Global Voices Online » 2007 » October

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Uganda: Poverty and Paris Hilton

Rebekah Heacock · 16:31

lingua → bn

Wednesday's Public Poverty Forum in Kampala had one blogger, Tumwijukue, asking, “Did they (re)define poverty? Did they speak of poverty of the mind? Or did they merely use the event as a networking opportunity and an excuse to miss work for the day, rushing to the organizer's table at the end of the forum for the Ushs. 50,000 delegates' allowance?”

Comments on the post ranged from an emphatic “BURN PARLIAMENT” to “‘…poverty of the mind?' What minds?” Magoola sardonically suggested, “We all need to just sit back, recline and wait for Bono's solution.”

A continent away, Resolve Uganda senior researcher and conflict analyst Peter Quaranto is asking an equally tough question:

For almost three years, I have been part of the growing movement to press Western governments to respond to the crisis in northern Uganda. International neglect, while aid poured into Kampala, has allowed the war to persist for two decades. Today that silence is history; world leaders from Washington to London to Brussels are speaking about the urgency of resolving the conflict.

Yet priority does not guarantee prudence. In fact, many Western officials have begun making reckless military threats that threaten to undermine the ongoing peace process. It leaves activists like myself wondering: have our efforts been counterproductive?

Meanwhile, Daniel Kalinaki censures Ugandan journalist and Africa Almanac founder Timothy Kalyegira for using the nationally published Daily Monitor, rather than a personal site, to publicize views Daniel claims “destruct and distract” Ugandans:

Tim, like many of us, has his moments of madness. The only difference is that while we spew our madness into cyberspace, Tim does so through a national newspaper…. In a nutshell (at least the way I understand it), Tim says Ugandans go abroad for master's degrees as a fad and that they have nothing to show for it in terms of changing the country when they return. This is a dangerous and false generalisation that needs to be exposed for the fallacy it is. Tim seems to have a problem, not only with higher education per se, but with higher education sought abroad, particularly in western universities. Tim has previously thumbed his nose towards Ugandans who go abroad for ‘kyeyo' but these same folks keep people in school and food on tables in Uganda.

Lastly, Rafshizzle is deeply concerned about an issue of another kind: Paris Hilton is coming to Africa:

She told E Online: “There's so much need in that area, and I feel like if I go, it will bring more attention to what people can do to help.”

Meanwhile, a source said that Hilton would secretly sneak into Uganda before leaving for Kigali.

I'm not quite sure what the Rwandan locals will make of the beauty, better known for sex tapes, partying and one notorious prison stretch.

Perhaps life behind bars really has changed the Hilton, who vowed to do more charity work when she came out of the clink.

“I want to visit more countries where poverty and children's issues are a big concern. I know there's a lot of good I can do just by getting involved and bringing attention to these issues,” she said after her release recently and now us Ugandans and Rwandans should be proud that we are one of the people she has thought about first.

0 comments · »»

Syria: Stop Internet Censorship!

Jillian York · 03:34

lingua → pt · bn · es

Following a report by Human Rights Watch, Sami ben Gharbia of Global Voices Advocacy wrote an article outlining Syria's internet repression, which included the arrests of two citizens accused of making comments online considered insulting. Several Syrian bloggers demonstrated strong opinions about the situation, as well as the recent blocking of Blogspot.

Golaniya of Decentering Damascus wrote:

Last night I saw Ben Gharbia's updated post on the Advocacy Global Voices' site and this time it was about my country.

Two cyber activists were detained for posting online comments that were disfavored by our Syrian government. The report also talked about a case in which the government detained a third Syrian citizen for posting comments opposing KSA. the Syrian Military Intelligence detained him for “breaking ties” with an ally.

The blogger goes on to detail the situation, then says:

I have been living in Syria over a month now ever since I left Lebanon, and no one has mentioned these incidents. Unlike in Lebanon, Syrians know nothing about what's happening in Syria, if it wasn’t for her blog, or international human rights, or opposition sites, no one would ever know about these violations of human rights. If I mentioned this in front of some friends they will probably not believe me for these things are abnormal to the Syrian consciousness and psyche. The Syrian government is not just detaining these amazing Syrian citizens in prison, but also detaining the “discussion” about them-the right to know, to think, and to wonder!

While some Syrians are busy “building Syria” by attacking Iraqi presence in Syria, Jews, feminism and attacks against sexist Syria and racist Syria, the Syrian government is busy attacking Syrian citizens who are attacking corrupted, dictator, unjust regime/Syrians.

One commenter responded:

This is just too bad, I used that the censorship and persecution of bloggers and media personalities in my country (Pakistan) couldn't be rivaled in its badness. But you guys seem to have a tougher ground to operate. Allow me to put forward this advice, try to work through the system and not against it. It takes time and concerted effort to make the change you'd like to see happening. Sometimes it is just too risky to struggle without cover…

In other censorship news, it seems that Blogspot has been blocked in Syria - while it is unreported whether or not this remains the case, bloggers were certainly furious. Abufares said:

Blogspot is now completely blocked in Syria. I mean I was able until yesterday to access it directly through one remaining service provider. Not anymore, as I have to join my heroic blogging comrades in sneaking our way around proxies and firewalls. However, once you and the blockers read this post and dozens of harmless posts on other Syrian blogs you and they (the wiseass blockers) will discover the wisdom behind their draconian action. This is dangerous stuff I’m talking about here. George W. Bush and company might consider recipes (especially if they originate from the Middle East) to be inherently terroristic in nature. Dough and yogurt, if mixed in a certain manner, might inadvertently lead to nuclear energy thus might pose a danger to the free world and undermine the cultural integrity of White Anglo Saxons.

Abu Kareem of Levantine Dreamhouse also reported on the matter, sharing tips for using proxies to circumvent the censorship:

Blogspot is now apparently completely blocked in Syria. I am republishing part of a post from last December in addition to other resources in the hope that some blocked Syrian bloggers may be able to use the information to bypass web censorship of their blogs- that is of course, if they manage to see this post.

4 comments · »»

Bahrain: The times they are a-changin'…

Ayesha Saldanha · 03:32

Many of Bahrain's bloggers are either lamenting or advocating change of one kind or another this week, whether concerning family celebrations, employment practices, political priorities – or even footwear!

Change is inevitable?
We start with a photo by Ammar, highlighting the changes taking place in Manama:

Celebration sabotaged
Cradle of Humanity discovered some changes at home this Eid, and wonders if Bahraini society as a whole is changing:

“Not exactly” was mum’s reply when I complained why we were to have an Eidless Ramadan this year. “We are having Eid, we are just not having Eid lunch”. “So what is it we are having for Eid then, mother?” She herself seemed rather distressed but tried hard to appear otherwise. She composed herself; “some of your aunts are leaving for a short break during the holiday” she explained. Both my paternal and maternal side of the family decided that there were too few of them to hold a feast for Eid. “We can go out for lunch, with your brothers” she proposed. I was still sore and annoyed and did not hold from stating that the idea did not appeal to me, and that I felt that my Eid was sabotaged- by everybody. […] It is moments like those that I feel that my society is caught up between its collective past and a newly introduced individualistic trend. While I do not mind either ways of life, I indeed mind having to do with no Eid plans- thinking there would be the usual collective one- only to find out four days ahead that there won’t be, since everyone is having their own little plan or vacation. I would have loved a short city break somewhere, but how could I have left the grand annual gathering that follows the holy month? If I had done that then all would have complained- I wasn’t even considerate enough to put an effort to attend something that only comes once a year.

In need of change
Mohammed AlMaskati feels negative about the situation in Bahrain:

نحن البحرينون حقيقةً شعب مسكين، شعب تقبل الصفعات الواحدة تلو الأخرى، طعناً في كل مبادئه و قيمه، شعب سجن أبنائه، و عذب أولاده، و شردوا و قتلوا في سبيل مبدأ و مطلب.

We the Bahrainis are in truth a poor people, who receive blows one after another, in a challenge to all their principles and values. A people whose sons have been imprisoned, whose children have been tortured, were expelled and killed for the sake of a principle and a demand.

You can read his ideas for change here.

No entry
Mahmood reports on an incident earlier this week, and has an interesting solution:

…the third largest island in the Bahraini archipelago - Umm Al-Na’asaan - has been reserved by his majesty to the exclusive use of his military for training purposes. Add to that the southern half of the island which has been so reserved too, and you get the idea of why land prices are so astronomical that a middle class Bahraini citizen can no longer afford to even dream of owning a house or a small plot to plant his roots in.
Looking a bit further in to this issue, I find that people in Malkiya and surrounding villages were preparing a day trip, a picnic to Umm Al-Na’asaan island to celebrate Eid. That resulted in those villages being surrounded by riot police on land, and the coast guard on sea which has reportedly even dragged their boats away from the coast to prevent them from launching them. […] I’m not sure why they’re complaining really… Canada, Australia, New Zealand and even India are open and available for easy enough migration. What are they waiting for?

Ebtihal Salman writes about the same incident, and wonders if there's any chance the issue will be solved politically:

هل سيهتم نواب الشعب الكرام بالتساؤل عن حقيقة مصير ثلث مساحة البلاد…

Will the honourable deputies of the people be interested in asking for the truth regarding the destiny of a third of the country…

Work woes
Butterfly has been looking at what makes a large number of Bahrainis move abroad to work:

فكرت في عدد الكفاءات التي غادرت ومازالت ستغادر هذه الارض .. في عدم التقدير والتقزيم والتهميش الذي يمارسه بعض المسئولين على موظفيهم البحرينيين…

I thought about the number of competent people that have left and are still to leave this land… about the lack of appreciation, the demotion, and the marginalisation used by some employers regarding their Bahraini employees…

Put up or…
Desert Bloom, on the other hand, thinks people should leave Bahrain! She is fed up of hearing complaints and thinks people should use their energy to create positive changes:

What I don’t understand is that people hate the Bahrain’s government so much why don’t they just leave?? Here are the government trying to do what is best for the country and YES there are corrupted people in it but I DARE YOU to show me a country that hasn’t any! … There is a lot of energy in the Bahraini people why don’t they use it towards something good for the country??

Not just words
Still on the subject of change, Ali Al Dairy looks at the influence that books can have:

ليست الحوادث وحدها ما يغير وجه الحياة، فالكتب لا تقل فاعلية في تغيير الحياة وتاريخها عن الحوادث السياسية، بل إن الحوادث السياسية تجد أحياناً في الكتب ذريعة لتغيير وجه التاريخ

Events are not the only things that can change the face of life; books are no less effective in changing life and its history regarding political events. Indeed political events sometimes find in books a pretext for changing the face of history.

Lower yourself…
Finally, Cookie would like women to change what they put on their feet:

break your heels.. really stop I know high heel’s shoes are cute but healthy 50 years old lady is cuter

Game on
We finish with a photo by Yagoob, showing that some things will probably never change:

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Morocco: Interview with an Amazigh Blogger

Jillian York · 03:27

lingua → de · pt · es

I first discovered Ghasbouba, the blog of Moroccan Amazigh and activist Bouba, when he wrote an article entitled “exotic blogs for exotic al morocco,” which criticized the typical Western expat's view of his native country. I even reacted to the post in my own blog. Intrigued by Bouba's frankness, I continued to follow his blog and now consider it among my favorites. Recently, he granted me the opportunity to interview him on all things Morocco and Amazigh.

Jillian York: How did you get involved in blogging?

Bouba: Azul (hello in Tamazight),

First I would like to thank Jillian and all the GV crew for for their outstanding work in keeping the blogging communities together.

Blogging was always a dream for me. It is attached to free and independent expression. I come from an area where red lines are still red. Blogging is one of many ways I chose to express myself without having anyone to report to but my conscience and my love for my country and my culture are above everything else. I blog for Tamazight, a culture and an identity that has always been oppressed and misrepresented.

The International Conference on Media Issues, Marrakech, 2004, was one of the events that got me into thinking that alternative progressive media might be the only way for us to overcome the under representation of Amazigh culture and people.

Later on I discussed many options with friends from the GV project and this is how I started my Tamazight blog Blognegh. After that blogging and daily life got closer.

JY: What are your goals as a blogger - specifically an Amazigh blogger?

Bouba: I want to share with my friends and the world that Tamazight (Berber as most people call it) is not as dead as post cards represent it. It is the oldest and the most important culture in the Mediterranean. As indigenous peoples of North Africa, our identity is very important to us and we share this with many other people in the world. Imazighen found out that Internet and all other means of communication are important. that is why they invested time and energy in designing thousands of websites and other audio visual and digital documents. Now some of that is called Cyber activism. I am glad millions of people now are involved in this struggle for freedom, liberation and democracy.

Blogging for me is one of many ways of doing this struggle. If my readers learn one thing about Imazighen through my blog, some of the job is done. The rest is the work of all of us.

Blogger Ghasbouba

JY: You're from a country where the national language is Arabic, the secondary French, and you speak dialects of Tamazight…so why blog in English?

Bouba: In many areas of Morocco learning foreign languages is a survival strategy. We have always been forced to learn and use other languages, since the dawn of time. I speak seven languages, four varieties of Tamazight. But I do not think it is a luxury. We are forced to learn Classical Arabic at school and then French. Later on we learn other languages like English, Spanish, etc… My mother languages Hassania, Darija and Tamazight were never taught at school. They fall below the other languages and that's why they are always labeled as “dialects”, which is foreign to linguistics. It is a pure political term.

I blog both in English and Tamazight. English is just another window to look through. As an Amazigh activist, I believe that any cause needs international support. Imazighen had to use all means of communication to talk to the world about themselves and their issues and they have always done it in different languages . Like all other social movements in the world, if we do not have international support we can not go much further. The forces of oppression can kill the forces of survival. I am not afraid of extinction as much as I am afraid of loss and forgetting.

You might have noticed the Struggles of Ait Hadiddou people in the Province of Ouarzazate. It is bloggers that transmitted their message to the world. None of the media organs in Morocco spoke about them. The children of Anefgou, the floods of Boumalen, the people who were frozen to death last winter and so on.

I feel a lot of Amazigh people, and many other people in the world do not have the luxury of blogging in their mother languages. So blogging in English is not a choice for me, it is rather an obligation. I would like to enjoy the illusion that I blog for myself, but I really don’t. There is nothing personal about Blogging for a cause. Although commitment to a cause does not restrict the choice of topics.

I want my friends and readers to understand our issues. We as Amazigh people know them well and we are extending ourselves beyond our real abilities to communicate with the world outside the foundries of our nation states and we do it in our languages and other (foreign) languages too.

JY: What do you think of the recent Moroccan elections?

Bouba: I wrote about this earlier and I think it was a disaster, to say the least, only because there were many people who are excluded from all these processes. You know the number of people who refused to play this game. They were the majority. We need constitutional reforms that would secure us as citizens and recognize all components of our society.

I think the last elections provided the opportunity for people outside Morocco to hear more about our lives and our problems and how much greater reforms are really needed. Before that happens, we are going to see more failed elections, weaker governments like the present one and more Moroccans shy away from any political involvement.

JY: What do you think of the recent false sighting of Madeleine McCann in the Rif region?

Bouba: There are more horrible sides to this story but Bouchra as a little as she was had to teach the Western media again about Moroccan diversity and all of that. It is not the first time that Moroccan poor families got into the media pot but this case was really bad and has many layers to it. My immediate response when I heard this was: how many times do we have to prove that we are who we are? I am noticing that this is a great example of the distance between societies although we tend to think that we can be well informed about each others identities not that most of us have better access to information. I do not want to say that some tourists who visit the country know more about “sites” than about people. Bouchra was a Kodak moment stretched to the extreme. However, there is some learning we all got out of it.

JY: 6. Morocco (specifically Maroc Telecom) has been accused of censorship - particularly of major sites Livejournal and YouTube - is there any value in censoring these sites?

Bouba: There is a mentality of fear in the Moroccan Makhzen (Central Government) circles inherited from decades past. It is a tendency to want to always keep Moroccans in Dar Ghefloun (the house of ignorance) as we say in Morocco. The Makhzen invests in our ignorance more than in our education. Our governments have to learn that freedom of speech and the right to protest are fundamental rights granted by international laws as well as by the morocan constitution.

But there are institutions in my country that think they can stand above the constitution and the law. MarocTelecom is part of that. They are censuring YouTube, LiveJournal, Google Earth, many sites and blogs about Western Sahara, chat rooms…etc. There is no value to censorship whatsoever. It is one of the worst forms of oppression. How do you deprive people from one of the fundamental rights– the right to information- and then come round and invite them to vote for you?

JY: In the past few months, I've noticed an increase of Moroccans blogging in English - whether they live in Morocco, Europe, or elsewhere - why do you think so many Moroccans are choosing to blog in their third or fourth language?

Bouba: I have noticed that too. I do not have any statistics but I am glad people blog in all languages including English.

However, the increase in number of bloggers in English does not say anything about the number f Moroccans who speak this language actually. There are English language departments in every university of morocco and many hundreds of thousands of students have to learn the English language as part of school curricula. They are introduced to the world wide web through their schools, cybercafés and friends. They blog their ideas and their feelings in many languages including English.

I have a friend who speaks Tamazight and German and does not speak any of the Arabic languages. His French is very poor. He has never been to school. Now he learned to read and write in German. He is definitely a special case but many people learn many languages in Morocco.

The only difference is “choice”, I mean who chooses to learn what language.

JY: Thank you so much for taking the time out to answer my questions. Last but not least, what would you like to see the blogging world accomplish?

Bouba: First of all I would like Global Voices and other communities to include the struggles of the Amazigh people. There are so many bloggers in Tamazight who need to be recognized and included. I know the mission of GV is initially inclusive.

I trust our bloggers who take the time to write about all different kinds of issues and I really like to read the Blogma [Moroccan blogosphere] community. I am glad the internet provides a safe space for communities like this one to grow, interact and plan great initiatives (like Bloguons-Utile, free bloggers, etc…)

Blogging is sharing information about anything, learning and educating . It is a loud voice against the corporate media and we do use it. Now that the blogging community is growing, I think there are over 106 million blogs according to Technorati as of September 2007. I want this community to stick together and keep up the good work.

Tanemmirt (thank you) and good luck.

NB: Links provided by the author.

9 comments · »»

Bolivia: Columnist Uses Blog to Draft Cyber-Proposal With Readers

Eduardo Avila · 01:17

lingua → pt · es

The Bolivian government announced a drastic change in providing retirement benefits to elderly Bolivians under a plan called “Renta Dignidad”. These funds replace the annual “Bonosol”, and will come directly from the Direct Hydrocarbons Tax (IDH for its initials in Spanish) and will be payable once a month for all Bolivians aged 60 and above. The biggest change will be that this new program will reduce the cut that departments, municipalities and public universities will receive from the revenues from the nation's hydrocarbons. As a result, many of the sectors affected are saying that the new measure is unfair and a decision was made without proper debate or discussion.

One place where differing ideas are taking place is the blogosphere. Bloggers such as Carlos Gustavo Machicado of Guccio's [ES] and Ruben Hilari of Lenguas y Comunicacion Bo [ES] mention the issue in their blogs. However, one new blogger and noted economist, political analyst and newspaper columnist, Gonzalo Chavez, decided to use his blog Villazón Business School [ES] to engage his readers promising them that not only would their ideas be mentioned in his latest column, but they would be given full credit for these ideas.

Chavez extends an invitation [ES]:

Escribamos juntos. Este Domingo escribire sobre este tema en mi columna de LA Razon. Les pido ayuda con propuesta o con mejoras u ajustes a las ideas arriba mencionadas. Citaremos con nombre y apellido las propuestas. Aquellos que quieren manter el anonimato, los mencioanremos como amigos del blog Villazón Busines School. DEsempolven sus libros de finanzas o compartan sus experiencias. Esperaré comentarios y sugerencias hasta el viernes 19 de octubre al medio día. Para compensar su participación entregare 5 libros de Villazón Business School a las ideas mas creativas.

Let's write together. This Sunday, I will write about this topic in my column of the La Razon. I ask for your help with proposals or improvements and adjustments to my mentioned ideas. I will cite your first name and last name. Those that want to remain anonymous, I will mention as friends of the blog Villazón Business School. Dust off your finance books or share your experiences. I will await your comments and suggestions until Friday, October 19 at noon. To compensate your participation, I will provide 5 books of the Villazon Business School to the most creative ideas.

From that invitation, many readers anonymous or under aliases posted 25 comments. The blog's author engaged the commenters by asking for further clarification or responding to their questions. In one of the final comments, Chavez replied [ES]:

Estimados amigos del blog, gracias por comentarios y propuestas. Termine el artículo hace unos minutos, fue dificil resumir tan buens ideas, de cualquier manera el articulo hace referencia a este blog, asi que mucha gente entrará puede seguir enriqueciendo la propuesta Cibernética. Ojala que la gente del gobierno y la oposición tome estas ideas y las mejore. El lunes sorteare entre tdos los cino libros que prometí.

Dear friends of the blog, thank you for your comments and proposals. I finished the article a few minutes ago, it was difficult to summarize so many good ideas, either way the article makes reference to this blog, so that many more people can enter and continue to add to the cyber-proposal. Hopefully people in the government and the opposition take these ideas and improves upon them. On Monday, I will award the five books that I promised

On Sunday, October 21, the opinion piece was published in the La Paz daily La Razon titled “Una propuesta cibernética [ES]” (A Cyber-Proposal). The piece begins:

Éste es un artículo escrito a por lo menos 40 manos y fue posible gracias a un encuentro, en el ciberespacio, de los amigos (as) que visitan mi blog en la internet. A todos ellos mi profundo agradecimiento por los análisis y propuestas. Obviamente, las interpretaciones y errores son de mi entera responsabilidad. La mayoría quiso mantener el anonimato. Respetaré su voluntad y citaré sus pensamientos usando seudónimos.

This is an article written by the hands of at least 40 and was made possible by a gathering, in cyberspace, of friends that visit my blog on the internet. To all them, I express my profound gratitude for their analysis and proposals. Obviously, the interpretations and errors are entirely my responsibility. The majority wanted to maintain their anonymity. I respect their wishes and will credit their thoughts using pseudonyms.

Three of the commentors on the blog Ahi te veo Madrid, Raton Peres, and Malai were personally mentioned in the column for their ideas. Quotes from comments left on the blog were also printed. This was a new practice seen in Bolivian journalism and analysis, however, the online version of the column failed to provide the URL address of Chavez' blog: Villazón Business School [ES].

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