Maldives Twitter VS Francesca Borri

Nothing brings Maldivians together like a good roast 🔥.

*smartphones 😫🔫

The Maldives is one of the most oppressive countries in the world. It has a constitution that makes the lives of non-Muslim and LGBT Maldivians illegal. This makes life incredibly difficult for any progressive Muslims that want to bring about reforms as well as saying anything against extremist sheikhs will get you labled an apostate. Progressive Muslims like @moyameehaa (Ahmed Rizwan / Rilwan) and @yaamyn (Yameen Rasheed) who have spoken out for Maldivian minorities, progressive Islam, and secularism have been taken away from us. Sheikhs are not safe either, as one of the only moderately progressive sheikhs, Afrasheem Ali, was also brutally murdered in 2012.

The greatest battlefield in the war for the hearts and minds of Maldivians is the internet. Bloggers like Hilath Rasheed have been the targets of escalating campaigns of harassment and death threats. In 2012, Hilath himself barely survived his neck being slashed. This was after years of attacks against people deemed laadheenee.

Maldivian extremists have used the internet for their terror and propaganda activities. One of the earliest Maldivian extremist groups, of which Rilwan was an ex-member, called “dot” or “dotu” literally got it’s name from “dot com”. Right now there are dozens of terrorist recruitment facebook and twitter pages, telegram, whatsapp, and viber groups, and websites brainwashing Maldivians with extremist propaganda.

Their latest efforts including making a list of Dhivehi Kaafarun (Maldivian infidels) on twitter (which twitter support refused to remove, the account is still active), and a telegram group called “MV Murtad Watch” (Maldives apostate watch). This has also not been removed despite even making the local news.

Maldivian extremists are free to spread hate on the internet. Especially if they use Dhivehi, a language that cannot be automatically translated. This means that the support staff of these platforms often don’t even know how to recognise hate and fear speech when it is written in Dhivehi.

I hope I have set the scene for you. An intolerant constitution that outright bans thinking and freedom of conscience. Extremists getting away with murder, and using technology as a means of oppression in a highly connected and tech literate society, while the multi-million dollar companies that run them turn a blind eye.

Enter Francesca Borri with the radical insight that there is only one bookstore in Male’, all the while seeming to imply that most Maldivians don’t know English.

And that there is no local cuisine.

And that Maldivians are amazed by smartphones.

But perhaps most insulting is the fact that we’d give a damn about the Olympics when we could be watching football. Also how the heck do you reckon people cut up the “Battle of Aleppo” for broadcast television? Do you think they had an HBO style miniseries?

You get the picture. A hastily strung together piece of orientalist trash that makes the situation worse for people suffering because of Maldivian extremists. The last thing progressive Muslim, non-Muslim, and LGBT Maldivians need is more misinformation out there. Especially not from someone with a savior complex.

How can you trust anything written in this book when it features so many blatant fabrications? Fabrications deliberately worded to make Maldivians sound like backwards people rife with extremism who can’t read and are technology inept.

Well I’ll have you know us Maldivians are backwards people who are incredibly tech literate. And we can read too, to the shock of the author who is currently at the receiving end of the wrath of Maldives twitter.

Here are some of the funniest and most insightful tweets directed at this latest savior who thought they could turn a profit on the suffering of the global south. These are the words of Maldivians speaking about their own country. Listen to them.

(rough translation of the dhivehi sentence: “All puffed up, saying something about Islam and how we need to kill the gays with the other breath.” [FK stands for Firihen Kulhin - homosexual men, or Firihen Kulhi - gay sex. Both are often used as a slur by homophobes. It’s common sight growing up to see it scrawled across the walls of school toilets, usually followed by the name of the person. Like “FK Adam”. This is done to intimidate LGBT students and students suspected of being LGBT. ] )

(“Dhon meehaa” literally means “fair skinned person”. It is the word used by Maldivians for “white people”. And it’s true, turn a Maldivian upside down and shake them little. The contents of an Apple Store will fall out).

(vaguthu [“time” lol] is a Maldivian tabloid rag that primarily posts moral panic inducing “journalism” about Maldivian minorities).

Nothing brings Maldivians together like a good roast 🔥.

Update: Just to add to the absurdity

Guess I must have hallucinated seeing this local craftsman .

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And this one as well.

2009-05-16+-+Coir+Rope+maker+-+G10+-+Kulhudhufushi+sia+trip+(30).jpg

I must be delirious from all the poisonous reef fish I’ve been eating.


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#MenAreTrash hashtag sparks widespread debate and outrage on Maldivian twitter

The polarising hashtag caused an uproar and week long drama across the Maldivian twitterverse and tweeps debated the controversial topic. Are men trash? Are men trash, but is the wording wrong? Have people who say men are trash actually not met enough men who are not trash? Are women responsible for the men in their life being trash? Can they simply just filter them out? All this and more below. This is of course just a taste. I also did not include some of the nastier stuff from obvious troll accounts.

The polarising hashtag caused an uproar and week long drama across the Maldivian twitterverse as tweeps debated the controversial topic. Are men trash? Are men trash, but is the wording wrong? Have people who say men are trash actually not met enough men who are not trash? Are women responsible for the men in their life being trash? Can they simply just filter them out? All this and more below. This is of course just a taste. I also did not include some of the nastier stuff from obvious troll accounts.


May 25th - Day One


It all started with this tweet: 

Which instantly started backlash from the (Most) Men (You Know) Are Trash camp.

This group seemed to imply that most men were in fact not trash, and that it was more of an issue of who you knew. 

A woman also takes the opportunity to defend the men in their life

This causes debate and drama to occur over multiple days, some of which is detailed below 

 

May 26th - Day Two 

 

One tweep found the backlash amusing 

Another thought the whole thing was an issue of filtering out the trash 

This caused people to respond with some obvious truths 

One woman shared their experience of how they learned about feminism 

Another explained what feminism means to them 

 

 

May 27th - Day Three 

One tweep asked men to listen 

This prompted a man to ask if the hashtag was creating more division 

Another reflected on gender roles during Ramadan (or Roadha mas in Dhivehi)

Some tweeps reflected on the fragility of the male ego 

One man took it upon himself to sort the trash 

A man shared an account of an incident that he witnessed 

Another man wondered if the whole thing was a ploy for attention 

Yet another man insisted that there was no gender based discrimination in the Maldives, this time using the First Lady Madam Faathun simply existing as an example

Inside a long thread full of drama, one man decides that inequality doesn't exist in the Maldives 

This sparks off even more debate, and many women and men share their experiences. 

Rough translation of the text in quotes "When you marry someone you should just stay at home. Why should you frivolously spend on getting higher qualifications?"

Meanwhile a woman shared her very real story of discrimiation

One woman laid on the snark 

Another flipped the script

Another woman reflected on Maldivian culture and toxic masculinity 

Another expressed her frustrations

A man pointed out the irony of some of the backlash 

Reflections on the previous backlash faced by anti-harrasment campaign Nufoshey



May 28th - Day Four 

One tweep reflected on how they viewed the hashtag as a success

A woman shared their thoughts on the word "feminazi"

Another woman reflected on the messages taught to men in Maldivian media

A man showed his support for the movement 

A woman responded to people dismissing everything as useless drama

To which a man asked what the big deal was in the first place

Rough translation : "So what's the real problem with all the men anyways? (only then) can we attempt to solve the problem or try to help out with the situation. Just asking as a man. If there's something that's bothering you you should speak out, you shouldn't stay quiet."

An opressed man says he is scared to make eye contact with women because he might get labelled a harasser

Concluding drama

Alright I've embedded so many tweets that my browser is starting to slow down, so here are some concluding remarks

What has one of the men who sparked the initial backlash learnt from days of women sharing their experiences of discrimination?

Apparently not much 


If you want my opinion, I'd say hell yes, Maldivian men are trash. The country's appalling record on women's rights should speak for itself. No politician even mentions the need for abortions, which are still illegal and cause untold misery and stress for women who need to access this basic reproductive health service. Not to mention the Maldives has incredibly high rates of domestic violence, and a Guinness World Record for the highest number of divorces per capita. Many Maldivians still believe that women shouldn't be allowed to rule their country. Street harassment and abuse is widespread. This is without even getting into the extremely taboo topic of the rights of lesbian, bisexual or other non-cis women.

I think it says a lot that some men chose to police the people using the hashtag than confront the realities of what it's like being a woman in the Maldives. I think the following two tweets below sum up my feelings quite well. 


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Maldives twitter last week #6

Here are some interesting things Maldivians talked about on twitter last week. 

Here are some interesting things Maldivians talked about on twitter last week. 

1. People celebrated Yameen Rasheed's Birthday 

2. A turtle was freed from a net

3. An old Male' City jail 

4. Moyameeha's killers still walk free

5. A Hithadhoo road with a canopy of beautiful trees 

6. One of the only coral islands with a healthy Avicennia mangrove forest 

7. "Despite everything it feels like we have done too little."

8. A private museum full of Maldivian antiques 

9. A taro field 

10. RIP another tree

11. @maaanihu starts #36DaysofThaana 

12. Women & Democracy launch their Gender Equality Manifesto 

13. An old Brish newspaper article about the Maldives' first republic under Mohamed Amin Didi 

14. A woven mat from 1899

15. Cancer causing areca / betel nuts at a health event

16. A handy chart showing the origins of Thaana characters

17. Volunteers clean up an island

18. Mobility for people living on rural islands continues to decrease 

19. Dancing as a part of Maldivian culture  

20. A roadside garden 

21. Yaamin Rasheed's family and friends continue their quest for justice 

22. Moyameeha's family do the same 


This will be the last one for a while. On top of a lot of other things, I need to work more on finishing Sinking Streets. The more I write about Male' the more it feels like I am drawing out some poison. I do not want to feel like this forever. At the same time it is not easy saying goodbye. You can read the first chapter here.


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Maldives twitter last week #5

Here are some interesting things Maldivians talked about on twitter last week. 

Here are some interesting things Maldivians talked about on twitter last week. 

1. The fashion police got shut down 

2. Artefacts from Maldives rock and roll past emerge 

Rough translation: "It's Mumin with Mohamed from 20th Century BC"

3. Maldives changes development goals from Singapore to Tokyo to Switzerland

The headline reads: "There is no reason for the Maldives not to become (like?) Switzerland". 

4. Some students experience the ocean for the first time

Rough translation: "Because I'm someone that doesn't know how to swim, at first I thought this would be something that I would be incapable of doing. I thought the depths of the ocean would be quite scary. But the instructors were really helpful and held onto us the entire time. It was really satisfying when we got to the reef. I didn't feel scared at all. It turned out to be really fun. I didn't even feel like getting out after a while. I dived down a little myself too."

5. Disturbing news about a pending rape trial 

6. Some creep kept asking a woman to scratch their groin 

7. An aerial photograph of Male' showed its greener past 

8. The creations of an old Maldivian jeweler 

9. Beautiful images of a Maldivian island covered in mangrove forests 

10. A road in Maliku (Minicoy) shows what Maldivian roads used to be like before Amin's "modernisation" efforts

Rough translation: "A road in Maliku. The roads in Maliku are what the roads used to look like before Amin Didi straigtened them. Similar to Naifaru."

11. An image shows Maldivian woman collecting water for agriculture 

12. A twitter Sheikh warned of the dangers of Satan when giving someone a lift 

Rough translation: "“A good WOMAN would never get on the back of a motorbike driven by an unmarried MAN. I don’t care how pure you say your heart is. Satan isn’t going to give warning when he appears between them. He isn’t going to ask for permission!”

13. In the capital, another tree bites the dust 

14. Maldivian customs confiscated a buddha to never return it again 

15. The motorbike infestation of Male' continues

Rough translation: "I'm here to pick up my kids too. How am I supposed to get my motorbike out? I should drive it straight over this huh. Wouldn't hurt to pay a bit more attention."

16. A time when most people in Male' rode bicycles 


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Maldives twitter last week #4

Here are some interesting things Maldivians talked about on twitter last week. 

Here are some interesting things Maldivians talked about on twitter last week. 

1. Space Parade released a new comedy sketch 

2. A new spin on rape

3. A young Maldivian scientist at #SciTechMv2018

4. A Maldivian engineer pledged to gave up bottled water

5. Pizza Hut opened its first store in the Maldives, an opportunity that local politicians were quick to take advantage of

6. A government company apologised for the "oversight" of having a smaller prize for the Women's Champions of a futsal cup 

7. Local minister claimed that he would develop the Maldives "like Tokyo", which drew widespread ridicule 

Rough translation: "First people should develop (themselves). We should (start) fining people who litter. Not just put (traffic) stickers on motorbikes. Tokyo my foot" 

Rough translation: "On Tokyo's roads are Tokyo's police, who are in front of Tokyo's IGMH (local hospital) tirelessly collecting money for Tokyo's government coordinators."

Rough translation: "What used to be Lonuziyaarai' magu". 

8. The people of Noonu Atoll Landhoo protested about their electricity service 

Rough translation: "N. Landhoo is in total darkness. The citizens are protesting. They are questioning whether their electricity bill will be reduced by getting rid of their electricity entirely"

9. 888 days passed since former rock star VP Adeeb was incarcerated. Photos show a totally different looking man.   

10. A woman shared examples of hate messages received by her non Muslim friend's teenage sister

11. The Maldives police used blasphemy laws against local NGO head Shahindha Ismail, alleging she is creating religious discord on twitter 

12. Images showed severe coastal erosion in Vaavu Atoll Fulidhoo 


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Maldives twitter last week #3

Here are some interesting things Maldivians talked about on twitter last week. 

Here are some interesting things Maldivians talked about on twitter last week. 

1. Former First Lady Nasreena Ibrahim wowed the nation by speaking out about her husbands arrest 

It is rare to hear her talk, even back during when her husband Maumoon was ruling the Maldives for 30 years straight.

2. Naturally this prompted someone to attack her for not wearing the hijab (among other things)

A rough translation: "Are you truly on the righteous path when you and your two daughters do your eye brows, dye your hair black, and don't even wear the hijab?"

3. Before and after image showed extreme deforestation on Maldivian islands

 

4. President Yameen lifted the State of Emergency

 

5. Symbolic records released Oyaa by Pest

6. Goidhoo School from Baa Atoll held a bicycle rally 

7. A trash thread

8. Opposition activist Bardrudeen was released from police custody

9. High praise continues for "Master Plumber" Muizzu, the Minister of Housing & Infrastructure 

10. The yo mama scam

"Kaley amaa" is a popular insult meaning "Your mother". It is usually followed by another expletive. A particular nasty variant being "Kaley amaa fui!" which roughly translates to "Your mother's c*nt!". Interestingly enough, this isn't even the worst that insult gets; with the most complete version being "Kaley amaa fui fada boey!" (Drink your mothers c*nt juices!). The more you know!

11. Maldives is home to some of the worlds most beautiful (and most threatened) mangroves

12. @Zara_Fayaz draws legendary local politician Eva Abdulla 

13. Another tree is felled 

14. A snow dome replaced a historic mosque 

15. People mourn the sudden death of Abdulla Naail 

16. A hypothetical question about a female Maldivian President attracted religious conservatives like flies 

17. A Salafi preacher got all worked up about the growing movement to eliminate the tax on feminine hygiene products


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Maldives twitter last week #2

Here are some interesting things Maldivians talked about on twitter last week. 

Here are some interesting things Maldivians talked about on twitter last week. 

1. There was some pretty blatant racism towards Chinese people 

A rough translation of the tweet: "Chinese are abhorrent things"
The text on the image says: "China-Maldives friendship pissing". "Goru" is a dirty way of saying urine in Dhivehi. "Goruhendun" is pissing. 

Rough translation: "they are the most jungle like, most animal mob to look like humans on this earth". 

2. More than 18 million MVR worth of funds meant for the Rohingya went missing

Translation: "Couldn't find out what happened to the Rohingya fund"

Translation: "Kept the Rohingya funds safe for god and country huh"

3. The Parliament Member for Velidhoo tells an opposition activist to "f*ck a duck"

The tweet he is responding to asks whether the MP's cafe' was shut down because he is planning on marrying President Yameen's former daughter in law (?), and that he often sees them together in Hulhumale'. Some help with the translation for this one would be appreciated. Some things just don't translate well to English. 

4. Vegetation was cleared from Kulhudhufushi

"lha" means young, "kudhin" means children. 

5. A new symbol of protest against President Yameen gains traction

6. Someone sharing their experience of street harassment gets harassed

7. The MV Twittersphere mourns Stephen Hawking's passing

8. Some people weren't too happy about it

Rough translation: 
" - May (the lord) gift the Muslims who say that Stephen Hawking is an educated man with the ability to think rationally
  Stephen Hawking did not believe in the existence of a god and died an infidel
  So where is his thought and rationality?"

Rough translation:

"Well wishes for Stephen Hawking is a sin
Infidels don't pass away, they die
Insults Allah, when children in Syria die people don't care at all, but when this infidel dies everyone goes nuts"

9. A conversation between an extremist and a reasonable person 

10. Maldivian women discuss the marriage trap

11. Dunya Maumoon, daughter of Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, quotes MLK

Rough translation: "It was your father who kept us raajjethere' people in a state of poverty. Regards to Martin Luther. By the way, he is from the US equivalent of raajjethere'." 
Raajjethere' is a word used to refer to all other islands other than the capital Male'. It is kind of similar to the Maldivian word for the country side or regional areas. It is often used in a deregoratory way by people from Male' City who feel that they are superior. 

12. Countless people arrested as protests against Abdulla Yameen's regime raged on 

 

This tweet sarcastically says that these are the weapons found at a protest site. 

Rough translation: "No escape even if you're just at your own home!"

13. A lawyer points out some suspicious activity on her clients phone 

14. Maldives Police find a suspicious sound recorder

Rough translation: "We are investigating a matter that was raised with us regarding a sound recorder discovered in a room where a meeting with a lawyer and someone under custody occurred." Yup, dhivehi sentences can be quite long. 

This tweet makes fun of Maldivian Police's continuing tendency to suddenly find incriminating evidence against political targets whenever they need to. 
Rough translation: 
"From under the pillow the pistol, 
from under the bed sheet the pen-drive, 
from under the mattress money, 
from under the bed the black box, 

Most recently, 

From under the chair a recorder, 
from under the car packets of pepper water, 
I'm struggling to keep my legs together out of shame"

15. There was some intense drama regarding accusations against opposition activist Naeematha

16. Maldivian MP Ahmed Nihan repeats hateful "100% Muslim" anti-diversity myth in rebuttal of EU Parliament resolution 

16. Tales of Faris Maumoon's continued suffering under police custody 


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Maldives twitter last week #1

Here are some interesting things Maldivians talked about on twitter last week. 

Here are some interesting things Maldivians talked about on twitter last week. A long term collection could be very useful for reflection and analysis. 

 

1. @reallynattu creates satirical voting app 

An English translation: 

The top text reads "Voteapp". Next to it is a drop down menu that says "Presidential election". 

Below that the title says "Candidates". Below this the same portrait of current president Abdulla Yameen is displayed five times in a row, giving the voter a wide range of candidates to vote for. 

Below this is the presidents full name, "Yameen Abdul Gayoom". The president doesn't use this version in his campaigning or current activities perhaps to distant himself from his brother Maumoon. Next to this the text reads "The driving force behind the progress that the Maldives is experiencing". 

After this is a section where the voter decides what kind of reward they want for voting. They are given a choice of money (from well wishers), employment (a coordinator position), or a flat from Hulhumale'. In the mockup the voter has chosen money, and the options for collecting it (deposit, cheque, or a letter delivered to your residence) are below. As the voter has selected the first option, a field to enter their account number and reward amount sits next to the Bank of Maldives and Maldives Islamic Bank logos. 

At the very bottom the text reads "press to vote", with the subtext "I swear to god that I won't change my vote". The word used for "my" is "alhugandu", a relic of the Maldivian caste system, which is the self depreciating word one must use for oneself when talking to someone who demands respect; whether it be your elders, a teacher, or certain dictators. The literal translation of "alhu" is slave. 

 

2. @paperclippenny and @legacyofpain attend mandatory marriage classes 

Marie seems to be one of their tutors. 

A word for genitals in Dhivehi is "ladhuvethi gunavan", literally "shameful organ". 

"gatu" is the Maldivian slang version of "having the guts". The response is to a question basically asking why women weren’t being “gut” 365 days a year. 

The headline reads: Occupysaihotaa: Women (go) to the tea houses! (sai = tea, hotaa = hotel). 

4. Some men aren't too happy about it 

English translation: "There is no escape, there is only so much that tea house managers will take. (We've?) run out of a months supply just because of one visit!

Peeing in a bottle: Man’s greatest achievement?

This is the best that Salafi propagandist Siru “Arts” could come up with to mock the #OccupySaiHotaa movement.

The black text on top reads: 
"This year the women's groups went to the tea houses
next year (they'll go) fishing"

The red bottom text reads:
“Next year - trying to pee into a thola bottle far away without utilising any devices”

On the bottom left the silhouette peeing is labeled "men" and the female rage comic face is lablled "women". 

 

5. Maldives celebrates International Women's Day 2018

6. Maldives telecom company Dhiraagu gives police full access to opposition activist @Thayyib's SIM

More next week!


 

 

 

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