Global Voices » International Relations

Mali: Interview with creator of video journal “How are things in Bamako?”

Jane Ellis — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 21:31:28 +0000

At the time of writing, June 2013, France is still fighting Islamists in Mali. Paris-based documentary-maker Anne Morin [fr] and her friend Awa Traoré [fr] in Bamako decided to share a video journal [fr] of their conversations on Skype on YouTube. At the beginning, the ambition was to do one per day; it was only possible to maintain this rate for a few days. So they moved to conducting the interviews on a weekly basis.

Following a long silence after the ninth edition, the tenth video of the series has been just put on line:

Anna Gueye used the opportunity to ask Anne Morin some questions.

Anna Gueye (Global Voices): Why did you create this series?

Anne Morin: Je ne pouvais pas juste rester là à attendre des infos de la presse et je voulais rester en lien avec les amis du Mali et Awa en particulier qui est une amie récente mais avec laquelle je partage beaucoup de choses car elle est aussi réalisatrice de documentaires.
C’est une conversation entre Awa et moi; ce qui moi me soucie c’est par rapport à notre projet d’adoption d’un enfant malien.

Anne Morin: I couldn't just sit there waiting for news from the press, and I wanted to stay in touch with friends in Mali, in particular with Awa who is a new friend with which I share many things because she too directs documentaries.
It is a conversation between me and Awa; what I care about is the relationship to our project to adopt a Malian child.

Why Mali?

Mes beaux-parents (70 et 75 ans) font de l’humanitaire dans le pays Dogon depuis 10 ans. Ils ont créé une association Jean d’Argile qui en association avec via Sahel a monté un laboratoire biologique dans l’hôpital de Sangha. Cela fait donc des années que je vais au Mali.

My in-laws (aged 70 and 75) have been doing humanitarian work in the Dogon Country for 10 years. They created a Jean d'Argole association who, together with via Sahel set up a biological laboratory in the Hospital of Sangha. So it has been years since I went to Mali.

In the videos above you say that international adoptions have been stopped in Mali. Why is that?

Tout a commencé avec la promulgation du nouveau code de la famille, en janvier 2012, dont l’article 540 limite l’adoption-filiation aux seuls ressortissants maliens. Pendant quelques mois, malgré tout, l'adoption a continué comme avant. Mais en novembre, la Ministre de la Promotion de l’Enfant, de la Femme et de la Famille, Madame Alwata Ichata Sahi, a décidé d’arrêter les adoptions internationales. Il s’agissait alors de répondre à une lettre du Secrétaire de la Convention de La Haye, traité international régissant l’adoption et dont le Mali est signataire. Cette lettre demandait aux autorités maliennes de se mettre en concordance avec le traité international [qu’elles ont signé] et proposait deux alternatives : (i) soit arrêter les adoptions internationales vers des non-Maliens puisque la nouvelle loi nationale l’interdisait ; (ii) soit de modifier la loi. Les autorités maliennes ont choisi la première alternative, et sans préavis aucun.

It all started with the creation of the new Family Code, in January 2012, article 540 of which limits adoption to Malian nationals. For a few months, however, adoptions continued as before. But in November, the Minister of the Advancement of Children, Women and Family, Mrs Alwata Ichata Sahi, decided to stop international adoptions. It was then necessary to respond to a letter from the Secretary of the Hague Convention, international treaty governing adoption and to which Mali is a signatory. The letter asked the Malian authorities for agreement with the international treaty [which they signed] and proposed two alternatives: (i) either stop adoptions to non-Malians as prohibited by the new national law or (ii), amend the law. Without any warning, the Malian authorities have chosen the first option.

How many prospective adopters are affected?

A l'époque, environ 150 dossiers de candidats étrangers à l'adoption (Français en majorité, Italiens, Espagnols, Canadiens…) avaient été dûment sélectionnés sur des critères moraux et matériels. Leur probité avait alors été reconnue. Ces candidats sélectionnés, attendaient, en confiance, parfois depuis des années, que le Mali leur confie un enfant abandonné. Existait alors un engagement mutuel entre eux et le Mali.

At this time, approximately 150 records from foreign prospective adopters (mostly French, then Italians, Spaniards, Canadians…) had been duly selected on moral and material grounds. Their integrity had therefore been recognized. These selected candidates were waiting, trustingly, sometimes for years, for Mali to entrust to them an abandoned child. Therefore a mutual commitment existed between themselves and Mali.

Was a transitional policy considered?

Malheureusement non. La Convention de La Haye est pourtant très précise : Retarder le placement familial permanent d'un enfant, surtout dans les cas de transition pourrait être contraire au principe supérieur de l'enfant. Or, aucune politique transitoire n'a été mise en place. Les placements n'ont pas été retardés, ils ont brutalement cessé. Et ce qui était cyniquement prévisible advient désormais: l'adoption par les ressortissants maliens étant dérisoire, les pouponnières souffrent d'un effectif pléthorique. Autrefois financées en grande partie par des ONG étrangères de parents adoptifs et candidats à l’adoption, elles ont vus, avec l'arrêt de l'adoption internationale, leur budget fondre. Ce qui signifie, très pragmatiquement qu'elles manquent de tout : eau, lait, nourriture, l'essentiel pour survivre, sans parler de couches ou de biberons ; cela signifie qu'elles ne peuvent plus rémunérer leur personnel, que les enfants manquent de soins (*).

En outre, on soupçonne une recrudescence des infanticides, l'abandon étant interdit au Mali et les pouponnières étant surchargées.

Ce constat ne vient pas de nous. Il est admis de tous les acteurs de l'adoption au Mali qui se sont rassemblés du 16 au 18 mai à Bamako, à l'initiative du Ministère de la Promotion de la Femme et de l'Enfant, lors de l'Atelier de concertation sur l'adoption. Tous se sont accordés sur la nécessité absolue de solutions d'urgence humanitaire.

Unfortunately not. The Hague Convention is very precise that delaying the permanent placing of a child in a family, especially in the case of transition could be contrary to the best interests of the child. However, no transitional policy was set up and placements were not simply slowed down, they were brutally stopped. Following which, what could have been cynically predicted happened: adoption by Malian nationals being negligible, the nurseries for homeless infants started overflowing. Previously funded in the main by foreign NGOs for adoptive parents and prospective adopters, they have seen their budget collapse with the stopping of international adoptions. Which means, on a day-to-day basis they lack everything: water, milk, food, the basics for survival, not to mention diapers or baby bottles. This means that they can no longer pay their staff and that the children lack care (*).In addition, an increase in infanticide is suspected, abandonment being prohibited in Mali and the nurseries for homeless infants being overloaded.This is not our own observation. It is accepted by all stakeholders in adoption in Mali who gathered from May 16 to 18 in Bamako, at the initiative of the Ministry for the Advancement of Women and Children, during the workshop for dialogue on adoption. Everyone was agreed on the absolute necessity for urgent humanitarian solutions.

How might the situation change?

La seule recommandation que préconise le ministère est une modification de la loi et ce après les prochaines élections, prévues en juillet. Au mieux, ce ne serait donc pas avant de nombreux mois que les apparentements et les adoptions reprendraient.

Les enfants sont déjà en attente et manquent de tout depuis 8 mois. Dans la vie d'un nourrisson, 8 mois sont une éternité. La temporalité de la démarche législative, pour légitime qu'elle soit, ne doit pas venir en opposition avec la temporalité d'un nourrisson.

La solution humanitaire d'urgence est pourtant à portée de main : apparenter les candidats déjà sélectionnés, ceux-là même qui se sont engagés à aimer et élever dans leur foyer un enfant du Mali dans le respect de sa culture d'origine.

C'est peut-être une lecture interprétative de la loi mais elle a déjà été faire au début du mois de mai 2013 : 8 jugements d'adoption d'enfants apparentés avant octobre 2012 auprès de familles européennes, ont enfin eu lieu. Dans l'intérêt supérieur de l'enfant, et parce qu'il y a urgence, qu'il y a non-assistance à personne en danger, cette interprétation-là est la bonne.

The only recommendation from the Ministry is modification of the law after the next elections, scheduled for July. Therefore, at best, it will be many months before links would be recreated and adoptions resume.Children are waiting and lack everything from 8 months onwards. In the life of an infant, 8 months is an eternity. The timescale of the legislative approach, as legitimate as it may be, must not come into opposition with the timescale of an infant.Nevertheless, an emergency humanitarian solution is at hand which is to link up with the already selected candidates, those who committed themselves to love and raise a child of Mali in their homes while respecting its culture of origin. This may be an interpretative reading of the law but a precedent was set at the start of May 2013 when 8 adoption judgments for children who had been linked up with prospective European families before October 2012 finally took place. In the best interests of the child, and because of the urgency, and of the lack of assistance to anyone in danger, this interpretation is the right one.

(*) Gifts are regularly sent to nurseries for homeless infants and there, 4 thousand litres of milk has been made up – diapers and clothes should be able to go next week. There are one hundred children available for adoption in Bamako.

China Shoots Down Accusations that Edward Snowden is a Spy

owen — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 12:10:14 +0000

Edward Snowden, the whistleblower behind the revelations of the United States massive Internet spying program, turned to the Guardian newspaper once again, this time for an online Q&A, shortly after China broke its silence over the leaking scandal and said that he was not a spy for the country.

Chinese Foreign Ministry has been tight-lipped for the past week on the Snowden saga. Its belated response—still very much carefully worded— came amid intensified media frenzy on what many believe to be the biggest intelligence leak in US history.

The Ministry’s spokeswoman Hua Chunying denied that Snowden might be a spy for China, calling such allegations “sheer nonsense”. She also urged the US to heed the international community’s concerns about the surveillance programs and offer a “necessary explanation”.

Daily News Briefing at Chinese Foreign Ministry. Photo by Owen.

In the 90-minute Q&A session with British newspaper the Guardian on June 17, 2013, the 29-year-old former CIA worker retained his strong-willed demeanor: “All I can say right now is the US government is not going to be able to cover this up by jailing or murdering me. Truth is coming, and it cannot be stopped.” Snowden is believed to have conducted the online chat in an undisclosed location in Hong Kong, where he is currently seeking refugee.

The furious debate over privacy versus security initiated by Snowden’s explosive revelations has the potential to spill over into a diplomatic dilemma for Beijing. China under newly appointed leadership has been carefully navigating the treacherous waters of Sino-US relations, making the handling of Snowden's case a high-stakes game.

Some US politicians have pushed for an extradition of Snowden for him to face prosecution back home. But half of Hong Kong residents believe Snowden should not be extradited, according to a poll in the Sunday Morning Post.

Despite a cautious response from the government, China's online world has been abuzz with chatter surrounding Snowden.

Zui Mowen is now residing in US. On popular Chinese microblogging service Sina Weibo, she ranted about what she believes to be unbalanced reports in the US media:

美国大部分媒体报道Snowden事件，几乎完全不提及Prism计划及其具体内容，多半以“泄漏国家重要文件”的方式报道。少数提及了泄露的是国家关于安全监控方面的计划……

Most US media reports of Snowden practically made no mention of Prism programs and its content, they reported [the incident] in the context of “leaking state secrets”. Only a handful mentioned that what has been leaked is associated with security surveillance programs by the state.

China's national broadcaster CCTV posted the official response on its Weibo:

CCTV NEWS【斯诺登：我不是中国间谍】斯诺登昨日接受全球网友提问时，明确表示他不是中国间谍。他强调自己只与媒体合作，没有接触过中国政府。中国外交部发言人华春莹当日表示，说斯诺登可能与中方有合作，是中国的“间谍”，这完全是无稽之谈。美方应该给国际社会一个必要的解释

CCTV NEWS【Snowden: I am not spy for China】In answering questions from questions filed by netizens across the globe, Snowden said he is not a spy for China. He stressed that he only cooperates with media, and hasn't contacted the Chinese government. The idea that Snowden is a “spy” for China and might be cooperating with the Chinese government is completely unfounded and groundless, spokeswomen for Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs Hua Chunying said on the same day. She also said US needs to give the international community an explanation.

Former head of Google China Kaifu Lee urged non-partisan perspective when examining the Snowden case:

最近发了几条斯诺登和Prism的微博，批评美国政府，并讨论网络时代人权脆弱，惊见有人对我评论：“李开复打右灯向左拐，意欲如何？难道要走五毛的路？” 左右派的朋友们：我们都有思考能力，何不就事论事呢？无论美国中国，做得好的就赞赏；做得不好的就批评。不明事理站队，只能证明自己没有思考能力。

I wrote a few Weibo postings on Snowden and Prism and criticized the US government, I also ranted about the weakening human rights in the Internet era. I was shocked to see how some people responded to me: “Kaifu Lee looks one way but rows another? What does he mean to do? Is he trying to promote the communist party online?” Friends from both the leftist and rightist faction: We all have the ability to think, why don’t we judge a case as it stands? For both US and China, we should applaud when they do good things. And we need to criticize when they mess things up. To choose one faction without making sense of the whole situation only proves that you lack the ability to think.

Li Mu, a columnist residing in Canada, was very hawkish:

斯诺登是卖国贼，可能是中国间谍——这是美国前副总统切尼的最新声讨。还以为美国人能骂出什么花样呢，也不过就这德性……

Snowden is a traitor, or he might be a spy for China—This is the latest accusation leveled at him by US former Vice President Cheney. I thought the US might come up with a new way to name call, look at yourself [what you have done]…..

Jingying_Dong_Ras from Beijing wrote:

斯诺登会不会成为下一个阿桑奇，北京和港府需要认真权衡得失利弊。华盛顿引渡斯回国的决心已定，能否促成还要看北京如何去考量这件事的短期和长远影响。目前能够看到的是，北京和香港一直在踢球。有意思的一点，足球场上成为笑柄的北京这次或许有可能在中美外交中真正“亮剑”。

Will Snowden be the next Assange? Beijing and Hong Kong need to carefully calculate. Washington is determined to extradite [him], whether that will materialize or not will depend on how Beijing would gauge the short-term and long-term repercussions of it. What we can see for now is that Beijing and Hong Kong have been “passing balls” to each other. Interestingly, Beijing just failed a football match, but perhaps it will show some skills in China-US diplomacy.

Open Letter to Germany's Cultural Foundation

Ndesanjo Macha — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 06:41:13 +0000

Safia Dickersbach (@ArtsSafia) challenges a new programme dedicated to foster “German-African cultural relations”:

3. The Kulturstiftung claims to support the new African initiatives in the area of contemporary and innovative art. But on the other hand:

a. Africans are not allowed to apply for the funds directly.

b. The African partners are only allowed to apply together with an institutional partner in Germany. The funding guidelines reveal the reason to this: “The German partner, as the project coordinator, has to assume responsibility for ensuring that all funds are expended as contractually agreed upon with the Federal Cultural Foundation.” In other, simpler, words: The Africans are not trustworthy.

Analysis on North Korea's Nuclear Talk

Lee Yoo Eun — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 06:13:43 +0000

North Korea has recently tried to open discussion with South Korea and the United States on the denuclearization issue. 38 North project site posted a detailed analysis on current inter-Korean dynamics and future prospects.

‘China Open Mic': Examining China's Development Footprint in Africa

Ndesanjo Macha — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 04:15:23 +0000

The Ghanaian government arrested about 169 Chinese illegal miners early June as part of a crackdown on illegal mining in Africa's second largest gold producer. All 169 miners were later released after talks involving the two countries. However, 1,072 Chinese gold miners in Ghana have returned to their homes since the crackdown.

The arrests and the release of the miners were the topic of the very first China Open Mic Google hangout organised by China Open Mic Sunday, June 16, 2013.

China Open Mic logo. Image source: chinaopenmic.com

China Open Mic (@ChinaOpenMic) is an open space that aims to inform and transform thinking on China in global development in the digital age, and to explore how China’s development can benefit all. It offers an open and comprehensive perspective that connects currently divided narratives on a rising China in international media.

Introducing the topic, Andy Shuai Liu, founder and editor of China Open Mic and a communications consultant for international development, wrote:

The recent arrests and release of Chinese miners* in Ghana have started another round of debates over China’s growing presence in Africa. Much has been covered in international media. Many discussions have looked at issues such as China’s foreign investments and Chinese labor in Africa.

One of the ideas that the discussion explored was, does it matter if the cat is white or black?:

If we look back at the recent history, we will be reminded that Deng Xiaoping, the reformist Chinese leader, encouraged economic development by all means when he opened up the Middle Kingdom to the world in 1979.

“It doesn’t matter if a cat is black or white, so long as it catches mice,” said Deng.

Today, we may be in a world that is just a bit different. Can we then still say, “Don’t mind the illegal miners, so long as they’ve got us gold”?

Below is the recording of the hangout posted on YouTube:

The panel was composed of specialists in China-Africa relations:

Jemila Abdulai (@jabdulai), founder and editor of Circumspect, a blog on Ghana, Africa and development

Shuang Bin (TBC), scholar in democracy and governance with a focus on China-Africa relations

Hongxiang Huang, freelance journalist for Southern Weekly and the Atlantic, founder of China-South Dialogue and business representative for a Chinese company in Kenya.

Merlin Linehan (@MerlinLinehan) (TBC), founder of advisory firm China in Africa and specialist in trade and investment in China and other emerging markets

Winslow Robertson (@Winslow_R), historian, specialist in China-Africa relations, and founder of the Sino-Africa DC group

The panel addressed the following questions:

What are the historical linkages between China and Ghana?

How are the poor in Ghana and in China related to the escalation of the dispute over gold mining?

What are the challenges for both China and Ghana to ensure that their development efforts are fair to, and can benefit, all?

Looking ahead, how can China, Africa and international communities work together to strengthen the rule of law and promote good governance for optimal development outcomes?

In this post, Andy Shuai Liu, who was the moderator of the hangout, shared a summary of what he learned:

1. How do local people think of illegal mining and Chinese miners in Ghana?:

Jemila Abdulai: Foreign investors, including Chinese ones, make profits with Ghana’s gold but do not invest back in local communities where people’s livelihoods largely depend on gold

2. How is the Western media covering these issues?:

Winslow Robertson: Media coverage in the U.S. and Europe is split between balanced reports linking to the facts and reports that might be over-interpreting the issue

3. How have China and Ghana interacted historically?:

Winslow Roberts: This is one of the situations where the Chinese government and the Ghanaian government have friendly relations; but then Chinese citizens and Ghanaian citizens in different sectors might have different relations.

4. According to Deng Xiaoping, the reformist leader who opened up China to market economy and foreign investments in 1979, “It doesn’t matter if a cat is black or white, so long as it catches mice.” Does it matter now which cat catches the mice?

Hongxiang Huang: Yes, the black cat and the white cat can both catch mice. But maybe in the long run, the black cat, [for example]… does not only catch the mice. It can also damage the furniture… and cause other problems.

See the full summary here.

Russians See Themselves in Turkish Protests

Daniel Alan Kennedy — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 01:21:17 +0000

While Istanbul continues to be rocked by mass demonstrations [en] against Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the RuNet has been actively observing and discussing the events. Turkey is a popular holiday destination with Russians, who are drawn there by its beaches, proximity, low prices and a visa-free travel agreement with Russia. Last year alone nearly 3 million Russians visited Turkey. While some interest in current events there can therefore be chalked up to concerns for non-refundable travel packages, Russia itself has been no stranger to street protests in the last two years. Many Russians were quick to draw parallels: both between the two protest movements and the two political leaders.

From the start, most Russian sympathies have tended to be with the protesters, a phenomenon the controversial writer and head of the Other Russia opposition group Eduard Limonov ascribed [ru] to the Russian national character:

Мы, российские граждане, всегда надеемся, что восставшие против своих правительств победят, всегда инстинктивно встаём на их сторону. Объясняется этот феномен крайне просто. Поскольку мы ненавидим своё правительство и всё руководство нашей страны, и хотим, чтобы оно оставило нас, как можно быстрее; мы солидаризируемся инстинктивно с любой борьбой против правительств.

We Russian citizens always hope that those rising up against their governments will win, instinctively flocking to their side. This phenomenon is quite easily explained. As we hate our government and all those who rule our country and want for them to leave us, the quicker the better, we instinctively express our solidarity with any struggle against the state.

“Unrest in Istanbul”, June 11, 2013, Photo by Eser Karadağ CC2.0

Limonov, however, went on to explain that in Turkey's case the sympathy was not just a reflex. Noting the centrality of environmentalism to sparking the Taksim protests, Limonov wrote “the Turks appeared very similar to us, like Chirikova and her Khimki Forest [en].”

Limonov wasn't alone, as many Russians took to Twitter and LiveJournal to express their support of the protesters. Arkady Babchenko, a Russian journalist who blogged about the Istanbul protests from the ground, was highly critical [ru] of Erdoğan's response (he was later detained, beaten [ru] and deported from Turkey [en].)

По поводу переговорщиков (вчера одиннадцать человек ездили к Эрдогану на переговоры, насколько я понял, ни о чем не договорились, но это не точно) – не то, чтобы разброд и шатание, но разговоры уже начались. Очень грамотный ход со стороны Эрдогана. Разделяй и властвуй. Умно. У Путина учится.

As for the negotiators (yesterday [June 12, 2013] eleven people went to Erdoğan for negotiations, as far as I known they haven't reached any agreement, but that's not clear) — it's not so much confusion and disharmony [that they've caused], but people have already started to talk. An expert move on Erdoğan's part. Divide and rule. Clever. He's learning from Putin.

Comparisons of Erdoğan to Putin abounded, particularly on Twitter. Real_Estate_Mos [ru] tweeted:

Эрдоган – это такой турецкий Путин..

Erdoğan is a sort of Turkish Putin

Riffing on both leaders’ fondness for presenting themselves as public servants, sergeiolevskii [ru] tweeted:

Эрдоган: “я слуга народа”.
Путин: “я как раб на галерах”.
Чего же так сложно избавиться от этих слуг и рабов?

Erdoğan – “I'm a servant of the people”
Putin- “I work like a galley slave”
Why is it so hard to get rid of these servants and slaves?

Pro-Putin Russians were reticent to voice their support for Erdoğan, under whose premiership Russo-Turkish relations have soured, particularly over the issue of Syria. Nevertheless, Nikolai Starikov, a hard-line Putin supporter, writer, and conspirologist stated [ru] that the protests had been whipped up by the Americans in order to create disorder in Turkey and force the government to support Syrian opposition fighters, which Starikov alleges they have been trying to avoid:

Не хочет – нужно заставить. И вот «турецкая весна» на улицах. Погромы, драки с полицией, попытки штурма офисов правящей партии. И все из-за планов сноса одного парка, как говорят нам СМИ? Полная чушь. Цель беспорядков – заставить Турцию активно вписаться в сирийский конфликт и помочь исламистам.

[Turkey] doesn't want [to get involved] so they need to be compelled. And there you have it: “The Turkish Spring” is on the streets. Pogroms, clashes with police, attempts to storm the offices of the ruling party. And all from plans to demolish a single park, as the media says? Complete rubbish. The aim of the disturbances is to force Turkey to sign up for the Syrian conflict and help the Islamists.

In the past Starikov has repeatedly claimed the US State Department is behind Russia's opposition movement, as an active means of weakening the country.

Twitter user aliciamillor [ru] made an argument in a series of tweets [ru] that since Erdoğan had offered to hold a referendum on the park, he was better than some other western politicians:

Браво! Эрдоган предложил провести референдум. Того же самого требовали фр-зы по поводу гей браков. Олланд отказал в груб форме,собаками и газом. Вывод – Эрдоган больше демократ чем Олланд.

Bravo! Erdoğan has proposed holding a referendum. The French demanded the same thing for gay marriage. [French President] Hollande refused this very rudely, with dogs and [tear] gas. Consequently, Erdoğan is a bigger democrat than Hollande.

One Russophone group that did seem to mostly support Erdoğan were citizens of the Central Asian republics, most of whom are Turkic peoples, ethnically and linguistically related to the Turks of Anatolia. One user [ru, uz] in Uzbekistan (whose own president responded to popular protest in 2005 by massacring [en] hundreds of people) applauded Erdoğan [ru] for his relative restraint:

Эрдоган поступил правильно , предупредил , не отреагировали , и теперь выгнал всех нахрен !!! и вообще можно было без предупреждении

Erdoğan has acted correctly, he warned [the protesters], they didn't react, and now he's gotten them the hell out of there!!! and anyway, he didn't have to warn them

Another user, Eva_Alli [ru, kg] of Kyrgyzstan, whose country has also been plagued by unstable government, also praised [ru] Erdoğan's steadfastness.

Эрдоган красавчик. нам бы такого. знает, что делает, имеет свою точку зрения и ни перед кем не пасует. лев в мужском роде. одним словом.

Erdoğan is one cool dude. Would that we had someone like that. He knows what he's doing, has his own point of view and nothing gets past him. A sort of a lion, in a word.

Leonine Erdogan is anything but cowardly, according to some RuNet users. YouTube screenshot. June 18, 2013.

Each of these groups of RuNet users perceives Turkey through the prism of their own domestic concerns: members of the opposition see an example to follow, while regime supporters see the disturbances as evidence of foreign meddling and western hypocrisy. Conversely, Central Asians seem to envy their Anatolian cousins for having a more moderate or more decisive leader than they do. While social media has clearly made it much easier for users to closely follow and discuss events thousands of kilometers away, their concerns suggest that for many, all politics is still local.

Documentary Brasslands Premieres in US

Danica Radisic — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 00:12:32 +0000

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PHOTOS: 26 Reasons to Love Bangladesh

Rezwan — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 18:12:32 +0000

Jenny Gustafsson, a Swedish political scientist and independent journalist based in Beirut, thinks that Bangladesh is a great & a special place. She lists reasons why and what to love about Bangladesh.

Vladimir Putin: Lord of the (Super Bowl) Rings

Kevin Rothrock — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 03:25:43 +0000

Did Vladimir Putin steal New England Patriots’ owner Robert Kraft's Super Bowl ring when they met in 2005? Many Russian bloggers are asking that very question, after Kraft claimed in a June 14, 2013, New York Post interview that he had in fact not given the ring as a gift. Kraft's announcement (which the Patriots’ spokesperson later called a joke) contradicts his own public statement from 2005, immediately following his meeting with Putin, when he said he'd gifted the $25,000 ring to Russia's president “as a symbol” of “respect and admiration.” (Even then in 2005, however, there were media reports [ru] that Kraft had not intended to give Putin the ring.)

Hamburglar Putin, with the Stanley Cup and Super Bowl ring. This image was created by Kevin Rothrock, using “Halloween's Lost Camera 06″ by Andy Pixel, 31 October 2009, CC 2.0.

Whatever Kraft's true intentions eight years ago, Putin's Press Secretary, Dmitri Peskov, found himself faced yesterday, June 16, with awkward questions about whether or not Putin indeed robbed an American billionaire football-team-owner of his championship ring. Peskov's response [ru] would attract a wave of RuNet mockery:

Если этот джентльмен испытывает действительно такую мучительную боль от утраты произошедшего, кажется, в 2005 году, в связи с актом доверия, то президент будет готов отправить ему какое-нибудь другое кольцо, которое сможет купить за свои деньги.

If this gentleman [Kraft] is experiencing such agony from this loss that apparently occurred in 2005, then the President is prepared as an act of good faith to send him back some other kind of ring, that he will be able to buy with his own money.

Andrei Illarionov, one of Putin's former economic advisors and currently a senior fellow at the conservative Washington think tank, the Cato Institute, dissected Peskov's comments on his blog [ru], arguing that they incriminate Putin in the theft of the ring. Illarionov's logic runs: if the Super Bowl ring is currently stored in the Kremlin's official library, then it is legally regarded as a gift to Russia's head of state, and thus is government property. If Peskov is proposing to refund Kraft the value of the ring, that money should therefore be paid out of the federal budget. That Peskov conveyed Putin's private ability to purchase a replacement ring, however, suggests that the artifact in reality has reverted to Putin's private property. Illarionov concludes his post with the following list of suspicions:

Почему же Песков вынужден говорить о покупке нового кольца?
Потому ли, что оригинальный перстень невозможно вернуть?
А почему невозможно?
Потому что перстня с бриллиантами в президентской библиотеке больше нет?
А был ли он там?
Куда же он делся?
И где этот перстень сейчас?
И почему нельзя просто вернуть злополучный перстень его хозяину?

But why did Peskov need to talk about buying a new ring?
Because the original ring is impossible to return?
But why is that impossible?
Because the diamond-studded ring is no longer in the Presidential Library?
Was it ever there?
Where did it disappear to?
And where is this ring now?
And why is it impossible just to return this unfortunate ring to its owner?

In another amusing commentary [ru] on this story, the blog “Cult Magazine” tried to convey to Russians the significance of Kraft's Super Bowl ring, bearing in mind that the NFL is largely a foreign game to non-Americans. Hockey, on the other hand, enjoys wide popularity in Russia, and the NHL's championship trophy, the Stanley Cup, is for most Russians a more familiar award. While the better parallel to the Stanley Cup in NFL football is the Vince Lombardi Trophy (also a large, difficult-to-steal object), Cult Magazine used the inaccurate comparison to maximum comedic effect:

Еще раз – это награда Национальной Футбольной Лиги, которая вручается победителям Чемпионата Мира по американскому футболу, и награда очень престижная. Представьте, человек решил похвастаться кубком Стенли, а президент вдруг решил, что это подарок и ушёл с ним.

Once again, this is the award in the National Football League given to the winners of the World Championship in American football, and the award is very prestigious. Imagine if someone decided to brag about winning the Stanley Cup, and the President suddenly decided that it was a present for him, and he took off with it.

While this story will undoubtedly fade from the headlines in a matter of weeks (if not days), the incident marks what seems to be one of countless recent episodes in the Kremlin's ailing public image worldwide.

Caribbean: Is Somebody Watching?

Janine Mendes-Franco — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 03:23:01 +0000

The ongoing saga with U.S. Internet surveillance whistleblower Edward Snowden has captured the attention of the world – Caribbean bloggers included. There has been a fair amount of discussion about the issue on Facebook: users of the social network have been sharing up-to-the-minute news links and signing the Avaaz.org petition to “Stand with Snowden”.

In two blog posts, one from Trinidad and Tobago and the other from Cuba, there is an interesting juxtaposition between high-tech spying and old-fashioned intelligence, even though they both pit the citizens against the state. ICT Pulse, which prides itself on discussing global technology issues from a Caribbean point of view, opens by saying:

The recent revelations of the breadth and depth of the telecoms surveillance being conducted by the United States has been highlighting the extent to which communication is no longer private.

Unless you have been wholly disconnected from international news over the last two weeks, we have been inundated with reports about the extent of the surveillance and spying being done by the United States National Security Agency (NSA). Although from time to time we here at ICT Pulse have been discussing the fact that Internet privacy is an illusion, and suggesting ways in which to improve your privacy online, these recent revelations indicate a more pervasive (and government-sanctioned) programme exists.

The post then sums up the United States’ approach to telecommunications surveillance, explaining:

Through electronic surveillance projects, most notably one codenamed PRISM, the NSA has been collecting data from…telecoms companies, such as AT&T and Verizon, and from large internet properties, such as Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebook, AOL, YouTube, Skype and Apple. When news about PRISM was made public, some of companies sought to refute claims that the NSA was collecting the data ‘directly from the servers'. However, subsequent reports have suggested that the US government has indeed been getting access to user content.

To defuse some of the outcry that occurred in the US when the story broke, the government revealed that its surveillance has been geared primarily towards identifying potential threats to America.

With regard to voice calls, the US government indicated that it collects the metadata of those transactions, and did not necessarily listen in on people’s conversations. However, the metadata, while not capturing the actual content of persons’ interactions, can provide enough information to deduce the nature of those conversations.

So what does that mean for people who live in the Caribbean?

Our telephone conversations generally might fall outside of US jurisdiction, and so not be immediately subject to PRISM and other forms of scrutiny. However, in circumstances where Internet Messaging and Voice over Internet Protocol- (VoIP) type services are being used, e.g. Skype, Viber, and iChat, and especially when the servers might be located in the US, those interactions could be subject to US government surveillance.

The blog is careful to issue a warning:

We…ought to bear in mind, that even in the region, law enforcement is increasingly seeking to have access to and to rely on the tapping of phones (fixed and mobile/cellular) in their investigations. In many Caribbean countries, mobile/cellular phone registration is mandatory, which means that, up to a point, the original owner of a device is known. Moreover, from time to time, proposals are mooted to relax device-tapping or call interception procedures – for example so that a government Minister can sanction such activities instead of the courts. Although generally there has been opposition to those proposals, they will continue to rear their head, as law enforcement continues to grapple with crime, and governments place increasing focus on ‘national security'.

With the exception of the European Union, countries worldwide have been relatively silent about the disclosures regarding the depth and breadth of US electronic surveillance. Hence it could cause us to question whether or not, or the extent to which countries, including those in the Caribbean, might have cooperated with the US on such matters.

Tackling what it calls an “over-reliance on US Internet facilities”, the post suggests a possible solution:

We…need to…recognise that our personal and business-related data could also be subject to US scrutiny, should they be stored in the US.

From a sovereignty and national security perspective, a case could be made for individual countries or even the region collectively, to actively develop their own web hosting, server facilities, Internet infrastructure, etc., in order to encourage their citizens to bring their data closer to home.

In Cuba, however, according to Yoani Sanchez, “home” is exactly where the spying originates from:

His own neighbor watches him. No one has confirmed it, he hasn’t read it any report, and he doesn’t have any friends in the police who have warned him. He’s simply not stupid. Whenever he opens the gate to his house, a white head peers out from next door. For every five times that he comes and goes, at least three times he runs into the old man who lives in the next apartment pretending to water the plants in the passage. The pots are overflowing, but the improvised watcher continues to add more and more water. Also he asks questions, a lot of questions, on the most imponderable topics: Um… what you have in that bag, where did you buy it? It’s been some time since you visited your mother-in-law, right? So he has his own private informer, an intelligence cell — of just one member — focused on his existence.

The post continues:

In an unwritten, but very frequent, formula, most of the people involved in the betrayal of other Cubans also exhibit a great frustration in their personal lives. Not that every unhappy person becomes an informant for State Security, but failure is a breeding ground that the recruiters of informers take advantage of. With these individuals they develop shock troops willing to destroy others.

The thumbnail image used in this post, “I'm behind your Internet”, is by tk-link, used under an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic Creative Commons license. Visit tk-link's flickr photostream.

Support Snowden Rally in Hong Kong

Oiwan Lam — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 03:19:02 +0000

HongWrong has collected a large number of media reports on the rally to support Edward Snowden in Hong Kong on 15 of June, 2013. Hundreds rallied in the rain demanding the U.S government to stop its spying activities and Hong Kong government to protect Snowden.

Paying Tribute to Captain Mbaye Diagne, The Senegalese Hero of Rwanda

Jane Ellis — Sun, 16 Jun 2013 18:55:53 +0000

At the time of writing, June 2013, official commemoration of victims of the 1994 Rwandan genocide is continuing around the world. But few people still remember Captain Mbaye Diagne. However, this young officer from the Senegalese army showed bravery at a time when the rest of the world was demonstrating cowardice. Enrico Muratore has been fighting for years to ensure that the name of this hero is not forgotten.

Photo of Captain Mbaye Diange from the Facebook page of the association bearing his name, used with their permission.

Global Voices posed several questions to Enrico Muratore on the objective of his action via the Association of Captain Mbaye Diagne – Nekkinu Jàmm:

Enrico, could you introduce yourself in a few words?

Hello, I am an ex-United Nations Human Rights Officer who served during, among others, the peace-keeping missions and also worked in Rwanda, a country which I have been really interested in since the 1994 genocide. I am Italian, but I have lived in Africa for 15 years, and in Senegal for 4 years.

On May 31, you organised a ceremony to commemorate a Senegalese soldier who died during the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Could you explain to us the reasons for this ceremony?

We were celebrating the memory of Captain Mbaye Diagne, who was a military observer for UNAMIR (United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda). When the genocide started on April 7, 1994, individual unarmed rescue missions immediately started saving all those who could be saved. They started with the children of the Rwandan Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingyimana – who had just been killed, after the massacre of his escort of ten Belgian paras. When the United Nations decided to withdraw nine tenths of their military presence who were already on site (and who could have opposed the genocide), 270 soldiers remained, among them the Captain, who undertook his perilous missions to save the others, until he was killed on May 31, 1994, after having saved, they say, nearly 600 people. So we celebrate the memory of this just and altruistic man who gave his life to save that of others at this time.

What are the initial objectives of the Association? Who are the members? Is it open to other members?

The Association aims to promote the memory of Captain Mbaye Diagne and to support his family’s development, because it is not fair to abandon the families of those who gave themselves for others. Of course, their sacrifice doesn’t mean to say that they didn't love their own families! Therefore, we must do something for them. The President of the Association is Mrs Yacine Diagne, the Captain’s widow; the Vice-President is Colonel Faye who was friend of the Captain and was in the UNAMIR in Rwanda with him; I personally am the General Secretary (GS) and the Captain’s children, Coumba and Cheick are the GS assistants; next, as Treasurer, we have Ras Makha Diop, philosopher, gardener and Senegalese artist, instead of the late lamented good and just Doctor Adotevi. Next, we have founding members such as Pierantonio Costa, ex-Honorary Consul of Rwanda who saved 2000 people from death during the genocide, Mark Doyle who is a principal correspondent for the BBC and previously friend of the Captain, senior civil servant Bacre Ndiaye of the United Nations High Commissioner’s Office of Human Rights, and author of a prescient report on Rwanda when he was the special reporter covering extra-judiciary executions in 1993. We also have other Senegelese and foreigners, including some who participated in one or both United Nations missions in Rwanda, people that had known him or simply appreciated his sacrifice to save the innocents. We are still accepting new members, as long as we are assured that they sincerely admire the Captain, and intend to support our Association’s goals.

He really was a hero! What did people know about him before?

There is a lot of material available on the internet, but it is true to say that the general public around the world does not know of the Captain. Yet his sacrifice has been officially recognised by the Rwandan government, by the then American Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and by the Giardino dei Giusti del Mondo [it], an association to honor those who oppose genocide in Italy, among others.

What has been achieved so far?

Creating the Association in itself an achievement because that was not simple. We have a Facebook page named Association of Captain Mbaye Diagne – Nekkinu Jàmm and we are currently setting up a multilingual website; we are organising activities with the press. For example, for example, in this interview [fr] from May 31, his wife described how she was informed of his death and recalls her memories.. The Fatto Quotidiano [it] in Italy, and the past with Radio West Africa for Democracy or the Senegalese media; activities such as the Junior Football Tournament organised with the Senegalese Football Federation; May 31, the prayer vigil in the Captain's family home.

Was he married and did he have children? What became of them?

The family have quite simply been forgotten all this time, now we hope that the association with us has helped them to make themselves be better understood and to find their place while promoting the memory of their husband and father, because this could be very useful in educating youth and people in general, about these troubled and violent times.

Captain Mbaye fell on duty, didn’t he? What have the national authorities and the UN done?

We must ask his wife and Association President Mrs Yacine Diagne, but as far as I know, the United Nations have done nothing apart from pay the life insurance that the Captain had signed up for while at their service, and which paid his family a premium 19 years ago, but nothing more since. The family home is collapsing, they had to look for support from a sister of Yacine; the children have lost years of schooling, the eldest, Coumba, had many health problems, the Captain’s mother is old and sick. Only close family, and several friends, notably from the Army, have done anything; now the Association will do what it can.

As for the dead, only God can look after them. With respect to help for the family, we contacted the Association for the Office of the United Nations for West Africa, a little while ago, but they have not yet responded. We hope they will do so.

Follow ChinainAfrica Open Mic Hangout Online

Ndesanjo Macha — Sun, 16 Jun 2013 16:22:27 +0000

The #ChinainAfrica Open Mic Hangout on Chinese miners in Ghana and China-Africa relations is live online. Watch it on YouTube and follow it on Twitter using the hashtag #ChinaOpenMic.

Anger Over Attacks Against Myanmar Migrants in Malaysia

Chan Myae Khine — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 03:03:23 +0000

The ethnic violence in Myanmar seems to be spreading in nearby countries.

Some Myanmar Buddhist migrants in Malaysia have been attacked in recent weeks which many people believe are related to the ongoing ethnic and religious tension in Myanmar. According to Eleven Media, 6 died and 12 were hospitalized with injuries during the violent attacks against Myanmar nationals in Malaysia from May 30 to June 8.

Myanmar's Embassy in Malaysia initially dismissed the news which angered many Burmese netizens. Ye Htut, Myanmar's Deputy Minister of Ministry of Information clarified[my] the report:

(We) read the news on the Internet about the clashes near a Myanmar monastery at KamPung and Selayang and that some Myanmar nationals died. (We) immediately asked the Myanmar Embassy in Malaysia about this issue at 5 pm and again at 8 pm via the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Ambassador said the news was false. [...]

A Myanmar national put 11 red roses in front of Malaysia's Embassy in Yangon in honor of Myanmar migrants killed in Malaysia. Photo – Ye Moe's Facebook.

Wai Lin Oo expressed[my] his frustration with the Embassy's response:

It's actually happening! If you want to approve Embassy's words, just prepare a flight in Myanmar to carry the dead bodies back.

Fang Ran asserted[my] a similar point.

People are suffering. They are just simply liars who don't even go outside the Embassy. And they charge us extreme taxes. I can't even mention in words how they often reprimand ( citizens who are seeking refuge in the Embassy). [...] When can we depend on Myanmar government? It's really discouraging. Where is respect for human rights of Myanmar nationals?[...]

Myo Set compared[my] how the governments of other countries are behaving when faced with a similar situation:

When a Japanese was killed in 2007 in Myanmar, a Japan Minister came at once. When Myanmar workers had issues with a Korean factory owner, the Korean Embassy suddenly became involved in the case. North Korea cleared away the books about Kim Jong Ill from book shops in Myanmar. What a shame! US came down to Myanmar once there were issues of Yettaw.

Our turn?

In Malaysia, the Ambassador's mouth got a stroke. Ministry of Information is crippled and Myanmar government is paralyzed.

We are Burmese, a community page of Myanmar citizens around the world questioned the silence of NGOs and media regarding the abuses suffered by Buddhists in Malaysia:

When riots in Meikhtilar Township in Myanmar happened, (the global) media and international organizations (like the) UN, Human Rights Watch (reported) about it and some even exaggerated the (situation), labeling it ethnic cleansing, genocide, Muslims in Myanmar are being brutally massacred, or something like that….But why are they silent than normal about the current massacre in Malaysia targeting Myanmar Buddhists? How many lives must the Burmese Buddhists sacrifice further to put the (situation) on pages and screens? Please show the so-called RIGHTS you all repeatedly use whenever you get every chance to make the Burmese Buddhists dishonorable in every page and every screen worldwide.

On June 4, when voices became louder and attacks became more serious, the Myanmar government issued an Aide Memoire to Malaysia's Ambassador in Myanmar urging the Malaysian government to investigate the issue immediately and take legal actions against responsible persons. On June 6, Malaysia reported that 900 Myanmar nationals were detained during a security sweep. Myanmar government is preparing[my] to send a team of special representatives to Malaysia.

Since some of the injured Myanmar migrants cannot afford the hospital bills, the Malaysia Kampung Free Funeral Service Social Team (Kampung FFSS) gave donation to the victims. U Aung Ko Win, President of the Kanbawza Bank who also runs Myanmar Airways International (MAI) donated[my] $50,000 US dollars and cut the MAI air ticket fees of the Malaysia-Myanmar route by 50% for the convenience of migrants who wish to go back to Myanmar. Another well-known wealthy personnel, U Zaw Zaw, who is President of Myanmar Football Federation announced[my] that he will donate 1,000 air tickets for those who want to go back to Myanmar, plus additional $20,000 US dollars donation to Kampung FFSS.

Many netizens on Facebook changed their profile pictures to black to grieve the deaths of Myanmar citizens in Malaysia.

PRISM Infects Russia with Cyberwar Scare

Kevin Rothrock — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 17:38:51 +0000

Brace yourself. The cyberwar is coming.

Since last week, when the world learned about PRISM, a vast and secret American electronic surveillance program, Russian state officials have expressed renewed concerns about foreign social networks posing a national security threat. One day after news of the U.S. program broke, on June 7, 2013, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin told [ru] reporters that websites like Facebook and Twitter are elements of a larger American campaign against Russia:

Через них идет мощнейшая манипуляция общественным мнением, ведь всякие “лайки” и прочие кнопки, которые вы там нажимаете, моментально вводят вас в определенные группы, которые потом анализируются, систематизируются. […] Тем самым увеличивается количество тех людей, которые начинают получать специальную контентную информацию, подрывающую авторитет власти и ценности государства. […]

Through them [American social networks], there’s a powerful, ongoing manipulation of public opinion—indeed, every “like” and every click instantly lands you in a certain group, which is then analyzed and classified. […] In doing so, rising is the number of people, who start receiving special content that undermines the authority and value of the state. […]

Dmitry Rogozin, as Russian Ambassador to NATO and Special Envoy on missile defense, 29 June 2011, photo by Security & Defence Agenda, CC 2.0.

Just yesterday, June 11, in a letter [ru] to Rogozin and other security figures, Duma deputy Ilya Kostunov called for tighter regulations on state officials’ Internet activity, based on the worry that Russian bureaucrats commonly discuss or upload government secrets in communications hosted on American websites (namely, Google’s email service, Gmail). In an exchange [ru] on Twitter, Kostunov discussed the possible implementation of his proposed regulations, running into some disagreement about the need for additional legislation and the proper criminal classification of uploading secret materials to a foreign Web host.

Communications expert Petr Pervushkin argued [ru] that a closed virtual network for private communications has already existed in the Russian government for seven years, though another Twitter user put that figure [ru] closer to four years. Just Russia party functionary Aleksandr Luchin noted that rules are already in place to forbid discussing state secrets on Internet sites like Google and Facebook, but acknowledged [ru] that regulations fail to set penalties. Luchin proposed tying such infractions to the criminal codes against disclosing state secrets (though he didn't specify [ru] if he had in mind Article 283 or 284, which threaten maximum imprisonment up to four and three years, respectively), whereas Kostunov has advocated equating such behavior with treason (article 275), which carries a prison sentence up to twenty years. (This push for classifying the offense under treason prompted qz.com reporter Leo Mirani to declare, perhaps hyperbolically, that Russia is “stepping up its war on social networks.”)

Meanwhile, blogger and RuNet guru Anton Nosik claims [ru] that station management refused to air his recent appearance on OTR, Russia’s all-new public broadcasting television channel, when during the recording he criticized Rogozin’s comments about the supposed American cyberwar against Russia. Nosik took part in an episode of the show “The Social Network,” answering a series of RuNet-related questions that began with one about Rogozin's remarks. After four days of silence following his visit to the studio, Nosik took to LiveJournal for a second time to discuss [ru] the curious absence from OTR's official website [ru] of his appearance:

Как я и предполагал, моё интервью […] не попал ни в их загадочный эфир, ни даже на сайт. Потому что, как выясняется, для этого супернезависимого телеканала неприкасаемыми фигурами являются не только Путин и Собянин, но и вице-премьер Рогозин. Самое время Общественному телевидению открывать программы про кошечек, собачек и кулинарию.

As I expected, my interview […] has appeared nowhere in [the station’s] mysterious feed, or even on the website. Because, it turns out, for this super-independent TV channel, the untouchable figures aren’t limited to Putin and Sobyanin, but even include Deputy Prime Minister Rogozin. OTR might as well launch shows about kitties, doggies, and cooking.

Nosik doesn’t often respond to the hundreds of reader comments that follow his blog posts, but one audience member did provoke a reaction, when he accused [ru] Nosik of adopting an approach “inappropriate to television,” arguing that he attacked Rogozin too early in the broadcast, without “nuance” or first establishing the context of his criticism. Nosik wrote back [ru] to say that he’s never encountered such problems in the hundreds of interviews he’s granted to other TV channels over the past twenty years.

While it’s true that OTR has yet to air or even post to its website Nosik’s segment, his thirteen-minute interview is accessible on OTR’s official YouTube channel (see above). The station’s troubles with Nosik come the same week as another censorship scandal [ru] surrounding a different unaired episode of “The Social Network,” wherein hosts Vladislav Sorokin and Ekaterina Voronina poked fun at Vladimir Putin’s recent divorce, sharing mashable.com’s faux dating profile for Russia’s now-single head-of-state. When the station declined to telecast the episode “for technical reasons” [ru], Sorokin and Voronina announced on Facebook [ru] that they would resign from the show at the end of the month.

The thumbnail image used in this post is by Kevin Rothrock, created using Memegenerator.net. Visit Memegenerator.net to caption your own memes.