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Maldives: Marred by Violence

Saffah Faroog — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 22:56:48 +0000

The political crisis in the Maldives took an ugly turn on Wednesday 8 February, 2012, when police brutally beat and injured supporters of the ousted President Mohamed Nasheed as they protested against what they claimed to be a coup that removed the island nation's first democratically elected president from power.

In the riots that followed, Nasheed's supporters torched and destroyed a number of police stations, courts, local council offices and other public buildings. Scores of police officers were hurt in the violence too.

Earlier in the day, in a meeting of Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), the party which won the first multiparty election of the Maldives in 2008 and brought Nasheed to presidency, the deposed President announced that his resignation on Tuesday was coerced.

“We will come to power again,” Nasheed said. “We will never step back. I will not accept this coup and will bring justice to the Maldivians.”

Police charge teargas on protesters. Image by anonymous photographer, used with permission.

Nasheed and his supporters then marched through the capital Malé and faced a line of police behind shields near the island's main square, just next to military and police headquarters. The protesters threw bottles and stones at the police while the police fired teargas canisters into the crowd. The confrontation between the two sides ended in a brutal crackdown by police, leading to blood-soaked protesters being rushed to hospitals. Among those hurt were members of parliament and senior leaders of Nasheed's party.

FreedomWatchMV has posted this video of the confrontation between the security forces and protesters.

Another video shows police dragging an MP and Nasheed out of a shop after dispersing the crowd. Nasheed was released after a debate between the policemen about whether he should be arrested or not. This video shows a blood-soaked man narrating how the police beat him up.

Yameen blogs about the events that took place in Malé:

There is a brutal, concerted effort by the runaway police department to crush protests by supporters of President Nasheed, following his release today.

I have personally witnessed the heavy handed tactics employed to combat MDP activists, energized by the release of President Nasheed earlier today after yesterday's coup d'etat that forced him to resign.

Tear gas was used indiscriminately on Orchid magu near the Supreme court building. Two people were beaten up and lay motionless on the street for a long time before they were dragged and shoved into an ambulance.

Then I saw a police jeep speeding into a crowd of protesters. A police jeep. Absolutely reprehensible.

Police brutality on protesters. Image by anonymous. used with permission.

Muju Naeem ponders if the Maldives has turned into a military dictatorship:

So if President Waheed did not give the order, then we can safely assume that the security forces were acting on their own. What this means is that we have incidentally slipped into a military/police dictatorship where the executive is there only in name only.
Maldives has become a police state.
Maldivian Twitter users have started using 3 hashtags to tell their story. Please follow;
1. #maldivespolicestate
2. #mvprotest
3. #mvcoup

Following the events in the capital, Nasheed's supporters responded by rioting in outer islands, setting police stations on fire, throwing stones at policemen on duty and burning down courts and several other public buildings. In a number of islands they drove the police out and seized the police stations.

Maldivians and foreigners are tweeting about the new wave of violence that has gripped the holiday haven.

foram divrania tweets:

@divrania: Peace to Maldives..ur too beautiful for politics and violence.

Nattu tweets:

@reallynattu: “@hisherm: I don't support any political parties. I support Maldives.” Including Me!

There is an eerie calm in the islands and the capital on Thursday as people remain tense about what could happen next. In a press conference, the commanders of the police and military assured that order will be restored and promised to investigate the previous day's violence.

Speaking to journalists at his residence, Nasheed said he was forced to resign by some military personnel as the country's police force mutinied against his rule. Calling for fresh elections, he vowed to come back to power and reassured that he has no intention of grabbing power through street riots. He also condemned the acts of violence his supporters had committed in various islands.

Spain: The Rebel Grandparents of the 15M

Marianna Breytman — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 15:25:57 +0000

This post is part of our special coverage Europe in Crisis.

They call themselves “the children” of 15M despite the fact that the majority of them far exceed the age of 60, they are retired, they are “iaios” (grandparents, in Catalan) and they are veterans of long-term activism.

Celestino Sánchez, Antonia Jover, Adrián Rísquez, and Rosario Cunillera are some of the members of the the “Iaioflautas,” a collective that emerged in Barcelona last October alongside the camping grounds in Plaza Catalunya. Its objective is to support the youth in their own way. But the fight, they assert, is the same: “for a dignified democracy by name and social justice against conspiratorial bankers and politicians.”

The “iaioflautas,” whose name was invented in solidarity with the “perroflautas” (gutter punks) — a derrogatory term with which the president of Madrid used to refer to the young occupiers — combine some of the methods they used in the anti-Franco, labor union, local or leftist fights with their learning about new technologies. To summarize, they organize a “direct action” in the street once a month, almost in secret, and do not announce it on their Twitter account, @iaioflautas, or blog [es] until it has already begun. That way, they avoid problems with the police.

The first event took place in November, when they occupied a Santander Bank office in Barcelona. The most recent one, called “Operation #RebelionBus,” occurred on Wednesday, February 1. Some 70 “yayos” (grandparents) arranged to meet in the very center of the Catalan capital and “hijacked” a bus in protest of the abusive increase in public transportation fares.

They chose Line 47, in reference to the missing bus driver and syndicalist Manuel Vital [es] that hijacked a bus on this line in May of 1978 to demonstrate that he could get to his neighborhood. The following is part of a series of tweets that they started writing a few days before with the help of young activists:

January 30:

@iaioflautas: #eldía1F los @iaioflautas vamos a hacer algo muy loco. (puenting…como que no). Filosofía #occupy 99% ¿Le dais un meneito? Gracias!

@iaioflautas: #Feb1 the @iaioflautas are going to do something really crazy. (bungee jumping… but of course). #occupy 99% Philosophy. Will you give it a little shake? Thank you!

@celescolorado: Miércoles 1 por la mañana nueva travesura de @iaioflautas, síguenos

@celescolorado: The morning of Wednesday, the first, a new @iaioflautas prank. Follow us

January 31:

@iaioflautas: Tic-tac, tic-tac…cuenta atrás para una travesura más. Será #eldia1f ¡especuladores, os vais a enterar! Somos el 99%. No olvidamos.

@iaioflautas: Tick-tock, tick-tock… counting down to one more prank. It will happen on #Feb1. Speculators, you're going to find out! We are the 99%. We don't forget.

February 1:

@iaioflautas: En marcha! Hoy será un día largo. No olvidéis el bocadillo, medicaciones varias… Hoy entramos en acción. ¡Atentos!

@iaioflautas: Marching! Today will be a long day. Don't forget your sandwich, various medications… Today we start the action. Watch out!

@iaioflautas: Calentando motores, q frío que hace!

@iaioflautas: Starting our engines, it's so cold out!

@iaioflautas: Hemos ocupado un autobús, el 47, en pl. Catalunya. Somos más de 70 @iaioflautas, la acción ha empezado, seguidnos en #rebelionbus

@iaioflautas: We've occupied a bus, the 47, in Pl. Catalunya. There are over 70 of us @iaioflautas, the action has started. Follow us with#rebelionbus

@iaioflautas: [Calle] Industria con Sardenya. Que se escuche: rechazamos las reducciones de tarifas y el plan de recortes salariales #rebelionbus

@iaioflautas: On Industria and Sardenya Street. Listen: we reject the reduction in prices and the plan for salary cuts #rebelionbus

@iaioflautas: Aquí podéis ver algunas fotos de #rebelionbus. Vamos por Ronda Guineueta. Estamos ocupando el bus 47 http://www.iaioflautas.org/2012/02/operacio-rebelionbus/

@iaioflautas: You can see photos from #rebelionbus here. We're going along Ronda Guineueta. We're occupying the 47 bus. iaioflautas.org/2012/02/operac…

@iaioflautas: Bueno, el trayecto de ida ha acabado. Ahora, volviendo para la Plaza Catalunya. Sobre las 12:30 haremos una asamblea allí #rebelionbus

@iaioflautas: Well, the trip there has ended. Now we're returning to Plaza Catalunya. Around 12:30 we're going to have an assembly there #rebelionbus

@iaioflautas: Final del trayecto mañanero de la #rebelionbus. La lucha continúa con #yonopago esta tarde. pic.twitter.com/8GaRmzSw

@iaioflautas: The end of the morning trip on the #rebelionbus. The fight continues with #yonopago (#Iwontpay) this afternoon. pic.twitter.com/8GaRmzSw

@celescolorado: En la asamblea final en pz. Catalunya @iaioflautas hemos cantado el cumpleaños feliz a un compañero, Manolo González cumplía 80 años

@celescolorado: At the final assembly in Pl. Catalunya @iaioflautas We sang Happy Birthday to a friend, Manolo González, who turned 80

And here is the video that @15Mbc_tv recorded and edited:

The #RebeliónBus operation had been prepared a week before, during a meeting I attended. I had been following the Iaioflautas for some time online, and I wanted to get to know them. There they finalized the details of the action and began planning the “prank” that they will carry out in March. This is part of what some of them told me:

Celestino Sánchez, 61 years old:

Celestino. (Screen shot taken by the author)

El 15M representó para gente como nosotros una especie de aire fresco. La situación ha cambiado y hay un nuevo escenario y tenemos que volver a aprender. Eso no quiere decir que nuestro pasado no sirva, pero las cosas son diferentes. Por ejemplo, hace diez años era impensable que se convocara a través de las redes sociales la ocupación de la plaza Catalunya. Se decía que la gente joven no hacía nada, y hace, hace mucho. La gente de las generaciones futuras vivirá peor que la del pasado, ese es otro cambio. Lo que creo que no ha cambiado son los objetivos: una sociedad en las que las personas podamos vivir libremente, que tengamos vivienda, transporte, que estudiemos. Eso lo queríamos hace treinta años y ahora también, sigue siendo vigente.

The 15M represented a sort of breath of fresh air for people like us. The situation has changed and there is a new scenario, and we have to go back to learning. This doesn't mean that the past no longer serves a purpose, but that things are different. For example, ten years ago, it was unthinkable for the Plaza Catalunya occupation to be organized through social networks. People said that the youth did nothing, but they do quite a lot. Future generations will live worse than those of the past, that is another change. I believe that the objectives are that which hasn't changed: a society in which we as people can live freely, where we can have homes, transportation, where we can study. This is what we wanted 30 years ago and now it also continues to be the case.

Antonia Jover, 72 years old:

Antonia. (Screen shot taken by the author)

Me gusta mucho esta forma de lucha, porque pienso que es una forma directa y, además, responde a la concepción que siempre he tenido de la democracia. La democracia es poder del pueblo, ningún gobierno puede ser democrático, porque los gobiernos son represivos. La verdadera democracia está en el pueblo y en la vigilancia del pueblo de que los gobiernos cumplan lo que prometen. Los iaioflautas podemos aprovechar las experiencias que teníamos del franquismo. Entonces los que queríamos una sociedad democrática teníamos un enemigo común, el franquismo, un sistema bárbaro y represivo. Y ahora, ¿por qué no hacer una misma experiencia de la unidad contra los especuladores y los financieros? Nos afecta al 99% de la población y sólo es el 1% el que se beneficia. Ésta es la idea.”

I really like this form of uprising, because I think it is direct and also responds to the conception that I have always had of democracy. Democracy is power of the people, no government can be democratic because governments are repressive. True democracy lies with the people and in the peoples' vigilance that the governments deliver their promises. We iaioflautas can take advantage of the experiences we had with the Franco era. So those of us that wanted a democratic society have a common enemy, Franco's regime, a barbaric and repressive system. And now, why not create the same experience of unity against speculators and financiers? It affects 99% of our population and it is only the 1% that benefits. That is the idea.

Adrián Rísquez, 77 years old:

Adrián. (Screen shot taken by the author)

En los iaioflautas me siento muy bien. Llevo cinco años encerrado en la Federación de Asociaciones de vecinos hablando de la sanidad sin salir a la calle y como nuestra trayectoria fue en la calle, dentro de los locales no me aguantaba. Con los iaios hacemos lo que me gusta, en la calle, porque lo hicimos en aquellos tiempos y lo estábamos echando en falta. Decíamos que era necesario que la juventud saliera a la calle, pues ya está en la calle y ahora lo que tenemos que hacer es estar con ellos, que ellos aprendan de nosotros y nosotros de ellos. No se puede estar en casa porque las cosas que tenemos no las hemos conseguido en casa. La sanidad pública se consiguió en la calle y tenemos que conseguir en la calle para que no nos la quiten.

I feel really good being with the iaioflautas. I have been locked up in the Federation of Neighborhood Associations talking about health without going out into the streets, and since our experience had been in the streets, I couldn't take it anymore inside the locales. With the iaios, we do what I like, outside, because we did it in those times and we were doing what was needed. We said that it was necessary for the youth to come out into the streets, well now they're in the streets and what we have to do is be with them, so that they learn from us and we from them. You can't stay inside the house because we haven't gotten the things we currently have from sitting at home. Public health was achieved in the street and we have to continue on in the street so they don't take it away from us.

Rosario Cunillera, 66 years old:

Rosario. (Screen shot taken by the author)

Todo empezó cuando fuimos a la plaza Catalunya a ver a los jóvenes y saber qué pensaban. No entramos en su lucha, porque, para mí, era totalmente diferente a cuando vine a Barcelona, a los 18 años, a luchar contra Franco. Pero fue un impulso nuevo. Ellos van a encontrar su forma de luchar, pensé, con el Twitter y todo esto. Y me apunté a los iaioflautas y cada vez que hay algo de los jóvenes, procuramos ir. Los jóvenes del 15M nos han dado un poco de ilusión y eso es algo que nos faltaba a la gente mayor.

Everything started when we went to Plaza Catalunya to see the young people and find out what they were thinking. We didn't join the fight because, for me, it was totally different from when I came to Barcelona at the age of 18 to fight against Franco. But it was a new impulse. They went to find their own way of fighting, I thought, with Twitter and all of that. So I joined the iaioflautas and every time the young people do something, we try to go. The 15M youth has shown us a bit of hope and that is something that us elderly were missing.

This post is part of our special coverage Europe in Crisis.

South Korea: Activist Indicted for Retweeting North Korean Messages

Lee Yoo Eun — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 09:33:35 +0000

South Korean prosecutors indicted a photographer and freedom-of-speech activist last week on charges of violating national security law, for retweeting messages posted by an official North Korean government Twitter account. Despite the international media's widespread coverage, the case went seriously under-reported in South Korean media.

This case has sparked another round of debate on the controversial national security law, which prohibits “acts benefiting the enemy” without specifying what constitutes such acts.

Controversial tweets

Park Jung-geun, 23, was detained last month, but the incident actually goes back to September 2010, when police raided his photo studio in Seoul. According to one news report [ko], Park, from 2010 March to January 2011, with his two Twitter accounts (@seouldecadence, @dprkdecadence), retweeted about 102 messages originally tweeted by North Korean Twitter account @uriminzok. He also tweeted 30 links that led to North Korean video content.

Twitter profile image of user @windburial, the user switched to this image created by Park in order to show his support to Park.

The overall number of Park's “problematic” tweets is 384, which is only about 0.5 per cent of his entire tweets. In his trial, these tweets were depicted as “an expression of an agreement with the enemy's (referring to North Korea) propaganda” and were accused of “promoting the enemy's messages”.

Park claimed his retweets were a joke made to lampoon the North Korean regime and explained that the misunderstanding rose from reading his tweets out of context.

For instance, Park tweeted a tweaked image of a North Korean poster (see right). Using a typically North Korean poster, which are usually aggressive, warmongering and whose major color is red, Park replaced the soldier's face with his own face and the rifle with a bottle of whisky.

In another example, Park compared himself to North Korea's new heir, Kim Jong-un, since like Kim, he had ‘inherited' something from his father, which in Park's case is a photo studio.

South Korean media silence

What has baffled South Koreans however, is that although the police raided Park's studio last year and there has been quite strong opposition against the case online (including the creation of Internet photo memes of Park), recent updates have mostly come from the international media. Until local media reported about this unusual flow of information, Park's indictment was fairly new to the South Korean general public.

Hong Sung-soo (@sungsooh) tweeted [ko]:

“北 풍자한 박정근이 이적행위?”…외신 일제히 비판 : bit.ly/yK0WtI 뉴욕타임스, 워싱턴포스트, AP, AFP, UPI, CBS, MSNBC, 더 오스트레일리안, BBC… 외신보도 슈퍼 그랜드슬램 달성!!

“Really? Has Park committed national treason by lampooning North Korea?” Foreign media unanimously criticized (the indictment), including the New York Times, Washington Post, AP, AFP, UPI, CBS, MSNBC, the Australian, BBC - Congratulations on hitting the Grand Slam in the international media coverage.

A journalist from progressive newspaper, Huh Jae-yeon (@welovehani) tweeted [ko]:

우리만 보도안하고 있음

Only we - the Korean media - are remaining silent on this matter.

A Twitter account has been set up to support Park (@freepark_bot), summarizing[ko] in just one sentence what his real charge is:

박정근의 죄목: 트위터로 이것저것 한 거

The name of Mr. Park's crime: Trying this and that on Twitter.

Internet photo meme

Here are some of the meme photos produced back in September 2011, consolidated by Wiki Tree: firstly, starting with Park's original Twitter profile photo:

Park's original Twitter profile image, Image from his account @seouldecadence

Profile image of Twitter user @blu_pn. Posted on Wiki Tree site, CC

The image above shows Park's image with him holding a large blue pen. The tweet [ko] read:

I've switched my profile photo. (Sorry for using Park Jung-geun's photo without permission) It is to voice opposition against the government authority's raid on Mr. Park. I have never met Mr.Park, neither am I a socialist party member (like Park himself). I am not even his follower. But as a member of our civil society, I support his rights to freedom of speech!

Some of the messages from the Wiki Tree link [ko] read…

Twitter user @yawoori [ko]:

우리 모두는 박정근이다!

We are all Park Jung-geun!

Twitter user @Chocoberryp [ko]:

프로필 제 사진 아닙니다. ‘국가보안법 위반'이라는 이유로 박정근님에 대한 압수수색에 항의하는 의미에서 수많은 사람들이 프로필에 박정근을 자처하고 있습니다.

This profile photo is not mine. Many people have changed their Twitter profile photos to Park's image as an expression of protest against the police raid on Mr. Park, which was done under the name of ‘violation of the national security law'

Various Internet meme photos of Park Jung-geun, Posted in the Wiki Tree site, CC

Twitter user @Solidaritat [ko]:

이토록 많은 박정근을 죄다 가두지는 못할 것이며, 또 이토록 많은 박정근으로 인해 그 한 명의 박정근은 반드시 자유로워질 것이다. 필시 그리될 것이다.

They cannot arrest all these Park Jung-geuns. And thanks to all these numerous Park Jung-geuns, that one Park Jung-geun will be set free. That will eventually happen.

Rights advocates, including Amnesty International, released a statement to voice worries that the law “has a chilling effect on freedom of expression in South Korea” and “is used not to address threats to national security, but instead to intimidate people and limit their rights to free speech”.

Park's socialist party filed an online petition [ko] denouncing such decision as “an abuse of the national security law which is an icon of the military, authoritarian regime era”.

The remaining problem is that still a considerable number of Korean public are in support of this controversial law under which a considerable number of innocent citizens have been arrested and detained. Kim Nakho (@capcold), who has a Twitter profile photo that tweaked Park's profile image, tweeted [ko]:

어처구니없는 박정근 구속…보다 그에 관한 외신보도 때문에 급 조명받는 시대착오 국보법. 이왕 관심 가진 김에, 왜 그게 지금껏 살아있는지에 대해도 관심을. 국보법 없으면 국가보안 망한다 믿는 평범한 많은 이들의 학습능력 결여된 지지 말이다.

Park's arrest is so outrageous. What is more ridiculous is that this outdated national security law that recently caught the attention of the media because of the international media's coverage on it. Since we have started looking into this matter, we should focus on why that law has survived til now. It is because the ordinary people who so blindly bought into the notion that if the national security law stops existing, national security will be compromised. Those people who support the law for that reason are really lack the educational ability [lack understanding].

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.

Tunisia: Decision to Expel Syrian Ambassador Sparks Heated Debate

Afef Abrougui — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 10:53:16 +0000

This post is part of our special coverage Syria Protests 2011/12.

On February 1, 2012, Tunisia, the birthplace of the so-called Arab Spring, has started procedures to expel the Syrian Ambassador in Tunis, and to withdraw recognition of the Syrian regime. That move followed the deadly assault launched on the city of Homs on Friday night, and which resulted in hundreds of deaths according to the Syrian National Council.

The Presidency of the Republic of Tunisia, said in an official statement published on its Facebook page [ar]:

تونس التي تدين إدانة مطلقة كل الجرائم التي يرتكبها النظام السوري في حق الشعب السوري الشقيق منذ أزيد من تسعة أشهر،.. معتقدة أن هذه المأساة لن تعرف طريقها إلى الحل إلا بتنحي نظام بشار الأسد عن الحكم في دمشق وفسح المجال لانتقال ديمقراطي للسلطة يحقق للشعب السوري الشقيق … كما تعلن تونس عن الشروع في الإجراءات العملية والترتيبية لطرد السفير السوري من تونس وسحب أي اعتراف بالنظام الحاكم في دمشق.

Tunisia, which has been condemning the the crimes committed by the Syrian regime in the right of the brotherly people of Syria for over nine months…believes that this tragedy will not end unless Bashar Al Assad's regime gives up power to pave the way for a democratic transition that ensures security for the brotherly Syrian people…Besides, Tunisia announces the launch of procedures for the expulsion of the Syrian ambassador in Tunisia and the withdrawal of all recognition of the regime in power in Damascus

Thank you Tunisia

"Hafedh (father of Bashar Al Assad): May your soul be cursed", written on the door of the Syrian embassy in Tunis. Photograph shared by Facebook page "Union Des Admins Des Pages Tunisiennes"

Netizens from the Arab world, welcomed the step taken by Tunisia, and considered the move as “revolutionary.” Here are some reactions of Arab netizens on the micro blogging website Twitter.

From Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, Ahlam Safi writes [ar]:

@iAhlamSafi: ولتونس علينا حقا.. أرض السابقين الأولين في الثورة.. أول دولة تسقط شرعية بشار وترفض الاعتراف بنظامه #ArabSpring #Tunisia #Syria #pray4syria

@iAhlamSafi: Tunisia has a right over us..the land of pioneers in the revolution..first state that drops the legitimacy of Bashar, and refuses to recognize his regime #ArabSpring #Tunisia #Syria #pray4syria

Algerian Melissa Rahmouni adds [fr]:

@MelissaRahmouni: Je suis heureuse du soutien de la #Tunisie au combat des syriens pour la #liberté. #syrie

@MelissaRahmouni: So glad about Tunisia's support to the battle of Syrians for freedom

From Kuwait, writer Saadiah Mufarreh tweets [ar]:

@saadiahmufarreh: للمرة الألف نرددها وراء محمود درويش خلال عام كامل: كيف نشفى من حب تونس؟.. أنا شخصيا لا أريد أن أشفى

@saadiahmufarreh: For a thousand times in one year, we say what (the poet) Mahmoud Darwish said before: “How can we be cured from Tunisia's love?”..Personally I do not want to get any cure

And Syrian citizen Geo thanks Tunisia on behalf of the Syrian people:

@CitizenGeo: From #Syria to #Tunisia Thanks for your humanity

Decision divides netizens

Back in Tunisia, the President's decision to break all ties with the Syrian regime, has divided netizens. Those who did not welcome the decision are worried about the safety of Tunisian expatriates in Syria.

@ElyssaDidon tweets [fr]:

@ElyssaDidon: La #tunisie aurait du rapatrier ses siens avant d'expulser l'ambassadeur syrien! #Syrie

@ElyssaDidon: Tunisia should have repatriated its expats before expelling the Syrian ambassador

She adds, in another tweet, defending her opinion:

@ElyssaDidon: J'appuie la decision d'expulser l'ambsdr 2 la #Syrie en #Tunisie msj'aurais préféré la prse 2mesures pr prtger les tunisiens sur plce d'abrd

@ElyssaDidon: I support the decision to expel the ambassador of Syria, but I would have preferred to see measures taken to protect Tunisians there, first.

Blogger and journalist Haythem El Mekki described the decision as “very brave, and very risky”. On his blog, he writes [ar]:

بشار الأسد (و ماهر خوه خاصة) سفاح دموي و يجب خلعه، لا شك في ذلك. حزب البعث نظام وحشي ظالم و يجب اسقاطه، هذا أكيد. الثورة السورية بدأها الشعب السوري الطامح إلى الحرية و القضاء على الإستبداد، و يجب مساندته في مطالبه، هذا واجب.

لكن في المقابل، يبدو جليا لكل مراقب يقظ أن ما يحصل الآن في سوريا من نزاعات مسلحة و التغطية الإعلامية الحافلة بالتهويل و الفبركة لقناتي الجزيرة و العربية (يعني قطر و السعودية) مع إحتضان تركيا و قطر (حلفاء أمريكا الإستراتيجيين في المنطقة، حاضنو قواعدها العسكرية) للمعارضة السورية، كل هذا يبرز أن سيناريو ليبيا بصدد التكرار، و أن الولايات المتحدة الأمريكية تواصل تشكيل خارطة الشرق الأوسط الجديد… يأتي قرار الحكومة التونسية المؤقتة بطرد السفير السوري في تونس و سحب الإعتراف بنظام بشار الأسد. قرار في غاية الجرأة و الخطورة، و يعكس موقفا شديد الوضوح في التموقع الجلي إلى جوار أحد أطراف الصراع ضد الطرف الآخر بصفة جذرية و نهائية، خاصة و أننا نكون بهذا أول بلاد في العالم تقوم بذلك.

Bashar Al Assad (and especially his brother Maher), is a bloody butcher and he should be ousted. There is no doubt about it. Al-Baath party, is a monstrous, and unjust system that should be taken down. This is certain. The Syrian revolution was launched by the Syrian people looking forward to freedom and an end to oppression. It is a duty to support Syrians in their demands.

But, on the other hand, it is obvious to every watchful observer that what is happening now in Syria from armed conflicts, and the over exaggerated, and fabricated media coverage of Al Jazeera, and Al Arabiya channels (in other words Qatar and Saudi Arabia), with Turkey and Qatar (two strategic allies for the US which has military bases in these two countries), embracing the Syrian opposition, proves that the Libyan scenario is about to be repeated, and that the US continues forming the map of the new Middle East…The decision of the interim Tunisian government to expel the Syrian ambassador, and to withdraw recognition of Bashar Al Assad's regime, is a very brave and very risky decision, which reflects a very clear position in standing by the side of one part of the conflict, against the other part, in an extreme, and ultimate way, especially that we are the first country in the world to take such a step.

Linda Ben Osman believes that not only the Syrian ambassador, but all ambassadors whose countries committed massacres, and human rights violations need to be expelled. She says [fr]:

Si l'on vire l'ambassadeur syrien pour massacres commis par son pays, il me semble logique que l'on en vire d'autres, à commencer par ceux de tous les pays arabes, et plus spécialement le Qatar et l'Arabie Saoudite, non seulement pour abus commis par leurs pays à l'encontre de leurs peuples et des chiites plus spécifiquement, mais aussi à l'encontre des Bahreïnis aujourd'hui colonisés.

Que l'on vire, l'ambassadeur chinois, pour massacre des tibétains et l'ambassadeur américain, pour massacre des palestiniens, irakiens et afghans pour ne citer qu'eux, et pour torture et abus de pouvoir, et pour maltraitance et violences policières envers les manifestant d'Occupy, pour Guantanamo, et, et, et…

Virons l'ambassadeur français, pays dont le Ministre de l'Intérieur considère que toutes le civilisations ne se valent pas, et qui traite les immigrés illégaux comme des moins que rien.

Virons aussi l'ambassadeur russe pour massacre des tchétchènes…

If we expel the Syrian ambassador, because his country committed massacres, I think it is logical to expel others, starting from ambassadors of all the Arab countries, and more specifically Qatar, and Saudi Arabia,for committing abuses not only in their own countries, and against their own people, (more specifically) , Shiites, but also for abuses committed against Bahrainis, who are now colonized.

Let's expel the Chinese ambassador for massacring Tibetans, and the American ambassador for massacring Palestinians, Iraqis, and Afghanis, for torture, abuse of power, and for mistreating Occupy protesters, and for Guantanamo…

Let's also fire the Russian ambassador for massacring Chechnyans…

She adds:

nous, tunisiens révolutionnaires, voulons soutenir tous les peuples lésés par leurs gouverneurs, et si virer les ambassadeurs est la solution adéquate pour montrer notre solidarité , alors soit, virons-les tous!

We, revolutionary Tunisians, would like to support people abandoned by their governors, and if firing ambassadors is an adequate solution to show our support, so let's fire them all

On Twitter, @tounsiahourra strongly supports the President's decision. She tweets [ar]:

@tounsiahourra: شكرا للمرزوقي ,,أقول لك شكرا كما تعودت أن أنتقدك ,صدقا موقفك مشرف لنا كتونسيين ; شكرا لانك لم تتنكر لنضالك في حقوق الانسان #SYRIA #MM

@tounsiahourra: Thank you Marzouki! I'm thanking you just as I used to criticize you, truly, your position is honorable for us as Tunisians, thank you because you did not forget about your struggle for human rights

She adds in another tweet [ar]:

@tounsiahourra: أن أنقد الاسلاميين المرزوقي والتحالفات التي لا نعرف إلى أين تصب هذا أمر ,وأن نقول كلمة حق في قرار شجاع ينتظره اخوتنا في سوريا هذا أمر آخر.

@tounsiahourra: Criticising the Islamists, Marzouki and the government coalitions that we do not know where it is going is one issue, and speaking a word of truth about a brave decision anticipated by our brothers in Syria is something else.

And @The_Fan concludes [fr]:

@The_Fan: Je ne comprends pas l'attaque sur la decision diplomatique de la #tunisie, on est quand meme avec la revolution syrienne #syrie non ?

@The_Fan: I don't understand the attacks on the diplomatic decision of Tunisia. We do support the Syrian revolution, don't we?

This post is part of our special coverage Syria Protests 2011/12.

Hungary: Goodbye, Malév!

Marietta Le — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 03:10:19 +0000

Malév, Hungary's state airline since 1946, ceased operation on February 3, 2012, due to bankruptcy. According to news reports [hu], even the airline's employees were informed about the shutdown just an hour or so in advance. Some passengers learned the news when they tried to check in at the Budapest Liszt Ferenc Airport.

Hungarian citizens were shocked by the news, because even though the national carrier’s bad financial situation was well-known, Malév's rescue plans were being negotiated during the past few weeks. Many claimed the cause of the company's ill fate was bad financial management. In January, even the 2007-2010 state financial aid to the airline was deemed illegal by the European Commission. Eventually, business partners lost their trust in the company, and this tipped the balance on Friday when Dublin and Tel Aviv airports refused to give take-off permissions to Malév flights.

A Malév commercial, music composed by Gábor Presser

According to A REPÜLÉS Szakmai blog (THE AVIATION Professional blog) [hu], the last Malév flight landed in Budapest on Friday at 08:46 UTC (09:46 AM in Hungary), arriving from Helsinki. The words that the pilot said to the air traffic controllers have been shared by Hungarian netizens on many sound- and video-sharing sites:

Pilot: On behalf of the last Malév flight’s crew, we would like to thank you for the good, several-decade-long cooperation. See you.
Air Traffic Controller: We also thank you and wish you a good rest, I hope we will meet.
Pilot: Hope so, under some different name.

According to AIRportal.hu [hu], on Friday evening 14 Malév planes were returned to their lessor ILFC at an airport in Ireland. (See here for Malcolm Neson's photos of the Malév planes at Shannon Airport in Ireland.)

Csaba Demeter, a pilot who was among those flying the planes back, shared his story on Facebook [hu]:

[…] Around midnight we arrived to EINN [airport code for Shannon Airport, Ireland], landed one after another and rolled nicely, to salute in this way the past period. We stopped one after another, on rolling-roads, on parking spaces, we stopped them, unpacked and turned off the lights, our planes were in the darkness. It was an awful feeling, WE HAD TO LEAVE THEM THERE. We were hoping for a call [saying] COME HOME WITH THE PLANES this was just a dream or a bad joke. But nothing like that came. THEY STAYED THERE. All of them. :-( […]

People shared their thoughts on the sad fate of the national carrier. Csaba’s memories on Fékszárny blog [hu] tell the best what Malév meant for the citizens of this small Central European country:

I flew a lot with them, I have many good and many bad experiences as well. I wouldn’t tell about those because there is nothing special among them. Why I very much loved to fly with Malév and it always enjoyed priority in contrast to the others is that they were OURS. After being away from home for a long time they were the first signs of coming home. The mentioned white-blue painting with the Hungarian tricolor, the greeting at the door and the Hungarian newspapers. I usually spent 2-3 weeks abroad and not in cities and comfortable hotels, but in deserts and other great places. So coming home was always a big joy and its first messenger was the crew of the Malév flight. After a long, stressful trip even my eyes filled with tears when landing at the Ferihegy [airport]. It was a very bad [feeling] to look at the pictures and read the news on the internet. Let’s hope not all is lost, it would be good to see the red-white-green planes again.

Csaba

According to Véleményvezér blog [hu], the national carrier “got into the perfect storm” of Hungary's economic dynamics:

[…] Malév got into the perfect storm from this perspective: it should have survived almost a decade of economic stagnation and almost a decade of mismanagement; whilst the two phenomena amplified each other. It did not survive and this is yet another nail in the coffin of our dreams and illusions about the leading position of Budapest and Hungary in the region.

Until a new Hungarian carrier is founded, Origo news site reports [hu] the pilots of the “Malév Hungarian Airlines Virtual” will keep on “flying” with the Malév call signs.

Thumbnail and featured image show Malév airplane, by Flickr user hugovk (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0).

Peru: Following the Great Water March

Kitty Garden — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 19:18:13 +0000

It has been 7 days since the Great Water March set off, on February 1, 2012, from the heights of Celendín, Cajamarca, Peru, where the lakes threatened by the Conga [es] mining project are located. The march has unfolded practically without incidents, and is currently halfway to Lima, its final destination.

Meanwhile, the media are reporting on its progress, and publishing editorials [es] on the real purpose of the march, stressing above all its political and ideological affiliations; and government spokespeople declare [es] that in reality “there is an excess of water in Cajamarca”.

The media does not have a standard figure on the number of people who departed from Celendín on February 1. While Terra.pe writes [es] of 200 people, EFE counts [es] 300. Newspaper El Comercio mentions [es] that 600 community landowners started the journey, and RPP indicates [es] that 300 people arrived at Cajamarca's Plaza de Armas to sleep overnight and continue marching the next day.

The blog Seamos un río (Let's be a river) reproduced [es] what was published by Marcio Arana, one of the march's organisers:

Salimos a las 4am, nos reunimos en la plaza de armas de Celendin. Líderes ronderos, mujeres, jóvenes, músicos, maestros, comunicadores, vamos llegando. No hace mucho frio y una suave llovizna nos anuncia que la tierra fértil la está esperando y que los pequeños ríos van a juntarse hasta formar el Gran Rio de Vida que es nuestra Marcha. […]

La noche anterior habían llegado los responsables de barrios trayendo sus aportes económicos para apoyar a los caminantes. Hasta la colecta de profesores, maestros católicos y una niña que en nombre de sus padres dona 20 nuevos soles son aplaudidos. En Lima no faltan políticos que se preguntan quién financia la marcha. Los políticos financiados por grandes grupos de poder económico jamás comprenderán la fuerza y el poder de las pequeñas donaciones como no están entendiendo el gran río que serán los pequeños riachuelos y manantiales.

We left at 4am, and met up in Celendin's Plaza de Armas. Rondero leaders, women, young people, musicians, teachers, communicators, we're arriving. It is not very cold and a light drizzle announces to us that the fertile land is waiting and the small rivers are going to join together to form the Great River of Life that is our March. […]

The night before, neighbourhood leaders had arrived with their economic contributions to support the marchers. Even the contributions from professors, Catholic teachers and a girl who donates 20 nuevos soles are applauded. In Lima there is no shortage of politicians who are wondering who is funding the march. Politicians financed by large, economically powerful groups will never understand the strength and power of small donations, just as they do not understand the great river that small creeks and springs will become.

The first moments of the march were recorded, as can be seen in these videos from users GobRegCajamarca and jampaoli [es]. There were also various statements, like this one from user MetsaRiba who captures the words of a participating campesino:

Or this one showing women from Cajamarca chanting pro-water slogans:

That same day another march took place in Cajamarca, the Jug March [es], where 2,000 people marched in favour of nature and ecology, and protested against polluting mining activities. Servindi published some photos to accompany its report on the solidarity parade held in Lima, which can also be seen on a video uploaded on YouTube [es]. On the blog Celendín Libre (Free Celendín) an itinerary for the first day of the Water March was posted [es], alongside photos of the day's events:

10:30 a.m. Primer obstáculo, una tranquera particular en plena vía pública no deja el pase a ningún vehículo. Los manifestantes proceden a retirarla.

Arribo a la Laguna Cortada (a más de 3 800 m.s.n.m.), donde unas 300 personas dan inicio a la Marcha por el Agua con un rito simbólico de agradecimiento a la mamapacha y mamacocha, por comuneros del Ámaro.

10:30am. First obstacle, a private gate in the middle of the main road is not letting any vehicles past. The protesters proceed to remove it.

Arrival at Laguna Cortada (more than 3,800 metres above sea-level), where some 300 people begin the Water March with a symbolic ritual giving thanks to mamapacha and mamacocha [Incan Goddesses of earth and water], carried out by community land-holders from Ámaro.

Payment to mamapacha. Image by Celendín Libre blog.

Beginning of the Water March. Image by Celendín Libre blog.

In its blog [es], an “International Observation Mission of the Great National March for the Right to Water”[es] publishes information on the march's events, as well as monitoring its peaceful development. There they share the mission's principles and objectives [es] and a list [es] of the entities supporting it. On the first day of the march they commented:

La movilización también ha sido secundada en la región norteña de La Libertad, donde un grupo numeroso de campesinos inició una marcha hacia la ciudad de Trujillo desde las provincias andinas de Huamachuco y Santiago de Chuco.

En Lima, unas 300 personas, en su mayoría jóvenes y dirigentes estudiantiles, realizaron un Pasacalle para celebrar el arranque de la Marcha que culminó en la Plaza San Martín.

The mobilisation has also received support in the Northern region of La Libertad, where a large group of campesinos began a march towards the city of Trujillo from the Andean provinces of Huamachuco and Santiago de Chuco.

In Lima, about 300 people, mainly young people and student leaders, held a street parade to celebrate the start of the March which culminated in the Plaza San Martín.

The next day, the second of the march, participants from Celendín, Bambamarca and other towns departed [es] Cajamarca for Ciudad de Dios in La Libertad, where they spent the night, though not before passing through Choropampa. This is a town where in the year 2000 about 151 kg of mercury belonging to the Yanacocha mine were spilled, greatly affecting the local population. The Observation Mission reported on this day in their blog [es]. Videos [es] of the departure [es] from Cajamarca in the morning have also been uploaded to the internet.

On the third day the marchers left Ciudad de Dios, passed [es] through Pacasmayo and arrived [es] in Trujillo, where they were joined by other delegations from various towns in the La Libertad region, in numbers estimated at around 2,000 [es]. These delegations were greeted by about 5,000 people, and then a rally was held, which included discussion sessions, the presentation of petitions, and other activities as planned [es].

In a post [es] on the blog “El Maletero” “Red Verde Cajamarca” (”The Trunk” “Cajamarca Green Network”) photos from the first three days of the march can be seen. Meanwhile the blog Frente de Defensa Ambiental de Cajamarca (”Cajamarca Environmental Defense Front”) shares more photos [es] of the day in Trujillo. A post on the blog ¡Conga no va! (”Conga will not happen!”) links to a set of photos on Flickr taken in Trujillo.

Twitpic user @YoDash posted some photos of the protest in Trujillo's Plaza de Armas, like this one:

Water March in Trujillo, image from Twitpic user @YoDash

Meanwhile, on Facebook the Water March's page reports [es] that in Trujillo defamatory flyers [es] were distributed, attempting to link the March and its organisers with terrorist movements. In spite of this, the protest continued in the Plaza de Armas until night time with various musical numbers, some of them related to the march and surrounding circumstances, as can be seen in this video posted on YouTube by user Fuzzerjoga:

In the Observation Mission's daily report [es] they note some incidents during a strike carried out in Huarmey:

La Comisión Nacional Organizadora de la Gran Marcha Nacional del Agua ha reportado y denuncia una acción represiva por parte de efectivos policiales. El jueves en la noche, en Huarmey, uno de los puntos de concentración previstos en la Marcha, se produjeron enfrentamientos entre la policía y la población en el marco de un paro de 48 horas contra la minera Antamina, a la que acusan de contaminar el acuífero que les provee de agua potable.

The National Organisational Committee for the Great National Water March have reported and denounce repressive action taken by police officers. On Thursday night, in Huarmey, one of the assembly points planned for the March, there were confrontations between the police and the population in the context of a 48-hour strike against the mining company Antamina, which is accused of contaminating the aquifer that provides them with drinking water.

On the fourth day of the march, Saturday 4, the protesters stayed in Trujillo to rest, but they also continued holding discussions and making contact with the local population. On Sunday 5, the fifth day of the march, the group left [es] for the city of Chimbote. The Water March's Facebook page uploaded a video [es] of their arrival in the village of Santa, just before Chimbote. Once in the city they met [es] with the Fisherman's Union, and then left for the city of Casma, following the route South towards Lima.

Meanwhile the Observation Mission's fourth report [es] stresses the government's attitude towards the problem of mining companies and water, bringing together various statements and declarations, including:

- El pronunciamiento del Colegio de Ingenieros del Perú, señalando que: “El Gobierno Peruano, desde la época republicana y hasta la fecha, no tiene una visión de desarrollo sostenido, ya que ha cimentado gran parte de su crecimiento en la explotación minera”.

- El presidente Ollanta Humala señaló que “ningún proyecto se paralizará por la consulta previa, y que esto no es un pretexto para que se detenga la inversión”, en referencia a la falta de la reglamentación de la ley que debía estar lista en diciembre pasado. En agosto del año pasado, sin embargo, el propio presidente escribía en twitter: “El derecho a la consulta previa sobre del desarrollo de los pueblos indígenas es un signo más de inclusión social. Forjamos un Perú para todos”

En este contexto, parecen razonables las palabras de Emma Gómez, de Cooperacción: “hay una lectura equivocada del presidente Humala sobre la Consulta Previa, la cual está siendo considerada como un obstáculo para la inversión privada más que un imperativo para que las empresas extractivas cumplan con los estándares ambientales y sociales de una inversión seria y que respeten los derechos de las poblaciones en las zonas de influencia”.

- The statement from the Engineering Association of Peru, indicating that: “The Peruvian Government, from the first Republican era until today, has never had a vision of sustained development, given that a large part of its growth has been based on mining.”

- President Ollanta Humala indicated that “no project will be paralised by prior consultation, and that it is not a pretext to halt investment”, in reference to the lack of regulations governing the implementation of the law, that should have been ready last December. In August last year, however, the President himself wrote on Twitter: “The right to prior consultation on the development of indigenous communities is a sign of greater social inclusion. Let's create a Peru for everyone”

In this context, the words of Emma Gómez from Cooperacción seem reasonable: “President Humala is misreading Prior Consultation, which is being considered as an obstacle to private investment rather than an imperative for extractive companies to meet the environmental and social standards of serious investment and to respect the rights of the people in affected areas.”

Maldives: President Resigns After Mutiny

Saffah Faroog — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 18:31:00 +0000

Mohamed Nasheed, the president of Maldives most famously known as a climate champion, announced his resignation on Tuesday 7 February, 2012, after the military forces joined the police mutiny against his rule.

Nasheed, sworn in to office in November 2008 after the country's first democratic multiparty election, was inside the military headquarters when the military started withdrawing their allegiance to him. He was taken in a car to the nearby President's Office where he announced his resignation on live television in front of journalists.

Some Maldivians were worried about the safety of the president. Maeed wrote:

One Sincere Request remain, DO NOT HURT A PRESIDENT OF MALDIVES. UPHOLD DIGNITY and DON'T LET HISTORY REPEAT. PROTECT HIM.

People gather in front of Bandaara Koshi, the headquarters of Maldives National Defense Force (MNDF) where president Nasheed was taken. Image by MUHA. Used with permission.

He added in a following post:

We shifted from a Dictatorship to a democracy in 2008 and we showed an example to the world then. I call the Security forces to show that example again.

Earlier in the day, tension escalated as the police rioted against what they claimed were unlawful commands. After what appeared to be a bitter stand-off between the military and the police, the military retreated into their headquarters. The police protest was preceded by three weeks of evening protests organised by the opposition parties in the capital Male', after the government ordered the military to detain a top judge.

Mohamed Waheed Hassan, the vice president in Nasheed's administration, has been sworn in as the new president. Even though Hassan urged for calm during a speech after taking oath, it remains to be seen if the country can quickly restore stability after weeks of protests, destruction of property and attacks on journalists and media outlets.

Soldiers who mutinied shake hands with public. Image by MUHA. Used with permission

The continuity of the democratic exercise of the Maldives is in question as tension remains high. The supporters of the deposed president label the change in power as a coup while his opponents claim Tuesday's events showed the will of the people.

Opinion is divided and feelings are mixed on social networks and twitter as Maldivians try to come to terms with the fact that the government has changed approximately two years before the next scheduled election. The hashtag #Maldives trended on Twitter today.

Dhaanish tweets:

@Dhaaanish: @JeelAli @yaittey People will start realizing how sane Nasheed is compared to all these opposition retards later! Mark my words!””

Hum_Don tweets:

@Hum_Don: I feel sorry and sad to see the resignation of the very president we worked so hard to elect.

Epicloser expressed his views:

@epicloser: You didn't listen to #Dec23 protest Nasheed, you just made fun out of us and called us terrorists. This is the outcome for you. Peace.

Haumaldives has this to say about the mutiny:

@haumaldives: @CNN Maldives Nasheed carried arbitary arrests using the Military which led to protests.. and Military crackdown led to Police revolt.

People waving Maldives flags after the tension is over. Image by MUHA. Used with permission.

Limmto tweets:

@Limmto: Citizens beat #Nasheed at his own game. The #muzaaharaa. #Maldives #MVrevolution

profEuLOGist tweets about the rebranding of the state-owned TV station after police took over:

@profEuLOGist: Fastest transition of a media and rebranding I have ever seen! TVM to MNBC1 took months but back 2 TVM - 10mins!

Mashafeeg has this to say about the turn of events:

@mashafeeg: New era of democracy in Maldives, people proves their power and president shown his bravery by the resignation.

Maldives11 responded to Mashafeeg's tweet:

@Maldives11: @mashafeeg I doubt it was the people. sorry I am not convinced it was the people.

Mashafeeg also ponders about the future:

@mashafeeg: At last Dr.Waheed’s longed dream has come true, wonder how people will accept his presidency! better wait and see for a while! #Maldives

Hilmy7007, has high expectations of the new government:

@Hilmy7007: President Waheed should ensure his government is corruption free. We demand transparency n accountability in all projects awarded.

Ukraine: Netizens React to Popular File-Sharing Website's Shutdown

Tetyana Bohdanova — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 03:27:18 +0000

On January 31, 2012, Ukrainian Internet users learned that the country’s biggest file-sharing site, Ex.ua [ru], was shut down due to repeated copyright violations. According to the Ukrainian Ministry of the Interior, among the companies that filed a lawsuit [uk] against Ex.ua were Microsoft, Adobe, Graphisoft and others.

Ex.ua was one of the most popular websites in the country and accounted for 15-25% [uk] of Ukraine’s in-country traffic. It required no paid subscription and attracted millions of users who freely shared pirated video and audio files, games and software.

The news of the site's shutdown caused quite a stir online, with many netizens criticizing the government for going after Ex.ua and calling for its restoration.

Christina Vinovska (@chris_vinovska) tweeted a common appeal:

return #exua immediately!

While many echoed her plea, others decided to take action both offline (photos of the Feb. 1 protest in Kyiv are here) and online.

Thus, following the release of the online statement about Ex.ua's shutdown by the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry's website went down and remained periodically inaccessible due to “an increased number of visitors and possible DDoS attacks” [uk].

By that time many Twitter, Vkontakte and Facebook users were actively sharing detailed instructions [ru] on how to overload the servers of selected websites. The target list included websites of Ukraine’s President Victor Yanukovych, the pro-presidential Party of Regions, the Cabinet of Ministers, the Parliament, and others.

What seemed to begin as a number of decentralized attempts, quickly turned into a mass organized effort, with Ex.ua supporters forming a “Free Ex.Ua” [ru] group on a popular social network Vkontakte [ru], which gathered over 6,000 members during the first hours of its existence (currently, there are over 41,000 members).

By February 1, the Presidential website was completely down [uk] and the Ministry of the Interior had to announce [uk] that it was going to use its two Facebook accounts until its official website was restored. By mid-day of February 1, Ex.ua had to appeal [ru] to users to stop the attack that succeeded in disrupting the work of nearly all major governmental websites:

Dear users,

Administrators of Ex.ua call on you to stop all illegal activity against governmental websites. […]

At the same time, a heated discussion of Ex.ua’s supposed illegal activity was taking place online.

Facebook user Sergei Sidorenko wrote [ru]:

In response to the mass mourning of the Ex.ua’s untimely death, I would tell you something different from what half of the Internet has been yelling about:

I do not have a single piece of licensed non-free software on my computer
I watch only pirated films
I jailbroke my Apple iPod soon after the purchase
Even the licensed Windows installed on my laptop I soon [removed] and installed a pirated one, because it was more convenient for me

But I have to admit that shutting down Ex.ua was the RIGHT THING. And I don’t understand those who now yell, “Yes, they were pirates, but was that a reason to close them?” […]

Guys, if we want to live a civilized [life], let’s at least not condemn the obvious attempts to establish legality.

In defense of Ex.ua, Yaroslav Fedorak of Blogosphere.com.ua wrote [uk]:

Yes, I really do believe that according to today’s legal framework, file-sharing website Ex.ua was conducting an illegal activity and sooner or later would have been closed. But don’t be too quick to throw stones at me! The problem here lies in the legal framework itself, which is hopelessly outdated and no longer meets the needs of the current super-dynamic and hyper-volatile environment.

Amidst such discussions, it was not long before Ukrainian Internet users began to question whether the authorities themselves were following the letter of the law. Giving in to increased media attention, the Ministry of the Interior had to admit [uk] that it was also using pirated software, while holding negotiations with Microsoft to end this practice. Netizens were outraged.

Yurko Chervony (@skinik) tweeted [uk]:

They should first shut themselves down, and not #ex.ua “[The Ministry of the Interior] admitted that half of the software [they're using] is illegal” tinyurl.com/7tjq7c8

Many netizens shared an online comment [uk] by Oleksandr Severyn of Maidan.org.ua:

When marauders fight with pirates, pirates become national heroes

Other netizens, however, believed that the government's action against Ex.ua was motivated not so much by the copyright violations, but by the website hosting [ru] an extremely popular parody video [uk] mocking the Ukrainian President Victor Yanukovych.

Pavlo Rizanenko (@rizanenko) tweeted [uk]:

Our authorities closed #exua because they did not want to have an uncontrollable information resource on #UaNet [Ukrainian Internet – GV]. Piracy was just an excuse rizanenko.livejournal.com/983.html

Whatever the actual causes of its shutdown, following the unexpected mass reaction of Ukrainian netizens, Ex.ua was back online [ru] as early as February 3, when the investigators concluded [ru] that piracy allegations did not have to result in blocking of the site's domain name.

Many netisens viewed it as a positive case of online consolidation and organization of Ukrainians.

Serge Lavrinchuck (@Lavrinchuck) tweeted [uk]:

The #EXua story, of course, has its positive sides. When else the Ukrainian people would have united like this to attack government websites?

Numerous observers referred to the attacks as the “online revolution” [ru]. Maksym Savanevsky, editor of the Internet business and SMM website Watcher.com.ua, wrote [uk]:

What has changed in the society in the past 60 hours.

Most important: the citizens have had a taste of their victory. They have felt that “together they are many, and they cannot be defeated”. It is difficult to recall similar events since 2004 [Orange Revolution – GV].

Yes, the scope was not the same. Yes, everything happened online, inside warm apartments. But it has been a while since the authorities looked so helpless in the face of the people’s simple desire to get something they thought they deserved.

Still, others were critical of the society mobilizing in defense of a pirate website. Jouranlist Serhiy Shcherbyna wrote [ru]:

Where are you, the renowned [citizens], when honest, normal businesses are being bluntly taken from ordinary mid-level entrepreneurs? […] Why nobody touches the Tax Inspection's website for their regular [pressure] on business?

Why would you not [disable] the Interior Ministry's website when people are being killed at [local police stations]? Why would you not [disable] the Kyiv City Administration's website for [icy] roads on which people are breaking arms and legs every day?

Why are Ukrainians able to protest only when their social benefits and [free stuff] are taken away? Freedom of speech, the lawlessness of the authorities, politically-motivated [imprisonments], a half-dead economy and, most of all, a country that is nearing a collapse, all this is not causing such an outrage.

While the online polemics continue and the future fate of Ex.ua remains unclear, as of February 6, the website is operational and works on restoring its full capacity.

Balkans: Online Platform Tracks Reports From Areas Hit by Record Snowfall

Danica Radisic — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 01:12:22 +0000

Since last week, the Balkans have been hit by massive snow storms, the likes of which have not been seen in over a decade, if not longer. After an unusually long period of nearly no real signs of a typical Balkan winter, last week brought what seems to be non-stop snowfall throughout the region, including the seaside areas around the Adriatic that seldom get any snow.

Men shoveling snow from a street in Sarajevo. Record snowfall has paralyzed transportation in the Bosnian capital, where a state of emergency has now been declared. Photo by Sulejman Omerbasic, copyright © Demotix (5/02/12).

Serbia's national television network, RTS, and other media reported on Friday 3 February, 2012, that a state of emergency has been declared by the government, while citizens have been reporting critical situations throughout the country and that municipal services have been doing a poor job of tackling the snowfall in many urban areas.

In an article titled “Serbia Blocked by Snow, State of Emergency in 27 Municipalities, Recommendation to Call Off School Attendance” [sr], the Head of the State of Emergency Sector of the Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs, Predrag Maric, is reported to have stated on Friday:

27 municipalities in Serbia have declared a state of emergency due to heavy snowfall. Maric has told Beta news agency that the most difficult situations are in Sjenica, Ivanjica, Prijepolje, Crna Trava and Surdulica, where the height of snow has reached approximately 2 meters. According to him, power supply is “relatively good,” outages are being fixed quickly and there have been no long power outages.

Maric also announced the possibility of declaring a full state of emergency nationwide, which the Government did on Sunday evening, cancelling school throughout Serbia at least until Friday, February 10, among other things.

Several actions have been organized by the online community in Serbia and the region to fend off the snow and to attempt to regain a functional state in urban areas at least, such as a #lopataup (”#shovelup”), organized by one online community leader, Zoran Torbica, and other local Twitter users.

In the meantime, Al Jazeera Balkans, the recently established regional office of Al Jazeera news network in the region, has joined forces with the team from Ushahidi to set up a platform for tracking verified information on everything from road blocks, power outages to other critical points and information in the entire region.

Ushahidi is an open-source platform for information collection, visualization and interactive mapping, which was also used in Serbia just after the earthquake in Kraljevo in November 2010 to map and track damage in the area.

Haris Alisic, who heads the New Media team for Al Jazeera Balkans, launched the platform on Sunday evening, and many members of the online community, including some of the region's GV authors, have joined the Al Jazeera-Ushahidi team in curating, tracking and verifying reports from the region.

The adapted Ushahidi platform can be located on Al Jazeera's official site, while reports can be sent in by anyone using the following channels:

- via SMS to +387644218661
- via Twitter by using the hashtags #kolaps #sneg #snijeg #lopataup #iskljucenje
- via email to oluja2012@aljazeera.net
- or by entering information directly into the form on the”pošaljite izvještaj” tab on the Al Jazeera page

If you would like to volunteer your time to help map critical areas and are familiar with using online tools, please contact the author of this article, or Haris Alisic via Twitter, or leave a comment here on Global Voices, and we will contact you for more information on what you can do to help. We also ask that you all begin reporting from your area on Twitter and using the above-mentioned hashtags on Twitter, which are automatically collected by the platform and then reviewed and verified by Al Jazeera and volunteers.

Cuba: Bloggers on SOPA, Culture and the Democratization of Knowledge

Ellery Roberts Biddle — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 15:08:46 +0000

Since mid-January 2012, the proposed anti-piracy legislation in the United States Congress known as SOPA/PIPA has drawn reactions from a broad range of cultural and political perspectives around the world.

Global Voices contributors have given readers a glimpse of responses from open Internet advocates throughout Europe, Asia, and the Americas (here, here and here). Open Internet advocates in the U.S. scored a major victory in January when members of Congress agreed to withdraw the bills from consideration.

Teatro Karl Marx, by Edgar Rubio. CC: BY-NC-ND.

In Cuba, where very few citizens use the Internet regularly, and where the concept of a site like Wikipedia or BitTorrent remains foreign to most people, bloggers brought a unique perspective to the discussion. Unlike many SOPA/PIPA critics in the U.S. and around the globe, Cuban bloggers did not focus on the technical implications of the proposed laws. Both independent and state-affiliated Cuban bloggers saw SOPA/PIPA not merely as legal measures that would have stifled online innovation and openness, but also as a powerful statement about how legislators (and the music and film industries) value culture and creativity as part of U.S. society.

Karel Pérez Alejo, writing for Cubadebate [es] and Trabajadores [es], framed the issue as a polemic dividing “society” or “the 99%” and the laws' strongest supporters:

Si bien algunos han analizado el fenómeno como la confrontación entre Hollywood y Silicon Valley, los millones de reclamos de los usuarios hablan de una guerra más profunda, entre una sociedad que busca manejar una información sin restricciones y un grupo de intereses que intentan seguir un obsoleto modelo de propiedad.

While some have analyzed the phenomenon as a confrontation between Hollywood and Silicon Valley, millions of users speak to a more profound war, between a society that seeks to manage information without restrictions and a group of interests that are attempting to follow an obsolete model of property.

Voces Cubanas blogger Regina Coyula drew a connection between SOPA/PIPA and the FBI’s partial shutdown of file locker site MegaUpload (Spanish version here). Coyula argued that such shutdowns, which would likely have increased if the legislation passed, limit access to knowledge and culture for people who otherwise can’t afford it:

[US authorities], with allegations of piracy, encroached [upon] the alleged right of millions of citizens of the global village to download content that they know they should not — or cannot — pay for.

On La Pupila Insome [es], Iroel Sánchez compared the paradigm of intellectual property rights in the U.S. to the Cuban model, remarking on the ways in which Cuba’s education and cultural systems have attempted to “democratize” knowledge, making it easily accessible for all:

Cuba, con una formación masiva de profesionales universitarios….no hubiera podido desarrollar [su] capital humano sin una concepción democratizadora y no lucrativa del conocimiento…

Cuba, with its massive population of professionals in academia….could not have developed [its] human capital without a democratic and not profit-oriented conceptualization of knowledge…

Since they were introduced in the 1960s, the revolutionary government’s cultural policies have generated bitter controversies over the ideological role of artists in Cuban society. But they also have yielded a strong system of support for artists and cultural institutions. In Cuba, one can attend the national ballet for just a few pesos more than it costs to buy a movie ticket. Access to culture, knowledge, and education is meant to be open to all citizens.

However, when it comes to culture and knowledge that is created and exchanged online, most Cubans are far worse off than any U.S. citizen. For those who do not occupy high-level positions in government, scientific research, or academia, Internet access remains limited.

The Internet has become a contested space where government authorities and the official press have denounced the United States’ “cyberwar” on Cuba; the seemingly limitless landscape of culture and knowledge online is rarely mentioned in the public sphere. Cuban authorities have elected to limit Internet use, presumably in an effort to dampen the potential societal effects of independent online political speech and economic activity.

Similar to Sánchez, Coyula alluded to the uniquely politicized nature of Cuba’s cultural policies, but cast a critical gaze on this “democratized” system for knowledge exchange. In closing, Coyula promoted the notion of an equilibrium, in which the interests of the market and the public good could be harmonized with one another:

It’s true that there is a symbiotic relationship between art and the marketing that puts it in the hands of the consumers. But to see art as a commodity has resulted in the promotion of products of dubious quality at the expense of other values. […] At some point, a balance must be achieved between both interests.

Panama: Indigenous Mining Protest Blocks Pan-American Highway

Betsy Galbreath — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 01:58:00 +0000

Todo lo acordado con los indígenas ha sido cumplido. Ahora elementos foráneos desean que no haya hidroeléctricas. Eso hará triplicar la luz

Everything agreed on with the indigenous people has been fulfilled. Now foreign elements don't want there to be hydroelectricity. That will triple the light.

That's how President Ricardo Martinelli of Panama made excuses via his Twitter account (@rmartinelli) [es] for the road closure that on February 3, 2012, marked its fifth day. The indigenous people of the Ngäbes Buglés region have blocked the Pan-American Highway up to the Chiriqui Province to demand that the government comply with the agreement reached last year with regard to mining in the region.

The closure has caused millions of dollars of losses as this is the main transportation artery for the country. It has also caused hundreds of people to be trapped in the massive congestion, leaving them without water or food. As reported in La Prensa [es]:

Cientos de viajeros y conductores de vehículos de carga atrapados por el tranque de la vía Interamericana, en el distrito de La Mesa, clamaron por ayuda de las autoridades de la provincia de Veraguas, debido a que después de cuatro días de protesta se han quedado sin agua y comida.

Hundreds of travelers and freight drivers trapped by the blockade of the Pan-American in the district of La Mesa, cried out for help from the authorities in the Veraguas Province, because after four days of protest, they have been left without water and food.

Up until now, the government has chosen to ignore the protests and look for alternate routes for transporting people and goods, like the so-called “Air Bridge” that would transport people and goods by air.

Woman wearing a nagua (skirt), typical dress of the Ngöbe-Buglé in Chiriqui, Panamá. Image by Flickr user Lon&Queta (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0).

The shaky image of Ricardo Martinelli's government appears even worse on social networks, where people have repudiated the apathy and arrogance with which the president and his team have handled the situation, although there are also those who see the attitude of the indigenous people as self-centered and showing little concern for the country.

Roberto Troncos B. (@tronky22) [es] writes to the president:

@rmartinelli Es inadmisible q un sector de la población nos tenga de rodillas, pero tmbn es inconcebible que no se tenga vías de solución

@rmartinelli It's unacceptable that one segment of the population can bring us to our knees, but it's also inconceivable that there aren't any ways to resolve this.

Jaime Correa (@JCorrea1293) [es] is upset by the autocratic manner of the president and states that he often confuses this with controlling his supermarket chain (Super 99):

Martinelli todavìa sigue pensando y creyendo que Panamá se administra como un Super 99 y que al ser presidente, es dueño de los recursos

Martinelli keeps thinking and believing that Panama can be run like a Super 99 and that as president he owns all the resources.

Fermin Osorio (@MeisterBrake) [es] on the other hand, thinks that people are exaggerating a little to point to Martinelli as being responsible for everything bad that happens:

Todo lo que hace martinelli ta mal, fren en mi opinión el a echo muchas cosas y buenas, también sus defecadas pero bueno.

Everything that Martinelli does is bad, in my opinion he has done many things and good things, even some mistakes, but oh well.

Maria Moreno (@ascadelia1986) [es] Maria compares the current government with Manuel Antonio Noriega's dictatorship:

est gobierno esta peor q el gobiern o d noriega nadamas falta q martinelli salga planeando y alzando el machete

This government is worse than Noriega's, all that's left is for Martinelli to come out plotting and raising his machete.

Daniel Acosta (@Daar05) [es] states that all politicians are responsible for the crisis the country is currently in:

Yo siento que toodos los de la politica en Panamá son culpables de lo que ocurre! Martinelli debe buscar rapido alguna solucion!!!!!

I believe all the politicians in Panamá are to blame for what's happening! Martinelli needs to find an answer quick!!!!!

Blogger Erick Simpson Aguilera shares his perspective in his blog Pma507pty [es]:

Finalizo solidarizándome con la lucha de los hermanos Ngäbes por la defensa del territorio nacional, el cual el gobierno autócrata de turno pretende vender a las mineras canadienses y coreanas, para depredar y saquear nuestra riqueza natural. Y, haciéndole un llamado al gobierno en el sentido que, no insista en mantener al país al borde de la ingobernabilidad y el caos, dando al traste con la imagen de Panamá, afectando las inversiones, el turismo, y el crecimiento económico que experimenta la nación; lo cual evitarán si dialogan con las autoridades Ngäbes Buglés y aceptan formalizar legalmente, la no exploración, ni explotación minera, ni hídrica en la Comarca.

I end up supporting the fight of the Ngabes brothers in defense of their homeland territory, which typically, the autocratic government means to sell to the Canadian and Korean mining companies, to rob and plunder our natural wealth. And, issuing a wake up call to the government in the sense that, do not insist on keeping the country on the verge of ungovernability and chaos, ruining the image of Panama, affecting investment, tourism, and the economic growth the nation was experiencing; which would be avoided if they talk to the Ngäbes Buglés authorities and agree to legally formalize no exploring or mining operations, nor hydro in the region.

Although the solution seems far away right now, Panamanians have not lost hope of finding a solution beneficial to all.

China: Veto of UN Security Council Draft Resolution on Syria Draws Praise and Grief

John Kennedy — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 16:24:32 +0000

This post is part of our special coverage Syria Protests 2011/12.

Russia and China seem to have voted with their own interests in mind yesterday in their controversial opposition to a draft resolution at the UN Security Council which calls on Syrian president Bashar al-Assad to stop the killings in his country, a revision of an earlier draft calling on Assad to relinquish power.

China justified its decision to veto the draft resolution, saying it wants to promote peace in Syria, and Russia claims to hope for a diplomatic approach to resolving the conflict in the country. As FireDogLake writer David Dayen points out: “The fact that Russia still supplies arms to the Syrian security forces clearly weighed heavily on the vote today.”

US ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice, confronting Li Baodong, China. Image posted to Weibo.

Unrest in the country has led to an estimated 7,000 deaths since March last year, with more than 200 lives lost in a massacre earlier this week.

Hu Xijin, editor-in-chief of the People's Daily tabloid Global Times, made today what is perhaps one of the most vocal statements in support of China's decision to veto the draft resolution, ending up under heavy fire in the comments section. Taking offense at Susan Rice's reported “disgust” at China's vote, Hu confuses her [zh] with Condoleezza Rice but also writes:

美国代表不点名批评中俄“出卖了叙利亚人民的意愿”。骂去好了。美国多次在安理会涉以色列提案表决时搞“一票否决”，这次中俄是“两票否决”。叶利钦当年说的好：只要中俄联手，美国无论捣鼓什么，“都是手淫”。赞呵。

The American representative has criticized China and Russia for their “betrayal” of the Syrian people. Whatever. America has vetoed a number of Security Council propositions dealing with Israel with a lone vote. China and Russia's “veto” now was done with two votes. Yeltsin said it best: As long as China and Russia stick together, the most America can do is play with itself. Awesome.

Almost as a sort of response, writer Ran Yunfei wrote [zh] shortly after that:

一个政府做一次错事可以原谅，不可原谅的是把做错事当成事业。我不是个民族主义者，但百年来的历史证明，中国与俄国的联手从来都没有对过。

A government can be forgiven for making one mistake, but it becomes unforgivable when making mistakes becomes a legacy. I'm not a nationalist, but a hundred years of history has proven that China and Russia have never done anything right by sticking together.

One “verified” commentator on Sina Weibo wrote [zh] early Sunday morning Beijing time that Russia and China ought now to be removed the Security Council and China replaced by Taiwan; that post was quickly deleted.

Sorry world, sorry Syria, we Chinese have an evil government. —Michael Anti, on Twitter.

The horrific video below [WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT], however, purportedly of the massacre Thursday in Homs, has not yet been deleted and has gathered hundreds of comments across the different spaces on which it's been embedded. At Sina Video, where it's currently being hosted, the most recent comment reads:

尼玛的我们国家在干什么鸟呀

Damnit, what the hell is our country doing?

This post is part of our special coverage Syria Protests 2011/12.

Russia: Day of Protests Divides Citizens

Alexey Sidorenko — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 11:20:40 +0000

This post is part of our special coverage Russia Elections 2011/12.

Despite temperatures of -20 degrees, thousands of Russians went out to the streets to participate in election demonstrations. Many, organised online, were protesting against the current election procedures and possible re-election of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Others, partly organised by pressure and bribes as well as fear of possible revolutions manifested that Putin should stay.

Bolotnaya vs Poklonnaya

Numerous demonstrations took place in nearly all big Russian cities. Most of them were of protest-oriented. Ridus.ru compiled a list of photo reports from different cities all around the country: Barnaul, Saint-Petersburg (1), Omsk, Yekaterinburg, Moscow (1, 2, 3), Kemerovo, Ivanovo, Perm, Tambov, Irkutsk, Chelyabinsk.

In Moscow, an anti-Putin demonstration started as a march and ended up at Bolotnaya square. A pro-Putin demonstration took place at Poklonnaya gora.

"We started to better warm up" poster at Bolotnaya Square, Moscow. Photo by Alexey Sidorenko

Symbols of the protesters included white ribbons, self-made posters and white balloons. In Moscow, white balloons were released at the end of the demonstration as popular musician Yuri Shevchyuk performed the song “Motherland” (see the recording of the performance here [ru]).

Many protest posters were inspired by Internet memes or quotes of Putin or his allies that circulated online due to their hypocrisy, bad grammar, or plain absurdity. Most of them were handmade with a high level of creativity, a distinctive contrast to the Soviet-style posters supporting Putin at the Poklonnaya event (see coverage [ru]).

The pro-Putin event in Moscow included some sincere supporters of Putin and his version of stability. At the same time, several cases of mass bribery and coercion were reported (1, 2). A few of my friends said that employees of public budget organisations were given a choice: either be fired or go to the event and receive a small award (depending on the source price varied from 500 to 1,000 rubles).

YouTube user Bandarlog20120204 uploaded a video shot at Kutuzovskiy prospect (next to Poklonnaya gora), where a lady distributed money to other people. When she realised she was being recorded, the lady tried to escape, thus provoking anger among those who did not manage to receive the ‘compensation' for participation.

A hard dialogue among protest groups

Pro-Putin events mostly consisted of deliberately apolitical crowds (mostly labour unions, or the Soviet-era GoNGOs). On the other hand, protest events almost in every city consisted of at least four main groups: the general public, leftists (social-democrats and communists), nationalists, and liberals. This ‘coalition of negative consensus,' however, did not work well everywhere.

The video below shows particular difficulties in finding a common ground among liberals and nationalists in Saint-Petersburg. An LGBT-activist who was given the floor was booed. After he finished, a nationalist activist came and started a speech that there should be ‘no [homosexuals] on the Russian soil.' Then, he himself was severely booed by all other participants and was forced to leave the stage and was called ‘a Nazi' and ‘a fascist.'

Lady waving to protesters. Photo by Vasiliy Maximov (Ridus.ru)

The missing network

After the demonstration was over, the Levada center published [ru] an interview with Boris Dubin, a renowned Russian sociologist, who described in detail the difference of “For Fair Elections” (FFF) movement compared to the previous protest movements:

Лет пятнадцать, наверное, как ничего похожего по скорости сплочения людей не было. Мы давно понимали, что есть 15-20, а по некоторым вопросам и 25 процентов взрослого населения, которые этот режим не принимают. Но это люди разрозненные, у них нет общих символов, нет общих лидеров. Не было понятно, как это меньшинство могло себя проявить. И вот оказалось, что в декабре, как, кстати, уже случалось в других странах в 2000-е годы, все завертелось вокруг проблемы «честных выборов», и дальше процесс пошел очень быстро.

In perhaps 15 years there was nothing that even reminded the speed of the processes of getting people united. For a long time, we had an understanding that there is 15-20, and according to some polls 25 percent, of the adult population that does not accept the regime. But they're not co-ordinated, they don't have common symbols, they don't have common leaders. It was not understandable, how this minority could reveal itself. And then it turned out that in December, as it, by the way, already happened in other countries in 2000's, everything spun around the issue of “free elections,” and the process launched really fast.

He pointed out 3 main elements of unrest: 1. it is a principal protest against contemporary socio-political regime, 2. the sense that the real election results were different, 3. the failure of the government to accept citizens as partners. He also noted an unusually high level of connectedness among the protesters:

Пришли люди, внутренне связанные, которые реально или хотя бы воображаемо солидарны друг с другом, и им интересно и важно быть вместе. А для большинства российского населения это абсолютно нехарактерно. Все-таки в основном население раздроблено, размазано, людей соединяет только телевизор и убеждение, что, какая бы плохая власть ни была, надеяться можно только на нее. Власть у нас плохонькая, но наша, примерно так большинство населения думает.

People came, internally connected, who really or at least imaginary were in solidarity with each other, and they are interested in each other and it is important for them to be together. And for the most part of Russian society this is absolutely not the case. For the most part, Russian society is atomised, dispersed, people are united only by TV and the belief that the government, as bad as it could be, is the only hope. “Government is not the best, but it's ours”; this is probably the way the majority of the population thinks.

According to Dubin's research, while 15 per cent of Russians would definitely participate in the protest actions, 44 approve such actions, and 40 per cent of the population condemns them. Dubin also discussed the role of the Internet in the protest actions: 60 per cent of the attendees of December 24 protest event (so called Sakharov demonstration) found out about the event online. 30 per cent found out about the event via their more connected colleagues. As Russian society lacks most conventional social networks (like church organizations, labour unions, etc) most people believe only their closest friends and families.

Although Dubin doesn't speak about the role of the Internet directly, it seems logical to suppose that in the absence of conventional networks, it is the Internet that has become the missing network that united so many uncoordinated ‘angry citizens.'

A Twitter parody account @igor_sechin ironically concluded [ru]:

Страна разделилась. Одна половина - за честные выборы, другая - за честные выборы Путина.

The country has divided. One half for the fair elections, the other one - for Putin's fair elections.

This post is part of our special coverage Russia Elections 2011/12.

Israel: The Lie, the Truth and the Meme (of the Soldier and the Girl)

Carmel L. Vaisman — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 18:52:05 +0000

The photograph below, of a soldier stepping on a little girl, has been circulating on the social web for the past few days, claimed to be of an IDF soldier and a Palestinian girl. Wesley Muhammad who posted it claimed to have seen it on someone else's news feed with that caption, and wonders why it went viral from his page. Within two days the photo (now discarded) received over 500 comments, including some claims the photo is fake.

Yossi Gavni reposted the photo highlighting the main claims that the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) doesn't carry that kind of weapon and has no such uniforms, and that photo circulated mainly among Israelis. Apparently, the photo was tweeted last year in French, claiming this is actually from Syria's demonstrations and asking for it to spread. However, Arab blogger Omar Dakhane found the original photo (below), which is neither from Syria nor Israel but a street theater performance in Bahrain.

This story could have ended here with a lesson not to believe everything that circulates out there in the age of media manipulation and virality, but apparently some Israelis have decided the best response to a viral lie is a humorous meme. In the last 24 hours many photos replacing the soldier with different characters have been circulating on Facebook, initiated by 10Gag, the Israeli answer to 9Gag humor and memes generator.

For example, a photo where the soldier was replaced by a dog wearing real IDF uniform, probably also responding humorously to earlier allegations that IDF trains dogs to attack Palestinians. Other entities stepping on that girl included an empire soldier from Star Wars, the Angry Birds, the Android, the Avatar N'aavi, Chuck Norris and more.

By turning the photo into a meme, Israelis are saying in “social media language” that such a situation is ridiculous and fictional, although Wesley Muhammad who started the viral spread concludes: ”I took the photo down (even though that type of thing DOES happen in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict)”. In response, Shani Yaakov posted a collage of pictures titled “this is the true picture of the IDF” (below) in which soldiers are seen in positive and friendly interactions with Palestinians. As for the truth, as always, it's probably somewhere in the middle.