Global Voices » Religion

Saudi Journalist Detained in Malaysia for ‘Offensive' Tweet

Mong Palatino — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 00:51:33 +0000

Saudi journalist Hamza Kashgari was stopped at Malaysia's airport after Saudi Arabia ordered his arrest. The journalist is accused of sending a twitter message that ‘insulted' Prophet Mohammad

Trinidad & Tobago: Seeing Siparia

Janine Mendes-Franco — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 22:24:12 +0000

MEP Publishers visits Siparia, a vibrant community that has had a fascinating part to play in the island's history.

Trinidad & Tobago: Cocoyea Craftiness

Janine Mendes-Franco — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 22:05:35 +0000

The cocoyea (pronounced Ko-ki-ye) is “the mid rib of the coconut leaf that is stripped with a knife” and has many uses, from bird-catching to kite-flying; in this post, Simply Trini Cooking explains how to make a broom out of it, which he calls “an integral part of our culture.”

Cuba: Bloggers Say Pope Should Postpone Trip

Janine Mendes-Franco — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 17:03:15 +0000

Cuban bloggers have been making their feelings known about the impending papal visit to Cuba, their main concern being that the Vatican is putting its stamp of approval on the Castro regime despite regular reports of human rights violations coming out of the island.

In light of new reports of state-sanctioned actions against members of Las Damas de Blanco Last weekend, diaspora blogger Uncommon Sense suggested that:

Pope Benedict XVI should postpone his planned visit in late March to Cuba. The visit was part of a quid pro quo between the regime and the church, but continued repression of women trying to go to Mass should not have been part of the deal.

The blogger also posted a link to an e-Petition soliciting signatures from people who agreed with the postponement of the pontiff's visit “until human rights conditions improve in Cuba”.

Pedazos de la Isla echoed this concern, as he reported on “another Sunday of repression”:

Just weeks before Pope Benedict’s visit to Cuba in March, another Sunday on the island- February 5th 2012- was marked by an excessive level of violence on behalf of the dictatorship against the peaceful Resistance, for simply trying to attend church.

In the city of Holguin, 5 Ladies in White were brutally arrested around 9 in the morning as they tried to reach the Jesus Christ Redeemer of Men Church.

The post went on to detail the kind of violence some of the women testified about:

In Guantanamo, 11 Ladies in White were able to make it to church, despite a constant vigilance. Another 20 Ladies in White assisted mass in the Santuary of El Cobre in Santiago de Cuba. 16 women were arrested as they tried to get to that mass, however, according to the Twitter account of Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia (@jdanielferrer). Among those arrested, according to his Twitter, were Oria Casanova who was “violently arrested, dragged, and beaten by 4 oppressive agents” and Liudmilla Cedeno who was victim of “sexual harassment in the cell where she was being held”. Ferrer Garcia denounced, also through his Twitter, “that is how the henchmen who sustain the Castro brothers are- they beat, sexually assault, and harass defensless women in Cuba”.

The blogger ended by saying:

In Cuba, the Ladies in White and other pro-democracy activists will continue marching, whether Pope Benedict publicly speaks out for them or not.

Speaking out for the Ladies in White is one issue, speaking with them is another. Capitol Hill Cubans reported that:

Last week, the Vatican confirmed meetings with Cuban dictators Raul and Fidel Castro during Pope Benedict XVI's March visit to the island.

Meanwhile, Cuba's courageous Ladies in White have been told to stand idly by as the Pope's agenda is “very heavy” (apparently from meeting with dictators).

How has the Castro regime received this news?

With impunity, of course.

babalu also commented:

Apparently, the Vatican has set aside time during the Pope's visit to Cuba in late March to have the pontiff meet with dictators Fidel and Raul Castro. However, they are not sure if the Pope will have time to meet with the Ladies in White, devout Catholics who are suffering repression, intimidation, beatings, humiliating sexual assaults, and death at the hands of the Castro dictatorship for trying to attend mass every Sunday.

Is it me, or do the Vatican's priorities appear to be backwards?

Iván García, meanwhile, wrote a thoughtful post on “the flirtations of Castro with the Vatican”:

It has been a formidable spin. Pure political juggling. A future strategy.

After a stormy and hostile period against the priests, Catholics and of other religions, where not a few went to jail or were imprisoned in labor camps, Fidel Castro changed his policy of confrontation. It was because of the rise to power by popular and democratic vote of Salvador Allende in Chile in 1971, that Castro was restated his strategy of gunfire toward the Vatican.

Latin America was and is the region with the greatest number of Catholics worldwide. The bearded commander realized at once that any revolution, whether through elections or armed uprising, should begin by acknowledging the role played by priests, bishops and cardinals in a new proposal for social change and advocacy of the always excluded in the hemisphere.

And he began to design a new ideological castling. The Fourth Congress of the Communist Party in 1991, he accepted as members believers of any denomination.

He realized that to subvert, ideas were more important than bullets. And if these ideas were proclaimed from the pulpit…so much the better.

The post continued recounting the chain of events that will culminate in next month's papal visit:

After Castro was on the threshold of death in 2006, his brother, General Raul Castro, took the reins of power and further paved the way to Rome.

When the a political prisoner Orlando Zapata died on February 23, 2010, as a result of a prolonged hunger strike, and the civilized world launched a major campaign against the regime in Havana, due to excessive repression against opponents and the Ladies in White, Castro II knew immediately who to call.

And he called Cardinal Jaime Ortega…The Cardinal would become key political chess piece for the Castro brothers. He was the partner par excellence between government, the militant Ladies in White and the Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos. The talks allowed the release of dissidents who had remained behind bars since the crackdown of March 2003. Someday we will know if Ortega is driven by the hope that the situation in Cuba will lead to a democracy, or other pressures have led him to play a role that some exiled opponents see as cowardly.

What intrigues local observers is whether the conspiracy with the Cuban Catholic Church and the Vatican could lead to a democratic state of law. Or is just a ploy to gain time and give a wider social space to Catholicism in education and health, sectors facing hardships due to the widespread economic crisis in the nation.

Church and state, at least from the Cuban blogosphere's perspective, seem to be irrevocably intertwined.

The thumbnail image used in this post is by Catholic Church (England and Wales), used under an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0) Creative Commons license. Visit Catholic Church (England and Wales)'s flickr photostream.

France: The first Muslim public cemetery

Abdoulaye Bah — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 09:12:41 +0000

Hanan Ben Rhouma of Saphir News reports [fr] that: “The first Muslim public cemetery in France was open in Strasbourg on Monday, February 6. In a sense, it is a unique cemetery of that kind because it is the first to be managed by local public authorities based on the Alsace-Moselle Accord of 1801 [fr], which does not exist anywhere else in France.”

Pakistan: How To Save The Shias

Rezwan — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 21:08:19 +0000

Laibaah discusses why Shias are being killed in Pakistan and suggests how can they save themselves from the threats.

Kyrgyzstan: Tengrism on Trial

Adil Nurmakov — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 16:13:56 +0000

Nathan Hamm reports on a bizzare story of prosecution of Mr. Tezekbaev, an advocate of Tengrism (pagan belief of Central Asian nomads), who is on trial for inciting religious and ethnic hatred for obnoxious sayings about mullahs in Kyrgyzstan. Tezekbaev, who could be sentenced to five years in prison if found guilty, says he is being punished for his beliefs.

Pakistan: Moral Policing of Dating Couples Gets TV Show Axed

Faisal Kapadia — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 22:04:01 +0000

On January 17, 2012, a morning show was broadcast on Pakistani news network Samaa TV where its female host, Maya Khan, and a group of middle aged women were seen scouring the parks of Karachi. Their sole objective was to hold accountable couples visiting the parks in order to be on a date together without their guardians' knowledge.

During this show the group was seen chasing the couples around the park, forcing many of them to flee, cornering one and then recording them without their consent. As they repeatedly asked for the camera to be switched off, they were told it was, but the Samaa Team continued to film discreetly with sound.

During this episode couples were also asked to prove they were married to one another and produce their marriage certificates for the host Maya Khan.

Screenshot from Youtube Video. Click on image to watch.

This episode prompted strong protests from social media users in Pakistan, and many reacted like Mehreen Kasana, who said:

See, girls fall in love pretty much every single day of the week and so do boys. Sometimes they make the right decision, sometimes they make mistakes. It’s called being human. But trust me, they don’t need a team of middle aged women hounding them down public places to enlighten them about their decisions. And trust me, their mothers will handle whatever happens. No one asked you or anyone else to take the responsibility of scrutinizing them.

The uproar following the airing of this episode was by this time apparent all over Twitter and Facebook in Pakistan. Bina Shah in her piece for the Tribune remarked:

Time and again the ethics of our media have been called into question, as channels embrace sensationalism in order to achieve the highest ratings. The television channel in question will find themselves open to legal action by victims of their harassment who are being portrayed on television without their consent. Airing this segment also appeals to the worst instincts in our hypocritical society by passing moral judgment in the name of family values upon two innocent people, which makes for some of the most irresponsible broadcast journalism found in Pakistan today.

A loosely knit group of civic society activists at this juncture uploaded and started an online petition against this show called ‘STOP “Subah Saverey Maya kay Sath” vigilantism like Lal Masjid‘. Dozens of people also complained to PEMRA (Pakistan’s electronic media regulatory authority) via this online feedback form.

On January 22, lawyer Osama Siddique drafted a brief letter expressing outrage at the highly intrusive, invasive and potentially irresponsible behavior on the part of the host. This letter and a followup letter were sent by a group of citizens to Zafar Siddiqi (President CNBC Pakistan, with which Samaa TV is affiliated).

Beena Sarwar, a civil society activist deeply involved in this protest remarked on her post ‘No to vigil aunties‘:

The first time I saw a link to this show was on Jan 22, shared on a Facebook group, on Jan 21, 2012. I, and many others, began sharing the Youtube links on Facebook and Twitter. As it spread, the outrage grew.

People were shocked at the level of intrusion and vigilantism on display. From India, came comments on twitter about the Saffron vigilante brigade that has been known to drag couples into temples and force them into instant marriage. Which reminded me that the mentality we are protesting is not limited to Pakistan.

Graphic courtesy Teeth Maestro

By 23 January the online petition mentioned earlier had 4,800 signatures on it, and several articles were being written on what was wrong with this kind of broadcast journalism; this combined pressure resulted in the removal of the Maya Khan Facebook page and subsequently the taking down of YouTube links to this show.

In her show on the 23 January, Maya Khan apologized for this episode and mentioned time and again that this was not meant to hurt people. However by this time civil society activists were asking for a public and unconditional apology and the removal of this show from the airwaves. Efforts had also started to contact the sponsors of this network and more specifically this show.

Samaa TV responded to the letter sent to them by asking Maya Khan for an unconditional apology, which she refused, upon which on January 28, Zafar Siddiqi wrote back to inform that Maya Khan and her team have been terminated and her show will not longer air from the 30 January.

So today is the first day the show is off air. This is a watershed moment in Pakistan’s broadcast media history and social media as it comes to the realization that although it is allowed to push the limits set upon it, there are limits and they must be observed. In any case it is a good precedent for civil society to gear up and enforce rights like privacy and freewill to interact without public harassment in Pakistan.

Cuba: Pope's Visit & Human Rights

Janine Mendes-Franco — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 16:50:28 +0000

In the wake of more repression against Las Damas de Blanco, Uncommon Sense thinks “that the pope should postpone his visit until human rights conditions improve in Cuba.”

Pakistan: Hate Campaign Against Ahmadis In Rawalpindi

Rezwan — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 04:11:33 +0000

Naeem Shamim reports that “Banners and posters containing hate content and threats against Ahmadi Muslims are being displayed at many significant places” in Rawalpindi city near the Pakistani capital Islamabad.

Cuba: The Cardinal Rule

Janine Mendes-Franco — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 22:02:16 +0000

In the context of the country's upcoming papal visit, Angel Santiesteban writes: “What we Cubans have to achieve won’t come from anyone’s visit, nor from the ‘peace concert', although it had good intentions, nor from the ‘U.S. blockade.' It will come the day we demand what belongs to us by our own right.”

China: Tibet Burns, But Where Are the Chinese Public Intellectuals?

Oiwan Lam — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 06:55:38 +0000

Since 2009, there have been at least 17 Tibetan self-immolation incidents in China. The latest case was reported [zh] on January 15, 2012. The public discussion about the protests of Tibetans has been manipulated and monopolized by state controlled media outlets who blame the Dalai Lama and western media for inciting to violence and terror [zh].

The reaction among Chinese public intellectuals and netizens is practically indifferent when compared to other self-immolation incidents, such as the Yihuang demolition case. Some netizens wonder, where have all the public intellectuals gone?

Profile image of @degewa

Tibetan poet Woser (@degewa) is always among the first people on Twitter to bridge Tibetan news to Chinese communities. On January 15, after she read news of the self-immolation of a Tibetan monk near Ge'erdeng Temple in Aba, Sichuan, she wrote [zh]:

今晚，我们都在哭泣。。。先是我，与一位喇嘛说起同胞自焚，不禁落泪，他也哽咽。。。这么晚了，你欲言又止，终于哭出了声。。。

@degewa: Tonight, we are crying… first it was me telling a Lama that one of his fellows had self-immolated. My tears kept running down. He could not speak…. It is so late now, you want to talk, but words don't come out. Finally you cry.

Is it because of sadness that people don't talk about it? Twitter user, @lotusseedsD, who lives outside China wondered, where have all the Chinese netizens gone? And why don't Han Chinese help bridging out [zh] the information? Han Chinese are the biggest ethnic group in China.

中国汉人为自焚的藏人做了什么？@wh_z @old_wine 相较国外的呼吁和翻墙出来的少数声音，除了会骂人傻逼互相掐架互相瞧不起，中国网民对藏人自焚的冷漠让人背脊发凉，让人不屑，让人引为齿。

@lotusseedsD: What have Han Chinese done for the Tibetans? @wh_z @old_wine. When compared with overseas concerns and a minority of voices, Chinese netizens only enjoy fighting and cursing online. Their indifference is so chilling and shameless.

藏人频繁自焚，请问中国民间舆论做了什么？ @wh_z @old_wine 我的意思是，中国网民有没有像乌坎动车追尾校车事故512地震等各种事件发帖，被删了又发，各个论坛删之不及制造舆论压力？中国汉人为自焚的藏人做了什么？？？？

@lotusseedsD: So many Tibetans have self-immolated. What have the public opinion leaders done to help? @wh_z @old_wine. How come Chinese netizens do not bridge out information, compete with the web censors and create public opinion pressure like the case of the Wukan uprising, the school bus accidents, and the 512 earthquake? What have Han Chinese done for Tibetans?

She challenged Chinese netizens to look beyond their nationalistic feelings [zh] and reach out to help a group of human beings [zh] who are in pain.

换个方式：把 “藏汉”二个字从民族情结里去掉。17个生命用一种惊天动地的，在你居住的土地上以自焚方式求救呐喊想让人们听到他们的声音。您和您土地上的人，能为这17个宝贵的生命做些什么？继续要听不见呢还是用您微小力量把他们的求助声传播出去？

@lotusseedsD: Try to look beyond “Tibetan/Chinese” nationalistic feelings. 17 souls have self-immolated on the land that you live in so as to make their voices heard. What can you and people in your land do for these 17 precious lives? Continue to play dumb or help to spread their voices?

关注自焚不是渲染鼓励。同是生活在一片土地上的人，都被欺压。你汉人或无法对藏人伸出援手，然而于人类最本能的感情上，是不是应该做到最起码的关心，让他们知道你们听到他们的求助呐喊痛苦？

@lotusseedsD: Showing concern about self-immolation is not incitement. People living with you on the same piece of land are under oppression. You Han people may not be able to help the Tibetans, but at least you can show some concern as human beings. Let them know that you have heard their painful cries.

Also on January 15, @cecilcoe pointed out [zh] that the online public sphere is highly manipulated by the web censors:

我可以作证：自焚者照片在新浪上一贴就删，快得无法形容。后来我改成贴台湾自焚者照片，在文字中提到西藏自焚，就比较慢。在哪短短时间里有12个评论。当然，总人数没乌坎多，但说汉人不关心，也不尽然。

@cecilcoe: I can testify: Sina deletes all the Tibetan self-immolation photos in a blink. Later I posted Taiwanese self-immolation photos and mentioned the Tibet incidents, and the deletion speed slowed down a bit and I received 12 comments. Of course, the concern is much less than about Wukan, but not all Han people are indifferent.

Human rights activist @tengbiao concurred [zh] that public intellectuals are playing dumb regarding the repression in Tibet:

藏人自焚这件事上，除了极少数几个例外，中国公共知识分子们集体哑火、装聋作哑。房间里的大象，沉默的共谋。他们和行凶者一样无耻。

@tengbiao: Apart from extremely few exceptions, Chinese public intellectuals are collectively playing dumb about the Tibetan self-immolation incidents. As an elephant in the room, their silence is a form of conspiracy. They are as shameless as the murderers.

Prominent blogger @yanghengjun agreed [zh] with Tengbiao:

他们点燃自己，照亮黑暗。怎奈我们在黑暗中太久，甚至变成了黑暗的一部分。

@yanghengjun: They [the Tibetans] burned themselves to give light to the darkness. However, we have lived in the darkness for too long and turned into part of the darkness.

The above discussion does receive some proactive responses, dissident @zhaoyang8964 also spoke out on Twitter [zh]:

藏人自焚是源于对中共暴政的愤怒和绝望，也是以死明志的反抗！我身为汉人而为这个无耻的政权感到羞愧。所谓“西藏自古以来就是中国的领土”纯粹扯淡！尊者一向表明愿留在中国版图内但希望获得真正的自治，而无赖政府根本不尊重尊者，也从来不把藏人的诉求当回事。

@zhaoyang8964: Tibetans self-immolated to express their anger and despair against the Chinese Communist government's tyranny. They protested with their lives. As a Han Chinese, I feel ashamed for such a shameless government. It is totally bullshit to say that “Tibet has always been (since the ancient times) a part of China.” His Holiness has been expressing his willingness to be a part of the China territories, all he is asking for is genuine self-autonomy. But the brutal government does not respect His Holiness nor the Tibetans' demands.

Upon reading @degwa's tweets, Crazy Crab drew a cartoon to mock the Chinese government:

The Politburo Standing Committee on Fire. Cartoon shared by Crazy Crab on CartoonMovement.com

However, political statements could not help challenge the official discourse about the immolation incidents. So far Wang Lixiong is the only Chinese intellectual who has offered [zh] an elaborate and counter-official view of the Tibetan immolation incident. Below is a partial translation of his article written on January 12 on Tibetan immolation:

施暴于自我，除了是出于绝望的抗议或对尊严孤注一掷的捍卫，若有对实效的企望，就如甘地所说：“通过我们所受的深重苦难，可以影响政府”；或马丁·路德·金所说：“我们将以自己忍受苦难的能力，来较量你们制造苦难的能力…耗尽你们的仇恨…唤醒你们的良知”。

这种企望的实现，前提是需要存在良知。专制政权的机器只有刚性结构、冷酷逻辑，以及官僚利益。当年几千孩子在天安门广场濒临死亡地绝食，有谁看到过它的良知？

以往非暴力抗争的局限就在此——结局不是取决抗争一方，而是政权。抗争方只能起压力作用，权力不让步就不会有进展，因此目前的西藏落入困境是必然。

走出困境，方向在哪里？我觉得是目前首要回答的。没有方向就只能盲目。哪怕是自焚的壮烈献身，也让人感觉更多是绝望。而各方面对自焚，除了情绪动荡，也是就事论事的茫然。

说自焚者有勇气没有智慧，是不公平。智慧不是苟且偷生的技巧，是能够带领西藏走出困境的高瞻远瞩。那不是普通民众应该和能够承担的。而把已退出政治的达赖喇嘛当作一切智慧的来源，则是不负责。达赖喇嘛确定了非暴力原则和中间路线，如何实现应该是政治家们的智慧。

目前还看不到这种智慧。中国方面只有一手钞票一手屠刀；西藏方面——假如流亡政府是代表的话，也看不出除了发表声明，还知道该做什么。

请告诉勇敢的藏人，他们可以做什么。知道了应该和能够做什么，他们就会活下去，而不是用惨烈自焚仅换来媒体的短暂一瞥。

To exercise violence upon oneself, apart from being a desperate protest and defense of one's dignity - their expectation, if any, is similar to Gandhi's teaching: “Change the government through our sufferings” or Martin Luther King's saying: “We will wear you down by our capacity to suffer, and one day… we will appeal to your heart and conscience that we will win you in the process.”

The premise of such an expectation is the existence of a conscience. The machinery of the authoritarian government has only an iron structure, cold logic and bureaucratic interests. Many years ago, thousands of young people were on hunger strike in Tiananmen Square. Who saw any conscience then?

The limitation of non-violent struggle is that its end depends on the state power, not the protesters. The protest will only create pressure, it doesn't go anywhere if the power does not compromise. That's why Tibet is trapped in the current situation.

How to step out from this dead end? This is the most important question we have to address. Without direction it will result in nihilism. The self-immolation will bring more desperation. Apart from triggering emotions, it offers no solution.

It is unfair to say that the self-immolating are not wise. To live without dignity is not wise. The true wisdom is to bring Tibet out of the dead end with a vision. Ordinary people cannot lead the way out. However, it is also irresponsible to rely on the Dalai Lama who is slowly stepping out from the political scene. Dalai Lama has put forward the non-violent principle and a middle way, but it depends on the politicians' wisdom to actualize it.

We can't see such wisdom at the moment. What the Chinese government has is a pile of paper money and a butcher knife; As for Tibet, if the exile government is the representative one, so far it doesn't know what to do apart from issuing statements.

Please tell the courageous Tibetans what they can do. If they know what they should/can do, they will live rather than use their own lives in exchange for a blink of media attention.

South Korea : Pizza Appears in Lunar New Year's Ancestral Worship

Lee Yoo Eun — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 16:07:50 +0000

Sharing food with relatives that had been offered in the ancestral worship is regarded as the essence of the traditional Lunar New Year holiday in Korea and there are strict and complicated rules to follow in offering food. However, some young Koreans have started offering unconventional food, such as pizza, prompting serious controversy.

Pakistan: Hate Speech Against Ahmadiya Muslims

Rezwan — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 21:00:36 +0000

Saira Ahmad condemns sectarian Jiyalas’ hate speech against Ahmadiyya Muslims. The blogger thinks it was a major crime of the PPP as well as other parties in Pakistan’s parliament in 1974 to declare Ahmadis as non-Muslims.

South Korea: ‘Torture Expert'-Turned-Pastor Loses Pastorship Amid Criticism

Lee Yoo Eun — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 19:44:30 +0000

Lee Geun-an is a former ‘torture expert’, notorious for his brutal ways of torture on numerous democratic activists under authoritarian rules in 1970s and 80s. After serving 7 years in prison, he became a Protestant pastor, but was kicked out of his job as his shameless and unrepenting comments prompt public criticism [ko].