Archive for
November 15th, 2007


Stories

Russia: Non-Vegetable Voters and Other Election News 

a small portrait of this author Veronica Khokhlova · 23:02

Two weeks remain before the Russian Duma election, and the presidential vote isn't too far, either. Below is the first quick review of the blogosphere's election coverage.

TOL's Elections in Russia blog translates Russian bloggers' views on what kind of people may be responsible for the pro-Kremlin United Russia Party's extraordinary expansion:

They say this party already has 1,7 million people. Approximately. At least they say so, and probably it is true. Who are these members? Parasites, cynics and idiots. […]

Also at TOL's Elections in Russia, a link to a YouTube video of the commercial whose purpose is to inspire the electorate to show up at the polling stations on Dec. 2. Here's its slogan:

“The Russian constitution forbids the vegetables to vote. Don’t be a vegetable, vote!”

Moscow Through Brown Eyes writes about the “heteronormative” election ads and the ongoing “pro-natalist” campaign in Moscow:

But I can't figure out if it's an advert for voting at the ballot box, or in the sack.

Sean's Russia Blog translates a letter by Mikhail Khodorkovsky, currently serving a 9-year sentence for fraud and tax evasion, written in response to a Russian blogger who intended to either write “against all” on his ballot, thus spoiling it, or ignore the vote altogether:

[…] That is, who votes “with their feet”, still to a large degree is who votes for [the United Russia], and encourages the bureaucratic class toward despotism and contempt for the “herd.”

Therefore it is imperative that you vote not for those who evoke contempt, it’s better to vote for any of the small parties. This will be Your own clear and personal gesture: I am a citizen, I have the right to vote and will, I am not a slave and I am not cattle.

Khodorkovsky's lawyer, Robert Amsterdam, reports on one Russian party's attempts to keep the Russian president from running as another party's #1 candidate:

The Union of Right Forces has asked a court to disqualify President Vladimir Putin from a parliamentary vote next month, saying that his job gives him an unfair advantage. […]

James Joyner of Outside the Beltway reports on Putin's “plans to use next month’s elections as a referendum on his continued dominance of Russian politics well beyond his constitutionally-mandated exit from office”:

[…] Informal dominance after stepping down from power is not unheard of, with Communist China perhaps the most notable example. Still, this announcement will strengthen skepticism about Russia’s transition to democratic institutions.

Perspectives on the New Russia believes there's no clear indication yet that Russia is going to say good-bye to Putin the president:

[…] Evidence of the fact that a third term is still in the cards is the increasing number of staged meetings (Putingi as they are being called) where people are lobbying for a third term. Also, there still has been no mention of a successor - time is growing short and I do think that the Kremlin (and Putin) are keeping their options open in order to be able to respond to events. […]

Eternal Remont writes about the “Puting” phenomenon, too:

At this point, it almost feels like slow motion dentistry. A new group called “For Putin” claims to have 30 million signatures begging the President to stay on as “national leader.”

National Führer? Sweet lord. We could have picked something less tacky. […]

0 comments · »»

Guatemala: Local Self-Determination on Mining Lands 

a small portrait of this author Renata Avila · 20:04
lingua → es

The mining industry has increased in importance in Guatemala, where given the market prices of some metals and minerals, the lands that many communities are situated are in high demand. Often these communities, especially indigenous peoples, demand a say in how their lands are used. Some consider the protests of communities where the government had authorized mining scare investment in the region while others consider that is the right of indigenous people over their territories. Here are the considerations of bloggers:

The regulations stipulated that the mining companies must pay revenues to the communities, however, progress in the region is still absent. Jorge Jacobs of El Dorado [es] points out, regarding the regulations:

Tanto dinero que se sabe que se está aportando, pero no se sabe en qué se está gastando, la población percibe solamente los beneficios que traen las inversiones de capital, como lo son los empleos directos e indirectos, y se hace la pregunta del millón: ¿a dónde va a parar todo ese dinero?

Y cualquier reglamento o ley que no sea la restitución de la legítima propiedad privada de los propietarios del subsuelo, que son los propietarios del suelo, seguirá haciendo de los auténticos dueños del subsuelo simples observadores de cómo en manos gubernamentales, y a discreción de los políticos de turno, los ingresos por minería se diluyen en un presupuesto que no los beneficia y en “obras sociales” que nadie ve por ningún lado.

We know that a lot of money that we know they (the companies) are bringing in, but we do not know where it is spent, the people only gets the benefits of the investment such as some indirect or direct jobs, and the million- dollar question is: where is the money from the revenues? And any regulation or law that does not imply the restitution of their legitimate property of the landowners of the subsoil, which also belongs to the landowners, will maintain the real owners as simple observers with how in government hands and at the discretion of the politicians at the moment, the income from the mining is diluted in a budget that does not benefit and in “social works” that no one sees.

Sharing some of his concerns, French film maker Gregory Lasalle posted on Guatemala Solidarity Network the videos made by Journalists showing how the decisions to stop mining are taken by the communities themselves. He said:

… seguimos preocupados de la manera como el (nuevo) legislativo y el gobierno de Alvaro Colom van a dar seguimiento legal a estas consultas realizadas al nivel municipal.

…we are still concerned about the way that the new congress and government of elected President Alvaro Colom will deal with the matter of legal status of the vote on a communal level.

That is because the highest authority on constitutional matters said that such polls are not legally binding as Pluriculturalidad Jurídica [es] said:

La Corte de Constitucionalidad sentencio recientemente la inconstitucionalidad del carácter obligatorio del resultado de la Consulta de Buena Fe realizada contra la explotación minera en el municipio de Sipacapa del Departamento de San Marcos en Guatemala.

The Constitutional Court recently ruled that the results of popular consultation that rejected the mining activity in the municipality of Sipacapa in the Department of San Marcos in Guatemala are unconstitutional.

Ale Oliva provides on his post Algo sobre minería… [es] some observations:

Poco o escaso beneficio de las áreas en las que se realiza la minería en comparación con el impacto que se produce. De manera directa la minería genera empleos directos e indirectos, pero en términos generales no mejora la calidad de vida de la población. Una pregunta importante es ¿Qué pasará cuando las minerías terminen sus operaciones en esé lugar?

Little or no benefit can be seen in areas where the mining activity is taking place, compared with the effects that it causes. In a direct way the mining activity creates employment, both direct and indirect, but in general, the people is not improving their quality of life. An important question is: What will happen to them when the mining companies finish their work there?

And the situation is even more complex because, according to CERIGUA BLOG [es] on their post: A trial against indigenous leaders has started…

Un debate histórico ha iniciado en la sede el Tribunal De Sentencia de San Marcos, en el que siete hombres indígenas, defensores de los recursos naturales en sus comunidades, son acusados por la empresa Montana Exploradora de Guatemala, de incitación a delinquir, amenazar y agredir al jefe de seguridad de la corporación. De acuerdo con un artículo de opinión de Irmalicia Velásquez Nimatuj, publicado en el diario elPeriódico, detrás de la acusación lo que menos importa son las agresiones al jefe de seguridad, sino tratar de silenciar, a través del sistema de justicia, a cientos de hombres y mujeres indígenas, la mayoría analfabetas, que fueron astutamente persuadidos por Montana para vender sus tierras por unos cuantos quetzales.

A historical debate has begun at the District Court of San Marcos, where seven indigenous peasants, defending natural resources of their communities, are accused by Montana Exploradora de Guatemala with the charges of incitement to commit a crime, threats and aggressions against the chief of security of the corporation. But according an article of opinion journalist Irmalicia Velásquez Nimatuj, published in El Periódico, that behind the accusation, which is least important is the aggressions towrds the chief of security, is that it is an attempt to silence, using the judicial system, hundreds of indigneous peoples, most of the illiterate, that were persuaded by Montana to sell their lands for a few quetzales (national currency of Guatemala).

You can learn more about the trial on Resistencia de 7

Many Guatemalans from different backgrounds agree that the legal system is failing, that the benefits are not reaching the communities and that in the future there will be a problem, because there will be no one to pay for the damages when the companies finish their works.

1 comment · »»

China: Democrat claims he was forced out of election 

a small portrait of this author John Kennedy · 19:12
sample image for this post

A few pieces to the story of Shandong University professor Sun Wenguang, who spent years incarcerated and subject to various forms of political persecution during and after the Cultural Revolution—who, as National People's Congress representative elections are now underway all across the country is, along with several colleagues, and without naming names, calling foul on the election held at the Shandong University campus this past week with charges of voter coercion and vote manipulation at the same time demanding a re-vote—have popped up online over the past few days. Some pieces, however, have mysteriously been disappeared.

Sun's grievances have been posted around, and the anonymous Dongsheng Hall blogger was one of several to pick up the story, here with Sun's letter to Beijing:


济南历城区人大代表当选代表榜: 樊丽明，马广海，马新
Candidates for National People's Congress representative of Lixia district in Jinan: Fan Liming, Ma Guanghai, Ma Xin

全国人大常委会；
山东大学在2007年区人大代表选举过程中，出现了一些有违法律规定的问题，包括：

To the standing committee of the National People's Congress,

In the process of holding NPC representative district elections at Shandong University, violations of the law have occurred, and include:

1）很多学生和退休教师没有参加一榜提名过程，他们的候选人提名权被剥夺了。
2）在这次选举中，很多选民的知情权不被尊重。对四位“正式候选人”很多选民既不认识也不了解。多数选民对选举过程不知情，直到选举前两天，很多选民还不知道何日投票，如何投法，
3）选举法第三十八条规定：“选民外出，经选举委员会同意，可以书面委托其他选民代为投票。”但山大很多人，不经选举委员会同意，没有书面委托书就代别人投票，这是违背选举法的行为。
4）选举法第二十九条规定：候选人提名可有三种形式，一为党派，二为团体（包括学生会，工会等），三为十人以上联名，但是山大选举不尊重选民这三个方面的提名权。山大一榜167名候选人，包括由此产生的四位“正式候选人”，没有一人是从这三种法律规定的途径中产生的。山大采取的选民小组提名办法，并没有被选举法认可。
5）有的班级已满18岁的学生多数未上选民榜，未得选票，没有参加选举。
6）选举法第36条规定，“代表人的产生一律采取无记名投票的方式”，也就是要保证投票的秘密性，而现在山东大学的投票方式是，将学生集中到一个空旷地，密密麻麻的站在一起，前后左右都是人，辅导员和书记就在附近，学生站着写选票，他的选票周围都能看到，这还是什么无记名投票？又如何保证投票的秘密性？有的学院工作人员竟在投票箱旁接过选票，查看内容，扣下部分选票。

1) Many students and retired professors have not been included in the nomination process, and their candidates have been deprived of the right to be nominated.
2) During this election, many voters' right of access to information has not been respected. Of the four “proper candidates”, many voters don't know or understand them. The majority of voters were not privy to information regarding the process of the election right up until two days before it began, and many voters still don't know which day they are to vote, or how.
3) Article 38 of Election Law: “absentee voters, with the voting committee's permission, can entrust in writing other voters to cast on their behalf.” But a lot of people at Shandong U, without the voting committee's permission, without anything entrusted in writing, cast votes on behalf of other people; this act violates the Election Law.
4) Article 29 of Election Law: there are three ways by which candidates may be nominated: from the Party, from social groups (including student unions, the labor union, etc.), and petitions of more than ten people. But the Shandong University election did not respect these three rights of nomination that voters possess. Of Shandong U's list of 167 candidates, which included the aforementioned four “proper candidates”, not one of them followed these three legal requirements to be put on the list. Shandong U's approach to voter nomination has not followed the Election Law.
5) The majority of just-turned-18 and thus eligible voters were not put on the voting list, not allowed to vote or take part in the election.
6) Article 36 of Election Law: “the choosing of representatives will always be through anonymous voting,” to ensure voting confidentiality. But the voting method now being used at Shandong University is to gather the students in a clearing, make them stand squeezed together, with people on all sides of everyone, supervisors and the school Party Secretary standing nearby, have the students write their votes, with everyone around them able to see…what kind of anonymous voting is this? And how does this maintain voting confidentiality? Staff at some schools actually stand next to the polling box to collect the ballots, looking them over, and taking some of them out.

我们希望全国人大常委会调查这次山大的选举。不公开、不公正、不透明、不依法的选举，应该被否定。
以上详细情况我们将随后以附件形式呈上。
以下是联名人：
姓名 电话 手机 学院
孙文广 88365021 13655317356 山东大学管理学院退休教授
郭天旭 88376329 15054136795 山东大学法学院学生
贾昊 13791124769 山东大学法学院学生
高根 15964006607 山东大学法学院学生
2007年11月13日星期二于山东大学

We hope the standing committee of the National People's Congress will investigate this election at Shandong University. The election hasn't been public, hasn't been just, hasn't been transparent, hasn't been held in accordance with the law, and ought to be negated.
Details of the above situation will be enclosed by us presently.

Below are those signed:

Tuesday, November 13, 2007, Shandong University

Sun Wenguang, professor, retired, Shandong University School of Management, 88365021 13655317356
Guo Tianxu, Shandong University School of Law, 88376329 15054136795
Jia Hao, Shandong University School of Law, 13791124769
Gao Gen, Shandong University School of Law, 15964006607

An earlier posting of the letter can be found at Aboluowang, along with a photo from Shandong University showing the crowded student voters mentioned above:

From there, the open letter has founds its way into all sorts of blogging spaces.

Also from the Dongsheng Hall blogger is the text of a flyer dated Nov. 8 being distributed around the Shandong University campus, along with a photo of Sun apparently campaigning on a city bus:


['This is the only place they'll let me speak!']

在现代法治国家的选举过程中，公权力（包括司法、行政）必须保证公平公正。不能偏倚于竞选者某一方，某一个党。但是在山大的区人大代表选举中，山东大学的公权力却明显的不公平，不公正。

During the process of an election in a modern country ruled by law, public powers (which includes the judicial and administrative branches) must ensure fairness and justice, and cannot bias election towards one specific side, or one specific Party. But during the district election held at Shandong University, Shandong University's public powers have clearly been unfair and unjust.

（一） 在提名阶段
有些院系的办公室工作人员，拿着国家的工资，利用办公时间，使用办公电话，介绍某些特定的候选人，这些人中很多后来成了”正式候选人”，本人在这之前，多次明确告诉院领导（一次是当着办公人员的面）我要参选。他们为什么不同时用电话告诉院里的教工呢？

山大某些公职人员，用工作时间为特定的人拉选票，可能候选人也不知情，那是谁给这些公职人员下达的工作指示呢？

1. The Nomination Stage
Staff in several departments, those on the state payroll, have used their office time and office telephones to introduce some designated candidates, among whom many of which went on to become the “proper candidates”, with myself, prior to this, having on multiple occasions, clearly told the university leaders of my intention (once in the presence of office staff) to run. So why would they not tell this to the teaching staff while they were on the phone?

Certain public servants at Shandong University have been using office time to rally votes for designated candidates, possibly without the candidates' knowledge; so who is it that has given these public servants such instructions?

（二）竞选阶段
10月19日到 10月23日期间，我在南院宿舍贴出竞选海报，全部被撕被盖，我白天贴，他们黑夜里盖，由于大家的抗议， 24日起南院撕盖竞选海报活动突然停止。有人怀疑这是公权力所为。

11月5日我到山大老校三宿舍、五宿舍张贴了选举海报共八张， 11月6日上午被全部撕盖，在这之前，有人看到是公安便衣干的。

2. The Campaign Stage
From October 19 to 23, I had posters up at the dormitories in the south campus, all of with were torn down or covered over. I'd put them up in the day and by night they'd be gone; as a result of everyone's protestations, the ripping down and covering up of campaign posters at the south campus suddenly stopped. Some suspect the ‘public powers' of this.

On November 5 I went to dormitories 3 and 5 at the old campus, and put up a total of eight campaign posters. By the morning of Nov. 6 they were all either torn down or covered up; prior to that, someone had seen plainclothes PSB doing this.

（三）11月6日，有些院系召开学生班长副班长会议，会上传达了对竞选人孙,文.广的对策、指示，让他们转告学生，”不要听孙,文.广的演说”， 11月7日某学院召开党员紧急会议，通告说，有的独立候选人受海外势力支持，要竞选，让同学不要去听，去听的，见到了要拉回来。不能投独立候选人的票，谁投了他的票，我们是能查出来的，查出来后要查处该生和直接负责人。

我坚决反对山大的公权力不公。

3. On November 6, some departments organized class monitors and deputy class monitors together for a meeting, during which plans and instructions aimed at candidate Sun Wenguang were given, and they were made to passed on to other students: “do not listen to Sun Wenguang's speeches.” On November 7, certain departments held an emergency meeting for Party members, the notice for which read, 'some independent candidates have received support from overseas powers, and want to campaign; stop your classmates from listening [to them]. Those who go listen, if seen, will be brought back. No votes are allowed for independent candidates; anyone who votes for them will be found out; students who are found out and those directly responsible for them will be investigated.'

I firmly object to the unfairness of Shandong University's public powers.

（四）11月4日我去老校学生食堂前，会见选民，展示看板（用绳悬挂），山大公安处的人出来说：挂横幅有批件吗？我说：没有。他说：没有批件不准挂。我和他争执起来，后来我和他说，要与他们处长讲话，进了办公室，他提供了号码，接通了电话。最近达成协议，我把看板从绳上取下来，放在地上展示。

11月6日，我再次去老校学生食堂前展示看板，公安处的人再次来到现场，收起看板准备拿走，我向他提出抗议，他让我去公安办公室，我大声地问”你有传唤证吗？”他说”没有”，我再问：你有逮捕证、拘留证吗？他说”没有”。我说：既然没有合法手续，你为什么要叫我到公安办公室去？这时聚集了很多大学生。他们看势头不对，就走了。

4. On Nov. 4, I went to the front of the old campus' cafeteria, to meet voters and display my campaign platform billboard (which hung with rope), and the guy from the Shandong U police station came out and said: do you have permission to hang banners? I said: no. He said: if you don't have a permit you're not allowed to hang it. Him and I began arguing, and then I said to him: I want to talk to your station chief. We went into the office, he dialed a number and put me through; in the end we came to an agreement. I took the billboard down off the rope and placed it on the ground.

Nov. 6, I went to the old campus' cafeteria to display my platform billboard again, and again the police station guy came over, picked up my billboard and was prepared to take it away. I protested, and he made me go to the office. In a loud voice, I asked: “DO YOU HAVE A SUBPOENA?” He said “no.” So then I asked: do you have a warrant? License to detain me? He said “no.” I said: since you have no legal documentation, why do you want me to go into the police station office? By this time many students had gathered around. They could see things didn't look right, and left.

种种事实说明，山大在这次选举中对我是不公正的。

孙,文.广于山东大学

2007年11月 8日（此稿已经在校园内散发）

The various facts prove that this election, at Shandong University, has not been just for me.

From Shandong University,

Sun Wenguang

November 8, 2007 (this text has already been spread around campus)

Zhang Weiguo of the blogspot-hosted New Century Net blog has a picture of professor Sun in his blog post looking at the reality of Sun's situation, past interviews the professor has given, the accusation mentioned above that Sun has received support from overseas anti-China forces—which Sun attributes to overseas Chinese political groups‘ reports on his situation—and cases similar to his from recent history:

MSN Live Spaces blogger Cha Pi provides some further background, and the Free More News blog blogs a short Sun biography which includes the details of his incarceration history from 1960-1981.

Equally interesting is the Sina blogger ‘Old Horses Know The Road', who appears to be an employee at Shandong University, and her post whose title borrows the old Mao edict, ‘A single spark can start a prairie fire':

前天还在感叹我们选举过程的波澜不惊，昨天就发现其实是有点儿波澜的，只是迟钝如我者未发现而已。
昨天下午一位同事给我看了一张纸条，“纸条”有名片大小，不经意的话，会以为路边到处可见的小广告。
纸条的一面是这样一些字：
73岁山大退休教授有个梦：
我梦想竞选成为人大代表，当选可能创下国家纪录。这既是我的光荣，也是山大选民的光荣、山东大学的光荣和gcd（原文用的是汉字）的光荣。我在山大50年，我热爱山东大学，我想给山大增光，现在只有山大选民才能帮我实现梦想。选民是我的上帝。
另一面是这样几行：
孙文广：73岁山大管院退休教授，曾任济南政协委员十年。
选票上有“另选人”栏。我要来自选民，代表选民，向选民负责，不做强权的奴隶。投我票勿忘划“〇”！
(后面还有他的家庭电话和手机号）
据说他发了不少这样的“竞选”小纸条，见人就塞给一张，并希望人间能投他的票。当然，结果是他没有竞选成功。
也据说，有的院系专门开会，暗示过什么。

无论如何，这算是一星小火花吧，我们也希望那些“真的”被“选出来”的代表也向选民们表达一下他们愿意当代表的愿望。

言多必失，不说了。

Two days ago I was still saying that the elections here were going smoothly, but then yesterday I noticed that they're not going smoothly at all, that only someone as slow as me could've not seen it.
Yesterday afternoon one colleague gave me a piece of paper, just the size of a business card. If you didn't look closely, you might think it was one of those flyers you see everywhere.
One side of the paper had this written:
A 73 year-old retired Shandong U professor has a dream:
My dream is to run and become a People's Congress representative, and for me to be elected would set a new national record. This would be both my honor, and the honor of the the electorate at Shandong University, the honor of Shandong University, and the honor of the CPC. I've been at Shandong U for fifty years. I love Shandong U. I want to bring prestige to Shandong U, and now it's only the voters of Shandong U who can help me fulfill this dream. The voters are my gods.
On the other side were a few lines:
Sun Wenguang: 73 year-old retired Shandong U professor, past member of the CPPCC for ten years.
On the ballot will be “alternatives”. I want to come from the electorate, to represent the electorate, and be responsible to the electorate, not to be a slave to the powers. When you vote, don't for get to draw an “〇”!
(also on the back were his home phone and cellphone numbers)
They say he's put out more than a few of these “campaign” notices, that he was pushing them onto everyone he sees, hoping that the world would cast their votes for him. Of course, he didn't get elected.
They also say that the university admin had a special meeting, and implied something or other.

Whatever the case, this amounts to a really small spark. We also would like to see those representatives who “really” got “elected” demonstrate to us voters their desire to be representatives.

To say more would be a mistake, so that's all I'll say.
———————————————————
Comments:

沈香落
2007-11-14 00:38:44
是啊，的确是开过会的。我有同学就参加了这个会，当时好像是要在4个人中选2个，这个老教授不在4人之列～～的确也暗示了，或者说下达了。
Yes, they definitely had a meeting. I have a classmate who took part in it; they wanted to choose two [candidates] out of four, and this professor wasn't one of them…there were definitely some hints dropped, or else they were just told.

[匿名] boston
2007-11-14 08:24:58
这老先生很值得钦佩！不过单枪匹马难成正果。
This old gentleman is very admirable! Though, running single-handed makes it hard to accomplish anything.

[匿名] 栗
2007-11-14 08:34:36
据说省府选举全乱套了，姜大明省长去了现场，最后省长大人拂袖而去。
They're saying the provincial government elections got completely out of hand, that governor Jiang Daming went down to the scene, and that in the end the provincial bigwig left pissed off.

[匿名] nail
2007-11-14 11:08:14
大一还是大二时的一次选修课正在考试，有个老师就进了教室，让我们填选票，告诉了我们几个人名，我们也不知道是谁，所以我弃权了，既然不了解这些候选人，又怎么行使自己的权利，所以只能弃权了。
Back in first or second year there was an election right in the middle of exam week. One teacher just came right into the classroom and made us fill out the ballots, told us a few names, we didn't know who they were, so I just abstained, since I didn't know anything about these candidates, couldn't have made use of my rights if I'd wanted to, so I could only just abstain.

[匿名] 郁闷
2007-11-14 21:49:52
被彻底QJ了
我们单位投票时，政治部主任和办公室主任进行指导，而且必须当场书写，“第一个划叉，剩下两个画圈”，或者“中间划叉，第一个第三个画圈”。因为第三个是我们院长。晕死
He's been completely screwed.
When our office voted, the director of the political department and the office head gave us directions, and we had to vote on the spot, “an ‘x' for the first one, and circles for the other two,” or “an ‘x' for the middle [candidate], circles for numbers 1 and 3.” Because #3 was the dean of our school. Makes me want to pass out and die.

[匿名] 过客
2007-11-14 22:18:03
孙老师有在食堂前做过演讲，当时很多同学都去看了，当然投票时还是有很多同学投了，不过胳膊拧不过大腿啊
很多同学投票的原则是投无党派的，因为我们是一伙的
Professor Sun gave a speech in front of the cafeteria…lots of people went to see it…of course lots of us went to vote when the time came, but he didn't stand a chance…

8 comments · »»

Japan: Yamanote Line Sprint 

a small portrait of this author Chris Salzberg · 13:49

Earlier this week, roughly 20,000 Tokyo commuters were forced to wait 20 minutes when a 40-year-old woman jumped onto the tracks of the Yamanote Line [ja], one of the city's busiest train lines, and began to run. Reportedly triggered by trouble with an aquaintance [ja], the woman's 1.5 km sprint — heading from Yoyogi station to Harajuku station — was heralded by many as the first of its kind. Needless to say, many wondered what it was the woman was thinking.

Blogger a-usa explains what happened and offers her thoughts:

ＪＲ山手線代々木－原宿間（約1.5キロ）の線路を１１日夜、女性が“疾走”した騒動。
警視庁原宿署などのその後の調べで、女性は直前に知人とトラブルになって代々木駅で下車後、線路に飛び降りていたことが分かった．．．
線路上を女性が走っているのをすれ違った電車の車掌が発見、無線で緊急停止を連絡し電車をすぐに非常停止させた。

There is all this noise about a woman who, on the evening of the 11th, made a “sprint” along the JR Yamanote line between Yoyogi and Harajuku stations (about 1.5 km). According to a follow-up investigation by the Shinjuku Police station, just before the incident the woman had had some troubles with an acquaintance, and after getting off at Yoyogi station, she jumped onto the tracks…
It was the conductor of a train that passed her by who saw the woman running along the tracks, radioed for an emergency shutdown, and immediately brought the train to an emergency stop.

凄い話ですよ。私にはとてもじゃないけど線路の上を1.5キロも走れない。
しかも45歳の女性と言うのだから驚きます。
すれ違った電車の車掌さんも、さぞかし驚いたでしょう。絶対にあり得ませんよこんな事。
私が車掌だったら、たぶん妖怪か幽霊だと思ったに違いない。

It's really an amazing story. I could never do that, run 1.5 kilometers along the train tracks.
And on top of that, they say that the woman is 45 years old, that really surprised me.
The conductor of the train must also have been surprised. It's an absolutely unbelievable story.
If I was the conductor, I'm sure I would have mistaken it for a specter or a ghost.

しかし、45歳にもなって何をやっているのだ。精神的に不安定で刑事責任は問われずに家族に引き渡されたというのだが、それでいいのか？精神的に不安定と言われても程度が分からないし、これではジャッジが出来ませんよ。（審判か）
まったく、おかしな事があるものです。
何があったかわかりませんが、人様に迷惑をかけてはいけませんね。（笑）

But what was this 45-year-old person doing anyway? Because she is mentally unstable, they didn't press for criminal charges and just handed her over to her family, but is that really enough? While she may be called mentally unstable, it is not known to what degree she is unstable, and it's not possible, from what is known, to make a judgment.
Strange things like this do happen.
I don't know what happened [with her], but people should not cause other people trouble. (LOL)
2 comments · »»

Big Brother Africa II: Did Immorality Triumph? 

a small portrait of this author Ndesanjo Macha · 12:38
sample image for this post

Tanzania's Richard Bezuidenhout was recently declared the winner of $100 000 prize for the second edition of Big Brother Africa. Richard, the 24 year-old film student, survived five nominations, fell in love with a fellow housemate from Angola, Tatiana, and was involved in an alleged sexual assault in the house. Richard was newly married when he entered the house. Bloggers have been writing extensively about the outcome of the show. One wrote, “The outcome of the results clearly shows that Immorality triumphs over Morality.” Another one declared, “Big Brother rapist wins the prize.”

The Big Brother Fan Blog wrote:

Tanzania’s Richard Bezuidenhout has won Big Brother Africa II. The 24 year-old film student had a tumultuous time in the House. He fell in love, had more than a few tantrums and survived nomination five times on his road to the $100 000 prize.

Nigeria’s Ofunneka Molokwu took second place, with Tatiana Durao of Angola coming in third. Ofunneka and Tatiana both win tickets to the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, courtesy of MTN.

Richard received votes from Botswana, Kenya, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zimbabwe. Ghana, Malawi, Nigeria, Zambia and the rest of Africa voted for Ofunneka, while Tatiana received Angola’s vote.

The blog also posted after-party photos:

Looks like they had a whale of time… If you look in one of the pics, you can actually see Botswana’s first famous midget, Justice, in the background… It looks like Richard’s sister, Linda, believes that she won the money. Look at how she’s all over that briefcase! And could anyone be more FAKE!! Dancing with Tatiana, holding her, having a laugh - that woman [Linda] truly is a piece of work [Sorry, Rich, you’re a nice dude - I just dunno what happened to her!].

Does anyone else think she looks like a Jackson?! LaToya Jackson to be exact… Wonder how many times she’s been under the knife…

“Despite the sexual assault allegation scandal, Richard still scooped the $100,000 prize,” Bella Naija noted on her blog:

Richard Bezuidenhout has won Big Brother Africa II. Despite the sexual assault allegation scandal, Richard still scooped the $100,000 prize. Ofunneka came second and Tatiana came third. Congrats to him, I just hope the allegations are not true and the ‘activities' with Ofunneka were consensual but I still have my reservations.

Pause to Ponder wrote, “Where Immoral triumphs over Moral“:

The outcome of the results clearly shows that Immorality triumphs over Morality. Richard it was, that is very popular with the reality show for his glaring immoral and uncare attitude while the shows lasted. His love escapdes with the Angolan contestant Tatiana is well known to the followership of the reality show. One would have thought that, following the patterns of voting from the beginning of the show, where those who throw immoral to the wind ended up being evicted, Ofunneka who is more decent and represent a true African Women with her disposition, character and conduct, should have won the prize, but, it was Richard, who epitomises all the names calling that has the face of immorality that won the prize.
My candid opinion however is that, it wasn't Richard character or his popularity that earn him the prize, but his supporters did the outside job for him.

Funmi Iyanda wrote, “The lover takes it all…”:

I suspect a large percentage of Nigerians had the odds firmly on Ofunneka and were as shocked as she obviously was when Richards’s name was announced. She never did recover her poise till she fell into her fathers (?) arms post eviction.

I had wanted Ofunneka to win because she was a strong, hard working girl, she obviously was not cooking and cleaning and counselling and dancing and crying and laughing as part of a game but as part of the entity that was herself. My brain recognized that fact and wished her well especially after the statutory rape (please refer to Linda Ekeji’s comprehensive post on this) fiasco. However there was a devilish little part of me that wanted Richard to win, as that would present many more twists to the tale. If Richard were to win, will he share with Tatiana, will he stay with Tatiana?

Hottest Gossip reported that the governor of Nigeria's Delta State promised to give the Nigerian housemate, Ofunneka, $100,000:

The governor of oil rich Delta State where Ofunneka hailed from has yesterday evening which was transmitted via Silver Bird Television promised to give her $100,000 that Big Brother organizers failed to give her on her return to Nigeria.
He stated that Ofunneka is the true winner since the rest of Africa voted her to win. He also said that she lost the vote just because she is a Nigerian.
He frown at the negative message the emergence of Richard as winner has sent across Africa.
He also declared that Ofunneka has done much better image-making job for Nigeria than what has been done by our lobbyists over the years and over US$100,000 was spent.
Some insiders believe :MNET has just chased herself out of Nigerian market especially now that their local HI-TV has taken over 80% of English premiership and LA liga matches.

Ofunneka, known affectionately by viewers as Ofunemama for her motherly role in the house, had a big support among viewers who thought that making Richard the winner would demean African cultural values. As Hottest Gossip wrote, this has been a long journey for Richard:

It’s a long way to victory for Richard who has been constantly on the headlines and was accused by many viewers of commiting adultery , being abusive to women yet it is clear he was the most entertainning housemate ,and his love affair with Tatiana kept the viewers glued to the Tv for weeks!!!!

While many bloggers seem to have been following the show, eSquared Fashion cannot tell you who the winner was:

Well, I’m afraid I can’t tell you who the Big Brother Africa winner was, as I didn’t know there was a Big Brother Africa on at the moment.

What was interesting is that Big Brother Africa was mentioned on Sky Television a few minutes ago, saying that there was a controversy. A controversy in the latest Big Brother??

That’s not a SURPRISE!!!

Every series of Big Brother in South Africa and internationally seems to have some sort of controversy!

Tanzanian bloggers, Issa Michuzi and Haki Ngowi, have been posting photos of Tanzanianis celebrating Richard's victory and his arrival in Tanzania.

The Ugandan Housemate, Maureen Nomvula, is now a blogger. She blogs at Maureen Blah Blah Blah. Viewers called her “Blah Blah Blah” because of her tendency to finish her sentences with “blah blah blah.” She uses her blog to share her post-eviction thoughts and experiences.

37 comments · »»

Central Asia and CIS: BarCamp - Riga, 2008 

a small portrait of this author Adil Nurmakov · 05:25
lingua → bn
sample image for this post

In February next yar a new BarCamp event for the bloggers from EU and former Soviet Union will be held in Riga, the capital city of Latvia. Activists, enthusiasts and professionals of the new media will bring themselves together in order to tell each other about their projects, problems and news - and, certainly, to get to know each other. This is a unique opportunity for everyone, who is interested in citizen journalism, blogging, podcating, social networking and in the concepts of new media and Web 2.0, to learn more, to present themselves and to establish connections with the colleagues and interesting people from various countries.

(more…)

0 comments · »»

Environment: Bloggers on Energy, and The Zero Africa Rally 

a small portrait of this author Juliana Rotich · 03:29
lingua → bn · zht · zhs · es

Several bloggers deftly tackled energy issues, from nuclear energy, ideas of ‘plug and play power', China's ‘Clean Ambitions' and Green data centers. Be it South Africa, China or America, the energy question has got bloggers thinking of solutions.

Ian Gilfillan asks “Why is anybody still considering nuclear?”. He looks at the reasons why nuclear energy is still attracting support, especially when compared to coal.

If the debate is framed as nuclear versus coal, there seems to be little question. Global warming, and the massive environmental costs of coal power generation make nuclear the obvious answer.

But framing the question in that limited way is ignoring the real solution - renewable energy.

He considers the advantages of renewable energy, the cons of nuclear energy generation, gives examples of renewable energy projects and emphatically states that…

Nuclear is not renewable!

If the entire world switched to nuclear, there'd be about 9 years of uranium supplies left. Uranium prices would shoot up, and there'd be a scramble to implement new technologies to get hold of more, such as that proposed by the nuclear industry to reprocessing radioactive spent fuel. Currently that's extremely expensive and risky.

Rory of Carbonsmart also looks at the nuclear and renewable energy in the context of demand and supply in China, South Africa and India, in part explaining why there is a temptation to go nuclear. He looks at the challenges of switching renewable energy sources from traditional fossil fuel sources. While doing so, he puts forth the idea of ‘plug and play' power describing it as

Renewable energy also faces supply shortages, and for similar reasons: it hasn't been part of the mainstream energy business on a big scale, and technologies are developing rapidly. Small-scale renewables have more to overcome, but the potential benefits are far greater. For one thing, distributed power generation provides more opportunity for local communities to be involved in developing and operating the systems (read: jobs) and for another, there is no need to standardise a given technology. Take the most appropriate for a given situation, and the next project might be something else entirely.

In the blog China Dialogue, China's ‘Clean Ambitions' are explored in a piece by Rachel Wasser.

Ninety percent of China’s electricity is still produced by inefficient coal power, but the country has set bold targets to expand the renewables sector. Can China really achieve sustainable energy?

In America, a feature by Jeremy Faludi in the group blog worldchanging delves into the computing field, specifically greening of Data Centers. Data centers are repositories for servers used by many companies such as Google, Amazon and even blog hosting companies to run their online services. These data centers require significant amounts of electricity, and in the piece Jeremy looks at the ways of making data centers more efficient, while giving an update on green computing research, techniques and reports.

Last but not least, Carl of Greencars announces the Zero Africa Rally,

The Zero Africa rally “will be an endurance challenge, a demonstration of the viability and practicality of planet-friendly vehicles. Open to electric, solar, hybrid, hydrogen and bio-fuel vehicles.”

The race us due to take place in January 2009, and will run approximately 4000km from Cape Town to Victoria Falls. We’ll keep you posted.

1 comment · »»