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Caribbean Loses Valuable Steward with Passing of Professor Norman Girvan  · Global Voices
Matthew Hunte

The Caribbean has lost another giant; prominent Caribbean intellectual Norman Girvan passed away in Cuba on the same day that A.N.R. Robinson, former Prime Minister and President of Trinidad and Tobago, died. Jamaican born and a true Caribbean man, Girvan was scheduled to undergo surgery in Cuba for injuries he sustained from a fall while hiking in Dominica earlier this year.
A respected economist, Girvan attended the London School of Economics, where he received his Ph.D.; he would often blog about the region's economics and politics on his website. He was perhaps best known as the University of the West Indies’ Professor Emeritus, based at the Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies, but he also held several other important posts, including, in 2010, serving as the United Nations Secretary General’s Personal Representative on the Guyana-Venezuela Border Controversy. In fact, his last tweet, on September 1, 2013, was about the issue:
Presidents of Venezuela and Guyana meet, issue Joint Declaration http://t.co/PSDJVcrUPa
— Norman Girvan (@normangirvan) September 1, 2013
Professor Girvan had also served as secretary to the Association of Caribbean States and was a member of the United Nations Committee on Development Policy. Known as a man of principle, Professor Girvan was recently involved in a campaign lobbying for the rights of citizens of the Dominican Republic of Haitian descent.
Girvan had an active online presence and posted many of his essays, articles and speeches to the web for wider dissemination.
Upon news of his death, the online tributes started pouring in. The University of the West Indies issued the following statement:
On behalf of the entire faculty, staff and student body of the Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies (SALISES), I wish to express the profound sorrow that we feel at the passing of Norman Girvan, Professor Emeritus, The UWI and first Director of SALISES.
Born in Kingston, Jamaica in 1941…the young Girvan left to pursue his doctorate at the London School of Economics, returning thereafter to the Mona Department of Economics, where he served for many years, establishing himself as one of the leading economists of the region.  Girvan’s work, both as individual scholarship and as part of the New World Group that flourished throughout the Caribbean in the Sixties and early Seventies, sought to critique the nature and limitations of political independence and to redefine a space for Caribbean sovereignty as well as more inclusive notions of democracy.  More specifically, through studies like the evocatively titled Foreign Capital and Economic Underdevelopment in Jamaica and Copper in Chile, Girvan argued that through the structure and operations of international corporations, the newly emergent nations of the Caribbean and Latin America were being denied a fair share of the surplus from the exploitation of their mineral resources. This, he suggested, contributed immeasurably to their inability to escape from a cycle of underdevelopment.
In this [retirement] phase of his life, Norman’s work, if anything, gathered pace, with many critical interventions in both scholarly and new media, suggesting caution about and modification of the proposed Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the European Union, greater engagement with Cuba, recognition of Haiti as an integral part of the Caribbean and, consistently, calling for deeper and more popular Caribbean integration. Above all, Norman, through his website 1804 CaribVoices, has emerged as a tribune for rethinking Caribbean history, understanding and fighting for the preservation of the environment, defending all causes associated with popular empowerment and, inevitably, redefining the Caribbean in all its component districts, as a common, sovereign space.
We express our deepest condolences to his wife Jasmine and children Ramon, Alexander and Alatashe as we reflect on and remember with gratitude a life well-lived and the immeasurable contribution of this exemplary Caribbean citizen.
Trinidad-based trade union leader David Abdulah, who was a personal friend of Girvan, expressed his grief on Facebook:
The news of Norman Girvan's passing, which I received just after 5 pm yesterday afternoon was just so, so very sad! I last saw and spoke with him two days before he left Trinidad to Cuba and we were all so full of hope! I will not try to express all my sentiments now except to say that Norman was simply one of the finest human beings that we could ever meet. I am honoured to have known him and be able to call him my friend and comrade in arms. Thanks, Norman for all that you have done! A Luta Continua!
Gwendolene Roberts remembered her teacher and mentor:
As my current PhD supervisor he was my academic father. One thing is for certain, when I finally complete… After I find a new uni/supervisor my PhD thesis will be dedicated to him… Professor Norman Girvan… #GENERATIONLION
Writer Ruel Johnson remembered meeting Girvan and regretted not having interacted with him more:
Thirteen years ago, I met a humble but brilliant Jamaican man. Years after that meeting, I was still able to e-mail him with regard to my research work on Caribbean Integration. If I knew then the value of that open channel, I would have treasured it more. RIP Norman Girvan.
Blogger Annie Paul shared a photo of Professor Girvan playing Carnival, which showed the lighter side of the man:
Gr8 shot of Norman Girvan at carnival a couple of years ago pic.twitter.com/z9yRWWUtyN
— anniepaul (@anniepaul) April 10, 2014
Other tributes followed on Twitter:
R.I.p Norman girvan!! Your work has been a great help you are a magnificent thinker and your legacy lives on
— Queen Kebz. (@BunchOfBadBees) April 11, 2014
Professor Norman Girvan is dead! Sad day for the University of the West Indies and Caribbean academic community! sigh RIP Professor Girvan
— Aundré Tafarie James (@AundreTafJames) April 10, 2014
One netizen was still in disbelief:
I sent Prof. Norman Girvan an email on April 8, requesting his participation for a discussion on CARICOM-Cuba relations. He died yesterday.
— Keneice Lawson (@Kenephew) April 10, 2014
Still in shock! Prof died the day after I sent him the email. What is life? Just like that! DAMN!
— Keneice Lawson (@Kenephew) April 10, 2014
Every tweet was filled with admiration for the man and his legacy:
jus heard that Prof Norman Girvan died..jah kno RIP! Great man!
— Dominic (@NickCobran) April 10, 2014
I am really saddened by death of Norman Girvan. He has written excellent scholarly articles, especially on CSME and globalization. #RIP
— Mickel Jackson (@Mikkie_J) April 9, 2014
Twitter user Haydn Dunn thought it significant that both Girvan and A.N.R. Robinson died on the same day:
R.I.P Norman Girvan and ANR Robinson.The end of that generation that contributed to the development in the Caribbean
— Haydn Dunn (@HaydnDunn) April 9, 2014
Most admirers, however, simply wanted to say goodbye:
Rest in peace Professor Girvan @normangirvan :( The Caribbean has lost another intellectual giant.
— Alicia Nicholls (@LicyLaw) April 10, 2014
RIP Norman P. Girvan, @normangirvan. You will be sorely missed. The Caribbean has lost a powerful and magnificent voice. #SentenciaTC
— Arturo Victoriano (@ArturoVictoria4) April 10, 2014


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Graphic Novel “Los Once” Remembers History Through Fiction  · Global Voices
Juan Arellano

[Links are to Spanish-language pages except where otherwise noted.]
In many Latin American countries, recent history has seen violent acts committed by terrorist groups and governments alike. Despite high-level investigations and the establishment of truth and reconciliation commissions, testimonies often contradict one another and some aspects of the violence are never fully elucidated. This has turned them into conspiracy theories and urban legends that weave themselves into the social fabric of our major cities.
One such story is the Taking of the Palace of Justice [en], which occurred on November 6, 1985, in Bogotá, Colombia. At 11:30 in the morning, commandos from the M-19 [en] guerrilla group entered the Supreme Court building provoking a reaction on the part of the National Police force and the Colombian Army, which led to 27 hours of continuous violence and terror that left 98 people dead and another 11 missing.
25 years after the fact, it is the story of those 11 victims still unaccounted for that inspired three friends to create a graphic novel fictionalizing what happened during those tense hours and giving the reader a particular vision, at times heartrending and at others hopeful, of an event that, as described at the unveiling of the book, is part of the identity of millions of Colombians.
The project was born in 2011 when, despite not winning an open contest, they were bitten by the creative bug. As a result, the following year they turned to crowdfunding to raise money and in 2013 launched a version of their graphic novel for tablets and other electronic devices. In February 2014, their work was finally published in book format.
Interestingly enough, through the transformation from digital media to print, certain narrative changes occurred. Diego Fernando Marín of the blog Lecturas para todos talks about this shift in the focus.
(En la aplicación es el)… de una niña que prepara un discurso, que termina leyendo en un evento conmemorativo de la Toma del Palacio de Justicia, y que comienza con las únicas palabras que tiene la novela gráfica, Érase una vez…, lo que da lugar al subtítulo que hoy parece haber desaparecido: Como un cuento sin hadas. En esta nueva versión, una abuela narra en primera persona a su nieta lo que ella vivió durante la toma. La abuela, en este caso, es la madre de uno de los desaparecidos en la Toma.
(In the app, it is)…a young girl preparing a speech who ends up delivering a reading during an event commemorating the taking of the Palace of Justice, and who begins with the only words that appear in the graphic novel, “Once Upon a time…” which accounts for the subtitle that today seems to have disappeared, “Like a tale without fairies.” In this new version, a grandmother narrates in the first person to her granddaughter what she experienced during the takeover. The grandmother, in this story, is the mother of one of the victims who disappeared.
Marín later adds:
El tono de Los Once  se mantiene en su tono neutral, no condena, no toma lugar, muestra la impiedad de los bandos y el lugar que tomaron las víctimas en el proceso, el dolor que se refleja en las palabras de César Rodríguez, un familiar, dichas en la radio nacional: “(…) de ninguno de ellos se tiene ninguna noticia. No los han dado en las listas de los rescatados, ni detenidos, ni muertos. No se sabe absolutamente nada”.
The tone of Los Once [The Eleven] remains neutral; it does not condemn, does not take a position; it shows the cruelty of each side and the place occupied by the victims in the process, the pain that is reflected in the words of César Rodríguez, a family member, words spoken on national radio: “there is no information about any of the them. They are not on the list of those rescued, arrested or killed. Absolutely nothing is known about them.”
Speaking about the work as a graphic novel, the writer Luis Cermeño, in a January 2012 article in the webzine Mil Inviernos points out the different influences: “The use of black and white is due to their affinity for Sin City by Frank Miller; the idea of telling the story as a fable comes from George Orwell's Animal Farm; and the wordless novel they owe in part to Justin Green's Binky Brown.” And in terms of the theme and its treatment, Cermeño adds:
La Toma al Palacio de Justicia es un tema que de entrada toca fibras, con muchos intereses mezclados de por medio; esta es la dificultad de tratar de elaborar una memoria colectiva alrededor de lo que no se sabe nada. Los Once no intenta justificar, de ningún lado u otro, lo ocurrido, su intención es tratar de narrar una historia con las personas involucradas en el conflicto en medio de una situación de pánico extremo. Tampoco trata de brindar respuestas. […]
En Los Once todos los personajes son ratones enfrentándose contra un gran monstruo polimorfo, quien a su vez es un personaje despersonificado: es la (des)personificación del terror, del mal absoluto y el caos. Esta metamorfosis es la violencia que siempre vuelve con nuevas caras, a veces insospechadas.
The taking of the Place of Justice strikes a cord from the get-go; there are many interests intertwined; that is the difficulty in trying to create a collective memory for an event we know nothing about. Los Once does not try to justify, on one side or the other, what happened —their intention is to try to narrate a story of the people involved in the conflit in the middle of a situation of extreme panic. Neither is it trying to provide answers. […]
In Los Once, all the characters are mice confronting a huge polymorphic monster, who in turn is a depersonalized character: it is this (de)personification of terror, of absolute evil and chaos. This metamorphosis is the violence that always returns with a new face, often unanticipated.
To find out more about Los Once, Global Voices spoke to José Luis Jiménez and Andrés Cruz, two of the book's trio of authors. Here is the video:
Finally, I would like to add the words of the authors regarding the research undertaken prior to the creation of Los Once, as they appeared in an article in En Órbita:
When we were researching it and talking to families of the victims, sometimes we felt the weight of what it means to try not to take sides. For the families, it is clear who is responsible for the disappearance, but our intention was not to show the guilty; instead we wanted to build a metaphor, through animated characters (mice, doves, blackbirds and dogs), to reach a new understanding of the events, of what the families of the victims and the victims themselves experienced during the seizure and the repossession.
I do not know whether the book has yet arrived in bookstores across the Spanish-speaking world, but readers can follow Los Once on Facebook and Twitter.  They can also find information on Sharpball (Facebook and Twitter), the label under which these young Colombian artists show their work.
Image courtesy of Sharpball, and used with permission.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Juan Arellano


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Myanmar’s First Digital Library for Higher Education · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Myanmar's Ministry of Education and the Open Society Foundation have teamed up to establish the country's first digital library. Oleksandr Shtokvych, Senior Manager at the Open Society Foundations’ Higher Education Support Programme, explained the importance of the project:
It will also mean including their students and scholars (of the  University of Yangon and the University of Mandalay) as active participants in the production of new knowledge and critical thinking, and bringing the unique and rich legacy and current developments in Myanmar into the limelight of international scholarship.

author: Mong Palatino


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Russia Reconsiders Bitcoin? · Global Voices
Valentina Lukin

Russia reconsiders Bitcoin? Images mixed by Kevin Rothrock.
In connection with American sanctions against the Kremlin for its actions in Ukraine, MasterCard and Visa have stopped processing certain transactions in Russia. The move has inspired some digital currency enthusiasts to propose Bitcoin, the world's leading crypto-currency, as a solution to Russia's monetary problems.
Bitcoin's popularity in Russia is not universal.In January, the Central Bank warned that the government would treat any use of Bitcoins as potential money laundering or terrorist financing. Months later, however, officials softened their position on the digital currency, refusing to endorse a full ban on Bitcoins. Regulation, not prohibition, was now the word of the day.
Bitcoins are currently accepted as payment in several online and offline shops and hotels throughout Russia. The country ranks fifth in global users, with 204,502. (The four nations ahead of Russia are the United States, with 1,133,272 users, China, with 368,004, Germany, with 247,658, and the United Kingdom, with 220,145.)
On Vkontakte, Russia's most popular online social network, there is a group dedicated to Bitcoins with more than sixteen thousand members. VK's founder, Pavel Durov, has praised the crypto-currency, mockingly comparing it to Russia's official legal tender, the rouble:
Биткоины обеспечены вычислительной мощностью многочисленных майнеров, их количество ограничено.
Опасность биткоина для власть имущих состоит в том, что он мешает им остригать стадо через выпуск макулатуры под названием “национальная валюта”.
Bitcoins are supported by the computing power of many users, and the number [of Bitcoins] is limited.
The danger Bitcoins pose to the rich and powerful is that they interfere with fleecing the sheeple, [which the authorities accomplish] by issuing more trash that they call “the national currency.”
Russian Bitcoin fans interact on several forums, such as Bitcoin Security, which attracts over thirteen thousand bloggers. The community says it wants to educate the public about digital currency. The first Bitcoin conference in Russia will be held on April 23, 2014, in Moscow. In May, St. Petersburg's European University will launch a free online course about Bitcoins.
The future for the digital currency in Russia, it seems, is bright.

author: Valentina Lukin


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South Korea: Samsung Sues Newspaper Over Negative Report · Global Voices
Lee Yoo Eun

South Korean tech giant Samsung has launched a lawsuit against a local IT newspaper for publishing an unfavorable report. Marmot's Hole blog wrote about how things developed and the repercussion of Samsung's response to negative press coverage. Some of the highlights read;
I’d caution Samsung that in terms of PR, lawsuits of this sort often cause more harm than good[…] To make matters worse, a story at AppleInsider compares the Korean electronics giant rather unfavorably to the Cupertino Fruit Company, which—assuming the report is true—almost never sues newspapers/blogs despite the countless groundless rumors that accompany the release of just about every iPhone model.

author: Lee Yoo Eun


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Trinidad & Tobago: Lessons from a Health Scare  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Trinidadian diaspora blogger Afrobella shares her mammogram diary in hopes that her experience can help other women.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Will Russia Regulate Blogs Like Mass Media? · Global Voices
Andrey Tselikov

Anonymous does not know or care. Images remixed by Andrey Tselikov.
On April 7, 2014 two Russian MPs announced [ru] they would be proposing yet anther law controlling the flow of information on the RuNet. According to Andrei Lugovoi and Vadim Dengin, both Liberal Democrats, under their proposal bloggers with an audience of more than 3,000 readers would face the same regulations as all Russian mass media. The regulations would require fact-checking, age restriction warnings, and obeying election laws, among other responsibilities.
As Vadim Dengin told the news portal TJournal [ru], the number of readers would be determined from the number of unique visitors, and that all “bots” would be excluded from the numbers. According to Dengin, Roskomnadzor, Russia's media regulator, has the capacity to maintain such a registry of popular blogs.
The announcement understandably incensed Russian bloggers, some of whom view this as simply another step in the Kremlin's steadily increasing control Russia's unruly and critical blogosphere. Oleg Kozyrev, journalist and blogger with over 8,000 “friends” on LiveJournal and over 46,000 followers on Twitter, wrote [ru] that the proposal would essentially negate blogger rights to free expression of their opinion. It is clear, said Kozyrev, that this silencing would be directed against “socio-political bloggers, civic and ecological projects.”
Art gallery owner and former political spin doctor Marat Guelman was also perturbed [ru]:
Не смешно: Они действительно решили блоги у которых свыше 3000 читателей при равнять к СМИ. Я не понимал как это будет работать, а тут обьяснили. Получаешь предписание обязывающее зарегестрировать. А то понимаешь Все СМИ позакрывали, а журналисты, блядь, всё никак не кончаются. У меня в твиттере 63 000.
Not funny: They really decided to equate blogs with over 3000 readers to mass media. I didn't understand how it would work, but someone explained. You get an order that requires you to register [your blog]. Because, you understand, they've shut down all the [actual] mass media, but the f*cking journalists just won't stop writing. I have 63,000 [followers] on my Twitter.
Ivan Zassoursky, a professor of journalism at Moscow State University, wrote [ru] on his Facebook that the proposal has a different, more serious goal in mind. Because it would be impossible for Russia to regulate Twitter and Facebook, he believes that such a law would in effect block Russians “without access to VPN” from accessing major foreign social networks.
At least one blogger thinks [ru] that such a law, if passed, would prove to be a net positive. Unless you are planning to evade taxes, publish personal information, or libel, says Oleg Lurie, you have nothing to worry about. Furthermore, if the government wants to shut down a blog, it already has the power to do so. There are also positives — if bloggers become mass media, government agencies will be required to respond to information requests and cooperate with bloggers the same as they do with journalists.
Most people are not convinced, however, and feel that even if effective, a law that limits freedom of expression will cause more trouble than it is worth. As former banker and popular blogger Roman Avdeev put it [ru]:
Я не хочу проводить никаких параллелей, но когда в Египте отключили Facebook и twitter, люди просто вышли на улицы… Нужно ли нам это?
I don't want to draw any parallels, but when in Egypt they turned off Facebook and Twitter, people just took to the streets… Do we need that?

author: Andrey Tselikov


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Baidu Censors New Citizens Movement Website  · Global Voices
Abby Liu

After Chinese court affirms Chinese lawyer and activist Xu Zhiyong’s conviction of four-year sentence in prison for assembling a crowd to disrupt order in public places, New Citizens Movement website, of which Xu was one of the founders, disappeared from Baidu search results.
This is not the first time that information relating to Xu Zhiyong has disappeared from Baidu and other China-based web sites.

author: Abby Liu


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“Blogs are the Vinyl Records of the Internet” · Global Voices
Farid

An article in Washington Post talks about “the decline of Iran's blogestan”.
Several bloggers tweeted the last sentence of this article:
#Blogs are the #vinyl records of the Internet. See @Kamangir @maasalan http://t.co/bd6NKrrTpR …
— fredpetrossian (@fredpetrossian) April 13, 2014
Read more here.

author: Farid


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China Blocks Short Sci-Fi Film From Hong Kong · Global Voices
Abby Liu

A short sci-fi film titled “Hong Kong Will Be Destroyed After 33 Years” has become a viral hit and earned the ire of China's censors.
The seven minute and 28 second video, which has attracted 645,000 views since its upload to YouTube on March 3, 2014, features apathetic Hong Kongers indifferent to an approaching meteor, set to hit in 2047—the year when Hong Kong, a Special Administrative Region of China, stops having separate laws from the mainland.
In the film, more than two-thirds of the city's people as well as large corporations leave after learning news of the meteor. The resulting emptying of the city lets small businesses flourish and frees up housing for everyone. The city is, in a sense, reborn, despite its impending doom. Eventually, scientists are able to destroy the meteor before it hits.
The video reveals Hong Kongers’ anxieties over political and social issues, such as their increasingly crowded and materialist city and the growing numbers of mainlanders since the city's transfer from the United Kingdom to China in 1997. It sends the opposite message of a very common view among mainlanders, that without China's economic support, Hong Kong would have been dead long ago.
One netizen, “iseeyouinmyheart,” commented on YouTube:
To me, HK is already finished. I can no longer feel the air of freedom, justice, rule of law, and fairness that I did before 1997.
Inevitably, the short video was blocked on Chinese video websites such as Youku. According to the blog Fei Chang Dao, search results for “33 Years” were being suppressed on both Baidu and Sina Weibo. According to China Digital Times, Chinese propaganda authorities’ order was leaked online:
Screenshot from the short video “Hong Kong Will Be Destroyed After 33 years”
国信办：全网立即查删1，“声援、营救唐吉田等失踪律师”的相关信息， 2，鼓吹港人“自救”的科幻短片“香港将于33年后毁灭”相关视频、文字等。
State Council Information Office: Immediately remove the following from all websites: (1) information related to “supporting and rescuing Tang Jitian and other missing lawyers”; (2) video, text, etc. that advocates the short sci-fi film about Hong Kongers “saving themselves” titled “Hong Kong Will Be Destroyed in 33 Years”.
Yik Kan Cheung, a VFX artist and post-production supervisor of the video, told The Diplomat why they think the video was banned in mainland:
The reason the video is being censored by authorities is, we believe, that they think what they’re doing is keeping the society peaceful. But, what we think they are doing is keeping people away from knowing the truth, that China is trying to suffocate Hong Kong to death by importing Mainland Chinese into Hong Kong until there’s enough people for them to control the elections. After that, there will be no open elections in Hong Kong.


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Expat Life in China: A Review Of Unsavory Elements · Global Voices
Abby Liu

Unsavory Elements is an anthology of true stories about foreigners “on the loose” in China. Through their stories, the authors and journalists from the book also explore illegality and ethics in China. As China Law Blog describes:
Ranging from transactions and deeds that would raise the eyebrows of those enforcing America’s Foreign Corrupt Practices Act to stints in prison for drug dealing to flagrant violations of prostitution laws, what results is 300 pages of business and law school case studies written not in legalese but in literary prose, and what a read it is.


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Macedonia 2014 Elections Quick Reference Guide · Global Voices
Filip Stojanovski

April 2014 is election season in Macedonia. On Sunday, April 13, Macedonians began casting votes for a new president and a new parliament.
As is the case with the electoral process in many countries in the age of the Internet, much of the information related to these elections will be readily available online. Global Voices has collected a list of some of the resources Internet users can use to follow the elections in Macedonia, as well as a quick calendar of the voting dates.
Voter with a branded thumb holding election information leaflet issued by SEC. CC-BY.
Macedonia 2014 elections calendar:
Key websites to follow:
Twitter hashtags:
Websites and Twitter accounts of the presidential candidates and their political parties (numbers reflect the order of candidates on the ballot):
Komunikacii blog has published a concise and interesting analysis of the slogans [mk], while a Balkanist article “Elections in Macedonia: The Land of Promises” neatly sums up some of the major issues.
The early parliamentary elections in Macedonia have the same general cast as in 2011.

author: Filip Stojanovski


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Thailand’s ‘Seven Dangerous Days’ of the Songkran Festival · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Songkran Festival, Thailand’s traditional New Year celebrated every April, is popularly associated with water events, family reunions, and various festivities across the country. But it is also the period when road accidents shoot up that it is referred to by the police as the ‘Seven Dangerous Days’ of the New Year.
Songkran celebration in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Photo by Panupong Roopyai, Copyright @Demotix (4/12/2014)
The government often campaigns for a ‘Zero Death Songkran’ but it has never succeeded. This year, Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra is hoping that the holiday period would be ‘Seven Happy Days’ with minimal road tragedies.
But so far, more than 850 accidents were already registered in the past two days of the Songkran Festival. According to reports, these accidents led to 102 deaths and 893 injuries. The first two days were as dangerous as the previous years.
The Bangkok Post reminded authorities that the crashes are preventable:
What compounds the Songkran tragedy is that so few people seem to care. The dramatic spike in road deaths during Songkran has become not only expected but accepted: The official response from police and politicians shows only small improvements, while the behaviour of those in charge of vehicles gets no better despite the high death toll. It is almost treated as though the consequence of having so many drunk drivers and motorcyclists was a matter of fate rather than physics, as if taking to the roads on Songkran was a form of natural selection.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. While it’s true that more people will be in more vehicles on country roads this week, the vast majority of crashes are preventable.
#Songkran :That time of year when thousands of Thai families needlessly lose a loved one in a perfectly preventable road traffic accident…
— david meredith (@davidmeredith76) April 13, 2014
Statistics confirmed that most accidents involved drunk driving and overspeeding.
For Khon Kaen, the government lacks political will in ensuring road safety:
This year’s Songkran is more of the same with way too many road deaths reported – highly under-reported – yet the Thai Government never does anything to prevent the accidents.
The Thai Government talked about banning alcohol during Songkran but it didn’t get approved.  They talked about banning the sale of alcohol from sidewalk vendors – no approval. Should just get rid of the sidewalk vendors as they are all illegal.  Talked about not throwing water from the back of pick-up trucks – no approval – though this is strongly recommended.
There is also suspicion that the number of casualties is not being reported accurately:
The Thai Government failed to report the accident in Chanthaburi Province where 8 Cambodians died at the scene and two more in the hospital. Why?  Because they weren’t Thai?  Because they were Cambodian?  To save face and the precious image of Thailand?
But beyond Songkran, Thailand actually has the highest record for fatal road accidents in Southeast Asia. About 38 out of 100,000 people die from road accidents in Thailand annually compared to the global average of 18.
On March 24 a bus accident in Tak province in western Thailand killed more than 30 people. A month earlier, 15 school bus passengers died after their vehicle collided with an 18-wheeler truck in Prachinburi province. On December 27, at least 29 tourists died after their bus plunged into a deep gorge in Petchabun province.
Bus accidents may have figured prominently in the past few months, but statistically-speaking, it’s more dangerous to ride motorbikes in Thailand. More than 11,000 motorbike drivers or passengers die from road accidents annually, representing 70 percent of the country’s road fatalities.
For Weerawit Wajjanapukka, chief of the Traffic Police Division in Bangkok, strict enforcement of traffic rules would be meaningless if drivers continue to be irresponsible on the road.
It seems most drivers only display road etiquette to pass their driving test. It’s very important that everyone puts those values and correct practices into practice. Strict law enforcement alone can only fix the tip of the problem; we need contributions from every driver.
Road safety is an issue that should be seriously addressed by Thai authorities. Hopefully, there will be fewer accidents in the next five days of the Songkran Festival. May the New Year inspire Thai officials to review its traffic policies and how it is going to make land travel more fun and safe for everyone in the country.


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Top 10 Russian-Language Tweets, Week 15 of 2014 · Global Voices
Andrey Tselikov

Top tweets in the Russian twittersphere. Images mixed by Kevin Rothrock.
RuNet Echo continues its new series on trends in the RuNet Twittersphere. At the end of each week, RuNet Echo will be collecting top ten Russian-language tweets and curating them for Global Voices readers. Our selections are based on Tjournal.ru's “best tweets” algorithm, available and updated in real time here.
#10 — A visual joke about the increasingly jingoistic “pocket opposition” leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky
Шут говорит вслух то, о чем думает король. pic.twitter.com/FvoYtzLMnm
— Премъер Роисси (@MedvedOfRussia) April 9, 2014
The joker speaks aloud what the king is [privately] thinking
#9 — A novel crowd-funding metaphor
Ну вот если Михалыч просит у вас на пузырь сотню, то это стартап. Если доебывается до прохожих и просит по рублю, тогда уже краудфаундинг.
— Космос и Искупление (@turbojedi) April 10, 2014
See, if Mikhalych asks you for a hundred rubles to buy a bottle [of vodka], that's a start-up. If he's pestering the f*cking passers-by and asking them all for a ruble, that's crowd-funding.
#8 — A prayer from resident crazy-person and gay-basher Ivan Ohlobystin
Благослови Господь командиров “Альфы”, которые предпочли пойти под суд, но не пролить кровь невинных людей! Вот этим героям реально Слава! — Иван Охлобыстин (@PsykerO1477) April 11, 2014
God bless the commanders of [Ukrainian anti-terrorist special force] Alpha, who preferred to go to court, rather than spill the blood of innocents! Real glory to these heroes!
#7 — A rare Ukrainian tweet in the mix, from the front-man of popular alternative band Okean Elzy
Написав сьогодні першу пісню за 4 місяці! Мабуть весна прийшла:)
— Svyatoslav Vakarchuk (@s_vakarchuk) April 10, 2014
Today I wrote the first song in 4 months! Maybe spring is here:)
#6 — A sarcastic tweet from a Dmitry Kiselev parody account
Безрукий гражданин Харьковской республики пытается починить стекло, разбитое Правым Сектором. Респект таким парням. pic.twitter.com/cMiKhTYSWq — Киселев: вести дня (@dailykiselev) April 9, 2014
An arm-less citizen of the Kharkov republic is trying to fix glass that was broken by the Right Sector. Gotta respect guys like that.
#5 — A dig at commemorations of the first manned space flight
Судя по СМИ, основные достижения за 14 лет правления Путина – это победа в Великой Отечественной войне и полёт Гагарина.
— Ivan Semyonov (@Sem7ser) April 11, 2014
Judging by the media, Putin's main achievements after 14 years are victory in WWII and Gagarin's flight [to space].
#4 — Judging by the hokey bands performing there, Crimea was already Russian
Над Крымом сгущается тьма… pic.twitter.com/Yggu46slq4 — Капитан Кенгуру (@KapitanKenguru) April 7, 2014
Darkness descends over Crimea…
#3 — Vice-PM Dmitry Rogozin's tweet about Moon exploration brings ridicule
Казалось, что украсть больше чем на олимпиаде уже невозможно. Но тут Рогозин предложил закрепиться на Луне.
— Усы Пескова (@Sandy_mustache) April 10, 2014
It seemed that it would be impossible to steal more than what was stolen at the Olympics. But then Rogozin suggested we build a foothold on the Moon.
#2 — A joke about Windows, later deleted by the author. (1041 tweets registered by TJournal.)
Ребята, только не сильно ржите. Тетки на работе на полном серьезе связывают прекращение поддержки windows xp с санкциями сша против рф
Guys, don't laugh too hard. Women at work very seriously think that Microsoft stopping support of Windows XP is tied to US sanctions against Russia
#1 — Funnyman @KermlinRussia comments on Putin's econo-speak
Владимир Путин призвал готовиться к импортозамещению. Недовольные российские граждане будут замещены довольными импортными.
— Пeрзидент Роисси (@KermlinRussia) April 9, 2014
Vladimir Putin said to prepare ourselves for import-substitution. Unhappy Russian citizens will be substituted for happy imported ones.


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Kuntur: A New Birdwatching App Launched in Colombia · Global Voices
Cati Restrepo

[All links direct to websites in Spanish.]
In the last week of March 2014, the Colombian National Training Service (Servicio Nacional de Aprendizaje – SENA) launched an app for birdwatching, named Kuntur. The SENA website posted that Kuntur “would allow specialists in bird life and biodiversity in the country, to register their information and share it with the community in real time. It has a database with features for location and identification of the birds.”
Screen capture from YouTube.
At @Birdwatching on Twitter, they explained the goal of the initiative:
La meta con #Kuntur es lograr completar una base de datos con todas las especies de #Aves que hay en #Colombia. http://t.co/8459xwio6a
— Birdwatching (@birdwatching_co) April 8, 2014
The goal of Kuntur is to compile a database with all the birds species there are in Colombia.
On the app's official account (@KunturAPP), we can find information such as how many times the app was downloaded during March (on android devices – the only platform on which the app is currently available):
En el primer mes en la tienda Google play, KUNTUR tiene más de 2000 descargas, con una calificación promedio de… http://t.co/QmMpY3zbxR
— kuntursoporte (@KunturAPP) April 7, 2014
In the first month of appearing on Google Play Store, KUNTUR has over 2000 downloads, with an average rating of…
Luis Carlos Zapata blogs on App Web móviles entre otros about his positive feedback for this release and tells us how the idea of Kuntur started:
La app nació en el tecnoparque de manizales y actualmente se encuentra en la tienda de Google Play pero proximamente estará disponible en IOS.La app tiene como intención que se conozca cerca de las que se conocen en Colombia, que sea didáctico y educativo.
[…] tanto novatos como expertos se puede buscar mediante la elección de diferentes siluetas y luego elegir características como color primario y secundario; para los inexpertos saldrá diferentes opciones […] y si usted es un experto la puede buscar con su .
The app was created at Manizales Technopark and is currently available in Google Play Store, but will shortly be available on IOS. The app intends to make public about the in Colombia, in an educational and instructive way.
[…] beginners and experts alike, will be able to search by (first) selecting different silhouettes and then selecting characteristics such as primary and secondary color; for beginners there will be different options […] and if you are an expert, you can search by .
In the same post, the video linked below was posted from the app's account on YouTube, with a very easy explanation as to how to use the app:
There is more information on the app creators’ website and their Facebook page.

author: Cati Restrepo


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Syria: From Inventor to Laborer · Global Voices
Syria Untold

This post was previously published on Syria Untold.
Fifty years into its rule, the Assad family — father and son — is not merely responsible for hundreds of thousands of casualties in Syria, but also, for the perpetual infanticide of Syrian talents and dreams. The story of Ismail al-Shimali exposes the Baathist mechanisms of diminishing any possibility for scientific or cultural development in the country.
Photo of Ismail al-Shimali, taken from his Facebook page. Used with permission.
Brilliance As a Curse
Growing up, al-Shimali had a passion for mechanics. He spent days and nights glued to his motorcycle, discovering its every detail, and trying to modify and make it more efficient. After high school, he left his hometown in the countryside of Hama, and moved to Aleppo, where he enrolled as a student at the Institute of Mechanical Engineering.
As part of his graduation project, the young man invented a measuring device called the “Vernier Caliper Bisector”, an innovation that earned him a diploma as a prominent student, and paved the way for a long series of disappointments.
A year after applying for his innovation patent, and after numerous long, tiring strides to the Directorate of Intellectual Property Protection in Damascus, he received the Gold Medal of Honor, as a Syrian inventor. “I was lucky,” al-Shimali says, “Other people had been waiting to get their patent for over four years.”
Al-Shimali’s sole aspiration at the time was to get an exception that enables him to continue his education in the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering. With his patent in hand, he roamed the streets, knocking on every possible door: the Minister of Economics, Minister of Higher Education and even the Syrian President himself, but he was faced with either mockery or utter indifference. “The head of Higher Institutes in Syria, to whom I had submitted a formal request, threw my paper in the trash, yelling, “no one asked you to be a big-shot inventor. We have more important things to worry about,” al-Shimali recounts in an interview with SyriaUntold.
Blueprint of al-Shimali's measuring device. Used with permission
The Outbreak of the Uprising: A Renewed Hope
As the screams against injustice in Syria grew louder and louder, so did al-Shimali’s hope of a brighter homeland, one that celebrates the gifts of its youth instead of oppressing them. He joined the civil movement in his hometown Salamiyah, and took part in countless peaceful demonstrations with other university students, in the hope of drawing the government's attention to their legitimate demands.
As the numbers of protesters began escalating, the regime stepped up its arbitrary arrests in the city, and al-Shimali was detained in May, 2012. “They tortured us, as if we were the source of all evil in the world,” he reflects. “I was moved to the central prison in Hama, and was released under a presidential pardon, a month later.”
Regime security forces confiscated al-Shimali’s beloved motorcycle, along with most of his possessions, and raided his home several times to arrest him again. To save himself from the humiliating and painful experience of jail, he was forced to flee to Lebanon, where an unknown destiny awaits him.
Exile: From Invention to Hard Labor
The staggering number of Syrian refugees in Lebanon, along with the dominant discourses propagated by leading political forces and elites, have had a profound effect on the Lebanese people, and prejudice began to manifest itself in every aspect. “Property prices have risen exponentially since 2011, and labor exploitation of Syrian workers is rampant,” al-Shimali notes.
After his diploma certificate and patent had proven worthless, the young inventor became saddled with mundane jobs, since his arrival in Lebanon in October, 2012. From a construction worker, to sawmill operator and blacksmith. al-Shimali currently distributes drinking water for a living. “I tried to find better jobs, something more compatible with my degree, but the crude, demeaning responses crippled my every attempt.”
Ismail al-Shimali's story speaks of determination and inequity but is only one of many, and as war continues to reap the lives of hundreds of Syrians each day, the seemingly dead-end future, shatters the hopes and dreams of thousands more.
This post was previously published on Syria Untold.

author: Syria Untold


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The Last Place of Cultural Dynamism in Luanda is No More · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Marissa Moorman writes about the destruction of Elinga Theatre, the centre of cultural life in Luanda, Angola:
Since 1988, Elinga Theater, has anchored cultural life in the Angolan capital. On March 22, 2014 José Mena Abrantes, director of Elinga Theater, as well as poet, dramaturge, journalist, and communications consultant (read: sometimes speechwriter) for Angolan President José Eduardo dos Santos, announced the impending destruction of Elinga’s historic space.
This comes after the theater group was told in January this year to vacate by the end of last month.
Come April 1, fear turned to action. Central Angola launched a campaign on Facebook to get bodies in front of Elinga and stall the destruction. A petition began circulating on April 2 (online and at Luanda schools), after Ângela Mingas, professor of Architecture at Lusíada University, suggested that 1,000 signatures delivered to the National Assembly on April 18, UNESCO’s international day for monuments and sites, would pack symbolic punch.
On 15 October, 2014, Global Voices Online wrote an article the theatre titled “Angola: Elinga Theatre, from Glory to Oblivion.”

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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The State Of Women In The Present Indian Society · Global Voices
Rezwan

Transhuman Collective (THC), a brainchild of Soham Sarcar & Snehali Shah, is a multidisciplinary collaborative project based on the philosophy of Transhumanism. In this moving video created and uploded to YouTube by Transhumanism.in it is revealed that there is lack of basic respect for women in Indian patriarchal society. To add to this media plays a pivotal role in shaping the mindset and attitude of the Indian Society.

author: Rezwan


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Tunisian Blog Launches Whistleblowing Platform  · Global Voices
Afef Abrougui

Tunisian award-winning collective blog Nawaat has launched its own whistle-blowing platform: Nawaat Leaks.
The secure platform was launched in collaboration with GlobaLeaks, an open source and anonymous whistleblowing software. GlobaLeaks announced the new project in a tweet on March 27:
The first Leaksite in the Arab World has born #nawaatleaks by @nawaat using GlobaLeaks in Arab and French language! http://t.co/7sV5OM2uSp
— GlobaLeaks (@GlobaLeaks) March 27, 2014
Those wishing to use Nawaat Leaks to leak classified information, will first need to download the online anonymity software Tor.
Nawaat Leaks Logo
Nawaat co-founder Sami Ben Gharbia explains [ar] the online safety measures taken into consideration to protect the platform's users :
قام فريق نواة بالتعاون مع مبادرة جلوبال ليكس بإنشاء صفحة خاصة تستخدم حزمة من التطبيقات و التقنيات المفتوحة المصدر التي تحمي مسربي الوثائق و الملفات السرية. هذه البرمجية تحمي المُسربين حتى من فريق نواة نفسه الذي لن يتعرف بفضل هذه التقنيات على هوية الأشخاص الذين سيقومون بعملية التسريب، لا عن طريق بريدهم الإلكتروني و لا عن طريق معرفهم الألكتروني و لا عن طريق إسمهم أو موقعهم الجغرافي.
و من أجل توفير حماية أكثر للمسربين سيعمل فريق نواة كعادته، قبل نشر أي وثيقة سرية مسربة، على فسخ كل البيانات الوصفية (Metadata) التي تزيد من إمكانية الكشف عن المصدر الإلكتروني للوثائق سواءا كانت ملفات صوتية، مقاطع فيديو، صور أو وثائق نصية.
In collaboration with GlobaLeaks, the Nawaat team created a special page that deploys a number of open source applications and techniques which protect those leaking confidential documents and files. This software even protects whistleblowers from the Nawaat team itself, which thanks to these techniques will not be able to identify the identity of those who leak [information] through their address emails, IP addresses, names or their geographic locations. To provide them with further protection, the Nawaat team will as usual and before the publication of any leaked confidential document, delete all meta data which increases the possibility of identifying the electronic source of documents in its different formats: audio, video clips, photos or texts
In 2011, Tunisia's interim authorities passed decree 41 guaranteeing access to administrative documents. In practice, however, the law is far from being implemented. In a statement published on March 27, Article 19 slammed the authorities’ ineffective implementation of decree 41.
ARTICLE 19 “notes concern that existing measures designed to ensure government transparency are not being effectively implemented” the organization said.
Ben Gharbia comments [ar] on the decree's lack of proper implementation:
بالرغم من المرسوم عدد 41 لسنة 2011 الذي يضمن، نظريا، حق المواطن في النفاذ إلى الوثائق الإدارية للمنشئات العمومية، و بالرغم من كثرة الحديث عن مقاومة الفساد و محاسبة الفاسدين و ضرورة تأسيس حوكمة رشيدة قائمة على الشفافية، إلا إننا لم ننعم بعد لا بحق النفاذ إلى المعلومة و لا بمقاومة جادة للفساد. بل على العكس، رأينا كيف يُحاكم و يتبع عدليا كل من حاول كشف المستور من فساد و محابات واستغلال للنفوذ و غيرها من المظاهر التي لا تزال تنخر عوالم السياسة و الإدارة و الأعمال
Despite decree 41 of 2011, which theoretically guarantees citizens’ right to access administrative documents held by public institutions and despite the multiple talks on fighting corruption and holding the corrupt accountable and the need to establish a transparent good governance [policy], we are yet to enjoy the right to access information and a serious anti corruption battle. But, on the contrary, we have witnessed how those who seek to uncover hidden corruption, favoritism, abuse of power and other aspects which still devour the worlds of politics, administration and business, are put on trial and prosecuted

author: Afef Abrougui


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Uncle Sam’s Ukraine Failure in Russia · Global Voices
Kevin Rothrock

America's shortcomings in the information war over Ukraine. Images mixed by author.
Tensions are high in eastern Ukraine, where the first bullets are flying in what could become a major armed conflict. The violence might be only starting, but an information war between Russia and the West has raged for months now. Clearly frustrated with Moscow’s actions in eastern Ukraine, the US State Department openly denounced Russian propaganda yesterday, April 13, 2014, listing ten “false claims about Ukraine” by the Kremlin. The American government published a similar list last month, on March 4, criticizing Russian claims about Crimea.
The biggest audience for “the Russian propaganda machine,” as the State Department calls it, is undoubtedly Russia's own population. US officials showed little interest in appealing to Russian speakers, however, publishing both lists in English only. There appears to be no official Russian translation of the press release, though several media outlets have summarized the text in Russian and Ukrainian. The US Russian embassy’s official Twitter account, which has over 21 thousand followers, did post a link to the “ten false claims,” though just 15 people retweeted it.
Unsurprisingly, given the document’s unavailability in Russian, the State Department’s myth-busting announcement got little reaction from Russians. While Russian newspapers’ summaries about the US press release have attracted some reposts on Twitter and other online networks, most original feedback from Russian bloggers is decidedly negative. Many objections focus on the State Department’s implication that “Russian agents” are active in Ukraine. In what has become a familiar practice in the dispute about combatants’ origins, bloggers endlessly dissect photographs of the armed men in Ukrainian cities, debating whether someone’s rifle, vest, helmet, or who-knows-what-else reveals his true identity.
Of the Russian Internet users who reject the State Department’s comments, most seem content not to engage the report’s content at all, instead hurling abuse at the US government in general terms. “The enemy has an amazing talent [for lying],” wrote someone on LiveJournal. “How’s the State Department’s head so full of shit?” asked a Facebook user. “They lie with every breath,” another person wrote, adding, “At least our guys [in the Russian government] just keep quiet, but these people [the Americans] lie.” One blogger on LiveJournal commented on the State Department’s press release by arguing that the evidence of Russian involvement in Ukraine is minimal, compared to the (supposed) mountains of data that show the United States’ responsibility for a spike in Afghan opium production. For that reason, he claims, “sanctions against the USA make far more sense than another round of penalizing Russia.”
The US government’s recent outreach to Russian speakers about the events in Ukraine has been clumsy, to say the least. On April 8, 2014, the US embassy in Russia tweeted a link to a news story on Echo of Moscow’s website about separatists in Kharkov confusing an opera house for the mayor’s building. (The mistake, the report claims, reveals that the men were not locals, which implies outside intervention.) The embassy added to its tweet a hashtag that was supposed to say “the isolation of Russia,” but it misspelled the word “Russia.” Astonishingly, no one has deleted the tweet. (It is still online and available today). Within hours, Russia’s Foreign Ministry posted on Facebook a photograph of the misspelling, mocking the error and offering language assistance with any future “propaganda materials.”
Up to the present, votes in international institutions about the annexation of Crimea suggest that countries are likelier to sympathize with Ukraine and the United States than with Russia. As far as ordinary Russians are concerned, however, the Americans are waging a lousy information war.

author: Kevin Rothrock


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Chile: Forest Fire Causes Death and Destruction in Valparaíso  · Global Voices
Gabriela García Calderón Orbe

UPDATE: According to Chilean newspaper El Mercurio [es], on the evening of Monday, April 14, the flames have left 15 dead, 11,000 homeless, 1,140 acres consumed by the fire, and over 2,500 homes burned, according to the authorities’ evaluation.
On the night of Saturday, April 12, a huge fire [es] consumed over 500 homes in the hills of the coastal Chilean city of Valparaíso. Authorities decided to evacuate 3,000 people and deployed soldiers to the area to help in the disaster.
By Monday, April 14, 2,000 houses had been consumed by the flames and 17,000 people had to be evacuated from their homes. The fire has caused the deaths of 12 people and has left 8,000 residents homeless. Emergency crews continue working to reduce the flames that are still spreading throughout the hills of the port. Eleven sectors have been affected and 850 acres consumed.
Valparaíso houses the National Congress of Chile and one of the main ports of the country. The historical center of this picturesque city of 250,000 residents was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2003. That zone was not affected by the fire.
Infographic published [es] in El Mercurio.
On her blog Notes from a Reporter, by Angélica Mora [es], the author realized how the fire started and provides more information:
El siniestro, que abarca ya unas 270 hectáreas, comenzó como un incendio forestal en el camino La Pólvora, pero el fuerte viento hizo que se propagase a las zonas pobladas de los cerros La Cruz, El Vergel, Las Cañas y Mariposas.
[…]
Una enorme columna de humo, que está causando problemas respiratorios, especialmente a la población infantil y a los ancianos, se puede observar a decenas de kilómetros del lugar. En la extinción del incendio, que comenzó minutos después de las 16 del sábado y que fue creciendo a medida que avanzaba la tarde, trabajan unidades de bomberos de seis provincias, policías y equipos aéreos y terrestres de la Corporación Nacional Forestal y la Oficina Nacional de Emergencia.
[…]
La mayoría de las viviendas de Valparaíso, donde viven unas 250.000 personas, están construidas con material ligero, fácilmente inflamable, lo que unido al viento hace que los incendios sean frecuentes, pero no se recuerda alguno de esta magnitud.
The disaster, which already covers some 270 acres, started as a forest fire on La Pólvora road, but the strong wind spread it to the populated hills of La Cruz, El Vergel, Las Cañas, and Mariposas.
[…]
A huge column of smoke, which is causing respiratory problems, especially among children and the elderly, can be seen dozens of kilometers away. Fire units from six provinces, the police, as well as air and ground teams from the National Forest Service and the National Bureau of Emergency are working to extinguish the fire, which started after 4pm on Saturday and grew as the afternoon wore on.
[…]
Most of the houses in Valparaíso, where about 250,000 people live, are built with lightweight, highly flammable materials, which together with the wind causes frequent fires, but never any of this magnitude.
Photo on Flickr by user retoricaca (CC BY-NC 2.0)
The 4320 blog [es] asked for help for the victims:
Herramientas de mano. Guantes y bototos de seguridad. Cascos de seguridad. Chalecos refractantes de seguridad. Carretillas de mano. Planchas para auto construcción. Calaminas. Víveres no perecibles. Pañales para niños y adultos. Ropa de cama. Agua. Artículos de aseo. Ropa para niños (en buen estado). Utensilios para la casa. Artículos de colegio para niños y Otros elementos que ustedes estimen pertinentes.
Hand tools. Boots and safety gloves. Safety helmets. Reflecting safety vests. Wheelbarrows. Irons for auto-construction. Corrugated irons. Nonperishable foods. Diapers for children and adults. Bedding. Water. Toiletries. Children's clothing (in good condition). Household utensils. School items for children and other items you deem pertinent.
Meanwhile, ARG Noticias [es] spread the words of President Michelle Bachelet:
La presidenta de Chile, Michelle Bachelet, catalogó la tragedia como “el peor incendio de la historia de Valparaíso” y no descarta que la cifra de víctimas fatales pueda aumentar con el paso de las horas. Asimismo, anunció la suspensión de su gira por Argentina que comenzaría mañana [martes 15 de abril] para poder reunirse con su Gobierno y definir una gestión “eficiente” en el Puerto.
La mandataria encabezó ayer [domingo 13] un comité de emergencia en la ciudad portuaria y, por la tarde, visitó dos albergues habilitados en la Parroquia San Juan Bosco y en el colegio Gaspar Cabrales.
The President of Chile, Michelle Bachelet, classified the tragedy as “the worst fire in Valparaíso's history” and suspects that the death toll may increase with the passage of time. She also announced the suspension of her tour of Argentina that was set to begin tomorrow [Tuesday, April 15] to be able to meet with her Government and define an “efficient” management of the Port. The president led an emergency committee in the port city yesterday [Sunday, April 13] in the afternoon and visited two shelters set up at the San Juan Bosco parish and the Gaspar Cabrales school.
Reactions on Twitter have been diverse, like that of BioBio Chile, posting stories of a volunteer firefighter:
[FOTOS] Testimonio de un bombero voluntario, héroe del voraz incendio de Valparaíso http://t.co/WvNmTY6OFp pic.twitter.com/X11PFozbqz
— BioBioChile (@biobio) April 14, 2014
[PHOTOS] Testimony of a volunteer firefighter, hero of the raging fire in Valparaíso.
There were also updates on the fire:
Incendio bajó su intensidad pero mantiene al menos tres focos activos en Valparaíso http://t.co/HjmcLHcwJk
— ADN Radio Chile (@adnradiochile) April 14, 2014
Fire intensity has dropped, but at least three active points remain in Valparaíso.
Hasta 20 días podría tardar en ser extinguido el incendio en Valparaíso, alertan rescatistas chilenos http://t.co/Io6oMlkxJa
— Revista Emeequis (@emeequis) April 14, 2014
It could take up to 20 days to extinguish the fire in Valparaíso, warn Chilean rescuers.
Colegio Médico llama a sus socios a colaborar asistiendo a las víctimas del #incendio en Valparaíso http://t.co/tSqamp0Uaa [f]
— @Canal_Chile (@canal_chile) April 14, 2014
Medical Association calls its partners to work together to assist the victims of the #fire in Valparaíso.
On the other hand, other news related to the fire was also reported:
RT !Aquí los centros donde se puede donar y ayudar a los damnificados por el incendio en Valparaíso http://t.co/uTIAL9vHnB @vazqueznico
— ❤ (@DatosEuge) April 14, 2014
RT! Here are the centers where you can donate to and help the victims of the fire in Valparaíso.
[FOTOS] Jóvenes veterinarios atienden a las mascotas afectadas por el incendio de Valparaíso ===> http://t.co/6r9fygLl2N
— Diario Publimetro (@PublimetroChile) April 14, 2014
Young veterinarians attended pets affected by the fire in Valparaíso.
Violación de una niña en medio del incendio de Valparaíso terminó con golpiza al abusador ===> http://t.co/ByPTQkYT0Z
— Diario Publimetro (@PublimetroChile) April 14, 2014
Rape of a girl in the midst of the fire in Valparaíso ended with a beating of the abuser.

author: Gabriela García Calderón Orbe


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Exploring Trinidad & Tobago’s Digital Divide (Part 2) · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Global Voices talks with Kenfield Griffith, co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of mSurvey, which recently completed a nationwide mobile survey for the Telecommunications Authority of Trinidad and Tobago (TATT), which assessed the scope of the country's digital divide.
Kenfield Griffith, co-founder and CEO of mSurvey; photo used with permission.
Kenfield obtained his PhD in Design and Computation at MIT’s Engineering Systems Division and was always interested in how information can improve access and resources with appropriate technologies in difficult-to-reach communities. While working on research in Kenya, looking at computer numerically controlled and computer aided design technologies for the automation of low-income housing in emerging markets, he could not find current data, often having to resort to traditional paper and pen to do surveys. Knowing that he needed a massive amount of data as part of his research, Kenfield developed a simple, ‘crude’ mobile phone-based technology that enabled feedback directly from community members at a fraction of the time and cost, which allowed him to complete his survey work and record the data collected for analysis in real time. This basic idea has become the engine behind mSurvey.
Global Voices (GV): Tell us about the decision to establish mSurvey in the Caribbean. What sort of regional potential did you see for your business?
Kenfield Griffith (KG): mSurvey's first foray in the Caribbean began in 2011 with a project called mFisheries, in which mSurvey collaborated with the University of the West Indies’ Department of Computing and Information Technology to develop a suite of mobile applications for people involved in the local fishing industry (from fishermen to consumers). Traditionally, the region is cited as being one of the lesser developed in the world, but since I have strong familial ties to the region (I'm originally from Montserrat, and my father is from Barbados) there was an innate draw for me to implement the technology as an agent for change and development.
(GV): You had 4 main objectives to the Digital Divide survey – to figure out which communities were underserved, to determine where T&T stood with regard to ICT as compared with other countries, to determine the telecommunications needs of the differently able and to determine what portion of the population could afford assistive technologies. Let's address each one. First of all, which areas of the country were without internet access and what was the landscape like in those places? How does TATT plan to rectify the situation?
KG: According to the aggregate calculated regional indices, Tobago [the smaller of the two islands that make up the twin island republic] lags behind Trinidad in terms of access. The regions of St. Mary, St. John and St. Paul lag in digital access due to poor infrastructure, which is attributed to a low number of fixed telephone subscribers per 100 inhabitants.
Three regions (Penal/Debe, St. John and St. Mary) [in central and south Trinidad] have a usage sub-index that is below 0.9, unlike all other regions. Usage has only one indicator, Internet users per 100 inhabitants. A low sub-index value for usage thus means that the number of Internet users in these regions is relatively low compared to the ideal value of 85%.
South Korea, noted to be the leading country in bridging the digital divide, has put in place different measures to avail Internet accessibility and increase usage through Korea Agency For Digital Opportunity & Promotion (KADO). In an effort to reach people in remote areas, KADO partners with local governments and civic associations. Additionally, KADO holds classes on computer/Internet use in private homes. Along with Internet infrastructural improvements, an approach like this could be investigated to be implemented in Trinidad and Tobago thereby increasing usage and immensely bridging the divide.
Regions such as St. Paul and St. John trail the rest of the country in Digital Opportunity due to poor infrastructure. The non-constant indicators of this sub-index are the number of Internet users per 100 inhabitants, proportion of households with a fixed line telephone and the proportion of households with a computer. Much as the regions of St. Paul and St. John have better infrastructure than the country average as of 2007 (0.39)17, the disparity between them and the best performing region in this sub-index is quite high. The [capital] city of Port of Spain has a DOI [Digital Opportunity Index] of 0.7748 and this is partly due to good infrastructure, whose index is 0.6816. Interventions should be put in place to implement infrastructure in all regions to a comparable standard of Port of Spain.
GV: How does T&T's tech status compare to other Caribbean territories as well as to developed nations?  Can you take us through what factors go into determining the globally accepted benchmark and why?
KG: mSurvey used a few factors in measuring the digital divide. The ITU [International Telecommunication Union] standards, secondary data from other regional islands, and from countries which are identified as emerging digital access countries. As noted, Trinidad and Tobago has a very high mobile penetration compared with other Caribbean territories, but has less defined areas of Internet (wi-fi) access points as seen in other regions. Countries used were Estonia, Kenya, Ghana, Barbados, and the US which all offered insight to successful steps been taken to bridge the digital divide.
GV: It's heartening that TATT wanted to focus on the tech needs of people with disabilities – do you know why this was mentioned specifically and what plans the authority has to improve assistive technologies and other services in this regard?  Do you see this as a pivotal move that will inform the way the differently able are viewed in our society?
KG: We also found it quite commendable that TATT decided to incorporate questions related to (households with) persons with disabilities so that they (TATT) could gauge the level of need of ICT [Information and Communications Technology] services for this segment of society. One of the challenges of collecting data about the number of persons with disabilities is how to define, and in some instances how to identify, a person with disability. For instance, an elderly person with diminished vision may not be considered to be a person with disability by his/her family members, although [he/she] may be legally blind.
We relied on the Consortium of Disability Organizations (CODO) for guidance on definitions and determining what information would be pertinent in determining the ICT needs of persons with disabilities in Trinidad and Tobago. The Disability Survey amounted to eight discreet questions which focused on the nature of the person’s disability, that person’s affiliation with local disability organizations, whether that person currently uses/needs special equipment to access ICT, and from where they receive financial support.
We recorded 1197 households with persons with disabilities, and a total of 1329 persons with disabilities. The San Juan region cited the most number of persons with disabilities, which is not surprising because this region also has a high concentration of organizations which cater to persons with disabilities.
GV: Can you explain what the Digital Opportunity Index (DOI), Digital Access Index (DAI), and the ICT Development Index (IDI) are and why they are important to a survey of this type?
KG: The DAI, DOI, and IDI are the foundational indices which comprise the DDS [Digital Divide Survey].
DOI as composite index that measures ‘digital opportunity’ or the possibility for the citizens of a particular country to benefit from access to information that is ‘universal, ubiquitous, equitable and affordable’. The DOI involves new and innovative technologies such as mobile Internet and broadband. It can [therefore] be used to assess the growth and take-up of new ICTs [and] will remain relevant for some time to come, unlike more traditional connectivity indicators (e.g. fixed lines), which may become less relevant for developing countries through the expansion of mobile telephony networks, advanced wireless connectivity and own technology ‘leapfrogging’.
The DOI measures the ICT penetration of households and individuals relative to 100% ownership, to measure growth in the ICT development of the country’s economy over time. [It] is based on eleven ICT indicators, grouped in three clusters:
Opportunity — measures the basic access and affordability needed to participate in the information society in mobile population coverage, Internet access prices and mobile prices.
Infrastructure — includes measures of different networks (fixed lines, mobile cellular subscribers and household Internet access) and devices (households with a computer and mobile Internet).
Utilization — evaluates ICT usage in Internet users and broadband subscribers (fixed and mobile).
The Digital Access Index reflects the ability of a country’s population to take advantage of Internet communication technologies. This index follows the same methodology as the DOI, [grouping] eight indicators into five categories – Infrastructure, Affordability, Knowledge, Quality and Usage.
The ICT Development Index is a tool used to benchmark and track the progress the different regions in a country are making towards becoming an information society. This is then translated to the country as whole and comparisons done with other countries, at the same level of development and otherwise. The IDI is a composite index made up of eleven indicators covering ICT access, use and skills.
Infographic from the 2013 report about the  Digital Divide in Trinidad and Tobago; courtesy mSurvey, used with permission.
GV: What were the main challenges in conducting the survey?
KG: Well, with the Digital Divide Survey being the first national mobile survey in Trinidad and Tobago, we had to connect our platform with the locally operating telecommunications companies – bmobile and Digicel – and with every new market in which we [operate], that is one of our main challenges.
After this, the next hurdle to overcome is gaining trust from respondents. With mobile surveying…being a new technology to the [local] market, there is of course some degree of skepticism and paranoia: Who is asking these questions, and why? Are respondents really not going to be charged for the responses they send via SMS? Will respondents really receive $10 top-up credit upon completion of the survey?
GV: In a nutshell, what did the survey reveal? What measures can the authority take to help decrease the digital divide in T&T? And what factors contribute the to equation from the public's point of view? In other words, tools are no good unless you know how to use them – have you found the population tech-savvy, literate and largely able to use the tools if available?
KG: Many (five out of seven) of the regions in Tobago (namely, St. Paul, St. Mary, St. John, St. George, and St. Andrew) performed below national average across all indices, and two regions in Trinidad had similar performances (Mayaro/Rio Claro and Sangre Grande).
Trinidad and Tobago shows an impressive calculation of the indices determined by the metrics provided by the International Telecommunications Union. Significant focus was given to the definition of ‘access’, [which is] somewhat defined…as inclusion and acts as a determinant in shrinking the digital divide. Greater consideration should be given to further develop the analysis of access from one which defines a person who has physical access to technology, to a definition that focuses access to services that improve utilization, efficiencies and overall production. Consideration should be given to the metrics that define access to include utilization criteria. Suggestions would be to develop follow-up questions focused on monitoring how persons with access utilize the technology, [in order] to gauge what kinds of services would allow them to use such technology more frequently and gain more familiarity.
Looking at a comparative analysis of Trinidad and Tobago and other countries, these countries have taken a shift to use technology access as leverage for introducing additional services to the public, beyond the physical device. The additional services however are not the sole responsibility of the government or regulatory bodies, but can be introduced as a technology challenge for young, eager entrepreneurs to develop solutions for the population of Trinidad and Tobago to utilize.
The definition of education literacy does not have a one-to-one mapping with one’s ability to utilize a given technology, and should therefore be reconsidered as a metric for technology literacy. As seen with the indices, enrollment does not adequately capture technology utilization by an individual, also taking into account the high mobile phone penetration. Other metrics that offer a clearer indication about technology literacy, such as the ownership of an email account, the frequency of use of email, the access to tools such as Google to search for information, the ability to attach media (images, video, music) to electronic messages, the utilization of VoIP such as Skype can all be used as questions to quantify someone’s technology literacy.
Through ethnography with enumerators on the ground and some insights from the replies of some users who participated in the Digital Divide Survey in Trinidad and Tobago, we deduce that some people had difficulty with some features of the technology, which implies the limited familiarity with mobile phone features beyond voice communication. We conclude that more ways of interaction with mobile phones would increase the familiarity and improve utilization of technology beyond traditional voice, and will continue to shrink the digital divide. Mobile phones can be optimized for more than voice and should be considered to make ‘communicators’ into ‘users’.
We believe Trinidad and Tobago is in a very strong position to change the technology landscape as a global leader. With a mobile phone penetration of 140%, we see this as significant leverage to offer additional services to increase efficiencies, production, and utilization in the market. Trinidad and Tobago can offer Internet solutions through mobile phones as a result of the high mobile phone penetration. However, solutions to provide access and utilization can be challenging without design and creative means outside limited, conventional processes. By supporting an entrepreneurship culture and incentivizing technology enthusiasts, there is a possibility for entrepreneurs to develop solutions as businesses to solve some of the connectivity and access problems in Trinidad and Tobago. Some potential services can include renewing a passport online, signing up for new services from a mobile phone, integrating carnival activities with mobile devices. We deem with local resources, there are many opportunities to increase utilization of technology in Trinidad and Tobago to continue shrinking the Digital Divide and becoming a technology leader.
There are opportunities to offer solutions that seamlessly become part of the [country's] lifestyle [e.g.:] Triniberry, which gives Trinidadians access to movie show times on demand on their mobile phones, and mFisheries which offer fisher folk the ability to buy and sell fish using their mobile phones, [and includes] other valuable features such as capturing crime, and emergency services. These services do not require a physical line (which can be cost prohibitive for the providers) to connect to the Internet, but a solution that makes the user want to access the Internet (service) from a mobile device. The University of the West Indies has conducted research on wireless technologies, which can be a fruitful resource to the possibility of broader wireless access points and applications throughout Trinidad and Tobago, such as Long Term Evolution technologies for high-speed wireless data developed for mobile phones.
The data [collected from the survey] [puts] TATT in a position to observe communities and regions that can significantly benefit from technological intervention. Once interventions are developed at a small, manageable scale and tested for general utilization, TATT will be [better able] to do quick and valued assessment using the methodology defined in this report, seeing what works and what does not before scaling to other regions.
GV: What impact do you think this survey will have on actually shrinking the digital divide?  Where do you see T&T in the next five years?
KG: The results of this survey are intended to help guide policy and investment decisions by TATT to improve ICT services and accessibility throughout [the country]. What is key, however, is not only relying on the results of this one survey, but executing either the same or similar surveys periodically to track the progress and impact of the interventions implemented to assist with closing the digital divide.
GV: What is your vision for how your company can be part of the digital transformation taking place across the region?
KG: The digital transformation has already begun in the region. However, while there are many entrepreneurs and brilliant minds developing tools to improve livelihoods, there are still many obstacles in getting these tools to market and adopted by the end-users the developer had in mind. mSurvey sees itself playing the role of facilitating market research, customer feedback, and evaluation and monitoring over time – these are all necessary activities in the journey from the creation of a new technology from an idea, to having successful dissemination and adoption in the market. At its core, mSurvey is in the business of providing insights by honing in on relevant answers to critical questions.


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Extending bridges between Miami and Havana · Global Voices
Sandra Abd'Allah-Alvarez Ramírez

Jorge de Armas, a Cuban American, represents many of the people from the other side of the Strait of Florida who promote normalized relations between those on both shores.
De Armas is a member of the organization CAFE (Cuban Americans for Engagement), which along with three others, have recently organized the conference  “US/Cuba Relations, the Second Obama Administration: The Cuban-American Community and Changes in Cuba- Building Bridges for Better Relations,”  in Miami. In this interview, De Armas speaks about this important event where they sought to build bridges between Cuba and the United States after more than 50 years of conflict.
Global Voices (GV): A CAFE for Cuba…
JD: CAFE is a political group intending to impact those effective policies affecting relations between Cuba y the United States.
From that point of view, as members of CAFE, we made several trips to the US congress and to the Cuban Interest Section in Washington, seeking to put forth viable proposals that may improve relations.
(GV): What do you think the impact of this event in Miami will be, regarding the relations between the Cuban men and women from both shores and both governments?
JA:  In this case, the impact of the event is twofold,the first is to show that Miami, as a historical enclave of policies for regimen shift towards the Island, has changed,  its composition has changed and the community's interests are no longer in harmony with anti-Cuban policies as well as against all contact. The second is that the organizations looking for this rapprochement, yet marked by different desires may join each other for the greater good.
Another aspect worth mentioning is that the involvement of the speakers who live in Cuba did not get stuck on the intellectualized debate on Cuba. Abiel San Miguel-Estévez's involvement, a manager of renowned family-run restaurant in La Habana, Doña Eutimia, propitiated a rich debate concerning the ways in which businesses move forward, the relations between entrepreneurs and the neutral, financial and institutional environment and that it is becoming clearer that the mood of the environment is favoring small developing private businesses in Cuba.
The potential impact on the Island will depend on the feasibility of broadcasting this event and what was said there.
Panel participants “The Changes in Cuba and the external environment: A vision from the Island”. Photo Andrés Cabrera
GV: What can we do to disseminate the event's outcome?
JA: A downloadable version of the entire presentation will soon be released, along with all the videos. The debates that were generated by the panels were open forums, with many rich nuances and diverse reactions, which demonstrate that we, Cubans, are capable of speaking our minds.
GV: What are some hands-on solutions within the economic sector that were debated or raised during the event?
JA: Within the current context of Cuba, which is none other than a country in transition, with the distinctive feature that its relations with the United States are permeated by the blockade and a historical hostile environment, the hands-on solution in the economic scope often times stem from hands-on solutions in the political scope.
Because many of the measures adapted by Cuba have the force of law and must forcibly go through the congressional sieve in order to be repealed, the event made clear a set of possibilities that the president could take into account, that would lighten the mood regarding hostility and would facilitate an emergent commerce with the Island.
Is it President Obama's intent to eliminate Cuba from the list of terrorist countries, this would enable those signatory countries with anti-terrorist treaties, that have restrictions, to expand their relations with the country. As for financial entities that are unaffected by the blockage, but still are affected due to the treaties against those terrorist countries, could thus provide financial services to Cuban entities.
One other practical possibility would be to take advantage of the fact that the blockage impedes the United States from having commercial relations with the Cuban government, but by obtaining a private sector, a tolerance threshold could be implemented so that North American businesses can trade with that private sector.
The executive director could establish a General License so that North American citizens can travel to Cuba without any limitations.
GV: And from the Island?
JA: In the same respect Cuba could take significant steps towards shaking off views regarding strong misgivings about opening up conversations, between both nations, which may still linger amongst people in the US. Thus, even without belonging to the OAS, Cuba could express intentions of signing the pan-American anti-terrorist treaty, to which the United States is a signatory.
These practical solutions depend on the willingness of the governments. There lacks a climate conducive to respect and good faith.

author: Sandra Abd'Allah-Alvarez Ramírez


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Global Voices Partners with Melton Foundation on New Round of Mentoring · Global Voices
Aparna Ray

Global Voices and the Melton Foundation  have launched a new round of collaboration that will see a team of authors from Global Voices mentor a group of Fellows of the Melton Foundation in blogging and social media research.
Over the next four months, six Melton fellows from Chile, India and China will be coached over the internet in research and writing for Global Voices. The goal is to highlight solutions to inequality and discrimination in their regions, and gain experience writing for a global audience.
This is the second time Global Voices will be mentoring Melton fellows, after a successful first run in 2013.
The Melton Foundation promotes “global citizenship as a way for individuals and organizations to work together across boundaries of place and identity to address global challenges”.
On their website, they explain that sharing awareness of societal problems in a forum like Global Voices, “is an integral part of being a global citizen.”
This image illustrated an article written on Global Voices by a Melton Fellow in 2013. A customer in Mumbai, India inspects food grains before making his purchase. Image by Prasad Kholkute (CC-BY-SA 2.0)
Melton Fellows wrote these stories on Global Voices in 2013:
Global Voices has conducted a number of mentorships for organizational partners over the years.

author: Aparna Ray


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Indians in the Caribbean  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Active Voice reviews Gaiutra Bahadur’s book Coolie Woman: The Odyssey of Indenture and wonders whether “banning words or proscribing them ever achieves the desired outcome”:
Should we be trying to sanitize history or recording it in all its ugliness for the benefit of future generations? Can we ever liberate the word ‘Coolie’ from the unbearable weight of its history if its contemporary namesakes continue to work under the backbreaking conditions they do? These are hard questions for hard times.


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President Mugabe Thinks Nigeria Is More Corrupt Than Zimbabwe · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

President Robert Mugabe. Public domain photo belonging to U.S. Air Force.
Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe has angered Nigeria with comments made on March 15, 2014 during his 90th birthday luncheon that Nigeria and its citizens are corrupt.
Mugabe asked, “Are we now like Nigeria where you have to reach into your pocket to get anything done? You see, we used to go to Nigeria and every time we went there we had to carry extra cash in our pockets to corruptly pay for everything. You get into a plane in Nigeria and you sit there and the crew keeps dilly dulling without taking off as they wait for you to pay them to fly the plane.”
The Nigerian government summoned Zimbabwe's envoy last week over Mugabe's remarks. However, the Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders (CACOL) in Nigeria has asked the federal government to deal with the message and not the messenger.
The 2013 Transparency International Corruption Index shows the level of perceived corruption to be higher in Zimbabwe than in Nigeria.
Mugabe's comments have received mixed reactions on Twitter. Some netizens argued that what he said is the truth:
@halelule He told the truth, the whole truth, nothing but … :) Nigeria being offended should be the news here not Mugabe :P
— Liyana B Tefferi (@LiyanaTefferi) April 14, 2014
#Mugabe allegedly accused Zimbabweans of becoming like Nigeria when it came to corruption.Kettle calling pot black http://t.co/WEMBk7wSuz
— Shet Gunz (@Shetgunz) April 14, 2014
Robert Mugabe is really right on his words about nigeria.
— Jagaban (@Kingbiodun_) April 13, 2014
What Mugabe said about Nigeria is true but he said it to the wrong people.
— Macharia Mucheru (@MashRomeo) April 12, 2014
For God's sake, why should Robert Mugabe fabricate a tissue of lies against Nigeria. Is it true that Nigerians are corrupt?
— IaM►DeMal (@Dmalan_D) April 12, 2014
Mugabe says “all Nigerians are corrupt” while world bank reveals that “Nigeria's the most poorest country in Africa” #poverty = corruption
— OurLeadersHaveSoldUs (@Worldworth_Saro) April 14, 2014
@Nigeria…corruption is Nigeria's biggest problem. Our leaders are extremely corrupt. Not blaming Mugabe for his jab on our country
— Reginald Ohiri (@ReginaldOhiri) April 13, 2014
Nigeria summons Zimbabwean envoy over Mugabe’s comments. I am Nigerian but I do not see any wrong in calling a spade a spade.
— Almustapha Zubairu. (@mustybnzubair) April 11, 2014
looooool if mugabe can open his mouth to call nigeria corrupt …then its obvious we have a problem…very huge problem!
— Zainab.K (@MayowaKay) April 14, 2014
@figure007 felt that although Mugabe said the truth, he has no moral justification:
Just Read what Robert Mugabe said about nigeria,though he said d truth,but he has no Moral Justification 2 say it as a sitting president
— Abiodun Olumide (@figure007) April 12, 2014
Others disagreed with his assessment of corruption in Nigeria:
high point of dramtic irony. mugabe tags nigeria as corrupt.lol. the devil we know is too young to deal with a 90 year old.
— Qrriiss (@Qrriiss) April 13, 2014
What's that about taking the plank out of your own eye? Robert Mugabe bribery comment offends Nigeria http://t.co/MBzS02jOK8
— Jonathan Lang (@_Jonathan_Lang) April 13, 2014
#Mugabe has the audacity to infer Nigeria Govt is #corrupt. Nigeria Govt has the temerity to feel insulted. http://t.co/9WBazDl7LZ
— Dan Smith (@dpksmith) April 13, 2014
Pot calling the kettle black. Both corrupt countries. Mugabe comment offends Nigeria http://t.co/tBli25C6G8
— Michael Ajayi (@michaelaajayi) April 12, 2014


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Trinidad & Tobago: Bocas Lit Fest Embraces Audio Technology · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Technology is permeating even literature festivals! The Bocas Lit Fest blog announces the debut of Festival Radio, which will bring the festival experience to a global audience via a live audio stream, an on-demand audio magazine and archival material available through SoundCloud.


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9 Essentials Uncles You Need In Sri Lanka · Global Voices
Rezwan

Cerno opines that ordinary Sri Lankans need the right network of relationships with many ‘powerful uncles’ to survive properly.


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AC/DC Call It a Night After 41 Years · Global Voices
Kevin Rennie

Daryl Mason pays tribute at The Ostrahyun blog to iconic rock band AC/DC following reports that they will retire after 41 years.
More than a month ago, founding member, rhythm guitarist, co-producer and co-songwriter Malcolm Young had a stroke, which left a blood clot on his brain.
Confirmation may come at a media conference on Wednesday 16 April 2014. Fans can follow developments at the #acdcretire hashtag on twitter.

author: Kevin Rennie


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Historical Overview of Cambodia’s Land and Housing Problem · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Hallam Goad analyzed the problems and issues that plagued Cambodia's urban development in the past two decades:
Phnom Penh has followed the clichéd patterns of newly emerging nations almost to the letter with the urban poor shouldering many of the downsides. What few people recognise is that most of it could have been avoided.
With over 150,000 residents displaced since 1990 the story has been far from positive and in many cases has compounded and exacerbated what was already a very precarious existence.

author: Mong Palatino


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One Bottle of Wine Too Many for Australian State Premier · Global Voices
Kevin Rennie

Who would have thought that a bottle of wine could generate 7 of the top 10 twitter trends in Australia. The gift of a $A 3000 [$US 2800] 1959 Grange Hermitage red has been the downfall of New South Wales State Premier Barry O’Farrell. The witness stand at the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) was not the place to have a “massive memory fail”. A handwritten letter of thanks has exposed his flawed testimony and triggered his resignation.
Penfold's Grange 1959 – Image: Dan Murphy's
Breaking News is a boon for tweets. These were inevitable:
maybe he shouldn't have drunk the whole bottle if he wanted to remember it #grangegate
— Victoria Isaac (@visaac) April 16, 2014
Typical lazy media must u add "gate" to a word every time there's a political "scandal"? #grangegate is not anything.
— David (@undeactiv8) April 16, 2014
The thank-you note went viral, of course:
Former NSW Premier O'Farrell confident his #GrangeGate thank you note can achieve more RTs than Ellen's Oscar selfie: pic.twitter.com/XhOWje7oMJ
— Josh Nelson (@philmology) April 16, 2014
There was quite a lot of online chatter about whether the 1959 vintage of the iconic Penfold's wine was worth the price. Ben Cubby, deputy editor of The Sydney Morning Herald, linked to his newspaper’s wine writer:
Here's a review of the mysterious 1959 Grange by Fairfax wine expert Huon Hooke: http://t.co/lgCxV1vdcN #ICAC #grangegate
— Ben Cubby (@bencubby) April 16, 2014
There was even a fake note from a fake politician [The real Christopher Pyne is Federal Education minister and a member of the same political party as O'Farrell]:
Wow I hope they don't find Barry's notes to me. #auspol #nswpol pic.twitter.com/FcCHAWH8Dt
— Fake Chris Pyne (@FakeChrisPyne) April 16, 2014
The Premier was spared nothing:
With the benefit of hindsight O'Farrell would have been better off denying he had sexual relations with that bottle. #Grangegate
— Good Sir Knight (@BrigadierSlog) April 16, 2014
It was supposed to be a eventful day for the Premier. He was to give a media conference with Prime Minister Tony Abbott to announce road funding for a second Sydney airport and to host a civic reception at the Sydney Opera House for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. Apparently he missed both.
1959 was the year of Barry O'Farrell's birth.
Barry O'Farrell – Image: Toby Hudson, Wikimedia CC Attribution 2.5


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Russia’s Largest Social Network Says No to Censorship · Global Voices
Andrey Tselikov

Iron Durov. Images remixed by Kevin Rothrock.
Pavel Durov, founder and CEO of Russian social network VKontakte, has once again used his account there as a platform to speak out against Internet censorship. On April 16, 2014, Durov posted a short, but caustic status update [ru], claiming that VKontakte has faced mounting pressure to shut down Alexey Navalny's anti-corruption community. Earlier, Navalny's blog on LiveJournal was blocked in Russia [Global Voices report] by the order of the Prosecutor General's Office, but not before causing widespread service interruptions for all Russian LiveJournal users. In his message today Durov said that VKontakte has also been threatened with wholesale blockages.
RuNet Echo has translated Durov's statement in its entirety:
13 марта 2014 года Прокуратура потребовала от меня закрыть антикоррупционную группу Алексея Навального под угрозой блокировки ВКонтакте. Но я не закрыл эту группу в декабре 2011 года и, разумеется, не закрыл сейчас.
За прошедшие недели на меня оказывалось давление с разных сторон. Самыми разными методами мне удалось выиграть больше месяца, но сейчас настала пора сказать – ни я, ни моя команда не собираемся осуществлять политическую цензуру. Мы не будем удалять ни антикоррупционное сообщество Навального, ни сотни других сообществ, блокировки которых от нас требуют. Свобода распространения информации – неотъемлемое право постиндустриального общества. Это право, без которого существование ВКонтакте не имеет смысла.
On March 13 2014 the Prosecutor General's Office demanded that I shut down Alexey Navalny's anti-corruption group under the threat of blocking [all of] VKontakte. However, I didn't shut this group down in December 2011, and, certainly, didn't do so now.
In the past weeks I have faced pressure from all sides. Through different methods I have managed to borrow more than a month of time, but now the time has come to say – neither I, nor my team will participate in enforcing political censorship. We will not delete Navalny's anti-corruption community, or hundreds of other communities which we face demands to block. Freedom of dissemination of information is an unalienable right in a post-industrial society. Without this right, the existence of VKontakte has no meaning.


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State of Political Blogging in Vietnam · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Doan Trang observed that a growing number of Vietnamese bloggers have been tackling human rights and other political issues by
writing commentaries and analyses, even finding supplementary facts. Despite the emotional style which may sometimes reveal their non-professionalism, they filled the vacuum left by the mainstream media which in most cases would only report news without producing any in-depth analysis.
But only few are writing in English:
Though much progress has been made, alternative media in Vietnam still aims mostly at the Vietnamese audience. In other words, bloggers still “talk to themselves” or “write for their fellow citizens” only. News stories in English, if any, came as a result of the accidental attention by some foreign reporter about Vietnam's human rights situation via his/ her individual contact network.


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Trinidad & Tobago: End of Traditional IT? · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

ICT Pulse, in reading the latest McKinsey survey, wonders if the IT department – as we know it – is on its way out.


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Trinidad & Tobago: Lack of Accountability  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

The main issue now arising in relation to the Beetham Water Recycling Project…is the complete failure of our country’s system of Public Financial Management.
Afra Raymond takes on the government's “unpardonable failure to account for that mammoth sum of Public Money.”