Global Voices Online » 2006 » April

Stories

Mexico's Ley Televisa and TV Duopoly

David Sasaki · 22:03

Sure, the heated U.S. immigration debate is also being discussed south of the border. But so is another controversy, which could have a lasting impact on the future of media in Mexico, but has hardly been mentioned in the English-language press. The recent reform of a law, which gives more power to already established media monopolies, has got Mexican bloggers pecking at their keyboards at a feverish rate. In fact, the peak of attention awarded to the controversy by the blogosphere is clearly displayed in this Technorati graph posted on ALT1040.

Durante mucho tiempo yo no sabía ni que pensar de la Ley Televisa porque no entendía nada. Mucha gente probablemente está un poco en este canal.

For a long time, I didn't have any idea what to think about the Televisa Law, because I didn't understand anything about it. A lot of people are probably in the same boat.

So says Eduardo Arcos in his latest podcast (ES) with Fernando Benavides as the two cyberpundits sit down to better understand the new media law and what it means for the future of content distribution in Mexico. Certainly, it is probable that the English-language media has ignored the new development precisely because it is so difficult to understand. Writing from the northern industrial city of Monterrey, Eduardo Domínguez gave context to the controversy facing the reform days before it was approved by Mexico's congress.

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Another Belarus

Veronica Khokhlova · 17:26

A typical Vileika backyard - by Yevgenia Mantsevich (LJ user litota_)

LJ user litota_, currently of Minsk, paid a visit to her native Vileika last weekend and posted photos from a three-hour walk she took while there (BEL). Somebody's colorful rugs hung out to dry in one of the backyards (pictured above) made her note the difference between Vileika (pop. 30,000) and the capital Minsk (pop. close to 2 million):

After Minsk, I'm not used to this anymore. But in Vileika - it's an ordinary thing.

The series - which includes photos of a Soviet-time hospital litota_ was born in, a wooden building of the music school she attended, another wooden house with a red star on it (house of a Great Patriotic War veteran) - reflects some of Vileika's small-town spirit as well as the photographer's mood:

[…] this selection isn't representative. Vileika isn't all like this. It's very diverse. And I could've shown it as gaudy and glamorous, or as [sad and gloomy]. But it turned out the way it did because, I guess, I was in this melancholic-nostalgic mood, and that was the mood I wanted to convey.

Inspired by litota_'s photos, LJ user macsim_by decided to create another_belarus LJ community (RUS):

[…] a page should be created that would have pictures of another Belarus. Everyday, lackluster, a bit too ordinary, but very dear. […]

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Petition Hu Jintao for Global Voices editor Hao Wu's release

Ethan Zuckerman · 17:17

Many Global Voices readers have asked what they can do to hasten our friend and colleage Hao Wu's release from detention in Beijing. Hundreds of you have put badges on your blogs and webpages to call attention to Hao Wu's detention, and this support has helped generate media interest in the situation.

We'd hoped that media pressure would lead to Hu Jintao to release Hao prior to his upcoming meeting with President Bush. Unfortunately, this looks increasingly unlikely. So today we're launching a letter-writing campaign and a petition to ask for Hao's immediate release.

Rebecca launched the letter writing campaign earlier today, and we're encouraging readers to write to their national governments, to the Chinese ambassadors in their nation, to their local newspapers, and to Chinese President Hu Jintao. Her post offers key pieces of information to include in letters or op-eds as well some useful addresses.

We've also launched an online petition, demanding that President Hu Jintao release Hao immediately.
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Happy water festival - mind the elephant gun

Preetam Rai · 16:14

This week four countries in South East Asia celebrated their traditional new year. In Thailand the festival is known as Songkran. Usanee tells us why the people in Thailand look forward to this festival.

I am so happy to have 5 days off. It is the longest holiday I would have for this year. Songkran Festival means a lot for Thai people. Those who come to work in a big city will go back to their hometowns to visit thier parents or love ones. People across the country enjoy playing water. So do the foreigners who are in Thailand.

Songkran in Chiang Mai

Playing with water!! Yes, this festival is also known as Water Festival. Cam on Cam, a tourist in Thailand says

The thai new year approaches. Walking the street of chiang mai, we find ourselves at the epicenter of Thailand's water-filled celebration. Thousands line the moat that envelops the city's “old town”. Traffic crawls slowly down the crowded street, a friendly war in process as the rowdy inhabitants of pick-up truck beds feud in aqueous glee with the bucket-armed population spanning the moat's extensive length. 50-somethings clad with super-soaker guns chase after 5-year-old tricksters; the young ones are laughing ecstatically, with such freedom and beauty, their joyful victory known by an empty bucket in hand and a soaked target.

Kids with buckets looking for their next target

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Announcing Our Alliance with Reuters

Ethan Zuckerman · 14:30

We're thrilled to announce an alliance between Global Voices and global media company, Reuters. Reuters has been supporting Global Voices efforts since late last year, when they hosted our annual conference at their global headquarters at Canary Wharf in London.

Yesterday Reuters announced a major contribution to the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School, where Global Voices is based. This contribution has allowed us to hire our managing editor, Rachel Rawlins, to continue supporting our outstanding team of regional editors and to bring on translators, to provide better coverage of content in languages like Arabic and Russian. Support from Reuters will also allow us to do more outreach and training in parts of the world where there are currently few bloggers. Reuters' generosity allows us to expand the range and quality of information we make freely available to anyone who cares to use it.

We're especially excited about the relationship because we see a great opportunity to help Reuters - and the global media community as a whole - to understand blogging better and the impact of Citizen's Media on the world of journalism. We believe that the information, opinions and perspective that bloggers share complement conventional journalism and that bloggers and journalists can work together to give us a more accurate and representative picture of events and opinions around the world.

You can already see some of the fruits of our work together. Global Voices worked with Reuters on their recent Iraq Newsmakers event, where bloggers from the Middle East participated in a conference in New York via streamed video and IRC, asking journalists tough questions about whether media coverage of Iraq has been fair. In the near future, you'll see content by Global Voices editors and contributors appearing on Reuters websites, providing additional information and context to some Reuters newswire stories.

Global Voices Online is possible through the generosity of two groups: the editors and contributors to the site, and sponsors who make the site possible. We're grateful to everyone who has made Global Voices possible so far and we thank Reuters for making it possible for us to make this site even better.

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A mixed bag from South Africa

Bronwyn · 04:43

Commentary.co.za is not impressed.

Why do South African broadcasters feel compelled to make horrible remakes of imported reality shows that were stupid and trashy to start out with? Big Brother SA, The Weakest Link SA, Pop Idol SA and The Apprentice SA were bad enough, and now this [Survivor]? Even worse, I am 100% certain that it’ll be a ratings bonanza. At times like this, I despair of my countrymen.

James at Moral Fiber discusses sexual politics in Nigeria which he calls the “most homophobic country in Africa”. He writes about amendments to a bill that criminalizes the activities of gay people. Among its clauses, the bill “Criminalizes belonging to any gay-related organization - everything from social organizations to LGBT rights groups”. ” Bans same-sex couples from living together”, and ” Criminalizes the public display of affection between members of the same sex. This includes real people, and the media”. James has the following comments:

These measures are just as oppressive and inhumane as the more infamous racist measures employed by the South African National Party during Apartheid, if not more so. Of course, no one notices. Why do no countries ever condemn Nigeria for these crimes against human rights?

The fishbowl has an analysis of this week's protests against the lack of democracy in the kingdom of Swaziland. The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) and Swazi pro-democracy groups clashed with police as they demonstrated at Swazi border posts. Jonty writes about the heavy handed approach of the police towards the demonstrators.

…but the indisputable facts that rubber bullets were used to disperse the crowd, and scores of high ranking Cosatu leaders were arrested are a cause for concern. Cosatu head Zwelinzima Vavi went so far to say that “the general police behaviour has been barbaric and undemocratic.” This puts South Africa in quite a bad light, whatever the provocation from the protesters. All the international media see - and report on - is SA police cracking down heavily on a pro-democracy rally.

Fodder has a short but interesting observation about South Africans who have immigrated to other countries.

Always fun to watch the Afro Pessimists get all steamed up about how bad we have it here in SA. Of course the real irony is that those who left vowing never to look back, then spend their time trolling SA websites and posting comments in an attempt to prove themselves right.

Finally, Professor Anton Harber is one of South Africa's most highly respected former newspaper editors. He currently heads up the journalism department at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, and a writes a regular column in Business Day, one of our top newspapers. Anton has started a blog called The Harbinger that focuses on the media, and it's great to see that he lists Global Voices under his blogroll title “Media sites to watch”.

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Views from the Horn of Africa and Sudan

Chippla Vandu · 04:42

Ethiopia is one of only four African nations that were never colonies of a European power. Though independent, Ethiopia was subjected to Italian occupation from 1936 to 1941. ethiopundit takes us back in history—110 years ago—to the Battle of Adwa, in which Ethiopian forces defeated the technologically superior Italian colonialists:

“Rising above their regional rivalries and local concerns, all facets of this multi-ethnic society [Ethiopia] pulled together to defeat the Italian invaders who were armed with vastly more sophisticated technology and had the support of all of Europe…The Ethiopian victory at the Battle of Adwa has remained a very important event in the shared recollection of the entire African people. It is the only secular episode in the whole history of Africa that has been celebrated for more than a century with unabated popular enthusiasm.”

Paulos Dandego of Ethiopian Politics laments the deplorable political situation in Ethiopia describing the country as being on a “disturbing journey towards complete totalitarianism.” He also appears unimpressed with a speech delivered to the United States Congress on the situation in Ethiopia by the deputy assistant secretary for African affairs, Mr. Donald Y. Yamamoto:

“Mr. Yamamoto gave the usual lukewarm, wishy-washy speech he’s been giving for the past six month. His testimony made it very difficult to predict what the U.S government plans to do, other than sit on the side lines hoping for a favorable outcome.”

Andrew Heavens of Meskel Square finds bitter excitement at being able to obtain “same-day print-outs of most of the main European and US [newspapers]” in Addis Ababa for the first time. In his opinion, the Ethiopian prints are “in many ways better than the originals” as they use “whiter, cleaner paper [and have a] slightly bigger print.” However, the absence of his beloved daily Sudoku and the relatively high price of the prints makes his joy a little bitter—he states that The Times goes for £ 2.64 as against the London cover price of 60 pence).

The deployment of foreign (non-Sudanese) troops to the Darfur region of Sudan appears to be a contentious issue in Sudan. Sudan Watch quotes a Xinhua report (of China), which states that the Sudanese President, Omar al-Bashir has called on all Sudanese to say no to the presence of foreign troops in Sudan. In the words of President al-Bashir, “foreign intervention is but the old colonization cloaked in the new cloth of the suspicious organizations and arms dealers.” President al-Bashir also

“…lauded the role being played by the Arab countries with respect to supporting peace and rehabilitation in Sudan.”

The Arab League comes in for criticism from the blog Inside Somaliland, which quotes a Sudan Tribune report that asks: “Will the Arabs dare to listen to Somaliland?” It goes on to state:

“The Arab League has the habit of leaving issues to fester until such time when surgical intervention becomes necessary from foreign powers whose interests do not necessarily match those of the Arab world.”

It speaks of a status quo, which Arab nations appear to love, using “energy and resources to ensure that things stay as they are” out of fear of what change may bring.

The Voice of Somaliland in Diaspora-Ottawa says that eminent African scholar, historian and political thinker, Professor Ali Mazrui, has thrown his support behind the independence movement in Somaliland. Somaliland is a self-declared independent region of Somalia. Unrecognized by the wider world, it has managed to remain peaceful with a functional government, unlike Somalia that has been without a central government since 1991. Professor Mazrui urged Somaliland to begin by lobbying Commonwealth countries as it struggles to be recognized as a republic that is independent of Somalia. He also had this message for the people of Somaliland:

“You may consider modifying your name like Somalistan, which has similar ending like those of other Islamic countries such as Pakistan, Afghanistan etc.”

Professor Mazrui was on an official visit to Somaliland, which began on March 21, 2006.

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China: Hao Wu continues to be held without charge

Rebecca MacKinnon · 04:34

It has now been 52 days. Global Voices Northeast Asia editor, blogger, and filmmaker Hao Wu still has not been charged or given access to a lawyer. We still don't know where he is. (For a collection of articles about his situation please click here.)

His sister Nina Wu continues to blog in Chinese about the ordeal. We continue to post translations of her blog at Freehaowu.org. Here are some recent excerpts. On Day 50 she thanked everybody who cares:

Today I received phone calls, emails, and greetings from friends one after another. They were all asking about Haozi, but I disappointed them. Currently the family members have no further information about Haozi. Like everyone else, we are impatiently waiting. Thank you, friends. For the many ways in which everyone has spontaneously made efforts to help Haozi be free sooner, we sincerely express our gratitude. Our family feels gratified to know that Hoazi has these kinds of friends. I believe that the love from family members, friends, and all who know or do not know Haozi will allow him to see the springtime sunlight again soon.

Nina has often been pointing out on her blog that as a privileged middle class Chinese who works in finance, and who has been generally unconcerned with politics, she hadn't been aware of the extent to which a Chinese person can suddenly lose his or her rights.

…before this happened to my brother, I felt that I had it all: family, friends, a job I liked, and a typical Shanghai “little capitalist” life. I felt that I had the ability to control everything. I could choose the lifestyle I wanted; I could choose my circle of friends…in fact this was just what it looked like. It is so easy for someone to lose his or her privileges. An ordinary person can very easily be taken from his or her daily life. It doesn’t require any warning or reason, and of course it doesn’t require the assent of that person. Legal help is also unavailable. Even though the thirty-sixth clause of the Constitution states, “The physical freedom of the citizens of the People’s Republic of China cannot be violated…it is forbidden to detain or use other methods to take away or limit the physical freedom of a citizen; it is forbidden to illegally search the body of a citizen,” my brother has already lost his freedom. The staff of the Procuratorate did not deny that laws were being broken in the current stage, but no organization or person has stopped these illegal phenomena from continuing.

Really, only when your own rights are violated do you realize their importance to you. I am now beginning to pay attention to law, beginning to look for rights I might have. I hope that it isn’t all too late.

At the same time, I know that I already have lost my right to privacy. I know that they know my every movement. Actually, when you act magnanimously, there is nothing to conceal. I haven’t done anything that I’d be ashamed to show others. I will continue to strive for my brother’s early release. It’s just that I don’t know: when all the legal channels have been exhausted, will anything be left?

Before Hao's detention, she hadn't been aware of the extent of Chinese Internet censorship, either:

After Haozi disappeared, browsing the Internet and searching for related information became a mandatory daily class. I have googled a great deal of information on “Hao Wu,” but I can’t visit many of the search results, especially addresses with .org suffixes. Eight or nine out of ten will return “Impossible to display this webpage.” I don’t know what kind of sensitive information these websites contain. Before, I did not believe in “Internet censorship.” This was because I used to visit mostly finance and investment websites, which rarely have problems. Only when I faced a serious predicament did I discover that this was a real problem.

Today someone asked me about the effect of Haozi’s incident on me and other family members. I think the most direct effect is that I began to be concerned about my own “rights” and the social problems that Haozi was concerned about.

One webpage Nina will be unable to visit without a proxy server is this Radio Free Asia interview with Hu Jia, an AIDS activist who was recently released after being detained without charge for over a month. He describes the circumstances of his detention:

They put a black hood over my head, removing my glasses first, so I couldn’t see anything. Sometimes they forced my head right down to the floor as the car was driving along…

They were making sure that I had no idea where they were taking me. I started to vomit at one point because I was extremely car-sick. I’m not normally car-sick, but because one minute the car was accelerating, the next minute they were slamming on the brakes, and me with my head pressed down against the floor…

Continue reading here. Police behaving like kidnappers or hostage-takers. Is Hao being held under similar circumstances? We have no way of knowing.

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