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu (allegedly) starts First Nation, no negative uproar. Why is there one when Oyedepo starts Dominion?
Phantom of Jargon points out flaws in Ndongmo’s thesis:
7. A politician looting IS a crime, Christianity is not a business venture, Dominion AIRLINE is something MASSIVE! If Bishop Oyedepo wants to go Donald Trump, he should drop ministry.
6. You’re actually making this sound worse for Bishop Oyedepo: “..uses ur voluntary donations for a business” If he reps Christianity truly, I know for a fact these ‘voluntary donations’ are not bargaining chips for entrepreneurship, its meant for helps and evangelism
5. ano… Kathleen Ndongmo-san there is a reason why Churches are not taxed in the first place, it clearly isn’t meant to exist as a profit driven organization and CHIGAU! There are churches that cannot pay… comfortably.
4. Thumbs up to the true Catholics but those are ‘mission amenities’ a Dominion Airline is a commercial establishment, I find it difficult to see how it would directly affect those who really need ‘help’ in a community, Its just like someone opening a casino and going like “I’m trying to help people become rich  ”
3. ’7′ disagrees with this…
1&2 The atheist or the politician wouldn’t be contradicting his faithlessness.
Bishop Oyedepo has not commented about the ownership of Dominion Air. As such, Contra Culture E-Magazine thinks that the entire furore over Dominion Air is unnecessary:
So there is a rumour on the web that Bishop Oyedepo is in the process of starting an airline company called Dominion airlines. It is a rumour because nobody from Winners chapel has provided any response…


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Pakistan: What Are You Smoking? · Global Voices
Rezwan

Shisha smoking has bacome a craze among youngsters in Pakistan in recent years. Hina Safdar reports that a ban on Shisha smoking/selling is in effect in the Sindh province and violating the law can lead to 6 months of imprisonment.

author: Rezwan


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Russia: Online Petition Seeks to Increase Controls on Foreign-Funded NGOs · Global Voices
Kevin Rothrock

Back in early February 2012, Vladimir Putin published the fourth op-ed of his presidential campaign: a lengthy treatise titled “Democracy and the Quality of Government” [ru]. About 1,500 words deep into that article, Putin proposed that the Russian parliament should automatically consider the legislative applications of any online petition successful in gathering more than one-hundred thousand signatures.
A few weeks later, Putin published the final installment of his platform, titled “Russia and the Changing World” [ru], where he wrote the following:
The distinction should be clear between free speech and normal political activity, on the one hand, and illegal instruments of ‘soft power,’ on the other. […] [T]he activity of ‘pseudo-NGOs’ and other structures operating on external support, pursuing the destabilization of one or another country, is unacceptable. […] We believe that influence on domestic politics and the public mood in other countries should be conducted only in the open — allowing actors to take full responsibility for their actions.
From words to deeds
Screenshot of podkontrol.ru
In late March, less than three weeks after Putin's re-election to the Russian presidency, an online petition emerged, calling for stricter controls on foreign-funded Russian NGOs. Hosted at www.podkontrol.ru [ru], the petition calls on the government to adopt “the Law on the Foreign Financing of NGOs,” and has collected over 20,000 signatures in a little over one week (with more still pouring in).
Endorsed by 13 “affiliate organizations,” the initiative enjoys the support of pro-regime political groups like the Anti-Orange Committee, Dmitri Rogozin's ‘Congress of Russian Communities,’ and Alexander Dugin's ‘International Eurasian Movement.’
Podkontrol.ru argues that it is proposing nothing more than a Russian version of Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), an American law requiring the registration of all individuals and organizations acting on behalf of foreign interests. Borrowing the same language Putin used in February, the site warns that Russia is the target of foreign “soft power,” and that “billions of dollars are spent [on soft power efforts] to undermine the integrity of [Russia], and the stability of its political foundations.”
To support such a claim, the authors cite Assistant Secretary Philip Gordon of the United States State Department, who said publicly in March 2012 that the United States had spent over $200 million in Russia since 2009 “to promote democracy, human rights, and civil society,” and that the White House has asked Congress for $50 million of additional funding. Podkontrol.ru's proposed legislation is described as follows:
Staff members of organizations that receive money from foreign funds and agencies should be obligated to register with the Justice Ministry of the Russian Federation, as well as be subjected to a special audit by the tax authorities. There should be obligatory procedures for making information about the receipt of foreign funds and the sources of NGO staff earnings available to any citizen of the country, and published on the Justice Ministry's website. In turn, all materials published by such organizations (regardless of the place they are published, whether on their own websites or in third-party media outlets) should be marked by special distinct signs.
In the Russian blogosphere, one of the petition's greatest advocates has been longtime anti-oppositionist blogger Stanislav Apet'ian (LJ user politrash_ru). In a March 26 post [ru] (roughly four days after the site appeared), Apet'ian first introduced his readers to Podkontrol.ru. Shortly thereafter, he followed up with a longer defense of the petition in an article [ru] for the online Public Chamber Tribune, where he argued that existing transparency and reporting norms for Russian NGOs are too weak:
[…] The mere fact that these reports are transmitted to the Justice Ministry clearly doesn't mean that citizens can easily and understandably get informed, let alone ascertain by surname all the beneficiaries of foreign grants. […]
Apetian also addressed comments by a member of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation and Agency for Social Information (ASI) Director Elena Topoleva-Soldunova [ru], who charged [ru] the petition's authors with having proposed redundant legislation that reproduces controls on Russian NGOs already in place. Acknowledging that ASI's website clearly indicates that it receives funding from USAID, Apetian points out that the websites of other prominent NGOs do not clarify their foreign sources of financing, singling out the ‘Za prava cheloveka’ Movement, ‘Obraz budushchego’ Fund, ‘Sakharovskoe Movement,’ and finally the Association ‘Golos’ (perhaps the best known target of anti-NGO activity in Russia today).
Assessing the call for more NGO controls
What should one make of Apetian's case? It is indeed true that the website of ‘Golos,’ for instance, only publishes a list of its domestic and foreign “partners,” without indicating the nature of any financial relationships. Lev Ponomarev's ‘Za prava cheloveka’ Movement, too, lists only its “partners,” without revealing its sponsors. (It's worth noting that the websites of the ‘Anti-Orange Committee’ and the International Eurasian Movement also fail to reveal the sources of their financial support.)
If one visits the Russian Justice Ministry's website, there are nearly 70,000 NGO-submitted reports published since 2009. The Ministry's database [ru], however, does not return any results for ‘Golos,’ ‘Obraz budushchego,’ or the ‘Sakharovskoe Movement.’ While it does locate reports from the regional branches of Ponomarev's organization, any specific data in the reports regarding amounts of income and spending appear to be redacted or missing.
Daria Miloslavskaya [ru], another member of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation and Director of The International Center for Not-for-Profit Law, insists that the petition calls for already-existing legislation. The most recent major revision to the legal obligations of non-state organizations in Russia is Federal Law #18 [ru], signed by Putin in January 2006. 18-FZ, as it's called in Russian, enacted a series of controversial amendments to legal codes affecting NGOs, vastly complicating the operations of foreign-dependent organizations.
In early 2008, Human Rights Watch published a 76-page report, titled “Choking on Bureaucracy” [en], documenting “the corrosive impact” of 18-FZ.
Miloslavskaya also argues that Podkontrol.ru's authors misinterpret FARA. She explains [ru]:
[…] There is no concrete mention of NGOs [in FARA], therefore those who try to present [FARA] as a ban on the activity of NGOs with foreign funding either don't understand the subject, or they intentionally mislead their audience. […]
It is worth noting that FARA was drafted in 1938 in the context of the looming Second World War, and was designed to target German fascist propaganda. Equally remarkable is the fact that there have been no successful criminal prosecutions under FARA in nearly fifty years, since well before the end of the Cold War. Meanwhile in contemporary Russia, Miloslavskaya is scheduled to lead an online seminar on April 2, offering lessons in “the particulars of NGO reporting to the Ministry of Justice in 2012″ at the website www.portal-nko.ru [ru], designed to help NGO leaders better navigate the country's already numerous regulatory hurdles.

author: Kevin Rothrock


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Afghanistan: Investigation into Uruzgan incident complete · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Nick Fielding writes that investigation into the February 2010 tragedy, when 23 Afghans travelling in three vehicles in Uruzgan province were attacked and killed by US helicopters, is over.

author: Adil Nurmakov


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Afghanistan: RAWA, a Female Taliban · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Mohammad Amin Wahidi writes about a women group called RAWA in Afghanistan that is reportedly miusing the funds of international donors, while operating as the Taliban's aide in promotion of fundamentalism and ethnic discrimination.


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Colombia: 10 ‘Last’ Armed Forces Hostages Released by FARC · Global Voices
Julián Ortega Martínez

On Monday April 2, 2012, four soldiers and six policemen, kidnapped by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) since 1998 or 1999, were released by that same guerrilla group in a rural area [es] between Meta and Guaviare (southeastern Colombia). The release of six of these hostages was announced by FARC late last year, and in February the group announced they would abandon kidnappings and release the remaining hostages.
Once again former senator Piedad Córdoba and a group called Colombianos y Colombianas por la Paz (Colombians for Peace, CCP) brokered the release. Two Brazilian helicopters left the airport of Villavicencio to pick up the hostages, with two delegates of the International Commitee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Ms Córdoba and Olga Amparo Díaz from CCP.
At 17:40 COT (22:40 UTC) the helicopters went back to Villavicencio bringing the former hostages back to freedom. Minutes later, they were sent to a brief medical checkup before being taken to Bogotá, where they met their families and received more medical attention.
Twitter overflowed with thousands of reactions to the news.
Diana Lara (@LaCura_) [es] tweets:
¿cual es la indignación de los uribistas con que se televisen las liberaciones? ¿que han hecho ellos para gestionar al menos UNA? ¡NADA!
While Mario Cabrera (@amarilloazulado) [es] celebrates with caution:
Que felicidad por la liberación de los secuestrados. No se puede olvidar a quienes los retuvieron por 14 años. #NoMasfarc
Angela Ospina (@aodenicholls) [es] reminds her followers that the FARC is still holding civilians:
ONG Pais Libre dice q aun existen 407 secuestrados en manos de las FARC. existirá quien medie x su regreso a casa? Nos quedaremos callados?
Villavicencio, Colombia. April 2, 2012 — A group of 10 hostages held for more than 12 years arrive on the tarmac in Villavicencio. Photo by Nestor Silva. Copyright Demotix.
José Carlos García R (@JoseCarlosTecno) [es] writes:
Luego de 14 años de secuestro vil e infame, esta ‘buena voluntad’ de las Farc debe ser contestada con un buen bombardeo…
Some used humor, like El Chiflamicas (@elchiflamicas) [es]:
The Walking Dead! RT @Hora20: Hoy en H20: 10 secuestrados regresan a la vida…
And not all users are celebrating the release. Ramiro Castañeda (@ramiroski_) [es] tweets:
Yo, la verdad, siento rabia e indignación, al ver a estos hombres con media vida acabada por culpa de los terroristas de las farc. No olvido
Daniel Arango (@stultaviro) [es] recalls how former hostage Ingrid Betancourt sought to sue the state:
Muy bueno por los liberados. Mañana demandan al estado y pagamos todos.
Julieth Beltrán (@JuliethBlues) [es] also remembers another release:
A mí nunca se me va a olvidar cuando liberaron a Moncayo y muchos dijeron que parecía guerrillero. Hasta allá llegaron…
Meanwhile Andrea Salazar (@MssSookie) [es] expresses her thoughts on this release and on kidnapping in general:
Ver esto me hace doler el país. Me alegra que recuperen su libertad. Pero la alegría no supera el dolor de lo que en ppio no debería ser.
Juliana Fitzgerald (@Julianitra) [es] points out the irony in this release:
Vivo en el país más extraño del mundo, un paraiso que hace la guerra proclamando la paz.
Similarly, Luis G. Forero (@LuisGForero) [es] points out:
Las liberaciones NO son un acto humanitario que hay que agradecer, pero SÍ son un gesto político que hay que apreciar en toda su dimensión
Diego Pava (@salentoq) [es] refers to William Domínguez, a former FARC hostage released in 2009 and murdered in a bar fight in September 2011:
Y el gobierno debe aislar en lo posible a estos secuestrados de la prensa, no queremos mas soldados Dominguez
Yoyoma Carrillo (@medio_evo) [es] tweets:
Liberación humanitaria? Después que lo tuvieron en un campo de concentración y encadenados como animales.
Colombia en ruinas (@PaisEnRuinas) [es] mentions the role of the army:
Este es un triunfo de nuestro Ejército que nunca cedió a los requerimientos de los terroristas, los asedió y fueron obligados a liberarlos.
Finally, Camilo Martínez N. (@CamiloMartinezN) [es] declares:
OJO, comunidad internacional debe recordad que el criminal, asesino, terrorista y secuestrador son las farc! No olvidar!! No caer en juego!
The released (date of captivity): Army First Sergeant Luis Alfonso Beltrán Franco (1998-03-03), Army First Sergeant Luis Arturo Arcia (1998-03-04), Army First Sergeant Robinson Salcedo Guarín (1998-08-03), Army First Sergeant Luis Alfredo Moreno Chagüeza (1998-08-03), Police Intendent in Chief Carlos José Duarte (1999-07-10), Police Sergeant Major César Augusto Lasso Monsalve (1998-11-01), Police Intendent in Chief Jorge Trujillo Solarte (1999-07-10), Police Intendent in Chief Jorge Humberto Romero (1999-07-10), Police First Sergeant José Libardo Forero (1999-07-10), and Police Intendent in Chief Wilson Rojas Medina (1999-07-10).

author: Julián Ortega Martínez


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Ghana: Tourism Sector Urged to Speak Against Violence · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

MadinGhana urges Ghanaian tourism sector to speak out against election violence. Ghanaians will go to the polls this year: “It is time business leaders in the private sector speak out, especially those in the tourism/export services sector which would be one of the most devastated if election violence erupts.This sector is highly developed organized.”

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Haiti: Women & the Spoken Word (Part 1) · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Francesca Andre is a Haitian photographer living and working in the United States. She is involved in an ongoing project (via the Fanm Kanson Network) about Haitian women: key elements include interviewing various women about their experience, raising funds and facilitating writing, literacy and photography workshops in an effort to help the subjects tell their own stories and heighten awareness (both on-island and throughout the Haitian diaspora) about their everyday reality – a project that was already in train before the devastating 2010 earthquake.
An organic off-shoot of that project is a new video about spoken word artist Melissa Beauvery, which Andre has directed. In this post, she speaks to Global Voices about her work, how this video fits in to the bigger picture of amplifying the voices of Haitian women and the significance of Haitian art and culture.
Haitian photographer Francesca Andre
A follow-up post will focus on the perspective of the spoken-word artist herself, Melissa Beauvery.
•••
Janine Mendes-Franco (JMF): How did you and Melissa meet and what inspired you to direct this video?
Francesca Andre (FA): I met Melissa through a mutual acquaintance. I first worked with [her] on a documentary that I directed titled ‘Our Wombs, Our Voices’, [which was] subtitled ‘Four Women’. It is a short documentary that highlights the lives and talents of four Haitian women poets: Michele Voltaire, Jennifer Celestin, Keren Charles Dongo and Melissa Beauvery. The documentary shows snippets of their personal lives, in correlation with the writing process and inspiration. It also examines how poetry helps them identify themselves in the diaspora. During that time that I became more acquainted with ‘My Grandmother’s Tongue’, Melissa’s current project, and the idea of doing a short video on the project came to light.
Spoken Word Artist: Melissa Beauvery from Victor Oliveira on Vimeo.
JMF: Was the transition from still photography to video challenging for you? How did you use the medium differently to tell the story?
FA: It wasn’t challenging at all. it actually made Fanm Kanson Network’s mission even easier…we want to tell stories; inspiring stories, uplifting stories…and ‘My Grandmother’s Tongue’ will take you [on] that journey…the different complexities and dimensions of Melissa’s project could only be enhanced by moving images. Listening to her poems on ‘My Grandmother’s Tongue’ created very vivid images and awakened memories and sentiments about Haiti that are worth celebrating and cultivating.
Haitian woman; photo by Francesca Andre
JMF: What did you want this video to achieve? What is its primary message and how are you using the power of social media to get it out to the people you want to see it?
FA: The purpose of the video was to show a little bit about Melissa’s life, her upbringing, her project, the process of working on ‘My Grandmother’s Tongue’, the inspiration behind it and to give the audience a little taste of what to expect from the album. The key message is to promote a more positive image of Haiti. It is to acknowledge the power of words, the power of storytelling in our culture and how it could transcend in other cultures as well – how words can close bridges and create understanding between cultures, peoples and mentalities. Facebook, Twitter and blogs are very important in establishing a presence online…I do intend to post it on various active Facebook groups as well as asking others to spread the word in order to continue this dialogue.
JMF: Explain a bit more about how Melissa's video fits in to your flagship project about Haitian women.
FA: All these projects have one thing in common: Purpose. Whatever project we tackle has a similar purpose – to create a dialogue, raise understanding, promote arts, respect, humanity, love and to celebrate who we are as women as well as defining our own territories, voices and purposes in this world. ‘My Grandmother’s Tongue’ was inspired by Melissa’s grandmother, [but] it pays homage to all women. It tells stories of a people, of many people, of a Haiti that the world doesn’t see. It tells stories of women whose names the world won't pronounce, won't remember. However, they hold power to resist poverty, cruelty and to create changes and that is Power! And this is why it is important [for] Fanm Kanson Network to highlight a project such as ‘My Grandmother’s Tongue’ and an artist such as Melissa Beauvery.
Fanm Kanson women, Haiti; photo by Francesca Andre
JMF: As a member of the Haitian diaspora, what do you think the main challenges are for your country – and how do you think your art – and the wider elements of Haitian culture (music, painting, etc.) are having a positive impact?
FA: A lot of times when I am asked to share my sentiments about Haiti, I am always proud to talk about resiliency and then I realize that the people will always be resilient as long as they are fighting negative forces such as poverty, corruption, political instability, lack of consciousness,
exploitation and so on. My views of being resilient have changed over the years…I really wish the people didn’t have to be resilient.
The only thing that is keeping Haiti ‘kanpe’, which means ‘up’, is the culture…the artists. The artists represent the soul of the people…they are the spirits that communicate with God and they are the heart of the people, the blood of the people. If you want to understand the people, study their art, listen to their music, listen to their words, learn their tongue and you will discover so many beautiful things about them, so many sensibilities that are often dismissed by others. This is how the culture is keeping Haiti alive.
Look at the story of Melissa: she was not born in Haiti, but here she is talking about Haiti in English and in her grandmother’s tongue, which is Haitian Creole. This project personifies hope, survival of culture that is changing and the audacity to celebrate it and to keep creating a better Haiti through words, music and images.


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Honduras: Celebrating Growth, Because “Blogging is Hard” · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

Blogger Edwin Francisco Herrera Paz from the blog La Honduras Valiente [es] (“The Brave Honduras”) celebrates 23,000 visits in 30 days and admits that blogging is hard. Edwin originally created La Honduras Valiente to record his thoughts on the June 2009 coup against Manuel Zelaya; now he also discusses other issues, like religion and evolution.

author: Silvia Viñas


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Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago: Remembering Wayne Brown  · Global Voices
Matthew Hunte

“Writers are easily thought of as selfish people.  But the writers I know—and Wayne Brown in particular—practice what I find to be a particularly beautiful form of generosity: a commitment to telling the truth”: Rachel Kadish reflects on her friendship and correspondence with the late Trinidadian writer Wayne Brown.

author: Matthew Hunte


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Kyrgyzstan: Tensions with Russia elaborate further · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Joshua Foust says that Russian-Kyrgyz relations are deteriorating as president Atambaev is threatening to shut down foreign military bases on Kyrgyz territory – not only American, but also Russian ones.


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Mali : Freedom of Press also Under Threat  · Global Voices
Lova Rakotomalala

The Committee to Protect Journalists reports that several journalists covering the aftermath of March 22 coup in Mali were attacked and threatened by the junta. The media adviser for the junta denied that any journalist had been assaulted, but acknowledged the detention of some journalists.

author: Lova Rakotomalala


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Myanmar: Reflections on Election Results · Global Voices
Chan Myae Khine

Myanmar voters celebrated in the streets while netizens on Facebook are expressing their elation over the by-election results which saw an unprecedented landslide victory for the opposition.
Results [my] showed that 43 out of 45 parliament seats went to the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD), including one for its leader and global democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi. Though the number of opposition seats is relatively small compared to the total 600 seats in parliament, Myanmar citizens believe that the victory of opposition candidates is part of the transition towards democracy.
Wai Soe happily  [dead link] that Facebook comments were mostly about the elections and not April Fools’ Day during the by-elections:
Aung San Suu Kyi
Today very happy coz all I've seen today facebook page are not april fool ………… :) :) :) ♥ ♥ ♥ ,,, smiling on every face
Su Myat Lwin simply expressed her happiness with this phrase:
We win!
“We” could refer to more than 50 million Myanmar citizens.
Voters who participated in the 1990 election which was dominated by NLD are happy that Aung San Suu Kyi's party emerged successful again this year. But for younger voters, especially first-time voters, many are proud of Zay Yar Thaw, one of the four pioneers of Hip-Hop music in Myanmar, who won a seat for NLD. Yan Yan Chan, a rapper from ACID music group, posted a photo of his friend made by Linn Yaung.
Than Thar Win who is a well-known singer posted the activities and celebrations on the street where the NLD Headquarters is located:
just got back home..People are celebrating in front of NLD's main office at Shwegone dine. Yayyyy!!!
Despite the spontaneous celebrations by huge crowds, Aung San Suu Kyi sent a reminder[my] to the representatives of her party to avoid the activites that could let other parties and their members down.
On the other hand, some emphasized the need to promote more reforms in governance by taking the success of this election as the first important step in the journey towards democracy. Cho Zin Wint  [dead link] on an article shared by Nyein Chan Htwe:
Yes, we all need to understand that it may take quite sometimes to reform.. We shouldn't expect a lot..
Myint Mo Oo shared her feelings  and thoughts for the future of the country as well:
The day we've been waiting for. Our dream finally coming true. Now it's our duty to be united, uphold discipline and be respectful towards each other so that we can successfully and peacefully build a better future for our country and its people.
At the same time, the key words “Aung San Suu Kyi” trended on Twitter as a result of large interest from the international community on the by-elections in Myanmar. Tracy Nang  [dead link] a screen shot of worldwide Twitter trend that included Aung San Suu Kyi:
I am shaking. Can't believe still. We tried so many times to trend her name. Today was a fairytale!!!!! Aung San Suu Kyi. Top 7, WORLDWIDE TREND.
After the results are confirmed by government news agency MRTV, Myanmar netizens switched topics in their conversations from election related things to the list of TIME's Top 100 influential people in 2012. The list includes both the president of Myanmar and the country's main opposition leader.

author: Chan Myae Khine


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Philippines: Students Prevented from Graduating Over Facebook Bikini Photos · Global Voices
Karlo Mongaya

The Saint Theresa's College, an exclusive all-girls Catholic school managed by nuns in the central Philippine island of Cebu, sparked public outrage when it barred five high school students from joining the graduation ceremony because of photos posted on their Facebook accounts showing them wearing bikinis.
This despite a ruling issued by the Cebu Regional Trial Court ordering the school to allow the students to join the graduation ceremony. The affected students and their parents complained against the lack of due process and the arbitrary imposition of harsh sanctions. The school simply claimed that the court order was deficient.
St Theresa's College logo
The students decried the the school administration's alleged verbal assault on their persons with accusations of having “loose morals,” of being “sluts,” “drunks,” and “drug addicts.” They said that the photos were private and that the school accessed the student's Facebook account without permission.
Administrators said that the photos violated the student handbook by being “obscene, sexually provocative, and revolting to the sense of any decent person.” While the five students were barred from joining the ceremonies, the school has officially declared them as graduates.
Some “loyal” alumni of the school have stepped into the fray to protect what they perceive to be “biased” attacks against the reputation of their alma mater:
Contrary to what the complainant has stated, the school said to have given due process to these five young ladies. First step was that they asked the five to write, in their own words and penmanship, what had conspired in the said photos. These written accounts were then read and assessed. The school then called the parents to tell them what had happened; they explain the violations made by their children and the corresponding consequences of their misconduct. The parents, after the explanation, were then asked to sign if they were to conform to the said sanctions, to which they did.
But Momblogger, also a STC graduate, said that while her alma mater has the right to prescribe its own proper behavioral requirements, she said this standards should consider recent developments like the rise of social media:
In this age of social media, this will not be the last instance of STC students posting comments , pictures in Facebook or other social media sites. It might be time for STC Cebu to accept certain realities and adjust to them in a positive and constructive way. Why call them out with abusive language as “easy, drunks and addicts”? Name calling will not result in constructive engagement.
attyatwork.com shares the summary of the school's defense of its actions in a press conference called for immediately after the controversial graduation:
STC did not hack the facebook accounts of the girls, contrary to the insinuations of many news articles. Some STC students who didn’t like the photos reported the matter to the school admin. The school has always reminded the girls to uphold responsible use of social networking sites for their own protection and security. To ensure the students’ adherence to this, the student handbook prohibits “posing and uploading pictures on the internet that entail body exposure.”
The student press alliance College Editors Guild of the Philippines condemned the school for barring the students from joining the ceremony, saying this constituted a violation of students rights:
We commend the court ruling of Judge Wilfredo Fiel Navarro of the Cebu Regional Trial Court (RTC) for giving justice to the case of the students. The judge, more than the mentors in the school, saw that the concerned were still minors and the rash judgement and punishment would do more harm than good.
We condemn STC’s defiance to the court order. Adding to the unjust treatment to the students, they also did not allow them to go inside the school gates during the graduation day. They were treated like personae non gratae, they were denied even an entrance to the school they have been studying in since elementary school.
Raul Pangalangan, former College of Law Dean at the University of the Philippines, pointed out that the school may have intruded into the privacy of the students:
The photograph was apparently posted on the girl’s Facebook account whose privacy settings allowed access only to her friends. The school officials were not her Facebook friends, and were kibitzers into the child’s zone of privacy. Indeed, if indeed the girl’s privacy settings gave access only to her friends, the girl’s Facebook posts are technically hearsay vis-à-vis the school officials because they were not privy to her posts.
In a Blog Watch piece, youth leader Vencer Crisostomo said that the incident is indicative of the generally repressive and reactionary character of the Philippine educational system:
These incidents show only the tip of the iceberg. Repressive and fascist-like acts of the same nature are being implemented in most schools in the country. There are numbers of reports of students being punished and even expelled from schools due to exercise of freedom to expression, organization and association, and are being punished for their political advocacies or religious beliefs.
There should be a thorough review of the state of campus and student rights in the country. Basic rights and civil liberties are not waived nor nullified once a student enrolls or enters a school. In the same light, “academic freedom” or “autonomy” could never mean that a school is exempted from respecting human rights.
Twitter reactions
Reactions on social networking site Twitter were aghast at the “harsh” treatment of the girls:
@vincecinches: Hail the STC Bikini 5! #wth
@Tito_Ces: Admonish the girl for breaking the rules but beyond that is being morally hypocritical when bishops keep quiet abt pedos.
@TheDoraism: Unreasonably strict, conservative nuns.
@francesdoplon: On the STC bikini incident: Religious school or secular, admin should limit their jurisdiction to campus and leave parenting to parents.
@janram49: St. Theresa's College, let the punishment fit the crime. #STC
But there were also some, especially loyal alumni of the school, that expressed sympathy for the besieged school officials:
@bonjustin8: I wonder why many people are bent on lynching the admins of St. Theresa's College – Cebu. Is it wrong for a school to uphold its standards?
@ohyesitsTIFF: St. Theresa's College is a HIGHLY CONSERVATIVE EXCLUSIVE SCHOOL. There's a reason why parents and students are given student handbooks.
@ArianneJuanillo: St Theresa's College is a Catholic school governed by the teachings of the Catholic Church.They are expected to form the values of children.
A similar incident also happened in another Catholic high school in a city in the country's capital wherein six students were not allowed to graduate and receive their diplomas after they uploaded photos of themselves simulating a kissing scene.

author: Karlo Mongaya


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Portugal: Prayers on Twitter for April Fools’ Day “Coup d’Etat”  · Global Voices
Sara Moreira

A false rumour of a coup d'etat became a trending topic – and a worlwide joke – on Twitter with the hashtag #PrayforPortugal. The Spanish newspaper El País and The Associated Press released the news that “the Portuguese President dissolved Parliament and called for calm”; netizens replied with funny messages and images of “tanks and troops” getting ready for revolution.

author: Sara Moreira


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Russia: Photos of the Moscow Skyscraper Fire · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Some photos [ru] of today's fire at a skyscraper under construction in Moscow: photos by RIA Novosti photographers at LJ user drugoi's blog; LJ user aleshru's ITAR-TASS photos; LJ user sergey_mikheyev's photos; two photos of firefighting helicopters refilling in the Moskva River – by LJ user nl. On Twitter, @ruradioscanner was live-tweeting radio exchanges [ru] of the helicopter pilots.

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Russia, Ukraine: “Obligatory Media Post-Mortems” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Natalia Antonova's texts in the Moscow News, on the “disappearance” and death of 9-month-old Anya Shkaptsova and on other recent deaths of children in Bryansk, Russia, and a text in the Guardian's Comment is Free on the rape and murder of Oksana Makar in Mykolayiv, Ukraine. And a note on Natalia's blog, on what it takes to cover these topics: “[…] you write something like that, and then you need a hot shower and an opportunity to burst into tears without anyone looking. All in a week’s work.”


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Syria: Ali Mahmoud Othman, the “Eyes of Baba Amr”, Detained  · Global Voices
Leila Nachawati Rego

This post is part of our special coverage Syria Protest 2011/12.
Video activist Ali Mahmoud Othman, head of the media office of Baba Amr, has been seized by the Syrian government. Friends and colleagues believe he is being subjected to severe torture.  His detention puts all activists from the office at risk and is a huge blow to citizen journalism in the country.
Othman, who was originally a vegetable vendor, has been documenting unrest in Homs since the beginning of the Syrian revolution. He was instrumental in assisting those covering the conflict from Baba Amr, helping evacuate international journalists from inside the neighborhood. He decided to stay in Baba Amr even after the Syrian army re-captured the neighborhood after bombing it for three months.
According to Mónica G.Prieto, correspondent for Spanish news outlet Periodismo Humano, “he did not want to leave as long as a single person stayed in the neighborhood, he refused all offers to leave”.
Ali Mahmoud Othman in Baba Amr, Homs. Image source: Baba Amro News
The following video shows Othman, fondly known as the “eyes of Baba Amr,” telling the world about the suffering of the population of Baba Amr. He talks to the camera without concerns for his identity. He believed his message would be more reliable and reach a wider audience if he showed his face:
Activists have created a Facebook page to share news on his whereabouts and demand his release. And the Committee to Protect Journalists has called on Syrian authorities to immediately release Othman and all journalists detained for their work:
Syrian citizen journalists have been documenting the unrest at extraordinary risk to their lives. The regime must end its campaign to intimidate them and silence reporting of its brutal crackdown.
His detention has captured attention of mainstream media and political representatives from different countries. The UK's Foreign Secretary William Hague called on his release:
I call on the Syrian authorities to release Mr Othman and other political prisoners immediately. The Syrian regime will be held responsible for Mr Othman's safety and his treatment and I will raise his case in Istanbul at the Friends of Syria meeting.
United States Senator John McCain tweeted:
Got reports that Syrian journalist Ali Mahmoud Othman is held & tortured by Assad forces- world must call 4 his release
Othman´s detention has been widely shared on Twitter, mainly under the #freeothman tag.  Netizens have also started a petition to demand his release.
Journalist Randa Habib brought attention to the danger faced by Othman and activist Noura Aljiwazi, who disappeared in Damascus on the same day:
Figures of #Syria resistance Ali Mahmoud Othman & activist Noura Al-jizawi, arrested, their live in danger: Reporters Without Borders (RFS)
Six days after Othman's arrest, friends posted the following message on Facebook:
It is the 6th night without Ali's voice or warm words.  It is the 6th night Ali sleeps hands tied, exhausted from torture. It is the 6th night and Ali's name has reached as far as Australia, people demanding for his freedom. It is the 6th night, the revolution has no Ali. One of the heroes of Baba Amr, now a hero of the revolution. His good deeds repeated daily by those he saved from injuries, journalists, friends and family. Freedom for Ali Othman, one of the bravest men to exist.
This post is part of our special coverage Syria Protest 2011/12.

author: Leila Nachawati Rego


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Taiwan: Protect Homeowners Against Forced Demolition · Global Voices
I-fan Lin

About 400 people gathered around the house of the Wang family in Taiwan's capital Taipei early in the morning of March 28, 2012, to protect the family against eviction by the police.
A controversial urban renewal project [zh] has made the Wang's house part of the Taipei city government sanctioned renewal zone under the 2008 Urban Renewal Act [zh], which allows the government to forcibly expel citizens from their own house when 80% of their neighbors agree to sell their land to the developer.
More than 20 communities affected
Supporters gathered in front of the Wang's houses. Image by Coolloud (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0).
After the new Urban Renewal Act was passed, more than 20 communities have been affected [zh], causing intense conflicts between the homeowners and the construction companies. The affected homeowners together jointly set up the Taiwan Alliance for Victims of Urban Renewal [zh] in May, 2010.
In the Wang's case, the developer Leyoung Construction (樂揚建設), of the urban renewal project involved has collected an agreement signed by 38 out of 40 affected homeowners [zh]. While the majority of the affected households were living in apartment building, the Wang family had two independent houses in the district and Wen-Lin Yuan (文林苑), the head of the Wang refused to sell their family property to the developer. The company then turned to the Taipei city government to evict the family and demolish their houses by force.
Since July 2011, the Taiwan Alliance for Victims of Urban Renewal has been protesting for the Wang family,  demanding the the Construction and Planning Agency to revise the Urban Renewal Act. They pointed out [zh] that:
為了加速都更不惜動用公權力強行拆屋趕人、掩蓋該案背後爭議、也過度擴充多數決同意都更乃至強拆民宅的正當性。…內政部營建署與台北市都市更新處應負起把關居民生命安全、公平公正都更的責任，而非將制度性問題，化為在地社區居民對立的假象
However, the Interior Ministry keeps neglecting the Alliance's demand and the latest conflict arose when the Taipei city government issued the eviction order for the Wang's house on March 19. In reaction to the government's move, the Taiwan Alliance for Victims of Urban Renewal asked their supporters to patrol around the Wang’s house and defend the family against the eviction.
When the Taipei police prepared to forcibly enter the Wang’s house on March 28, hundreds of supporters laid down on the ground in front of it to protect the family. Professor Hua-Chen Liu [zh] was sitting with the Wang family on that day and she described what she saw in the kitchen on the first floor:
在廚房裡的我們，感受到的不是和自己並肩而坐、那種令人興致高昂的同志體溫. 而是兩位老人家，在經歷面臨拆遷的精神折磨，臉上那種無以言喻的表情. 也是兒孫們圍繞著因為犯了高血壓毛病的阿嬤, 輕拍她的肩膀，按摩她的雙臂.
不知為何，阿嬤的頭輕輕地垂了下來. 然後，廚房裡的我們，又站了起來，再一次盡可能地完善我們的防守設備.
However, despite all their preparations, the police crushed the back door easily and the supporters were taken away by the police. Professor Hua-Chen Liu [zh] described the scene:
進不來的聲援群眾想側拍衝進後門的過程, 都被警察以雨傘和大型帆布遮住，無從看到. 一大群警察直接衝過來，沒有人掛名牌. 沒有人解釋基於什麼理由要拖走我們, 沒有任何前言後話，就是動手！
The site had been sealed and the police stopped reporters and citizens from making any record of the demolition process. Media Watch Taiwan  [zh] posted an eyewitness report:
現場也有多位民眾以手機、相機、筆記型電腦、平板電腦等工具紀錄。其中一名記者同業表示，看到警方最先以手電筒照射學生拍攝用的手機。後來包括《目擊者》電子報等不同媒體的幾位記者趨前拍攝後，有兩位員警也同樣如法炮製再度干度採訪拍攝。
When the police officers entered the Wang's houses, Ping-Yao Li was on the second floor [zh]:
我真的不知道自己身在何處。一樓的警察拿起油壓剪，阿姨往下探頭，發現一樓的傢俱都被往外丟，玻璃都被打破，我們鎖上窗戶，將桌椅抵住大門，圍成圈圈坐在客廳，四面八方傳來各種聲響，警察用力的撞門叫罵。…親愛的人民保母，你們今天讓幾百個學生陷入極端的恐懼，並且帶來無法抹滅的不信任，你們遵從所謂的職務，並且成為財團打手。
Supporters surrounded the Wang house. Image by Flickr user coolloud (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0).
After the eviction, professor Hua-Chen Liu reflected [zh] on the brutal process:
我不明白失去自己的家是什麼意思. 非常疲憊、很想睡覺的我，在這個陽光殘酷得白花花的早上, 可以坐上計程車，20分鐘後從口袋摸出鑰匙, 洗個安慰疼痛肌肉的熱水澡.
但是王家呢？
警察拉人的過程裡，他們一直要學生小心，「不要受傷」. 優勢警力把人肉沙包和他們的家俱一件件往外丟時. 他們只來得及抱著父母的遺照和祖先牌位逃出來.
他們今天要睡在哪裡？他們明天要住在哪裡？
在這個都更的龐大魔爪下，明天我會在哪裡？你會在哪裡？

author: I-fan Lin


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Tanzania: Community Mapping and Open Development · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Learn about community mapping and open development in Tanzania: “With facilitation from Ground Truth, the creators of Map Kibera, students from Ardhi University’s School of Urban and Regional Planning (SURP) and residents of Tandale spent much of August using GPS units to collect a wide range of public data points, from school and public toilets to health clinics and trash dumps.”


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Turkmenistan: Peace Coprs forced to leave Turkmenistan · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Joshua Foust reports that Turkmenistan unceremoniously lets the Peace Corps know that they are no longer welcome in this Central Asian republic.


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Uruguay: Photos of the Autumn Parade in Malvín · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

Julio F. posts a photo essay of the Autumn candombe parade in Malvín, a neighborhood in Montevideo, Uruguay.


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Uzbekistan: President rejuvenated on photos · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Nathan Hamm takes a critical view on recent pictures of Uzbekistan president Islam Karimov, who has been rumored to be on the verge of death from cancer for about the last decade. The latest photographs show a shiny happy person, “but it is somewhat striking how obviously fake these photos look”.


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Uzbekistan: Presidential elections postponed until 2015 · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Nathan Hamm writes that Uzbekistan’s parliament decided to delay the next presidential election from December 2014 to March 2015, a move that experts see as president Karimov's preparation for a future in which he is no longer the President of Uzbekistan.


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Videos: Female Gendercide and Infanticide in India and China  · Global Voices
Juliana Rincón Parra

Between India and China, 200 million girls have gone “missing” as parents abort female fetuses or kill and abandon baby girls. Several documentaries and reports cover this phenomenon, trying to explain the causes for this deadly gender discrimination and figure out what can be done about it.
Screenshot from the Trailer of It's a Girl
With the tagline of “The three deadliest words in the world”, the “It's a Girl” documentary is one which through interviews and on-location filming is figuring out why 200 million girls are “missing” in India and China, and why there has been no effective actions to this problem.
Born to Die is another film investigating the rise in female feticide and infanticide in modern India.
Poh Si Teng for Global Post also has a video on the relationship between ultrasound devices, gender screening and female feticide, and whether the laws banning portable ultrasound will help stop the selective abortions in India:
The BBC's 2007 investigatory documentary on India's Missing Girls and people who are trying to turn the tide on a cultural phenomenon that affects all of India's socio-economic levels: the cult of boys, and the belief that girls are not worth the trouble to raise them. The documentary, split in 3 parts can be found online (1, 2, 3).
One of the organizations trying to make the difference is the Aarti Home in Kadapa, who take in abandoned children, most of whom are girls abandoned because they are girls, and also talking to expectant mothers of female children to encourage them to have and cherish them.
Aarti House hopes to be a home for girls who were already rejected once for being girls and make sure they have a safe haven. At the very beginning of this next video, a young girl talks about the disadvantages and hardships she went through just because she was a female:
World renowned Chinese-American novelist Anchee Min, who writes strong female characters admits in this next video how she didn't want to have a daughter, and all through her pregnancy, secretly hoped that it would turn out to be a boy, despite ultrasounds and tests because “Who wants to be a girl in China?”
Taiwanese Next Media Animation explores the consequences of the gender imbalance in China brought on by the One Child Policy and a society which values males more than females with the video and song No Girls Born (In China Anymore)
So there are no girls born, in China anymore
I feel so forlorn, with nobody to keep me warm
Confucian culture scorns daughters in favor of sons
So there are no girls born and I'm doomed to be just one
My parents chose me in utero to carry on the family name
But if I can't find a bride I'll be carrying nothing but shame
You gotta be tall, educated, and own your own house
miss one out of three, you won't find a spouse

author: Juliana Rincón Parra


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Argentina and the Falkland Islands: 30 Years After the Armed Conflict · Global Voices
Laura Schneider

Thirty years after Argentinian troops landed in the Falkland Islands on 2 April, 1982, Argentina remembers the beginning of a war for the sovereignty of the Islands that left 649 Argentinians dead.
The Voces Escritas [es] (Written Voices) website provides a summary of the statistics:
En total, fueron 649 argentinos los que dejaron la vida en Malvinas durante la guerra, y hubo 1188 heridos. Pero las consecuencias continuaron: más de 500 excombatientes se suicidaron en los años posteriores a la guerra, en medio de la indiferencia de la sociedad, y el abandono de los gobiernos democráticos.
Monument the those who fell in the Falklands War.  Ushuaia, Argentina. image from Flickr user Jorge Andrade. used under licence (CC BY 2.0)
There were also British casualties. El Malvinense [es] conducted an investigation which has been updated and has finally released a statistic for the casualties from Great Britain and the loss of military resources suffered:
Total caidos: 1029 (estimados)
Total buques dañados o perdidos:  31
Total aeronaves perdidas:  45
Gran Bretaña nunca declaró el verdadero numero de bajas de sus tropas ni la pérdida de numeroso armamento.  Queda demostrado el gran daño sufrido, que supera ampliamente al que recibió Argentina.
Total deaths: 1,029 (estimated)
Total vessels damaged or lost: 31
Total aircraft lost: 45
Great Britain never declared the true quantity of loss to troops or weapons. This goes to show the great damaged suffered, that far exceeds that received by Argentina.
On the other hand, the blog Diálogos [es], in a special post by Marcos Brincci, publishes alternative statistics:
La guerra no se olvida, aquellos 74 días desde el 2 de abril de 1982 dejan la honra por los casi 650 argentinos y unos 250 británicos muertos. Las Malvinas tienen vestigios de aquellos terribles días.
In Argentina on April 2, President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner led a ceremony to mark the 30th anniversary of the Falklands War. The official news agency Telam [es] has published part of her speech:
“es una injusticia en pleno siglo XXI todavía subsistan enclaves coloniales como los que tenemos aquí, a pocos kilómetros de distancia”, en referencia a las Islas Malvinas.
She then remarks:
“de los 16 enclaves coloniales que existen en el mundo, diez de ellos son del Reino Unido” y afirmó que “resulta absurdo pretender el dominio” sobre las islas.
The BBC also writes about the president's speech and transcribes the words of David Cameron, the British Prime-Minister.
Britain remains staunchly committed to upholding the right of the Falkland Islanders, and of the Falkland Islanders alone, to determine their own future.
On Twitter, Falklands Island Gov (@falklandsgov) reflects on the date:
Today is a day for reflection rather than celebration. 30 years on, we are proud to see such strong support for the Islands across the world
During the weekend prior to April 2, the hashtag #MalvinasArgentinas [es] (Argentina Falklands) became a local trending topic.
Gwaa (@TheNorthGwaa) [es] writes:
Si no hubieran encontrado petróleo en#MalvinasArgentinas no estarían pidiendo la intervención de la ONU para renegociar las tierras.
At the same time, Francisco Angulo (@fran_spg) [es] disapproves of the chants from the crowds during football matches during the weekend:
#MalvinasArgentinas Está bien recordar a los ex combatientes, pero todo un estadio cantando “El que no salta es un inglés” me da escalofríos
On the other hand, Marcelo P (@my_silver10) [es], criticises the current government:
Todo esto de #MalvinasArgentinas es un circo de Cristina para distraer de la #Inflacion, la#Inseguridad y las politicas Argenzuelisticas
Also via Twitter, Natalia Rodriguez (@manatu15) [es], quotes some lyrics from a song by renowned Argentinian singer-songwriter Atahualpa Yupanqu‘s [es], with reference to the Falkland Islands:
Seguirán las mil banderas del mar, azules y blancas, pero queremos ver una sobre tus piedras clavada. (A. Yupanqui) #MalvinasArgentinas
The Defonline [es] webpage provides a transcript of a discussion with Martin Balza, former chief of the Argentinian military and Falklands War veteran who was present throughout the conflict. With regard to the diplomacy between Argentina and Great Britain and in response to the question “should the Kelpers [islanders] also take part in negotiations?”, Balza states that:
No estoy de acuerdo en absoluto cuando alguien dice que se deben respetar los deseos de los isleños. Sí se deben respetar sus intereses: forma de vida, propiedades, idioma, religión, etc. Los ingleses no respetaron los deseos de los argentinos en 1833. Además, por expresa disposición de las Naciones Unidas, sobre todo a partir de 1965 con el Comité de Descolonización, en el caso Malvinas no rige el Principio de Autodeterminación de los Pueblos, que atañe a los pueblos originarios. En Malvinas se echó a los que estaban y se implantó a los que están.
However, Roger Edwards, a resident of the Falkland Islands and a veteran of the war in 1982, comments in The Guardian:
The Falkland Islanders are a peaceful, hard-working and resilient people. Our society is thriving and forward-looking. All we ask is to be left in peace to choose our own future, and responsibly develop our home for our children and generations to come. We would ask, particularly of those who take it upon themselves to comment from a standpoint of ignorance on our future, that our rights, and our points of view, and above all our wishes are respected and considered as enshrined in the UN charter.
Among the complaints, articles, netizen reactions and protests, Adrian Bono (@AdrianBono) [es] inquires:
Mientras en Argentina es trending topi c#MalvinasArgentinas, en Twitter Gran Bretaña el tema ni aparece. ¿Queda claro, no?

author: Laura Schneider


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Armenia: Young Author Faces Military Censorship · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Hovhannes Ishkhanyan, a 24-year-old computer programmer and, like many others, a former conscript in the Armenian military has found himself in hot water in the former Soviet republic after penning a literary work detailing life in the country's army.
Despite a print run of just 300, the Armenian military prosecutor says the book defames the army, is insulting to religion and also mothers. Demob Day has been removed from the shelves of at least two book stores in Yerevan, the Armenian capital.
Ironically, the city this year celebrates its status as UNESCO World Book Capital, but that will come as little comfort to Ishkanyan who is facing prosecution under Article 263 of the Criminal Code of Armenia for the illegal dissemination of pornographic materials or items.
Demob Day
If found guilty Ishkhanyan could find himself fined or imprisoned for up to two or three years. Ianyan comments on the case:
The Armenian army has been suffering from a spell of bad PR in the last few years as news of non-combat deaths have plagued the institution. Activists, who regularly protest the deaths, accuse the military of failing to properly investigate them as well as portraying murders as suicides. In September 2010, an amateur video that was posted on YouTube alleging abuse in the Armenian army made headlines in and outside the country.
Of the 16 fictional stories in the “The Day of Discharge” three concern themes related to the army. One of those, titled “Military March,” about 100 marching soldiers, who, dragging their military identification cards, begin to relay their experiences of their life in the army, has angered authorities the most, according to Ishkhanyan.
The Armenian Observer even made a point to read the book:
The situation with the police got me interested, so I read the book. Admittedly, reading was without enjoyment. The book contains too much violence and vulgar language for my taste, but that’s about it. One can hardly expect a book about the Armenian Army to contain a lot of tenderness and poetic speach – after wall, we’re talking about a structure, were dozens of soldiers die every year in non-combat situation, mainly because of hazing, violence and pressure, which forces soldiers into committing suicides.
[…]
The heroes of the book, young soldiers who died or became crippled during military service, tell horror stories of mistreatment by military officers.
[…]
Needless to say, that we’re witnessing a clear case of censorship, which is totally unacceptable.
Unzipped also commented, drawing attention to a petition established in the young author's support. “Unbelievable,” the blogger wrote. “What ages are we living in?! Say your firm NO to attempts of taking back Armenia into dark ages of Stalinism.”
Hovhannes Ishkhanyan © Nazik Armenakyan, ArmeniaNow
There is also an interview with Ishkanyan from last year in which the author discusses freedom of expression and military culture in Armenia on Artist For Artist.

author: Onnik Krikorian


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Brazil: Indigenous Rights and the Suspension of the Teles Pires Dam · Global Voices
Raphael Tsavkko Garcia

Brazilian blogger Sonia Martuscelli reproduces [pt] an open letter on the suspension of the license for the construction of the controversial Teles Pires Dam, in an area of the Amazon forest inhabited by the indigenous peoples of Kayabi, Apiaka and Mundukuru ethnicities. The natives require measures to ensure their rights and to be heard on the matter.

author: Raphael Tsavkko Garcia


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Bulgaria: Light on a Mysterious Death  · Global Voices
Rayna St.

The collaborative media outlet svobodnoslovo.com writes [bg] about a new book by Lyubomir Levchev [bg], who mentions Lyudmila Jivkova's death 30 years ago. It has always been reported that Jivkova, the daughter of Bulgaria's last communist dictator, died in a car accident. Levchev explains, however, that she might have been poisoned: he writes about a ring with a turquoise stone Jivkova used to wear that had started whitening a few months before she died. This property has been known [fr] since the Antiquity as a sign of poison in the body.

author: Rayna St.


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China’s richest city in 2012 · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Xinjiang far west China introduced a Xinjiang city, Karamay, the richest city in China in 2012. The Wealth of the newly established city comes from oil.

author: Oiwan Lam


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Cuba: Heated Controversy Over Scholarly Forum Continues · Global Voices
Ellery Roberts Biddle

Over the last few weeks, state media in Cuba have alleged that the independent scholarly forum, Estado de SATS (State of SATS), is supported by United States government agencies that wish to subvert the Cuban government.
Since 2010, Cuban physicist and intellectual Antonio Rodiles has organized Estado de SATS, a series of panel discussions open to the public. His website [es] describes the forum as a “pluralistic space for debate and participation that is mediated by open and frank exchange.”
Participants have included Cuban artists, independent writers and bloggers, and scholars as well as foreign researchers and diplomats resident on the island. Rodiles reported [es] that when the group met on March 3, 2012, to discuss the value of international academic and cultural exchange, state police surrounded his home as participants departed. State media outlets have published several articles condemning the project.
Meeting panelists included journalist Julio Alega Pesant, Voces Cubanas blogger Miriam Celaya, United States Interests Section Representative Charles Barclay, and social scientist Alexis Jardines.
Miriam Celaya speaks at Estado de SATS. Screenshot from video: http://youtu.be/7mHpPALH-XE
Por el Ojo del Agua [es] author Rebeca Monzó, who attended the event, wrote that the “most polemical” issue in discussion was that of exchange between the US and Cuba, and the dearth of Cuban-American participants in such exchanges:
[L]os que vienen a través del mismo son en su inmensa mayoría intelectuales o artistas estadounidenses, no cubanos norteamericanos como  más desearíamos  nosotros, para que éstos  nos expusieran de primera mano sus experiencias en el exilio. ¿Por qué Silvio puede ir a cantar en EEUU y sin embargo Willy Chirino no puede venir a hacerlo aquí en la tierra que le vio nacer?
While part of the discussion focused on the travel ban that US residents face, panelists also criticized travel restrictions on the Cuban side. One panelist spoke of Dr. Jeovany Jiménez, who had been banned from traveling on medical missions because he is outspoken in his views against the government. Here is the video of one of the conferences (in Spanish):
In an article posted just hours after the meeting had adjourned, Iroel Sánchez [es] described the meeting as a “discussion of support that the US provides to groups working for regime change on the island.”
Sánchez also noted that Yoani Sánchez [es] attended the event, reminding readers of the blogger’s alleged (though unconfirmed) support from US government agencies.
El Diario de Cuba, [es] an independent Cuban news site, offered additional coverage of police actions after the event. Police reportedly asked for attendee’s government ID numbers, but nothing more.
In response to police intimidation, and attacks from Iroel Sánchez, Cubadebate, and other state-supported media, Rodiles called state security’s efforts to discredit the group evidence of “its inability to come to a public debate of arguments and ideas.”
In a second post on the Estado de SATS blog, [es] [English here] he wrote:
¿Por qué la negativa y el temor a que los cubanos discutamos sobre nuestra realidad y en especial sobre un tema tan importante?
[…]
La sociedad civil cubana se encuentra en un período de resurgimiento, lo que nos obliga no sólo a ejercer nuestros derechos, sino también a hacerlo con el mayor rigor posible.
[…]
El reclamo de la sociedad civil, de jugar el papel que genuinamente le corresponde, irrita grandemente al poder, sobre todo si consideramos que desde hace 53 años el mismo grupo de individuos ha asumido el monopolio absoluto de la palabra, de los rostros, de la lógica y sobre todo, asume que el poder de la fuerza le asiste para impedir a cualquier precio que los cubanos demanden otra opción de gobierno.
Since the start of the project, Rodiles has stated that a central objective of the group is to “re-think” Cuba through social science inquiry and debate. Rodiles is openly critical of the Cuban system, but he has rejected accusations that the group accepts financial support from the United States. Nevertheless, state media interpreted U.S. Interests Section representative Charles Barclay’s attendance at the meeting as evidence to the contrary.
Estado de SATS has come into a familiar paradigm, in which any association with US authorities, however large or small, can render one a “gusano” or “worm” in the eyes of the Cuban state. Regardless of whether Rodiles’ group receives help from off-island sources, it is true that USAID (United States Agency for International Development) and other US government agencies often seek to support groups of this nature, and some accept this help, along with the complex political implications that it carries. Journalist and researcher Tracey Eaton has conducted scores of interviews with Cubans who have received such funds, many of which shed valuable light on the subject.
In a November post commenting on similar accusations made against arts presenter Grupo Matraka, blogger and Global Voices author Elaine Díaz noted [es] that regardless of funding sources, such groups usually have a defined goal and purpose that is not simply to overthrow the government. While groups like Estado de SATS may want regime change, their goal is not to affect this change, but rather to use their knowledge as cultural critics and social scientists to consider how it will take shape in the future. Such groups may not be acting “within the revolution,” but, Díaz points out, they are still “real people.”

author: Ellery Roberts Biddle


text:
Georgia: Forbes magazine accused of self-censorship · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

The Transparency International Georgia blog examines the case of the Georgian edition of the influential Forbes magazine following the resignation of its editor-in-chief who alleges that the magazine's publishers are practicing self-censorship ahead of parliamentary elections to be held later this year.