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August 31st, 2007
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Ukraine: Crimea
On the last day of summer, here's a translation of LJ user drugoi's photo report (RUS, Aug. 13) on his trip to Crimea, one of the favorite summer tourism destinations in the Soviet times, now facing fierce competition from resorts in Turkey and Egypt:
[Yalta] is like a native town for me; I was five when I was taken here for the first time, and then I've visited it an innumerable number of times, lived here for a long time and know the place very well, and miss it. I'm here now because I've missed it. It happens once every five-seven years now.
This time we've decided to stay at “Livadia” sanatorium, located in a small town near Yalta. The roofless building in the picture [Please visit the original post to see this and other pictures accompanying the text.] is part of the sanatorium's reception department. It absolutely does not mean that the rest of it looks the same. But this isn't a rare sight here, either - old things gradually collapse, new ones grow slowly, yet steadily.
Since our last visit in 2000, Yalta has changed a lot - there are more cars and more people, and every square centimeter of the city's surface is used to sell something. In summer, the resort city is desperately trying to recover what was lost during winter hibernation - everyone is selling something. A man walks out of his house, places floor scales on the sidewalk, writes on a piece of cardboard, “Scales - 1 hryvnia [$0.25]” - and he's already an entrepreneur, taking the much-needed kopeck back home.
The contrasts have grown more pronounced - utter poverty is next to luxurious limousines and palaces built over old vineyards. My favorite confectionary “Pchyolka” [”A Little Bee”], where I could stand for hours as a child, looking at the toy railway in the shop window, has been replaced with a casino. […]
[…]
They way they talk in the street is different now - there's more shokanye and fricative ‘g' [Ukrainian pronunciation]. It appears as if people from Eastern Ukraine have replaced those from Moscow and Leningrad; the latter are now vacationing in Turkey and Egypt. There are very few cars with Russian license plates in Yalta - I've seen two or three.
[…]
[Livadia]'s center is a small square near a bus station. Buses are no longer running - they've been replaced with Mercedes minivans and taxis. There's also a small market here, where you can buy anything your soul desires. Our lifestyle here is the proper lifestyle of a Soviet tourist in Yalta - we buy watermelons, boiled corn, and drink homemade wine on our balcony.
[…]
[The Livadia Palace], next to which we live, has lost its calm grandeur and has turned into yet another money-making machine. Souvenir tents surround the palace, and there're wax sculpture exhibitions and God knows what else inside. Next to the home church of [the Romanovs], music is blaring day and night from the restaurants stuck right to the palace.
[…]
Take a few steps from the palace - whose flower beds are still taken care of, sort of - and there's ruin. Garbage is under every bush and no one's taking it away.
[…]
[Behind the summer residence of the last Russian czar], the stench of [excrements] was unbearable and none of the street lamps was intact - it looked like someone had deliberately torn off the light bulbs […] out of them.
[…]
Below are a few comments of the 132 that this post has received:
imitator_ua:
They steal a lot in Crimea's [government] :( No one's looking after the historical monuments - the whole territory has been given away to [individual entrepreneurs], and officials are pocketing the money obtained from them. Turkey and Egypt are indeed a better deal now - they, at least, have normal service and it's clean there.
bataky:
Terrible… to treat the land like this (wherever it is, in Crimea, St. Petersburg or Ryazan…). They talk about the government, [the Orange and the Blue ones], about a lack of funding… But it's so simple! When you go camping with friends, take an extra garbage bag with you. And everything will change right away…
gena_rublev:
We were in Crimea two years ago because of the problems with my foreign travel passport. I haven't had such a terrible vacation in a long time. In Simeiz, we paid $30 a day for a room that didn't have a bathroom of its own, where water was being turned on on schedule, and the landlady, named Evgeniya Nikolayevna, was running around the hallways, inquiring loudly who hadn't flushed the toilet completely, instead of cleaning it quietly by herself.
Then I quickly cleared up the situation with my passport and we went to Montenegro. For 20 euros a day we had everything there, including free grape vodka, sailing the sea in our landlords' boat, and everyone's love. All this as well as the relative cleanliness and the European idea of what service is. Crimea does not deserve our oil dollars.
P.S. On the way to the beach in [Simeiz], there was a turd - it lay right in the middle of the road, drying in the sun. In the 14 days of our stay in this resort town, no one bothered to take it away.
Brazil: Tired of Philips
There is a popular saying in Brazil that goes like this: “Say whatever you want to and you will hear what you don’t”. Paulo Zottolo, the Latin American President of the electronics giant Philips, has learned this the hard way. In a recent interview with Valor Econômico, a newspaper from São Paulo, he made an unfortunate comment that has outraged the blogosphere: “One must not think that this country is a Piauí, in the sense that it does not really matter. If Piauí ceased to exist, nobody would be upset”.
To make matters worse, the comment was published on the very same day that Teresina, Piauí’s fine capital, celebrated its 155th anniversary. The city, as Leonardo Fontenelle reminds us, had also been the target of negative comments by Zottolo, who once said [PT] that the cosmetic brand Nivea “was like Teresina, Piauí’s capital: everyone has heard about it, but only a few people really know the place”.
The comments have sparked an avalanche in the blogosphere and have motivated protests, campaigns, a boycott of Philips products and a brand new blog. Zottolo’s comment has also helped to jeopardise any positive effect that the recent Cansei (I Got Tired) - a campaign sponsored by Philips- would have had. The protest had already gathered some critics among bloggers who considered it to be elitist. Philips was one of their main supporters and sponsors. Emer Luis [PT] is not surprised:
“O que o país poderia esperar de um homem que tem quadros com imagens da pobreza em sua sala para lembra-lo sempre que miséria existe? Não muita coisa a não ser um bando de besteiras e futilidades como estas. E é por isso que ninguém até agora levou o Cansei a sério.”
Roberto Zottolo afunda imagem da Philips – Nas Retinas
“What should the country expect from a man that has pictures with images of poverty hung in his living room to always remind himself that misery exists? Nothing more than this bunch of bullshit and futility. This is the reason why nobody so far has taken “Cansei” seriously.”
Roberto Zottolo ruins Philips’ image – Nas Retinas
Even supporters have started a veiled boycott of Philips, as reports Leonardo Fontenelle
“Ivete Sangalo é irmã de um dos fundadores do Cansei, e garota-propaganda da Philips; não é de se admirar que tenha participado do ato público na praça da Sé. Imaginem a saia justa da cantora ao se apresentar na semana seguinte em Teresina! Ivete Sangalo não mencionou a polêmica, não usou telões da marca Philips, e ainda disse que se seu corpo fosse um mapa, seu coração seria o Piauí.”
Piauí Boicota Philips – Leonardo Fontenelle
“[The singer] Ivete Sangalo is one of the Cansei movement founders’ sister, and Philips poster girl; unsurprisingly she participated in the public act in Praça da Sé. The next week she had a show in Teresina; Ivete Sangalo didn’t mention the controversy, didn’t use Philips big screens, and stated that if her body was a map, her heart would be Piauí.”
Piauí Boycotts Philips – Leonardo Fontenelle
On the same subject, is the paragraph below from Rizzolo’s [PT] blog and his very long and poignant analyses of current Brazilian economic affairs:
“O camarada Zottolo, não consegue se conter, como presidente de uma multinacional, que está por mera liberalidade no país, por enquanto, é claro, porque como já disse e afirmo novamente, se dependesse de pessoas como eu , liquidaria com essa farra e sangria que essas transnacionais, fazem no páis, de uma forma que reiteradamente costumo comentar aqui no Blog. Não é possível que o povo brasileiro, o empresariado brasileiro, os cientistas das Universidades, a população, possam se submeter à ditadura dessas empresas, que estão aqui ” mamando no nosso mercado de 190.000.000 de pessoas “, e ainda se dispõe a patrocinar movimentos golpistas; não venham me dizer que a matriz não sabia das manobras e conspirações do camarada Zottolo, isso ninguém vai me convencer. E observem que a elite , com apoio dos marqueteiros usam sigla como OAB, Philips, e Associações para emprestar confiabilidade no movimento, um absurdo.”
UJS quebra eletrodomésticos em protesto contra Philips no Piauí – Blog do Rizzolo
“Comrade Zottolo cannot stop himself, as the president of a multinational company which is here by fate of a mere generosity of this country, for the time being of course, because as I have said, if it was up to people like me, I would put an end to the bloodsucking that these international companies promote in this country, as I keep saying on this Blog. It is not possible that the Brazilian people, the Brazilian business people, the scientists in the universities, the population, submit themselves to the dictatorship of these companies that are here “suckling on our market of 190,000,000 people“, and are still happy to sponsor coups; don’t tell me that the head office did not know about the manoeuvres and conspiracies of comrade Zottolo, nobody will convince me of that. And note that the elite, with help from marketers use logos like the OAB’s [the Brazilian equivalent of the American Bar Association], Philips’, and other associations’ to lend trust to the protest, an absurdity.”
Students destroy Philips eletronics during protest in Piauí – Blog do Rizzolo
Fabio Pereira wonders whether the mainstrean media would be scrutinizing Zottolo’s comments had they been made by someone in the government:
“Será que se o teor da declaração de Zottolo fosse usado por Lula ou alguém de seu governo ou do PT teria o mesmo desprezo? Acho que o vídeo postado pelo repórter Luiz Azenha no YouTube responde o que a maioria dos nossos jornalistas faria se soubesse que a nefasta declaração fosse dada por algum membro do governo ou pelo próprio presidente.”
O silêncio da mídia – Observatório de Imprensa
“Had the tone of Zottolo’s declaration been used by Lula or someone from his government or from the PT [Labour Party], would it be so despised? I think the video posted by Luiz Azenha on YouTube shows what most journalists would be doing if this ill comment had been made by someone from the government or the president himself.”
The Media’s Silence – The Press Observatory
Here is the video. Use the arrows to see subtitles in your favorite language.
Apparently, after all this, people from all over Brazil got really tired of Philips:
“Na verdade já tem muita gente chateada, sim. A pérola acima merece resposta. E nenhum grito é mais alto que o silencioso ato de não comprar produtos de uma empresa multinacional que não respeita as diferenças e é presidida por uma pessoa que pensa desse modo tão… tolo!”
Sou do Piauí, Eu faço a diferença - Não Compre Philips
“The truth is there are a lot of people already upset, really. The faux pas above deserves an answer. And no shout is louder than the silent act of not buying products from a multinational company that does not respect difference and is headed by a person that thinks in such a foolish way!”
I’m from Piauí, I make the difference – Don’t buy Philips
Many bloggers showed support for the idea of boycotting Philips products:
“Seria muito bem feito se os piauienses partissem agora para o ataque e iniciacem um boicote em massa aos produtos da Philips. Já está na hora daquela gente mostrar que tem auto-estima e não deixar mais que seu belo estado e seu povo acolhedor e decente sejam vítimas de deboches preconceituosos como este.” “Se ser pobre é um defeito, então se o Brasil deixasse de existir, na visão do sr. Zolloto, não faria também a menor diferença”
O Piauí é um Luxo! – Coió Online
“It would be good if those people from Piauí went for revenge and started a mass boycott of Philips’ products. It’s high time that those folks showed they have self esteem and stopped allowing their beautiful state and warm, decent people to be victims of prejudiced debaucheries like this.” “If being poor is a flaw, then if Brazil didn’t exist anymore, according to Mr. Zolloto’s point of view, it wouldn’t make the slightest difference”
Piauí is Luxury! – Coió Online
Andrei Lima [PT] calculates the consequences of a boycott, which has been started by the Claudino electronics chain, the fifth largest buyer of Philips products in Brazil:
“Pode não ser nada, mas cada ponto percentual perdido num mercado tão competitivo quanto o de produtos eletrônicos, pode representar perdas de alguns milhões de reais no faturamento da Philips.”
Acione o cérebro antes de abrir a boca… - (com)gestão“It may seem to be nothing, but each percentage point lost in such a competitive market as electronics could make Philips suffer losses of millions of Reais.”
Turn your brain on before you open your mouth… - (com)gestão
“Respect is good and Piauí appreciates it” - Armazém Paraíba announces it is not selling Philips products anymore.Agent 65 [PT] calls on his readers to send messages directly to Philips asking for Zottolo’s head on a silver tray:
“Mas o cachimbo dele vai ser fumado logo, logo. A Philips estava esperando algo como isto para exonerá-lo. Mas já adianto, NUNCA mais compro NADA fabricado por esta empresa.”
“Mandem e-mail de repúdio aqui: jayson.otke@philips.com/”
Presidente da Philips pisa no tomate - Agent 65
“But he is already a dead man walking, soon he will go. Philips was waiting for something like this to sack him. But I anticipate: I will NEVER buy anything made by this company.” “Send a repudiation e-mail to: jayson.otke@philips.com/”
Philips’ president puts his foot in it - Agent 65
Piauí and North-eastern Brazil deserve respect - Philips discriminates against Brazil
Daniel Lopes [PT] writes on how he is used to hearing comments like this coming from people in Southern Brazil:
E, sim, o Brasil é engraçado. As pessoas das regiões menos pobres sabem pouco ou nada do restante do país, e o que fazem? Pedem desculpas pela ignorância? Pedem lições de geografia aos filhos, para saber onde é mesmo que fica a cidade de Alagoas, e em que canto do Nordeste está o Acre? Resolvem falar apenas daquilo que conhecem? Não – elas se acham melhores! Isso é que é complexo de superioridade!
O Piauí e o Insignificante – Blog do Daniel
“And, yes, Brazil is funny. People from the least poor areas know little or nothing about the rest of the country, and what do they do? Do they apologise for their ignorance? Do they ask their kids to give them geography lessons, to get to know where Alagoas is, and in which part of the North East Acre is? Do they decide to talk only about what they know? No way – they think they are better people! This is a superiority complex!”
Piauí and Mr. Insignificant – Blog do Daniel
To wrap up, these lines summarise what most Brazilians feel:
“De qualquer forma em nome de tantos amigos e conhecidos piauienses, me sinto na obrigação de dizer: eu ficaria chateado, sim, se o Piauí deixasse de existir.”
Eu Me importo com o Piauí – Blog do Vasco
“Anyway, in the name of so many friends and people from Piauí I know, I feel obliged to say: I would be really upset if Piauí ceased to exist.”
I care about Piauí – Blog do Vasco
On a lighter note, the unfortunate comment has inspired some poets, like Orlando Paiva, who is a master of Cordel literature:
“Se o Piauí desaparecer
Ninguém ficará chateado”.
Esse foi o refrão Por ele pronunciado.
Paulo Zottolo foi infeliz
Mas se foi ele quem quis
Agüente o povo revoltado”
Cordel de Repúdio ao Presidente - Ribamar Aragão
“If Piauí disappears
Nobody would get stressed”.
These were the lines
By this guy professed.
Paulo Zottolo was unfortunate
But he who created this climate
Must now bear the distressed”
Sierra Leone: Blogging the Elections
Sierra Leone held its presidential and parliamentary elections on August 11, 2007. The exercise marked a peaceful transition to democracy after years of civil war. None of the presidential candidates won at least 55% as required by the constitution to prevent a run-off, which is set for September 8th, 2007. Now on to the Sierra Leone Blogosphere to see what bloggers have had to say about the process…
In Sierra Leone Elections Update - 3, Swit Salone writes:
National Electoral Commission has announced 100% of all presidential votes. All Peoples Congress (APC) candidate, Ernest Bai, Koroma has won 44% of the votes while the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) has won 38% of the total vote. The People’s Movement for Democratic Change (PMDC) leader Charles F. Margai won 14%; a remarkable feat for a political party less than 1½ years old. The constitution of Sierra Leone stipulates that a presidential candidate has to win at least fifty-five (55%) percent of the total votes in the first round of elections to prevent a run-off.
If the A.P.C had managed to gain at least 50.5% of the votes in the first round then they would have been guaranteed the win in the 2nd round single-majority-win election. Charles Margai the leader of the P.M.D.C whom many believed shortchanged the SLPP of votes in key areas in the South & East has announced that he will form an alliance with the APC. However the other members of the PMDC party executive board proclaimed that Margai’s decision to join the APC was unilateral and that they are not following suit.
Jill and Dan write about the apprehensions felt going into the election and the break down of supporters regionally:
National Presidential Elections were held throughout the country last Saturday. We haven't mentioned it because there was so much uncertainty about how things would go… and lots of warnings to be prepared for the worst. Sometimes things flare up so fast — especially here where there is palpable discontent with the high rates of unemployment and the dismal state of social services and infrastructure. But as far as we know, everything seems to have gone off well. BBC has announced “free and fair” elections. There were over 4000 international election observers posted throughout the country to ensure this, and to report on anything seeming a bit fishy. There were a few political skirmishes here and there, but people turned out to vote peacefully in record numbers. We were told something like 2.6 million voters registered for this election — around 93-95% of the voting population. And people have high hopes for positive changes.
So far, five days later (as today is Thursday), the word is that somewhere between 17-19% of the votes have been officially tallied and counted. It will take a while before any results will be announced. At first, radio stations and party spokespeople, even the UN and NGOs were hearing all kinds of info, some of it conflicting. Whenever a tentative result was announced, whichever side was in the lead at that moment would claim it was winning. So now, we don't hear anything. Most of the country is expecting a runoff election to take place in a few more weeks. There were 7 candidates on the ballot on Saturday, and no clear winner as of yet. Seats in Parliament were up for grabs, and historically the North and West (predominantly Temne) support the APC party and the East and South (predominantly Mende) support the SLPP (current party in power). Of course this is a huge oversimplification of things, but basically those are the two parties with the largest bases of support, and typically over the last 30-40 years or so, power goes back and forth between the two. It's possible that some seats in Parliament will change and there might be some shifts… that's what people are waiting for as well as to hear if there's going to be a Presidential runoff or not
Sandra’s Latest gave us the latest statistics on the elections as 34.3% of the votes were announced:
The latest election update (from yesterday) is that 2119 of 6171 (34.3%) of the polling stations have reported their results. So far there has been a lot of fluctuation in the outcome. A couple days ago APC had over 70% of the votes, but the following day it was SLPP that was ahead. The presidential winner must take more than 55 percent of the vote to avoid a run-off. Here are the latest results:
Candidate Votes Percentage
Ernest Bai Koroma (All Peoples Congress) 46.17%
Andrew Turay (Convention Peoples Party) 1.4%
Alhaji Amadu Jalloh (National Democratic Alliance) 1.02%
Kandeh Baba Conteh (Peace and Liberation Party) 0.56%
Charles F. Margai (People's Movement for Democratic Change) 15.17%
Solomon E. Berewa (Sierra Leone People's Party) 35.32%
Prof. Abdul Kady Karim (United National People's Party) 0.37%
Swit Salone writes about the experience of being a national observer for the elections as well as lessons to be learnt from the results:
First stop on my observation was PortLoko….got there right as the polling center was opening and everything was orderly…..old, young, and not so old sierra leoneans waited sometimes patiently and other times a little rowdy but it was all in good spirit. All polling stations that I observed in Port Loko, Bombali, and Tonkolili [three districts in the northern part of Sierra Leone] were predominantly Temne speaking areas….and even without them saying, it was obvious that they were voting APC…..the most prevalent issue in the polling stations was that people didnt know how to vote….Some polling center officers and managers spent time explaining the processes in temne and sometimes in krio but even with the explanations people were confused about the process…some people didnt mark anything on their ballot paper while others selected multiple candidates or all the candidates. Some people signed their name instead of indicating their choice with a check mark or thumb print. In the polling stations and centers that i observed nothing peculiar happened that disrupted the process though rumors of pre-voted ballot boxes were rife everywhere……i dont know of any proven box stuffing incidents….
The biggest lessons from these elections are that Sierra Leoneans are never again going to let themselves be ruled by a regime that doesn't deliver. The funny thing is that most people who voted against the APC recognize that much may not change with the APC and that all politicians are pretty much the same but they voted for change to send a message to all parties that we are a changed people. We believe in accountability and anyone who does not meet our expectations will be voted out. Even if the SLPP wins, the message has been sent….loud and clear….WAY MAN DEM NO GLADI WI DAY VOTE FOR CHANGE....[meaning when the people aren’t happy they will vote for change…a popular saying by youth in Freetown, the nation’s capital]
During the campaigns, Nasratha wrote about about the first ever presidential debates in the country:
Last Week, the first ever presidential debates were held in Freetown at Lagoonda Entertainment Complex and this young wannabe scored tickets curtesy of a friend with the BBC. All parties were represented at the Debate besides the SLPP….Berewa refused to attend the debate because as he believed who ever was hosting it had no authority to call him to a debate and what not. Anyhoo, all the other parties were there though Charles Margai was about an hour late due to the fact that they were holding their rally earlier on that day.
First of I must admit that I questioned the relevance of the debates so late into to the campaigns….Almost everyone Tuesday of last week had already chosen their party….Also with most of Sierra Leoneans being illiterate….i questioned whether it was useful to have the debates in English….As far as I'm concerned these debates were more for the benefit of Sierra Leoneans in the diaspora (who are not voting) and the self satisfaction of the organisers themselves.
Since none of the candidates won 55% of the votes, there will be a run-off on September 8th, 2007 as Sandra announces on her blog:
1,839,208 votes at 6,171 polling stations have been counted. The results are out. At 10:00 this morning the final results of the Sierra Leone elections were announced over the radio. To be honest, the announcement did not come as a surprise. For the past week people have been talking about the upcoming run-off. The only difference now is that it is official. And the campaigning can begin.
The presidential run-off between the All People’s Congress and the Sierra Leone People’s Party will be held on Saturday, September 8th, 2007.
Turkey is Typing….Wordpress Still Blocked
Last week Sami Ben Gharbia did an excellent posting about the blockage of the Wordpress blogging platform in Turkey, this week we will examine what Turkish bloggers have to say about it. There is anger, resentment, and sense of utter amazement at the absurdness of the situation. And yet, there is a powerful spirit of strength in combating this ban.
Many Turkish bloggers and expat bloggers feel that the recent banning of Wordpress in Turkey is not only a sign of things to come, but a cause for embarrassment. James in Turkey sums up the history of Turkish censorship well:
Turkey has banned WordPress, the blogging platform. This is not a move without precedent; the popular definitions site ekşisözlük and, more famously, YouTube have both been blocked in the past. Turk Telekom's virtual monopoly on internet access in Turkey makes a ban an easy thing to enforce. There is, after all, just the one service provider to submit a court order to. Such a ban wouldn't be as easy in a place like Britain, where multiple companies maintain the country's internet infrastructure.
The man behind this ban is the Turkish creationist Adnan Oktar, more popularly known by his pen name Harun Yahya. It seems Mr Oktar took offence at some sentiments express about his person on a certain WordPress blog, and proceeded to have his lawyers ban the entire platform. Mr Oktar's lawyers were also behind the ekşisözlük ban, which was only lifted after the entires about him were deleted.
Censorship in Turkey has long been extensive. When it comes to certain sensitive subjects - be it the Kurds, the Armenians, the hidden state or the military - Turkish journalists have always exercised a degree of self-censorship. Even ordinary Turks have a habit of lowering their voices when talking politics, lest they be overheard. In such an environment, the mere recalling of books and banning of websites can be almost second nature.
But despite its long history of censorship, the Turkish state has yet to realise that it just doesn't work. When YouTube was banned for an anti-Atatürk video that appeared in its wares, every other Turkish internet user found a way of watching the video to see out what the fuss was about. I myself have met authors who are delighted when their books are banned and taken away by the police. It makes people want to read them. Surely it's like dealing with a spoilt child - giving attention only makes it worse.
I have very little time for Mr Oktar. He is not an intelligent man. The legal action he has taken against certain WordPress blogs are completely in character and, as far as I can see, without much justification. I don't see how a tiny blog can do much personal harm to him.
But my personal thoughts aside, there is a bigger issue here - the fact that it is possible to ban parts of the Internet in Turkey. The courts should not be able to close entire websites in responsible to a single libel claim. More important than that, though, the internet access of an entire country should not rest in the hands of one single company, however privatised it might be. It's time to break up Turk Telekom.
As James points out, the ease in which this ban was implemented is of some concern, however with this ease also comes the resourcefulness of Turkish internet users to work around the ban. Erkan from Erkan's Field Diary notes that he uses his RSS feed from Bloglines to read Wordpress blogs.
Other bloggers have compared the decision to ban Wordpress to a fatwa rather than a court decision, from Internations Musings:
What I simply don't understand is why nobody knows why this court decision is made. Looks fair to me that when a court makes a decision, it issues also a statement why the decision is made…or am I wrong? Now leaving so many people in limbo, it also creates space for speculations, conspiracy theories and gossip. I think that after 5 years, I still have a lot to learn about how Turkey is ruled, but this court issued rather a fatwa than a decision…
As to the type of the ban, Living in Turkey cites Turkey as joining the ranks of North Korea and Iran:
The Turkish Courts sometime around last Friday put forth an order that blocks Wordpress from any internet user inside Turkey. Apparently, according to Photo Matt's blog, it is a DNS block. His site also provides tips for proxy servers around this block. Because of the nature of the domain, Turk Telecom banned the Wordpress domain, which includes all subdomains.
So, when I went to visit my good buddy, fellow expat and blogger, Jake at his Foreign Perspective Blog, I was shocked to see this:
It basically says, “Access to this site has been suspended in accordance with decision no: 2007/195 of T.C. Fatih 2.Civil Court of First Instance.” This is the same thing that occurred to YouTube. It is too bad that a simple prosecutor and a judge that only uses the internet for email and to read the newspaper decided this was ok. Of course the judge is only following the law, the prosecutor is to blame. Most likely a wordpress blog published controversial material either insulting Turkey, Turkishness, the military, the courts, or Ataturk - all are possible. No word yet on who the real culprit is - and also no word from the media yet either.
I guess Turkey just likes to join the ranks of firewall enthusiasts like Iran, China and North Korea. Of course, with the most recent elections, Iran is not far off. It is also a shame, because Turkey, a country of 70+ million people, has about 15 million ADSL users and still growing.
Erkan's Field Diary writes about his frustration in trying to find out more about the actual court decision:
I actually called the largest service provider, TTnet Customer Service as a mere citizen. The call person in the service call repetad that “they don't know any information about the ban. The court demanded and they banned, that's it.” So as a citizen i cannot learn why i cannot have access to the site. I later surfed in the Ministry of Justice site in order to find if court decisions are published here. No chance. So there is an accountability question here too. The banners are not accountable to citizens. If only mainstream media takes the issue at hand, we might have a chance. In the mean time, you can change open DNS numbers and you can try different proxies in ‘www.anonymouse.com' or ‘www.ninjaproxy.com' to overcome the ban and have access:)
Frustration is also mounting by Turkish bloggers and readers as they are discovering that more and more sites are blocked because of their use of Wordpress platform like the Flickr blog and the political ticker blog from CNN.
So what is being done? Good question. Many Turks are getting around the ban by using RSS feeds and proxy servers, others are signing petitions to unblock Wordpress, such as the petition from MidEast Youth, and still others are using their own sites as a protest such as Great Firewall of Turkey.
In any case, the one to blame this all on was the one man who had his lawyers block Wordpress to begin with, Adnan Oktar, a creationist and (according to bloggers) a cult leader. Hans from Internations Musings, give a brief introduction to the man:
Apparently this is what happened: the attorneys of the cult leader Adnan Oktar aka Harun Yahya, a 51 year old former interior design student known in Turkey as “Adnan Hoca”, who founded in 1990 the foundation known as BAV (Bilim Arastirma Vakfi-Scientific Research Foundation), had applied to Wordpress for removal of what they described as “unlawful statements regarding their client”. “As most of our attempts were unanswered” alleged the attorneys, they applied to Turkish judicial courts “to stop the defamation executed through Wordpress services”. Hence, by the decision of Fatih 2nd Civil Court of First Instance, number 2007/195, access to Wordpress.com was then blocked in Turkey by TTNET, an Internet network that covers all Turkey.
We learned that the sites which Adnan Oktar's attorneys wanted removed are run by an Islamic Reformer Edip Yuksel, who wrote an article criticizing Oktar and his movement where he seems to be trying to expose Oktar and his followers as a fundamentalist movement with dark secrets. Edip Yuksel published this message of rebuttal.
Started as a religious cult that preyed on wealthy members of Turkish society, the BAV has appeared in lurid media tales about sex rings, a blackmail prosecution and speculation about its charismatic leader. But if BAV's notoriety has been burnished by a sensationalist Turkish media, the secretive group has earned its reputation as a prodigious publisher of inexpensive ideological paperbacks. BAV has put out hundreds of titles written by “Harun Yahya” (a pseudonym) on various topics, but most of them are Islamic-based attacks on the theory of evolution. His book, Atlas Of Creation, decrying evolution is now aggressively promoted well beyond the borders of Turkey to the Middle East, Europe, and even the United States. The book is turning up, unsolicited, in the mailboxes of scientists and members of the US Congress, and at science museums around USA. In France, the Harun Yahya book offensive led the government to issue a warning for schools to be on the look out for the “Atlas” before it makes it into their classrooms. Meanwhile, the increasing European activity of BAV, as well as of Christian creationist groups, recently prompted a committee of the Council of Europe – a 47-nation group that acts as a kind of continental watchdog – to issue a report strongly warning about its dangers to education.The lavishly illustrated 800-page book is one of the most significant creationist challenge to Charles Darwin's theory, which Yahya calls a feeble and perverted ideology contradicted by the Koran. The books are slick, but BAV has had plenty of help. Creationism in Turkey got key support in the 1980s and 1990s from American creationist organizations, and BAV's Yahya books resemble the same sorts of works put out by California's Institute for Creation Research. Except in Yahya's books, it's Allah that's doing the creating. Unlike fundamentalist Christian creationists, Oktar does not claim the earth was created only a few thousand years ago. Instead, he argues that fossils show that creatures from millions of years ago looked just like the creatures of today, thus disproving evolution. Also, Oktar's brand of creationism is not only religious, but political and even messianic, seeing most of the world's ills – terrorism and fascism among them – as stemming from Darwin's theory of evolution. In 2001, Science magazine called BAV “one of the world's strongest anti-evolution movements outside of North America”.
I think that most readers would agree that the Wordpress ban is not helping Adnan Oktar's public image one bit. We can only hope that sanity will prevail and that this ban will be lifted soon.
Egypt: Complaining for Change
Something I love about Egyptian blogs is our tendency to complain. Firstly because we're Egyptian and its our nature and secondly because we have so much to complain about.
Among our complaints this week: international scandals, intellectual persecution, the Egyptian Legal system (or lack thereof), the question of beauty and as usual, religious persecution rounding out the group.
International Scandals
A couple months ago a former Egyptian double agent named Ashraf Marwan died when he “jumped” off his balcony while in London. (a favorite assassination technique of the Egyptian Secret Police. See Suad Hosny). His mysterious death has raised a lot of questions. Zeinobia points out his not-so-honest former dealings.
Strangely no one in the official newspaper spoke about the profession, the real profession of Ashraf Marwan; they did not speak from where he got these millions which became billions afterwards, not that only, now they are forgetting that he used to be an arm dealer with one hell of a history from profiting from other’s death like in the case of Iran-Iraq war, it is enough that his name was mentioned in the Iran Contra affair along with Adnan Khashoggi whom years later turned out to be also a pimp too for the Saudi Royalties
Intellectual Persecution
When it comes to the Israel-Palestine debate
Norman Finkelstein is one of the most famous intellectuals on the topic. His criticisms of Israel have made him the target of hatred and has recently resulted in the denial of his tenure at DePaul University, the Arabist chimes in…
By Monday, the books for his course had been pulled from the DePaul bookstore’s shelves, while his case was restarting a firestorm of protest. The American Association of University Professors was preparing a letter to the university, protesting Finkelstein’s treatment as a serious violation of academic ethics.
Finkelstein vowed not to take the rebuff lying down—or, perhaps more correctly, to do something just like that. In addition to canceling his course, the university informed him that his office was no longer his.
Egyptian Legal System (and lack of it)
As much as the Egyptian Blogosphere fights for freedom, none of us are about to complain when the Government cracks down on the Muslim Brotherhood, fair or not. When Brotherhood members are held and released they are picked up again within hours. The Skeptic notes:
`Abd al-Monim Mahmud, himself detained earlier this year, reports that while two Brotherhood MPs have been released on bail, five Brothers were immediately detained again after prosecutors ordered their release, and a court threw out a prosecutor’s order to release four others:
The Question of Beauty
Beauty in the West vs. Everywhere else. Ha Ana Za with her usual enlightening analysis…
The Western ideal of beauty is often characterised as petite, blonde, buxom and blue eyed and yet how many people around the world actually fit this stereotype?
Actually a little less than 1.8% of the world's human population fit into such a category so is it perhaps the rarity of such individuals that make them so attractive?
Ideals of beauty are a part of every culture. If we look at images throughout Western history alone, we can see these ideals change according to what is valued and needed by the culture’s world view. Often a culture’s ideals oppress the body. This is true of our era where the oppression of women and the cult of thinness are linked to the objectification of all living bodies. We live in a society that emphasizes the surface, not the substance of the human being. After over 25 years of feminism, women’s’ self-image, as well as social and economic success are still largely determined by their looks.
Religious Persecution
Small groups like the Baha'i are easily overlooked in Egypt but their right to freedom correspond to the freedoms of all the countries citizens, therefore Baha'i freedoms equal Egyptian freedoms. Bilo at Baha'i Faith in Egypt challenges the undying ID card hurdle.
This video clip, entitled “Egypt Tourism Ad” was just published by the Muslim Network for Baha'i Rights on YouTube. It depicts the dilemma of certain citizens of Egypt, such as Baha'is, who are denied their ID cards because of their religious affiliation. Egypt will only allow the entry of one of three religions on the mandated computerized ID card forms, namely: Muslim, Christian or Jewish. If anyone belongs to any other Faith than these three, then the person is denied the ID card. The application form also clearly states that the entry of any false statements will lead to imprisonment and heavy fines. A citizen of Egypt without ID card is considered non-existent and cannot have any rights in his or her own country. All essential services in Egypt mandates the use of ID cards. The lack of such documents in Egypt amounts to Civil Death.
As long as we're writing and you're reading things will get better as we gather a collective voice. So on that note I'll see you here next week.
All out war in southern Philippines
War is raging in the island of Basilan, located in the southernmost part of the Philippines. An all-out war was recently declared by the government against the Abu Sayyaf bandit group accused of beheading 14 Marines last month. The military offensives have displaced thousands of families and imperiled the peace negotiations between the government and other Muslim rebel forces.
Carlos Conde writes about the military operations in Basilan and the initial victories of government troops. By Jove uploads a video report which features President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo instructing soldiers not to expose the innocent civilians to danger. RG Cruz Blogs muses on “terrorism jounalism”.
Morofilm’s article highlights the uniqueness of the Basilan community. Ducky Paredes uploads a speech of Congressman Wahid Akbar about growing up in Basilan. Leyahred’s me, myself & i on living in a war zone. Adam’s Reef laments the war in Basilan and criticizes the media:
“Beneath the surface of poverty, the island is teeming with richness in culture and heritage. I find it difficult to watch soldiers on TV romping around the place. How can Basilan even reclaim its untainted name? How can it spring back from the images of war attached to it, when its people’s attempts to slowly regain peace is thwarted? What bothers me the most is how major TV networks are insidiously turning all these events into a circus”.
Ka-Blog! provides a simple description of the armed groups operating in Basilan:
“There are four armed groups in that area now. One is an armed bandit group which was put up by veterans of the Afghanistan War of Liberation and was originally trained and equipped by the US Armed Forces (Abu Sayyaf). Another is a revolutionary force fighting for their ancestral domains (MILF and MNLF). Still another is a national armed force which is being equipped, trained and directed by a foreign armed force (Government troops). The last is of course the foreign armed force which has no business being in the middle of all these but is there nonetheless (US troops)”.
The Patsada Karajaw Nation on the possible relationship between the war in Basilan and US military aid:
“A war with the said terror groups ensures the continuous pouring of military aid from the United States. Not only that, our government seems to have offered a promo to the Americans. In exchange for much needed military aid, the government extended additional perks to the Americans by providing them “temporary” structures in Mindanao which allow some of its personnel to stay in the country in between joint military exercises. This violates the Constitutional provision against the establishment of foreign military bases here. This sell out however is part of the survival mode of the fake President.”
In and out of season condemns the ambush of 14 Marines. Underside ponders on the perceived weaknesses of the military:
“First of all, the burning question that everyone wants to be answered is this: How in the world were the Marines ambushed, given that the government forces were supposed to be greater in number and better equipped? Answer: The following boo-boos were committed by the AFP itself: (1) The ammunitions provided to the soldiers were defective and (2) the government troops were not able to receive assistance from air pilots because of bad radio frequency”.
Uniffors is happy over the extra pay for soldiers but recommends “better leadership, up to date equipment, and ammunition that actually works so that those soldiers can live long enough to enjoy their extra pay”
Congressman Ruffy Biazon demands accountability from civilian and military authorities:
“Indeed, as we mourn the deaths of these Marines and those who were killed several weeks ago, we must determine the command responsibility of those who may have committed lapses or errors and hold them accountable, if any. Without immediately assuming anyone’s fault or guilt, the government must provide answers to the questions their families are asking.”
A senator through the blog Magdalo para sa Pagbabago has an allegation:
“I have received very serious insider information that ranking officials of the government, specifically of the executive department, had a direct hand in feeding our own military to the enemies of the State that led to the tragic death of the 14 members of the Philippine Marine Corps.”
Lovingarkin’s blog supports the all-out war and explains why. Caught you on camera gives a “snappy salute” to all Marines who died in Basilan. Bottled mourns the death of a young hero. My cover story is a college friend of a young Marine who died in Basilan. Cakes and ale is a friend of another fallen Marine.
“As a mother I cried in pain…this shouldn't happen if only our government peace negotiating panel meant a serious dialogue to seek peace. This bloodbath is absurd! Violence seeking and correcting violence?! The panel should take a back seat and try to look for others who can truly understand the inner dilemma and give us a good answer to these horrible acts that keep on making their trails.”
Ellen Tordesillas, describing the Arroyo government as ‘regime of insecurity’ speculates on the possible objectives of the renewed offensives in Basilan:
“Could it be that Gloria Arroyo and her military advisers feel the outrage of the soldiers, especially the Marines, over how, in the words of Sen. Antonio Trillanes, they “were fed to the enemies of the State”? And to pacify them, she gave them a war? Come to think of it, if Gloria Arroyo has to do something drastic to pre-empt public indignation on a possible guilty verdict on former President Estrada, would it be better for her if those who do not like her are in Mindanao busy dying in an aimless war?”
Violetagloria blogs about the statement of the Consortium of Bangsamoro Civil Society. Suara Bangsamoro appeals for peace:
“Who committed the beheading and why did the perpetrators committed such act? This is a very controversial and sensitive issue that should have been responded with discretion rather than warmongering. For weeks, it is as if every Muslim has to answer for the act of beheading and Islam is once again put in the limelight and debate.”
Viewpoints is opposed to the “war by Filipinos against Filipinos”:
“It is both a civil and moral disaster when a government launches war against its own citizens. While war against nations is bad enough, a war by Filipinos against Filipinos is one of the worst misfortunes the Philippines could have, live and experience. And such a war is on and raging in the South.”
Links for Fri, 2007-08
Sean's Russia Blog posts an update on the investigation of Anna Politkovskaya's murder and remind his readers of another ongoing case: Aleksandr Litvinenko's murder.
MoldovAnn bought her first car in Ukraine and has spent some time driving it in and around Kyiv, and now she's off for a week of traveling with a group of international volunteers as part of the UNV Volunteerism Promotion Campaign.
Taras Kuzio compares Ukrainian politicians to their French counterparts: “Yulia could become Ukraine’s Thatcher or Sarkozy – Yushchenko will always be a Chirac. Maybe a woman can do what a man could never.”
The weather pattern heading towards the Caribbean has been officially categorized as Tropical Depression #6 of the hurricane season, according to an updated post by Francomenz.
Nicholas Laughlin quotes BC Pires on the occasion of Trinidad and Tobago's 45th anniversary of Independence, while IZATRINI.com compares the country's first Independence Day celebration with how the holiday is celebrated today.
Francomenz follows the progress of a “disturbed” weather system heading towards Trinidad and Tobago.
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