Global Voices » North America

The Future of Sino-US Relations: Ask Andrew Nathan

Andy Yee — Sat, 19 May 2012 17:28:33 +0000

Xiaomi (twitter: xiaomi2020) is organizing an interview with Andrew Nathan, an internationally renowned expert on US-China relations from Columbia University. Submit a question or vote on a question that's already been asked here. Xiaomi is one of the organizers of Yizhe, a group which translates western journalism on China.

Norway: Discussing Latin America at the Oslo Freedom Forum

Marianna Breytman — Tue, 15 May 2012 21:24:09 +0000

Last week, the fourth gathering of the Oslo Freedom Forum took place, organized by the Human Rights Foundation in the Norwegian capital. Under the slogan “From darkness to light,” the forum brought together world figures that aim to tackle humanitarian crises and exchange ideas to mitigate their effects. Rebecca MacKinnon, co-founder of Global Voices Online, was one of the main speakers during a session entitled “Voices in the dark.”

Among the topics that generated major interest throughout the forum was the current crisis in Syria and the political repression that some activists live with under Vladimir Putin's new government in Russia, as well as a review of the first year of the “Arab Spring.” Nevertheless, the event covered a series of topics that involved other world regions, among which was Latin America.

Humberto Prado, from Venezuela, was the first Latin American to speak before the forum about the reality of prisons in his country. Using horrific images of prisoners shooting into the air, which contrast one of a group of convicts playing in a symphony orchestra, Prado unveiled a terrifying statistic: 5,066 convicts have died since 1999, while 14,460 have been injured. He also asked the European Union to pay attention to Venezuelan penitentiaries.

Nicolás Perez, Director of Ecuadorian daily El Universo, exposed the iron fist of Rafael Correa's government, which left the newspaper with a million-dollar fine for publishing a letter to the editor where Correa's actions were criticized for allegedly ordering the army to open fire against a hospital during a police brawl, which led to a massive international condemnation against the lack of freedom of expression in the country.

Meanwhile, Mauricio Rodas, also from Ecuador and the founder of the Ethos Foundation, announced an innovative index that measures the poverty level in Latin America and has generated criticisms of Correa's government as well.

Lastly, Ethan Nadelmann, founder of the Drug Policy Alliance, highlighted the problem of drug consumption prohibition, which points to indiscriminate imprisonment of minorities in the United States — primarily the Hispanic population.

In Oslo, we had the opportunity to sit down with Venezuelan native Marcel Granier, General Director of Radio Caracas Television, whose signal was removed from open transmission in his country in 2007. Granier, who also participated in the second meeting of said forum on assault against the Venezuelan press, highlighted the importance of bringing up human rights issues in Latin America at European events due to the “connection that exists between Latin Americans and European countries like Spain and Portugal.”

With regards to the forum, Granier affirmed that “every day there is a greater sense of consciousness” about the current situation in Venezuela, which “increases [incidentally] the level of consciousness on a global level,” and brought attention to the fact that respecting human rights in his country will be fundamental to guaranteeing the well-being of all Venezuelans, in addition to securing diaspora's return to their land.

On Twitter, some Oslo Freedom Forum participants, like Oslo Scholars Program (@OsloScholars), emphasized certain excerpts of the Latin American speeches:

There is no dignity in prison: what exists is social cleansing” - Humberto Prado. Such a powerful speech on prison conditions in Venezuela.

Likewise, Runrunes (@RunRunesWeb) [es] pointed out that Humberto Prado's speech was quite powerful:

#Runrunes ALTO:De alto impacto ponencia de Humberto Prado (Observatorio Vzlano de Prisiones) en el Oslo Freedom Forum- http://ow.ly/aOfcW

#Runrunes STOP: Extremely compelling speech by Humberto Prado (Venezuelan Observatory of Prisons) at the Oslo Freedom Forum - http://ow.ly/aOfcW

Venezuela journalist Nelson Bocaranda (@Desconvocara) [es] highlighted an important declaration from Mauricio Rodas during the event:

Mauricio Rodas,miembro de la Fundacion Ethos que hizo radiografía de pobreza latinoamericana anuncio en Oslo q buscara Presidencia Ecuador

Mauricios Rodas, a member of the Ethos Foundation, who took an X-ray of Latin American poverty, announced in Oslo that he will seek Ecuadorian presidency

The following are images from the Latin American presentations at the Oslo Freedom Forum, courtesy of MarieBW and the author of this post.

Reception at Oslo's City Hall.

Participants share ideas in the intermission between speeches.

The forum closed with the awarding of the Vaclav Havel Prize for Creative Dissidence.

China: Propaganda Against U.S. Ambassador Backfires

Oiwan Lam — Tue, 15 May 2012 14:56:07 +0000

Since the escape of blind civic rights activist Chen Guangcheng into the U.S embassy, the U.S Ambassador Gary Locke has become the major target for media attack in Bejing. However, so far each piece of political propaganda has resulted in a backfire.

A number of state-controlled newspapers are involved in the propaganda campaign but Beijing Daily is the most high sounding one. On May 4, 2012 it published an editorial, “Reading the Measly Performance of U.S. Politicians through the Chen Guangcheng Affair” and openly criticized Gary Locke for playing “little tricks” (via China Media Project):

. . . It must be said that for some time, the American Embassy in China and the new U.S ambassador to China, Gary Locke, have used various means that are incommensurate with their roles and responsibilities — their “little tricks” have continued unabated. This causes people to ask, is it the role of this ambassador to do his utmost to advance the U.S.-China relationship, bridge gaps and eliminate misunderstandings, or is it to hatch schemes and bound out into Chinese society to make trouble, manufacturing new and greater fissures between China and the United States.

Many netizens were outraged by such propaganda and attacked the newspapers for losing their consciences. By 8 p.m on May 4, the term “Beijing Daily” (北京日報） had become unsearchable [zh]. The political spoof below, a imitation of political prosecution during the Cultural Revolution, reflects the popular sentiment towards the Chinese propaganda machine's attack on Gary Locke (via China Media Project). The photo's caption read: “The only way out for Ambassador Locke is to be whole-hearted corrupt!”:

Gary Locke's little trick. Via China Media Project

The latest round of attack by Beijing Daily came through its official Sina Weibo account on May 14 demanding that Gary Locke disclose his personal assets. China Media Project has translated some of the immediate responses from Sina Weibo:

@Liu Yadong [zh]: No matter whether its praise or criticism your dishing out, it must be based on a deep understanding of the other side. Seen from a many sides, Beijing Daily‘s demand that Gary Locke disclose his personal finances is a basic error. It shows a basic lack of understanding of American society: how can that country’s top politicians possibly keep their personal assets secret! To openly make such a childish demand perhaps also reveals the closed-up nature of this newspaper, its lack of international perspective. This is a lesson!

@Zhao Chu [zh]: Beijing Daily is a joke. For them to make a joke like this just shows they’re a bunch of stupid pigs at the top.

In early morning the next day, the newspapers removed its comment and re-post the same comment by adding a re-post in front of the message [deleted]. It continued to attract a lot of criticism. The China Media Project has captured and translated some from the comment thread:

@半拉北京人: His assets were disclosed back in 2010. Why doesn’t he teach Chinese official how to disclose [their assets]?

@辣笔小飞: Beijing Daily, are you really dumb, or just playing dumb? You think that just by having this title “Beijing” to back you up you can lead public opinion astray?

@无梦的八戒: Of course Gary Locke’s personal assets have been disclosed. And what about the assets of those imperial officials [of ours]?

@天恩0120: Oh, editors and comrades of Beijing Daily, how are you? How tough things are for you. It’s just that the residence of the Ambassador and the cars he rides in are about the image of America. No matter how we try to refine the idea of whether or not Gary Locke is corrupt, there’s the looming issue of our leaders living in Zhongnanhai. And how much more resplendent are those official residences? Why don’t you have a look.

@老男人的小日子: “What about that post asking Locke to disclose his assets? How was that deleted? How humiliating for the Party!

In less than an hour or so, the post was removed again. However, it couldn't stop netizens from laughing about its self-humiliating move:

wh_w：严重怀疑北京日报脑残或被收买了.洛有无目的另说，麻烦別拿家丑和人家的优势对比。有些方面祖国是相当落后的

@wh_w [zh]: I seriously suspect that Bejing Daily is run by mentally retarded or it has been bribed. I don't want to comment on Locke's intention. But please don't expose the dirt/corruption in our own country by comparing with others. Our country is still backward in many aspects.

buckforland：北京日报挺幽默的，一巴掌打过去竟打回自己的脸上了。

@buckforland [zh]: Beijing Daily is quite hilarious. It just punched its own face.

lpcysy：纽约时报：我们美国多民主，可以公开要求骆家辉公布财产北京日报：我们中国也民主，可以公开要求骆家辉公布财产

@lpcysy [zh]: New York Times: We Americans have democracy and can demand that Gary Locke publicize his personal assets. Beijing daily: We Chinese also have democracy and can demand that Gary Locke publicize his personal assets.

haistone1：感谢北京日报的良苦用心，引起了全社会对官员财产公开的高度关注。

@haistone1 [zh]: We should thank Beijing Daily for humiliating itself to raise the public's concern on the need to be more transparent regarding Chinese government officials' personal assets.

South Korea: Continuing Mad Cow Controversy Over US Beef Imports

Lee Yoo Eun — Sat, 12 May 2012 12:35:10 +0000

Since last week, South Korea has seen continuing protests against importing beef from the United States after mad cow disease broke out in California. The Korean government dispatched its inspection team to the US to quell the public anger incited by the government's unkept promise to halt the beef imports immediately the disease was detected. However, the inspection team's lack of control over the investigation process and the biased member selection process further deepened South Korean's distrust of the government.

South Korea's Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries sent a nine-person inspection team that checked infected cattle and meat packing facilities in the United States right after the disease was detected. They returned only to announce on May 11, 2012, there is no real human health threat posed by American beef and concluded that the country will maintain its quarantine inspections regime on the beef without halting imports, a solution that totally contradicts the government's promise made in 2008. The Korean public responded to this result with heated discussions and criticism online.

One of South Korea's prominent political bloggers IamPeter clarified [ko] the reason for public distrust of the government's version of the story:

원래 광우병 미국 현지 조사단은 정확한 실태 파악을 위해 발병 농장 방문, 사체의 조직 검사 등 모든 의혹을 밝힐 수 있는 조사를 하기로 되어 있었습니다. 그러나 지금 광우병 미국 현지 조사단은 미국 측이 허용하는 장소만 가서 구경만 하고 있습니다. 광우병 발병 현지 목장 방문은 아예 하지도 못했고, 광우병 소의 사체 조직 검사도 미국 측에 의해 좌절됐습니다. 도축장 방문도 수출용이 아닌 내수용 도축장에만 갔다 왔습니다. 결국 광우병 미국 현지 조사단이 했던 일은 아무것도 없습니다. 그저 미국이 보여주는 지정된 코스를 충실하게 견학만 하고 있습니다.

The inspection team was supposed to carry out a thorough inspection including visiting the farm where the disease was detected and having a biopsy on the dead cow in order to dispel every suspicion. However this inspection team merely toured around some places which the US side allowed them to visit. They never even made it close to the farm where the disease broke out and the biopsy was also turned down by the US. And the visit to meatpacking facilities was limited to the domestic facilities and not the one handling beef which will be exported internationally. In summary, the inspection team did nothing. They had a field trip to some spots and stayed on a travel route all planned out by the US.

A brochure of anti US beef import protest planned on May 12 (left). Image shared by twitter user @hudanchu

Sarcastic comments ridiculing the inspection team inundated blogs and the twittersphere. Lee Hyang-ah commented [ko] below a related news article:

세금으로 미국여행 잘하고왓지뭐…자기들이 미국가서 광우병조사한다고하면 아이고 오시느라고 고생많았습니다. 앉아서 커피나 먹으면서 같이 얘기해봅시다. 이럴줄알앗나?? 뭔 뜻으로 조사단을 보냇는지 모르겟다.

They had a quite a good trip to the US with the taxpayer's money. Did they really think the US would welcome them when they came over to inspect for mad cow disease? Did they really think the US would say, “What a trip you had. Come and take a seat over here and discuss this issue over a coffee”? Really? I don't see the reason for dispatching the inspection team.

A net user @555773 tweeted [ko]:

[…]농장에도 방문도 못하고 조사한 결과가 이상이 없다며 검역 강화에만 치중하면서 중단은 하지 않고 국민의 불안감만 안기고 있는 정부를 신뢰할수 없다

They (referring to the mad cow disease inspection team) did not even visit the farm (where the disease broke out). The government is trying so hard to persuade us that US beef is safe and want to focus on continuing the quarantine regime, instead of halting the imports. And this kind of behavior makes South Korean people more anxious and harder to trust the current government even more.

Baek Chan-hong (@mindgood) tweeted [ko]:

헛물만 켜다온 광우병 조사단 “미국산 쇠고기 안전” 결론…그럴거면 이메일로 조사하지.

The dispatched team's inspection was totally useless. And they concluded that US beef is safe. Is this all we can get? Then it could have been better to inspect the case via email.

Another Twitter user @korea486 tweeted [ko]:

광우병 조사단 귀국,미국 쇠고기 이상 없다고 발표했군요! 광우병 조사단? 관광단 유람단 아니였나? 이 이인간들 미국소 먹을까요? 안 먹을까요?

The mad cow disease inspection team returned from the US and announced there is nothing wrong with US beef. Did they just call themselves an inspection team? I thought they were a tour team. What do you think- will they eat US beef in the future?

Cho Neung-hee(@mbcpdcho), a producer at MBC who is also a former chief producer of investigative journalism show “PD Notebook” tweeted [ko]:

조사단장을 맡은 주이석 질병방역본부장은 지난 2008년 4월 미국쇠고기 졸속협상시 협상단 실무담당자였다. 2008년 6월에는 PD수첩 제작진을 형사처벌해달라며 대검찰청에 수사의뢰서를 제출하고 관련 진술을 한 사람으로 조사의 객관성과 공정성이 의심된다.

The leader of the inspection team Joo E-suk, also the head of the animal quarantine office, was actually the one who handled the administrative stuff during the US beef import negotiation process back on April 2008. On June 2008, he even requested an investigation of PD Notebook reporters (who covered the danger of the mad cow disease) by the Supreme Prosecutor's Office and indeed testified against us. I highly doubt this investigation's objectivity and fairness.

Some news reports revealed that scientists and scholars who are against the US beef imports were excluded from the team.

The government argues the most recent case in California is a very rare atypical case and the case is unlikely to have caused by animal feed. However, another tweet [ko] by Cho made references to some US officials from the Clinton and Obama administrations who said they cannot verify for the moment whether there is any possible connection between the disease and the animal feed and they can't confirm the origin of this atypical case. Cho added [ko]:

[…] 학자들의이 반론으로 미국정부도 그 원인을 모른다고 후퇴했는데.. 유독 한국 농식품부는 사료가 원인이 아니라고 ‘추정'된다며.. 그러니 안전하다며.. 국민을 설득하려는지 참으로 안타깝군요. 사전예방의 법칙! 어디갔어?

Due to scholars arguments, even the US government have stepped back and acknowledged that they don't know clear reasons for the disease outbreak. But South Korea's Food/Agriculture Department alone ‘assumes' that the animal feed is not the cause of the problem, so it is safe. It is so pathetic to see them trying hard to persuade Korean people. Where did the rule of “Prevention” (in health policy) go in this country ?

IamPeter added [ko] after his analysis:

“정형 광우병은 없어졌다”고 했는데, 세계동물보건기구(OIE)의 2011년 광우병 통계에는 총 광우병 29건 중 정형 26건, 비정형 3건으로 나와 있습니다. […] 광우병에 대한 과학적인 결론은 100% 진실이 없습니다. 아직 정확하게 규명되지 않은 일들이 많기 때문입니다. 그렇기에 더욱 위험합니다. 과학적으로 규명되지 않았기에 위험하지 않다는 주장은 ‘바다의 깊이를 현재 모른다'라고 말해놓고, ‘그러니 빠져도 괜찮다'라는 말과 다를 바가 없습니다.

The government said that the ‘typical' disease case has disappeared. But according to OIE's [note: OIE refers to International Office of Epizootics which still known by its French acronym Office International des Epizooties] statistics on mad cow disease in 2011, among the total 29 mad cow disease cases, 26 cases of were ‘typical' and three were ‘atypical' cases […] There is no 100 percent verified scientific truth in the mad cow disease controversy yet, since there are lots of parts that need to be proven. That is what makes this situation more dangerous. (The current South Korean government's) logic is, ‘It is not dangerous since the risk of the disease has not yet been scientifically proven'. To me it seems like saying, “We don't know the depth of the ocean yet, so it is okay to fall into it”.

China: Al Jazeera's Beijing Correspondent Expelled

Oiwan Lam — Wed, 09 May 2012 10:56:54 +0000

Al Jazeera English's Beijing correspondent Melissa Chan's press credential were revoked by the Chinese government on May 8, 2012, resulting in the shutting down of Al Jazeera's English Bureau in Beijing.

The incident marks a setback for press freedom in China with the previous expulsion of an accredited foreign correspondent dating back over a decade to 1998.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei offered little explanation for the expulsion, but online speculation points to Al Jazeera's 2011 documentary “Slavery: An 21st Century Evil”, highly critical of China's labour reeducation system, or the so-called the “state sponsored slavery”, and which features undercover filming from inside China labour reeducation prisons. However, Melissa Chan was not involved in the making of the film.

Melissa Chan reporting on illegal land acquisition in Zhejiang province. Via FMN

Isaac Stone Fish, who worked with Chan on the board of the Foreign Correspondent's Club of China, believes that the China government targeted Chan due to her Chinese heritage:

But Chan also fits into the troubling pattern of the foreigners Beijing has targeted over the last decade: those the Chinese government views of having less protection because of their ethnicity and nationality; often with Chinese backgrounds. It appears that someone in the Chinese government wanted to give a warning to journalists without causing an international incident; Chan, a Chinese-American working for a Qatari-based television station, seemed to be an appropriate target. The thinking seems to be that a foreign government will more loudly protest the mistreatment of a citizen who is both born and raised in its own country and working for a domestic company.

Victor Yang also points out that when Chan reported [zh] on Chinese black jails, guards at the scene called her a “traitor”. Blogger Charlie Custer from ChinaGeeks is very frustrated:

The expulsion of @melissakchan is cowardly, childish and pathetic….just what we've come to expect from the Chinese government.

Foreign journalists based in China have expressed serious concerns regarding the Chinese government's attitude. Kathleen McLaughlin wrote on Twitter:

Sad as I am to see @melissakchan go, I hope this exposes China's larger efforts to censor foreign media via visa manipulation.

Mark MacKinnon has has pointed out that the fate of foreign journalists is intertwined with local journalists:

This false freedom given to reporters working in China is much more important than Melissa’s case or the careers of any of the foreign correspondents based in China. What’s at stake is not only the outside world’s (already poor) understanding of this rising but paranoid superpower, but also the future of journalism inside China. Chinese journalists have told me that they watch the foreign correspondents with envy, wishing they could report about their own country as freely as we do. Our fight to do our job is intertwined with their fight to do theirs.

There are relatively few discussions within the Chinese blogosphere. Lao Rong gives an update of the situation in Sina Weibo [zh] and was able to spark some discussion:

@毛聊：“半岛”怎说也是第三世界媒体，不依附西方媒体，这样都容不下，何以服第三世界。

@毛聊：Al Jazeera is a third-world media and is independent from western media. If China cannot allow them to operate here, how can we lead the third world?

@看看看看1：因为敢于报道事实而失业的记者，恐怕只有中国吧。被中国驱逐的记者，应该得到重用才是

@看看看看1：In the whole world, only China will make journalists lose their job because they insist on reporting the truth. Those reporters who are expelled by China deserve good career opportunities.

@nurundini：在对中国政府的报道中，半岛应该是几个大的新闻媒介中较客观的，某些西方媒体甚至批评半岛亲共。当然，美联社就不会出现现在这种情况。

@nurundini：Al Jazeera is more objective when reporting about Chinese government policy than most major media outlets. Some western media even criticize them for being pro-communist. Of course, that wouldn't happen with Associated Press.

赵佑诚：谷歌也不想离开，还不是离开了，呵呵

赵佑诚：Google didn't want to leave China, but in the end it left.

Video: Adobe Youth Voices Aspire Awards Voting Open

Juliana Rincón Parra — Wed, 09 May 2012 04:15:40 +0000

The Adobe Youth Voices Aspire Awards is a competition to showcase the work the Adobe Foundation is doing with underprivileged communities around the world. Empowering youth in school or out of school programs where they can learn how to use multimedia tools to express themselves, show their potential, share their ideas and lead change in their communities.

The Adobe Youth Voices global network currently includes more than 750 sites and a large, expanding number of grantees and organizations in 50 countries. Since its inception, Adobe Youth Voices has engaged over 150,000 youth and 8,200 educators in schools and out-of-school programs.

The 160 finalist products including video can be viewed and voted on by sharing them through online social networks such as facebook and twitter. Every category, such as documentary, music video, poetry, audio, graphic design, narrative, animation and photography has an audience award, for which each share, tweet, retweet and like count as one vote. Voting closes on 8 June, 2012.

For example, this documentary by 18 year old Stella in Uruguay, sharing her experience with her sister with Down Syndrome, raising awareness about what it means to have this syndrome for their lives.

Finding Home is a narrative by Iraqi Mair Maher tells the story of his family's immigration due to violence and war, with many stops around the world before finding a new home in Canada.

Jeanvier Janga from Bonaire shares an animation on how change starts by one person changing themselves.

The Adobe Youth Aspire Awards

May Day Videos: Marches, Demonstrations and Protests Around The World

Juliana Rincón Parra — Tue, 08 May 2012 05:08:19 +0000

Through cities around the globe, people took to the streets to march and commemorate the International Workers' Day. Videos by The Real News take us on a tour of how the day was observed throughout the world.

May Day March in Venezuela

While some places saw peaceful marches, others had violent encounters between armed forces and the protesters. On the first part of the video, an overview of workers in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Europe. For example, Malaysian activists protested against the growing inequality. In the Philippines were for job security and higher wages. Indonesians protested low wages and rough conditions. Cambodians asked for higher wages. People in Bahrein asked for workers to be reinstated to their positions of which they were removed by the government crackdowns. In Egypt protests were on behalf of including workers rights in the constitution that is being drafted. In Europe, workers protested austerity measures that seem to target them. In Russia, both the ruling party and the opposition had their own rallies. The French left marched against the past of fiscal austerity. And in the London, where May Day is not a holiday, workers went on strike.

On the second part, protests in North and South America. Demonstrations throughout Canada protesting budget cuts and rises in college tuition. In the USA, banks were targeted in many major cities including clashes with riot police, calls to strikes, and blockades. In Mexico workers marched to ask the government to do a better job in the face of violence. Honduras saw protests against the privatization of public services as well as corruption. In Cuba, massive parades commemorated the Cuban Revolution and in Venezuela both the government supporters and opposition marched, either for or against the recent reforms. In Colombia there were arrests during the protests and the Chilean student movement also marched.

South Korea: Fearing Mad Cow Disease, New Protests Against US Beef

Lee Yoo Eun — Sun, 06 May 2012 20:13:27 +0000

Thousands of South Koreans held candlelight protests this week to demonstrate against continued beef imports from the United States after the detection of mad cow disease in California in April. Four years earlier in 2008, when several tens of thousands gathered for the candlelight vigils to protest a planned import, the government eventually made promises to halt imports immediately whenever the disease breaks out.

The unkept promise now reignites public anger and has revived the four-year old tradition of candlelight vigils.

Twitter Photo by user @notable1980

Twitter user @notable1980 tweeted [ko] with a photo of protest above:

[촛불시즌2][2012년5월2일7시청계광장][…]”작은 실천이 세상을 바꿉니다.”

[Season Two of Candle Light (Vigil)] [7 pm, May 2, 2012, the City Hall Choenggye Square] […] “Small actions change the world”

Twitter Photo by @opentree20

Another user @opentree20 tweeted [ko] the photo above and said:

2009년 광우병 촛불이 처음 밝혀진지 딱 4년만입니다. 4년 전 그날처럼 국민들이 같은 마음으로 한 자리에 모여 촛불을 높이 들고 있네요. 미국산 소 수입 즉각 중단하십시오!

It has been exactly four years since the candles were lit up in 2009 to protest against the mad cow disease (-tainted meat). With the same mindset of those days back in 2009, Korean people now sit together to hoist up their candles. Please immediately halt importing US beef!

Twitter photo by @hyojinlovelove.

Kim Hyo-jin (@hyojinlovelove) tweeted from a scene of protest that continued late into the night.

이 시간 청계광장. 미국산 광우병 소고기 수입 반대 집회. 어김없이 촛불을 들다. 시간이 지날수록 더 많은 사람들이 모이고 있어요.

Now at Cheonggye Square- a protest against mad cow disease infected US beef imports. We lifted up our candles. More people have gathered as time goes by.

Twitter photo by @sisyphus79

A tweet by user @sisyphus79 read [ko]:

촛불 4주년 광우병 쇠고기 반대 촛불집회 현장입니다. 4년 전 그때의 공기가 이곳에서 느껴집니다. http://twitpic.com/9gcd4i

This is the scene of candle light vigil against the mad cow disease tainted beef — just like what we had four years ago. I can feel the same air in this place.

Twitter Photo by @gree

Twitter user @gree tweeted [ko] the photo above and said:

다시 모이고, 다시 밝힌 촛불들이 외칩니다. “거짓말 정부 못 믿겠다. 광우병 쇠고기 수입 중단하라!”

The candle lights have once again came together and have been rekindled to shout out, “We can't trust this liar government any more. Stop importing the mad cow disease-tainted beef”.

Protesters waved candles and flags, sang songs and held banners that said “Protect the sovereignty of the people” and “Stop US beef imports” as can be seen in the pictures above. About 4,000 police officers were dispatched to the protest scene and some demonstraters have been arrested [ko].

Twitter Photo by @ytnmania

YTN Labor Union, for employees of a South Korean national cable news channel, (@ytnmania) tweeted a photo of police (above) blocking the protesters:

4년만에 다시 모인 청계광장 광우병 규탄 촛불집회에 앵그리 YTN 조합원들도 참석! 경찰 청계광장을 미리 점거해서 자리가 비좁네요!

It has been four years, and the protesters have come again to stage a candlelight vigil against the tainted (US beef) at Cheonggye Square. We, the ANGRY YTN members have attended, even though this place is so crowded as the police already occupied the Square.

Back in 2008 mass protests broke out and continued for over a month. Since the government lifted its ban on imports, South Korea is now the fourth-largest importer of US beef in the world.

@wjsfree posted a video explaining why people are so concerned about the import in a Storify story.

A mass protest which started on May 2, 2012 continued for another day and is likely to continue throughout the next week. Several thousands gathered on the first day of protest and about a thousand [ko] continued rallying throughout the next day.

South Korea’s influential one-man media, Media Mongu uploaded a photo of a young girl who participated in the protest with her mother and grandmother. They are holding banners that read “Halt Imports (two on the right)” and “Protect Our Sovereignty (on the left)”.

Twitter Photo by Media Mongu

@jhohmylaw tweeted [ko] about his reasons for protesting on the second day:

(내가 오늘도 청계광장을 가는 이유) 1.촛불시위는 이제 시작일 뿐이다 2. 어제는 국민의 힘을 제대로 보여 주지 못했다. 3. MB정부, 쇠고기 수입중단 안하고 있다 4.자식의 안전을 걱정해야 하는 아버지다 5. 그곳에 가면 기분이 좋다.

(Why I go to the Cheongye Square again today) 1. It is only the beginning of candle light vigils. 2. Yesterday's protest was not strong enough to show the people's power. 3. The MB government [President Lee Myung-bak's initials] has not halted the import yet. 4. I am a father of children who worries about my kids' health. 5. I just feel good being there.

Even the nation’s far right-wing newspapers which side with the government on almost every issue released a statistic [ko] showing 72.5 percent of Korean people want to halt the US beef imports. Meanwhile, a more progressive newspaper, Pressian, retrieved an image [ko] of a government advertisement from an old newspaper. The ad, paid for by the government's health department, said, “There is nothing more important than the public health. Count on us to protect you” and “If mad cow disease-contaminated beef were ever detected in the United States, we will immediately stop imports”.

The government's second promise was to run a thorough inspection on all imported beef and the origin of the disease breakout, which many Twitter users such as @yoji0802, thinks casts doubts [ko] on the accuracy of the results even before the inspection starts.

Yemen: Anger at Expansion of US Drone War

Noon Arabia — Thu, 03 May 2012 14:31:25 +0000

This post is part of our special coverage Yemen Protests 2011.

The United States has recently expanded its campaign of drone strikes in Yemen, to widespread anger and concern.

Drone strikes against suspected Al Qaeda operatives have been launched under expanded authority allowing the CIA and military to fire based only on the targets' intelligence “signatures” or patterns of behaviour, without knowing their identity.

Yemeni-American Summer Nasser tweeted:

@SummerNasser: #Yemen: Basically, the CIA & military can fire drones even when the identity of those who are killed is not known. Approved by Pres. Obama.

US Air Force General Atomics MQ-1 Predator Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). Image by Flickr user james_gordon_los_angeles (CC BY-NC 2.0).

Ibrahim Mothana, a Yemeni writer and activist, commented on the drone policy:

@imothanaYemen: Expanding drones program is not in the interest of #Yemen nor the US. It will only expand an ongoing Talibanization process for tribal areas

Jeb Boone, an American journalist and former managing editor of the Yemen Times, said:

@JebBoone: Drones not only inflame anti-US and pro-AQAP sentiment, they delegitimize the #Yemen government. Troubling.

The drones have been striking targets in the south of Yemen, and researcher Atiaf Alwazir commented:

@WomanfromYemen: it's sad that too many ppl from the #North disregard/ignore the issue of the drones b/c it doesn't “affect” them. it's too far. #yemen

Jeremy Scahill, an award-winning American investigative journalist, has argued against the use of drones in Yemen, Pakistan and Somalia. He recently made a documentary for Al Jazeera English entitled “America's Dangerous Game”, which asks if the US is creating more enemies than it can capture or kill.

According to the organizers of the recent “Drone Summit” held in Washington on April 28-29, as many as 3,000 people, including hundreds of noncombatants, have been killed in drone strikes. This Storify collects some of the tweets from the summit regarding drone strikes and US policy in Yemen. Jeremy Scahill's speech at the summit can be seen here.

The Bureau of Investigative Journalism based at City University, London, has published figures for US covert action in Yemen:

US Covert Action in Yemen 2001-2012

Total US strikes: 41 - 132
Total US drone strikes: 31 - 68
Total reported killed: 294 - 673
Civilians reported killed: 55 - 105
Children reported killed: 24

The Bureau of Investigative Journalism has also collated detailed data on reported US covert actions in Yemen since 2001.

On April 30 John Brennan, chief counterterrorism advisor to U.S. President Barack Obama, gave a speech entitled “The Ethics and Efficacy of the President’s Counterterrorism Strategy” in which he defended the use of drones. Activist Medea Benjamin challenged him and spoke up against drone killings in Pakistan, Yemen and other countries, as shown in this video:

In a post entitled “A brave lady Speaks out about the CIA Drone Strikes”, Yemeni blogger Afrah Nasser commended Medea Benjamin's courage and quoted her words:

“What about of the hundreds innocent people killing with our drone strikes in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia? I speak out on behave of those innocent victims. They deserve an apology from you, Brennan. How many people are you willing to sacrifice? Why are you lying to the American people and not saying how many people have been killed? …. Shame on you!”

As I said in a recent blog post,“The Failed US Policy in Yemen”:

The use of drones on Yemeni soil to kill “suspected” al Qaeda leaders, the unjustified killing of a teenager and many other innocent civilians commonly referred to as “collateral damage” and the illegal detention of a journalist, has fostered more animosity towards the US. […] The US clearly needs to re-evaluate its counter-terrorism policy in Yemen by addressing the socio-economic underlying causes that produce terror, rather than focusing its aid solely in the fight against al “Qaeda” and continuing with the drone attacks which kills innocent people, alienates, angers and aggravates the general Yemeni public, giving extremists a motive to join militant groups.

This post is part of our special coverage Yemen Protests 2011.

China: Phone calls between Teng Biao and Chen Guangcheng

Oiwan Lam — Thu, 03 May 2012 03:43:52 +0000

Chinese activist, Chen Guangcheng, who has escaped house arrest and fled into the U.S embassy in Beijing has stepped out of the embassy and now having his body check in Chaoyang hospital. The are many speculation about his move and the transcript of phone calls between human rights lawyer Teng Biao and Chen will shed some light on the situation. via Shanghaiist.

Global Voices Podcast: Food for Thought, Food to Eat

Jamillah Knowles — Wed, 02 May 2012 19:46:51 +0000

Hello World!

Welcome to another edition of the Global Voices Podcast.

In this edition we explore the latest work and events in the Global Voices community. We also speak with some friends about the cross cultural elements of our lives, with a special focus on food: both food for thought, and to eat!

Silvia Vinas

First up, Silvia Viñas our Latin America regional editor, has been finding out more about translation on the Web. Intercontinental Cry is is a grassroots journal for the global indigenous movement, providing news, videos, petitions, commentary and action alerts. The site recently launched in Spanish, so Silvia had a chat with Editor and Publisher Alex Cacherino-Gorman, about spreading the news in a different language.

A previous version of the podcast said Silvia Viñas spoke to John Ahniwanika Schertow. Silvia actually spoke to Intercontinental Cry in Spanish editor Alex Cachinero-Gorman.

New Rising Voices grantees

Last month we announced, six new Rising Voices grantees from Guatemala, United States, Paraguay, Palestine, Peru and Myanmar. These new project have joined our global community will each receive microgrants to help get their ideas off the ground. Congratulations to all of the grantees!

Rising Voices

Beatrice Catanzaro is a visual artist and one of the newest additions to the Rising Voices community with her project, Food Tales from Nablus. Alongside her friend Fatima she is working with women from the heart of the Old City in the city of Nablus, Palestine, to celebrate their culinary skills. One of the major components of their project will be the creation a cooking school for foreign visitors that will employ local women as chefs and instructors. We speak with these two amazing ladies to find out more about their work.

Food across borders

If there’s one thing we like to share together at Global Voices - as well as news and stories - it has to be food. This July 2-3, we will be at the Global Voices Summit 2012 in Nairobi, Kenya, and it will be a pleasure to meet, discuss and eat with colleagues from around the world.

Gustavo Arellano, editor of the OC Weekly in Orange County, California and the writer behind ‘Ask a Mexican‘, has been on a culinary journey to find out how Mexican food has become so popular in the United States in his new book, Taco USA. Journalist, producer and blogger, Cyrus Farivar chats with Gustavo about the flavours that cross borders.

Mexican Food on 1806 Haight St in San Francisco, California. Photo by Rupert Ganzer on flickr (CC BY-ND 2.0)

We hope you enjoyed this edition of the podcast. As ever a huge thank you goes to all of our contributors and interviewees, and especially to Yazan for being great company and a brilliant co-presenter. Whether it is food for thought or something to eat, the Global Voices community always has it covered.

The Global Voices Podcast, the world is talking, we hope you’re listening!

Music credits

In the podcast you can hear lots of lovely Creative Commons music. Thanks to Mark Cotton for his fantastic creations and thanks also to all of the wonderful voice over performances and clips that help to glue the podcast together.

United States: Occupy Wall Street Returns

Eleanor Staniforth — Wed, 02 May 2012 16:18:55 +0000

This post is part of our special coverage #Occupy Worldwide.

Many people were questioning Occupy Wall Street's future after the eviction from Zuccotti Park and the harsh weather conditions which prevented the occupiers from camping out last winter. However, according to the occupiers themselves, the movement never disappeared and they are now determined to occupy public spaces around the country, just as they have done already in Union Square in New York City.

The movement has not only taken the streets. On February 15, 2012, a microblog titled 99% Spring was set up, in which approximately 40 organizations inspired by Occupy invited around 100,000 people on the eve of the tax period in the United States to tell “the story of our economy” from April 9-15. The occupiers have also called for a march from the centre of Manhattan to Wall Street on May 1. The resurgence of the Occupy movement has been so impressive that one of its members in Philadelphia almost won a candidature for Congress.

The blogosphere has noticed the resurgence. The blog Indignant Feminists [es] states that the Occupy movement has become stronger through the participation of women:

Aquí en el Hemisferio Norte, por ejemplo, las mujeres participaron activamente en los inicios del movimiento Ocuppy [sic]. Sin embargo, este movimiento ha dado la imagen de ser predominantemente masculino (y en los Estados Unidos, blanco y joven) - así como indiferente al hecho de que el capitalismo simplemente no se puede transformar sin enfrentarse a su fundación: el patriarcado, que depende de controlar y explotar a las mujeres. Y las mujeres, por cierto, son el 51% por ciento de ese 99% (y el 0% del 1%).

Here in the Northern Hemisphere, for example, women were active participants in starting the Ocuppy movement [sic]. However, this movement has given the impression of being predominantly masculine (and in the United States, young and white) - as well as indifferent to the fact that capitalism cannot simply be transformed without challenging its foundations: patriarchy, which depends upon the control and exploitation of women. And women, by the way, make up 51% of that 99% (and 0% of the 1%).

The blog Maestroviejo [es] points out that the Occupy movement was also launched in Minneapolis towards the end of 2011 and the beginning of 2012:

Durante el otoño y el invierno, los manifestantes, al instalar tiendas, realizaron manifestaciones en diferentes partes de la ciudad de Minneapolis. Después de estas protestas las fuerzas de la policía del Estado intensificaron las medidas a fin de restringir el ingreso al campo durante las noches y eliminar las tiendas de los participantes.

During the autumn and winter, the protestors made protests in various parts of the city of Minneapolis by pitching their tents. Following these protests, the State police forces stepped up their efforts to restrict entry to the camp at night and to remove the participants' tents.

On Twitter, Anonymous (@YourAnonNews) refutes the idea that the Occupy movement has failed:

Think Occupy has failed? The entire rhetoric and tone used to discuss the economy & WallStreet are now different because of THAT movement.

Daltonicum (@Daltonicum) notes that there is even a discographic production in honour of the Occupy movement:

El movimiento “Occupy Wall Street” graba un disco llamado “Occupy this Album” con la colaboración de bandas como Mogwai http://daltonicum.posterous.com/el-movimiento-occupy-wall-street-graba-un-dis

The “Occupy Wall Street” movement has recorded a CD titled “Occupy this Album” with the collaboration of bands such as Mogwai http://daltonicum.posterous.com/el-movimiento-occupy-wall-street-graba-un-dis

Jason Brickley (@azureblade7) suggests that the movement is flourishing once again:

Spring Revival: Occupy Wall Street Seeks to Rejuvenate Movement http://dlvr.it/1SSkR2

The following images are of the Occupy movement in New York City (all photos were taken by the author):

This post is part of our special coverage #Occupy Worldwide.

United States: Indig-Nación, the Spanish Newspaper of Occupy Wall Street

Chellsy Alis Manning — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 22:52:00 +0000

This post is part of our special coverage #Occupy Worldwide.

Indig-Nación [es], an affinity group related to the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement in New York City, is hoping to establish links with the Latino community in the United States and the Spanish-speaking world through the alternative media project with original content in Spanish also titled Indig-Nación (a play of words between indignation and nation). Indig-Nación has its own website and a newspaper that will be distributed in New York, the birthplace of the Occupy movement in the United States.

Here is a video about Indig-Nación (in Spanish with English subtitles):

In a previous interview with Global Voices, the translator for the Spanish edition of the Occupy Wall Street Journal – Mariné Pérez – explained that the idea for a Spanish newspaper with original articles was enthusiastically discussed during the First General Assembly of OWS. Finally, after various months of preparation, the first edition of the newspaper has now been distributed. This edition will serve to mobilise people to take part in the general strike planned for May 1, 2012.

We have interviewed Sofía Gallisá Muriente, an artist and activist from Puerto Rico and part of the editorial team of Indig-Nación, to speak about the launching of the media project.

Global Voices (GV): How did you get involved with Occupy Wall Street?

Sofía Gallisá. Photographed by Cristina Agostini, used with permission.

Sofía Gallisá (SF): It is really strange. I was at a Manu Chao concert and I heard a group of activists talking and saw them climbing up one of the platforms to announce a protest inspired by the Arab spring and the angry protests taking place in Spain. They explained that now was the time for the United States, particularly in New York (being the international capital of world finance).

The protest took place on the 17th September, I arrived sceptical and cynical given my past experiences with other protests in the city but I hoped this time would be different. I camped out on the first night and I rapidly realised just how strong the movement was.

GV: People have criticised the “decentralised” nature of OWS, even those who are involved in the movement. What do you think about this?

SG: Decentralization creates other problems and opportunities. The newspaper itself was structured in a decentralised fashion. This was because we were worried that there would not be original articles about topics pertinent to the movement, especially those written in Spanish; and given that traditional media is limited and manipulative we decided to act. We prefer to focus ourselves on our potential. If I see a shortage somewhere, I organise myself and others to meet this weakness. Decentralisation creates a system of auto-correction. These structures without hierarchies are not open to judge or to lay blame, but we form part of the solution.

GV: In the post titled “Somos muchos” [es] you react against the accusations made on the lack of Latinos in the OWS movement. You even go as far to suggest that “those that try to discredit the occupation frequently end up revealing their own prejudices when they try to identify us at first glance and associate ourselves with a simpleton’s view of Latino identity.” Could you elaborate on this?

SG: The accusations keep coming until it becomes an insult. Who are legitimate Latinos? We know that the Latino community is a completely wide-ranging group of people, and it is this diversity that we see represented in the movement. We do not conform ourselves with the typical notions of what is “Latino.”

Launch party for Indig-Nación in Brooklyn Commons, in New York, organised by the editorial team. Photographed by Josué Guarionex.

GV: We know that the Indig-Nación project was launched on the 14th April, what can people do to support it?

SG: People wishing to collaborate with the project, with content, translations and/or art can get in contact via editors@indig-nacion.org. Those wishing to make a donation can do so by visiting our portal. The newspaper will be distributed throughout the Latino communities, in the marches and in other occupations taking place across the North East of the United States. It will also be available in PDF format on the Internet. The printing of this newspaper is very important as it is the perfect time to attract people to take part in the protests on May 1st.

GV: Why use the Internet? What networks would you like to establish?

SG: We hope that Indig-Nación will help us to connect us with other blogspheres in Latin America and thus learn from other experiences of struggles. This is not the first crisis that has provoked protests and activism. We want to create new networks of communication and collaboration.

GV: How will you fund the next editions?

SG: For the moment the project is being funded by collections and donations. We have non-profit 501(c)3 status backed by Occupied Media, so each donation is exempt from paying taxes. Also, we will continue holding events such as parties and campaigns like Indiegogo.

GV: As well as publishing news pertinent to the current situation of immigrants and Latinos in the United States, are you also thinking about collaborating with activists in Latin America?

SG: We know that this is not the first crisis that has caused protests and activism. One of the principle objectives of Indig-Nación is to draw connections between OWS and Latin America, using language and interesting designs that are accessible and creative. We hope that this project will serve as the beginning of collaboration with other blogspheres in Latin America and from there we will learn about other struggles.

Indig-Nación Editorial Team: Pablo Benson, SilvaSofia Gallisá Muriente, Mariano Muñoz Elías, Stephanie McGuinness, Martín Cobián, Patricia González Ramírez, Rojo Robles, Mariné Pérez, Edén Bastida Kullick. Translation: Teresa Elías. Web Design: Leonardo Velázquez. Design Team: Zak Greene, Ingrid Burrington.

This post is part of our special coverage #Occupy Worldwide.

You can find INDIG-NACION on Facebook and Twitter @INDIG_NACION. Featured image from INDIG-NACION on Facebook.

China and Hollywood: A Toxic Mix?

Oiwan Lam — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 08:23:21 +0000

Dan Harris from China Law Blog highlights the recent discussion on Hollywood's direct investment in China and bribery scandals.

Video: Mothers Around the World Share Their Different Experiences

Juliana Rincón Parra — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 02:04:26 +0000

In the International Museum of Women, the current online exhibit is all about mothers. MAMA: Motherhood around the Globe explores the different aspects of motherhood through video interviews to women in Nigeria, Kenya, Afghanistan, USA, Colombia, Hungary, China and Norway.

Lusina from Kenya is one of the interviewed mothers for IMOW

Mama to Be is the section on the expectations around motherhood and pregnancy, and how the different women, some not even out of their teens reacted and faced their impending motherhood.

How many women in the world actually have an opportunity to decide if, how, and when to create a family? What are the reasons that women today are choosing – or refusing to choose – motherhood?

In Healthy Mama, Healthy Baby, the stories these women share on their birthing experiences serve to illustrate how different cultures view birthing and health.

Every day, thousands of women worldwide give birth to new human life. While many of these women will have happy and successful deliveries, hundreds will die in childbirth. How do things like geography, income, and age affect your chances of a safe delivery? What is being done to improve upon the world’s maternal mortality rate, and how can you get involved?

In the Featured Voices section, stories were submitted by the audience and six stories were selected by an international jury for the Community Choice Awards. One of them is this excerpt of the hard situation in the Colombian hospital maternity wards by Jorge Caballero for Gusano Films.

In Birth Journal Maternity Excerpt, a mother of six arrives to a checkup and then to deliver a baby. During the checkup, her story comes out through the questions asked by the doctor, and his attitude towards her changes, ending up with a suggestion for a tubal ligation and a curt farewell. During delivery, there isn't even time to move the lone woman to the gurney and into the maternity room, she gives birth on her hospital bed.

One-on-one interviews in Meet the Mamas focus the conversations around the woman and her personal story, for example, it helps contrast the different situations between a teen mother in Liberia, living what she calls in Critical Condition, and a teen mother in the United States, who through family support is able to move on ahead and continue her studies.

This exhibit in the International Museum of Women aims to get more people informed on the state of Women's Maternal Health, on their Get Involved page they suggest different ways in which readers can participate in improving the statistics and raise awareness themselves on these important issues.