Global Voices: Call for Immediate Release of Jailed Online Media Workers and Activists

Six of the detained bloggers in Addis Ababa. Photo used with permission.

From Georgia Popplewell, Global Voices Managing Director:

The Global Voices community released today a statement condemning the imprisonment of bloggers, media workers and online activists around the world. Names of jailed individuals from countries like China, Bahrain, and Mexico were read collaboratively in the opening session of the Global Voices Citizen Media Summit 2015, in Cebu City, Philippines. The statement asserts Global Voices’ commitment to freedom of expression and their support for their release from prison.

We, the members of the Global Voices community, call for an immediate release of all online activists, independent media workers, and bloggers around the world who are currently imprisoned by governments or held by extremists. Like these individuals—many of whom are our friends and colleagues—we believe in the right and power of open expression to drive change, inspire cooperation and resolve conflict. This power cannot be realized, however, without protection of the universal human right to free expression.

The following are just some of the people suffering repression at the hands of their governments or other powerful actors capable of organized military force. There are many more. We cannot remain silent—and you should not either. We ask you to join us in demanding that all governments fulfill their duty under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: protect and respect the rights of these individuals.

Algeria
Youcef Ould Dada

Azerbaijan
Rasul Jafarov
Khadija Ismayil
Omar Mammadov
Abdul Abilov
Rashadat Akhundov
Rashad Hasanov
Ilkin Rustamzade
Mahammad Azizov

Bahrain
Abduljalil Alsingace
Hussein Hubail
Ali Mearaj
Ahmed Humaidan
Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja
Zainab Al-Khawaja
Ammar Abdulrasool
Nabeel Rajab
Ghada Jamsheer

China
Kunchok Tsephel Gopey Tsang, Chomei
Xiang Nanfu
Ilham Tohti
Qi Chonghuai
Memetjan Abdulla, Freelance
Dokru Tsultrim (Zhuori Cicheng)
Niyaz Kahar, Golden Tarim
Chen Wei
Gheyrat Niyaz (Hailaite Niyazi), Uighurbiz
Liu Xiaobo
Gulmire Imin
Yang Tongyan (Yang Tianshui)
Zhang Miao

Cuba
Ángel Santiesteban Prats

Egypt
Alaa Abd El Fattah
Mahmoud Abdel Nabi
Ahmed Fouad
Abdullah al-Fakharny
Samhi Mustafa
Sanaa Seif
Yara Sallam

Ethiopia
Eskinder Nega
Reeyot Alemu
Woubshet Taye
Temesgen Desalegn
Abel Wabela
Befeqadu Hailu
Atnaf Berahane
Natnael Feleke
Mahlet Fantahun
Zelalem Kibret
Edom Kassaye
Tesfalem Weldeyes
Asemamaw Hailegiorgis

Iran
Saraj Aladin Mirdamadi
Mahdieh Golroo
Saeed Malekpour
8 Facebook users
Soheil Arabi

Israel
Mohammad Saba'aneh

Kuwait
Abdullah Fairouz Abdullah Abd al-Kareem

Macedonia
Tomislav Kezarovski

Malaysia
Teresa Kok

Maldives
Ahmed Rizwan Abdulla

Mauritania
Mohamed Cheikh Ould Mohamed
Brahim Ould Bilal Ramdane
Djiby Sow
Biram Dah Abeid

Mexico
Pedro Celestino Canché Herrera

Oman
Junaid Hafeez

Saudi Arabia
Soheil Arabi
Souad Al-Shammari
Mikhlif Al-Shammari
Raif Badawi

Syria
Tal al-Mallohi
Mazen Darwish
Hussein Ghrer
Jihad As'ad Mohamed
Akram Raslan
Fares Maamou
Ali Mahmoud Othman
Hani al-Zitani
Razan Zeitouneh
Bassel Khartabil (Safadi)

Tunisia
Yassine Ayari

Turkey
Sevan Nisanyan
Osman Garip
Metin Ozturk

United Arab Emirates
Osama al-Najjar

United States
Barrett Brown

Vietnam
Bui Thi Minh Hang
Dang Xuan Dieu
Le Quoc Quan
Truong Duy Nhat
Minh Man Dang Nguyen
Hong Le Tho
Nguyen Quang Lap
Truong Duy Nhat

Update:

There are reports that Iranian Mahdieh Gorloo, a women’s rights activist arrested in October 2014 after she protested about acid attacks in Isfahan, is free on bail.

Mahsa Alimardani reports for Global Voices:

Iranian Women's Rights Advocate Mahdieh Golroo Released From Jail

We Are Global Voices! We Bring You the World

We Are Global Voices! from Global Voices on Vimeo.

The world is talking. Are you listening?

The video says it all!

Climate Action Rally - Melbourne 2103

According to The Age, "Up to 30,000 Melburnians gathered in Treasury Gardens on Sunday to call for stronger action on climate change" on Sunday 17 November 2013.

A glorious solar day at Treasury Gardens.

Jeremy Bird at #Progress2013: 'Brick by Brick' Organising

Jeremy Bird's talk to Progress 2013 at the Melbourne Town Hall on 8 Nov 2013: 'Brick by Brick' The Nitty Gritty Organising Work That Turned Out Obama's Coalition

Jeremy speaks about the Democrats grassroots campaigning in 2012. It was based on neighbourhood team leaders organising local volunteers in 5177 locations across the United States. "They turned out voters that they knew."

He emphasised the importance of both using innovative online technologies and reaching individuals face-to-face. Community campaigns must invest in organisers on the ground and in their training.

He stressed why winning matters. It is "about the people we are trying to serve, to organise; about the world you are trying to leave to your grandkids." "Too many organisations rely on broadcast media and treat voters as consumers of a product." It should be about real relationships and talking to people individually.

[I represented Global Voices Online at Progress 2013.]

Wrap Up Video: I'm In! - Progress 2013

Thanks to Digital Storytellers, we had I'm In!, the wrap up video of the Progress 2013 conference, before it was over.

The Centre for Australian Progress and a thousand strong crowd sourced from Oz and OS gave us a great couple of days in Melbourne to plot our collective, organisational and individual futures.

Snapshots of the first day are on Storify.
More later.

My ‘Top’ Ten Tweets from #Progress2013 Day One

My quick picks from the hundreds of tweets from Day 1 of the Progress 2013 conference on 7 November at Melbourne Town Hall:

@JaneCaro welcomes the liberals, the lefties, the tree huggers and the femi-nazis, among others, to #Progress2013

— Rachael Vincent (@rachaelvincent) November 6, 2013

Scott Rankin: It's harder to hurt someone if you know their story #Progress2013
— Hugh de Kretser (@HughdeKretser) November 7, 2013

The space of political ideas is not elections - Anat #truth #stilldepressing #Progress2013
— Holly Creenaune (@hollycreenaune) November 7, 2013

If we want social change we need to make invisible issues visible #Progress2013
— Avis Mulhall (@avismulhall) November 7, 2013

Never underestimate the ability of the legal profession to complicate a relatively simple concept, says Peter Cashman #Progress2013
— Alicia Patterson (@AliciaMarie1970) November 7, 2013

There are many things beyond our control. 1 of the things we can control is how we communicate. We need to get better at that. #progress2013
— David Hood (@DavidAHood) November 7, 2013

'For climate change messaging: Generate sense of urgency, not crisis. Freak people out & it will make them more conservative' #progress2013
— Amber Carvan (@ambercarvan) November 7, 2013

I look forward to a day when people don't have to rely on charity because they can rely on justice. @VinniesAust's @JohnFalzon #progress2013
— David Hood (@DavidAHood) November 7, 2013

Use the base - the true believers - to energise and persuade the middle (rather than fight the opposition. Makes sense. #Progress2013
— Alicia Patterson (@AliciaMarie1970) November 7, 2013

Wilkinson: Health and social problems are worse in countries where economic inequality is biggest. #progress2013
— timhollo (@timhollo) November 6, 2013

Day 2 awaits.

Pick up the Hot Potatoes: Asylum Seekers

The Road to Transformation is a film for The Hot Potato campaign of the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre.

It follows the #thehotpotato caravan with 10,000 spuds on its journey from Melbourne to Brisbane:

The asylum seeker debate is the Hot Potato in Australian politics. Everyone’s talking, no-one’s listening. We aim to change that. That’s why we created the hot potato van. And on the eve of the general election we took it on the road. Visiting 10 towns over 10 days, Busting 10 myths, Serving 10,000 potatoes, inspiring 10 million conversations. This is what happened.

These are real conversations about the myths, engaging and embracing the expressed concerns of people. "What they are actually angry about is politics".

Progress 2013 Conference to plot political futures

Tony Abbott wants us to repent. Well here’s my confession. I have sinned by:

• chipping in for the Climate Council
• signing GetUp! and Change.org petitions about asylum seekers, the Great Barrier Reef and Burger Off’s campaign against McDonald’s in Tecoma.
• voting for @Albo and agitating for Labor party reform
• joining Blog Action Day with a human rights post about Tony’s confessor Cardinal Pell
• posting questions on Our Say Australia’s forums
• commenting on stories at Guardian Australia and the Conversation
• retweeting whether it is insensitive, nay unpatriotic to use ‘bushfires’ and ‘climate’ in the same tweet
• sharing rabble-rousing republican propaganda
• adding to the Sumofus.org
• having boorish thoughts about Barnaby Joyce on QandA

It all seems very passive and dispiriting – not saving the planet, not even the backyard, but at least it keeps some of us off the streets. Or is that the problem? These are dark days indeed for progressive activists in Australia as we are rolled back to the Howard and Menzies years. Time to ask the experts.

For all is not lost. There is light in the hall. Melbourne Town Hall, that is. The Progress 2013 conference in Melbourne on 7 & 8 November is beckoning:

‘Progress 2013 is about what’s next: the issues, the people, and the strategies that will define Australia’s non-profits and social movements for years to come.’

There will be lots of the usual suspects coming: Jane Caro, Tim Flannery, Robert Manne, Sam McLean, Miriam Lyons, Anna Rose, Rachel Perkins, Will Stefen, Tim Costello.

It’s a very catholic gathering with specialists in: human rights law, the environment in all its manifestations, Asia, refugees, cancer, disability, indigenous peoples, film, the Middle East, public health, population, participatory democracy, international aid, the web, wilderness, women, workplaces. To paste but a slice, and that’s just the speakers.

As you would expect at this kind of get together, there are plenty of process people on the agenda: researchers, social entrepreneurs, communications nurds and social media geeks, digital natives [not my terminology], community organisers and campaigners, crowd funders, political campaigners.

There is at least one: singer/songwriter, union organiser, NGO CEO, refugee activist, charities, journalist, LGBTI advocate, columnist, feminist, digital strategist, marriage equality, youth group, philanthropist, academic, political sociologist, economist, publisher, B-Corporation (had to look that one up!], pastor and at least one citizen journalist. Some shade under multiple hats.

There are even a couple of parliamentarians coming: Wayne Swan and Scott Ludlam. The conference is not cheap, unless an organisation is sponsoring you, but it might be tax deductible. The pollies normally cover these events through their parliamentary allowances but that’s another story.

The OurSay  participatory democracy platform has 3 forums operating before the conference. The top questions will be asked of speakers during their sessions.

OurSay is also giving away three tickets to the winning question at each forum. There is still time to post a question as voting closes on 2 November. It is very democratic. You get 7 votes to spread around or give to one question. [Confession: I’m in the running]. So vote early and vote often, as was oft heard around the Collingwood or Richmond town halls of yesteryear.

One of the forums is Words Count. The questions are for ‘Messaging guru and author’, Anat Shenker-Osorio.

@Kevin_Rennie @OurSayAust thrilled to be grilled by the Aussies! Bring it on
— Anat Shenker-Osorio (@anatosaurus) October 15, 2013

Timely given the insistence of Immigration Minister Morrison that asylum seekers be labelled “illegals” when they arrive by boat and “detainees” when he’s locked them up out of sight in our latest version of purgatory.

Finally, if you’re a follower of fashion then the flavor of the month is orange, part of the livery of Cathy McGowan’s successful Federal election campaign for Indi. Since we are having trouble getting our act together globally, we are all now thinking locally. Community campaigning is the rage since her triumph.

Ben McGowan, co-founder of Voice for Indi will be there. A drink or two with Ben and Obama field campaign director, Jeremy Bird, should be a door prize but you’ll have to elbow past me to be part of that round. There is a conference party for ticket holders at Thousand Pound Bend that will be opened by local member of the House of Reps, Adam Bandt. All expenses paid perhaps – if so it’s his shout.

Following last Saturday’s NSW Miranda by-election, I fancy an orange firies’ suit for any kitchen table talk.

Anyway, come along and help plot a progressive future. If not then follow @ausprogress, #progress2013 or the Facebook page.

* The conference is organised by the Centre for Australian Progress ‘a new organisation dedicated to building the advocacy capacity of Australia’s civil society’.

For further coverage of Progress 2013, please watch this space.

Update: A list of Who’s coming to Progress 2013

Update 30 October: Video - 7 days to go - will you be there?

Cross post with No Fibs.

Story of Stuff: Not Just More - Better!

From the Story of Stuff Project

The Story of Solutions:

...explores how we can move our economy in a more sustainable and just direction, starting with orienting ourselves toward a new goal.

In the current 'Game of More', we're told to cheer a growing economy -- more roads, more malls, more Stuff! -- even though our health indicators are worsening, income inequality is growing and polar icecaps are melting.

But what if we changed the point of the game? What if the goal of our economy wasn't more, but better -- better health, better jobs and a better chance to survive on the planet?

We definitely need more game changers!

Crowd-funding Revives Oz Climate Council After Government Axe

My post for Global Voices Online:

One of the first actions of the newly elected conservative government in Australia has been to axe Labor’s Climate Commission on 18 September 2013. Its purpose was “to provide all Australians with an independent and reliable source of information about the science of climate change”. Thanks to crowd-funding online, its ghost has arisen as the not-for-profit Climate Council with the same board members chaired by former Australian of the Year, Tim Flannery.

More: Crowd-funding Revives Australian Climate Council After Government Axe

Tecoma Protesters Take #BurgerOff Campaign to McDonald's Chicago HQ

My latest post for Global Voices Online: Melbourne Protesters Take Campaign to McDonald's Chicago HQ

Photo courtesy Michel Pickard flickr
(Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 2.0 license)

Opponents of building a McDonalds in Melbourne are taking their case to Maccas headquarters in Chicago on Wednesday 18 September 2013. Approximately $40,000 in funds have been raised through an online campaign. Global Voices reported on the conflict in March 2013 Australia: Locals Fight to Stop McDonald's in their Hills

As well as social media, the protesters have used traditional direct action methods such as roof occupations and blockades. These resulted in court action by McDonalds against the so-calledTecoma 8, which has now been withdrawn although injunction applications are apparently ongoing.

An online petition has over 90,000 signatures.

Australia: National Disability Insurance Scheme Funding At Last

Australia: National Disability Insurance Scheme Funding At Last (Global Voices Online):

(NDIS campaigning logo – Courtesy: Every Australian Counts)

On the trending twitter hashtag #NDIS, there have been lots of people prepared to pay the levy whether it’s really a tax or not. Weezmgk is amongst them:

‏@weezmgk: Show me a person who begrudges the 0.5% #NDIS levy & I'll show you a person who failed ‘sharing’ in kindy & never has learned the lesson.

RubyRainbow is not happy with the media meme that it has been all about political advantage:

‏@ColouredView: Most journalists simply cannot comprehend, let alone report, that the Govts support for an #NDIS may be because it's the right thing to do?

The OzPolitic forum has been busy discussing its merits. Its New NDIS Levy thread soon became a popular one. John Smith led off:

I personally don't mind paying a little extra for this type of service, especially if it can help a lot of my opponents on this forum, who will most likely complain about it.

The funding of a National Disability Insurance Scheme has been a political football in Australia. Legislation for the NDIS passed with unanimous support in March 2013. Both sides of politics had argued that it should be funded from general revenue. However, the opposition questioned whether the national budget could afford new spending.

On 1 May 2013, Prime Minister Julia Gillard opted for an increase in the Medicare levy instead. She threatened to make it a
key issue in the Federal election in September unless Opposition leader Tony Abbott agreed to pass legislation for the levy beforehand. He has relented and given it conditional support.

More

Al Gore: Peril and Opportunity of the Climate Crisis

Al Gore on 'Peril and Opportunity: Solving the Climate Crisis and Reinvigorating Democracy' April 23, 2013 Stanford University

Thanks again to Mary Vincent at Smart Tech News:

"On April 23, 2013, Al Gore gave a riveting and engaging Stanford University lecture on the topic 'Peril and Opportunity: Solving the Climate Crisis and Reinvigorating Democracy' during the 1st Annual Stephen H. Schneider Memorial Lecture. I recorded a 20 minute video excerpt, and it's below for your reference."

More

Reflecting on Media Reform

Media Reform on Life-support is my first post for Australians For Honest Politics:

The near capacity crowd at the Centre for Advanced Journalism’s session The Post-Mortem on Journalism Reform: What Happens Now? belied the conventional wisdom that media reform in Australia is dead (Details and the live blog are here). The venue was the aptly named Elisabeth Murdoch theatre at Melbourne University.

...the forces of light will be looking for help in keeping the media honest. Margaret Simons, Director of Centre for Advanced Journalism, indicated that university journalism schools could only have an educative role, not a proactive one. It is a challenge for the many students who attended the forum and the others around the nation who would like to see change happen sooner than later.

So it’s over to you. Don’t let the barons wear you down!

More

Whistleblower Fires Coal Seam Gas Debate

My latest post for Global Voices Online:

Whistleblower Simone Marsh has added fire to ongoing arguments about the environmental impact of the coal seam gas (CSG) industry in Australia. 4 Corners, a current affairs program on ABCTV (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) on Monday April 1, 2013 aired Gas Leak! It was no April fool’s joke, with allegations of government fast-tracking of CSG developments without adequate environmental impact studies.

More:

Australia: Whistleblower Fires Coal Seam Gas Debate

Big Mac and a Coke: No Thanks!

A Big Mac and a Coke have not been some Australians' idea of happiness in recent months. Something about the fast food and drink mob inflames the passions. Two of my posts this week for Global Voices Online look at activists' responses to the two biggest global names - McDonald's and Coca Cola Amatil.

Firstly, some old-fashioned protest action:

Residents’ opposition to a new McDonald’s in the Melbourne hills suburb of Tecoma has linked direct action with online campaigning. In October 2012 an administrative tribunal overturned the local Council’s unanimous decision to reject a Maccas’s proposal for a new fast food outlet.
Australia: Locals Fight to Stop McDonald's in their Hills

Plenty of fire on both sides. In a rare response to the increasingly personal debate, Global Voices closed comments at 293, after removing a few that had been flagged.

In separate action, Coca Cola has faced a national campaign:

A nationwide campaign against Coca Cola has followed their successful legal challenge on March 4, 2013 to container deposit legislation in the Australia's Northern Territory.
Coca Cola Machine ‘Out of Order’ in Australia

An anonymous Facebook group 'Out of Order' have been encouraging people to put the signs on vending machines. The Australian Coca Cola facebook page has nearly a million Likes. Can't help feeling that the protesters are just nipping at the heels of the transnationals.

First Dog on the Moon responded at Crikey:

Social Media Wars: Police Brutality Claims at Sydney Mardi Gras

From my web roundup for Global Voices about the claims of police brutality at the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras:

Sydney Mardi Gras police contingent 2013
Image courtesy: Zsoolt – flickr, NonCommercial 2.0 Generic license

Video involving participant Jamie Jackson at the iconic Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras on March 2, 2013 has sparked claims of police brutality. There were more than 1.6 million views in the first week of this version, taken by a press photographer for the parade.

...The Sydney mardi gras began in 1978 with confrontations with police.

...It is a safe bet that the police contingent marching in the parade were glad not to get caught up in the trouble.

More

Greg Jericho's The Rise of the Fifth Estate

My review of Greg Jericho's The Rise of the Fifth Estate is online:

There's a touch of irony in Michangelo's David gracing the banner of Grog's Gamut, the humble blog that slew the mainstream media goliath during the 2010 Australian Federal elections campaign. His post Election 2010: Day 14 (or waste and mismanagement – the media) famously attacked the performance of the national press gallery.

...Now Greg Jericho has reloaded his slingshot to venture onto the field of the printed page. The Rise of the Fifth Estate is much more than a Cook's tour of 'social media and blogging in Australian politics'. It is a detailed and well-researched look at how the new social media world is changing politics down under.

More

Two Tales of the Tortured Middle East

Two tales of torture and tyranny. Two brutal regimes. One the enemy of the United States and its allies. The other home to the US Fifth Fleet. One demonised by much of the media. The other mostly ignored.

The headline Blogger's death stirs political hornet's nest... could easily have been about either country as both regularly use imprisonment, torture and murder as tools to suppress their own people's desire for democratic change.

That hornet's nest is of course in Iran. The story concerns the State murder of Sattar Beheshti, a labourer from Tehran. He was arrested, tortured and killed by Iran's cyber police. His crime was attacking the government. His weapon, a humble blog.

The outrage within Iran and outside has seen the fight for human rights rekindled. You can read Reuters full report here. We can expect exensive coverage of the human rights situation in Iran during the lead up to the 2013 presidential elections.

Zainab al-Khawaja, currently in prison for protesting against her government, tells a similar story of arbitrary imprisonment and torture in Bahrain, a Brutal Ally.

At present, the Bahraini government believes it has international immunity. It commits widespread human rights violations, and business continues as usual: the government continues to buy arms and negotiate lucrative deals, without having to face any real consequences. This is why the most prominent Bahraini human-rights defenders are languishing in prison. Until the United States starts to put real pressure on its ally, Bahrain’s government has no incentive to change.

No matter the price, Bahrainis will keep demanding the very values — human rights and democracy — that the United States claims to stand for. It is an outrage that America continues to back a regime that tramples them.

From Behind the Bahraini Revolution: An Interview with Maryam Al-Khawaja:

Whenever you want to know the human rights situation of any country, ask where their human rights defenders are. In Bahrain, all of the most prominent human rights defenders sit in prison cells today.

Maryam is the acting president of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights and the deputy director of the Gulf Center for Human Rights. Let's hope her self-imposed exile will not be a long one. And that the situation in Bahrain receives at least a fair fraction of that given to Iran.

It is no surprise then that Twitter hashtags #teargas and #Bahrain often appear in the same tweet.

So what can you do? Find your local journalists on twitter who cover world politics and ask about the silence surrounding Bahrain. Sending them the link to Global Voices Online's stories about Bahrain might also help.

Introducing Global Voices Online

An introduction to Global Voices Online:

Global Voices Lingua Project from Paula Góes

Thanks to Paula Góes, GV Multilingual Editor. Her presentation transcript is available here.