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Burkina Faso: Blogs Help Burkinabe Skirt Censorship

Ramata Sore · 16:31

lingua → mg · pt · bn · zhs · zht · es

In Burkina Faso, blogging is more than a pastime. It is the eyes and ears of thousands of net users.

That's why from October 11th to the 17th, during the 20th anniversary of the assassination of Thomas Sankara, Burkina Faso's internet connection was cut in order to prevent those commemorating the assassination from making their voices heard.

In a country where there is still so much secrecy, blogs free minds. In a country where censorship reigns and traditional media live in the shadow of power, bloggers are often the only real journalists. They are the only ones who can publish information offensive to the government. (more…)

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Korea: School Field Trips and Income Gap

Hyejin Kim · 11:30

lingua → es

School excursions are memorable experiences. Being in unfamiliar circumstances and spending several nights with friends give the chance to build stronger friendships and to better understand teachers and other friends.

But recently school excursions have become a source of dispute, as wealthier students can afford trips to places that poorer ones cannot afford.

Here is a news article on the issue.

…특히 S고의 경우 여행 대상 1학년생 350명을 중국, 일본, 서울, 제주도 등 4개 코스별로 나눠 이른바 ‘분리 수학여행'을 추진, 위화감 논란을 낳고 있다.

한 학생은 “해외여행을 가고 싶은 마음이 굴뚝 같았지만 어려운 가정형편 때문에 국내팀을 택했다”며 “친구들에게 알려질까봐 말은 안했지만, 자존심이 많이 상했고 슬퍼서 몰래 울기도 했다”고 말했다.

또 다른 학생은 “남들은 몇십만원이 ‘단돈'일지 모르지만 우리 가족에게는 한 달 생활비”라며 “‘따로따로 수학여행'은 자제했으면 좋겠다”고 하소연했다.
S고 교감은 “위화감과 외화 낭비 등 곱잖은 시선을 모르는 바 아니나 학부모들의 요구가 많은 데다 국제적인 견문을 넓힐 수도 있어 긍정적 효과가 적잖다”며 “수행여행 후 만족도 조사결과 80% 가량이 (분리 수학여행을)선호하는 것으로 나타나 앞으로도 계속 추진할 계획”이라고 밝혔다.

시 교육청 관계자는 “국외, 분리 수학여행은 형편이 여의찮은 일부 학생과 학부모에게 경제적, 심리적 부담을 줄 수 있고, 위화감도 생길 수 있어 되도록 자제를 당부하고 있으나, 학교장 재량행위라 강제로 규제할 수는 없어 고민”이라고 말했다.

In the case of S high school, 350 first grade students were divided into four groups for trips, China, Japan, Seoul, Jeju Island, and it generated a sense of imbalance.

A student said, “I longed for joining the trip abroad, but due to money, I could not help but to choose the trip within Korea. I didn’t say anything to friends, but I was sad and cried alone.”

Another student said, “To others, several hundrend thousand won (US several hundrend dollars) would be nothing, but it is major living expenses to our family,” and appealed “I wish these kinds of separated trips were not happening.”

Vice-principal of S high school said “I know that there are cricitisms, such as waste of money and a sense of incongruity. But there are positive effects such as widening international perspectives” and continued “80 percent of students were satisfied with the trip and therefore we will continue to drive forward.”

An officer in a provincial office of education said, “Weknow that separated school excursions will bring economic and psychological burdens to some students and parents, and so we ask schools to catch themselves, but we can’t force the schools not to do them.”

Netizens like naratalk say that the school should consider students who can’t go to the trip abroad and asks why it is necessary to go abroad even though there are a lot of places they can go in the country.

네이버를 보다 보니 이런 뉴스가 있네요.

“가난도 서러운데”-'분리.해외 수학 여행' 논란

이야기인 즉슨, 수학 여행을 전체 학년이 단체로 가는 게 아니라 팀을 선택하도록 한 것이랍니다. S 고의 경우 해외와 국내에 각각 2개, 모두 네 개의 서로 다른 일정으로 수학 여행을 분리, 운영하였다고 합니다.

이 경우, 서로 다른 시각에서 이 문제를 바라볼 수 있으나, 문제는 이로 인해 상처받는 아이들이 분명 생길 수 있다는 것입니다. 국내팀을 선택한 학생들이 모두 경제적인 이유 때문만은 아닐 수 있지만, 아무래도 주요 원인일 가능성이 큽니다. 해외로 수학 여행을 가자면 비용이 많이 드는 건 사실일테니까요.

요즘 주변을 둘러보면 해외로 수학여행을 가는 것을 심심찮게 볼 수 있습니다. 그런데 해외 수학 여행이 꼭 필요할까요? 학교에 계시는 선생님들은 여행사 관계자의 말만 들을 것이 아니라, 이러한 수학 여행 때문에 상처 받을 아이들도 생각해주셨으면 합니다.

우리 나라도 둘러볼 곳이 얼마나 많습니까…

I found a news from Naver.com
“Feeling sad to be poor, and separation of school excursions”
That is, school excursions will be divided in groups at a school. In the case of S high school, two separate trips of each school excursion inside and outside Korea. Therefore, they will have four separate school excursions based on different schedules and places.

In this case, you can look at this problem with different perspectives. The problem is that some students will be hurt. Even though students who choose trips inside Korea due to economic reasons, it would be one of the main reasons. In order to go abroad, one needs to cover more expenses.

Looking around, it’s not difficult to see that some schools organize school excursions abroad. But is it necessary to have the trip abroad? School teachers not only listen to travel agencies, but also should consider students who will be hurt because of the school excursions.

There are so many places where students can travel in Korea…

Here is another one.

희망하는 학생 수십명을 위해서 굳이 해외 수학여행을 가는 이유가 뭔지 모르겠습니다. 가려면 모두 가고 말려면 말아야지요. 어린 학생들이 해외에 가고싶을텐데 50만원이라는 돈은 수학여행을 위한 비용으로는 과도하다고 생각됩니다.

게다가 실제 가정형편상 못가는 어린학생들의 마음의 상처는 어쩝니까. 별 필요도 없고 부작용만 있는 이런 행사를 왜 하는지도 모르겠고요. 빨리 없어졌으면 좋겠습니다.

I don’t understand why schools should choose the excursion abroad because of several students. If they go, all go. Otherwise no. Students would like to go abroad, but 500,000 won [500 US dollars] for the student excursion is too much.

In addition, how will they console students’ pain who can’t go due to family circumstances? I don’t understand why they drive forward this unnecessary event which will bring side-effects. I hope that they cancel this event soon.

On the other hand, it wasn’t a few who suggest another opinion.

왜 한소리 안하나 했더니 슬슬 일어나기 시작했군요.

수학여행 분리 이야기던가…음

전 개인적으로 긍정적입니다. 왠지 말 꺼내기가 쉽지 않군요.

알민님께서는 “상대적으로 돈이 부족한 집안의 학생들 때문에 돈 좀 가진 집안의 학생들이 기회를 잃는 게 과연 평등인가 생각을 해보는데 말이죠..” 라고 말씀하셨는데, 확실히 그런 관점으로 생각해 볼 수도 있겠군요.

‘가난'해서 못 간다구요? 솔직히 그렇게 생각하진 않습니다. 저희 집도 잘 사는 편 절대로 아닙니다. 그보다 잘 사는 축에 속하는 사람들이 많은 것도 아니구요. 그런 사람만 해외로 수학여행 보내느냐? 그건 또 아닐겁니다.

제주도 가나, 설악산 가나, 어쨌건 국내 수학여행도 20만원 대체로 다 넘습니다. 저같으면 솔직히 몇백만원 들여서 개인적으로 가느니 단체로 한번 보내는게 자식도 좋아할 것이고 이럴 때 아니면 해외여행 가기가 쉽지도 않지요….

그 다음으로 학생들의 열등감…이란 말이 꽤 나오는데요. 그거에 대해서는 ‘기우'라는게 제 입장입니다.

학생들은 그런 걸로 열등감 쉽게 느끼지 않습니다. 게다가 ‘부유해서' 다른 나라에 여행갈수 있는 입장의 학생들이라면 ‘이미' 갔다 왔을 가능성도 농후합니다. 부모의 능력 때문에 열등감을 느낄 자식이라면 자식 집어치우라고 할 겁니다. ‘부럽다'는 말할 수 있지만 그것 때문에 부모를 원망하느냐..그건 아니라고 생각합니다. 솔직히 요즘 고등학생들 대부분이 용돈 받는거 조금씩만 아껴도 여행비 반은 마련할수 있습니다. 저도 그렇게 계획 잡고 일본 갈거라고 부모님한테 말씀드리고 반은 제가 돈 모아서 어떻게든 부담해 볼테니까 반만 마련해 달라고 부탁했습니다. 흔쾌히 허락하시더군요. 이럴 때 아니면 해외여행 언제 가 보겠냐고.

이건 빈부격차의 관점만으로 바라볼 시각이 아닌 듯 합니다. 정말로 극빈층이라면 20만원 주고 가는 수학여행도 가기 힘든건 매한가지구요. 중산서민층이라도 당장 먹고사는게 막히지 않는 이상은 가기 무지막지하게 어려운 것도 아니죠. 가정 구성원들의 마인드랄까, 해외여행을 ‘돈 많이 드는 여행'으로 생각하느냐 아니냐의 문제도 있다고 생각합니다.

그리고 평등교육이라, 애시당초 우리 나라에 평등교육이 존재했는지는 의심스럽습니다. 같은 학교에서도 등수따라 반 나누고 심화반 만들어서 높은 대학 보내려 하는데다가, 수학 영어도 단계별 교육하는 학교도 많으니까요. 평등교육은 ‘모두에게 같은 걸 가르친다'여야지 ‘모든 학생들을 똑같이 대한다'가 아니라고 생각합니다.

어떻게 보면 이기적인 생각일 수도 있습니다만, ‘있는 사람은 있는 만큼 누릴 권리가 있다'가 무조건 이기적인 것만은 아니라고 생각합니다.

I was wondering what people would say about this issue. Separated school excursions… In my own opinion, I feel positive about it. It’s not easy to talk about this issue.

A netizen said, “due to students who are short of money, students who are not short of money have to lose their opportunity. Is it a truthful equality?” we could think in that way…

They can’t go because of ‘poverty’? I don’t think that is the only reason. My house is economically so so. Wealthy families send their children to the trip abroad? I don’t think so either.

Going to Jeju Island, Mt. Seol-ak in Korea also requires more than 200 US dollars. I think going on the trip in a group would be much cheaper and better than going to the trip as an individual.

And students will feel a sense of inferiority… I think it’s an unnecessary worry.

Students don’t feel a sense of inferiority so easily. In addition, students who can afford to the trip abroad because they’re wealthy must have been traveling abroad before. If children feel a sense of inferiority due to parents’ capability, they don’t have the qualification to be children. They can say ‘jealous,’ but ‘angry at parents’ is not the right way to think. Honestly, high school students can prepare half of travel expenses with their allowance. I also planned like that in order to go to Japan. I saved half and my parents agreed to pay half.

I don’t think we should look at this as the gap between poverty and wealth. If they’re really poor, a school excursion with 200 US dollars is still impossible. To the middle class, it’s not that difficult to consider this amount of money. It depends on how family members think whether school excursions abroad mean ‘a trip to spend so much.’

And equal education… I doubt that there has been equal education in our country. In a school, classrooms are divided by grades. Schools make intensive classes in order to send as many students as possible to university and different level classes for mathmatics and English. Equal education means that the ‘school should teach the same thing to everyone,’ not the ‘school should treat all students equally.’

Maybe it sounds selfish, but ‘people have rights to enjoy as much as they have.’

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Lebanon: Polemic and nature

Francois Bacha and Marie-Josée Rizkallah · 11:08

Moustafa from Beirut Spring's blog noted in one of his latest posts that Lebanon is “dropping French.”

Somehow that claim is true; Lebanese francophone blogs are few and different from those in English, and are also less popular. However, they present a face of Lebanon that we would like to show to the world.

Garden of Eden

Casadei's blog illustrates that Lebanon by showing that forgotten image of this country, through its culture, its mountains, and its archaeological sites.

Her latest description of Ehden's forest evokes Paradise:

Une forêt où nous pouvons respirer le calme. Une forêt où on peut dormir dans la nature…Une forêt vivante, habitée d’oiseaux, de sangliers, de blaireaux, d’écureuils, de serpents, de porc-épics…

A forest where we can breathe in tranquility. A forest where we can sleep in Nature…A living forest inhabited by birds, wild boar, badgers, squirrels, snakes, hedgehogs…

Her blog has won several prizes, including one sponsored by the AUF.

A broadcast by the French TV channel France2 concerning maids employed in Lebanon ignited a debate in the local blogosphere.

Without denying the gravity of the problem of foreign domestics in Lebanon, two French journalists living in Lebanon who blog at “Chroniques Beyrouthines living in Lebanon argue the documentary was on the air more to create an audience then to achieve any results.

“The approach to the topic very superficial” comparing it to Tintin in the Congo, without explaining for example that the salaries of theses employees is set by their embassies

“Why this situation? She is aggrieved by the level of wages, but never says, for example, that the embassies of the countries concerned that secure these salaries, according to nationalities so.”

Chroniques Beyrouthines states as well that a side of the subject is missing: Torres is not talking about the mafia’s or prostitutions’ network, she is not stating the sources of her statistics and moreover without talking about the right examples.

“Many information are missing, and also incorrect. One example on the Passports's confiscation , she said that a decree on the matter could be easily passed. This is already the case: officially, employers have no right to do so, but it is the agencies that are pushing the employers to take the passport in order to prevent the employees to escape (…) ”

Chroniques Beyrouthines’s authors that already worked on the issue are not denying that reality but they are feeling that this documentary is reduced to the negative arguments:

“But there are examples where it goes well, there are also at a couple of friends franco-libanais whose husband is a (restaurant) chef, they taugh him, (…) and he expects to open a restaurant upon his return to Manila with the knowledge he acquired.”

Nathalie and David conclude by wondering why the French TV is not broadcasting a positive story on Lebanon, for example on the young artists before appealing Torres to produce to produce a real video documentary about the modern slavery, by going for example to Saudi Arabia.

On the issue of the local politics, Lettres du Liban wrote that :

“Since the dawn of its independence, Lebanon owes everything to his people and almost nothing to governments that have been here. It is only through his personal initiative that the Lebanese managed to get before the outbreak of the dirty war in 1975”

Lettres du Liban blames the Lebanese System and the different authorities to prevent and suppress all hope that the Lebanese get one day in a better place in order to keep the power of the ruling classes before taking the example on one of the latest interview of the Prime Minister:

Today, SE. Fouad Sanioura was seen on television for spreading (modestly) adequacy of its white collar and give to the Lebanese average (increasingly illiterate) a speech (…) concerning the World Bank, International conference to help Lebanon, the balance of payments, the interest rate and the growth rate.

(…)

Go therefore explain this to a poor who can not understand why olive oil, lemon, tomatoes, cucumbers, the bunch of fresh mint and other ingredients necessary for making a modest flat ”Fattouche”are now unaffordable.

Taking his own example, the author states how with his neighbours he was obliged to dig an artesian shaft for the building and then …

And to receive the ultimate blue bill of the company Lebanese waters, claiming he candidly to pay your dues.

By consequence, Lettres du Liban is arguing that the tax system is used to rançon the population:

And if they do not understand all the functioning of the tax system and the vital role it plays in the economic and social structure of a modern state, it is not necessary to be a point of Adam Smith to guess that taxes , taxes and other government levies, in Lebanon constitute a kind of RANÇON that citizens (or more correctly said, the national) pay to the authorities, such a maître-chanteur or a mafia, never to have them on the back and they can thus go about their own occupations IN PEACE

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Guatemala: Missing Home

Renata Avila · 03:32

lingua → pt · zht · zhs · hi · es

Migration either internally or to countries abroad is a usual phenomenon in Guatemala. During the armed conflict and the years of extreme poverty and violence several Guatemalans decided that there was a lack of real opportunities. As a result many left their homelands to go to the capital city or to go North to find other ways to survive and improve their quality of life. Indeed, life radically changed for many, when they were forced to leave their homes, their daily lives, and their friends and families.

Diario Meridiano [ES] tells the story of a girl who made the decision to leave home:

Erika Carolina Hernández dejó su poblado, Soloma, en los Altos de Guatemala, para aventurarse llegar a Los Ángeles, pero no lo consiguió. Fue detenida por agentes del Instituto Nacional de Migración (INM), 90 kilómetros de la línea fronteriza de su país. “Esta es la primera vez que salgo. Salí por necesidad porque donde vivo no tengo trabajo”, cuenta la mujer, madre de un niño que dejó a cargo de sus padres… “

Ericka Carolina Hernández left her village, Soloma, in the highlands of Guatemala, to take the risk and arrive to Los Angeles, but she didn't make it. She was arrested by agents of the INM (National Immigration Service), 90 kilometers away of the border. “This is the first time that I have left. I took the risk because I needed to do so. Where I live there is no job opportunities” tells the woman, who is a single mother of a small child that she left in the village, with her parents.

But for those Guatemalans that can make it, blogs are a piece of home on the web, a place to see what is going on on their villages and to stay in touch:

As a blogger who is in US, but born in San Pedro Soloma said:

Llegó un momento en mi vida que sentía alejado de la cultura de mi pueblo, me sentía desconectado de mi gente. Me puse a navegar la red para ver si podía encontrar algo acerca de Solóma, encontré algunos sitios.

There was a time in my life when I felt so far from the culture of my village, I felt disconnected from my people. Then, I was surfing the net to see If I was able to find something about Soloma. And I found some blogs.

However, blogs are not only ways to allow communities to stay in touch but also to ask for support from those abroad as Santa Eulalia Village Blog [ES] said:

Solicitamos el apoyo solidario de nuestros hermanos Q’anjob’ales que se encuentran laborando en los Estados Unidos, pues es necesario fortalecer los movimientos sociales para rechazar cualquier maniobra e intento de explotación de las riquezas naturales de la población indígena y campesina en Huehuetenango.

We ask for the solidarity and support of our brothers Q´anjob´ales that are working in US, because it is necessary to give strength to the social movements and reject any attempt to exploit the natural resources of indigenous people and peasants of Huehuetenango.

And the connection is a mirror blog of Santa Eulalians in US, Ewulene in US:

The Association Q’anjobal Ewulense was created in response to the need for rebuilding the Roman Catholic Church of Santa Eulalia, which for unknown reasons suffered a devastating fire in the early 1990’s.In an effort to rebuild the church building, a group of conscientious people from Santa Eulalia, who reside in Los Angeles, got together and started collecting donations from among the Q’anjobales who wanted to be part of this effort.

Such communities that have been connecting villages through the use of blogs also practice the same cultural practices they used to have in Guatemala, for example the Q´anjob´al Association even has their own queen, and indigenous ceremonies, as San Pedro Soloma Blog [ES] shows:

Victoria González nació en Los Ángeles sus padres son de Soloma y Santa Eulalia. El 23 de Junio del 2007 ella fue coronada como Princesa Solomera en Estados Unidos.

Victoria González was born in Los Angeles, but her parents are from Soloma and Santa Eulalia. On June 23, 2007 she was crowned as Solomeran Princess in US.

Nostalgic thoughts about their village are always there for bloggers abroad, as Cuilco Blogdiario [ES] writes:

Por la noches leo todos los mensajes y poemas que escriben los buenos cuilquenses, y me siento estar en esos momentos en ese pueblito que fue la cuna de nuesta juventud, cuando parrandeabamos los sábados y después salíamos a darle serenata a la novia y echarnos las copitas donde el tío Cundino Ruiz, tiempos felices e inolvidables.

At night I read all the messages and poems that good cuilquenses (residents of Culico) write, and I feel that I am there in the small village that was the nest of our youth, where we used to party on Saturdays and drink some spirits at Tio Cundino Ruiz, and which were happy and unforgettable times.

It is amazing to analyze the unexpected results of migration, and how blogs allow not only people but whole communities to stay connected.

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