Global Voices Online » 2008 » January

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HiperBarrio's Citizen Journalists Bring Their Local Community Together

David Sasaki · 23:43

lingua → es

The impetus for Rising Voices, a citizen media outreach project funded by a Knight Foundation News Challenge award, surged from the observation that the great majority of self-published bloggers, podcasters, and photographers featured everyday on Global Voices were highly educated, urban, and upper-middle class. While the growth of citizen media has allowed for an unprecedented level of global connectedness, that network of new voices has yet to expand beyond the wealthy neighborhoods of urban centers across the globe.

Until now. Thanks to the hard work of Rising Voices' project coordinators, an international readership is discovering the local stories of previously unheard voices including young women in Dhaka, Bangladesh, motivated interns in Sierra Leone, and residents of the largely indigenous city of El Alto, Bolivia.

Rising Voices, however, is much more than an initiative to bring local voices to a global audience. We are also interested in the potential of citizen media to create more unity in already established local communities. With this in mind, the facilitators and participants of HiperBarrio recently organized a town hall meeting which brought together over 100 residents and community leaders from San Javier La Loma, a hillside community which endured the brunt of the violence during Medellín's Esobar era and the subsequent chaos that followed until as recently as 2002.

The event, which was to take place in La Loma's cancha acustica (the barrio's only public space), was moved to an auditorium in the local church when the afternoon's drizzling rain refused to let up. The Colombian digital magazine, equinoXio, published a four-part series about the unusual citizen media event with contributions from two of HiperBarrio's talented participants, Catalina and Julio Restrepo, as well as one of the facilitators, Alvaro Ramirez. Their articles, two of which have been translated from Spanish below, reveal how HiperBarrio has brought a sense of unified community to what was once one of Medellín's most violent and most divided neighborhoods.

Residents, local leaders, and special guests from La Loma and beyond gathered to experience the videos and photographs produced by HiperBarrio's citizen journalists.

“Satisfactions” by Catalina Restrepo

Six months ago the coordinator of the San Javier La Loma satellite library invited a group of its users to participate in a project aimed at rescuing the forgotten history of our neighborhood.

At the beginning, Alvaro Ramirez showed us how to create a blog using the site Wordpress.com, and since then the group has grown wings which today allow us to be known in many countries around the world and be part of the worldwide project Global Voices.

Following the creation of our blogs, many trainers and workshop leaders have come to our neighborhood to teach us the tools in order to create audiovisual works (photography, video and audio), which we have used to tell the stories of the neighborhood he has seen grow up.

The satisfactions have been many:

First, to get to know so many people who have enriched us with their worldly ideas. The trainers have given us their very best as students, as professionals, and more than that, as individuals.

Second, to discover the stories and history of our neighborhood, such as that of Suso, which has managed to touch the core of every member of the group.

And third, the sense of unity that has grown between us as we go on our excursions throughout the community to document its history.

Without any doubt a space of conversation has opened in La Loma, which has generated changes achieved by the young people who belong to HiperBarrio. We will continue in this project that has made us grow as people and we want to give our very best as members of a neighborhood and a city that needs more projects like this one.

“A Night Under the Stars” by Álvaro Ramírez Ospina

HiperBarrio's ‘night under the stars' became a warm, cozy, and exciting encounter. We experienced some dramatic moments just two hours before the start as a persistent rain cooled the exposed hilltops of La Loma and the open plaza where we had planned to hold the event. The wind threatened to topple the giant screen where we were going to project video and the tree sculpture where we hung photographs and articles which the HiperBarrio participants have published over the past six months.

We were saved by the Father of the parish who kindly let us use the communal hall adjacent to the church. We quickly set up the chairs and audiovisual equipment in order to start an event which not only brought the presence of over a hundred children, youth, and adults of La Loma, but also some important guests from inside and outside the community such as Jorge Melguizo, the brand new Secretary of Civic Culture, Gloria Ines Palomino, the director of the Library Network of Medellin, the local magistrate, the pastor, and the new commander of the local police post who took the opportunity to introduce himself to the expectant community.

The event began with the projection of photographs of the community and surrounding area - with spontaneous snapshots of local residents, their houses, streets, and corners, as well as the previous vistas and landscapes of Medellin which can only be fully appreciated by those who come up to the privileged topography of La Loma.

Vista of Downtown Medellin from La Loma

Milthon Araque performed a theatrical piece titled Sweet Dreams, Lilo which delighted all of the children. Then it was time to show the video productions including The Paniagua Family, Full Moon Nights, Rayones, and the powerful story of Suso. Those valuable productions not only show the history, living culture, and heartbeat of La Loma; they also reveal the creative talent of the directors as they continue their path toward becoming genuine citizen journalists. After sharing their works with the gathered audience, the members of HiperBarrio took to the stage and eloquently highlighted the exciting and challenging experience of learning to use the new online tools which have enabled them to self-publish on their blogs, equinoXio digital magazine, and on YouTube. Each participant received a long-deserved applause from the audience.

Milthon Araque performing Sweet Dreams, Lilo to a delighted audience of children and children-at-heart.

It was a beautiful and rewarding evening. I can still hear the voices of the kids in the audience: “It's the home of Rosa! Look, look, they also took a picture of my grandpa! Uy! That's up near Primavera, it looks good …” The children of La Loma gave small shouts of enthusiasm. Others, smilingly, whispered their comments to neighbors. Seated on the floor in front of the elders in the communal hall, they experienced this unforgettable public presentation of HiperBarrio, which has been documenting the everyday life of friends, family, and neighbors for seven patient, continuous months. There hard work has been feverish and they are now reaping the fruits, thanks to the cooperation of many people, especially the Biblioteca Pública Piloto and the metropolitan area Network of Libraries.

HiperBarrio participants describe their experiences as citizen journalists.

Indeed, with the continued support of the local library system as well as the Secretariat of Culture, HiperBarrio is now looking to expand its mission to bring citizen media to more of the many peripheral communities which climb up the hillside outskirts of the downtown valley. The current batch of 20 or so citizen journalists based in La Loma and Santo Domingo will continue to document the stories and histories of their local communities. But, in just a few months' time, they will hopefully be joined by new peers who will also document their local stories for a global audience.

1 comment · »»

Palestine: Gaza Under Seige

Amira Al Hussaini · 21:35

lingua → ar · es · pt

Bloggers around the region are adding their voices to an international outcry as the Gaza Strip falls into darkness. A four-day Israeli blockade on the strip has led to the closure of the territory's only power station because of the lack of fuel.

Jordan:

From Jordan, Khalida explains the situation on the ground:

Sometimes there aren’t enough words to describe what we are witnessing and what the news keep shoving down our throats every morning till we reached a point that nothing surprises us anymore, but what is happening in Gaza comes as a shock that leaves the majority of us speechless and helpless …

In a time and life that human rights are becoming a major factor in how societies are governed … in a world that the international community is judging the backward Middle East because of honor crimes, poverty, violence against women and primitive culture … the same community is standing still to watch as Gaza is being crucified and executed … it is cold and they don’t have heat … they are cut out from the rest of the world … and as well as they are dying by bullets and military attacks; they are also being killed by hunger and cold …

I choose to raise my voice to say STOP … ENOUGH … Life is not a game and just because they reside in Gaza … it does not make their lives of any less value than any other human in any part of the world …

Palestine:
Umm Khalil, from Palestine, posts links to news coverage about the crisis here. She also posts photos of the Israeli bombing of the Palestinian Interior Ministry, where a woman was killed and 46 people, who were attending a nearby wedding, were injured.

Egypt:
Hossam Al Hamalawy, from Egypt, posts an email he received from Mohammad Omar, in Palestine.

The message says:

Where to start…, what to talk about…? The crippling electricity shortages, affecting hospitals as well as civilians? The air strikes & on-going, daily bombings by the Israeli army, their indiscriminate targeting of civilians and police stations…? Israel ’s non-accidental, enforced starvation of 1.5 million people by closing off ALL borders and not allowing in even UN aid, let alone basic medicinal, food, and construction needs…?
Shortages of fuel have re-surfaced in Gaza : most of Gaza has no electricity and even more importantly, the shortage of medicine in Palestinian hospitals continues to increase, with the Ministry of Health reporting a looming humanitarian catastrophe.
Or should I begin with the bomb which just hit a wedding close to the Ministry of Interior building in Gaza City , with 15 apartment buildings within the bomb’s target range? One woman was killed and 47 others were injured –mostly children and women who had been inside their homes or playing on the street!!

Still in Egypt, Zeinobia laments Egypt's role (or lack of) in dealing with the crisis. She complains:

I will start with the bitter fact that the Egyptian role as leading country in the Arab world , as if Egypt does not care I found today that Saudi Arabia is calling for immediate urgent Arab summit in Cairo to discuss what is going in Gaza for Siege , the Saudi Arabia is the one that is calling for immediate summit , not Egypt , Egypt is the one that should call for this summit immediately , with my all respect to Saudi Arabia.

On Gaza, the blogger writes:

Now let's go to Gaza , one of the worst things ever in the problem is that Egypt is exporting natural gas to Israel for the cheapest price ever that created a loss to us where the people in Gaza are in terrible siege
Already the least thing Egypt can do is to open the borders and send immediate medical aids to the Great people of Gaza who hided our soldiers and officers in 1967 ..
People shame on the world and shame on us .
Gaza has no light or power in the middle of terrible winter. This is a conspiracy to get rid not only from Hamas but from the people of Gaza ,these people are suffering in the worst way ever.

Lebanon:

From Lebanon, Green Resistance, calls for just that.

Resistance. What does that mean? “the act or power of resisting, opposing, or withstanding” … and “the capacity of an organism to defend itself against harmful environmental agents”
Gaza is in darkness. Where is our cry? Where is our resistance?

Still in Lebanon, Ibn Bint Jbeil posts a number of paintings and cartoons to drive home the suffering in Gaza. He also writes:

Gaza, Palestine, the largest concentration camp on Earth, is today under the most brutal, inhumane, genocidal siege. May God protect and bless them.

14 comments · »»

Philippines: Early campaigning for 2010 polls

Mong Palatino · 17:44

Philippine political parties and politicians are already preparing for the 2010 presidential elections. This is disappointing since important social reform measures are sidestepped as politicians begin to concentrate on their presidential ambitions.

Philippine Politics and Elections provides a shortlist of possible presidential candidates. Journalist RG Cruz mentions the potential tandems in the 2010 polls. JP Mercado, who will be a first time voter in 2010, is already researching the background of some rumored candidates. Smoke suggests ten platforms for the top ten potential presidential candidates.

The Mt. Balatucan Monitor thinks the main choices appear to be “unpalatable.” Peter Laviña New Blog quotes a legislator who believes “the long period between now and 2010 should serve as a winnowing process to level the playing field.”

Pedestrian Observer is frustrated over the early campaigning of politicians:

“So many presidential wannabe’s jockeying or rather scrambling to position themselves this early is just pathetic…this would be another comical if not tragic chapter in the annals of dirty politics of the nation.”

Daily Musings reminds candidates over the disadvantages of early campaigning:

“While starting early may give us an idea of the candidates’ plans, it may also work against them in the sense that by the time the actual campaign period starts, their resources may already be depleted.”

Nomadicasian’s Weblog has a bleak prospect for the 2010 polls:

“It will be bloody because killings and election fraud will dominate the drama and the Philippines, as this third world country will remain in the doldrums of hunger, poverty and restlessness.”

Glenrose is wondering why no candidate has spoken of the need to modernize the election process:

“Strangely enough, out of so many aspirants who had spread open their presidential ambitions in the table like a deck of cards, not one of them — repeat, not a single soul among them as of this writing — has professed to help ensure that the next elections should be as professional as the candidates themselves, technology-driven, and consign to museum the manual counting of old (as old as the 2007 elections, though). Unless an automated presidential derby two years hence is secured, would-be candidates better drop their dizzying obsession for now and buckle down to work, to contribute even an iota of an effort to make the modern, computerized elections a reality in Philippine politics.”

Only in the Philippines explains why an endorsement from the incumbent president is a kiss of death:

“The problem with the administration is that they weren’t able to develop a strong candidate because of President Arroyo’s negative ratings. The constant issues on corruption, political killings, and bombings keep on coming with every day that passes. It’s reached a point wherein people think that being endorsed by the President is like a kiss of death.”

Schumey has a similar analysis:

“With Gloria Arroyo's popularity in the gutters and her trust rating in the sewer, she is the last person any aspirant would want to be their endorser. Her virus is far-reaching and everything or anyone she touches disintegrates into immorality.”

Uniffors has an advice for Vice President Noli de Castro. Cheftonio’s B log is supporting the chairman of the Metro Manila Development Authority. The Equalizer highlights the seven keys of leading candidate Senator Mar Roxas. Two politicians known for exemplary leadership at the local level is contemplated as a possible tandem too.

Iniibig ko ang Pilipinas appeals to overseas Filipinos:

“We need to form a party whose candidates will all be coming from the overseas Filipinos. Idealistic, vibrant, educated, technologically-savvy, full of good ideas, noble, morally upright and most of all, free from the deadly virus of graft and corruption. I'm sure we can find among the eight million Filipinos in diaspora, one thousand five hundred good men and women to run as Mayors in their respective towns, two hundred forty good men and women to run for Congress in their respective districts, Twelve good men and women to run for Senate, and one good man/woman that we can rally behind to run for President.”

Babbleboyquito criticizes the political system of the country:

“The headline of yesterday's paper was about how the political parties are already planning who they will field as presidential candidates for the 2010 elections. 2008 just started and now they're already thinking about 2010. I think that's the problem with our political system. We are perennially in election season. As soon as one election ends, politicians already start campaigning for the next one albeit discreetly. They forget about the task at hand of trying to improve the quality of living of their constituents.”

Pinoyblogero on blogging and the 2010 polls:

“Candidates for the 2010 presidential elections would start their own blogs. Campaign managers would advise presidential candidates to have their own blogs as a promotional tool for their campaigns. Candidates don’t really need to write on the blogs, they would just hire someone to do it for them.”

Hurting’s Weblog will vote for a candidate with these qualities:

“I will stick to the candidate who is young, intelligent, and highly moral. That is what we actually need. Someone who is straight and strong!”

Perspectives of a bum describes the road each candidate will pass during the campaign period:

“The road to Malacañang is a dangerous one, albeit very exciting so to speak. One might do everything to arrive there first. One might fall back along the path and never recover. One might become impoverished of wealth or of friends. It is a road surely only one wins, but a road a lot dreams of. It is the seat of power after all and power, as history tells us, can breed greed.”

Candidates should answer the questions posed by Zeamae28:

Are you willing to serve the people and our country? Or will you just run as president for your own undying political ambition?

Mayan tells voters to be more intelligent in 2010:

“When 2010 presidential election comes, let us not all be blinded by the glitz, glamour and phony advertisements and press releases of these politicians.”

Thoughts Asylum believes it is not too early for politicians to confess their political plans for 2010:

“How could a supposedly responsible senator, whom we voted to supposedly think about the nation’s future, be saying it’s too freaking early to talk about something happening in the next two years?”

6 comments · »»

Barbados: Time for change?

Nicholas Laughlin · 17:39

lingua → es

Barbadian bloggers have been among the most politically active in the Caribbean for some time now, and the general election in Barbados on 15 January triggered a major flood of commentary and analysis. The House of Assembly (established in the 17th century, soon after the island was first colonised by Britain) contains thirty seats, filled via first-past-the-post elections. Two major parties — the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) and the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) — competed for a majority. Both parties are basically centrist, with few ideological differences (so few that in 2006 the head of the DLP and sitting Leader of the Opposition crossed the floor and joined the then BLP government). The major issue in the election campaign, therefore, was whether the the country needed continuity of governance — under the BLP and Prime Minister Owen Arthur, who had governed for 14 years — or “change” and a fresh start, under the DLP and its leader, David Thompson.

The campaign was spiced with allegations of corruption against the BLP government. The popular and outspoken Barbados Free Press highlighted many of these in the days leading up to the polls — for instance, in posts on alleged illegal “commissions” on government spending and mismanagement at the state-owned company ECCI. Bajegirl at Cheese-on-bread suggested that the parties should reveal the sources of their campaign funds, and noted that party activists seemed “more desperate” than in previous campaigns:

There're allegations of wiretapping of DLP calls, DLP billboards being torn down (apparently they were erected illegally, so it's all par for the course), and even the disturbing report of death threats against UWI Lecturer Dr. Don Marshall.

Get your act together, people! No matter who wins on January 16 we still have to live on this blessed little rock.

“The electorate faces a tough decision,” said The Bajan Dream Project on election day:

The incumbent party, which has been in power for a little under fifteen years, has been the only government that many young Barbadians would have ever known. Old habits die hard and truthfully, this government has not performed too badly during its three terms insofar as employment and certain human development indicators are concerned. In addition, the ruling party ran a tough and convincing campaign that challenged Barbadians’ natural predilection for change, no doubt bolstered by an intensive media presence over the past three weeks.

On the other hand, a new and re-energized Democratic Labour Party is at its closest taste of victory. Its solid performance in opinion polls and its mainstreaming of accountability, transparency, poverty eradication and democracy struck a chord with a number of undecided voters, causing this election to be inevitably too close to call.

But, although the polls suggested a close race, the results on election night were decisive: the DLP won 20 of the 30 seats. “There will be a new government leading Barbados, and the new Prime Minister will be David Thompson,” wrote Living in Barbados, who also reported that:

While PM Owen Arthur and deputy PM Mia Mottley safely held their seats, the 12% swing to the Dems led to a slew of defeats, including for nine ministers…. Some are contending that the late public push by the Dems' support of introducing integrity legislation was a cause of a late surge in support.

Barbados Free Press agreed that the proposed integrity legislation was a major factor:

Public apathy and cynicism all changed on January 3rd when David Thompson announced that the DLP would introduce Integrity Legislation and Freedom of Information laws within 100 days of forming a new government…. Would the DLP have declared a commitment to Integrity Legislation without the pressure from Barbados blogs?

The Bajan Dream Project, on the other hand, suggested that economic factors may have had much to do with the BLP's defeat:

For the past term Barbadians saw skyrocketing food costs next to severe overruns on capital works projects; closure of small, black enterprises next to competition from monopolistic conglomerates; exclusion from referenda on unpopular and unwanted policies such as the CSME next to a government that resisted criticism; dwindling hopes for housing next to large-scale land sale for multimillion-dollar condominium developments and the inefficiency of poverty relief next to elected officials who appeared to be far-removed from the plight.

And Amit at Pull! Push! suggested that “the DLP will come under intense scrutiny”:

especially with regards to economical performance issues. The D's asked the people for a change and they have said ‘yes' (and very loudly based on the voting results). Any failures to deliver will, I think, result in a ‘I told you so', kind of display from the BLP, and might make some people second guess themselves about putting the DLP in power.

On 16 January, as David Thompson was sworn in as prime minister, Caribbean Lionesse wondered what policy changes the new government might introduce, and speculated about the political future of Owen Arthur:

There have been signs and rumours of tension in the BLP camp in recent times…. Clearly, since the Arthurian leadership aura did not extend to the rest of the party to give them victory this time (as it did in 2003 and DEFINITELY in 1999) he is no longer useful to the party.

She suggested that former deputy PM Mia Mottley might soon find herself at the head of the BLP. And, in fact, as Barbados Underground reported, on 19 January Arthur announced he would step aside, making Mottley Barbados's first female Leader of the Opposition.

The following day, Prime Minister Thompson named the members of his new Cabinet. Bloggers had a lot to say about that too. “Only two female Ministers,” noted Caribbean Lionesse, “coming after Thompson said he wanted a stronger role for women in his new government.” Living in Barbados added: “The elections saw very few women candidates nominated by either party.”

The PM could have done something to redress that balance by naming some more women in his Cabinet, assuming that the talented individuals are there and willing to serve. If many women are not in the Cabinet, then he may need to do something very visible to show that women have an important decision making role in his government.

Meanwhile, Jdid at Doan Mind Me offered a highly original explanation for Owen Arthur's defeat. No Barbadian prime minister, he said, has ever been elected while married to a Barbadian spouse:

is it coincidence that Owen Arthur won three elections when he was married to a Jamaican but now that he divorced recently and married a Bajan lady he lost so badly? Hmmm. Wunnah can decide for wunnah selves but I think the facts are clear. Owen loss this election from the time he divorce the Jamaican lady and marry a Bajan. I feel he should have gone Guyanese but that is juss me.

1 comment · »»

Mexico: Drug-Related Violence in Tijuana

Eduardo Avila · 16:12

lingua → pt

Violence between Mexican authorities and members of powerful drug cartels has been erupting all across the country leaving scores dead and a society that often feels helpless. The Mexican government has attempted to curb this escalation in violence by dispatching federal police and soldiers to the areas most affected. Police, the drug cartels and innocent victims are on the front lines of this battlefield. Even popular Mexican musicians are being caught up in the fray. Some Mexican bloggers are saddened by this brutal violence, and are often left wondering how to deal with its effects. Franc Contreras, a correspondent for Al-Jazeera posts his report on his personal blog Mexico Monitor.

On January 17, the violence continued in Tijuana, located near the U.S.-Mexico border, where 6 kidnapped victims and 1 suspect were killed. The blog Zacatekas [es] posts two videos from Mexican television with dramatic footage of the shoot-outs. The video also shows how children had to be evacuated. This violence was preceded by other incidents earlier in the week where several policemen were shot dead. Some news reports indicate that the members of the drug cartel were using rocket-propelled grenades and heavy machine guns.

Daniel Hernandez, a writer living in Mexico City, writes on his blog Intersections about the out-of-control violence in the country, but how it is affecting the border town especially hard.

Narco violence is climaxing in Mexico, in nearly every region of the country and across just about every demographic, children and popular musicians included. An addiction epidemic is also becoming evident. The news is grim, day after day. El Universal reported Saturday that in the previous 24 hours 15 more people had been killed in narco-related violence in five states. And this morning, the Tijuana daily Frontera is reporting briefly that the delegational police chief in La Mesa was kidnapped on Saturday night.

Rafa Saavedra of Cross Fader Network [es] and a resident of Tijuana published his answers to a questionnaire sent to him by El Universal newspaper for use in a story. His answers were not published in the daily, but Saavedra provides his thoughts on the violence.

Por una parte, es devastador porque este hecho nos toca de alguna forma a todos. Hasta quienes somos unos malditos optimistas y creemos en el esfuerzo de las autoridades, vimos live and direct como nuestro sueño de seguridad corría aprisa, asustado, con las manos en la cabeza, tapándose los oídos, sin saber ni tener idea de lo que está pasando. Justo como esos niños que vimos como loop en la televisión. Creo, el tiempo pondrá las cosas en su justa dimensión, que estamos ante otro parteaguas en la historia reciente de Tijuana.

On one hand, it is devastating because this event affects all of us in one way or another. Even those of us who are damned optimists and believe in the effort of the authorities, are watching all of this live and direct. We see how our dream of security is running hurriedly, scared, with our hands on our heads, covering our ears, and without having any idea what is happening. Just as those children that we saw over and over on television. I think that with time things will be put in its fair perspective and that we are facing a watershed in the recent memory of Tijuana.

Hernandez continues about the effects of the violence on the region.

Sucks for Tijuana, a city trying to enjoy its cultural and culinary renaissance. Now it seems my ancestral tierra is being defeated in spirit by a wild and bloody narco war — between the government and the cartels, between the cartels themselves — that claims many more victims than it does any readable successes or setbacks.

Finally, the blogger at Borderlandia is not very optimistic about the state of affairs in Mexico in regards to the narco-violence and writes, “The country is falling apart, little by little. the cities are sinking. The institutional leftovers are burning out.”

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Zambia: Mwanawasa - King or President?

Brenda Zulu · 14:06

lingua → es

2008 starts with bloggers in Zambia reading local newspapers and making a few comments on the stories. Mwankole asks is
Mwanawasa - King or President?:

Mwanawasa’s recent statement regarding Prof Clive Chirwa’s intention, to contest the MMD presidency are a sad reflection of the infancy of democratic governance in Zambia. “Now, let me give a timely warning to people who have been outside. They have been outside living in a foreign environment. They come back to the country and think that we are all foolish; we are all incapable of providing leadership and now they are God sent people,” Mwanawasa.
Does a Zambian citizen lose the rights and privileges of the constitution just because one lives abroad for a period of time?

Might this, also be a symptom of a culture or perhaps politicians, still evolving from the traditional administrative structure of chiefs to the constitutional structure of political leadership elected by universal suffrage.
Of course, there is nothing wrong with an incumbent President endorsing a preferred successor, however in the Zambian scenario, it is the personal ownership of the Presidency that Mwanawasa and Chiluba before seem to claim and enforce that sparks grave concern.
This suck up to me, kneel before me, acknowledge my slightest gesture or movement and by all means ask my permission mentality, is what I as Prof Chirwa find unpalatable.
This mindset sadly, also underscores the reason Mwanawasa and others before him seem to play games with the constitution review process.

Zambia Gamefields Investment Journal also observes that Zambia Wildlife Authority official, Andrew Nkhoma, continues to sabotage community development:

A report just received from the Chairman of the Luembe Community Resource Board in the Luangwa Valley, is that the Nyimba ZAWA Community Liaison Officer, Andrew Nkhoma - who recently was party to the illegal arrest and abuse of a foreign hunting client - see http://zambiasafarihunting.blogspot.com and his seriously ill professional hunter, used undue pressure on Board members at a meeting on 28 December (convened to workshop finance management) and obtained a statement of condemnation of Mbeza Safaris operations and its delivery of community assistance. The Chairman has written a letter of objection to ZAWA.

Mbeza, which is funded by its holding company, Gamefields, the latter investing to the tune of $1.6 million in Mbeza and in the Luembe Conservancy Trust since 2003, was bought to assist in the development of the area. However, officials such as Nkhoma, doubtless upset by our revelations on the Nyimba ZAWA office's operation of a bushmeat and ivory poaching operation, would wish to have us removed, joining those with similar sentiments at ZAWA HQ and in some political circles. The only reason that Gamefields and Mbeza continue investing in Zambia is precisely because we have overwhelming community support. Should that not be forthcoming, we would be the first to accept that we were not wanted, and pack our bags. Mr Nkhoma has not heard the last of this.

ICT Journalist writes, “Wi-Fi - Today’s Pioneering Broadband Wireless Technology“:

All broadband technologies can lead to enormous economic and social benefits for peoples of every development level. The key to success is a combination of favorable regulatory, economic and development strategies that support broadband deployment.
Zambia now offers the ubiquitous ability of a wireless communications network that has been always been thought to be the main advantage of a mobile communications network. Sub-Saharan mobile communications networks have lately grown in capacity, robustness and coverage. What determines the choice of a network now is the value added services and applications that it is able to offer. Most networks have attained their optimum speed in the provision of data services and in GSM, which most, if not all sub-Saharan networks are offering – the maximum data rates can only get up to 9600 kbps. This has to be in a good coverage area.

Issues of matters also adds his voice on trouble torn Kenya in the post elections. He observes:

Today Kenya is facing two distinct destinies. One is the possibility of someone with Kenyan blood in his veins on the brink of becoming president of the world’s only super power, the US. The other real possibility is that the country of Barack Obama’s paternal ancestors is on the brink of breaking up.
The reason why today Obama faces the possibility of making history as the first black American president is because of the democracy that has evolved over the last 300 years in that country. On the contrary, Kenya risks breaking up because of the failure of democracy in that country in the less than 50 years it has been independent.
On at least two occasions Obama has been to Kenya to visit his paternal grandmother who is still alive, on one occasion he was an anonymous traveller whose suitcases even ended up in South Africa, but on the other occasion as a US senator, everything went like clock-work. Even trees in the village he went to were given a coat of paint.
There is a possibility still that when he will be travelling on Airforce One as the most powerful man in the world, Obama may want to go back to that Kenyan village to eat nyamachoma and kachumbari prepared not by White House chefs, but by his grandmother, drink not triple filtered water from White House, but water from the stream near his grandmother’s village.

2 comments · »»

Egypt: Secrets on Video

Juliana Rincón Parra · 09:38

lingua → ar · bn · es

Mates by LondonBrad

Mates by LondonBrad

From Egypt, videos which expose secrets and ugly truths. One of them, Hideous, attempts to shock the rich into action by contrasting their carefree lives with the poverty on the streets. Also, To H.E Mrs Suzanne Mubarak, a song and video respectfully dedicated to Egypt´s First Lady, reporting about a story of child abuse, police brutality and misery.

Walking daily down the streets in Egypt, Nader G. EL-Attar had been noticing for a while the relationship between the rich in his country and the poor, and most importantly the way these polarized classes interact with one another. He talked about it with a friend, Rienne Gamal, and together they came up with the video “Hideous” which he posted on his facebook page, where he also has other videos. On Hideous, a video you can view by clicking here, Nader G. EL-Attar and Rienne Gamal contrast two different lifestyles. On email, I asked what him what his motivation was to make this video. Nader wrote back:

…so what's found now is a group of rich people,whom wealth totally controls them…and poor people looking at those rich people and wondering, “why are they leaving us alone…what have we done…?” What is astonishing now is how upper class people now look at those people…the majority think that it's their fault that they are poor, as they are doing nothing except asking people for money…and [they are] not working, forgetting the fact that in this greedy, money seeking, globalised, capitalist world, there is no place for those people to work…where could an illiterate, poor guy work nowadays???

In the movie, colorful shots of shiny malls, restaurants, graduations, parties, luxurious buildings and beaches are followed by black and white images of people sleeping on the streets, children working and beggars sitting on corners, ignored by those passing by. The movie itself asks a question at the end: whether the “morally offensive” images are the ones at the beginning, showing the beautiful life, or whether it´s the images in the second half. Nader questions the role of the government and their blind eye to this problem:

…also I had this shot of 3 children pushing a garbage can…and at that point I wondered, where is our First lady??? with all her talks about children on the streets!!!!

Egyptian blogger and artist Ahmad Sherif also has something to say to the first lady. He decided to do so through a song and video he posted on YouTube, titled To To H.E Mrs Suzanne Mubarak/إلي سيدتي سوزان مبارك He writes on the video´s description:

A true story about Egyptian Police Brutality, child abuse and misery. This song is dedicated to “H.E Mrs Suzanne Mubarak, Egypt's First Lady. With all due respect.

English Translation of lyrics: “Mrs Mubarak, I appeared with you on television. I was a tiny, happy and turbulent kid. You whispered to my ear some sweet words… those were the golden days of ‘Wafa and Amal' (note: a Children Protection Program represented by Egypt's first lady). Don't be angry about this song. I believe, Mrs Mubarak, it carries words of Freedom. Once upon a time, there was a child called Shaaban. His mother had past away, his father was a lazy man and his two elder brothers were drug dealers in a gang. I saw him with my bare eyes sucking the remains of a pomegranate (note: egyptian fruit) that a stray dog had grabbed in a pile of garbage. My First Lady: how many millions of Shaabans live in Egypt? I have never seen him by your side, on television. My First Lady, how many millions of Shaabans are picked up by police officers and abused in the police stations of his excellency your husband? Chorus, in several language: I want to be a child, I want to eat, I want a school, I want friends, I want to be loved, I don't want to be afraid, I want to play, I want a house etc.”

Ahmad Sherif has many other videos on his YouTube channel, many of them intended to be spread through cellphones. On Stop sarcasm about Niqab, start dialog, the video below, he speaks about the confusion in UK raised by women wearing Niqab, a veil which covers the face and entire body, and how it really should be a matter of choice. On Free Love : so what ? Mubarak Egyptالحب : وماله ؟ / مبارك he wishes for Egypt to accept pre-marital sex as a way to decrease the incidence of sexual assault and rape in Cairo. Following, Stop sarcasm about Niqab.

Another video you might watch for further insight into the sometimes secret lives of women in modern Egypt, please follow this link to see To Feel Cold, a Creative Commons 51 minute long documentary by Hala Lotfy.

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January 21st, 2008