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Thailand: Prime Minister Sues Cartoonist for Defamation

Aim Sinpeng — Wed, 22 May 2013 04:24:57 +0000

A Thai cartoonist who criticized the Prime Minister on Facebook is being sued for defamation. It's the first time that the Prime Minister has sued a citizen for commenting in a social media network.

The cartoonist, who described Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra as evil, is reacting to the controversial speech given by the leader in Mongolia.

It was the first time, in nearly two years of premiership, that Yingluck is believed to have spoken the “truth” from the bottom of her heart. She gave a speech during the 7th Ministerial Conference on the International Democracies in Mongolia, in which she sought to share her experience as a warning to other leaders about the collapse of democracy in her country and the pain that had put her family through. It was a heartfelt speech. It was also rare.

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. Image from Wikipedia

Yingluck is Thailand's first female Prime Minister. She is younger sister of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra who was ousted by a coup in 2006. Thaksin, who is convicted of plunder, is living outside Thailand.

An excerpt from Yingluck's candid speech delivered last April 29, 2013:

We all thought that the new era of democracy finally arrived in Thailand….this was not true. An elected government, which won two elections with majority, was overthrown in 2006. Thailand lost track and the people spent nearly a decade trying to regain democratic freedom…My brother, Thaksin Shinawatra, was a rightful elected leader. Many of you who don't know me say that ‘why complain?’ This is a normal process that government comes and goes. If I and my family were the only one suffering, I might just let it be. But this was not. Thailand suffered…rule of law in the country was destroyed…the people felt their rights and liberties were wrongly taken away…

She even criticized some features of Thailand's Constitution:

It is clear that elements of anti-democratic regime still exist. The new constitution, drafted under the coup leaders led government, put in mechanisms to restrict democracy.

A good example of this is that half of the Thai Senate is elected, but the other half is appointed by a small group of people. In addition, the so called independent agencies have abused the power that should belong to the people, for the benefit of the few rather than to the Thai society at large.

A video of her speech was uploaded on YouTube:

Her “truth” did not sit well with many. The speech sparked outrage among the opposition, the military, the media and the senate, while prompting lively online discussions. Many took out their frustration on Facebook.

Nearly 60 senators denounced Yingluck's action and demanded she apologize to the Thai people. Senator Nareewan Jintakanon reminded[TH] Yingluck that Thaksin was ousted because he abused power:

The prime minister claimed her brother was mistreated. This is not the whole truth. The 2006 coup d'état was launched because Thaksin abused his power; had conflict of interest and lacked any moral ethics to lead a country.

Vasit Dejkunjorn, a retired high-ranking Royal Court Security police officer condemns Yingluck's “stupidity” for telling others Thailand is unstable when her job is to promote the country to foreign investors.

A popular cartoonist, Chai Ratchawat, of Thailand's biggest newspapers – Thairath – posted on his Facebook page:

Please understand…the female prostitute is not a bad person. The prostitute is merely selling her body. But that bad woman is selling out her country

The online world was on fire. On a popular web board, Pantip, a group of netizens established “We hate Chai Ratchawat Group” in response to his Facebook remarks. ban_rach16 writes that what Chai Ratchawat posted was not satire:

A political cartoonist shouldn't hit this low. This is not political satire, it's making a mess

Another web board, Ban Ratchadamneon, had many anti-Chai Ratchawat posts. Ta Kob Dong comments:

He [Chai] has no morality but was elevated to a high position. Now we all see his true colors

Meanwhile, a group of Red Shirt supporters stormed Thai Rath headquarters demanding Chai's dismissal. A protester held a sign:

Why being a prostitute is so bad? There are many prostitutes who love their country. Unlike some media who sells out and forgets its own ideals.

Yingluck eventually sued Chai for defamation. Her lawyers invoked the Computer Crime Act 2007 in their lawsuits against the cartoonist on three counts: ” insulting an official during an official event, defaming another person via publicity and violating the Computer-related Crimes Act, which prohibits posting defamatory comments against others on the Internet,” reports the Nation.

A new “Thai Spring” website was launched as a venue for Yingluck's opposition to have their say, following outrage from her speech. Inspired by the pro-democracy Arab Spring movements, the site aims to launch a petition against the government. The “petition against the speech in Ulaanbaatar” has over 23,000 signatories as of May 21, 2013.

The saga is far from over as other anti-Yingluck websites mushroomed in the Thai cyberspace, prompting her brother, Thaksin, to give a threatening remark during his recent Skype video conference with thousands of Red Shirt supporters, marking the third anniversary of the 2010 May Crackdown.

“The Thai Spring website would never be ‘sprung',” claims Thaksin.

Cadmium-Laced Rice Found in China

Abby — Wed, 22 May 2013 01:15:32 +0000

Rice contaminated with high levels of the toxic heavy metal cadmium, dubbed “cadmium rice,” is the latest food scandal in China to trigger public panic and anger among the country's consumers.

The Guangzhou Food and Drug Administration revealed[zh] on May 16 that eight out of 18 rice samples tested in local markets contained excessive levels of cadmium. Most of the polluted rice comes from the southern province of Hunan, China’s top rice producing province.

“Cadmium in rice usually comes from the soil where it grows, and the soil was polluted by mining and chemical wastes,” Fan Zhihong, a food safety expert at China Agricultural University in Beijing, told the state-run Global Times.

The rice joins a growing list of food scares to hit China in recent years. Earlier this month, it was revealed that rat and fox meat was sold as lamb in the Shanghai and Jiangsu.

Contaminated rice has been a problem in China for decades. According to Global Times, a Nanjing Agricultural University research project in 2011 found that around 10 percent of rice sold across the nation contained excessive amounts of cadmium. According to another report, up to 70% of China’s soil is contaminated with heavy metals and fertilizers.

But officials are usually not forthcoming with information about such pollution. Earlier this year, environmental authorities refused a Beijing lawyer's request to publish the soil pollution data in China, saying it’s a “state secret”.

An insider was quoted by communist party newspaper People’s Daily as saying:

Map of China's rice pollution is widely shared on Weibo. (Image from Weibo)

对于含有镉这类“慢性中毒”的食品，一般情况下不会突然引发大的食品安全事故，有关部门负责人迫于经济发展压力，对食品企业违法行为睁一只眼闭一只眼，自身既不易受法律制裁，也能保住“乌纱帽”。

The food that contains cadmium is “chronically poisoned” food, which under normal circumstances will not lead to major food safety incidents. Under the pressure of economic development, some related departments turned a blind eye to food enterprises that broke the rules. They are unlikely to be punished by the law and they can still keep their posts.

In response to the news, the Chinese government's official mouthpiece Xinhua News Agency ran a piece, titled [zh] “Experts Recommend People Should Not Eat Rice from One Region All the Time,” that suggested people should diversify their rice sources to lower the risk.

The advice sparked lots of criticism online. On popular Chinese microblogging site Sina Weibo, one netizen “Bolin” wrote [zh] sarcastically:

人民日报告诉我们，中国贩运有毒食品是合法的，有毒食品参杂服用，就不只会死于一种有毒食品

People's Daily tells us that it is legal to sell toxic food. By eating all types of toxic food, we won't die from one kind of toxic food.

Shanghai-based writer “Lei Wenke” echoed [zh]:

就是要均衡各种污染么？

Does it mean [we should] maintain a balance of different types of pollution?

Environmentalist Dong Liangjie posed [zh] a rhetorical question:

在市场上不仅有镉大米、还有铅大米砷大米，有的是两个或三个同时超标；产地不仅是湖南，湖北、江西、广西、广东、河南、河北等都有；数量不是万吨，而是上百万吨。这么多产地和数量，如何轮着吃？体制内专家不追根求源、不谈真相，吃着纳税人给的俸禄，转移焦点，职业道德何在？

Not only cadmium rice, but lead rice and arsenic rice are also in the market; some have two or three excessive chemicals at the same time. [The polluted rice is] not only from Hunan, but also from Hubei, Jiangxi, Guangxi, Guangdong, Henan, Hebei, and other provinces. It's not just tens of thousands of tons, but millions of tons. So much polluted rice from so many places, how do you take turns to eat it? Experts within the system don't track the source of the problem or talk about the truth; they use taxpayers’ money and try to shift people's attention. What's happened to professional ethics?

Online personality and social critic “Xue Manzi” suggested [zh] that labels should list the amount of heavy metals that the rice contains:

鉴于最近大米重金属超标曝光后，大米的污染成了全国人民关注的焦点。为了食品安全，建议在大米白面的外包装上注明其重金属含量。我们实在不希望再重演进口洋奶粉的现象。奶粉还可以背，大米白面实在背不动。印上这个，大家可以放心食用了。大伙儿支持吗?

In view of the recent exposure of rice containing excessive levels of cadmium, rice pollution has become the focus of attention for the whole country. For food safety, I recommend that the packaging of rice and flour all have the amounts of heavy metals in them on the package. We really do not want to repeat the scene of importing foreign milk powder. We can carry the milk powder, but rice and flour are really too heavy to carry back [from abroad]. By printing this information on the package, we can feel safe to eat it. Anyone support my idea?

One user “Beiou jixu mengxiang zhilv” complained [zh]:

当空气、水、粮食均被污染后，我们能做的就不是挑选无污染食品，而是跟有污染食品抗争，看我们中国人体内到底能自我排出多少毒了！

When air, water, and food are contaminated, we can not pick pollution-free food, but fight with contaminated food to see how much poison can be self-discharged from the Chinese people's body!

Caijing Commentator Ye Tan called on [zh] the Hunan government to be more transparent about the food safety issues. However, as it shows on the shared map of China's rice pollution, the problem is not only limited to Hunan, but found in China at large.:

湖南方面应该拿出解决的诚意，公开信息。不公开信息，不承认本地的重金属污染，消费者无法确切地分辨湖南所产大米毒与非毒，最简单的做法是对所有的湖南大米敬而远之。如果公开信息，湖南大米可以被区分为被污染的，与安全的，不公开信息，会让湖南大米出现整体的信用危机，占全国13%的稻田成为废墟。

The Hunan government should sincerely work to solve the problem by making the information public. Without transparent information and recognition of the heavy metal pollution in the soil, consumers can not distinguish poisonous rice from non-poisonous rice produced in Hunan. The simplest approach for them is to turn away from all the rice in Hunan. If information is made public, then Hunan rice can be divided into contaminated and safe rice. If the information is not made public, Hunan will face an overall credit crisis. The land, accounting for 13 percent of the country's rice fields, will become ruins.

Panama President Levels Accusations Against Journalist on Twitter

Nina Shield — Wed, 22 May 2013 00:20:02 +0000

Every so often, President Ricardo Martinelli (@rmartinelli) [es] riles up the Panamanian online community by tweeting controversial and confrontational statements, and even insults.

The most recent example is a tweet directed at journalist Santiago Cumbrera of La Prensa, a newspaper with which the president has clashed in the past:

@rmartinelli: Para el que no conoce el odio de Santiago cumbrera a mi es pq se le despide de Epasa por. coimero y acosador sexual de mujeres. [Nota: en Panamá se le dice "coima" a las mordidas o sobornos]

@rmartinelli: For anyone who doesn't know why Santiago Cumbrera hates me it's because he was fired from Epasa for being crooked and sexually harassing women.

Throughout his term, which is in its final year, the president has had constant altercations with the media, which he insults, accuses of antagonism, and then apologizes to, promising to change.

The accusation against Cumbrera has a history. EPASA [es] is a daily publisher of three widely distributed newspapers: La Crítica, El Panamá América and El Día a Día. El Panamá América used to maintain a line for investigation and complaints against the government, but the publishing group was bought a few months ago by an organization affiliated with government interests.

The sale precipitated a change in editorial policy across the various papers, and although it is not official policy, it is common knowledge that El Panamá América is the government's mouthpiece.

Given this change, several journalists left EPASA, some voluntarily, like Santiago Cumbrera; others were fired for not following the newspaper's new approach.

Santiago Cumbrera published a letter in La Prensa [es] sharing his reasons for resigning. In the letter, he makes it quite clear that his convictions weren't up for negotiation:

President Ricardo Martinelli, photo by Luis Carlos Díaz on Flickr (CC BY-NC 2.0)

En esa coyuntura, y otras que me reservo, prefiero renunciar antes de aplaudir las cosas que ayer criticaba. De lo que sí pueden estar seguros los lectores es que no claudicaré a mis convicciones y principios. Tampoco me prestaré para publicar informaciones que ya vienen procesadas por alguien intencionado y que, además, buscan distraer la atención de asuntos de interés nacional. Yo no vendo mis convicciones al mejor postor, como aquellos que dicen ser independientes, pero tienen la libertad de un títere y que buscan fama aunque tengan que mentir y manipular informaciones.

At this juncture, and others that I won't discuss, I would rather resign than applaud that which I previously criticized. What readers can be sure of is that I will not waver in my convictions and principles. Nor will I loan myself out and publish information that comes to me already assembled by someone else, and that furthermore is trying to distract everyone from issues of national importance. I don't sell my convictions to the highest bidder, like some who claim to be independent but who have all the freedom of a puppet, and seek fame even if they have to lie and manipulate the facts.

The president's accusations against Cumbrera stemmed from an article published in La Prensa on May 20, 2013, called “The Hydroelectric Industry: A Business of Power” [es], in which Cumbrera links the president and his cohort to companies that manage hydroelectric power.

Santiago Cumbrera (@santcumb) [es] defended himself against the president's accusations on his Twitter page, clarifying that he was not fired, but rather resigned for reasons that he made clear in his open letter:

@santcumb: Yo renuncie a Epasa días después de que se concretó la venta del diario. Las razones constan en una carta que hice pública.

@santcumb: I resigned from Epasa a few days after it finalized the sale of the paper. My reasons are in a letter that I made public.

Another former EPASA journalist, Eduardo Soto, published a brief post on his blog Hojas Sueltas [es] in which he reflects on his departure from the company and reports that in the new editorial guidelines suggest “concealment, double standards, and deception.” Soto also comments on Santiago Cumbrera's resignation:

Recordemos que hasta antes de que cambiara de manos, Panamá América estuvo semana a semana destapando escándalos y jugadas chuecas del actual equipo de gobierno. El nombre de Santiago Cumbrera coronó la mayoría de esas notas. Santiago no esperó que lo echaran; presentó su renuncia diciéndole a la nueva directiva que eran unos impostores.

Let's recall that until it changed hands, Panamá América was constantly uncovering scandals and crooked moves by the current government. Santiago Cumbrera's name was on the majority of these articles. Santiago didn't wait to be kicked out; he tendered his resignation, telling the new board that they were imposters.

Twitter lit up with reactions to the president's remarks.

Luis Castillo (@Luis03Castillo) [es], for example, reminded the president that Cumbrera resigned and was not fired, and asked him to be serious and act in accordance to his position:

@Luis03Castillo: @rmartinelli yo trabaje con Santiago Cumbrera en EPASA y el renuncio. Me consta. Sea serio y no olvide su investidura.

@Luis03Castillo: @rmartinelli I worked with Santiago Cumbrera at EPASA and he resigned. I'm sure. Be serious and don't forget your inauguration.

Others, however, insisted that the accusations were true. Abel D Pereambro (@AbelDPereambro) [es] said that he had spoken to one of the victims himself:

@AbelDPereambro: @RicardoLombanaG yo hablé con una de las víctimas del acosador sexual Santiago Cumbrera. Pidio favores sexuales y coima. Es un degenerado!

@AbelDPereambro: @RicardoLombanaG I spoke with one of Santiago Cumbrera's sexual harassment victims. He asked for sexual favors and bribes. He's a pervert!

Yodalys Vasquez (@YodalisYodi) [es] says that the president also has the right to freedom of expression:

@YodalisYodi :el presidente TAMBIEN debe tener libertad de expresion!

@YodalisYodi: The president ALSO should have freedom of expression!

Edgardo Vidal (@EVidal1507) [es], though, demanded that the president show evidence of his accusations:

@EVidal1507: Q el Presidente Martinelli presente las pruebas de sus acusaciones al periodista Cumbrera… Que bajo lenguaje para un presidente!

@EVidal1507: President Martinelli must show proof of his accusations against the journalist Cumbrera… What base language for a president!

The Panamanian online community is waiting for clarification from the president, although in previous instances no one was surprised when they ended with a brief apology and a charge of wrongheadedness.

69th Anniversary of Crimean Tatar Deportations: Memory and Politics in Crimea

Veronica Khokhlova — Tue, 21 May 2013 01:56:40 +0000

On May 18, some 30,000 people gathered at a rally in Crimea‘s capital Simferopol to honor the memory of the victims of the 1944 Crimean Tatar deportations and to demand the immediate resignation of Anatoly Mogilev, the former Ukrainian Interior Minister who is now the chairman of Crimea's Council of Ministers.

J. Otto Pohl wrote briefly [en] about the deportation that took place 69 years ago:

This Saturday is the 69th anniversary of the deportation of the Crimean Tatars from their peninsular homeland on the Black Sea to the deserts of Uzbekistan and the wet forests of the Urals. The NKVD rounded up almost the entire population and took them to rail stations where they were stuffed like cattle into box cars. In three days over 180,000 people had been expelled from their homes and sent on a long and arduous journey eastward. The official reason for the deportation was the false charges of treason brought against the whole population by the Stalin regime. However, the number of Crimean Tatars that fought with the Germans, about 10,000, was quite small compared to a number of other nationalities that were not subject to wholesale deportation. Upon arriving in Uzbekistan and the Urals the Crimean Tatars were placed under special settlement restrictions. On 26 November 1948, the Soviet government decreed the deportations and special settlement restrictions to be forever. The death of Stalin on 5 March 1953 brought about an eventual end of the special settlement regime and on 28 April 1956 the Soviet government freed the Crimean Tatars from these restrictions. They, however, were not allowed to return to Crimea in any significant numbers until 1987 near the very end of the Soviet regime. Even today they still face obstacles to resettling in their homeland and nearly 100,000 still remain in Uzbekistan.

A Crimean Tatar woman at the May 18 commemoration of the 1944 Crimean Tatar deportations. Photo by Andy Ignatov (used with permission).

On Facebook, Oleksandr Starish also wrote [ru] about the tragic events of 1944:

[...] Despite the fact that the Crimean Tatars were fighting in the ranks of the Red Army and participated in the guerilla movement, the basis for their deportations was an accusation of collaboration with the Third Reich.

Deportations began early in the morning of May 18 and ended on May 20, 1944. Over 32,000 NKVD troops were employed in the operation. [...]

Those Crimean Tatars who were fighting in the Red Army units, were also deported upon demobilization: in 1945-46, 8,995 Crimean Tatar war veterans were exiled [...].

[...]

Assessments of the numbers of those who died in this period vary: according to the Soviet official data, 15-25 percent died, and according to the activists of the Crimean Tatar movement, who were gathering the information about the victims in the 1960s, the figure is up to 46 percent… [...]

Starish ended his post with these words in three languages – Russian, Turkish (which is related to Crimean Tatar) and Ukrainian:

[...] I don't know if one can repent someone else's sins… But every person must bow to the memory of the innocents who were murdered… Regardless of one's ethnicity or religion… [...]

Idil P. Izmirli explained the political component of the May 18 rally in this Jamestown Foundation article [en]:

[...] Crimea differs from the rest of Ukraine because it is the only autonomous republic with its own unicameral parliament (with 100 members) and Council of Ministers, thus having a similar institutional structure to that of the Ukrainian state. Under all previous presidents of Ukraine, the planning of this May 18 Crimean Tatar Remembrance Day of Victims of the Deportation event had received considerable support from both the Crimean and the Ukrainian authorities. In fact, during these commemorative gatherings, alongside the Mejlis officials and the mufti (religious authority) of Crimea, a representative of the Ukrainian president, the head of the Crimean parliament, and the head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Kyiv Patriarchate (UOC-KP) participated in the ceremonies. In 2013, however, under Anatoli Mogilev, the chairman of the Council of Ministers in Crimea, the governmental attitude to the Day of Remembrance has changed drastically. Mogilev was appointed by President Viktor Yanukovych in November, 2011. Insisting that he was ill, he opted out of the May 18 gatherings in 2012, marking the first time a Crimean leader did not participate in this event. Even before his appointment, Mogilev was well-known in Crimea for his anti-Tatar sentiments, his brutal order of police units (BERKUT) to attack peacefully protesting Crimean Tatar business owners in the Ai Petri hills in 2007 while he was a police chief, and his subsequent Krymskaya Pravda article (2008) in which he praised the Joseph Stalin–era deportation of the Crimean Tatars (http://www.unpo.org/article/10968).

On February 25, 2013, under Mogilev’s leadership, the Crimean authorities announced that the May 18 event needed to be approved by the Crimean Council of Ministers. Consequently, the Simferopol City Council declared that they were going to ban the annual May 18 gathering that has been organized by the Crimean Tatar Mejlis since the early 1990s. This decision of the Crimean authorities was not received well by [Mustafa Cemilev], the head of the Mejlis, who stated that Crimean Tatars will come to the Central Square in Simferopol as a large collective regardless of the ban, and if they are not allowed to hold their remembrance day, then they will block the roads, paralyze traffic, and take their protests to other regions of Crimea [...]. [...]

The May 18 commemoration of the 1944 Crimean Tatar deportations. Photo by Andy Ignatov (used with permission).

Simferopol-based journalist Zair Akadyrov wrote [ru]:

Today at the rally in Simferopol, every 100th Crimea resident has pointed Mogilev to the exit. And now imagine if every 100th Ukrainian did the same at Maidan [Independence Square] in [Ukraine's capital] Kyiv, no less… [...]

Kyiv was having its own political rallies on May 18, and even though the turnout at the opposition's event was rather high, it could still hardly match the Crimean Tatar one in genuineness and determination. Kyiv-based journalist Victor Tregubov shared a photo of the Simferopol crowd and wrote this [ru]

[...] They say, there were 35-40 thousand people, and, looking at this photo, I tend to believe this. According to various assessments, there are 270 to 340 thousand Crimean Tatars living in Crimea. It means that every 8th [Crimean Tatar] is present at this rally.

When I saw this photo, I stopped worrying about the [Crimean Tatars'] future. What can some gang [the regime] do to a nation whose every 8th representative voluntarily attends a rally devoted to national solidarity and national revival? A nation like this will overcome any kind of trouble.

As for the Ukrainians’ future, I still worry about it.

***

More photos of the Crimean Tatar May 18 rally – by Andy Ignatov, Volodymyr Prytula, and Smail Tantana.

The Eccentrics and the Women Who Run for President in Iran

Farid — Mon, 20 May 2013 21:51:10 +0000

One of the more eccentric presidential hopefuls says ‘Presidents should be handsome'. Source: Entekhab

Hundreds of hopeful Iranians, including thirty women, have registered as candidates to replace President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the forthcoming election on June 14, 2013 even though they have no chance whatsoever of being elected. The conservative Council of Guardians appoints the shortlist of candidates who will actually run.

Besides political heavy weights such as former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, Ahmadinejad's ally, there are several eccentric candidates that have attracted media attention, momentarily stealing the limelight.

Eccentric Candidates

The elderly man in this television interview says he wants to make his eldest son the Minister of Housing if he is elected because they never had their own house.

Another candidate says, ”Presidents should be handsome and make people happy.” [photo above, video below]

Female Candidates

Thirty women have registered to stand as candidates for the forthcoming presidential election. Meanwhile, Mohammad Yazdi, a clerical member of Iran’s Council of Guardians, has declared that Iran's laws “do not allow women to become presidents.”

The blogger Saeedshabani says:

Dear Ladies, why does a regime that does not consider you to have enough brain to stand as a candidate, accept your votes? I ask this question: what is the difference between men and women? I hope women will boycott this election.

Nicaraguans Defend Law Against Violence Towards Women

Marianna Breytman — Mon, 20 May 2013 13:18:59 +0000

In April, a campaign called “I Support Law 779″ was launched on social networks to demand that a law protecting the physical, psychological and moral integrity of women be respected. The campaign consisted of writing a supportive phrase, taking a photo with the phrase, and uploading it with the tag #yoapoyolaley779 [es] (#ISupportLaw779).

Law 779, or the Integral Law Against Violence Towards Women [es], was approved in Nicaragua on January 26, 2012, and went into effect in June of the same year.

The law prohibits mediation between victims and aggressors, independent of the type of aggression. Starting in March, this aspect of the law has provoked religious leaders and members of the Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ) to promote reforms to the law, claiming that mediation can exist in cases where the sentence is less than five years.

The first people to gather in protest to reject said reform, by considering it unconstitutional, were the members of the Democratic Association of Lawyers in Nicaragua (Adanic), who called together their unionizers and citizenry in general to demand that the Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ) resolve the appeals against Law 779.

@AnabellZavala [es] in support of Bill 779 (“It would be unconstitutional if Law 779 did not exist #ISupportLaw779″)

Carlos Lucas [es] writes about the law on his blog:

No es perfecta y ni siquiera revolucionaria y aunque llega algo tarde, tomando en cuenta el enorme daño físico, vidas, estado sicológico de las mujeres y sus familias, que había venido provocando su vacío, pero la puesta en marcha de la Ley 779 o Ley Integral contra la Violencia hacia las Mujeres de Nicaragua, comienza a sacudir- y más si se si aplica firmemente- nuestra forma de pensar y conceptos sobre familia, matrimonio, unión de pareja, hogar, felicidad, armonía familiar, amor, etc.

Tan es así, que sobre esta Ley 779, apenas dictada en el 2012, ya hay en Nicaragua, toda una reaccionaria conspiración contra algunos de esos avances en el tema de la violencia contra la mujer.

It is not perfect and would not even revolutionize anything and although it has arrived a bit late, taking into account the enormous physical harm, the lives, the psychological state of women and their families, which had come provoking its void, the start up of Law 779 or the Integral Law Against Violence Towards Women in Nicaragua, is beginning to shake up – and more so if applied firmly – our way of thinking and concepts of family, marriage, civil union, home, happiness, familial harmony, love, etc.

It is so much so that, with regards to Law 779, which was only enacted in 2012, there is already an entire reactionary conspiracy in Nicaragua against some of the advances in the field of violence against women.

At the start of May, Bishop Abelardo Mata made statements to the media comparing Law 779 with the Anti-Christ, adding that this new law is separating families by not permitting mediation between the aggressor and the victim. The bishop's declarations provoked reaction from the public on social networks once again.

Feminist group La Corriente [es] created a video dedicated to Bishop Mata, where four activists from the feminist movement are featured doing a parody of Yuri's song “Maldita Primavera”:

“Watch out! #BishopMata” Stencil created by Rodrigo Rodriguez. Protest campaign against Bishop Mata

Additionally, activists on social networks began the campaign “Watch out, #BishopMata!” Rodrigo Rodriguez [es] writes the following on his blog:

¿Es la ley 779 REALMENTE tan grave para el sistema de justicia -pensemos por un momento que nuestro sistema de justicia es bien aplicado, sólo para ejemplificar esto- y el ejercicio de los derechos humanos en nuestro país, como para compararla con el significado del anticristo, entendido desde una visión cristiano-católica como un adversario decisivo del hijo de Dios (ese ser invisible, omnipresente, todopoderoso que controla y decide nuestro destino)?

En serio… ¿en realidad es tan grave?

Is Law 779 REALLY that serious for the justice system — let's think for a moment that our justice system is well implemented, just to exemplify this — and the exercise of human rights in our country, to compare it to the meaning of the antichrist, understood from a Christian-Catholic vision as a decisive adversary of the son of God (this invisible, omnipresent, all-powerful being that controls and decides our destiny)?

Really… is it that serious in reality?

Blog 24 Pieces of Craziness published another video [es] made by the group Youths for Law 779, where they sing the same song that La Corriente dedicated to Bishop Mata:

According to the document “Why do I defend Law 779?” [es], elaborated upon by the Catholics for the Right to Choose movement:

En Nicaragua las cifras de Violencia Intrafamiliar y Sexual registradas en las Comisarías de la Mujer,han venido incrementándose anualmente de 31759 en 2009 a 34763 en 2010. El Instituto de Medicina Legal IML refleja en el 2012, la realización de 5371 peritajes, de las cuales 4726 fueron realizados a mujeres y 642 fueron realizados a hombres (en este último caso, los agresores son hombres incluidos los agentes estatales).

In Nicaragua, numbers from Domestic and Sexual Violence registered in Police Stations for Women have been continuously increasing annually from 31,759 in 2009 to 34,763 in 2010. The Institute for Legal Medicine (IML) reflects in 2012 the completion of 5371 reports, of which 4726 came from women and 642 from men (in this last case, the aggressors are men, including state agents).

Furthermore the document adds that “every year more than 80 women in Nicaragua are murdered as a result of extreme violence that is exercised against them.”

Are Indian Companies “Land Grabbing” in Africa?

Ayesha Saldanha — Mon, 20 May 2013 11:42:44 +0000

As foreign companies and governments buy or lease land in countries across Africa, the debate continues as to whether this will encourage development or is simply land grabbing, which displaces local populations and threatens food security.

The Hindu's Addis Ababa correspondent Aman Sethi (@Amannama) has recently written about Indian companies’ involvement in Ethiopia and Mali, and on 19 May he took part in a Q&A session on Facebook on the issue of so-called Indian land grabs in African countries.

Susanna Myrtle Lazarus asked:

What is the purpose of land grabs in Africa? Is it for the property value or just for resources like water etc?

Aman Sethi noted that the term “land grab” is disputed:

Well that's an interesting question: the jury is still out on the whole question of “land grab”. The UN, for instance, has come up with a set of guidelines on land investment. Host countries tend to lease out land, rather than sell it, so it isn't usually about property value because the lessor company cannot sell the land. Investments are invariably for the resources then – so it could be minerals, it could be timber, it could be soil and water to grow crops. The big question of course is – are host countries getting enough back in return for leasing out land and (often) displacing people?

Sai Ramakrishna Karuturi, Managing Director of Karuturi Global Ltd., Gambella, Ethiopia. Photo by Flickr user Planète à vendre (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0).

Jayakarthik Sabarathnam's question was:

Don't you think Africa's land problems are a result of confusion over who owns the land, whether it is an individual or the government, since individuals have been staying on government land under the assumption that they are the owners whereas the government considers the land as its own?

Sethi answered:

I think this is a key and crucial point – that in at least two countries that I wrote about – Ethiopia and Mali – there is significant confusion over land titles. In Ethiopia for instance, all land is owned by the state and is leased out to private individuals and companies. In places like Gambella – as I mention in the second part of the story – communities often have pre-existing communal claims on the land, which are not acknowledged by the state. This creates a serious problem. The Ethiopian government believes that the Commune Development programme – or villagization – will actually streamline the process of land use by giving land titles to the people who are resettled under the scheme. However, this will of course involve a radical change in the way the community conceives of land.

Roybath Mylaks wanted to know if Indian investment actually helped to increase local skills:

Are Indian companies adding to capacity building of locals there? Do they hire locally or bring in workers from India?

Aman Sethi replied:

On labour – the Ethiopian government is very clear that they want companies to train local workers. Last year, I wrote about how liquor Baron Ponty Chadha had come up with a plan to bring farmers from Punjab to Ethiopia – but the plan was shot down by the government. Most governments allow companies to bring in highly skilled technicians and managers, but try to get companies to train people to become machine operators etc.

Samiksha Srivastava's question was along the same lines:

Don't you think Indian-owned companies are enhancing the development there?

Sethi didn't think there was a simple answer to that, and referred to the controversy surrounding Indian company Karuturi Global, which has been heavily criticised for its operations in Ethiopia:

Well, I think that a lot of developing countries are still figuring out what development really means to them – what path should they take, what resources should they allocate, what should be the role of the state and the market? Thus, I think that Indian companies have become a part of this debate by participating in these developing economies. Many in Ethiopia are unhappy with the fact that a foreign company has acquired such large amounts of land – while others believe that companies like Karuturi will help the country earn foreign exchange – so the debate is wide open right now.

Pranay Sinha asked:

Do you think the government needs to put in place some minimum standards for corporates operating abroad so that locals are not abused in the process of these investments, or should it be a self-restricting corporate code of conduct?

Referring again to Karuturi Global, Aman Sethi responded:

Well, I think most governments have legal frameworks to safeguard the rights of project-affected communities – however, many (much like in India) cannot effectively monitor these companies. In Karuturi's case for instance, no laws have been broken – but there seems to be a structural problem with the way the project was conceived – so I think we probably need to think beyond a legal regime and perhaps begin by trying to understand these processes as best we can. It's easy to say “neocolonial land grab” and end the discussion – but that doesn't help our understanding of the world – rather it restricts engagement because the discussion is effectively over.

Mauritania Through a Portuguese Artist's Eyes

Ayesha Saldanha — Mon, 20 May 2013 01:35:10 +0000

Portuguese artist Isabel Fiadeiro (@Isabelfiadeiro) lives in Nouakchott, Mauritania, where she paints and runs an art gallery. Fiadeiro also sketches from observation, filling her blog Sketching in Mauritania with images of daily life in the West African nation.

Global Voices spoke to Fiadeiro about her art and how sketching has helped her get to know Mauritania.

Global Voices (GV): Where are you from originally? How long have you lived in Mauritania and what took you there in the first place?

Isabel Fiadeiro (IF): My father is Portuguese and my mother Spanish. I grew up in Portugal and I feel Portuguese. I also lived in England for almost 15 years (on and off). Actually I left London in March 2003 to go back and settle in Portugal; I had finished a BA in Fine Arts at the Wimbledon School of Arts in 2000, and I stopped painting for the next three years, so I decided it was time to go.

In November 2003, a Portuguese friend and I decided to travel to Guinea-Bissau in a Renault 4L. The car broke down in the Parc National du Banc d'Arguin on the Mauritanian coast. My friend stayed in Nouakchott and I went off with a group of French people to discover the Adrar Region.

We went on off-road tracks and through the desert stopping occasionally in small villages to buy bread or repair the tyres. I had a sketch book with me and for the first time I started drawing from observation. It was this curiosity of knowing more about the people that lived in the middle of these vast empty spaces that made me come back in January 2004, and in September 2004 I moved to Nouakchott and I'm still here.

Diallo and Mamadou, tailors in Nouakchott. Sketch by Isabel Fiadeiro.

GV: How does sketching help you understand a place?

IF: Drawing and the observation that comes with it makes you see the world in a different way. You slow down, you look and you discover things. For me this act of drawing is also a sort of memory and questioning.

People around you come to see what you're doing so it works in two ways. You're recording what attracted your attention, but by your action communication becomes possible, even if you don't speak the language.

Police at demonstration, Nouakchott. Sketch by Isabel Fiadeiro.

For years I would go to a remote village for a month and stay with a local family, drawing their daily life. I did that in two fishing villages in the Banc d'Arguin but also in Oualata, Goungel and Ouadane. My last long stay was in Tindouf in the Western Sahara refugee camps where I went to sketch the women and their work in the camps. All those people became friends and we still exchange mails and phone calls and meet if they happen to come to Nouakchott.

Also in each area I discovered a new vocabulary to do with the sea or the land and the cattle or the revolution.

Griots at the Fondation Malouma. Sketch by Isabel Fiadeiro.

GV: You are also a member of the online community Urban Sketchers. Can you tell us about them?

IF: Urban Sketchers is a non-profitmaking, international organisation, dedicated to fostering the art of on-location drawing and painting. I am one of 100 correspondents invited from around the globe. Our aim is to inspire others to sketch daily, this way improving their skills and observation capacities.

I discovered them in 2008, and it was a great discovery because until then I was isolated, and finding this community suddenly made me want to sketch more and better. The founder of Urban Sketchers, Gabi Campanario, uses sketches as a reportage tool; his work is published in the Seattle Times. This way of using sketches made a strong impression on me.

Discussing The Great Gatsby at a reading club. Sketch by Isabel Fiadeiro.

I have participated in a number of Urban Sketchers symposiums. The next one is in Barcelona. We now have another correspondent from Mauritania, Oumar Ball, who started sketching from observation a few years ago and publishes his work on Flickr. Later this year I would like to hold some talks and workshops to encourage more people in Mauritania to sketch from observation. Citymag, a free magazine distributed monthly in Nouakchott has started to publish my drawings. Maybe that will inspire more people to pick up a pen or pencil and start sketching.

Peru: Strike in Iquitos in Protest of Corruption

Sally Seward — Sun, 19 May 2013 21:00:43 +0000

The permanent problems and chaos [es] in the city of Iquitos and the continuing complaints [es] of corruption in the Regional Government of Loreto have led to various protests [es] by the people and civil society [es].

The most recent of these protests was on May 15, 2013, after the Patriotic Front of Loreto organized [es] a 24 hour strike demanding that the regional president and vice president, Yván Vásquez Valera and Luis Lozano Escudero, vacate their posts because of suspected acts of corruption.

The newspaper La Verdad Iquitos indicated [es] that one of the reasons for this strike was the role that the Judicial Power was playing in the following cases: “The actions of Judge Nataly Maldonado asking the Public Prosecutor to return the sewage system documents belonging to the OPIPP (Public Agency of Infrastructure for Productivity) which were confiscated, and the conduct of Judge Alina Peixoto, in the case of the agrarian credits, are all that was needed for people to begin to react, first with a 24 hour strike.”

The strike began even before midnight, the time when protest activities normally start in Iquitos, with groups in support of the strike patrolling the city, ensuring that it was being observed. Diana Vela (@dianatshow) [es], a law student, reported on her Twitter account at 10.30 pm on May 14:

@dianatshow: Okait, comienzan a romper botellas y quemar llantas, aun faltando hora y media para el “PARO” #iquitos

@dianatshow: Okay, they are starting to break bottles and burn tires, even though there is still an hour and a half left before the “STRIKE” #iquitos

This led to conflicts with law enforcement, after disturbances [es] in front of the house of the President of the Regional Government, as Carolina Gomes (@llinijoplin) [es] informed on Twitter:

@llinijoplin: La Policia Nacional acaba de lanzar 15 bombas lagrimogenas en una marcha pacifica. ¿Alguien dijo corrupcion?

@llinijoplin: The National Police just launched 15 tear gas bombs on a peaceful march. Did someone say corruption?

Facebook user Pedro Esquibel [es] shared a foto of the central Plaza 28 de Julio at that time:

Image of the regional strike in Loreto. Photo shared by Pedro Esquibel on Facebook.

The strike was observed [es] by the majority of people in diverse sectors [es] of the city, and on the afternoon of May 15 there was a protest march [es] made up of members of the Patriotic Front of Loreto, representatives of other organizations and diverse sympathizers. After returning to the house of the Regional President, where they burned banners as a sign of protest, they joined together again in the Plaza 28 where they performed some symbolic acts of protest.

Journalist Nancy Alarcón (@NancyAlarconCho) [es] reported on Twitter:

@NancyAlarconCho: Acaba de llegar la capilla ardiente para velar a la Ley que ha muerto en Loreto, Poder Judicial la asesino! La corrupcion vive.Paro en Iqui

@NancyAlarconCho: The funeral chapel is here to hold a vigil for the Law which has died in Loreto, and the Judicial Power is the killer! Corruption lives.Strike in Iqui

Ricardo Miguel Garcia Pinedo [es], a young activist from Loreto, uploaded some photos of the protest:

Photo shared by Ricardo Miguel Garcia Pinedo on Facebook.

For his part, Iván Vásquez Valera, President of the Regional Government, commented [es] to a local media source that the strike was “led by politicians who would like to reinforce negative attitudes in a new electoral campaign”, and that these politicians do not have arguments for the debate. At the end he added that “We can debate, but with dignity. Not offending or insulting others, calling them thieves, corrupt, or other names.”

Among those tweeting from Iquitos, the feeling about the strike was not uniform either. Communications student Percy Meza (@alexiankernel) [es] commented on what the result of the strikes is to him:

@AlexianKernel: Viendo los videos de lo que dejó el “paro” de 24 horas en Iquitos. Montículos increíbles de basura. Qué lamentable, en serio.

@AlexianKernel: Watching the videos of what the 24 hour “strike” in Iquitos left. Huge piles of trash. What a shame, seriously.

And from Lima, journalist Jaime Cok (@InO_MoXo) [es] reflected with disappointment:

@InO_MoXo: El paro en #Iquitos se redujo a que los políticos jalen agua para su molino y que turistas se tomen foto con el ataúd simbólico de las leyes

@InO_MoXo: The strike in #Iquitos was reduced to politicians using the situation to their advantage and tourists taking pictures with the symbolic coffin of the law

Finally, it is worth mentioning that the president of the Board of Public Prosecutors, Dr. Mario Alberto Gallo Zamudio, declared [es] that “the people of the Loreto region are meeting their civic duty which is contained in the Constitution of Peru, and that in this period of time it is a democratic law-based state”, adding as well that “the Public Prosecutor continues steady in his work, and justice will have to be applied no matter what, within the established legal framework, requiring those who are responsible to answer, in accordance with the proof that is gathered.”

“Lift your Skirt, Save a Life” Cervical Cancer Ad Divides Singapore

Mong Palatino — Sun, 19 May 2013 16:30:26 +0000

To remind Singaporeans about the free Pap smear screenings this month, the Singapore Cancer Society came out with a “Lift your skirt. Save a life” ad which sparked a lively discussion on whether it was creative, effective, or offensive.

The campaign featured local celebrities replicating the iconic pose of Marilyn Monroe in her film The Seven Year Itch. The campaign poster can be seen on bus shelters and train stations.

According to the Singapore Cancer Society, cervical cancer is a major health issue in the country:

Cervical Cancer ranks no. 9 among the cancers diagnosed in Singaporean women. Each year, 200 women are diagnosed with the disease and 70 of them die from it. It is a highly preventable and curable disease.

From 1 to 31 May 2013, all female Singaporeans and PR aged 25 – 69 years old, can enjoy FREE Pap smear screening at participating clinics island-wide.

At least 178 clinics are offering free Pap smear screenings this month. There were mixed reactions to the ad. Some praised it for being catchy while others thought it was a fashion or slimming ad. Others criticized it for being too sexual.

“Lift your skirt. Save a life” ad to promote awareness on cervical cancer. Image from Facebook page of the Singapore Cancer Society

Everything Also Complain believes a simple reminder that there are free pap smear screenings would have been enough:

…you don’t need a controversial headline to grab the attention of Singaporean women. One four letter word starting with the letter F would do the trick: FREE, and that magical word that possesses Singaporeans into queuing long hours for stuff they don’t need is restrained here by small caps and boring font

a musliminah in NL also thinks the same way:

the idea behind the sexualised women was catering to the male gaze, suggesting voyeurism and sexual availability of women. This copywriter thinks that puns hardly work in ads, while others thought that it's not a good idea to sexualise ads which carry an important message.

What word would trigger the Singaporean mindset to pay attention to this ad? For the next campaign, I suggest the following headline:

FREE Pap Smears!

That oughta attract attention and get women to sign up for the free checkups. :)

Mr Brown supports the cause but is not happy with the campaign theme:

I am all for cervical cancer awareness but really? “Lift your skirt, save your life.”?

While you are at it, why not “Open your legs, save your life.”?

Or “Drop your panties, save your life.”?

Or “Upskirt your downturn, save your life.”?

In any case, despite the fracas, cancer is serious stuff and I shall provide the link to the info for free pap smear screenings in May

Writing for the Breakfast Network, Wesley Gunter defends the ad:

…if an ad like this CAN make more women go for PAP smears because it GRABS their attention and saves their lives, hasn’t it met its objectives?

The only thing that is “sad” about this whole affair is how this creative attempt was so readily shot down before it was given a chance to see if it actually works.

Linda Black, one of the models who participated in the ad, is proud over the success of the campaign:

I am so proud of the campaign, and I think it was beautifully shot and lovingly edited with women’s health issues at heart. I stand by that, and I will defend it and my decision to be a part of it.

That being said, the campaign is a major success – loads of people are talking about it, or have heard of it, and a kernel of truth has been planted: when was the last time you ladies have had your screening? Isn’t it marvelous that in this country, the powers that be care enough about you to give you your rightfully deserved screening for FREE?

KFC Deliveries Smuggled into Palestine Through Secret Tunnels

Amira Al Hussaini — Sat, 18 May 2013 22:15:33 +0000

Palestinian Anas Hamra, from Gaza, claims he got his Kentucky Fried Chicken delivered – after a seven hour wait. His story tallies with a recent New York Times report which says that Gazans are getting their KFC deliveries, from Al Arish, in Egypt, where they are smuggled through secret tunnels.

After ordering his meal, he jokes [ar]:

راحت علينا الكنتاكي الحكومة صادرت وجبتي يفضح عرظها

@AnsRed: We have lost our Kentucky meal. The government has confiscated it, may it [the government] be scandalised

He then adds:

تم الإفراج حسب الإتصال عن 100 وجبة كنتاكي من لجنة الأنفاق التابعة لحكومة حماس الان وجبتي قادمة تباً خوفتيني عليكي يا وجبة!

@AnsRed: I was told on the phone that 100 Kentucky meals have been released by the tunnels committee run by the Hamas government now and that my meal is arriving. I have been worried about my meal.

Anas Hamra, from Gaza, claims he got his KFC after a seven hour wait

And he continues:

@AnsRed: am still WAITEN, actually am gonna have it as my breakfast for the next day! Sigh!!

When he finally gets his meal, Hamra shares its picture on both tumblr and Instagram.

On Instagram, many question whether his post was for real and Hamra confirms that he has indeed ordered a family size KFC meal. His assessment of the meal?

like an Egyptian KFC lol but cold

Mohammed Hassona, from Gaza, tweets [ar]:

أكل الكنتاكي علينا حق #غزة

@impalestinian: Eating Kentucky is our right #Gaza

And Michael Heaton quips:

@MichaelHeathon5: Kentucky Fried Chicken in Gaza? Havent those people suffered enough?

However, the Facebook page of the enterprise which runs the delievery service has since announced the discontinuation of the deliveries:

زبائننا الاعزاء : تم ايقاف طلبيات الكنتاكي وذلك لظروف خارجة عن ارادتنا… شكرا لاهتمامكم جميعا بهذا الموضوع

Dear customers,
The Kentucky deliveries have been stopped due to reasons beyond our control. Thank you all for your interest in this topic

At least Hamra got his KFC treat and tweeted and Instagramed the experience.

Turkey: Syrian Refugees Targeted after Reyhanlı Blasts

Baran Mavzer — Sat, 18 May 2013 21:11:11 +0000

On May 11th, Reyhanlı [en] small Turkish town on Turkey-Syria border, was under terrorist attacks. This was the biggest terrorist attack [en] in country's 90 year-old republican history. After the explosions nine people were detained [en] by the security forces. Officials said [en], two vehicles were used in the bombings and more than 50 people were killed and at least 100 people were injured. But on social media, there were rumors that the real number of the victims is more than 100.

Twitter user shiny (@Idauk) tweets [Tr]:

@Idauk Simdi Antakya'dan arkadasimla konustum.Olu sayisi 100′un uzerinde diyor.Reyhanli'da fiili sokaga cikma yasagi varmis.Hastahaneler perisan.

I just talked with a friend from Antakya. As my friend said, the number of the people were killed is over 100. Also, there is a curfew. Hospitals are all miserable.

Just after the explosions, the Turkish government issued a media ban [en] on the Reyhanlı blasts. This ban received a big reaction on social media. Twitter user denizatam (@denizatam) writes:

@denizatam AKP çareyi buldu, Reyhanlı için yayın yasağı başladı! Ana akım medya yetmedi yerel basını sustur şimdi. http://haber.sol.org.tr/devlet-ve-siyaset/akp-careyi-buldu-reyhanli-icin-yayin-yasagi-basladi-haberi-72848 …

AKP (Justice and Development Party) found the solution. A media ban was initiated for the Reyhanli Blasts! Mainstream was not enough, now it is the time to silence local media.

Journalists protested [en] the media ban. On Türkmax, the media ban was protested in a more sarcastic way, on their comedy show “Heberler”. In the video, the anchorman is opening the program with Reyhanlı blasts. Due to media ban, he remains speechless. Here is the video [tr]:

A picture at bobiler.org on the blast media ban

A Turkish viral graphics and design website, bobiler.org, published a picture about media ban. User brewolve prepared a graphic about the Turkish media's reaction on Reyhanlı blasts, since the media was just following their normal program line and not mentioning Reyhanlı blasts. Graphic can be seen here.

Although the media ban was lifted by Turkish courts, on May 16, a video on YouTube claims that the ban has fulfilled its purpose. In the video [tr], a journalist interviews several people on the street asking them “what do you think about Reyhanlı?”. The answers are shocking; only one person recognized the blasts, and a few remembered where the town was, and rest had no idea where it was or what happened in Reyhanlı, even though the video was recorded only five days after the blasts. Here is the video:

There are also reports [tr] on racist attacks on Syrian refugees. Since the Syrian civil war, Syrian refugees and militants fled to Antakya [en], a Turkish city on Syrian-Turkey border, and Reyhanlı, a town of the same city. Since the refugees and militants moved [en] into Antakya, the tension between the locals and Syrians has been high. In the report it says:

“Suriyelilerin yaşadığı binalara topluca gidilmiş birçok ev yakılmaya çalışılmış, ele geçirilen kişiler darp edilmişlerdir. Aşırı milliyetçi/ulusalcı eğilimlere sahip partilere mensup fanatiklerinden olduğu söylenen ve her geçen gün sayıları artmakta olan bu gurup, yaşanan gelişmelerden Suriyelileri sorumlu tutmakta, Reyhanlı ilçe merkezinde devriye gezerek sıklıkla yol kesmekte, Suriyeli veya Suriye vatandaşı olduğunu zannettikleri kişileri linç etmeye çalışmaktadırlar”

A group of people went to the buildings that Syrians are living in, they beat the people they caught. As said, these people are the members of ultra nationalist parties and they increasing in numbers, they blame Syrians for the blasts, and they patrol the Reyhanli city center, where they are attacking Syrians or people who look like Syrian citizens.

Turks on social media gave mixed reactions on the attacks on Syrians in Reyhanli.

Twitter user T.C. Zehra Aydogan (@TurkKizi1919) is angry at Syrians in Antakya:

@TurkKizi1919 Turkiye'ye yerlestirilmeye calistiklari Suriyeli Multeci dedikleri terorsitlerdir.

The so called Syrian refugees that they want to settle in Turkey are, actually terrorists.

Another user, T.C.Devrim #ATATÜRK (@saadet_karakus), is angry at government for helping the refugees instead of the locals:

@saadet_karakus Suriyeli multeci icin milyar dolar harcayanlar,Reyhanlı esnafının vergi, sigorta borçlarını 1 yıl erteliyor.Silsene o borcu buyuk devlet!

The ones, who spend billions of dollars for Syrian refugees, are delaying Reyhanli store owners’ debts for one year. Write off those debts, you big government!

Twitter user Sami Pelitli (@SamiPelitli) says:

@SamiPelitli Reyhanli'da patlayan bomba yuzunden multecileri suclamak, onlara saldirmak nasil bir vicdansizliktir? Bir de irkci degiliz dersiniz.

What kind of remorselessness it is, to blame refugees for the blasts in Reyhanli, and to attack them? And you also say we are not racist.

Journalist Hayko Bağdat (@haykobagdat) tweets:

@haykobagdat ÖSO, cemaat, AKP'li filanlı olmaktan değil, tehcirin ne olduğunu bildiğimden Suriyeli mültecilere toz kondurmuyorum ben.

I am defending Syrian refugees, because I know the meaning of emigration, not because I am fan of FSA (Free Syrian Army), AKP (Justice and development Party), or congregation.

After the death of tens of people and a border town with tens of buildings collapsed [en], life still continues in Reyhanlı. Twitter user Bünyamin Salmanyan (@bunyms) remembers Mustafa Ayaz [tr], who was killed by the blasts in Reyhanlı:

@bunyms Reyhanlı'daki saldırıda hayatını kaybeden 25 yaşındaki Mustafa Ayaz'ın eşi bugün doğum yapmış, adını Mustafa koymuşlar..

Mustafa Ayaz, 25, was killed by the blasts; his wife gave a birth to his son today, and they named him Mustafa…

Is Saint Lucia's Jazz Festival Worth the Investment?

Matthew Hunte — Sat, 18 May 2013 15:45:14 +0000

The end of this year's Saint Lucia Jazz and Arts Festival, especially in the context of the country's ongoing budget debates, has led many netizens to wonder about the economic impact of the event.

In the Facebook group St. Lucians Aiming for Progress (S.L.A.P), Wilson Baptiste held out no hope that the festival would ever turn a profit:

Should the St. Lucia Jazz be classified as a social program like STEP, NICE, SMILE, HOPE? As a result, this will remove the expectations of generating a surplus for the island's tourism industry.

Mainstage, Sunday; photo courtesy Lucian Jazz.com, used with permission.

Iain Sandy felt that managing the festival had its own benefits apart from creating revenue:

On a serious note, the execution of a Jazz Festival with all its moving parts, its external components and the risk of experimenting with the festival, was no easy feat. We must understand that we are still a young nation and have not had exposure and experience in many areas. As a result, we will make errors and we will go over budgets in executing these events. Therefore, with this backdrop, we should all commend the Jazzereras for an outstanding Jazz 2013.

Moko Jumbies; photo courtesy Lucian Jazz.com, used with permission.

Commendations aside, Anderson Queto wondered how profitable the festival actually was:

Hey…does anyone know if we made back the $8M spent for Jazz?

Kimani Goddard responded:

The Jazz Festival is an event held to create a multiplier effect in the economy that would not otherwise not be there at this time of year. It creates business opportunities in several sectors of the economy that go beyond what government spends in terms of social and economic impact. Breaking even in terms of gov't expenditure plus the multiplier effect I mentioned before should be considered successful.

Leigh Allan suggested that more could be done to spread the benefits of the festival:

Does Jazz have to make a profit, break even or make a loss? I think jazz when it was created way back when was designed to fill up hotel rooms with tourists that would spend in and around jazz events. I'd be happy if more locals got a piece of the pie and opportunities to profit and participate in the events. This season was great mostly because it allowed more communities to benefit at the actual events than ever before. Hopefully in the future Jazz events will be held in even more communities and include even more locals.

R. Kelly; photo courtesy LucianJazz.com, used with permission.

The Jacksons; photo courtesy Three Media, used with permission.

The images in this post are by LucianJazz.com and Three Media, all used with permission.

Bolivia's Evo Morales Approved for Re-Election Bid

Silvia Viñas — Sat, 18 May 2013 06:31:13 +0000

Amid a strike by workers seeking better pensions, Bolivian lawmakers approved legislation that allows President Evo Morales and his Vice-President Álvaro García Linera to seek another term in the December 2014 elections.

The country's Constitutional Tribunal (TCP for its initials in Spanish) had cleared the way for Morales’ re-election at the end of April 2013, when it declared [es] that four of the six articles in the law -including the article that allows for Morales’ and Linera's re-election- are constitutional. As Emily Achtenberg explained in the NACLA blog Rebel Currents,

The court ruled that Morales could seek a third consecutive term, even though the 2009 Constitution allows only two, on the grounds that his first election (in 2004) took place under a previous constitution. The ruling dismissed a clause in the new Constitution stating that any prior mandate must be taken into account in computing the allowable term. This transitional provision, the court reasoned, does not apply to Morales because his original mandate did not carry over into the new Constitution (instead, Morales cut his first term short by one year and was re-elected in 2009 under the new Constitutional regime).

Emily also pointed out that critics say the President “should have sought a Constitutional amendment before running for a third term.”

President Evo Morales taking office in La Paz on January 22, 2010. Photo shared on Flickr by Presidencia de la República del Ecuador (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

While Morales’ supporters celebrated the court's decision, others, like Bolivian bloggers Andrés Gómez Vela [es] and Eduardo Bowles [es], criticized it. Andrés said that the court's judges have failed the test in this key issue, while Eduardo wrote that from a legal point of view the decision to accept a third presidential bid is one of the biggest setbacks in the process of the country's democratic constitution. Furthermore, Eduardo warned that the decision could trigger a new period of instability.

Emily in Rebel Currents added,

Based on current polls, which give Morales 60% support in the departmental capitals and 76% in rural areas, a referendum in favor of a constitutional amendment would likely have prevailed. In avoiding the constitutional route, critics argue, Morales deceived not only the then-political opposition, but the Bolivian people, who voted to support the consensus Constitution, including its term limits compromises, by a margin of 61%.

For the upcoming election, Morales has publicly announced that he hopes to achieve an ambitious mandate of 74%, topping his previous votes of 54% in 2005 and 64% in 2009.

However, Bloggings by boz argued that despite his popularity Morales shouldn't run:

Should he run? Probably not. Mistakes or simply bad economic luck in his third term will tarnish his legacy and harm the changes he has already made. Additionally, in running for this third term, Morales is making the same mistakes as Hugo Chavez. He is relying on his personal leadership instead of building up institutions and other ideologically-similar leaders to carry on his work. Any movement or country dependent on a single individual lacks resiliency.

Bolivians will go to the polls to elect a new president in December 2014. In the meantime, netizens are worried about the escalating tension caused by the current strikes and protests, a conflict that could affect President Morales’ chances of winning his third presidential election.

Jorge Videla, Argentina's Ex-Military Leader, Dies in Jail

Elizabeth — Fri, 17 May 2013 19:08:36 +0000

Jorge Rafael Videla, Argentina's former president, died on May 17, 2013, at the age of 87 in a jail cell where he was imprisoned.

Videla ruled between 1976 and 1981, during Argentina's military dictatorship, a period marked by death that left thousands of people missing [es].

In 1983 the former dictator was judged and condemned to life-prison for crimes against humanity. In 2010 Videla was sentenced [es] to life in prison for the torture and shooting of 31 political prisoners, and in 2012 he was sentenced to another 50 years in jail for the kidnapping [es] of newborns during the dictatorship.

An obituary [es] by BBC World says: “He was one of the most controversial and hated men in Argentina, under his regime close to 30,000 people died or disappeared according to human rights organizations.”

Jose Alejandro Godoy of website Desde el Tercer Piso (From the Third Floor) wrote [es] about the events that took place during the years Videla ruled Argentina:

Secuestro sistemático de menores de edad, torturas, uso del mundial de fútbol para fines de propaganda (a pocas cuadras de los estadios donde se jugaba, había centros de tortura), un ajuste económico mal aplicado, exilio de cientos de argentinos, cierre de sindicatos. El penoso legado de una dictadura que se inició con él y que se liquidó el día que algún alucinado militar argentino pretendió que hacer una guerra en las Malvinas sería la mejor forma de prolongar la estancia castrense en el poder.

Systematic kidnapping of underage kids, tortures, use of the football world cup for propaganda (a few blocks away from the stadiums, there were torture centers), a badly executed economic adjustment, hundreds of Argentineans in exile, closing of unions. The shameful legacy of a dictatorship that started with him and ended the day that some hallucinated Argentinean officer thought that starting a war in the Falklands was the best way to extend military rule.

And regarding Videla's death, he concluded:

Hoy Videla murió en una cárcel común sin privilegios. Condenado a cadena perpetua. Será enterrado en una tumba, a diferencia de muchas de sus víctimas, arrojadas al mar desde un avión. Repudiado por la sociedad argentina. Con un juicio histórico que lo remite a las páginas más infames de América Latina.

Today, Videla died in a common jail without benefits. Convicted to life-sentece. He will be buried in a tomb unlike many of his victims who were thrown to the sea from an airplane. Disowned by the Argentinean society. He was judged in a historic trial that puts him in the darkest pages of Latin America.

On the other hand, LSO wrote a small entry in his blog [es] where he refers to Videla as a “dignified official and soldier who [...] fulfilled a mission that granted him honor.”

Military torture center, today turned into the Memory Museum – City of Rosario. Picture by: Laura Schneider

Under the hashtag #MurioVidela [Videla Died] thousands of Argentineans have reacted to the news, like user @Cami-cotarelo [es]:

@Cami_Cotarelo: No se festeja que #MurioVidela, pero hoy despues de casi 40 años descansan en paz mas de 30.000 personas

@Cami_Cotarelo: There's no celebration for #MurioVidela, but today after almost 40 years more than 30,000 people rest in peace

Cecilia Saia (@Cecisaia) [es] also expressed the feelings shared by many Argentineans:

@Cecisaia: Hoy hay un monstruo menos en el mundo. Si hay algo después de la muerte, que le vuelva por mil todo lo que hizo #muriovidela

@Cecisaia:: Today there's one less monster in the world. If there's something after death, may it give him back all he did a thousand times #muriovidela

Nobel Peace laureate Adolfo Perez Esquivel (@PrensaPEsquivel) [es] wrote on his Twitter account:

@PrensaPEsquivel: #MurióVidela, un hombre que ha hecho mucho daño al país y a la humanidad. No se ha cerrado un ciclo, hay [que] buscar más #verdad y #justicia.

@PrensaPEsquivel: #MurióVidela, a man that has hurt the country and humanity deeply. A cycle hasn't closed; we need to find more #verdad (truth) and #justicia (justicia).

Infobae published a Storify post [es] with more reaction on Twitter.