Mekong Eye - News, analysis and opinion focusing on the environment and sustainability of the Mekong region

2 October 2018 at 14:25  (Updated on 25 March 2021 at 21:34)
David Blake
This article (first of two parts) examines the case of a single, donor-funded irrigation scheme in Cambodia’s Takeo province, in the context of the recent general elections. Project promoters claim that the project is highly sustainable and consider it a shining example of irrigation development in Cambodia. An on-the-ground investigation, however,  reveals a different story, one of a ruling party flexing its might to prop-up a project with poor development outcomes in an effort to wrestle away local management of water resources.
On a mid-July Sunday morning at a small district town, somewhere in Takeo province of Cambodia, a group of casually dressed men and a couple of women sit round tables of the only modern-style coffee shop in town (appropriately named “Power Coffee”), talking excitedly amongst themselves. They look like typical city folk, somewhat out of place in their spotless shirts and shiny shoes in this rather gritty and grimy rural backwater.
At 8 am precisely, they climb into a fleet of seven expensive SUVs and king cab pick-ups, before driving towards Prey Kabbas market, with a pair of police motorbike outriders up front. I spot a gleaming white Range Rover, a Lexus LX570 Sport, a Mitsubishi Pajero, a Toyota Hi-Lux “Revo”, a Toyota RAV4L amongst the departing convoy, half of which are sporting the distinctive Cambodian People’s Party logo stickers. A loudspeaker blares out a recorded message to the handful of people and smattering of mangey dogs pottering along the main street at that hour.
No sooner have they gone, than another loudly amplified political speech comes into earshot, but this time simply broadcast from the back of a single motorbike with a driver and pillion passenger gamely holding a large flag bearing a green triangle against a white background – the logo of the Grassroots Democratic Party. It’s one of the 29 opposition parties, hoping to wrest political control of parliament away from the CPP on general election day in two weeks’ time. Though on the basis of this demonstration of the vast differential in wealth and resources between the incumbent rulers (Hun Sen has been premier for 33 years thus far) and the challengers, it is hard to imagine such smaller parties making much of a dent in the CPP’s firm grip on power. Their task was made all the more difficult when, in September 2017, Hun Sen dissolved the popular Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) and subsequent jailed its leader, Kem Sokha, invoking a heightened climate of fear and intimidation across the country.
Prey Kabbas could be a typical rural town in any of the provinces surrounding Phnom Penh during the 2018 general election run-up. However, what singled it out and prompted my visit was not so much the David and Goliath show of vote canvassing, but that Prey Kabbas also happens to be the location of what is considered by an Australian bilaterally funded development project as the most successful example of irrigation development amongst its twenty or so schemes scattered across Cambodia.
The misleadingly-named Cambodian Agriculture Value Chain Program (CAVAC) project (1) has sunk a full ten percent of its overall US$ 45 million grant into this single scheme, known as Wat Thmey. It has been a favourite site to take visitors to show off the project’s reported “triumphs” as a “sustainable” and “proof of concept” scheme. (2) I had been purposefully referred to it by CAVAC staff early last year prior to an initial visit that had raised a number of issues of concern regarding claims made about its sustainability. This second visit was primarily timed to observe the project under rainy season conditions, with the election crossover purely a fortuitous coincidence, but one that happened to reveal a close link between donor-funded irrigation development and dominant party politics in an authoritarian state.
It has long been claimed by certain academics and keen observers that there is an intuitive relationship between the power held by ruling elites and the social engineering of populations via control of water resources (including both large-scale irrigation and flood control developments) in particular formations of a bureaucratic state, known as hydraulic societies.
Such connections have been both theorized and empirically documented for various Asian societies, both historically and contemporaneously, but most controversially argued on a grand scale by the Sinologist, Karl Wittfogel, in his classic book, “Oriental Despotism: A Study of Total Power”. Debates about the conceptual value of this book still rumble on, over 60 years after its publication, though it is worth noting that more hydraulic infrastructure has been built globally in this modern period than the entire historical period preceding it.
Cambodia is no exception, with most hydraulic infrastructure having been built (or “rehabilitated”) in the last three decades, coinciding neatly with the inexorable rise of the CPP. Given Cambodia’s historical past (not least the lengthy Angkorian and brief Khmer Rouge eras) and recent adoption of a hydraulic development paradigm, it would seem like a good place to put elements of Wittfogel’s hydraulic society theory to the test, in particular the purported links between political elites, irrigation development and social control.
The Wat Thmey scheme in Prey Kabbas, funded by Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) is relatively modest in scale as irrigation projects go in Cambodia, with a target command area of about 2,100 ha. It is a rehabilitated Khmer Rouge era scheme that relies on water pumped by electricity in two stages from a seasonal wetland lake along a main canal and then supplied via gravity-fed canals to fields. CAVAC claims it has supplied over 2,300 households with irrigation water, but as my last visit indicated and was reiterated during the present visit, this is a gross exaggeration of actual numbers (perhaps by a factor of four to six times in terms of land irrigated and households reached).
Meetings with farmers cultivating land right next to the CAVAC-built canals revealed that many prefer not to access the project water supply but rely on their own on-farm water sources, either from groundwater or surface water pumps, which avoids paying the water user fee (viewed by them as excessive) and allows them to receive water at a time of their own choosing.
Essentially the project has been counting all households in a theoretical command area as beneficiaries, even though many neither receive water from the canals nor pay into the Farmer Water User Community (FWUC) organization established to manage the scheme. The exaggeration of numbers claimed by both the FWUC committee and CAVAC management appears to be a device to make the project impact seem greater than is actually the case to the donor and government.
This paradigm of poor accountability and critical evaluation remains the norm it seems, as indicated by a 2017 Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) funded project evaluation of CAVAC that failed to exercise due diligence by conducting a rigorous ground-truthing exercise with regards to project claims, but instead relied mainly on CAVAC’s self-generated data to base the consultant team’s judgements. In their report, the review team claim to have visited several projects (including Wat Thmey) and conducted an assessment of sustainability criteria for each of CAVAC’s irrigation projects (shown in Annex 5 of the report).
For Wat Thmey, they state that the project has connected 100 percent of the targeted command area, 100 percent of farmers are paying the Irrigation Service Fee (ISF), the life of project is projected to be 20 years, the FWUC is “well-functioning” and will continue to be so in the future, and award a maximum “scheme sustainability score” of 10, which was the highest of any irrigation project in the CAVAC portfolio. This calls into question how long the review team actually spent on the ground at Wat Thmey, who they met besides CAVAC project staff, government officials and FWUC representatives, and whether they were free to talk to ordinary farmers at a number of locations across the site?
Gilding the lily of CAVAC project impacts by using spurious figures is one matter, but of more concern to the donors and Australian tax payer ought to be the way that aid funding is being used to prop up the CPP-Hun Sen regime, recognized to be the most corrupt in Southeast Asia. While CAVAC likes to portray it is running a series of innovative, participatory and decentralized water management schemes, exemplified by its support for FWUCs (as noted in various project reports on its website), the reality is rather different to the rhetoric.
When I visited the Wat Thmey scheme in July, it was evident that the FWUC and hence the scheme’s management had effectively been taken over by the CPP and was a now a party political institution. Moreover, I was informed by a senior CAVAC manager based in Phnom Penh that CAVAC field staff had been barred by the Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology (MoWRAM) from going to the site during the election period, thus leaving a major hole in the original management model. In Prey Kabbas, I found that three months previously there had been a putsch of the former FWUC chairman, who had been a CNRP supporter, with the new FWUC chairman and committee entirely made up of CPP appointees.
Coincidentally, we bumped into the new chairman and his deputy on the day we arrived at Wat Thmey, as he inspected the main project water pumping station and checked his large flock of ducks grazing the nearby paddies. Perhaps under the impression I was a representative of an NGO or donor organization and having noted that CAVAC funding was due to end next year, he was quick to lobby me for future financial support for the project, evidently unsure how the project would survive without it.
The chairman explained that the cost of water pumping was becoming increasingly expensive, largely due to rising electricity costs and punishing costs of system maintenance. In particular, he was worried about how the committee might repair the CAVAC pump, as last time it was repaired by a CAVAC-provided foreign engineer at a cost of $2,739 to the FWUC. Apparently, there was nobody trained locally to repair it and he was worried that should it break down again beyond the CAVAC project life then they would not be able to afford to cover the cost. However, this expense paled into insignificance against the continual rise in canal repair costs from $30,000 in 2016 to a reported $60-70,000 in 2017.
As the project constructs more concrete secondary lateral canals, these operation and maintenance costs will only carry on rising. Indeed, electricity bills were reported to be $6,000 per month for the 1 rice crop and a hefty $18,000/month for the 2 crop, contradicting claims by the evaluation team than schemes like Wat Thmey exhibit “relatively low operating costs” (DFAT evaluation, p.33).
All these costs will have to be met from the irrigation service fee (ISF) paid by farmers for receiving water and collected by the FWUC. The ISF is set by the FWUC committee after the costs of a season’s pumping, system maintenance and committee expenses have been totted up and divided amongst water users, so it varies from season to season.
However, as rice production input costs have been rising over recent years, especially the cost of artificial fertilizer and pesticides, but also fuel, ploughing and harvesting costs, the uncertain and less-than-transparent water user fee paid retrospectively can seem like an additional unwanted financial burden to the farmer, already operating on minimal profit margins that rarely takes into account the cost of household labour in its calculation.
It was my sense that many families might discover they are operating at a loss, if they cared to calculate their labour costs, so preferred to ignore it. Rice yields are either stable or declining, with pests and disease a growing problem; something which could be expected under such intensively farmed double mono-cropping conditions. Farmers were relying on sons and daughters going to work outside the village to send money home to cover agricultural expenses, throwing into doubt most of the “poverty reduction” claims made by CAVAC. Management privately admitted that there are far better opportunities for employment outside the agricultural sector – and indeed farmers overwhelmingly said that they did not want their sons and daughters to follow them down the road of agriculture for a living.
Last season the water user fee was $55/ha for the 1 (or “recession”) rice crop (Oct to Jan/Feb) and $65/ha for the 2 (or “early wet”) rice crop (April to July). There is apparently a range of fees charged, depending on the relative elevation of land above or below the canal and whether the farmer has to pump into the fields or water is supplied by gravity.
The FWUC Chairman told me that he was concerned that farmers may not pay the ISF once the CAVAC project ended. Farmers indicated to me that they thought the water fee was prohibitively expensive and furthermore, they were not happy with the way the FWUC was run, in particular a perceived lack of transparency and responsiveness to user concerns. Farmers were particularly dissatisfied with the ISF payment system, which varied depending on the individual.
Some paid in cash directly to the FWUC office, whereas others paid electronically to a bank account apparently managed by CAVAC. These farmers claimed it was more convenient for them to do so by smart phone, rather than wait for the treasurer at the FWUC office to be present. However, the FWUC committee complained to us that the system led to confusion for them, as they did not know who had paid nor how much money was in the account at any time, as they had not been given access to it. This arrangement, which seems to have been a CAVAC initiative to make payment easier for some digitally connected farmers and perhaps reduce FWUC committee opportunities for graft, was clearly unsustainable past the life of the project and leading to confusion and mistrust between system members and management.
It was plain to see that the FWUC was far from a democratically run institution (the ordinary water users do not get to vote for the Committee, for instance) or directly accountable to the farmers. Several farmers told us they preferred the previous FWUC chairman, who was more active in his management of the system. Nobody referred directly to the alternative political affiliations of the old and new chairmen, which was clearly a locally divisive issue bubbling under the surface as the scheme became progressively more politicised.
It was apparent that both participation and awareness of the governance system of the FWUC were low, while ordinary farmers were marginalized from decision-making. The FWUC has evidently been co-opted a further tool of the governing party and bureaucracy in exerting centralized social control over citizens.
Despite CAVAC and Jim Adams’ (Chair of the Independent Evaluation Committee) claims that the project was following “a markets systems development approach working closely with the private sector rather than through the Cambodian government”, the heavy emphasis and financial commitment placed on irrigation infrastructure development tends to negate this claim.
Each irrigation scheme is handed over to the provincial office of MoWRAM on completion of construction. The evaluation revealed that over 90 percent of direct activity costs were spent on irrigation hardware (c. $24.6 million), yet only 5 percent of outreach (i.e. extension to water users) costs was spent on the irrigation component and over 90 percent of outreach costs were allocated to the agribusiness component, mostly as subsidies to the private sector.
Far from supporting “market systems”, the irrigation component takes land and water resources out of the hands of farmers and the common pool, and essentially delivers it to the state and ruling party, since MoWRAM itself, as with most if not all bureaucracies in Cambodia, is recognized to be under the effective control of the CPP.
Farmers have become less autonomous and self-reliant post-CAVAC intervention in my view, through being dragged into a system based on monopolistic rice market relations with Vietnam and dependency on a joint quasi-bureaucratic and CPP water resources control regime in which they struggle to have a voice. The private sector has been enabled to sell farmers more artificial fertilizers and pesticides than ever before, but it would be naïve to think that this is a “positive benefit” of CAVAC or promoting sustainability.
The DFAT-funded CAVAC evaluation did concede that there were doubts about the relative value for money of the CAVAC irrigation schemes and that comparisons with other schemes “were complicated by inaccurate figures for traditional schemes on irrigated area and the number of connected households”.
The evaluation missed a considerable opportunity to check the accuracy of CAVAC’s own data claims against the field reality, but instead accepted the figures more or less at face value. This allowed them to describe projects like Wat Thmey as “proof of concept, complete schemes” with “strong sustainability” and a 20 year expected lifespan (DFAT evaluation, p. 40), repeating CAVAC’s words and raising questions about the team’s impartiality.
It is my contention, given that the Wat Thmey scheme was awarded full marks for its sustainability credentials, that the entire stable of CAVAC projects are quite likely unsustainable on economic, social and most definitely, environmental grounds. Several farmers lamented the loss of formerly prolific edible aquatic life from the paddy fields since the rise of intensively farmed double cropped rice, leading to loss of income and varied diet amongst poorer households.
The evaluators singularly failed to place the project activities within a political context that actively works against social and environmental justice and public participation in such development schemes, a pattern that has become more readily apparent in the last eight years of CAVAC’s interventions, a period that has seen worsening national indicators of democracy and human rights.
That CAVAC Phase 2 (2016-21) has been awarded $94 million for expanded activities, including replicating its “successful” irrigation development model to other parts of Cambodia, should be a cause of concern for the Australian taxpayer and legislators. The disconnect between good governance principles, democratic rhetoric and donor actions seems wider than ever.
In the general election on 29 July, Hun Sen’s CPP won with a landslide victory, securing 125 out of 125 seats in the National Assembly, securing over 76 percent of the total ballots cast. Despite a call by CNRP to boycott the election, poll numbers showed a 13 percent rise in voter turnout to 83 percent of the electorate, invoking widespread suspicion of election skullduggery. Accusations that Cambodia is now “a party with a country”, appear more apposite than ever, helped in part by continued irrigational mindsets by those wielding power, backed up by solid material support on the part of international donors and development planners alike.
While donor agendas may be significantly different from that of the CPP and its network, the outcome for ordinary Cambodian citizens caught in the “unintended outcomes” of hydraulic development amounts to essentially the same – greater social control, less local autonomy and declining environmental quality. This case I have highlighted, illustrates how Cambodia’s dominant political network has infiltrated down to the local level through a hydraulic control paradigm, unwittingly aided and abetted by international development assistance.
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David Blake has worked and conducted research on environment and natural resources management issues across the Lower Mekong Basin countries for over 20 years. He has a PhD from the School of International Development at the University of East Anglia on the political ecology of irrigation development in Northeast Thailand.
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Nigeria: More violence in Maza, near Jos · Global Voices
Eremipagamo Amabebe

@page { margin: 0.79in } 		P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } Carmen McCain reports fresh killings near Jos, a city still recovering from deadly riots earlier in the year. “It is with a sick feeling in my stomach that I post this. One of my friends, Godfrey Saeed Selbar…  called me around 11:51am this morning, telling me that there had been “another massacre” in a village not far from where he lives in Jos.” [Warning: Graphic image after the last jump]


Russian Opposition Politician Boris Nemtsov Shot and Killed in Moscow · Global Voices
Tanya Lokot

Boris Nemtsov at a rally in support of prisoners of the Bolotnaya square case, 21 February 2014. Photo by Ilya Schurov. CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Boris Nemtsov, a prominent opposition politician, former Russian deputy prime minister, and one of Vladimir Putin's top critics, has been shot and killed in Moscow. The murder took place in downtown Moscow, minutes from the Kremlin, on a bridge south of the Red Square.
Ilya Yashin, another opposition politician, was the first to confirm Nemtsov's death on Twitter.
Немцова застрелили. Он мертв.
— Илья Яшин (@IlyaYashin) February 27, 2015
Nemtsov has been shot. He is dead.
Journalists and activists were the first to arrive at the scene.
Фотография нашего корреспондента с Большого Каменного моста, места убийства Бориса Немцова pic.twitter.com/1rEW3KobXy
— Медиазона (@mediazzzona) February 27, 2015
A photo from our reporter from the Bolshoy Kamenny bridge, where Boris Nemtsov has been killed.
Just hours before his death, Nemtsov appeared on the Ekho Mosvky radio station to promote a Sunday march that he was supposed to lead with other opposition members to protest the Kremlin's handling of Russia's economic crisis and the conflict in Ukraine.
As the RuNet learned about the tragic event, many were shocked and saddened. Fellow politicians, journalists, and commentators expressed their condolences and shared recollections of Nemtsov. Some also commented on the possible motives for the killing.
There's an opposition march on Sunday. Navalny has been put in jail so he'd miss it. Then they went and shot Nemtsov.
— Julia Ioffe (@juliaioffe) February 27, 2015
Не просто оппозиционера, бывшего вице-премьера убили.
— Tatiana Souvorova (@tsuvorova) February 27, 2015
They didn't just kill an opposition figure, they killed a former deputy prime minister.
Journalist and opposition member Ksenia Sobchak shared memories of Nemtsov.
Знала его хорошо и очень любила. Он обожал жизнь,был настоящим демократом очень порядочным человеком.
— Ксения Собчак (@xenia_sobchak) February 27, 2015
I knew him well and loved him very much. He adored life, was a true democrat, and a very decent person.
Opposition Duma deputy Dmitry Gudkov and journalist Sergey Parkhomenko thought the intolerance of state propaganda was at least partly to blame for the tragic event.
Однозначно политическое убийство. Даже если не по заказу, то в результате той ненависти, которую пропагандировала наша власть
— Дмитрий Гудков (@gudkovd) February 27, 2015
An obvious political killing. Even if this was not a contract hit, it was a result of the hate propagated by our authorities.
А кто-то думал, это истерическое безумие, которое год уже нагоняет госпропаганда, – оно даром пройдет?
— Serguei Parkhomenko (@Sparkhom) February 27, 2015
Did anyone think the hysterical craze that the state propaganda has been generating for a year was just going to dissipate?
Opposition leader Garry Kasparov, who now lives abroad, expressed his condolences as well.
Devastated to hear of the brutal murder of my long-time opposition colleague Boris Nemtsov. Shot 4 times, once for each child he leaves.
— Garry Kasparov (@Kasparov63) February 27, 2015
The US ambassador to Russia, Michael McFaul, was equally stunned by the death.
Nemtsov was a real patriot, who believed in the possibility of Russia's greatness. I cry now both for his family & the country he so loved.
— Michael McFaul (@McFaul) February 27, 2015
Vladimir Putin has reportedly said Nemtsov's death “bears all the marks of a contract killing” and was likely intended to stir unrest or damage the Kremlin's reputation. According to his press secretary, Putin has personally ordered the heads of the Investigative Committee, the Federal Security Service, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs to oversee the investigation into the murder. Other political forces, including members of the Russian Communist party and LDPR, have also called the killing “a provocation” aimed at destabilizing the political situation and hardening “anti-Russian sentiment.”
A little over two weeks ago, in an interview with Sobesednik.ru, Nemtsov said his mother feared for his life, worrying that Putin might have him killed. (Nemtsov said he wasn't as panicked as his mother.) According to colleague Ilya Yashin, Nemtsov was working on a report about the involvement of the Russian military in the conflict in Ukraine. Nemtsov's lawyer, Vadim Prokhorov, said the politician recently received several death threats over social media.
After the police removed the body from the scene, Muscovites started bringing flowers to the bridge.
первые цветы вот. и лужа крови прямо на тротуаре. pic.twitter.com/7mdtZ7pfKy
— Егор Максимов (@egor_mq) February 27, 2015
here are the first flowers. and a puddle of blood right there on the sidewalk.
The organizers of the March 1 opposition rally have already said they're canceling the rally and holding a memorial in downtown Moscow, instead. There are already plans to appeal to city officials for a permit, though the mayor's office has been less than accommodating in the past.


Insecurity: Niger relocates students from 10 schools to 'safer' ones for exams | EduCeleb
31st July 2021
With the incessant raid of many communities including boarding schools in Niger State, the government has shut down 10 out of its 56 existing boarding schools.
It has consequently relocated those affected to safer schools to continue their education elsewhere. Those given priority in the relocation are SSS 3 students who are currently writing their Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE) conducted by the National Examinations Council (NECO).
The State Commissioner of Education, Hajiya Hannatu Jibrin Salihu, who disclosed this while answering questions from journalists after the State Executive Council presided by Governor Abubakar Sani Bello in Minna, on Friday, said the closed-down boarding schools were considered part of the “high risk” boarding schools likely to be invaded by kidnappers.
She explained, “After carrying out security assessment of our schools, we considered some as very “high risk” and this is why we had to close down the schools and relocate the students immediately.
“We are still compiling those schools to be fenced at least to provide security for the students but the slim purse of the government is slowing down the take-off of the project.”
The commissioner, however, said that the state government has taken steps to renovate the sixty-year-old Ahmadu Bahago secondary school, Minna, at a cost of N427million to bring it to a high standard adding that this has been approved by the State executive council.
This according to her is part of the “Whole School Renovation” programme of the state government to give a facelift to the schools in the state.
According to her, the State Government has planned to embark on the security perimeter fencing of all its 400 public secondary schools in the state but due to paucity of fund, it is yet to commence the exercise and therefore decided to close down some boarding Schools.
The education commissioner noted that, despite the security challenges confronting the state, 25 boarding schools in the State are still in operation as they are considered to be operating in relatively low-security atmosphere.
Hajiya Hannatu further said the remaining 21 boarding Schools were converted to Day schools in order to allow the students to continue their education without disruption in the locality.
“The risk assessment of schools is now a continuous exercise as we work hand in hand with PTAs and other stakeholders to actualize our dream,” she remarked.


Webinar - How to Watch - New Canadian Media
UPDATE: Due to the current concerns over coronavirus and as a precautionary measure to prevent transmission of the virus, tomorrow’s NCM – The Walrus Professional Development Workshop for Immigrant Journalists has been CANCELLED.
George Abraham, Publisher – New Canadian Media
Shelley Ambrose, Publisher – The Walrus
Ninu Kang, Director – MOSAIC (Vancouver)
New Canadian Media has teamed up with The Walrus to present The NCM — The Walrus Professional Development Series for Immigrant Journalists, a series of workshops featuring some of Canada’s leading journalists reporting on the immigrant landscape.
(enlarge player size by clicking the bottom-right icon; if the streaming URL/information changes, we will update this page with latest information)


Bahrain: 15 Year Jail Sentences for Medics Who Treated Protesters  · Global Voices
Mona Kareem

This post is part of our special coverage of Bahrain Protests 2011.
After months of detention and a hunger strike, Bahraini medics were released a month ago on bail waiting for their trials. The shock came when the court announced its verdict, sentencing them to 5 to 15 years in jail and accusing them of different charges including threatening public order, possession of weapons, invasion of the country's main hospital, the Salmaniya Medical Complex, and many other fabricated accusations that the regime and its media apparatus have imagined since Bahrain's protests started on February 14, 2011.
The doctors, who have been arrested and subjected to torture because they witnessed the atrocities committed by the state against the protesters first hand, have taken their struggle online, addressing international media and human rights organizations through Twitter and telling the world their stories in their own words.
An online invitation for a sit-in that took place Tuesday afternoon to support Bahraini medics
Among them is Dr Nada Dhaif (@NadaDhaif), who was brave enough to talk about what she has been through in jail and send video letters through Amnesty International and BBC to the world, as part of her testimony. Dhaif, who has been sentenced to 15 years, has accused a member of the Bahraini ruling family  Nourah Al-Khalifa, in her recent interviews, of torturing her and calling her “a Shia pig.”
In one of her tweets, Dhaif, who ran a makeshift clinic to treat the protesters at the Pearl or Lulu Roundabout, the epicenter of  protests in Bahrain, wrote:
@NadaDhaif: Gov spokesperson said that nobody is above the law including members of the royal family. A royal family member was involved in my torture.
Another doctor sentenced to 15 years is Dr Ghassan Dhaif (@ghassandhaif), whose wife Zahra Al-Sammak (@Zahrasammak), has also been sentenced to 5 years. The couple have three children and have been tweeting about their ordeal.
Their predicament comes as a shock to a lot of people knowing that the children of this couple will live without their parents who have only practiced their job as doctors trying to save the lives of wounded protesters. The husband wrote the reaction of his children in several tweets:
@ghassandhaif: My children asked me: Baba are you going to jail for 15 years and mama for 5 years after what you have done to save lives? I broke in tears
@ghassandhaif: My children told me: Baba we are proud of you and mama coz both of you loved people and people loved you. We will wait for both of you.
An activist dressed as a doctor demonstrates in support of those arrested for helping injured protestors in Bahrain. Image by Bahraini1985, copyright Demotix (10/06/2011).
Dr Al-Sammak (@Zahrasammak) tweeted about the time she spent in jail when she was arrested:
Dr Ali Alerki (@DrAlekri), who has also been handed a 15 year prison sentence, doesn't tweet much, but he keeps track by retweeting updates. He was famous for the video that saw him breaking into tears at Salmaniya Medical Complex after seeing all those wounded and having the hospital attacked by riot police.
DR Alerki wrote saying, a few days ago:
One of the dedicated Twitter users for the news of Bahraini medics is (@Freedom4BahDrs) and in the following tweets, he writes down sentences from the medics’ interviews and testimonies:
@Freedom4BahDrs: Bahrain Sentenced Medics: we were prevented from calling or meeting our families. We met them only after 3 months, in bad situation.
@Freedom4BahDrs: Bahrain Detained Medics: we were prevented from showering & changing clothes for 19 days in some cases & we had bad smells coming out of our bodies.
@Freedom4BahDrs: Bahrain Detained Medics: We were prevented from sleep and forced go stand 24 hours, except for few minutes to eat.
@Freedom4BahDrs: Bahrain Detained Medics: We have been tortured physically, physiologically & threatened with rape. We were insulted for our religious beliefs.
@Freedom4BahDrs: Bahrain Detained Medics: They deliberately destroyed contents of our houses, insulted us &beaten us in front of our families.
The doctors’ trial and sentences have created an outcry, both locally and internationally, particularly since the doctors have many years of experience under their belts and are well respected among their patients and peers.
@Anarchist74 wrote saying:
@Anarchist74: You've killed & tortured. You used foreign military force. You've arrested&tortured doctors. You have expelled students. What more?
(@in_bahrain) wrote one more sad tweet in reaction of the court decision:
@in_bahrain: The best doctors, teachers, human rights advocates, entrepreneurs even handball players all in jail! Who's left?
This post is part of our special coverage of Bahrain Protests 2011.


China is a Fan of ‘The Big Bang Theory’ After All · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

“The Big Bang Theory.” From the series’ Google Plus public account.
Like other young people around the world, the Chinese are fans of U.S. TV shows, with the comedy “The Big Bang Theory” one of the more popular.
But American TV viewing in China hit a snag on April 26, 2014, when three major online video platforms, Sohu, Youku and Tencent, received notice from the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) to take down “The Big Bang Theory” along with “The Good Wife”, “NCIS” and “The Practice”. Many believed that the ban was related to the “Cleaning the Web 2014″ campaign, which targets vulgar online content such as pornography for censorship.
“Big Bang Theory” producer Chuck Lorre wrote a tongue-in-cheek response to the news in his official production log:
The government of China has decided that “The Big Bang Theory” is not appropriate for viewing. I have to assume there was some sort of formal process involved in this decision. In all likelihood, a gaggle of communists sat in a darkened room and watched a few episodes. I like to think they took notes that were later used to formulate an official document that detailed the corrosive cultural effects caused by the shenanigans of Sheldon, Leonard, Penny, Wolowitz, Koothrappali, Amy and Bernadette. I like to think that during these screenings one of them laughed out loud and was promptly sent to re-education camp on the outskirts of Urumqi. I like to think one of them was reassured by how often the characters on the show eat Chinese takeout. I like to think there's a Chinese word for shenanigans. Regardless, the whole affair makes me very happy. The overlords of 1.3 billion people are afraid of our sitcom. Exactly what we were going for!
Lorre's American-style humor comes off more like harsh criticism of Chinese authorities when compared to Chinese-style sarcasm. Chinese netizens used the Chinese Communist Party's ideology to argue for the need to show popular American TV shows. Here is one argument for “The Big Bang Theory” via Sina Weibo user “Pretending to be in New York” (@假裝在紐約):
《生活大爆炸》讲述了四位科学青年由于错误地投身资本主义科研事业，最终导致大龄未婚，买不起房长期蜗居在不足150平的房内以垃圾食品为生，尚有一名印度裔口舌残疾患者长期蹲坐在地上进食的惨象。深刻揭示了西方社会种族歧视、社会不公、女性生活腐朽的现实，对我国大批盲目寻求移民的青年有極強的警示作用。
“The Big Bang Theory” is about four young scientists taking the wrong path in the career of capitalist scientific research. Eventually, they are too old to get married and cannot afford to buy an apartment. They are forced to live in a 150-square-meter house and survive on junk food. It is best represented by the pathetic scene of the stammering American Indian having a meal on the floor. [The series] exposes the racial discrimination, social injustice and decadent lifestyle of women in western society and serves as a strong warning for a large number of young people who blindly seek to migrate out of the country.
Soon after the online ban came the news that state broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) will import “The Big Bang Theory”, but dub it using censored “green” translations of the original dialogue.
Bridge blogger Bill Bishop believed that the CCTV used its party connection to obtain a higher audience rating by cracking down on other online shows:
Online foreign video “crackdown” may be as much/more about ratings & ad $$s than ideology 分享网易新闻:「消息称央视引进”生活大爆炸”」 链接 http://t.co/SKjMv4fyKf
— Bill Bishop (@niubi) April 28, 2014
Online foreign video “crackdown” may be as much/more about ratings & ad $$s than ideology. Sharing NetEase news: “Source said CCTV will cast “the Big Bang Theory”. Link http://m.163.com …
But Vanessa Hung from Weibo believed the “green” version is to manipulate cultural exchange:
如果真的不想老百姓受西方文化影响，就干脆现在开始不要学英语了，彻底断了文化交流。这难道就是走向全世界？
If they don't want ordinary people impacted by western culture, they should ban English education altogether and cut out all cultural exchange. This is how they enter the world?
Weibo user “Jilian mountain foot” came up with an allegory to describe the “green” version:
让我想到了一对科学家夫妇生了一个孩子，怕孩子感染细菌，只给他喝蒸馏水，结果不久孩子夭折了。有感于央视删减绿色版《生活大爆炸》
A scientist couple gave birth to a child and they were worried that the baby would be infected by bacteria. They only let the baby drink distilled water. Their baby died soon after. A story to express my feeling towards the CCTV green version of “The Big Bang Theory”.
A news website editor Ge Jia wrote that the ban is related to a new regulation announced by SARFT:
事情的起因并非由于“清网行动“，这几部剧也并非由于内容不健康遭遇处理，而是由于上个月广电总局发布的新管理规定，为了强化网络视听节目的审核，今后所有美剧及英剧将实行”先审后播“的规定。被下架的几步剧，虽然几家视频网站各自拥有从正规渠道获取的版权，但均未经过广电总局的审核，此次下架有可能是要履行必要的程序。
The reason is not related to the “web cleaning”. The content of the banned series are not unhealthy. The ban is related to the new regulation announced by SARFT last month. To strengthen their control of online audio/visual content, all American and British shows have to be approved before being broadcast. Although the video-hosting platforms have officially gained the copyrights to stream the taken down dramas, they haven't obtained approval from SARFT. The takedown is procedural.
A commentary from communist party mouthpiece Global Times newspaper also said the move was due to SARFT's regulation, and further explained that the policy is to protect local TV production.
If the regulation is to be used to the full extent, @xiaodonghhu's nightmare that online platforms could only show the “green” version as approved by SARFT may become real:
前几天的事情，伤心不能平息，特此发泄。。。。生活大爆炸的遭遇不仅意味着美剧、英剧、韩剧甚至日本动画片在国内网站同步播出的历史可能终结，假如相关规定被严格执行，网络正版影视甚至可能重归“译制片”一统天下的时代。
Though the ban happened a few days ago, I am still disheartened. I have to write this to express my feeling… What happened to “The Big Bang Theory” does not only imply that US, UK and Korean TV series and Japanese cartoons can no longer be shown online immediately [soon after they were distributed in the original T.V networks]. If they exercise the regulation to its full strength, all online video streaming platforms will return to the era of unified dubbed series.


Old, unrelated image from 2013 used to portray police response to recent farmers' agitation - Alt News
Arjun Sidharth
3rd October 2018 / 8:16 pm / Last updated: 3rd October 2018
Violent clashes took place between police and farmers on October 2 when security personnel sought to prevent farmers from several states from entering the national capital. The farmers who had been agitating under the aegis of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) were stopped at the Delhi-U.P border, with teargas shells and water cannons deployed to halt their march. In the midst of the uproar over this development, several prominent social media users shared a photograph which showed a policeman brandishing a hand gun in front of a peasant.
Look at the farmer with a brick in his hand, facing a cop with a gun.
If you don’t think the farmer is a terrorist – and I hope you don’t – if you empathise with his anger, I hope you’ll think again before you call a Kashmiri kid with a stone in his hand a terrorist. pic.twitter.com/7Omxax3sWj
— Kavita Krishnan (@kavita_krishnan) October 2, 2018
The above tweet by Kavita Krishnan, activist and politburo member of CPI (ML), drawing parallels between protesting farmers and Kashmiri stone-pelters was retweeted over 2400 times and ‘liked’ over 5400 times. Krishnan later issued a clarification. Among those who shared it was the Twitter account @zoo_bear.
Yesterday I had retweeted a tweet by Kavita Krishnan. The pic was actually from 2013 during meerut clashes and not of recent #FarmersProtest
I apologise for my mistake. 🙁 pic.twitter.com/eXmMh1Hfdc
— Zoo Bear (@zoo_bear) October 3, 2018
On Facebook too, this image has been shared widely with the claim that it was clicked during the farmers’ agitation.
Posted by I am With Barkha Dutt on Tuesday, October 2, 2018
Through a Google reverse image search, Alt News found that the photograph in question is NOT of the recent agitation. It was taken in 2013 and was clicked in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh. An article by The Pioneer dated September 30, 2013 had carried this photograph. The same photo was also published by Indian Express on the same day, credited to PTI and also by The Hindu.
The context of this photograph was the defiance of imposition of section 144 of the CrPC (prohibition of unlawful assembly) after the National Security Act was slapped on BJP leader Sangeet Som, one of the accused in the Muzaffarnagar riots of 2013. The photograph was taken when police tried to prevent villagers from gathering for a mahapanchayat that had been banned by the administration fearing an upsurge in communal tension.
An unrelated image from 2013 was used to portray administrative apathy and heavy-handedness in the wake of the recent farmers’ march. While there is little doubt of violent confrontation between police and agitating farmers, sharing an old image from another incident not only ended up misleading social media users but was representative of confirmation bias.
Arjun Sidharth is a writer with Alt News. He has previously worked in the television news industry, where he managed news bulletins and breaking news scenarios, apart from scripting numerous prime time television stories. He has also been actively involved with various freelance projects. Sidharth has studied economics, political science, international relations and journalism. He has a keen interest in books, movies, music, sports, politics, foreign policy, history and economics. His hobbies include reading, watching movies and indoor gaming.
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Ndesanjo Macha

Hac Lege on state elections in Nigeria: “As expected, the polls at the recently concluded state elections in Nigeria is eliciting condemnation for various quarters, even before an announcement of results. The Independent National Electoral Commission [INEC] has even gone ahead to cancel some of the results from some states in the federation.”


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Paramendra Bhagat has some business ideas that the Nepali diaspora in New York City could work on.


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The Silent Room grapples with what kind of Malay he is. “While being brought up with strong Malay values, they also made sure I was able to converse in English before I set foot in primary school. I was taught to bow and extend my right hand forward when walking in front of elders. Plenty of my typical Malay habits are hardwired, not into my brain, but into my body. There’s quite a few things that I do yet not even realise I do them.”


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It's official: 95% of the Electoral Bonds purchased in 2017-18 went to the BJP
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
November 30, 2018
Data from the annual audit report submitted by the BJP substantiates the assumption that the ruling party at the center would be the biggest beneficiary of the anonymous donations through electoral bonds. BJP was the beneficiary of 95% of the electoral bonds purchased in 2017-18.
The Electoral Bonds were first announced in the 2017-18 budget and the scheme was subsequently notified in January 2018. Factly had earlier written about the bonds, their impact on transparency etc. It was also anticipated that the ruling party at the center would be the biggest beneficiary of these anonymous donations. Data from the annual audit report submitted by the BJP to the Election Commission of India (ECI) further substantiates this assumption. BJP was the beneficiary of 95% of the electoral bonds purchased in 2017-18.
Electoral Bonds worth  ₹ 222 crore were purchased in 2017-18
The electoral bonds scheme was notified in January 2018. March 2018 was the first month when these bonds were available for purchase from four different branches of SBI (Chennai, Kolkata, Mumbai & New Delhi).
Data obtained from SBI using the Right to Information (RTI) revealed that a total of 520 electoral bonds worth ₹ 222 crore were purchased in March 2018. Hence in the year 2017-18, these were the only bonds that were purchased. Most bonds (in terms of number) were purchased in Kolkata where 212 bonds were purchased. In terms of value, most bonds (worth  ₹ 122 crore) were purchased in Mumbai.
BJP received  ₹ 210 crore out of the  ₹ 222 crore
As per the 2017-18 annual audit report submitted by the BJP to the ECI, the party received ₹ 210 crore worth contribution in the form of electoral bonds.  This is a whopping 95% of all the electoral bonds purchased in 2017-18. Since the design of the scheme does not allow for the disclosure of names of the contributors, it is impossible to find out who contributed these ₹ 210 crore to the BJP. Out of the total voluntary contribution of  ₹ 989.7 crore received by the BJP in 2017-18, more than 21% or ₹ 210 crore is through electoral bonds. Even in terms of the total income of the BJP in 2017-18, more than 20% is through electoral bonds.
45% of BJP’s income in 2016-17 was from unknown sources as per ADR’s analysis. This would further increase in 2017-18 because of the anonymous nature of electoral bonds.
What happened to the remaining ₹ 12 crore worth electoral bonds?
None of the national or state parties that have submitted their annual audit report for 2017-18 have declared any income from electoral bonds. It also has to be noted that the Congress & NCP are the only two national parties that are yet to submit their annual audit report for 2017-18. It is possible that the rest of ₹ 12 crore worth electoral bonds have gone to either the Congress or NCP or other state parties. It is also possible that a large part of these electoral bonds may not have gone to any party since data obtained using RTI also revealed that bonds worth ₹ 11 crore were not encashed by July 2018.
Corporates may be purchasing these bonds, not common citizens
Data of electoral bonds purchased in all the cycles till October 2018 clearly indicates that there is no demand for bonds of lower denomination. In terms of value, bonds of  ₹ 1 crore denomination accounted for  ₹ 782 crore or 89.6% followed by bonds of  ₹ 10 lakh denomination that accounted for  ₹ 89.6 crore or 10.3%. Together, they have accounted for close to 99.9% of total value of bonds purchased till date. Even in terms of the number of bonds purchased, 1678 out of the 1795 or 93.5% electoral bonds purchased till date are in the denomination of  ₹ 10 lakh and  ₹ 1 crore. Though there is no concrete information on the type of purchasers since SBI has refused to share such information, it is highly likely that the ₹ 10 lakh & ₹ 1 crore denomination are purchased by corporates than individuals.


“From the [Four] Compass Points of the Earth Arises a Mighty Cry — #FreeZone9Bloggers!” · Global Voices
Ellery Roberts Biddle

Free Zone 9 Vigil, August 2, 2014. Martin Luther King Memorial, Washington, DC. Photo by EthioTube via Facebook.
“From the rising of the sun to its setting, from the [four] compass points of the earth, arises a mighty cry — #freezone9bloggers!” – @feathersproject
When Ethiopia’s Zone9 bloggers and their journalist colleagues were charged with terrorism two weeks ago, our community members put their heads together to decide how we might help the bloggers, four of whom are Global Voices translators.
Nigerian writer and GV community leader Nwachukwu Egbunike responded to the call with zeal. “Something just occurred to me,” he wrote to our mailing list. “The last Twitter Campaign was led by Anglophone Africa but had a global impact. Can we have a truly global campaign this time around, tweeting in various languages at a specific time for the #Zone9Bloggers? At least for starters: English, French and Portuguese Africa calling for their release, same day, same time with same hashtag!” After a few days of organizing local teams in as many time zones as we could cover — from Hong Kong to Islamabad to Cairo to San Francisco — a global, multilingual tweetathon was born. Nwach helped kick things off with a series of inspiring tweets for our global community:
Though tongues may differ, yet with many tongues we raise a mighty clamour for our common humanity, #FreeZone9Bloggers — Nwachukwu Egbunike (@feathersproject) July 31, 2014
Ethiopian bloggers and social mediaites in country and abroad were among some of the most prolific participants in the event.  Ethiopian women's rights activist and Vital Voices fellow Selamawit Adugna tweeted:
Dear zone9ers, I can never imagine what u going through in that prison just because you choose to care about your country #FreeZone9Bloggers — Selamawit Adugna (@selseladu) July 31, 2014
Human rights blogger @Bereket, who blogs at AddCafe urged followers:
The best way to pay homage to @zone9ners is to be like them: to care & speak out. Right now, l care & say out loud >> #FreeZone9Bloggers — Bereket (@Berehket) July 31, 2014
Former leader of the Ethiopian Human Rights Council Yoseph Mulugeta, a highly regarded expert on Ethiopia judicial system, tweeted:
19page fabricated charges but no mention of Zone9 by name.Not even once.The brand surely terrifies enemies of free speech #FreeZone9Bloggers — Yoseph Mulugeta (@YosephMulugeta) July 18, 2014
Exiled Ethiopian media expert and civil liberties advocate Fasiledes created another in a series of Storify roundups about the campaign, which have been widely shared since their April 25 arrest.
Although many participants come from Ethiopia or have direct ties to the situation, messages of support from around the globe flooded the hashtag. Mozambican journalism student Alexandre Zerinho tweeted:
Juntos contra o impedimento da liberdade de expressão. #FreeZone9Bloggers — Alexandre Zerinho (@Zerinho_b4) July 31, 2014
United against threats to free expression #FreeZone9Bloggers
Some tweeted images along with their messages of support:
Respect & Solidarity for @Zone9ners from Berlin @KonstantinNotz #FreeZone9Bloggers pic.twitter.com/V9KjDmCVZJ — Gruen Digital (@gruen_digital) July 31, 2014
Oiwan Lam, a Hong Kong-based media freedom advocate and China editor for Global Voices’ Advocacy project, tweeted:
埃塞俄比亞打壓互聯網言論的做法非常奇怪，因為這個國家61%成年人文盲，互聯網的滲透率只有1.5%，言論又怎可能對政權構成實質威脅？… 是「中國模式」作怪嗎？ #FreeZone9Bloggers http://t.co/wX9gQfjY0k — oiwan (@oiwan) July 31, 2014
Ethiopia's suppression of Internet speech is very strange, because adult illiteracy in this country is 61%, and the Internet penetration rate is only 1.5% [how can these remarks constitute a real threat to the regime? … Is the “Chinese model” doing mischief here?
Cuban blogger Sandra Abd’Allah Alvarez, who writes about race and politics from Havana, tweeted:
Liberen a los @Zone9ers… ¡porque bloguear no es un crimen! #FreeZone9Bloggers http://t.co/gQyCLBasqF
— Negracubana (@Negracubana) July 31, 2014
Free the @Zone9ers…because blogging is not a crime! #FreeZone9Bloggers http://t.co/gQyCLBasqF
Echoing many other tweets on the topic, Berlin-based open knowledge advocate Zara Rahman expressed shock over charges against the bloggers that condemned their use of “Security in a Box”, a digital security training tool used widely by human rights activists around the globe:
Speechless that charges against jailed bloggers in Ethiopia include “used Security in a Box” #freezone9bloggers http://t.co/mHszND2rwT
— Zara Rahman (@zararah) July 31, 2014
Sudanese blogger and human rights activist Dalia Haj-Omar challenged critics to acknowledge that authorities have violated the bloggers’ fundamental right to free expression.
@ageazib any government afraid of bloggers must be v weak, since all they have are their word #freezone9bloggers #Ethiopia @retweetethiopia
— Dalia Haj-Omar (@daloya) July 31, 2014
Ethiopian human rights advocate @Jomanex reminded followers that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met and chatted with detained Zone9 blogger Natnael Feleke at an Addis forum on development and innovation in 2013, and positioned this in contrast with terror charges issued by authorities under the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). He tweeted:
For Us & @JohnKerry he's the future of #Ethiopia for EPRDF he is a Terrorist. #FreeZone9Bloggers @bbczeinabbadawi pic.twitter.com/tNAcET08fl
— Jomanex (@jomanex) July 31, 2014
Just days after the bloggers’ arrest, Secretary Kerry visited Addis Ababa and publicly condemned the arrest, but to no avail. Argawn Ashine expressed disappointment with the inconsistent positions taken on the issue by different U.S. government agencies.
#USAfricaSummit Its sad to see @BarackObama rolling red carpet for dictators and criminals such as #Ethiopia/ n regime. #FreeZone9Bloggers
— Argaw Ashine (@argawnmg) July 31, 2014
Unfortunately, the position of the U.S. State Department is not the sole determining factor of U.S. policy towards Ethiopia, the second most populous nation in Africa. As its most stable ally in the Horn of Africa, Ethiopia receives millions of dollars worth of military and economic aid from the U.S. government each year, in a partnership that human rights defenders believe trumps the priorities of other government agencies and media freedom advocates.
On Saturday, August 2, supporters in the United States gathered at the Martin Luther King Memorial in Washington D.C., where they lit 900 candles to commemorate 100 days since the bloggers’ arrest. The event (Facebook page here) was poignantly named, “Zone Light”. Photographs and video from the event, recorded by EthioTube, can be found here.
Although their trial was scheduled to begin on August 4, state prosecutors have reportedly requested an extension of several days’ time — the trial has now been adjourned to until August 20. Meanwhile, Zone9 member Endalk Chala, who lives in the U.S., reports that five Ethiopian newspapers were issued criminal charges today:
So five #Ethiopia-n newspapers & magazines face criminal charges just today.Things are getting worse & worse by day #FreeZone9Bloggers
— endalk2006 (@endalk2006) August 4, 2014
On the ground, online and behind the scenes, the global effort to secure the bloggers’ release will continue in the weeks ahead. For updates on the case and campaign, visit the Trial Tracker blog and watch the #FreeZone9Bloggers hashtag on Twitter.


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Unreformable Muddle on the lack of privacy for confidential information in Sri Lanka. “One is bombarded with a gazillion ultra personal and highly confidential questions when obtaining bank a account, phone connection, insurance, lease etc., but what assurance do we have that all the information we provide are confidential as they say it is?”


Video of Assamese girl beaten up by father viral on social media with false claims - Alt News
Pooja Chaudhuri
27th August 2019 / 4:44 pm / Last updated: 27th August 2019
A video of a girl being brutally thrashed by a man is viral on social media. Several people have merely shared the video without giving any context – “इस वीडीओ को पूरे हिन्दूसतान और दुनिया के कोने कोने तक किसी भी जरीये से पहुचाने मे अपना हक अदा करें।। मैंने कर दिया। और आप सोच भी नही सकते जी के आप कितना बड़ा काम कर रहे हो।पता नही किसके बच्चे हे ओर इतनी बेरहमी से किउ मार रहे हे। (This video needs to reach every corner of India and the world. I have already shared it and you cannot even imagine the great deed you’ll do. Don’t know whose child this is and why is he beating her.)“
इस वीडीओ को पूरे हिन्दूसतान और दुनिया के कोने कोने तक किसी भी जरीये से पहुचाने मे अपना हक अदा करें।। मैंने कर दिया। और आप सोच भी नही सकते जी के आप कितना बड़ा काम कर रहे हो।पता नही किसके बच्चे हे ओर इतनी बेरहमी से किउ मार रहे हे। 👇👇👇 pic.twitter.com/Hnz8TP0TUX
— Rupendra solanki (@MRupendra11) August 22, 2019
The same video is viral with a claim which suggests that a Bengali man beat up a Malayali woman who had eloped with him – “ഇത് ഒരു ബങ്കാളിടെ കൂടെ പോയ ഒരു മലയാളി പെണ്ണിന്റ അവസ്ഥ അമ്മേനു വിളിച്ചു കരഞ്ഞു”
Another claim has been propagated in Urdu. Twitter handle @if__tr asserts that the incident took place in Kashmir. “دیکھ لوں امت مسلمہ ہماری کشمیری بہن بیٹیوں کی عزتیں بھی اب درندوں کے ہاتھ میں ہیں پلیز ریٹویٹ.”
دیکھ لوں امت مسلمہ ہماری کشمیری بہن بیٹیوں کی عزتیں بھی اب درندوں کے ہاتھ میں ہیں پلیز ریٹویٹ #Kashmir pic.twitter.com/jWs8BP9Wbl
— Syed Ali Geelani (@if__tr) August 23, 2019
The video is neither shot in the Southern part of the country nor in Kashmir. It took place in Assam where a father beat up his minor daughter who refused to be forced into prostitution. Journalist Dhanya Rajendra tweeted about the case.
It happened in Nagaon in Assam. @Karma_Paljor asked and was told that
‘the people around can be heard speaking in East Bengal’s bengali dialect commonly spoken in rural Assam, especially Muslim community. The man has been attested.
— Dhanya Rajendran (@dhanyarajendran) August 27, 2019
According to an August 3 report by Northeast Now, a man named Jamaluddin, a resident of Mowamari village under Samaguri police station in central Assam’s Nagaon district, mercilessly thrashed his 15-year-old daughter. The teenager told reporters that her father beat her up because she refused prostitution. “Police officials said Jamaluddin, a hawker by profession, allegedly had links with the flesh trade racketeers,” per Northeast Now.
Alt News contacted Samaguri police who watched the video and confirmed that it depicts the same incident. We also corroborated the set of events with Mowamari police who informed, “The girl had run away to her uncle’s house to flee from her father who wanted her to get into prostitution. The man has been arrested and is in our custody.”
A video where a father brutally thrashed his minor daughter for refusing prostitution is being circulated on social media with varied false claims. The incident took place in Assam and is unrelated to either Southern India or Kashmir.
Pooja Chaudhuri is a senior editor at Alt News.
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Borrowings: Nigeria Piles Up N2.36tn Debt Stock In Three Months - DMO - Liberty TV/Radio - News - Voice For All! Vision For Alll!
September 17, 2021
This shows an increase of N2.36tn or 7.13 per cent increase within the three-month period.
The Director General of the Debt Management Office, DMO, Patience Oniha, provided a breakdown of the public debt stock for the second quarter of 2021 during a virtual media presentation on Wednesday.
The total external debt stock rose from N12.47tn as of March 31 to N13.71tn as of June 30, indicating an increase of N1.24tn or 9.94 per cent.
The total domestic debt stock rose from N20.64tn as of March 31 to N21.75tn as of June 30, indicating an increase of N1.11tn or 5.38 per cent.
The DMO boss stated that the debt stock was fast growing, with a high debt service to revenue ratio, alongside issues around the use of debt proceeds.
She blamed the public debt issues on high infrastructure deficit, recession, consecutive budget deficits, low revenue base, worsened by the country’s reliance on a single source of income – crude oil.
She said the government needed to expand its revenue base and promote public-private partnership.


Tanzania General Elections 2015: A Defeat for Africa’s Longest Ruling Party? · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Will the former Tanzanian Prime Minister and main opposition presidential candidate Edward Lowassa unseat the ruling party? Photo by TZA One and released under Creative Commons.
The October 30 General Elections will be the most tightly contested election in Tanzania’s history since the introduction of multiparty politics in 1992. That is because of a sudden twist in the otherwise predictable plot of the country's domestic politics which saw a number of high profile defections to the main opposition party, Chama Cha Demokrasia na Maendeleo (Chadema), from the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM).
Two former Prime Ministers, Edward Lowassa, the presidential candidate for the opposition bloc Ukawa, (made up of four political parties, including Chadema) and Frederick Sumaye, both left the comfort of the ruling party this summer. The hugely popular and charismatic Lowassa defected in late July after he was eliminated from the list of presidential candidates for CCM.
The high profile defections have presented the opposition with a real chance of crushing CCM, which having been in power for the last 51 years is the longest-ruling party in Africa.
In an article written for the Huffington Post, the President of the opposition party Chadema Freeman Mbowe says that the CCM’s fear of losing has led the party and its government to resort to increasingly dictatorial methods to maintain its grip on power:
Moved by fear of losing, the ruling party is now resorting to undemocratic methods to maintain its grip on power. First, they passed a Draconian election expenses act which forbids the importation of any campaign materials, including flags, vehicles and finances, 90 days before the polling date. This deadline fell three weeks before the party's official nomination day. How can any candidate purchase materials before they know they are the official nominee?
On Monday, the police arrested 19 Chadema youths who were signing up supporters. They were arrested for the simple act of public campaigning. When the former Home Affairs Minister Lawrence Masha went to the police station to request their release, they arrested him, too.
The next day, the police ruled that our candidate Lowassa could not meet with the public. CCM was shocked by the public reception the former prime minister received when he drove on a bus to bring attention to the desperate need for better public transportation in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania's largest city.
Increasingly, the police are blocking our campaign's travel routes and disallowing our campaign plane from using airports. They have refused to grant our rally permits in the very grounds CCM held a rally only a few days before.
Finally, the government announced on September 1st, they will begin enforcing its free-speech suppressing “Cyber Security Act,” which makes it a crime to criticize the government in emails or across social media.
However, looking at the elections in general terms, Frank Charnas noted that the pre-vote competition shows Africa is becoming “more at ease with democracy”. He also pointed out that the outcome of the election will not only affect Tanzania:
Put together, the upcoming Tanzanian elections are indicative of a continent becoming more at ease with democracy, and realising the power of a united and organised opposition. It will take a concerted effort to unseat the CCM, but momentum appears to be behind Lowassa and his coalition, thus setting up what are expected to be the closest elections in the country’s history, the outcome of which is sure to affect not just Tanzania, but the region and the continent as a whole.
It is no wonder that Twitter is abuzz with election-related opinions and insights:
For one, this will undoubtedly be the most “tech-savy” election in Tanzanian history, wrote Robert Kasenene:
These elections will be the most tech-savy #Tanzania has had yet. Right now its the battle of airial drone photography. Who's winning?
— Robert Kasenene (@RKasenene) August 24, 2015
In reference to the conviction of the son of Senegalese president, Karim Wade, for corruption, Marielaura observed:
While in Tanzania mafisadi wanaachiwa watembee & even compete in elections #TanzaniaMlioitupa # https://t.co/zoe8b6tdo4
— Marielaura (@Mankalaurie) August 24, 2015
While in Tanzania corrupt politicians get off scot free and even compete in elections
Tanzanian blogger Jeff Msangi considered this year’s election to be a “wild card game”:
Tanzania 2015 Elections are slowly turning out to be the “wild card” games.Whoever plays it well,carries the advantage posture.
— Jeff Msangi (@BongoCelebrity) August 26, 2015
While some took note of the rise of a politically engaged youth in the country:
Whoever gets the Youth vote in #Tanzania October elections will win https://t.co/YL9dQxMSdr
— African (@ali_naka) August 23, 2015
Political awareness is high this time around, wrote Straight Talk Africa:
RT @saidimsonga: We expecting to see very challenging historical election in Tanzania. Awareness is too high compared to previous elections
— Straight Talk Africa (@VOAShaka) August 19, 2015
But who will be to blame if the ruling party loses? Many think incumbent President Jakaya Kikwete:
If @ELowassa trounce @MagufuliJP in Tanzania's oncoming elections,the blame will squarely be on @jmkikwete,a legacy of isolation,confusion,
— Blamuel Ndiema (@blamuel_ndiema) August 14, 2015
This is the first time that Penny Kims has seen the ruling party scared:
for the first time since Independence i have seen the ruling party (CCM) being scared of losing elections…#2015election #Tanzania
— Penny kims (@PennyKims) August 27, 2015
Barak Bob and Penny Kims advised voters:
To make a good vote in October #Tanzania elections you have to take the two top rated candidates and analyze their personalities @jmkikwete
— barakbob (@barakbob1) August 13, 2015
Elections determine who is in power, but they do not determine how power is used…. Be careful who you vote for #Tanzania #Uchaguzi2015
— Penny kims (@PennyKims) August 27, 2015
Corruption has taken center stage in pre-election campaigns:
Corruption takes center stage in campaigning for #Tanzania Oct elections – a positive sign although few candidates have clean hands. #Africa
— James Hall (@hallaboutafrica) August 11, 2015
While the high profile defections have given birth to ‘democrazy’ according to one tweep:
#Tanzaniaelections Is it CCM-CCM that will win or is it CCM-CHADEMA? Welcome to democrazy
— Lloyd Muriuki Wamai (@muriukiwamai) August 27, 2015
Ma Mary would like to see the ruling party and the opposition form a government together:
Tanzania 2015 October 25th elections should produce a government of national unity, not one divided along regional,ethnic &tribal sympathies
— Ma Rary (@dmarari) August 24, 2015
Will this be the re-making of Tanzanian and African political history?


Bangladesh Shuts Down the Internet, Then Orders Blocking of 35 News Websites · Global Voices
Zara Rahman

Dhaka at night. Photo by Ishtiaque Mahmood Rohan via Wikimedia (CC BY 3.0)
The Bangladesh Daily Star reported on August 4, 2016 that Bangladesh's Telecommunication Regulatory Commission had ordered the country's International Internet Gateway operators to block access to 35 news websites.
No further details about the blocking have emerged thus far, but the list of sites is long and includes some that represent critical positions within the country's current political climate. A full list of the domains ordered blocked, as reported by the Daily Star, appears below.
Websites ordered blocked:
rtnews24.com
haquekotha.com
amrabnp.com
real-timenews.com
bnation24.com
nationnewsbd.com
bhoreralap.com
banglapost24.com
dailytimes24.com
mynewsbd.com
livekhobor.com
rikhan.com
sheershanewsbd.com
natunerdak.com
sylhetvoice24.com
somoybangla.com
prothom-news.com
banglalatestnews.com
bdmonitor.net
bdupdatenews24.net
newsdaily24bd.com
amardeshonline.com
doinikamardesh.com
onnojogot24.com
amarbangladesh-online.com
desh-bd.net
crimebdnews24.com
natunsokal.com
sheershakhobor.com
onb24.com
dinkalonline.net
sarabangla.com
parstoday.com
weeklysonarbangla.net
24banglanewsblog.wordpress.com
This comes on the heels of an Internet shutdown that took place early in the morning on August 2, when Internet access in a commercial area of Dhaka was cut off for 3.5 hours as part of a government-enforced “drill” to test the capabilities of telecommunications agencies in the country. The national telecommunications agency indicated that it was part of a series of test shutdowns that will soon take place across the country.
The “Internet shutdown drill” was announced on August 1 and presented as a security measure. This comes following the brutal attack in early July at the Holey Artisan Bakery, where 20 hostages were murdered as part of a terrorist attack that came at a time when violence is increasing in the country.
In addition to the Internet, other services were also cut. Mobile phone operators reportedly tested their ability to shut down voice calls and ISPs were also asked to block certain web pages. It is unclear whether these are the same sites that were ordered blocked on August 4.
The Chairman of the Bangladesh Telecom Regulatory Commission (BTRC), Shahjahan Mahmood, clarified on August 3 that this exercise was the first in a series of temporary Internet shutdowns, saying “As part of the ongoing exercise, all sorts of Internet connections will be suspended for a short period anytime at any place in the country,”
Ahsan Habib Khan, vice-chairman of BTRC added that these future blackouts are likely to take place during the night, and on holidays.
Citizens are struggling to see how these shutdowns might have a positive impact on public safety, but the pitfalls of this strategy seem self-evident. Bangladeshi citizens expressed dismay and anger on social media, with one Facebook user writing:
And wtf is this?? Without any prior notice or with such a short notice?? Do they have any idea how people work and how it may affect their work?? Imagine the situation – an area suddenly went offline around the most critical time and most of the people don't even know about it and you can't even use your cell phone data to communicate with someone to inform about the situation cause your entire area is f**ed up!
On Twitter, digital rights group Access Now called these actions “misguided”, as part of their global campaign against internet shutdowns, #KeepItOn.
BREAKING: Today Bangladesh announced an internet shutdown “drill”. Here's our take. #KeepitOn pic.twitter.com/0gVp1ndX8I
— Access Now (@accessnow) August 1, 2016
This is not the first time networks have been deliberately shut down in Bangladesh. In November 2015, the Bangladeshi government blocked social media sites including Facebook, Viber and Whatsapp for almost four weeks.
On the first day of that ban, Internet access was cut to the entire country for roughly 75 minutes. Immediately afterwards, Mahmood said it had been a mistake and the shutdown was the result of a “misunderstanding.”
This new push to curtail citizens’ Internet access is extremely worrying, particularly in Bangladesh where freedom of expression is increasingly under threat, both online and in everyday life.
In 2011, the United Nations declared Internet access to be a fundamental human right. Just four weeks ago, the United Nations Human Rights Council on Friday passed a nonbinding resolution condemning countries that prevent or disrupt access to the internet.
Despite these repeated violations of digital rights, the government’s claims of moving towards a “Digital Bangladesh” continue.


Data: Outward Remittances Spike Between June & September 2023 Before Onset of New TCS Rules
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
January 29, 2024
In the budget for 2023-24, noteworthy modifications were announced with respect to the Tax Collection at Source (TCS) system applicable to payments made under LRS and packages for overseas tour programs. Data indicates that the outward remittances spiked between June & September 2023 before the new TCS rules were implemented from October 2023.
The Liberalised Remittance Scheme or LRS is a regulatory framework introduced by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) that allows resident individuals to remit a certain amount of money in a financial year for various capital account and current account transactions. That is, under the scheme, resident Indians are allowed to transfer funds abroad up to a specified limit, without the prior approval of RBI. The scheme was first introduced in 2004 and has undergone several revisions since then, based on the prevailing macro and micro economic conditions.
The Scheme was originally introduced with a limit of USD 25,000. As of the last revision in 2015, the prescribed limit is USD 2,50,000 per financial year (April to March). This is roughly equivalent to a tad more than two crore Indian rupees. While there is no limit on the frequency of remittances under the scheme, the resident individual will not be eligible to make any further remittances under the scheme if the remittance limit is reached.
In short, LRS has played a key role in making overseas expenses and investments simpler for resident Indians. The types of remittances made under the scheme include Deposits, Donations, Gifts, Investments in equity/debt, Maintenance of close relatives, Medical Treatment, Purchase of immovable property, Studies Abroad, and Travels, among others.
Total outward remittances under LRS have been increasing consistently, except during COVID-19 outbreak
According to RBI data sourced from Dataful, the total outward remittances under LRS have been increasing consistently. The growth is considerably higher in 2015-16 and 2016-17. In 2019-20, the total outward remittances under the scheme touched an all-time high of nearly 29,568 million USD. However, it dropped to less than half in 2020-21 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, the value has been improving. With one more quarter remaining in 2023-24, the total value is higher than that recorded before 2019-20 & in the pandemic years.
Remittances for travel accounted for than half of the total remittances under LRS
Remittances for travel alone accounted for more than 50% of the total remittances under LRS in 2022-23 and 2023-24. In terms of actual figures, the value has increased from 21 million USD in 2011-12 to 13,662 million USD in 2022-23. The remittances for this purpose have crossed the pre-pandemic levels.
Though education (studies abroad) and maintenance of close relatives accounted for more than 20% each of the total until 2021-22, their share has dropped significantly in 2022-23 and 2023-24. The remittances for studies abroad are yet to recover from the impact of the pandemic. In 2022-23, the value was below that recorded in the pandemic year, despite the increasing number of students emigrating from India.
Investment-related purposes, viz; purchase of immovable property, deposits, and investments in equity/debt together accounted for 31% of the remittances in 2011-12. However, their share has dropped to less than 10% since 2017-18. Investments in equity/debts rose 2.6-fold following the decline in the pandemic. Similarly, the remittances for purchasing immovable property have tripled since 2020-21 while that for deposits crossed the 1000 million USD mark in 2022-23.
Meanwhile, the remittances under LRS for medical treatment increased from less than 2 million USD in 2011-12 to more than 55 million USD in 2022-23, the highest in the 12 years.  Total remittances for gifts were more than 3000 million USD in 2022-23.
Remittances for donations that peaked in 2019-20 dropped significantly post-pandemic and have been low since.
New TCS rates are applicable for transactions under LRS since October 2023
In the budget for 2023-24, noteworthy modifications were announced concerning the Tax Collection at Source (TCS) system applicable to payments made under LRS and packages for overseas tour programs. Taking into consideration the comments and suggestions received, the government made suitable changes to the initial proposal. Since 01 October 2023, the amended rules have been implemented.
Credit card transactions have not been included in LRS yet
Further, the government had initially announced that payments using credit cards would be included under LRS. However, the inclusion has been postponed giving banks and card networks more time to implement required IT solutions, ensuring smoother integration. Hence, expenditure through international credit cards overseas is currently exempt from TCS until further notice.
The deducted TCS can be claimed/adjusted as an Income Tax Refund when filing IT Returns. As per the government’s version, increasing the TCS rates helps the government boost its revenue, counter tax evasion, increase transparency, and curb excessive spending, among others.
When the TCS rates are increased, there are potential impacts for individuals making transactions under LRS. One is that it can create additional compliance burdens individuals must navigate and adhere to the modified regulatory requirements. Liquidity is also affected. For instance, concerning investments, individuals need to deposit a higher amount than their actual investment to account for the deducted tax. They should also wait for months to file ITR and get this amount adjusted or to avail of the refund.
Considering these factors, the sudden spike in September 2023 for remittances towards the purchase of immovable property, investment in equity/debt, deposits, and gifts is no surprise. There has not been any significant change in remittances for travel.
Spike in outwards remittances for certain purposes which have increased TCS is seen prior to implementation of new rules
Outward remittances by resident Indians hit a seven-month high in September 2023. With respect to deposits and maintenance of close relatives, a spike in September 2023 is seen as compared to the remittances in the same month between 2018 and 2022. Like in 2023, in 2020, the proposal to collect TCS on remittance under the scheme was mentioned in the budget speech.
Deposits in September 2023 were close to those recorded in the same month in 2020. However, unlike in other years, the deposits in October and November 2023 dropped significantly. Similarly, in the case of maintenance of close relatives, the average remittances in September were about 280 million USD. However, in 2023, it crossed 500 million USD, before dropping to less than half in the following months.
Investment in equity and debts touched 208 million USD compared to an average of 70 million USD in September 2020, 2021, and 2022 and dropped to 40 million USD in November 2023. Likewise, in the case of gifts, the remittances which grew month-on-month by 10 to 50 million USD, shot up by 150 million USD in September 2023 and dropped in October and November, like the spike in 2020. Remittances to purchase property more than doubled in September 2023 as compared to September 2022.
The amendments proposed lower TCS for remittances under LRS towards medical treatment and education. While there has been a sudden increase (doubled) remittances towards medical treatment following the implementation of the new rules, there has not been any significant change in the remittances to study abroad.
The new rules imposing higher TCS have been implemented since October 2023. The patterns in outward remittances indicate a clear increase towards certain purposes just before the implementation of the new rules as individuals may have tried to avoid higher TCS.


President Obama’s Countering Violent Extremism Summit Divides American Muslim Activists  · Global Voices
Sahar Habib Ghazi

“Somali-American religious leaders speak about their values and their work to develop their communities #OpenCVESummit” by Twitter user @Shahed
The White House is convening a massive 3-day international summit on Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) this week, with community leaders and government officials from 60 countries. CVE is a US government policy that calls for local community and religious leaders to work with law enforcement and government agencies to fight violent extremism.
The government policy is accused of heavily targeting Muslims in America and largely ignoring domestic right-wing extremism and other violent hate groups, while fueling Islamophobia in the country. Muslim American activists taking part in the summit have faced criticism for participating.
Canada-based Twitter user Maher Arar tweeted to his 11K followers:
“Countering Violent Extremism” should have been named “Countering Violent Islamic Extremism” bc that's what it's about. #CVESummit
— Maher Arar (@ArarMaher) February 19, 2015
Maher's bio says, “I have been called torture victim, al-Qaeda pawn, FBI agent, activist. Call me whatever you wish but let us together make the world a better place to live in.”
The summit comes days after the Center of American Progress (CAP) released an interactive document “Fear, Inc. 2.0, The Islamophobia Network’s Efforts to Manufacture Hate in America.” The report shows that since 9/11, a $57 million network of “misinformation” Islamophopic experts have helped marginalize the country's 2.6 million Muslims by advocating for discriminatory policies.
The central tenet of the Islamophobia network is that American Muslims want sharia law to supplant the US constitution. Even though the American Civil Liberties Union has labeled it a “mythical” threat that “clearly seeks to ride the recent wave of anti-Muslim bias in this country”, more than 32 states have introduced “anti-sharia” legislation, with language “cut and paste” from members of the network, according to the Center of American Progress.
CAP's interactive report maps anti-sharia legislation bills in the US.
The CAP investigation explains how anti-Muslim hysteria has impacted ordinary American Muslims through surveillance and profiling by law enforcement agencies, and documents the rise of hate crimes, following the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings, and attacks similar to the recent Chapel Hill murders of 3 Muslim students.
Before the summit commenced, civil rights group Muslim Advocates said:
By primarily focusing on Muslims, this summit and government CVE programs undermine the safety of all Americans, including American Muslims, who are living with the very real, well-founded fear that their neighbors may do them harm. Muslim Advocates has urged the administration to broaden the focus of the summit and is extraordinarily disappointed that it has refused to do so.
Muslim-Canadian journalist Sana Saeed, who works in the San Francisco based AJ+, critiqued the summit:
#CVESummit is the official, from @WhiteHouse, govt issuance of Muslims being inherent potential threats — Sana Saeed (@SanaSaeed) February 18, 2015
For Muslim-America community leaders attending the summit, the outpouring of distrust on social media was counter-productive. Wajahat Ali, a Muslim-American journalist, and Haroon Moghul, a Muslim-American writer, were live tweeting from the conference:
.@BarackObama: “We are not at war with Islam. We are at war with people who have perverted Islam.” Thank you, Mr. President. #CVESummit
— Wajahat Ali (@WajahatAli) February 18, 2015
.@BarackObama: “Nobody should be profiled or put under a cloud of suspicion simply because of their faith.” (1/2) #CVESummit
— Wajahat Ali (@WajahatAli) February 18, 2015
.@BarackObama: “Engagement with communities can’t be a cover for surveillance.” (2/2). I hope law enforcement pays attention. #CVESummit
— Wajahat Ali (@WajahatAli) February 18, 2015
Obama didn't just describe the history of Islam in America but said it's a story every American needs to know #OpenCVESummit
— haroon moghul (@hsmoghul) February 18, 2015
Wajahat, also quoted American Muslim lawmaker Keith Ellison referring to the three victims of the Chapel Hill shooting:
.@keithellison: Deah, Yuosr, Razan were living, breathing examples of countering violent extremism daily & they were killed #OpenCVESummit
— Wajahat Ali (@WajahatAli) February 18, 2015
speakers here stress terrorism is not a Muslim problem only, and most extremism in the US is white supremacism #OpenCVESummit
— haroon moghul (@hsmoghul) February 18, 2015
@amadshk I just attended a panel half of whose participants focused on white and Christian extremism. So don't know what you mean.
— haroon moghul (@hsmoghul) February 18, 2015
Some Twitter users were not convinced:
The greatest trick Obama ever pulled was convincing the world that his rhetoric matches his intentions #CVEsummit
— imran ali malik (@_iamalik) February 19, 2015
While the summit was going on, articles like “What The Atlantic Gets Dangerously Wrong About ISIS And Islam” and “Enough about Islam: Why religion is not the most useful way to understand ISIS” and were being shared by activists.
The latter article concludes: “To understand and counter ISIS’s threat and appeal, frame it properly. Identity-based extremism and millenarian apocalyptic cults provide a far more useful framework for understanding ISIS than Islam does.”
At the end of the first day of the summit, Wajahat Ali wrote this on his public Facebook page:
I welcome critiques of today's CVE summit and the government's foreign policy, counter terrorism efforts and national security endeavors that have created a tremendous trust deficit with Muslim communities, both here and abroad. Law enforcement “engagement” has been often abused as surveillance in the post 9-11 climate by some local, state and federal law enforcement agencies: NYPD spying, mosque crawlers, community rakers, shady GPS devices attached to cars, and on and on. [..]
To all who observe this for the past two decades, this reeks of hypocrisy; it betrays the best of our America values, erodes our civil liberties and gives credence to extremist messaging that indeed “The West is at War with Islam.” The feeling of “security” gained by depriving liberties of those who are often the most marginalized is illusory and self-defeating.
But, violent extremists – especially abroad – do exist, and their victims are mostly Muslims. The ones who die at the hands of ISIS and pick up guns to fight the scourge of ISIS are Muslims.
There are numerous problems that exist. Whether we like it or not, the government is going to move forward with CVE and CT measures. Does it suck? Yes, it sucks. That doesn't mean you accept it wholesale, but you have to accept that this is the current and forseeable [sic] reality. […]
You don't have to agree, and it's perfectly legitimate to be frustrated by the polarizing rhetoric, self-defeating policies, myopic strategies and some troubling actors. But know it'd be a lot worse if people didn't participate and act in their respective capacities.
Better to be a participant than spectator.


China: From Mao To Buddha · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

During the cultural revolution, Dazhai (in Shanxi Province) was a model rural collective to show the superiority of socialist China. Recently a large Buddhist temple has been built in the village. Joel Martinsen from DANWEI translated an article from South Wind to explain how the worship of Mao turned into the worship of Buddha in Dazhai.


A burqa controversy in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan · Global Voices
R Umaima Ahmed

Girls in a school in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Image via Flickr by DFID. BY SA 2.0.
A shuttlecock burqa is the most concealing of all Islamic veils. It is designed to cover a woman from head to toe with a mesh net eyepiece allowing them to see. While this style of burqa is often associated with women in Afghanistan and a few tribal areas of Pakistan, a recent photo of shuttlecock burqa-clad students from an area of Mardan Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) in Pakistan, has caused an uproar on Pakistani social media and stoked criticism of growing conservatism in schools.
According to available information, Muzafar Shah, a former district council member from the ruling Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf party (PTI) distributed 90 shuttlecock burqas to female students. The councilor said that his action was inspired by the recent directive from Ziaullah Bangash, the provincial advisor on education, who directed school girls to observe purdah (the practice of female seclusion).
Drive to make mandatory for girls to wear burqa is in full swing in KPK. After some schools instructing girls to wear abayas. A former district member of PTI Muzaffar Shah distributed shuttlecock burqas among students of Govt Middle School Cheena, Rustam District Mardan. pic.twitter.com/Gszq3h4KoK
— Fazil Jamili (@faziljamili) October 4, 2019
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) is located in northwestern Pakistan along the international border with Afghanistan. This area has been in the centre of militancy and terrorism as it became a refuge to over five million Afghan refugees pouring into Pakistan after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. In 2013, the provincial politics shifted towards the right-wing national conservatism when the Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf party (PTI) led by Imran Khan was able to form the minority government.
A number of people reacted to this news and demanded action against this latest move.
Sanna Ejaz, a journalist from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa said on Twitter:
مردان میرا آبائی گاؤں ہے اور ہمارے ہاں سفید چادر کا رواج ہے. بڑی عمر کی خواتین دو تہوں والی بڑے ارض والی چادر پہنتی ہیں اور لڑکیاں کڑھائی کی سفید چادریں برقع ہمارا کلچر ہے ہی نہیں. یہ پی ٹی آئی حکومت کے کمالات ہیں کہ ضلع کونسل کے فنڈ سے برقع لے کر بچیوں میں تقسیم کیے جا رہے ہیں pic.twitter.com/HTSzBgrml6
— Sanna Ejaz(سیاله) (@sanaejaz2) October 4, 2019
Translation: Mardan is my ancestral home and we do not wear burqas. Elderly women wear plain shawls while girls shawls have some embroidery on it. This is the doing of PTI government, by distributing burqas from development funds.
How students are going to sudy wearing these #burqas, at 40'C in summer, we don't even have air conditioning in government schools in Pakistan.@PTIKPOfficial@ImranKhanPTI@ShireenMazari1https://t.co/wrekV0lgML
— Mumtaz Manzoor (@uotokyo) October 5, 2019
However, there were people who supported the decision to supply the girls with shuttlecock burqas. Women who resist or do not wear the veil are considered too westernized by the conservative community members in Pakistan.
Habiba Tanvir, a student tweeted:
This step is taken only in KP province not in other provinces.This type of burqa is the culture of pakthoon and also pathans live in KP and they all are muslims.I am studying in government college no such thing happen there.Please stop this propaganda against Islam and PAKISTAN.
— Habiba Tahir (@Habiba34340591) October 7, 2019
Hijab is not about oppression but freedom from evil eyes only wise ppl can understand
— Bintebader (@1Bintekhalid) October 5, 2019
Contrary to those arguments, Gallop Pakistan recently released a poll that found the burqa to be a less popular choice for women in Pakistan:
#Burqa for #women is becoming a less #popular #choice of #dressing, replaced by Shalwars Kameez with Dupatta and #Hijab without face veil. (GALLUP & GILANI PAKISTAN POLL)https://t.co/axC1SyMaad pic.twitter.com/XplH1u2KVu
— Gallup Pakistan (@GallupPak) September 30, 2019
Earlier in September, Ziaullah Bangash, Adviser to Chief Minister on Elementary and Secondary Education of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, issued a notification making it mandatory for female students of provincial government schools to wear a chaddar, an abaya or gown to protect them from any ‘unethical incident’ and remove the doubts raised by parents about the safety of their children. Although the directive was almost immediately overturned, Muzafar Shah purchased the shuttlecock burqa's citing Bangash as inspiration for the decision.
Despite this, after netizen comments turned against Shah, Bangash did a complete u-turn and denounced Shah's actions:
This step was taken without our knowledge and permission. KP government is looking into this matter and action will be taken against him.
This double standard of the government was also slammed on social media.
To prove how the order for wearing burqa was being justified using flawed logic that burqas will keep girls safe, people on social media posted pictures of two recent incidents that took place in Pakistan. One of them was the rape and death of Ayesha Zulfiqar who was wearing an abaya (a type of burqa).
Ayesha Zulfiqar, a matriculation student was found raped and murdered in District Narowal, Pakistan.
She was wearing an abaya/burqa.
I’ll just stop there.
Art by @ayeshaklondon #sexualabuse #childabuse #rape #burqa #bikini #metoo #rapist #rapists #girlchild #auratmarch pic.twitter.com/RRVm5caaC4
— Natasha Kundi نتاشا کُندی (@NatashaKLondon) September 30, 2019
Burqa? The coffin doesn't protect women in Pakistan from getting raped. I just saw this video, and it made me feel physically unwell. It's not on women to defend themselves; men need to do something about how our species functions around women.https://t.co/vYNhSX1Swf
— Shahryar Khan (@shahryar92) October 6, 2019
Another incident mentioned was caught on film in D.G Khan where a passerby groped a woman in an abaya on the road.
These show that covering women in an abaya or chaddar is actually not protecting them from harassers. It seems that strict laws, sensitization of legal and police fraternity, awareness and speedy justice is the way to resolve the issue.


The pandemic killed Trinidad & Tobago’s 2021 Carnival, but soca music keeps the spirit alive · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“What's Love without Passion?” Photo collage by Mark Morgan on Flickr, CC BY 2.0.
Ever since it was announced that Trinidad and Tobago's 2021 Carnival celebrations  would be cancelled because of COVID-19, enthusiasts of the national festival have been feeling a tad maudlin.
This feeling of longing for what's been lost—usually in cases of unrequited love—is what Trinbagonians call tabanca, and there are few things they love more than their Carnival. Enthusiasts are already feeling the absence of the festival, since pre-Carnival events usually ramp up in January and February.
In an attempt to fill the gap and look ahead to more hopeful times, the Twitter account The Proud Caribbean has started a thread of popular soca music hits that it says will feel “different” come the first post-pandemic Carnival. Here's a quick look at some of their picks.
The first is a party tune by Machel Montano, a performer who really understands how to get a crowd moving:
We gotta start off with the King of Soca! When this song comes on in a fete, it’s pure ecstasy… nothing else matters in this moment, just you, the music & the person you’re wining on.
Haunted by Machel Montano pic.twitter.com/Tt9fzbGkrC
— The Proud Caribbean (@ProudCaribbean) January 9, 2021
Lyrikal's “Zig Zag”, which celebrates the movement of masqueraders’ hips, and Kes the Band's instant classic “Savannah Grass”, an ode to the mecca of Carnival celebrations (the Queen's Park Savannah), were also high on the list:
This song will evoke a lot of emotion come the first post pandemic Carnival, this song encompasses everything about carnival and after everything we’ve been through the release of emotion will be very powerful.
Savannah Grass by Kes the Band pic.twitter.com/amSATdhfQN
— The Proud Caribbean (@ProudCaribbean) January 9, 2021
Kerwin Du Bois’ “Bacchanal” was a popular tune, as its sentiment summed up the wanton abandon that goes hand in hand with “playing mas'”:
We’ve waited so long to see the Carnival road, we’re all ready for it. This is the exact behaviour we’ll have, nobody can tell us what to do because we are bacchanalists!
Bacchanalist by Kerwin Du Bois pic.twitter.com/7OVC1BuBLi
— The Proud Caribbean (@ProudCaribbean) January 9, 2021
Followers soon started responding with their own favourites, such as DJ Private Ryan and Freetown Collective's “Feel the Love”:
Feel the love is mine! Can’t wait to hear it on the road, I’ll probably cry ?
— kay (@mzkaiidee) January 9, 2021
Even with no physical festival taking place this year, the spirit of Trinidad and Tobago Carnival lives on in people's hearts — and on their playlists.
Follow the thread or add your own suggestions here.