Caught Between Two Competing Images of Womanhood - New Canadian Media
Gina Valle
December 22, 2016
Children of immigrants learn to live in two worlds. As a first-generation Canadian, I learned to maintain and modify my Italian culture in order to make it valid and workable in Canadian society. There is some consolation in knowing that many children of immigrants share this feeling and practice.
As a woman raised in an immigrant home, I travel daily between the rural, southern Italian culture I acquired inside my home and the urban, mainstream Canadian culture I live outside. Each day, I build bridges of understanding, as I create a new culture. This new culture straddles the ‘old’ world in which I was raised and the ‘new’ world of contemporary Canadian society.  There is no doubt that the contrast between these diverse realities has allowed me to live a more full life.
My parents were post-war immigrants to Canada from Calabria. My father, Domenico Valle, arrived at Pier 21, in Halifax, in 1957.  My mother, Giuseppa Ziccarelli, came in 1960.  My parents had been neighbours in their hometown of Lago, Cosenza. My father was the eldest of his family, and shortly after his father died, he went to France, Germany and eventually Canada in search of steady work.
While in Toronto, my father held down three jobs and lived with his cousins, Luca and Sofia Perri, until he decided it was time to get married. He wrote his neighbour in Lago, Antonio Ziccarelli, and asked for his eldest daughter’s hand.  A few months later, in the spring of 1960, my mother boarded a ship in Napoli, bound for Canada. (A wedding picture at left)
Two years after her arrival, I was born. Three years later, my brother Antonio Nicola was born. In the early years, my father made donuts, washed cars, and sold vacuum cleaners. My mother made clothes for dolls and took care of boarders, to help support her family. As my parents worked around the clock, my grandmother, Luigina Valle, cared for us in our home. Nonna had come to Canada, to live with her eldest son, shortly before my baptism.
Although my father’s love of building new homes was where his real interest lay, he went on to start a business as an insurance broker, with my uncle Domenico Groe. They worked hard at this business, until they finally retired and closed their doors in 2002.
I attended public schools, and in keeping with my parents’ strong work ethic, I began working as an 11-year old by delivering newspapers, babysitting and stocking shelves at the local drugstore.  From time to time, I would adopt a ‘Hollywood’ version of life, but otherwise, I instinctively knew that everything in life would require hard work.
Language and culture shape me as they weave their way through my life as a daughter, mother, wife, granddaughter, friend, and professional. Creating a new culture, one that straddles the old world that my parents understand, and the new world of contemporary society, has always been a very complex process for me. As a child of immigrants, I often tried to reconcile the irreconcilable — home and school — my private and public worlds.  Many children of immigrants feel that they have to choose between family and school, and this inevitably became a choice between belonging to an ethnocultural  community, or succeeding as an individual. This reality caused part of the alienation I have known as a first-generation Canadian. Having said that, however, it also has allowed me to experience the richness of living in two worlds.
Over time, as I learned to accommodate Canadian culture, I quietly abandoned my Italian culture. I believe that this is the reality of many first-generation Canadians, as we struggle to merge two cultures. Immigrants in a new homeland often know only one way of viewing the world. Children of immigrants always know two. Very subtle negotiations became part of my daily decision-making, as both cultures competed for my allegiance. As a teen, I told half-truths and half-lies to get by, like when I wanted to attend the school dance, go to a sleepover, date a boy, wear make-up or travel outside of Toronto. (Picture — family Christmas circa 1970)
The tensions between two cultural systems remain inside me to this day.
It is this conflict that fuelled my professional work, as I continue to search for ways in which bicultural, multilingual children in our classrooms can accept and wholeheartedly believe in their contribution to education and ultimately our society. Ever since I was a child, I made every attempt to be recognized as an impeccable member of Canadian society, which inevitably consisted of closing off my private life when I closed the door behind me and went to school. I became resourceful, as I adjusted my behaviour to respond to the expectations of Canadian culture.
I had to become creative to cope with realities like why there was no summer camp, but rather my holidays consisted of hanging out with Nonna on the front porch. When classmates departed for the cottage, my excursions were limited to the park down the street. I attended university in Toronto rather than moving out and living in residence.  Often, I try to make sense of the choices my parents have made, and the lives they have led — dislocated from the old world, alienated in the new. In the end, however, living in two cultures has made me a more flexible, open-minded and resourceful person.
As a woman raised in a traditional culture, I was only expected to wed and embrace motherhood. The added accomplishment of higher education and a profession were niceties. I was often caught between my first culture’s expectations and my own needs and aspirations as a woman.  I have had to work twice as hard as the men in my culture, only to receive half the recognition.
In the same year I was accepted to do my doctoral work, I also became a wife. Guess which garnered more celebration? As such, I have lived in a sea of crushing pressure to conform and limit my expectations to that of wife and mother. In other words, I was expected to accommodate marriage and motherhood. Although deeply connected to my culture in many ways, I quietly chose to rebel against the same culture that can devalue our contribution as women. I opted to walk away from the ‘script’ that others had written for me. It seemed, at times, that few of my accomplishments in life were worthy of discussion around the kitchen table.
According to my southern Italian culture, success as a ‘real’ woman is measured by how well I tend to the hearth, and not in academic terms. In the home, I clear away the table and make coffee for my uncles. Outside of the home, I challenge people’s biases and teach immigrant women about their rights. At times, the dissonance between the competing images of womanhood is difficult to shoulder. There is no doubt that many young girls from traditional cultures are attempting to resolve the same dilemma. They need to face their dragons one by one, and with time their courage will surface.  Having grown up feeling that few choices were available to me, outside of a traditional female lifestyle, my hope in my professional work is to create a space for young women to consider they have more choices.
In 1994, I married David Chemla (see picture below) and moved to Montreal where my husband articled and then worked as a lawyer at Stikeman Elliott. We lived there for several years. Prior to moving to Quebec, I had made few attempts to understand the complexities of that province. I quietly settled into my life in Montreal, and went about my business, naturally assuming that Montreal was like everywhere else in North America.  I decided that my ‘practical’ commitment to the Canadian debate about Quebec would be to speak French as often as my energy and goodwill would permit. I persevered to gain proficiency in the French language. Over the years, my studies in France, work projects in Quebec, and French-speaking friends and family members all brought me closer to the language.
I arrived in Montreal shortly after the Meech Lake Accord and just before the 1995 Referendum. As a newcomer to the province, how could I possibly grasp the complexity of the cultural and linguistic debates simmering in the province?  Gradually, my social identity began to shift.  I was now categorized as an Allophone and not an Anglophone, even though I communicate most efficiently in English. For the first time ever, my native origin was questioned by strangers.  “I hear a tinge of an accent,” they would say, trying to determine where I was from.
I worked, shopped, entertained, assessed arguments and sent e-mails in French and English. I read, socialized, attended meetings, negotiated car repairs, accessed services, took courses and returned phone messages in French and English.  Everything about my life in Montreal was becoming increasingly bilingual.  In essence, what is most unique about the city is its inherent bilingual nature.
Our first son, Gabriel was born on a blistery cold January day. It seemed that it would take forever before I would love being a mother. But as routine set in and our son smiled and made us laugh, I fell in love with him and with my new role. My husband David’s work commitments, as legal counsel for a multinational engineering firm, took him to far off places. This meant that I was often alone with a newborn. Loneliness set in and I longed for the days of family gatherings around the kitchen table.
I asked David if he could request a transfer to Toronto. He said he would make the request, but he was concerned that our children would not be raised in a French-speaking environment. As a Francophone Canadian, whose family was from France and Tunisia, this was very important.  I gave him my word. If we moved to Ontario, I would speak to Gabriel, and then also Alexandre, only in French. I continue this to the present day. Add to that the fact that they attended French schools – their books, television and family chit-chat was in French – and somehow in a sea of English dominance, David and I were able to raise two bilingual Francophone children.
At some point, their French surpassed mine and it was time to focus on Italian. Gabriel and Alexandre always spoke Italian with my parents. They also attended summer camps, sing-along classes, read comics and watched soccer games in Italian. They developed a strong sense of being Italian, which meant spending time with family, helping the grandparents in the garden or in the kitchen and connecting with their cousins in Italy.
After the defence of my doctoral thesis, which was at the same time that I was carrying our second child Alexandre, my precious Nonna fell ill and it was time to complete the circle of care that she had started when she arrived in time for my baptism in 1963. With two children in diapers, my Nonna bedridden due to a stroke, my husband travelling more than ever since his portfolio had expanded in Ontario, and looking for a decent home in an exaggerated market, my professional goals needed to be put on hold.
They were for a while, until we settled into a routine, in our own home.  With the kids in school, given that my doctoral work had focused on Teacher Education and Multicultural Studies, I turned my efforts to working in the field of diversity. I launched Diversity Matters Inc. and went on to publish several books, curate a photo exhibit that has travelled to Scandinavia, Asia and the Middle East, produce and direct a multi-faith documentary, develop curriculum resources and deliver workshops.
Life seemed manageable, and as decent as it should be, given the storyline we are fed in our noisy world, until the sudden illness of my father. At the age of 74, he was diagnosed with stage four cancer. Dad was the eldest in his family, the caregiver, nurturer, relentless worker who loved his home-made salami, trips to Florida, bocce games, lunch at the Mandarin, and above all else, his family. He died within a matter of weeks, and everything I knew to be true and real, shattered.  I grieved longingly for the person who had been such an inspiration in my life, and an exceptional role model for my sons. He left us too soon. (See picture of  Domenico and Giuseppa Valle with their grandchildren, in 2004.)
So, instead of having quiet dinners at home or buying a new rug that matches the living room furniture, I participate in a host of Italian Canadian initiatives, from documenting the stories of Italian immigrant women for the Multicultural History Society of Ontario, to providing feedback on the Italian Canadians as Enemy Aliens national project, or being a board member of AMICI Museum, the Association of Italian Canadian Writers, Italian Heritage Month and most recently Villa Charities. I am a voice for our community as OMNI Television restructures its programming for ethnocultural communities.
I help with homework, prepare dinner, carpool to soccer practice and go to a meeting in our Italian Canadian community (or to Lifeline Syria, Multifaith Toronto, or the Canadian Race Relations Foundation). I do this for my parents, and I do this for my children. I do this for Domenico and Giuseppa Valle, as it is my small way of honouring my parents’ love and commitment to us and to this country. And I do this for my sons Gabriel and Alexandre, as it is my way of teaching them about the past, and giving them a strong sense of belonging to a place we all call home.
Gina Valle, Ph.D., is a diversity trainer, speaker, author and the founder of Diversity Matters, where she challenges Canadians to think outside the black box when it comes to pluralism within our borders and beyond. This first-person account first appeared in Transformations Canada


Russia: Artyom Loskutov’s Case · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Foreign Policy Association's Russia blog – on Artyom Loskutov's case: “Largely ignored in the mainstream media, Loskutov’s summary arrest nearly a month ago and continued detention have electrified the Russian internet, overwhelming the social networking site Livejournal and setting off a hunger strike. Loskutov heads a left wing, situationist-style artist collective called ‘Babushka After the Funeral’, which uses irreverent pranks and roudy street performances to oppose the government’s trend towards cultural and political chauvinism.”


Islam: homosexuality · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Somali/Dutch MP, Ayaan Hirsi Ali received death threats for  her collaboraton with Theo Van Gogh (who was assasinated) on the film “Submission” which addressed gender violence in Islam, is now preparing to set Islam ablaze with a film on homosexuality and Islam.…..”The film will use anonymous actors and carry no credits in an effort to protect those involved in the project.  Ms Ali told Dutch media that she had co-written the script with Van Gogh in the summer of 2004, months before he was killed last November”


Fighting violent extremism in the Sahel and West Africa: A real challenge for religious leaders · Global Voices
Arnauld Kassouin

Screenshot from Deutsche Welle's YouTube channel
A range of factors — such as the region's history, geography, politics, and economy— has been identified as playing a role in the emergence of violent extremism in the Sahel and West Africa. Violent extremism refers to any uncompromising doctrine whose followers reject all moderation or any alternative contrary to their philosophy. For the record, this extremism can take several forms, including political, economic, social, or religious.
After the wave of independence movements in 1960, several African nations found themselves having to govern their own affairs before a democratic system could be established. However, they had not foreseen that various forms of extremism, resulting from various factors such as the diversity of religions and ethnicities in the region, would pose a challenge to peaceful coexistence. In fact, Africa is home to over 2,000 ethnic groups.
Violent extremism is often characterised “by a linguistic deviation,” explains the Secretary General of the Consultation Framework of Religious Confessions in Benin, Michel Alopko, in an interview with Global Voices (GV) about the responsibility of religious leaders in the fight against violent extremism.
Various groups — whether they are religious, political, environmental, ethno-nationalist — can all leadto violent extremism. According to Professor Jocelyn Bélanger, an expert on radicalisation processes, “The main factor that incites a person to associate with a radical group is social pain.”
Therefore, in the process of violent radicalisation, the ideology arises only after the stage of commitment. According to Bélanger, “Traditional religious education is even a counter-indicator” in the process of radicalisation.
In the Sahel, many factors may contribute to the emergence and spread of violent extremism: for instance the marginalisation of certain ethnic groups in relation to others, inequality, discrimination, the misinterpretation of religious precepts, particularly in Islam and Christianity, the mismanagement of public resources, corruption, the denial of civil rights and liberties, limited employment prospects, and insufficient means of livelihood.
The current Secretary General of the United Nations argues through a tweet that  several factors may contribute to the expansion of terrorism:
« Le terrorisme restreint son emprise en traquant et en exploitant les faiblesses et l'instabilité des systèmes politiques, économiques et sécuritaires ».
— @antonioguterres s'aide sur la lutte contre le terrorisme et la prévention de l'extrémisme violent. https://t.co/zwS8srnL2c  pic.twitter.com/Wo7KEZV61G
— Nations Unies (ONU) (@ONU_fr) 29 mars 2023
“Terrorism gains a foothold by exploiting the vulnerabilities and instabilities present within political, economic, and security systems.”
@antonioguterres focuses on the fight against terrorism and the prevention of violent extremism. https://t.co/zwS8srnL2c pic.twitter.com/Wo7KEZV61G
—Nations Unies (ONU) (@ONU_fr) 29 March 2023
In this other tweet, the activist Jeunesse Wakanda shares their opinion on the correlation between religion and violent extremism:
Ce qui était valide en août 2018 dans ces images, l'est toujours aujourd'hui. L'extrémisme violent est une notion qu'on nous a parachuté car la religion en Afrique est pacifique. pic.twitter.com/xzHvpq3REr
— Jeunesse Wakanda #Afrique #Soutien 💝🌍💪🏼 💖(@JeunesseWakanda) 15 juin 2020
The feelings expressed in these images, from August 2018, are as valid today as they were then. Violent extremism is a notion that has been imposed on us because religion in Africa is peaceful. pic.twitter.com/xzHvpq3REr
– Jeunesse Wakanda #Afrique #Soutien (@JeunesseWakanda) 15 juin 2020
According to the former Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, violent extremism is not limited to any specific religion.
L'extrémisme violent n'est pas l'apanage d'une religion en particulier, selon Ban Ki-moon https://t.co/STba6i1Ehv  pic.twitter.com/tcX51Gdzxe
— Nations Unies (ONU) (@ONU_fr) 10 avril 2016
Violent extremism is not limited to any specific religion, according to Ban Ki-moon
https://t.co/STba6i1Ehv pic.twitter.com/tcX51Gdzxe
—Nations Unies (ONU) (@ONU_fr) 10 April 2016
Religion plays a significant role in many African societies. In the Sahel and West Africa, which had a population estimated to be over 920 million in mid-2014, Islam surpasses Christianity as the main religion. In her speech at the UN Security Council’s Arria-formula meeting in April 2018, Anne Gueguen, former Deputy Permanent Representative of France to the United Nations, emphasised that, given the direct link between believers and religious leaders, the latter play a crucial role in preventing violent extremism, protecting civilians, and promoting reconciliation.
The UN Glossary defines the “Arria formula” as a provision that allows members of the Security Council to hold informal meetings outside of the chamber, where they can hear from individuals whose expertise may shed light on the matters that the Council is dealing with.
Moussa Mara, former Prime Minister of Mali and president of the Yelem party, commenting on the role of Islam in Africa in the media outlet Jeune Afrique, states that “in general, religion has a certain role and influence within human groups.” Moreover, given the increasing theorising that religion, especially Islam, is a contributing factor, to terrorist warfare, the responsibility of religious leaders in the fight against violent extremism cannot be ignored.
First, religious leaders are often close to all civil society actors. Second, “Religious leaders play an important role in the management of society,” explains Bakary Sambe, regional director of the Malian think-tank Timbuktu Institute. Therefore, although the state bears the primary responsibility for protecting populations, it seems equally crucial to regard religious leaders as “strong partners in the prevention and incitement of criminal atrocities,” as stated in the United Nations’ Plan of Action for Religious Leaders and Actors.
As expressed by the Regional Cell for the Prevention of Radicalisation and the Fight against Violent Extremism on their Twitter account, CellRad:
#CellRadSmartIdea En matière de lutte contre l'extrémisme violent, la religion doit être perçue comme une solution et non comme le problème. @G5_Sahel_SE  @MISAHELOFFICIEL @Thinkpeacesahel #Sahel #PVE #radicalisation #paix
– CellRad (@CellRadG5Sahel) 31 décembre 2021
#CellRadSmartIdea: In the fight against violent extremism, religion should be seen as a solution, not the problem.
@G5_Sahel _SE @MISAHELOFFICIEL @Thinkpeacesahel #Sahel #PVE #radicalisation #paix
—CellRad (@CellRadG5Sahel) 31 December 2021
Therefore, to prevent and fight violent extremism, religious leaders need to promote peace and dialogue within their respective religious communities. Essentially, their mission is to educate and “instil values of tolerance and non-violence, of acceptance and of mutual respect, and act to reduce tensions between communities,” as stated in the United Nations’ Plan of Action for Religious Leaders and Actors.
To encourage religious leaders in their role as actors working towards peace and social cohesion, Michel Alokpo, Secretary General of the Coordination Framework of Religious Confessions in Benin, declared in an interview with Bénin Intelligent:
If a church has its own radio and television, we should use them to convey messages of peace. We can also work towards creating a consortium between different religious orders. And the state must be able to assist us in promoting peace.
This message is also reflected in the conclusions drawn by the 2023 Grand Rendez-Vous for the Prevention of Violent Extremism in West and Central Africa, as the following tweet shows:
🚨 [Relevé des conclusions – Grand Rendez-vous 2023
Prévention de l'extrémisme violent en Afrique de l’Ouest et centrale : réalités et perspectives] – #Dakar #Sénégal
Quelques points saillants importants à retenir du relevé des conclusions ✍🏽 :
👉🏽 Page 2 (Point 6) :
💬 « La… pic.twitter.com/BLtv4QpKA9
— Birane Hane (@BiraneHane) March 28, 2023
[Conclusions – 2023 Grand Rendez-Vous for the Prevention of Violent Extremism in West and Central Africa: Realities and Perspectives] – #Dakar #Sénégal
Some important key points to remember from the conclusion statement:
Page 2 (Point 6)
“The … pic.twitter.com/BLtv4QpKA9
—Birane Hane (@BiraneHane) March 28, 2023
As this article from the Reflets newspaper notes, the situation remains a concern:
In their conclusions, a consensus was reached: violent extremism and its various manifestations are spreading and are negatively impacting states in West Africa, the Sahel, and Central Africa. Since the launch of the United Nations’ Plan of Action for Preventing Violent Extremism (PVE) by Secretary General Antonio Guterres in 2015, and despite military and security efforts, these violent acts have not diminished.


China: A rejected entry permit to Hong Kong · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Annie Lee from ChinaHush translated a blog post by a mainland Chinese Su Gengsheng, who expressed her frustration over the application of entry permit to Hong Kong.


Thailand: Bangkok Bombers · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

The Lost Boy wants to know who is blowing up Bangkok. The Thai capital city has been target of multiple bomb attacks over the last year and still there is no confirmation on who is carrying out the attacks.


St. Lucia: Crime on the rise · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

“The murder rate in Saint Lucia has risen again. One young man has been gun downed at about 5.30pm near the Bexon Bus Stand by what seems to be a known assailant,” writes Eliminator in an alarming account of the country's escalating crime rate and the efforts to halt it.


Barbados: Social Media & Tourism  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“It seems that despite the power social media has from a marketing perspective that ‘we’ do not have staff in place to effectively monitor and update these sites”: Adrian Loveridge, guest blogging at Barbados Free Press, says that despite the Minister of Tourism's statements about harnessing the power of social media to promote the destination, the reality is very different.


This Newspaper’s Headlines Have Become Too Much for Many Readers in Venezuela · Global Voices
Jessica Carrillo

Roberto Fiadone reading Últimas Noticias. CC 3.0.
A citizen movement in Venezuela this week is showing how social media can respond to censorship. In response to the January 12 front page of the Venezuelan newspaper Últimas Noticas (The Latest News), Twitter users are mocking the publication with the hashtag #TitulaComoUltimasNoticas (“Make headlines like Úlitmas Noticias”), inventing various satirical headlines. The hashtag became a trending topic on Twitter within a few hours.
One of the largest newspapers in Venezuela, Últimas Noticas was among the many media outlets sold to an unknown party in October 2013. Since then, readers have noticed a sharp turn in the newspaper's editorial line, especially when it comes to commentary about the national government. In fact, several journalists resigned in protest, after the paper censored articles that addressed student protests in early 2014 and rising food prices and shortages.
Nevertheless, it was Últimas Noticas’ January 12 front page headline, “Maduro's Tour Was a Success,” that suddenly mobilized Twitter users this week. President Maduro's visit to several OPEC nations was meant to help stabilize oil prices, on which Venezuela's economy desperately relies. Many in the public, who have watched the price of oil continue to plummet, found Últimas Noticas’ headline hard to believe.
… y así es como se pierde credibilidad en un medio. ¿Como creerles otra noticia? #TitulaComoUltimasNoticias pic.twitter.com/WVv80x81kt
— PRETORIANO REGENTE. (@PRETORIANOREGEN) January 12, 2015
…and that's how a media outlet loses credibility. How can you believe anything else they say?
“@millantweet: La Mentira Vs. La Verdad! La Ficción Vs. La Realidad! #TitulaComoUltimasNoticias pic.twitter.com/n6V4VpMstA“
— Freiner Meléndez (@Freiner96) January 12, 2015
Lies vs. Truth! Fiction vs. Reality!
Internet users have tweeted the #TitulaComoUltimasNoticas hashtag and offered their own satirical news headlines. For example, how would a politically biased newspaper report the fact that many Venezuelans now have to wait in long lines in order to buy food?
#TitulaComoUltimasNoticias El pueblo feliz “haciendo cola para cuidar los alimentos”. Pdval de Tía Juana, edo Zulia. pic.twitter.com/rCODuayTCB
— Anthony P. Ovalles (@anthony301992) January 12, 2015
Happy citizens “waiting in line to look after food”. PDVAL in Tía Juana, Zulia state.
#TitulaComoUltimasNoticias Venezuela presenta un Excedente de Anaqueles en Supermercados de Todo el País pic.twitter.com/sg1lEHXTzZ
— Vinicio Parra (@IngVinicioParra) January 12, 2015
Supermarket shelves in Venezuela show signs of surplus across the country.
Others have joked about the falling price of crude oil and its effects on Venezuelan society:
El petróleo cae a 37$ el barril y Venezuela se convierte en el país más feliz del mundo :) #TitulaComoUltimasNoticias
— Mr. Dundas (@ManuelAlejandC) January 12, 2015
Oil dropped to $37 a barrel and Venezuela turns into the happiest country in the world.
Many media outlets in Venezuela have been sold, closed down, or neutered since Hugo Chávez's presidency. Indeed, censorship and pressure have also increased under Nicolas Maduro's Government. The current shake-ups in the the Venezuelan press, says an analyst at the Committee to Protect Journalists, are part of a long campaign to weaken the privately owned news media.


Why Some Immigrants Make it in Canada While Others Leave - New Canadian Media
Joyeeta Ray
June 5, 2015
They came, they saw, they conquered against all odds. Others went back, defeated.
Don’t be quick to cheer the former and sneer at the latter; more often than not, immigrants to Canada who head back end up making millions elsewhere.
So what’s to blame for their departure? Is it malfunctioning planets, miserable resumes, sub-zero Martian temperatures that take the fun out of job hunting or all of the above?
Statistics Canada says that one in three Canadians leave the country within 20 years of arrival. Yet, close to 50 per cent of the country’s millionaires are reportedly new immigrants or first-generation whiz kids with at least one parent born across the border.
You have to raise your tuque to them. Only a fraction of this envious lot is partying on inherited wealth. Most of them are self-made successes. How did they do it?
New Canadian Media spoke to five immigrants to Canada to explore the differences between those who stayed, and those who chose to leave.
Pranay Sen* says no. A microbiologist who studied at two premier Canadian universities, he followed his parents to Mississauga from South East in 2002. He started off as a junior scientist in a reputable firm. However, within two years he realized there was not much scope for growth.
“Canada could not offer my son better opportunities (in the pharmaceutical industry) whereas [a country in Europe] gave him the break he needed,” explains Pranay’s mother. “Most of his friends remained unemployed, which further discouraged him to linger on here.” Pranay moved to the European country where he continues to make major strides in his career.
They migrated to Canada from Jakarta in 2005 in search of ‘clean air, structured society and affordable international education for our children.’ Within a year and a half of puffing oxygen, they returned to Jakarta’s fumes.
Many disillusioned souls leave within the first year of arrival. Jay and Christina D’Souza have a similar story. They migrated to Canada from Jakarta in 2005 in search of “clean air, structured society and affordable international education for our children.” Within a year and a half of puffing oxygen, they returned to Jakarta’s fumes.
The first few days in Canada were decisive. The security guard at their serviced apartment (fully furnished with hotel-like amenities) had more weight in his brains than biceps. He had a PhD in microbiology, but in his three years in Toronto, he never got a break that did justice to his degree. Jay got a job that paid his bills, but it could not give him the lifestyle he left behind.
“It did not appear that people who lived here longer were better off than me. There are exceptions, but our struggle was not worth the effort,” he explains.
When Mags Mano moved to Brampton from Indonesia, Asia was booming, while Canada was hit with the recession. She settled down with her Canadian husband, an immigrant from Iran.
They had every reason to stay on. Mags did well for herself working for the Canadian government, moving on to jointly own an automotive business with her husband. But, in 2014, they gave it all up and headed back to Jakarta.
“The Canadian economy was slowing down in 1990 to ’91, while the other side of the world was booming,” Mano reasons. “We thought it was time to look into more lucrative investment opportunities where the going was good.” For her, the harsh Canadian winter also played villain.
It took her no time to settle down as a senior manager in a relocation company back in her home country.
Those who arrived when labour market conditions were favourable seem to have the best reasons to celebrate now. Many own assets worth millions, gained through business enterprises and real estate investment.
For Neerav and Preeti Sharma who migrated from India in 2001, pre-planning did the trick. High levels of pollution wreaked havoc on their daughter’s health. It was time to look for greener pastures.
“You may not start at the top, but hard work rewards well with many opportunities.” – Neerav Sharma
Neerav was reluctant to leave his prestigious job in Delhi, so his wife went ahead first. Luckily for her, she found a job, home and enough greenery to have her husband join her soon after.
“I tapped into the employment resource centres for new immigrants and found my first job in Seneca College (in Toronto),” she says. Preeti continued to build her skills and moved up rapidly. Today, she is Operations & Student Retention Manager in the School of Communications, Media & Design.
Neerav arrived in 2003 through a company transfer. He was the only non-white employee in his company then and says he believes it is imperative to have good interpersonal skills and networking abilities to succeed in Canada. “You may not start at the top, but hard work rewards well with many opportunities,” he promises.
Whatever their story, all achievers agree that there is no escaping the struggle in the initial years.
For Paul Yee, an  [if !supportAnnotations]executive producer of TV commercials from Hong Kong, investing in real estate was his key to success. He came to Canada for a family reunion and never went back. He worked hard, owned a company, built assets through real estate investment and encourages newcomers to do the same.
Whatever their story, all achievers agree that there is no escaping the struggle in the initial years.
Canada has the largest number of immigrants per capita in the world. But are they given equal career opportunities as those born here?
Statistics Canada says that the first four years of the new millennium recorded more out-migrants from Canada than immigrants.
“For the United Kingdom, the emigrant-to-immigrant ratio was 1.6 Canadians leaving for every Briton entering Canada,” the study says. However, the largest ratio was between the United States and Canada, with Canada sending 11.3 emigrants for every U.S. immigrant.
According to a 2012 news report in The Globe and Mail, there is severe lack of skills in the secondary cities of Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario and Atlantic Canada. “This shortage (of people power) is a drag on Canada’s potential to innovate and compete into the future,” says the article.
For a stronger economy and uniform development countrywide, can the federal government afford to lose skilled immigrants to other countries? That remains the million-dollar question.
* Publisher’s note: some names in this reporting have been changed to respect the privacy and career prospects of the subjects.
[endif]
Collective Convenor & Communications Planner - Joyeeta Ray is a multimedia journalist, internationally awarded digital content specialist, and children’s books author, based in Toronto. Born in India, she brings over two decades of advertising and journalism experience across seven countries to Canada. Joyeeta started her journalistic career in Jakarta, led an editorial team in Bangkok, and is a student of Multimedia Journalism from The University of Toronto. She is an enthusiastic NCM-CAJ member, actively involved in amplifying new Canadian voices as NCM’s Convenor, Communications Planner, Mentor, and Reporter.


Old video misrepresented as BJP booth capturing in 2024 general elections - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
April 25, 2024
A video (here, here and here) depicting a woman, seemingly a polling agent, purportedly influencing two women during voting and instructing them to press the EVM button, is circulating widely on social media. The claim accompanying the video asserts that it demonstrates voters being forced to vote in favour of the BJP in the 2024 General elections. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Visuals of a polling agent forcing two voters to vote for BJP in 2024 General elections.
Fact: The video, dating back to at least May 2019, predates the 2024 General elections and is therefore unrelated. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
A reverse image search of the keyframes extracted from the viral video led us to the same video uploaded by multiple people (here and here) in May 2019, including Vinod Sharma (archive), the political Editor of Hindustan Times.
Further research uncovered news reports regarding this issue published by News Central (archive) and Siasat Daily in May 2019. These reports suggest that the incident took place in rural West Bengal during the 2019 General elections. However, no further details were mentioned in these reports.
While we couldn’t independently verify the additional details of the video, the evidence indicates that the viral video predates the 2024 General elections by at least five years. Moreover, FACTLY has previously debunked the same video when it went viral as visuals of booth capture during the 2021 West Bengal elections and the 2019 Huzurnagar by-polls in Telangana.
To sum up, an old video is being shared as BJP doing booth capturing during the 2024 General elections.


Video: One Day on Earth on 10/10/10 · Global Voices
Juliana Rincón Parra

A modern day time capsule is going to be made on October 10th, 2010 as people from all over the planet record videos during that day of things that are important to them for the One Day on Earth project. Anyone can participate and footage collected on October 10th  will be used for a 120 minute documentary.


Guyana, Trinidad & Tobago: Summit Summary  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

GuyToons, a Guyanese cartoon blog, posts a series of funnies on the recently-concluded Summit of the Americas, while Trinbago Forever waits to see what benefits will be derived from the Summit and Mauvais Langue adds: “Instead of wasteful spending, use the money wisely and spend it to fight crime.”


Brazil: Blame the Oscar rules · Global Voices
Paula Góes

“The exclusion of The Year My Parents Went on Vacation from the nominations for the foreign-language  Oscar should not be blamed on the quality of the film itself or the timid campaign to promote the film in the United States, but on the stupid rules for this category”. Chico Fireman [pt] says it all.


Video from Bangladesh shared as female BJP worker dragged by TMC goons in West Bengal - Alt News
Anuradha Prasad
10th May 2021 / 10:17 pm
A video of a group of people forcibly dragging away a young woman while she keeps pleading is massively viral on Twitter and Facebook. People can be heard conversing in Bengali in the video hence, it’s being claimed that the video shows an incident during post-poll violence in West Bengal.
Twitter user Anand Kumar shared the visuals on May 6. More than 700 handles retweeted it at the time of writing.
[Disclaimer: Alt News has not uploaded the video in this report due to its distressing nature.]
A few other users also shared the clip with the same claim. Their posts garnered views and shares in the thousands.
Several people on Facebook have accused TMC workers of abducting a female BJP worker in broad daylight.
Alt News received several requests to verify the clip.
Fact-checking outlet Boomlive found a longer and higher quality version of the video dated April 27, 2021. It was uploaded by a Facebook user named Rahmat Ali and is over four minutes long.
According to his post, the incident is from Bangladesh’s Ghazipur district. A Hindu woman Sarawanti Mandal had married Kamarul Islam, a Muslim. The two met while working in a factory. She soon converted to Islam and changed her name to Jannatul Firdaus. But her family was against the union. Her father forcibly brought her home with the help of the police and local administration. The viral video was taken when her family members were dragging her home against her will.
This led us to a report from April 26, 2021, published on Bangladesh-based Purbo Poshchim Bangladesh. It states that the incident occurred on April 22. In the video, Sarawanti is pleading at the feet of local councillor Giyasuddin to let her live with her husband Kamarul. However, Sarawanti’s father Shankar Chandra Mandal filed a case under the Women and Child Harassment Prevention Act, stating that she was under 18 years of age. However, Kamarul argued that she was 18.
Given below is a Facebook post by the Daulatkhan police station, which reports that the woman was handed over to her parents after a case was registered.
সকলের অবগতির জন্য জানানো যাইতেছে যে, দৌলতখান থানা এলাকায় গত ২৩/০৪/২১ ইং তারিখ গাজীপুর মেট্রো সদর থানার মামলা নং ১৬ তাং…
Posted by Daulatkhan Thana on Sunday, April 25, 2021
ধর্মান্তরিত নির্যাতিতা তরুণীর স্বামী কামরুলের অভিযোগ তার বিবাহিতা বউকে জোরপূর্বক ভয়ভীতি দেখিয়ে স্থানীয় প্রভাবশালীরা টাকার বিনিময়ে সাবেক পরিবারের কাছে দিয়ে দেয়। এ হিন্দু তরুণী ধর্মান্তরিত হয়ে ইসলাম ধর্ম গ্রহণ করে ভোলার দৌলতখানের কামরুলকে বিয়ে করে।
এফিডেভিটে যুবতীর জন্ম তারিখ ৩০.৩. ২০০৩ উল্লেখ করা হয়েছে।
গাজিপুর মেট্রোপলিটন পুলিশ সূত্রে বলা হয় ইস্যু‌টি ধর্মীয় নয়; মে‌য়ে‌টি নাবা‌লিকা; তাই, আদাল‌তের নি‌র্দে‌শে তা‌কে পিতামাতার কা‌ছে ফেরত দেয়া হয়। গত ১৮ এপ্রিল ২০২১ জিএমপি’র সদর থানা মামলা নং ১৬ ধারা ৭/৩০ নারী ও শিশু নির্যাতন দমন আইন ২০০৩ মতে রুজু হয়। জন্ম নিবন্ধন অনুযায়ী ভিকটিম শ্রাবন্তী এর জন্ম তারিখ ০৫/০২/২০০৬ অর্থাৎ বয়স ১৫ বছর ২ মাস। শিশু আইন ২০১৩ এর ধারা ৪ অনুযায়ী বয়স ১৮ বছরের কম হওয়ায় সে শিশু/নাবালিকা।
Posted by Eduaid এডুএইড on Sunday, April 25, 2021
BJP supporters shared a video from Bangladesh as post-poll violence in West Bengal. The woman in the video was dragged by her family members for having an inter-religious marriage against their wish.
A journalist and a dilettante person who always strives to learn new skills and meeting new people. Either sketching or working.
Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar…
In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin…
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Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile…
Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…


Bangladesh: Via London · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Or how I learnt to stop worrying reflects on his predicament as his wife and child are due to arrive in the US via London. He also pauses to wonder about the concept of Islamic fundamentalism and what consequences Bush's actions have had.


Data: Total Extent of Land Degradation in India over 90 Million Hectares
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
November 10, 2023
As per data published by the government, the total land degradation in the country was estimated at 91.30 million ha during 2005–2006, while it showed a marginal decrease to 91.21 million ha during 2015-16. This is about 27.77% of the geographical area of India. Three States of Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Jammu & Kashmir accounted for over 40% of land degradation area.
Land degradation is a pressing global issue with far-reaching consequences. It is considered a temporary or permanent impairment of productivity of land through deterioration of physical, chemical, or biological aspects. It spans various regions and is fueled by factors like deforestation, unsustainable agricultural practices, and climate change. The loss of fertile land not only affects food security but also increases the risk of natural disasters and contributes to the loss of biodiversity.
Recently, the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) announced the launch of its first-ever Data Dashboard compiling national reporting figures from 126 countries, including India. The dashboard was launched just days before the world leaders and experts would meet in Samarkand, Uzbekistan for the 21st session of the UNCCD Committee for the Review of the Implementation of the Convention (CRIC 21). In the session, the delegates will review global progress made toward land degradation neutrality (LDN) and confront issues like enhancing drought resilience, promoting women’s land rights, and combating sand and dust storms.
Globally, at least 100 million hectares (ha) of healthy and productive land lost each year between 2015 and 2019
The data from the dashboard revealed that between 2015 and 2019, the world lost at least 100 million hectares (ha) of healthy and productive land each year which would roughly make up twice the size of Greenland. It is also estimated to impact the lives of 1.3 billion people, who will be directly exposed to land degradation. It noted that land degradation is advancing at an astonishing rate across all regions.
Further, it revealed that there are significant disparities when it comes to the proportion of degraded land per region. Sub-Saharan Africa, Western and Southern Asia,  Latin America, and the Caribbean experienced land degradation at rates faster than the global average, it noted.
Eastern and Central Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean regions experienced the most severe degradation, affecting at least 20% of their total land area, as of 2019. However, since 2015, the proportion of land degraded in Sub-Saharan Africa has increased from 6.7% to 14.63%, and in Western Asia and the Northern African region, the same has risen from 3.78% to 7.18%.
India’s total degraded land as of 2019 is equivalent to ten times the size of Belgium or 43 million football pitches
As far as India is concerned, the dashboard revealed that as of 2019, a total of 30.51 million ha of India’s total reported land was degraded, which is 9.45% of the country’s landmass was degraded. In 2015, 4.42% of the country’s landmass was degraded. For comparison, India’s total degraded land as of 2019 is equivalent to ten times the size of Belgium, or 43 million football pitches.  251.71 million people or nearly 18.4% of the country’s population, were exposed to land degradation during the same period.
At the national level, remote sensing data is being regularly employed in the survey of degraded soils by institutions like the ISRO, its partner institutions from state remote sensing centres, ISRO/ DOS centres and academia. Based on the mapping of land degradation for the whole land mass of India with data acquired during August to October (Kharif), November to March (Rabi) and April to May (Summer) of 2005–2006 and 2015–2016, a report was published by ISRO that helps in studying the decadal change in land degradation in the country. It also provides the category or cause of degradation. This data is sourced from Dataful.
According to ISRO’s report, the total land degradation in the country was estimated at 91.30 million ha during 2005–2006, while it showed a marginal decrease to 91.21 million ha during 2015-16. This is about 27.77% of the geographical area of India.
Wind and water erosion are the major causes of land degradation
As of 2015-16, water erosion is the major cause of land degradation in India accounting for 509.96 Lakh ha which is 55.91% of total land degradation and 15.53% of total geographical area (TGA). Wind erosion accounted for 142.8 Lakh ha contributing to 15.66% of total land degradation in India and 4.35% of TGA. Salinisation /alkalization was spread over 64.65 Lakh ha or 7.09% of total land degradation and Acidification in over 30.41 Lakh ha (3.33% of total land degradation). Paddy lands, dense forest areas and plantations have been excluded in this spatial extent.
Anthropogenic processes include industrial affluent areas, mining and dumps and brick kilns extends. These are spread over an area of 6.55 Lakh ha. Barren rocky, mass movement and riverine sands fall in the ‘others’ category and account for 12.13% of total land degradation.
Compared to 2005-06, there has been a substantial increase in the area under the anthropogenic category of land degradation while all the other categories saw a decline, though marginal.
3 states accounted for 43% of the total land degradation recorded in India
Among the states, Rajasthan had the maximum land under degradation with over 180.3 lakh ha accounting for 19.77% of the total land degradation in the country. Maharashtra had the second highest with 109.9 lakh ha of land under degradation accounting for 12.05% of the total. The erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir also had more than 100 lakh ha of land under degradation. Together, these three states accounted for 43% of the land under degradation in the country. Among major states, the area was less than 5 lakh ha in the states of West Bengal, Haryana, Kerala, and Punjab and was below 10 lakh ha each across all the northeastern states.
Cause of land degradation depends on geographical conditions as well as human actions
The cause of land degradation is seen to be dependent on geographical conditions as well as human actions. Water erosion was the dominant process resulting in land degradation in the majority of the states, especially in the central plateau region of India. This may be attributed to high rainfall variability and intensity, undulating terrain conditions and moderate to high erodibility of soils in these areas.
In the arid regions with less vegetation cover like Rajasthan, Ladakh, and Haryana,  wind erosion was predominant while acidification was mostly dominant in high-rainfall regions such as Manipur, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Kerala, Odisha, and Maharashtra.
Waterlogging was significant in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and Assam while salinization/alkalization was dominant in Gujarat followed by Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Andhra Pradesh due to localized reasons. Land degradation due to anthropogenic activities was the highest in Karnataka, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana.
Efforts are being made to highlight the issue
Land degradation by itself or in combination with climate change, can have profound implications for natural resource-based livelihood systems, food security, economies, biodiversity, and the overall well-being of communities worldwide. It is a cause of concern and calls for concerted efforts to address the same. Land degradation is also a part of Sustainable Development Goal 15 which calls for reversing the same.
India, being a party to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) has committed to attain land neutrality and restore 26 lakh hectares of degraded land by 2030. Further, India has implemented various initiatives to tackle land degradation, including the National Action Plan for Climate Change, Watershed Development Component of Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY), afforestation programs like the Green India Mission, and sustainable land management practices. The Soil Health Card scheme aims to improve soil fertility, and watershed management projects focus on preventing soil erosion and promoting sustainable water use.


Lesotho: Vehicles of Corruption · Global Voices
Lulu Kitololo

In  adventures in international development, P’s rants about corruption in Lesotho’s ruling LCD party and wonders whether  “there is no act of corruption too blatant to get away with”.


Tajikistan as Seen by an Ex-pat Blogger · Global Voices
Musharraf

On Nancystan, an ex-pat blogger writes about her adventures in Tajikistan and posts photos from the country. In some recent posts, the blogger shared images of a Tajik town lying on the Afghanistan border high in the Pamir mountains. She also wrote about her visit to a border market where merchants from Afghanistan arrive each Saturday to sell their goods to Tajik nationals.


China: Chinese netizen reactions to Iranian election · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Allie Shi from Shanghaiist translated Chinese netizens’ comments on Iranian election.


Indonesia: Another Adam Air Mishap · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Unspun writes about another accident that involves the private airline Adam Air where one of it's plane was forced to do a hard landing resulting in structural damage. Last month another Adam Air plane went missing over the ocean.


Kaduna Central: Shehu Sani Rejects Polls Results, Alleges Irregularities - Liberty TV/Radio - News - Voice For All! Vision For Alll!
Editor 4
February 25, 2019
The People’s Redemption Party candidate for theSaturday National Assembly elections in Kaduna Central Senatorial district,Shehu Sani, has rejected the result of the election.
Sani, who spoke with journalists in his house inKaduna, alleged that the exercise was full of irregularities and massiverigging.
The results indicated that the candidate of the AllProgressives Congress, Uba Sani, was victorious in the exercise.


The need for better protection of Malaysia’s forests - 360
Adzidah Yaakob
Published on January 6, 2023
Learning from past experience, the government moves to fortify existing legislation to prevent exploitation and destruction of rainforests.
Malaysia’s vast forests and their biodiversity serve vital and irreplaceable environmental functions. Long-term protection is particularly relevant to the rainforests which are part of the Sundaland forest cover, one of the largest in the world.
Malaysian forests have been cleared to develop the nation’s economy. From 2002 to 2021, Malaysia lost 2.77Mha of humid primary forest, making up 33 percent of its total tree cover loss in the same time period.
Effective legislation is key to guarding against illegal logging and deforestation, loss of wildlife and biodiversity, uncontrolled land-use changes and mixed development all of which eventually destroy the forest ecosystem.
But with the increase in global awareness of environmental protection, this trend has shifted with forests now serving a protective rather than a productive function.
For years forest management, now under the Ministry of Natural Resources, Environment and Climate Change, has been shunted between various ministries such as the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, the Ministry of Primary Industries or the Ministry of Plantation Industries and Commodities.
The move to protect forests and biodiversity began with the Third Malaysia Plan (1976-1980). The Fifth Malaysia Plan (1986-1990) introduced more measures to control forest disturbances and loss.
These included establishing a system for national parks, nature reserves, wildlife sanctuaries and virgin jungles, adopting preventive approaches via environmental impact assessment reports and climate change mitigation measures.
Forests are now recognised as carbon sinks, which dovetails with the national green growth initiative.
The Twelfth Malaysia Plan (2021-2025) outlines the mainstreaming of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 15 in respect of forest management practices. The REDD Plus strategy employed by the ministry is one example of this.
But protection of forests in Malaysia is still fragmented because of various legislation employed for different categories and the fact these categories come under the care of different government agencies.
Forest reserves in Peninsular Malaysia are governed by the National Forestry Act 1984 with enforcement by the Forestry Department of Peninsular Malaysia and the various state forestry departments.
Wildlife, however, is governed by the Wildlife Conservation Act 2010 while national parks are under the National Parks Act 1980. Both come under the care of the Department of Wildlife and National Parks.
The National Heritage Act 2005, meanwhile, provides for the conservation and preservation of selected forest sites as natural heritage. Malaysia has two national parks listed by the UNESCO World Heritage Convention  — Kinabalu Park and Gunung Mulu National Park.
In East Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak have separate forest laws and governing authorities.
This fragmented management of forests and the complex relationship between federal and state agencies has led to a lack of ecological connectivity, food and habitat for wildlife, illegal taking of endangered species of flora and fauna and human and wildlife conflict.
There are also issues such as limited staffing for law enforcement, poor take-up of technology to detect forest and wildlife offences in real-time and lack of ownership and shared responsibilities among stakeholders.
To tackle this, the National Forestry Bill 2022, an amendment to the National Forestry Act 1984, was passed in August and aims to hasten progress in sustaining permanent reserve forests and biodiversity and deter illegal activity.
For instance, taking more than five cubic metres of forest produce from permanent reserve forests now carries a maximum jail term of 20 years and fines of up to five million ringgit (US$1.1 million).
In an effort to ensure transparency and accountability, there also now needs to be a public hearing before any area of a permanent reserve forest can be degazetted.
The bill also introduces a requirement for the state authority to identify a similar or larger area to replace the part of a permanent reserve forest that needs to be excised.
State parks are now included in classifications of permanent reserve forests to ensure forests and their biodiversity, the traditional knowledge of the indigenous peoples and many other benefits provided by the forest environment are conserved and protected.
The amendment also sees the status of state parks changed to ‘closed forest’ in a move to combat biopiracy and protect rare and endangered wildlife.
The latest amendment is significant as the public is the most physically and emotionally affected when there are natural disasters relating to forests.
These include the landslide tragedy at Pos Dipang in 1996, the construction of the Bakun Dam in the 1990s that displaced Sarawak indigenous people and the polluted water supply due to logging activity near water catchment areas in Kedah in 2018.
It’s a promising step forward for the sustainability of forests and biodiversity in Malaysia. In moving towards ensuring rights for Nature, the Malaysian experience has been focused on finetuning its legislation to better deal with threats while promoting sustainability.
The amendment and other existing laws should be comprehensive enough to meet the many challenges facing Malaysia’s forests provided the government, private sector and local communities assume joint responsibility for effective outcomes.
From the Islamic perspective, the importance of the ecosystem of forests and biodiversity vis-a-vis the role of mankind can be seen in several verses in the Quran. In Al-Hijr 15:19: “And we spread the Earth and placed upon it firm mountains, and we grew upon it all things in perfect balance.”
Adzidah Yaakob (PhD) is Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Syariah and Law, Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM). She declares no conflict of interest.


Albania, Greece: Video of Police Brutality · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

In this post, Thessaloniki-based Teacher Dude posts a YouTube video of two Albanian men being beaten and ordered to slap each other by a Greek police officer, quotes the Independent Media Center's transcript, and translates from Greek comments “expressing satisfaction at what those arrested had suffered.” Some reactions from the Albanian side are at Albanian.com and Topix Albania discussion boards. A petition against human rights abuse of immigrants in Greece is here, signed by 982 people so far, is here.


100 Miners Flouting Mining Ban Arrested In Niger - Liberty TV/Radio - News - Voice For All! Vision For Alll!
Publisher (F.BA)
October 20, 2021
The state government had banned mining activities due to the security risk.
Residents had expressed fear over the influx of strange faces into their communities, especially with rising banditry activities in parts of the local government.
The Chairman of the council, Suleiman Chukuba, while confirming the arrests, said the presence of the miners had done “monumental damage” to farmlands in the area.
This development, if not immediately checked, will metamorphous to something worse than banditry. Now that people’s farmlands are being turned to mining sites, there will surely be resistance.
The state Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Wasiu Abiodun, confirmed that the police received complaints from residents over the activities of miners, but said the command would issue an official statement on the matter later.


Imo parliament approves renaming of Eastern Palm University after Mbadiwe | EduCeleb
18th February 2021
The Imo State House of Assembly has given a nod to the conversion of Eastern Palm University (EPU) into the K. O Mbadiwe University.
This comes amidst the ownership controversy surrounding the school allegedly owned by the former Governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha.
The approval followed an executive bill presented by the Deputy Majority Leader of the House and members representing Ehime-Mbano state constituency, Emeka Nduka during plenary on Wednesday.
The bill tagged, “a bill for a law to repeal the establishment of Eastern Palm University (EPU) law 2019 to enable the House to re-enact law for the establishment of K. O. Mbadiwe University in Imo State and other related matters,” was given an accelerated hearing and passed into law.
Some members of the Assembly who reacted to the bill apportioned blame on the 8th House of Assembly which earlier passed the EPU bill into law.
Mbadiwe was a First Republic Nigerian politician.
EduCeleb.com had previously reported the ownership claim by Okorocha.
According to the former governor, he entered into a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) with the Imo State government using Rochas Foundation to sign the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).
It would be recalled that the Senator representing Orlu zone at the National Assembly had faced a series of attacks by Imo people on his claims to have owned the university.
The former Governor had severally been quoted as claiming that 90% of the university belonged to him while 10% was for Imo government.
Further reports had it that a judicial panel set up by the immediate past Governor of the state, Emeka Ihedioha, a couple of days back, finalized its inquiry and investigation to find out that the said institution was built with Imo State money.
Meanwhile, some lawmakers from Okigwe zone including the member representing Obowo state constituency, Kennedy Ibeh have appealed to the state Governor, Hope Uzodinma to consider the zone for the location of its satellite campus.
The Eastern Palm University is currently located at Ogboko in Ideato South Local Government Area of the state, the country home of Okorocha.


Côte d’Ivoire: The New Cabinet Line-up · Global Voices
Claire Ulrich

Suy on  la Côte d'Ivoire au jour le jour – Ivory Coast day by day posted an audio recording [fr] of the Secretary General of the Ivorian presidency announcing the line-up of  the new government, noting also that some already consider as ”overmanning” a line-up of 36 ministers.


This Twitter Account Puts a Face to the Unsung Volunteer Editors Behind Wikipedia · Global Voices
Subhashish Panigrahi

Photo of some of the curators. Image courtesy @WeareWikipedia Project Facebook page
Subhashish Panigrahi is a volunteer contributor for Wikipedia and in past worked as a community and program support consultant for Wikimedia Foundation.
The life of a Wikipedia editor is an interesting one. Globally, about 100,000 editors edit the collaborative online encyclopedia's 30 million articles in 287 languages, including over 4.5 million in the English Wikipedia. They dedicate a tremendous amount of their time to contribute and edit articles, but for no pay (editors work as volunteers) and for little public recognition – their work is credited via their usernames tucked away in the entry's edit history.
Now, one initiative is trying to shine the spotlight on these hard-working “Wikipedians.” WeAreWikipedia is an unofficial project that brings on a different editor each week to curate information regarding their favorite Wikipedia pages and tweet them using the handle @WeAreWikipedia. So far, 19 people representing 17 different language Wikipedias have curated the account.
WeAreWikipedia explains on its blog that it was inspired by a weekly rotation curation handle @WeAreBangalore created by social media strategists from the Indian city of Bangalore in October 2013 to create a space for Bangaloreans to tell their stories, give their opinions or simple connect with other active social media users in the area.
Admin: Most of u r not aware that, one of our previous curators @psubhashish was inspired by us and started global #RoCur @WeAreWikipedia :)
— Bangalore/Rajeev (@WeAreBangalore) June 17, 2014
@WeAreBangalore in turn took its cue from the highly successful @sweden, which turns over the Twitter handle to a different Swede every week as a sort of citizen ambassador program.
The WeAreWikipedia curators also tell personal stories and explain the technicalities of publishing and editing Wikipedia to any readers who ask.
Wherever I go, local Wikipedians are so welcoming and so open to collaboration. I have made friends all around the globe.
— WeAreWikipedia (@WeAreWikipedia) junio 17, 2014
Curators often focus tweets on their Wikipedia language community and country. Two women editors from India, Noopur Raval and Netha Hussain, dedicated many of their publications to facts about women’s rights, issues and development in India while curating the handle during Women’s History Month in March. They also drew attention to an edit-a-thon held in Bangalore that brought 90 women to write about 77 articles related to women in India.
Mariona Aragay, an editor for the Catalan Wikipedia, made a related call for more women editors while she was at the helm of @WeAreWikipedia:
As a wikipedian, it concernes me the low ratio of #woman editors: if you’re a wiki-girl, let us know your experience! #gendergap @wikiwomen
— WeAreWikipedia (@WeAreWikipedia) June 4, 2014
Curators also highlight community events, such as Odisha Dibasa 2014, a gathering at the end of March 2014 of the Odia-language Wikipedia community in the capital of the Indian state of Odisha, where the language is predominantly spoken.
Diptiman Panigrahi, an Odia editor who curated @WeAreWikipedia during the event, talked about his week in a blog post for The Centre for Internet and Society in India:
It was a wonderful experience curating WeAreWikipedia without even much time. Meeting the entire Wikimedia global community was even more fun when I was telling happenings of my own community. I hope to take part in more of such collaborative global issues like this.
You can follow WeAreWikipedia on Twitter, Facebook and on their blog.


Indonesia’s ‘Soft Power’ · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Awis Mranani believes Indonesia should enhance and maximize the full potential of its cultural ‘soft power’ in order to gain more influence in the region and the world.


Vietnam: Netizen’s Reactions to the Olympic Torch · Global Voices
Caroline Finlay

Vietnam’s history has been intertwined with that of China for thousands of years. Wave after wave of Chinese invaders have controlled Vietnam for more than half of the last two millennia, and the influence on Vietnamese language and culture has been stronger than that of any other neighbouring country. The Vietnamese follow Mahayana Buddhism, and Confucianism continues to influence the education system. The Mon-Khmer roots of the Vietnamese language are all but drowned under the pressure of a massive number of Chinese loan words, the adoption of Chinese tonal pronunciation, and until the Latin writing system was adopted, Chinese characters.
Perhaps it’s a human characteristic that the closer we are culturally, the greater we perceive our differences. The Chinese continue to fan the flames of World War II massacres and stoke anti-Japanese sentiment. The Vietnamese do the same – but direct their anger at China. Just as the PRC’s government has given tacit approval for anti-Japanese protests, anti-Chinese protests are the only ones likely to appear on Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh’s streets. Ask a random Vietnamese person, “Which country to you hate the most?” and the answer will most likely be, “China!”. The neighbours have put aside their differences in favour of trade, and in 2005, 17 years after China last invaded northern Vietnam, China became Vietnam’s biggest trading partner.
The Vietnamese have had another opportunity to vent their anti-Chinese feelings with the visit of the Olympics flame’s to Ho Chi Minh city, but unlike anti-Chinese protests in the west, their complaints have nothing to do with Tibet. Popular democracy and freedom protests tend to not be covered in Vietnam’s state-controlled media, and mention of Tibet and of the monks’ protests in Burma was minimal. Instead, the Vietnamese are fixated by the Spratly and Paracel islands, of almost negligible land area but with potential oil deposits, located in the South China Sea between Vietnam, China, Taiwan and the Philippines. All four powers claim and occupy a few of these bits of land sprinkled across one of the most travelled seas in the world.
Vietnamese youth protesting against Chinese claims to Spratly and Paracel Islands in December 2007. More images at Flickr.
Anti-China protests are led by Vietnam’s youth, who also make extensive use of the internet. The pressure from pro-Spratly youth led to reports of famous singer My Tam refusing to carry the Olympic torch. The following was posted as a picture file, not text, because net censors and their search engines cannot read it – showing bloggers are aware of Vietnam’s increasing internet censorship. I will refrain from posting the blogger’s name or url.
“Lo ngai về tình hình bất ổn chính trị liên quan đến ngọn đuốc, MT đã bị ép buộc cầm đuốc trong ngày 29/4. . . .Vì tin tức MT từ chối rước đuốc đã nhanh chóng lan truyền trên mạng internet, forum…trên đài truyền hình và báo chí nước ngoài gây nên 1 làn sóng xôn xao và hoang manh rất lớn. Tin tức cho biết MT sẽ kh được duyệt xét xuất cảnh trong thời gian rước đuốc cũng như có thể gặp khó khăn sau này.”
“You should be very worried about the current state of affairs and the unacceptable policy regarding the torch relay – MT [My Tam] will be forced to carry the torch on 29/4… Because the news of MT refusing to carry the torch spread quickly through the internet and on forums…on television and in foreign newspapers, it caused a tumultuous and alarming impact wave. The news told us that MT will not be able to get permission to leave the country during the torch procession and that she may face difficulties in the future.”
The government’s reaction to a popular a internet dissent was to nip it in the bud and make a point of having My Tam carry the torch. The pop artist was later pictured smiling on April 29th when she took her turn on the streets of Ho Chi Minh city between the Chinese guards in their blue jumpsuits.
Protests were also a possibility during the torch relay, but they were very small and easily controlled.
Blogger haivuong63 posted this article outlining an effective protest[vn] at the torch relay. Again, the cautious language shows haivuong63 is aware of net censors and of promoting protests.
theo tôi mục đích cần xác định rõ hòng có thái độ thích hợp… là lên tiếng về sự xâm lấn biển đảo nước ta của nhà cầm quyền Trung Hoa…cụ thể là Hoàng Sa và Trường Sa thân yêu. Vậy không nên lầm lẫn với việc ngăn cản buổi rước đuốc…Hãy xác định đây là cuộc biểu tình ôn hoà vì Hoàng Sa – Trường Sa. Chúng ta không nên phản đối ngọn đuốc thể thao dù đã bị bắc kinh lợi dụng…
according to me, the protest must have a clear goal and an appropriate manner, which is to raise our voices about China’s invasion of Vietnam’s sea and land areas… specifically in our beloved Spratly and Paracel islands. Because of this we shouldn’t act wrongly by hampering the torch procession…We must intend this to be a protest gentle protest for Spratly and Paracel. We shouldn’t oppose the Olympic torch even though it has been taken advantage of by Beijing.
Many Vietnamese people remain deeply suspicious of their increasingly powerful northern neighbours, shown by blogger Ngu Yen’s stinging reply to vuonghai63:
Con thấy mình có biểu tình cũng không thể lấy lại được 2 quần đảo, vì nhà nước mình đã chấp nhận im lặng, và tụi TQ thì quá mạnh về quân sự. Thật ra nếu nó muốn đánh chiếm VN, nó đã có thể. Hơn nữa, bộ trưởng quốc phòng mới của TQ là một kẻ kiêu căng ngạo mạn, lại hiếu chiến. Nhà nước mình không thể thay đổi được gì vì gián điệp Trung Quốc đầy rẫy và nắm các chức vụ chủ chốt trong bộ máy nhà nước. . .
I feel that if we have a protest that we still wouldn’t be able to get the two island chains back because our country has already silently accepted the situation and because gang-like China’s military is too strong. Truthfully, if it wanted to invade Vietnam, then it could. Furthermore, China’s new defence minister is an arrogant, self-important and trigger-happy man. Our country can’t do a single thing [about Spratly and Paracel] because China’s spies are everywhere and hold key posts in the government’s machinery.
The Vietnamese people feel empowered at the opportunity to protest a historically bellicose neighbour, but that highlights the fact that protests at home are so few and far between, and any protest can be dangerous. Blogger Dong A SG protested for Spratly and Paracel in January 2008 and was arrested and held incognito for alarming the blogging community. The official reason for the arrest was tax evasion, but shortly before being arrested, bloggers report Dong A SG as having visited pro-Spratley and Paracel blogger Dieu Cay.
Now that Vietnam has entered the WTO it doesn’t face the international human rights pressure it used to, and at the same time Vietnam is under pressure from trade partner China. This a combination that may even eliminate the one doorway for Vietnamese youth to practice activism – anti-Chinese activism.
This article was originally posted on China Beat


Video of a rowdy sheeter being killed in Bangalore is falsely shared as violence against Muslims in Tripura - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
November 1, 2021
A video accompanied by a post is being widely shared on social media claiming that people from the Sangh Parivar were thrashing Muslims in Tripura. Let us fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Video of people from Sangh Parivar thrashing Muslims in Tripura.
Fact: The video actually shows the killing of a rowdy sheeter in Ashok Nagar, Bangalore. The incident happened on the night of 20 April 2021 when a gang attacked the victim with lethal weapons and escaped. Protest rallies were taken out by religious organisations in Tripura, against the vandalism of temples and Durga Puja pandals in Bangladesh on 15 October 2021. During some of these rallies, miscreants reportedly vandalised several houses, shops, and a mosque. This video has gone viral amidst such reports of violence in Tripura. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
When reverse image search is done on the screenshots of the video, the same video was found in an article published on 26 April 2021. The article, which is written in Kannada says that a rowdy sheeter named Ravi Varma alias Appu (30) was murdered by a rowdy sheeter Dinesh and another gang in Bangalore’s Ashoka Nagar area. Even according to ETV Bharat’s Facebook post, the video of the rowdy sheeter’s assassination went viral on social media.
Taking a cue from the ETV Bharat article, several news reports about the incident were found when searched on google with relevant keywords. According to an article by The Hindu, Ravi Verma was a habitual offender who was stabbed to death in front of his house in Ashok Nagar, Bangalore. Ravi Verma alias Appu (30) was a rowdy sheeter in Vivek Nagar police station who was hacked to death in Ashok Nagar police station limits. The incident happened on the night of 20 April 2021 when a gang attacked the victim with lethal weapons and escaped.
Protest rallies were taken out by religious organisations in Tripura, against the vandalism of temples and Durga Puja pandals in Bangladesh on 15 October 2021. During some of these rallies, miscreants reportedly vandalised several houses, shops, and a mosque. This video has gone viral amidst such reports of violence in Tripura.
To sum it up, a video of a rowdy sheeter being killed in Bangalore is falsely shared as violence against Muslims in Tripura.


Taiwan: Citizens against Gaza Conflict · Global Voices
Portnoy Zheng

Two pledge and joint signature movements against Gaza conflict just started at almost the same time today in Taiwan. One is initiated (zh) by Chuiyung Cheung(張翠容), a senior HK journalist and well-known blogger (zh) who has visited Gaza and most middle-east countries for many times, and Qiu Yanliang(丘延亮), a ex-political prisoner, long-time scholar, activists, and manager of an online activists group “Young-turks” (zh) in Taiwan. The other is started by Amnesty International in Taiwan, with already 16 local parties and groups and citizen media, like “Au-mag” (zh), co-signing the pledge.


India: Branding Through Social Media · Global Voices
Rezwan

Dina Mehta shares 10 tips on branding through social media for startups and small businesses.


Courting the "Ethnic Vote" - New Canadian Media
Samantha Lui
September 24, 2015
While immigrant communities across Canada made a significant impact on the last federal election in 2011, much work still needs to be done to increase the presence of visible minorities in Canadian politics.
This was the consensus formed during a panel discussion called, “Courting the ‘Ethnic Vote’: Immigration and Multiculturalism in the 2015 Federal Election,” which took place September 22 at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs.
Both political experts and media professionals spoke during the panel, discussing factors such as media coverage of minority candidates, how to cater to immigrants and the importance of having visible minorities run for office. Participants emphasized that immigrants are not a monolithic voting block, but need to be courted if parties hope to win this fall.
According to Chris Cochrane, an associate professor with the University of Toronto’s department of political science, he’s seen a spike in support for the Conservatives amongst immigrants between 2005 to 2011 who have shifted their support from the Liberals and the New Democrats.
“There’s story after story about the remarkable success the Conservatives enjoyed amongst immigrant communities in the last election,” Cochrane said, referring to media reports.
He continued, “The story itself makes perfect sense if you look at the results. Stephen Harper realized that they couldn’t win as a rural party. The soundest footing for the Conservatives would be [to form] an alliance between rural western Canada and suburban Ontario. In order to win that, they would have to make inroads amongst immigrant communities.”
Much work still needs to be done to increase the presence of visible minorities in Canadian politics.
But while there’s no shortage of media coverage for how the Conservatives came out on top during the 2011 federal election, Erin Tolley, an assistant professor in political science at the University of Toronto, noted that the media is problematic in other ways.
While she says news coverage is not racist, Tolley argues that journalists’ news judgment are often racialized when it comes to reporting on visible minority candidates.
“I found that racial minority candidates tend to be portrayed as products of their socio-demographic characteristics with far more attention given to their backgrounds and culture than is the case for white candidates,” she says.
“In addition, I found that racial minority candidates are much less likely to appear in stories about pressing election issues like the economy even when those candidates present themselves as being interested and concerned about those issues.”
In Tolley’s presentation, she gave examples of media coverage on Conservative party member Tim Uppal. The media often paid very close attention to his immigrant background, his Punjabi heritage, his turban and his beard. This she says, “explicitly painted him as different from the norm.”
Another example given by Tolley were reports on Liberal candidate Ruby Dhalla that mention her past as a Bollywood actress. Tolley argues that this type of coverage undermines the skills and qualifications Dhalla brings to the arena as a politician.
“Racial minority candidates tend to be portrayed as products of their socio-demographic characteristics.”
While Tolley says such coverage in the media are intended to be innocuous, she suggests that there is a need for more training for journalists when it comes to reporting on diversity. She notes that the “Canadian Press Stylebook” has a section on sexism, but not on racism. The only section that touches on this is called “Race and Ethnicity.”
“Many of the journalists that I talked to didn’t think this was necessary,” said Tolley. “They talked about how the standard for the coverage is fairness and accuracy and that they really only mention race when it’s relevant to news stories.”
How the media covers visible minorities in Canadian politics wasn’t the only topic covered during the panel. How to attract minority voters was also front and centre during the discussion.
Jane Hilderman is the executive director of Samara, a non-partisan group that aims to connect and reconnect Canadians to politics and democracy through research and discussions.
Noting that the last federal election had a voter turnout of 61 per cent, Hilderman argues that there needs to be better ways to socialize people into politics, especially as many newcomers to Canada may come from places with different political institutions and traditions.
Part of Samara’s approach to improving the way immigrants get involved in politics is through community programs such as Democracy Talks, Hilderman explained, which are facilitated conversations where people can ask about issues and experiences they have with politics.
Through those conversations, Samara has also developed a Vote PopUp kit, which provides community groups with training on how to vote. It aims to demystify the voting process and explain why exercising your right to vote is important.
On getting immigrants politically engaged, New Canadian Media’s Ranjit Bhaskar said it should be a grassroots effort. It would help if political leaders show genuine interest in the well-being of their constituents instead of merely pandering to the “ethnic” among them, Bhaskar said.
“I predict that immigrants will vote much more in this coming election.”
He gave the example of former Toronto Mayor Rob Ford as someone who, although he did not specifically target ethnic voters, still elicited their support by taking up issues that mattered to them. “He was the one mayor who visited the run-down, cockroach-infested apartments of immigrant families to check on their living conditions,” Bhaskar explained.
With reference to the current federal campaign, Bhaskar said issues such as Bill C-51, Bill C-24, family reunification, small business taxes and recognition of foreign credentials are seen as important to immigrant voters.
Global Diversity Exchange’s executive director Ratna Omidvar agreed, stating that these issues will have a major impact on the election results along with the ongoing refugee crisis.
“We have 30 more ridings in the country this coming election. Most of them are in the outer rings of vote-rich, minority-rich Toronto and Vancouver. In many of these new ridings, there are only minorities who are running,” she said.
“I predict that immigrants will vote much more in this coming election than they have in the past because they will have people who are running for power who look like them.”


Hong Kong: Democracy Activist? · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Seven Pillars of Wisdom wonders why CNN titled Anson Chan as Democracy Activist while the more accurate title should be AP's Pro-democracy candidate [zh]. The blogger thinks the difference reflected the media's political stance.


South Africa: MXit vs Facebook · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Comparing MXit and Facebook in South Africa: “BMI-TechKnowledge Group have released a Digital Lifestyles Predictions report with some really interesting info re: MXit and Facebook use within the major cities of South Africa with this pretty graph to go with it.”


India and Bollywood Buzz · Global Voices
Kamla Bhatt

This week Bollywood was the dominant topic of conversation among bloggers. Bollywood dominated for a couple of reasons.  The first one is the wedding of the year or the decade or the century however you want to dub it. If you missed the news then here it is: Bollywood's hottest pair and the current power couple: Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai, dubbed as “Abhiash” tied the knot today.
The second reason is the Richard Gere-Shilpa Shetty kiss. Here is what happened Hollywood actor Richard Gere was in India to help with an AIDS awareness campaign. During a public AIDS campaign event, Gere grabbed Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty and kisser her on the cheek and the rest is history, and apparently there are a couple of legal cases filed against Gere.
In the following couple of paragraphs I have tried to capture a wide range of reaction from Indian bloggers about the Gere-Shetty kissing episode.
Jay Tipnis perhaps captures the feelings of many bloggers and tries to make sense of the kissing episode. Yes, India is a conservative country, but look what they are showing on TV ma, what do I make of it seems to be Jay's strand of thinking. He writes;
“We can say that India is a very conservative country and that this was an unnecessary display by Gere and Shetty but I stand confused because I watch Hindi movies and there are more displays of suggestive dancing by scantily clad women all over the screen than this side of an MTV Spring Break special. On television, Indian serials are full of women carrying on affairs, murdering family members, and plotting world domination yet a kiss between two friends on stage at a rally meant to raise awareness apparently is now a slight against the conservative morals of the country. If that is not the most hypocritical thing I have ever seen then I don't know what is.”
GV Krishnan a retired journalist turned blogger shares his opinion about the Shilpa Shetty-Richard Gere kissing episode and why the media may perceived the episode differently from Shilpa. Shilpa. He writes:
“Shilpa's outburst at the media is understandable. What she perhaps doesn't understand is that media, much of it anyway, isn't there to put things in a positive light, but to report them as they perceive it. Media has celebrity bias. Had Richard Gere done it with a plain Jane, HIV positive, picked out from a AIDS awareness campaign meeting, the photo would still have made the papers, but on an inside page. Media knows how not to over-react, Shilpa.”
Amrit of Writing Cave is critical of some political parties and organizations and their reaction to the Gere-Shetty episode He writes:
“The Shiv Sainiks and other Hindu organizations are always a nuisance. These losers have nothing better to do in their lives, and like Islam, for them the Hindu sanskriti (culture, way of life) too is always under attack and needs to be protected sedulously. They have been burning the effigies of Shilpa Shetty. Although the secularists will jump at the opportunity and call it as “Hindu fundamentalism”, I simply term it as an annoyance and a law-and-order problem. These Shiv Sainiks should be arrested and put behind bars for a few years because otherwise they will keep finding one danger to their sanskriti or another.
In another such incident, an obscure Hindu organization called The Hindu Rashtriya Sena ransacked the Star News office in Mumbai for covering an incident the Sena found objectionable. The main problem here is the languor our police force shows. Arresting these hooligans after they have done the damage only furthers their cause and they become heroes amidst their communities. They should be tackled with before they can do any harm to the society.
Talking of society, unless such activists are treated like the outcasts instead of the culture-protectors, nothing much can be expected to happen.”
And as if mainstream media in India and abroad did not have a field day covering the Gere-Shetty episode, here in America Jon Stewart took a humorous swipe at the entire Shetty-Gere episode as I wrote in one of my post.
The second and dominant Bollywood news is the wedding of Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan.   An American In Athens has a pretty comprehensive post on the marriage of these two actors and writes:
“You may be asking yourselves, “who are these people and why do I care?” Fair enough, they’re not Greek and have nothing to do with Greece, but Ab and Ash are the Indian equivalent of Pitt and Jolie, thus representing the union of two of the richest, most recognizable families in India…What makes this interesting is she is 33, two years his senior and marrying for the first time in a country where most women marry before they’re 20 or 25. Rai is also much more established and successful than her soon-to-be husband, who only rose to prominence in 2004.”
This wedding has been the talk of mainstream media, who appear to have ignored other big news stories in Bangalore writes The World As We Know It. Apparently there is a public transport strike in Mumbai that has largely gone unnoticed by mainstream media and they write:
“Why can't they focus on the bigger picture? I mean where does the problem actually lie? Why do these strikes happen often? Isn't that what journalism is suppose to be?
We are really disappointed with the deteriorating standards of journalism.
The only news or rather ‘irrelevant stories’ they write about is the wedding of Bollywood actor Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai. The news about their pre-wedding ceremonies, list of invitees etc is spread across several pages in a newspaper. What difference does it make to any of our lives? Have they done anything significant to deserve this kind of publicity?”
Farazan Versey of Cross Connections also wonders about the mainstream media's obsession with the Abhishek Bachchan-Aishwarya Rai wedding. She writes about a TV reporter's attempt to gatecrash the wedding, and how other events in the city are slipping by unnoticed by mainstream media. Farazan writes:
“Where were these enthusiastic reporters when 700 hutments were demolished two days ago? I could not even find a report to post here. The only evidence I saw was a picture of the devastated site with a child carrying a fan from the debris.”


Youth and poverty task force | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Social Development Commission
April 8, 2014
The Social Development Commission (SDC) has appointed a task force to focus on the impact of poverty on youth in Milwaukee County. The task force will hold two community town hall meetings to gather input from community stakeholders on this issue, and its two co-chairs will meet with local policymakers and government officials to gain a greater understanding of the youth advocacy work already being done. The task force intends to complete its work by July 1.
“The cyclical theme of poverty in our community is having an adverse impact on the lives of our youth,” said Dr. Demond Means, task force co-chair. “ It is imperative that we reevaluate our collective efforts as a community to ensure we are effectively closing the opportunity gap for the children of Milwaukee County.”
The task force has been charged with analyzing the impact of poverty on youth in Milwaukee County, identifying root causes of poverty, creating sound recommendations and practical strategies related to the root cause of poverty and developing recommendations for policy changes at the city, county and state government levels. “The plight facing children in Milwaukee is something that impacts all of us,” said Dr. Gary Williams, co-chair. “If children do not see hope in their future, then as elders we are failing them and failing ourselves.”
Dr. Means is the superintendent of schools for the Mequon-Thiensville School District and a Milwaukee resident. He was elected to the SDC Board of Commissioners last fall, and he is known statewide for his advocacy in the area of closing the achievement gap for students. Dr. Williams is an associate professor in the Department of Educational Policy and Community Studies at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, and is also the director of the Institute for Intercultural Research.
Dr. Williams was appointed to the SDC Board last fall and serves his home community of Brown Deer as school board president. “The need for the task force was something that SDC Board President Gerald Randall and I felt was necessary for SDC to truly meet the needs of the community,” said George Hinton, CEO of the SDC. “As poverty continues to infiltrate every element of life in Milwaukee County, it is important for SDC to take a stand and figure out where we can help our constituents.”


Serbia: 50 Human Rights Tasks · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Belgrade 2.0 comments on Goran Miletic's “fifty human rights tasks that new government should do.”


Lithuania: Rumours of IMF-support exaggerated · Global Voices
Vilhelm Konnander

Lituanica comments on the Lithuanian government's ambivalence to turning to the International Monetary Fund for loans due to effects on the country of the international financial crisis.


Syria: Longing for Approval  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

“It just seems that those who are most critical of and most aggressive towards the “decaying west” appear to be, at the end of the day, the most desperate for its approval, at least subconsciously,” comments Yazan from Syria on statements made by politicians on safeguarding the Muslim culture from Western influences.


Buhari Order Completion Of Projects, As Osinbajo Presides Over First 2022 Meeting - Liberty TV/Radio - News - Voice For All! Vision For Alll!
Publisher (A.M)
January 19, 2022
The completion of these ongoing projects is top on the agenda as Vice
President Yemi Osinbajo presides over the first Federal Executive
Council, FEC, meeting in 2022.
The meeting also deliberated on the implementation of the
N17.12Trillion budget signed by President Mohammadu Buhari late last
year.
The Vice President is standing in for President Buhari who is attending
the inauguration of the Gambian President.
Amongst the memos discussed, the Ministry of Works and Housing has
the highest number of items.
These include the Lagos to Ibadan expressway, the Abuja-Kaduna and
Kano expressway and the 2nd Niger bridge, which the President said
must be completed in 2022, while MDAs have been asked to put new
projects on hold, especially those not covered by the 2021 and the 2022
budgets.
President Buhari departed Abuja, early Wednesday, for Banjul, Republic
of The Gambia, to attend the inauguration of Gambian President, Adama
Barrow, following his re-election for a second term.
He is expected back in the country at the end of the inauguration
ceremonies.


China: Manufacturing abandon infants · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Research-China.Org translated an article, Manufacturing abandon infants, from Southern Metropolis News that describes how the international adoption program provides incentive to local authorities in confiscating new born children from their natural born parents.


India: Do Not Evict The Chakmas · Global Voices
Rezwan

Paritosh Chakma at Musings of a Chakma draws attention to the fact that in Mizoram state of India the land of many Chakma indigenous population have been acquired by the government to make way to border fencing along the Mizoram-Bangladesh border. “There is no plan to rehabilitate the displaced Chakmas who form about half of the state’s Chakma population,” informs the blogger.


Groups Pledge $75,000 to Help Some Milwaukee Families Buy Water Filters | WUWM 89.7 FM - Milwaukee's NPR
WUWM 89.7 FM
Published October 7, 2016 at 12:30 PM CDT


What Do Brazil and Turkey Have in Common? · Global Voices
Paula Góes

Brazil and Turkey are thousands of kilometers away from each other, but they have something in common: both countries went out to the streets to protest for their rights as citizens and are now struggling against the excessive violence and oppression from the police.
V for Vinegar is a website created to track protests and promote petitions about relevant causes in each country: in Brazil, for the demilitarization of the Police [pt], and for the immediate end to the violence in Turkey [tr].


China: Uncle Tea · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Zhongguotese wrote a letter to uncle tea (national security guards) who like to invite netizens for a cup of tea (investigation). The blogger believed that they are just getting their job done so as to feed their family, he hope that they can try to do thing differently within their own capacity for the future of China.


Chile: Tu Sunami jabs at President, quakes and aftershocks · Global Voices
Juliana Rincón Parra

From Chile, a video mashup by tintoweno mixes McHammer, Storm Troopers and the Chilean president Sebastián Piñera as comic relief: adding  humor to the tense situation lived in Chile as they still experience very  strong aftershocks after the February 27th 8.8 earthquake. The video's name, Tu Sunami refers the President's  slip up when he mispronounced Tsunami.


Afghanistan: Elections could be problematic · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Bipasha Ray says that while president Karzai attempts to project his authority to prepare for a possible re-election bid, a U.S. Army report finds cause for worry about security in the national elections in Afghanistan.