Global Voices Online » 2008 » January

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Iran: Frozen!

Hamid Tehrani · 22:30

lingua → mg · pt · ar · jp · zht · zhs

Iran is facing an exceptionally cold winter. Snow has trapped many cities and at least eight people have lost their lives. Even gas supplies have been disrupted although Iran is the second richest gas country in the world. Millions of people are deprived of heating.

Several bloggers have provided photos from “frozen cities”, shared their stories, and criticised the government for mismanagement of crisis.

Photo of the city of Rasht in northern Iran from from Kourosh Ziabari blog.

Nik Ahang Kosar, cartoonist and blogger, published a cartoon criticising the government's indifference to people without a home in Iran. The caption has a homeless man saying homeless people in Palestine and Lebanon are lucky, because Iran helps them.

Raze No (means “new secret”) says [Fa] most roads and airports are closed because of bad weather. The blogger adds that in the next two days, schools and offices are closed in Tehran and many cities. The blogger has also published a series of photos from frozen Tehran.

Akbar Montakhabi, blogger and journalist, writes [Fa]:

“Several cities in the northern part of Iran are frozen and their gas supply has been disrupted. There is also a shortage of bread in cities. In such critical circumstances, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has asked people to reduce their energy consumption and wear warmer clothes.”

Otopia has published [Fa] a couple of photos of a long queue of people waiting to get milk. The blogger asks “Who can believe this country exports $100 barrels of oil?” Otopia says people waited 1-2 hours outdoors to buy milk.

Uzakyol says [Fa] there is a clear difference in how Turkey managed a recent gas shortage. While several cities in Iran are deprived of gas, Turkey managed the crisis. The blogger says the difference is that gas is in the hands of the government in Iran, while in Turkey the private sector is more flexible in finding solutions.

Jomhour writes [Fa]:

“In a statement, the government announced that all public buildings, schools, and … are closed except banks, the presidents' office, and health care centers. It is another attempt to promote the image of the Iranian president.”

1 comment · »»

India: Introducing the Tata Nano

Neha Viswanathan · 21:56

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

The unveiling of Tata Nano, a new supermini car at the New Delhi Auto Expo today has created quite a commotion on the blogosphere. The standard version of the car is 100,000 Rs (approximately 2500 USD) making it the cheapest car to hit the Indian market.

Tata Nano

The reception to the car has been quite mixed. Some claim that such a cheap car is only going to add to the infrastructure woes in Indian cities, already weighed by congested roads. Plus, the potential of pollution increasing as more cars hit the road. However, a lot of people are extremely positive about the car.

Indian Muslims writes that the car could have an interesting impact on rural India.

I agree with the critics that at least it is going to be a traffic disaster. Our cities are already seething with jams and crowded places. But then Ratan Tata is a businessman. And his focus is on bringing products which people need at the cheapest possible price. The infrastructure problems have to be solved by our policy makers and politicians. And it may be too much to ask from them. We have seen Bangalore and Pune become pathetic without much being done to keep pace with the exploding population of these cities. I am sure if this car is a success it will be a traffic disaster. But then if we think outside our cities, in the rural areas, where 70% of India lives it could be a life changing thing.

IndieQuill sums up the range of reactions, and points out that there is no reason for cars to be a luxury good.

On the one hand, where the hell do any of us get off making the case that cars should remain a luxury? Ratan Tata might be indulging in a PR exercise but he’s got a point when he says there are tons of families out there who’re making do with extremely unsafe modes of transportation because they can’t afford safer alternatives. Anybody who’s seen a woman balance a tiny baby on her lap while clinging to her husband as they sit on his bike and make their way through bumper-to-bumper traffic has a lot of nerve arguing that that couple ought to stick with their bike so that the rest of us, with more money in our bank accounts, can swan around in our a/c cars.

Don't Trust The Indian Media! has pictures of the car from the Auto Expo and writes that activists are likely to lose goodwill if they target people for being aspirational.

About Sunita Narain and R K Pachauri's comments on congestion and pollution, while valid stink of elitism I am afraid. People will protest against this car, but they should instead go after factories, after diesel generator sets and so much more. The problem with Indian greenies is that by protesting against the wrong things, they tend to lose goodwill. Remind me to cancel my subscription to Greenpeace. Don't go after people's aspirations guys, you lose goodwill. Tell people to consume more smartly, and tell our government to spend more wisely and not allow unfettered development, but mobility and communications are the wrong things to go after.

Ultrabrown expresses some safety concerns, but appears pretty positive about a car that promises - at the very least - protection from the elements.

Tata Motors just launched the modern-day equivalent of that Corolla, a car which costs less not only after adjusting for inflation, but in simple dollars as well. The Tata Nano isn’t a beauty queen, nor does it come with a click wheel. Its bumper curlicues evoke a late-model Ford Taurus, its absurdly high brow a boxfish. But at just Rs. 1 lakh ($2,500), it could put safer transport into the hands of middle- and lower-class families across the world.

Marketing Practice looks back at the time when the car was initially announced and scoffed at, and how the car probably doesn't need any marketing to boost sales.

In the marketing front, Nano had the dream start . Infact Nano may need no ads but heavy dose of positive PR during the launch. The brand may have to counter the skepticism surrounding the performance . Another nightmare is managing the initial rush of the customers. Since this is a car for the common man, there is every possibility that the customers could be given a raw treatment at the dealership touch- points. Indian marketers are still to wake up to the possibilities of a good customer service. How Tata and its dealers handle the initial euphoria will be something to watch for in the Customer-relationship perspective .

19 comments · »»

Egypt: Chinese Goods

Gr33nData · 14:49

lingua → bn · ar · mg · jp · zht · zhs

You sure know about the economy of the People's Republic of China, which is one of the largest economies in the world. With an average annual GDP growth rate of 10 per cent, it has become normal to see Chinese goods in Egyptian stores. What is interesting to note is that the Chinese also depend on themselves to sell their goods away from the stores. Every now and then people are visited by Chinese salesmen … erm … saleswomen, who try to sell them products right in their homes.

Tayara Waraa - Kite - wrote a post here about her experience with one of those Chinese saleswomen.

طرقات على الباب
تقول لى بلغة عربية مكسرة : تشترى هاجة صينى؟
أقول لها فى العادة شكراً وأغلق الباب فوراً..لكننى فى هذه المرة كان بيتى عامراً بالبشر فقلت لها : تفضلى
وتفضلت
ووضعت البؤجة التى تحملها على الأرض وبدأت تعرض ما معها.. مفارش..ملابس..أدوات زينة
كنت أنظر لها وفى داخلى أسئلة
ليست عما تبيعه فهو معروف منذ بدأ الصينيون فى غزو البلد بأنفسهم وليس فقط عن طريق التصدير لنا..ولكن عما دفعها لهذا العمل الشاق..وتحمل الغربة فى سبيله..وهذه الحقيبة التى تحملها على ظهرها كوزر أو سنام جمل..وعن غايتها وهدفها وحلمها وفتى أحلامها القصير
:)

Knocks on the door
She told me in broken Arabic: “Wanna buy something Chinese?”
I would normally say: “No, thanks” to them and close the door … But this time my house was full of people so I asked her to come in.
She put the bag she was carrying with her on the floor and started to show me the goods she had. Tablecloths, cloths and cosmetics.
I was looking at her, with a lot of questions inside me.
Not about what she sold as it's known since they started to invade the country by themselves rather than exporting their goods to us only. But what forced her to do such hard job, and travel away from her homeland with a backpack like a camel hump. I was thinking about her aim and dreams and her short prince charming :)

She then continues …

يعجبنى هؤلاء القوم رغم اختلافى مع نهجهم القاضى بإنتاج درجات جودة مختلفة لكل السلع بدءاً من الصفر وتلك الدرجة ..درجة الصفر ..هى التى يقومون بالتصدير لنا من خلالها..وينتابنى دوماً عندما
أرى تلك العيون الضيقة المسحوبة أننى أواجه جيشاً من النمل..المنظم..الذى يمكنه أن ينخر فى عظام أى شىء ويحيله فى لحظة إلى هشي

I am impressed by those people although I do not agree with their strategy of having products with various quality levels starting from zero … and it is such low quality products that they export to us. I always have the feeling when I see those narrow eyes that I am facing an organized army of ants who can do almost anything.

5 comments · »»

Korea: Game Addiction and Solution

Hyejin Kim · 14:16

lingua → ar · zhs · zht · es

Last year, 14 year old boy killed his 10 year old brother with a pocket knife. The motive was simply curiosity about the feeling after murder. He was known to be excessively liking games that particularly are full of violence and bombing. He was analyzed as being confused between imagined space and the real world, and to identify game characters with himself.

More developed technology every day after you wake up… it’s hard to avoid them. While some of us insist that games are destroying humanity and warn against the strong tendency of addiction, we’re getting used to be close to them as part of daily life. In Korea, every household has more than one computer and students use them for their own homework. You can run into game café or internet café on the street so easily.

There is lots of research showing how close computers and games are to our lives now, and how games affect us in negative ways.

A blogger links to research on how people spend their time for leisure and shows how games influence their lives.

[…] 6세부터 59세까지의 네티즌 496명을 대상으로 온라인 게임이용행태에 대한 설문조사를 실시한 결과, 네티즌 37.5%가 매일 1시간 이상 온라인 게임을 즐기고 있는 것으로 조사됐다.

하루 1~2시간 온라인 게임을 즐긴다고 대답한 네티즌이 21.4%, 하루 3시간 이상 즐긴다고 대답한 응답자는 16.1%로 나타났으며 특히 여성보다는 남성 네티즌들이 온라인 게임을 더 많이 즐기는 것으로 조사되었다.

특히 20대 남성(20~29세) 열명 중 네 명(42%)이 하루 평균 1시간 이상 온라인 게임을 즐긴다고 대답했으며, 이 중 3시간 이상 온라인 게임을 즐긴다고 대답한 20대 남성이 20%를 차지해 적지 않은 수가 여가 시간 중 많은 부분을 온라인 게임에 투자하고 있는 것으로 나타났다. […]

[…] according to a poll on how people use online games based on 496 netizens from 6 to 59 years old, 37.5% netizens enjoy online games for more than one hour every day. www.dmcmedia.co.kr

Netizens who play 1 to 2 hours everyday are 21.4% and those who play more than 3 hours are 16.1%. Male netizens play games longer than female netizens.

By age, 4(42%) of ten males in their 20s (20-29) play online games more than one hour and 20 percent of them play more than 3 hours.[…]

In particular, teenagers are always the major concern for this kind of research. The research of a college professor team is introduced by hephaistos’ blog.

게임중독이 음란물이나 채팅중독보다 청소년의 인간관계를 더 심각하게 파괴하는 것으로 나타났다.

[…] 게임중독 청소년은 음란물및 채팅중독 청소년보다 오프라인 친구관계에서 정서적 안정•신뢰•친밀감•교제의 즐거움의 긍정적 기능을 가장 낮게 지각하고 있었다. 반면 경쟁심은 채팅이나 음란물중독 보다 높았다.[…]

[…]또 맞벌이부부의 청소년이 부모 중 한쪽만 직업이 있는 청소년보다 음란물 몰입도가 높은 것으로 밝혀졌다. ‘부모 직업상태에 따른 음란물 몰입도’는 맞벌이의 경우가 아버지 또는 어머니만 직업이 있는 경우의 두배에 달했다. 이는 부모의 맞벌이 여부가 자녀의 인터넷 몰입에 주는 영향이 크지 않다는 기존연구와는 상반되는 결과다.

Game addiction destroys juveniles’ human relations more serious than porn sites and chatting addiction.

[…] The teenage game addicts have the lowest sense of emotional stability, trust, closeness, and happiness of friendship from off-line relations with friends, compared to porn and chatting addicted juveniles. On the other hand, their competitiveness is much higher than chatting and porn addicted youth.[…]

[…] In addition, juveniles whose all parents are working are more engrossed with porn sites than those who have a working parent. The extent of porn addicted juveniles having both working parents is two times higher than that of having one working parent. This contradicts the existing research that both parents’ working influences the extent of internet addiction.

Kangta406 is worried about young game addicts.

이 세상에 너무 많은 게임이 있습니다. 특히 한국은 셀수 없이 매년마다 게임이 생기고 있습니다. 하지만 이렇게 많은 게임들을 하다보면 점점 자기도 모르게 빠져드는 순간이 있고… 목숨을 걸기도 합니다.

지금 이 글을 보고 있는 중, 고등학생, 어른들은 잘 모를 것입니다. 수많은 어린 나이 꼬멩이들이 컴퓨터 게임에서 빠져 살고 있는지를[…] 꼭 많이 한다고 게임중독인 것은 아닙니다. 한시간을 하더라도 어떻게 게임을 하느냐는 것도 중요합니다. 정말 눈이 튀어나올 정도로 집중하고 주위소리도 안 들릴 정도로 게임한다면 중독의 끼가 보여지고 문제가 생깁니다.[…] 만 3-5세의 연령별 인터넷 이용률. 2006년 12월. 3세 34.0% 4세 47.0%, 5세 68.7%. 분명 사람들은 ‘내가 중독일리가 없잖아’라고 합니다. 중독자들은 자신이 중독자라고 자각하지 않습니다. 어른들은 모릅니다. 초등학생들의 하루를… 학교에서 유희왕카드놀이, 집에선 컴퓨터…물론 학원을 바쁘게 다니는 착한 초등학생들도 있습니다. 하지만 요즘은 3살때부터 컴퓨터 게임하고 살고 있는 판에 어떻겠습니까…[…]

There are so many games in this world. Especially, so many games are born every year in Korea. The more you play these games, the more you’re unconsciously engrossed… sometimes, you risk your neck.

Secondary school students and adults who are reading this post might now know well. Numerous young kids are living for computer games. […] Playing games a lot means game addiction. Even though you play it for one hour, how to play games is important. If you focus on so much and can’t hear anything around you, you have the symptoms of game addiction. […] Rates to use internet from 3 to 5 years old. In December of 2006. Three year old: 34.0%, four year old: 47.0%, and five year old: 68.7%. Of course people say, ‘I can’t be a game addict.’ Addicts don’t recognize themselves as addicts. Adults don’t know about primary school students’ day… at school, they play yuhuiwang card game. At home, they play computer… of course there are decent students who are busy running around private institutes. But how about three year old kids playing computer games?

How do parents use the internet about this matter?

어젯밤의 일이다.
늦게 퇴근한다는 집사람 대신 설거지랑 청소를 해 놓으려고 조금 일찍 퇴근했다. 설거지를 하며 작은 아이와 이야기를 나누던 중 학원가고 없던 큰아이의 근황을 물어보았다.

“형아는 오늘 게임을 했어?”
“응, 했어!”

“어제나 그전의 다른 날도 게임을 한 거야?”
“형아 매일 게임했는데.”

설거지하던 중 집사람이 퇴근하고, 곧이어 큰아이가 돌아왔다. “너 요즘 계속 게임했지?” 큰 녀석이 쭈뼜거리며 대답을 제대로 못했다. “내일부터 시험이라면서? 그런데 공부할 생각은 않고 매일 게임을 한단 말이냐?”

게임을 통제하려면 원칙을 지켜야 하기도 했지만 화도 났다. ‘할 일을 다했을 떄만 1시간 동안 게임할 수 있다.'라는 규칙을 왕창 어겼다가 종아리를 맞은 것이 불과 얼마 전이다. “시험기간 다가오니 그동안만이라도 게임 하지 말고 공부 좀 하라.”라고 단단히 주의를 준 게 불과 1주일 전이다. […]

내 아들이 공부도 잘하면 좋겠지만 억지로 강요하고 싶지는 않다. 다만, 어떤 일이든 주어진 일에 노력을 다하는 사람이 되기를 소망한다. 그런데 대화를 해도, 협박을 해도, 회초리를 들어도 먹히지 않는다.

게임 외에는 세상 모든 일에 관심이 없는 아이를 어찌해야 할까나.

현명한 부모님들! 조언 좀 해 주세요 ㅠ.ㅠ

It happened yesterday night. Instead of my wife who comes back from working late, I came back early to wash dishes and clean up the house. Washing dishes, I was talking with our second son and asked about the first son while he was not there because of tuition.

“Did your brother play games today?”
“Yes.”

“Did he play games yesterday and the day before yesterday too?”
“He does everyday.”

My wife came back and then the first son came back. “Do you play games everyday?” He hesitated and didn’t answer. “Didn’t you say it will be the test from tomorrow? Instead of studying, do you play games everyday?”

In order to control games, I should have made the principle, but I was mad first. Even though there is a rule, ‘after finishing things, you can play games for one hour,’ he didn’t follow and I whipped his calves with a switch several days ago. It was just one week before I gave him a warning “when you’re preparing for the exam, don’t play games and do study until the exam is done.”[…]

I don’t want to force my son although it would be good for him to study well. I hope that he becomes a person who does his best at anything he does. But even though I have conversations with him, threaten him, and whip him with a switch, it doesn’t work.

What can I do with him, just not being interested in anything except games?

Wise parents! Please give me some advice ㅠ.ㅠ

A blogger talks about why he plays games.

게임중독은 남자의 성취욕구와 관련된다고 한다. 현실에서 풀지 못하는 성취욕구를 게임속에서 대리만족하는 것이다. 학교에서는 친구들에게 놀림을 당해도 게임속에서는 나쁜 악당들을 물리칠 수 있는 힘이 있고 현실에서는 여자에게 말을 못 건네지만 게임속에서는 누구보다도 인기 있고 매력적인 남자가 된다. 나의 경우도 이와 무관하지 않다. 현실에서 좌절감을 느꼈을 때는 항상 게임에 의지하곤 했다. 게임은 언제나 한결같은 친구였고 나를 위로해 주는 존재였다. 한동안 현실세계에서 좌절없이 지내며 게임을 좀 멀리하며 지냈는데 이제 다시 게임을 하고 싶은 마음이 든다. 요즘 좌절은 겪은 사건때문에 그런걸까?… 사람의 마음을 이렇게 분석한다는 것 요즘은 무섭다. 그래도 일단 게임을 조금 해야겠다.

It is said that game addiction is related to males’ craving for accomplishment. They seek accomplishment through games that they can’t obtain in real world. At school, even though they’re mocked by friends, they have power to crash bad villains in games. In the real world, they are too shy to talk to women, they are popular than any other men and attractive in games. My case is not so different either. When I feel desolate, I depended on games all the time. Games were my consistent friends and comforted me. For a while, I have been fine in the real world without any desperation and kept distant from the games, but I would like to start the games again. Maybe because of the desperation that I have been through recently?…. I am scared of analyzing humans like this. But anyway I might start playing some games.

It is easy to find a self-test of game addiction on portal sites or blogs.

[…]게임중독증세
밥도 먹지 않고 밤새도록 게임에만 몰두한다.
밤새도록 게임을 하느라고 학교에서는 잠만 잔다.
게임때문에 시험을 망친 적이 있다.
게임을 하지 않을때도 늘 게임에 관한 생각들 뿐이다.
가족과 매일 다투거나 부모님으로부터 꾸중을 듣는다.
게임으로 인해 건강이 나빠졌다.
가끔 현실과 게임공간이 구분이 안될 때가 있다.
꿈에서도 게임에 관한 꿈을 꾼다.
게임을 통해서는 내가 할 수 없는 일을 할 수 있다고 느낀다.
컴퓨터를 켠 후, 가장 먼저 게임을 시작한다.
게임을 하지 못할 때면 짜증이 나거나 화가 난다.
게임을 하는 도중 주인공이 다치거나 죽으면 마치 내가 그러는 느낌이 든다.
게임을 하다가 고함을 치는 경우가 많다.
내가 현실보다는 게임에서 더 유능하다는 느낌이 든다.

생각보다 많은 사람들이 이러한 증세를 겪고 있을겁니다. 왜 이렇게 게임에 쉽게 빠지게 되는것일까요?

“공부는 못해도 게임은 잘 할 수 있거든요. 게임은 나를 과시하는 방법 중의 하나예요.”
“게임을 하면 지위가 상승하죠. 현실에서는 이룰 수 없는 지위가 제게 주어지는 영광을 누리게 됩니다. 이 영광스런 자리를 놓치고 싶지 않아요.”
“게임에 빠지는데 자세한 설명이 뭐가 필요합니까? 무조건 재밌으니까 하는 거 아니겠어요.”

현실에서 만족을 할 수 없는 사람일수록 게임에 빠져들 가능성이 더 많습니다. 게임에서는 불가능한 일이 없으니까요. 오히려 현실보다도 게임 속 세상을 좋아하게 되고, 급기야는 게임 속 세상을 현실로 착각하게 됩니다. […]

[…] Symptoms of game addiction
You indulge in playing games night and day, and even skip meals.
Playing games at night, you fall asleep at school.
You have experiences to screw exams up due to games.
You still think about games even when you don’t play.
You have conflicts with family and got scolded by parents.
Your health gets worse due to games.
Sometimes you don’t distinguish the real world and game world.
You have dreams about playing games.
You feel that through games you can do things you can’t.
Turning the computer on, you start games first.
Not being able to play games, you feel anxious and mad.
In playing games, if the main characters die or get hurt, you feel it seems to happen to you.
Playing games, you shout many times.
I feel that I’m more capable in the game world rather than the real world.

I’m sure that not a few people have these symptoms. Why are people engrossed in games so fast?

“Although I don’t study well, I can play games well. Games are the one through which I can show my capability.”
“In games, I can raise my status. I can grab the status that I can’t obtain in the real world. I don’t want to lose the chance for such an honor.”
“What kind of explanations do you need to like games? It’s fun. That’s why.”

There are more possibilities that people who are not satisfied with the real world more easily get into games. In the game world, nothing is impossible. They get to like the game world rather than the real world and in the end they are confused the game world is the real world. […]

Another boom in Korea is portable games recently. Sales volumes of portable games are estimated more than 1 million when the top two companies sold 920,000 based on the late September last year. They’re found in people’s hands in public transportation, café and anywhere. Games take over books in bus and subway.

Check yourself for how many symptoms of game addiction you have.

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Lebanon: Without a President

Moussa Bashir · 13:57

lingua → bn · ar · es

Lebanon has been without a president since the deadline for the election passed on November 24, 2007. The political bickering continues. A number of foreign initiatives have been launched to resolve the conflict issues but have so far been unsuccessful. The latest is the Arab League initiative, which is in progress this week. Here is a sample of Lebanese bloggers' reflection about the presidential vacuum and about the resulting political situation.

To resolve the standoff, Beirut Letter suggested a parliamentary re–election that will bring new representatives who will recreate the governing bodies including that of the presidency:

Maybe what we need now are new elections. After all, that was what the opposition was calling for over a year ago. Given the impasse we are in, maybe it is finally time to consider it seriously and this time we can use the electoral law proposed by the national committee last year. Then everyone can stop talking about illegitimate majorities and focus on finding a solution for all of Lebanon.

Doubting the effectiveness and the outcome of the latest Arab initiative, Bilad el Sham predicts that it will not be successful and that it will end up a failure just like its predecessors:

Mark my words, the wonderful Arab initiative will follow the same pattern as all the others: the over-enthusiastic embrace (currently); the ‘unprecedented' visit (again); the postponement of the previously hailed unprecedented visit (again); more of same; the declaration of the success of the Arab Initiative; the mutual recrimination and laying of blame for its failure…..Incipit the next European initiative.

Marxist from Lebanon discusses the presidency itself by elaborating its historical as well as its current constitutional powers. He explains how these powers were reduced by the Taif Agreement which ended the civil war in Lebanon in 1989. He makes the point that the issue of presidential election is just the tip of the iceberg and that there are deeper problems which will not be resolved by electing a president:

The issue is not there still. What can a president do between two coalitions that have crippled the nation for more than a year. Aoun and Harriri Jr. seem more powerful than the future elected president. The president might develop schizo syndromes to keep both sides satisfied. In fact, such a president, amidst two giants, is nothing. He is just a pebble, and the battle between both coalitions remains active. So, again, what is the fuss over the president? We have been without a president for weeks and weeks. Who needs a president again? (other than the greedy politicians!!!!) We all know that the presidential chair is not the way out from this deadlock because all the current political parties are greedy for power at the Proletariat’s expense.

Beirut to Beltway states and discusses the Arab League’s initiative. He writes about the problems that may face this initiative:

But the devil is in the details. Syria can say it backs this plan, but we're still stuck as to how the election will be carried out. The opposition does not recognize the constitutionality of the Lebanese cabinet, which has forwarded a proposal to amend the constitution, enabling the election of the army general. Hizbullah's media machine has been portraying the prime minister as an American agent. Nasrallah in his latest media outing gave Siniora 10 days before an anti-government plan is implemented, a plan that reportedly does not have the approval of his buddies in the opposition.

Jeha’s Nail looks at all political parties in the country as a whole and declares that they have accomplished nothing the past three years:

… And what do all the parties involved have to show for all their efforts since 2005? Nothing. They are all bankrupt…

Lebanon Update also wrote about the Arab League’s initiative, explaining that it proposes to return to the presidency some of the political powers it lost in the Taif:

This solution will give the president much more power and basically overthrows the Taif Agreement, something that March 8 was considering recently, while March 14 has always vehemently opposed any change to Taif. Now, however, March 14 is fully behind the proposal of the Arab League, possibly because they got the candidate it wanted, namely general Michel Suleiman. They must feel confident he is on their side.

This is a just a snapshot of the situation in Lebanon without presidency. Check back next week for more.

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Kenya: Moving images of unrest and hope

Juliana Rincón Parra · 06:40

lingua → pt · es

Words can tell a story, pictures can give us images, and videos have a way of combining both, making it easier for an emotional connection to form with what is going on. During the violent events unleashed by the surprising results of the Kenyan election, media shut down and many had to depend on the internet for their information needs, others took it into their hands to create their media, bearing witness to these events, video camera in hand.

In Facebook, user Duncan Musicha posted 8 short videos recorded on what seems to be a cellphone camera to the group “Peace on Kenya” . In the videos, people can be seen running from police, gunshots can be heard and still bodies lay on the ground.

The following clip, Refugees in our own country from NTVKenya shows the refugees who have arrived at both the Eldoret police station, and Jamuhuri park in Nairobi: mostly are women and children who are fleeing the ethnic violence fueled by the election´s results, not knowing when they´ll be able to return to their looted and sometimes burnt down villages.

Aljazeera English has an 12 minute long update on the situation between opposing candidates Mwai Kibaki from PNU and Raila Odinga from ODM, and their agreement to meet to discuss the situation, also providing background information on Kenyan political history.

Videos are also providing people with a way to report violence and other incidents. In Ushahidi.com, a report of house burning in Kapsoya near Eldoret is accompanied with a video interview, uploaded on youtube by afromusing, whose accounts of the events pre and post election are quite thorough and terribly moving.

Daudi from MentalAcrobatics, shares a short video where Charity Ngilu asks an officer in charge of disassembling a political rally in Hurlingham why they aren´t being allowed to meet. In his words:

This clip shows Charity Ngilu asking the officer in charge why the rally is not allowed to continue. It is a bit shaky and ends mid sentence but at least it shows some sort of dialogue.

Voices of Africa [en] showcases the work of several citizen journalists who have also used cellphones cameras to record both pictures and video interviews, providing a wider perspective of the recent events. On their site you can view an ODM leader requesting peaceful action, no looting and no violence during marches, mediation teams taking shape and the slow return to normality, at least in Nairobi, where people returned to the streets and stores reopened.

Eyes on Kenya picks three different videos to showcase women´s situation in conflict: First, the clip you´ll see here, of Dekha Ibrahim Abdi, 2007 Alternative Nobel Peace Prize winner and her story on how she´s brought together different tribes to agree on peace instead of fighting for the preciously few water resources, then, the two part Al-Jazeera video report of at least 255 cases of assaults to women, related to the election campaign, with 0 charges to the accused, showing that in the areas of women´s rights, there´s still a long path ahead.

For more information on the events in Kenya, please feel free to visit the Global Voices special coverage page which is gathering as much information from the area as possible, with links to local blogs who are reporting the events.

Picture by MentalAcrobatics used according to Creative Commons License.

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Kazakhstan: Pranks and Politics

Adil Nurmakov · 04:47

The row of dayoffs in Kazakhstan brought a dead season for news and blogosphere, following the 2005 law on national holidays, which made both Qurban Eid and Christian Orthodox Christmas non-working days along with the New Year celebrations. However, some developments were discussed by the bloggers, who have noticed some frivolousness in the overall picture.

Mantrovkz writes about flash-based cartoons that have appeared on the web [ru]. The prank stuff features a concocted chrachter, which reminds the head of the state:

The cartoons are made by some “Kaimak Surets” [Sour Cream Pictures - Kaz] with only one person behind it. He alleges he is living in California, working for a high-tech industry and says that cartoons will appear regularly in response to the political developments in Kazakhstan. “That's my vision of the situation. As a Kazakh, I feel keenly about my country”, he says.”

(more…)

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January 10th, 2008