Archive for
January 25th, 2008
Stories
Guatemala: Esquipulas and Rabinal, Two Symbols of Peace
· 23:51
Photo by Renata Ávila of Cofradía en Rabinal
Two villages in Guatemala celebrate very important festivities in January. These feasts are “Esquipulas” and “Rabinal”. Esquipulas has become a transnational celebration and attracts devoted pilgrims that arrive from other countries in order to venerate an image of a Black Christ. This was also the symbol of the Peace Negotiations througout Central America. The image of Christ in Esquipulas is a special one as Hecho en Guatemala [es] explained on his post Esquipulas, city of faith
El referido Cristo, es una imagen de Jesús Crucificado, a la cual, millones de devotos de Centroamérica, le rinden culto desde hace más de 400 años en el templo católico que lleva el nombre de este pintoresco poblado. El adjetivo de “negro”, se debe a que con el paso de los años (según muchos, al humo de las velas), el color de la madera en que fue tallado el cristo, se fue tornando oscura, hasta adquirir el color negro de la actualidad.
It is an image of a cruxified Christ, which millions of Central Americans have been devoted to for the last 400 years, and is located in the church with the name of the picturesque town. The adjective “black” is due to color of the wood of the sculpture turned dark (according to many, due to the smoke from the candles), and nowadays it is black.
Esquipulas is located in the department of Chiquimula, but the faith and devotion for the image crosses borders, according to El nuevo blog de Esquipulas [es]:
La devoción por el Señor de Esquipulas ha trascendido fronteras hasta hacer de Esquipulas la ‘Capital Centroamericana de la Fe’ y también ha sido adoptada por católicos latinoamericanos residentes en Estados Unidos. Esta tradicional celebración del ‘Señor de Esquipulas’ se viene llevando a cabo anualmente en los diferentes condados de la ciudad de Nueva York y desde hace tres años se celebra en la Catedral de San Patricio, gracias a las gestiones de la señora Rosa María Mérida de Mora, cónsul general de Guatemala en Nueva York y la Hermandad Arquidiocesana del Señor de Esquipulas NY. También se festeja en Nueva Jersey y finalmente la solemne celebración culmina en el condado de Brooklyn.
Devotion for the Christ of Esquipulas has crossed borders and has made Esquipulas the Central American Capital of Faith, and it has also been an image that has been adopted by Latin American Catholics living in US. The traditional celebration of the Christ of Esquipulas has taken place every year in the different counties of New York, and it began to be celebrated in St. Patrick's Cathedral three years ago, thanks to the actions of María Mérida de Mora, general consul of Guatemala in New York and the Archdiocese Brotherhood of the Christ of Esquipulas in NY. It is also celebrated in New Jersey and the celebration concludes in Brooklyn.
El Zacapaneco [es] tells what an old lady of his town thinks about the festivity:
Nos Cuenta Doña Clemencia de 85 años de edad, junto a su familia, nos dice que ella tiene aproximadamente 20 años de estar viajando a este Municipio de Esquipulas en estas fechas para darle gracias a Dios por permitirle terminar un año mas, y empezar uno nuevo, a la vez deja su ofrenda en Río de los deseos, para pedirle un deseo a Dios y que se lo haga realidad.
Mrs. Clemencia, who is 85 years old, tells us that she has been visiting Esquipulas with her family for approximately 20 years to thank God for giving her another year of life and for beginning a new one. She places her offering in the “river of wishes” to pray to God for her wish that she asks might come true.
The other town celebrating a Saint with huge expressions of folklore, with a magic mixure of indigenous, Spanish and popular expressions of faith is Rabinal. Every January, Rabinal celebrates San Pablo with a festival of “Cofradías”. Rabinal is a place that suffered a lot during the armed conflict, and many of the traditions were not practiced during this difficult time, where many masacres took place there.
To keep the memory alive, James on his blog Mi Mundo tells the details of the conflict and the remarkable efforts of the people to keep this memory alive, as the survivors built a museum to remember:
Besides helping maintain alive the historical memory of the still recent atrocities, the museum also provides a number of other services such as a library, computer lab, and a specific exhibit dedicated to the local Maya Achi culture and its rich traditions.
But winds have changed. Now they are celebrating again. Blogger Con sabor a naranja mi dulce Rabinal [es] (with a taste of orange, my sweet Rabinal) said that thanks to donations they were able to buy the things required for the festivities. On his post La Nación Rabinal, he describes the syncretism of the celebration:
Hoy por hoy la celebración de la feria y fiesta titular en honor a San Pablo Apóstol, se realiza el ritual en honor al AJAW, Corazón del Cielo y Corazón de la Tierra. (uk`ux kaj jay uk`ux ulew). Lo esencial de nuestra coexistencia sobre la Madre Tierra es la armonía y hermandad con el prójimo y la naturaleza misma de la cual somos parte importante para su protección y conservación…
Nowadays we celebrate the festival in honor to San Pablo, and we practice the ritual in honor to the Ajaw, the heart of the heavens and the heart of the earth. The essence of our coexistence with the Mother Earth is the harmony and brotherhood with others, and with the nature itself. We are part of such nature, an important one for its conservation and protection … “
There are several cofradías, groups of dancers, mostly indigenous, wearing masks and honoring Catholic saints. San Sebastian is one of the “Cofradías”, with its own Blog [es], where they uploaded the program of activities, the other cofradía with a blog is San Pablo [es], where they even published a web magazine about the festivities.
The city where the cruelest violence of war and the city where peace negotiations started, both have traditions that survived with the passage of time. They bring people together and brings paganism and Catholicism together, indigenous dances with prayers, and a dark color on a beautiful image of Christ. Above all, they bring the feeling of hope and happiness which involves colors painting the Guatemalan sky.
1 comment · »»Tunisia: An Introduction
· 23:43
The “Tunisphere” is a group a passionate Internet users and bloggers even if their number is not as high as in neighbouring countries like Morocco. In this post, I will introduce you to some of them.
One of the pioneers of the Tunisphere is Hou-Hou, who is based in Canada and writes posts either in French or in English. His topics are general and focus on technology or social issues in Tunisia and Canada. He is also the brain behind the first and most famous Tunisian aggregator - tn-blogs.
Another leading blogger is Adibs, who is a veterinarian. His blog though tackles different social issues and he belongs to the first wave of Tunisian bloggers. He writes in French.
Subzero Blue is the former GVO author from Tunisia and he only posts in English and Arabic. He initiated the idea of Tunisian Blogger meetup and now he advocates micro-blogging via twitter too.
Tarek Cheniti, who is a PhD student in Oxford, UK, writes a lot of his posts in English, French and Arabic. In the latter, he uses the Tunisian dialect instead Standard Arabic. He also advocates the use of the Tunisian dialect as an official language instead of Standard Arabic. He covers a lot of political (Governance aspect), economical and social issues in his posts.
One of the good examples of the Tunisian blogosphere's diversity is Diana Magazine, which is the blog of a law student, who writes in Arabic, English and French. He is really interested in the political situation in Lebanon and the death of Diana, Princess of Wales!
Yosra, is another active blogger, specialising in writing about marketing and online media. She also contributes to the first newspaper supplement about Tunisian blogs every week and was responsible for the Tunisia Blog Award 2007. Another blogger interested in online media and web2.0 is Mehdi Lemloum, whose has a personal blog with emphasis on marketing, public relations and Tunisian soccer.
Since last year, the number of blogs in the Tunisian dialect and Arabic have been increasing. BTB is a famous blogger who writes a lot in the Tunisian dialect in an ironic way, while Khil we lil, who posts in French and the Tunisian dialect, writes a lot about cultural aspects and the southern region of Tunisia.
Meanwhile, Boudourou is a common initiative led by some bloggers who criticize Tunisia's traditional media and how media process the information in their Arabic posts.
But it is not always quiet on the Tunisphere. Some blogs raise a lot of controversy when they first appear. Among those, is Kifi, whose addition to the Tunisian aggregator created a stir, because of the clear sexual orientation of its author. Kifi means “similar to me” in the Tunisian dialect. Having said this, it isn't the first blog administered by a gay blogger. The first is Mon enfer. Both bloggers post in French.
1 comment · »»Bahrain: Save the Patients
· 23:06
A doctor by profession, Bahraini in Alaska is appalled with the inhumane manner in which certain patients are dealt with at the main government hospital in Bahrain.
Here is his story:
فقبل عدة أشهر قال طبيب طوارئ لزوجة مريض بالسكلر ردا على توسلها له بادخاله المستشفى لسوء حالته ” هاذا مو هوتيل مال أبوك !!!” لتاخده مضطرة لمستشفى خاص الذي بدوره أعاده للسلمانية لسؤ حالته ومن ثم للعناية المركزة حيث انتقل الى رحمة الله.
Yemen blocks independent news websites
· 22:38
Numerous Yemeni websites have been blocked recently by government-controlled ISPs. Among them is the popular YemenPortal (English version of the site here), Yemen’s first multi-source news crawler and search engine, which extracts headlines from news sites that are being blocked by the authorities. YemenPortal is inviting Yemeni internet users to access the website through a mirror they build at yemen.arabiaportal.net.
According to Reporters Without Borders access to at least seven other Yemeni websites have been blocked since October:
Access to YemenPortal from within Yemen was blocked two days after Prime Minister Ali Mohammed Mujawar and other government officials accused the press on 17 January of “jeopardising the country’s national interest” and “promoting incitement to secession.”
In May of the last year, Yemen’s Ministry of Telecommunications blocked access to two opposition news websites (www.al-shoura.net and www.aleshteraki.net) because they reported on the humanitarian situation and the fighting between the army and Shia rebels in the northern province of Sa’ada.
In this interview I speak with YemenPortal.net administrator Walid Al-Saqaf, who talks about the threats to the freedom of online expression in his country:
Sami: what kind of websites that are being blocked in Yemen and how do you explain the recent move by Yemeni government-controlled ISP's to ban your website and others?
Walid: I believe RSF made an excellent and thoughtful assessment in their release when they said the regime is suffering from a number of setbacks and challenges and decided to target the media instead of resolving them. Indeed, news websites have started to gain popularity and influence public opinion more than any other time in the past. YouTube videos of the ruthless attacks by security forces against protesters in Aden were posted online in YemenPortal.net and news, views and discussions on the separatist movement in the south along with the rebel war in the north have all had strong influences on the local press, which are increasingly picking up and rerunning stories and news from online media sources.
In other words, the government is fearful of new media's influence on public opinion and would like to suppress it, just as it did for broadcast and print media through monopoly and licensing restrictions.
Sami: Who is responsible for the block? Was it a governmental decision to bar access to YemenPortal?
Walid: It is definitely the government, but it is not clear to me which part of it. I heard from reliable sources that it is the national security apparatus that prompted this ban. This also came after harsh comments by the Minister of Information (as reported in the above RSF release). But it is 100% clear that the government was the one behind the ban.
Sami: How would you assess the general filtering situation in Yemen?
Walid: One word: ‘alarming'. This is because we are supposed to be in a democratic country where freedom of the press and expression are guaranteed in the constitution. This is a serious blow to all the pledges the regime gave to the public and the world. It is particularly alarming to see that the government is careless about complaints from international advocacy groups and organizations in the face of such oppression. The more the world criticizes the regime, the more it insists on it, noting that it is a ‘domestic' issue that other nations or organizations should not interfere in. The censorship of pornographic websites has been tolerated by the society, but the government's resorting to censorship of websites merely for news and opinion marks a dangerous tendency towards dictatorship.
Sami: What has been the response of Yemeni Internet users to the the ban?
Walid: The response was positive to a very large extent. I received solidarity messages and hundreds of requests for membership. Readers are expecting the alternative domain (yemen.arabiaportal.net) to be blocked any time, so they would like to stay in touch and learn the second alternative domain that we will use if/when the first alternative domain is blocked.
There are however certain elements on the net that seem to support blocking websites. This is a minority and in my own opinion, they are either misguided or actually elements paid for by the authorities to give the impression that readers want this ban to ‘protect national interests' and other rubbish.
What I would like to point out here is that the nature of YemenPortal.net as an umbrella and source of information on thousand+ sources makes banning it equivalent to banning information coming from all those sources. The search engine had already tracked more than 200,000 items and is growing rapidly. It has an English section as well and strives to cover the widest array of sources on Yemen as possible. It started in Yemen but was planned to extend to the Arab world through the arabiaportal.net project. But this ban held us back.
The aim is to liberate people from restrictions on what they can see and read. In a solidarity meeting with more than a couple dozen news website managers and workers in Sana'a on Jan 23, a decision was taken to fight this ban by applying new technologies and techniques to allow blocked websites to have a prominent location on the front page of YemenPortal.net and renew the website's DNS whenever one is blocked. This way we hope to neutralize the impact of censorship because it is virtually impossible for the government to keep on blocking each and every website that has a link to the dynamic DNS that will be created.
2 comments · »»Nari Jibon: Bloggers discussing education, emancipation and poverty
· 20:15
The last time we featured Nari Jibon, the women bloggers, among other things, discussed the problems of dowry of Bangladesh. David informed earlier this month about Nari Jibon's video training.
More from the Nari Jibon Blog Bangladesh from our view:
Trainer Shawn of The Uncultured Project trained the students/staff (bloggers) how to take good picture and video. He showed the rules of taking good picture and video. He trained the staff on podcast interview.
“In the same ceremony four students were selected and awarded as best bloggers (Two from English and two from Bangla blog). They are Zannat Ara Amzad (The street beggar), Sherin Sultana (An anecdote of my friend, Mitu), Sufia Khatun (Protivar Bilupti- Abolished talent) and Nafisa Mobassara (Mayer dadur biye—Marriage of mother’s grand father).”
Nurunnahar Islam Munni writes about the importance of education for women in order to change their lives for the better:
“Educated girls can lead her life with a good planning. She knows how to enjoy life and keep a happy family. If girls become educated they will be conscious about their rights.
An educated mother can maintain her family and teach her children properly & give proper guidance. She can be very conscious about her children’s health and nutrition. An educated girl can do job and can help her family financially, better than an uneducated girl.
Therefore it is told that ‘Give me an educated mother, I will give you an educated nation'.”
Sherin Sultana lives in the capital, Dhaka, for livelihood but she misses her village. She describes a recent holiday she spent in her village home:
I passed my time by gossiping and making fun with my pet dog Tuktuki, my pet cat Monti and Ponti (Monti’s child). The water, winds, trees even every bit of dust, every thing of my native place seem very close to me.
I also passed my time by singing songs, gossiping with my family members & with my friends and in every evening we went for a walk at the riverside.
She faces the reality:
In the busy Dhaka city now I also became a very busy person like city’s people. I lost all of my wants, joys and laughs for being busy and having pressure of real life.
Narijibon staff Golam Rabbany Sujon compiles some of the bloggers experiences about the problems women face in Bangladesh. Some excerpts:
I am Afroza, age 16, when I used to study in the school my mummy used to give me company to go and return from my school everyday. Now I study in a girls’ college but still now my mummy gives me company almost everyday when I go outside of our house. My elder brother is only three years senior than me but he went to the school and college alone. How independent my brother is!
Read the rest here.
Mahfuza Parul describes her day out to her friend's village in Boalkandi.
Helen Sarkar posts [bn] a touching story on the Bangla-language blog Amader Kotha about the thoughts she had when her favorite jacket was stolen by flood refugees:
আমার এত পছন্দের একটা জিনিস চুরি হয়ে গেল—এই দুঃখে আমার পাথর হওয়ার উচিৎ ছিল। কিন্তু আমি একবার চিৎকারও দেইনি তার বদলে যে নিয়েছে তার জন্য সহানভুতি এলো। মনেমনে ভাবলাম যে নিয়েছে সেতো আসোলেই চোর না, ওকে চুরি করতে হয়েছে একমুঠো ভাতের জন্য।
আমার কেন যেন মনে হয়- আসলে না আমরা যারা ভালো আছি তারাই সমাজের এক শ্রেণীর মানুষকে চোর হবার শিক্ষা দেই, ওদেরকে পরোক্ষভাবে বোঝানোর চেষ্টাকরি, সুন্দর ভাবে বেঁচে থাকার কোন অধিকার তোমাদের নেই। তোমরা নষ্টহয়ে যাবে, চুরি করবে, ছন্নছাড়া জীবন তোমাদের জন্য।
It occurs to me sometimes that we who are well off let a class of people be thieves. We try to tell them indirectly that they have no right to live a decent life. You go astray, be thieves and this turbulent life is for yours only.
আমরা নাকি সভ্য জগতের মানুষ- আমরা ছোট সাহায্যের প্যাকেট দিয়ে কিনতে চাই অসহায় ক্ষুধার্ত কোন শিশুর কান্নাকে, বৃদ্ধের আর্তনাদকে সহায়, সম্বলহীন মানুষগুলোকে। কিন্তু প্রতিকার করতে চাই না- আর যেন বন্যা না এসে দুকুল ভাসিয়ে যেন আমাদের সম্পদকে নষ্ট না করে দেয়, না-ভাসিয়ে দেয় আমাদের অশ্রুর সাগরে।
Farjana Akter shares a story about her first time visit to the Cox's Bazar beach. She says:
The scenery of the sun set in the Bay-of-Bengal is unforgettable.
Shanta Islam shares with us an interesting story of her school final exam. Nina Sultana Mim portrays one Pitha (cake) seller. Nilufa Akter shares [bn] a fairy tale she heard in her child hood.
Nafisa Mubassir tells of [bn] the story of the marriage of her mother's grandfather. About a century ago child marriage was prevalent and the bride was only 5 while the groom was 15. At that age they did not know what marriage was all about and it was more like the marriage of the dolls.
In contrast Salma Siddiqa Mumu writes that the mentality of women of Bangladesh has changed. More and more women are coming out of the home where they were merely housewives and are participating in various activities to be financially independent now.
More blogger profiles were posted on the Nari Jibon blog. The bloggers portrayed were Asma Akter, Linda Pandey, Sharmin Chowdhury Shikha, Jannatul Fardouse Nargis, Kamrun Nahar, Farjana Huque, Shifat Binte Quaium & Bushrat Binte Quaium [bn], Laili Jahan Meghla, Ayesha Parvin [bn].
We hope to show you some videos and podcasts of the participants in our next roundup on Nari Jibon. If you would like to help support Nari Jibon, you can download a PDF of the 2008 Nari Jibon Calendar and make a donation (suggested $10) via Give2Asia.
2 comments · »»Lebanon: Car Bomb Targets Counter-Terrorism Captain
· 18:03
Yet another terrorist attack targeted Lebanon leaving behind deaths and destruction. Today, at 10am local time, a car bomb killed Lebanon’s active counter–terrorism police officer, Captain Wissam Eid and three others. The explosion along the Hazmieh highway, just on the outskirts of Beirut, also wounded 38 other persons. Following are some of Lebanese bloggers’ reactions to the incident:
These bloggers posted photos from the site of the explosion:
Friday Lunch Club, who also has links to new sources. Bilad ash-Sham has two posts with photos here and here.
These bloggers have updates and reflections on the explosion:
Eliedh and Independence 05 both posted updates.
Harryzzz was at the scene 40 minutes after the explosion and reported what he saw:
I've just come back from the place where a bomb exploded, on Friday morning. Pretty messy. According to officials 6 dead, although I only arrived at the scene around 40 minutes after the attack took place and all victims were already taken away by ambulances. Due to an enormous traffic mess, I could not reach the place quicker.
Blacksmiths of Lebanon posted a video showing live footage of the explosion broadcast by a local TV station.
The Human Province reacted to those who consider the explosions to be messages:
Everyone always speaks of a “message” that's being relayed by this bomb or that. Perhaps I'm just daft, but I don't know what these messages are, to whom they're addressed or from whom they're postmarked. It's like playing the telephone game (téléphone cassé, if you're from Lebanon) where a message gets sent down a chain of whispering kids until it's unintelligible at the end. The only difference is that instead of whispers and kids, it's car bombs and mangled corpses.
Beirut Spring wrote a post asking: “Who killed captain Wissam Eid?”
0 comments · »»Japan: Videotape from 1995 Monju reactor leak 
· 16:49
The infamous Monju fast-breeder reactor leak of 1995, an accident that long ago earned itself a place in the history of nuclear power in Japan, has returned one more time to haunt government and industry officials with images they had hoped they would never see again.
Named after the Buddhist divinity of wisdom, Monju, located in Japan's Fukui prefecture, is Japan's only fast-breeder reactor. Unlike conventional reactors, fast-breeder reactors, which “breed” plutonium, use sodium rather than water as a coolant. This type of coolant creates a potentially hazardous situation as sodium is highly corrosive and reacts violently with both water and air.
On December 8th, 1995, 700 kg of molten sodium leaked from the secondary cooling circuit of the Monju reactor, resulting in a fire that made headlines across the country. Although the accident itself did not result in a radiation leak, many argue that the sodium spill itself came very close to detonating Monju, a catastrophe which would have spilled plutonium into the environment.
Following the fire, officials at the government-owned Power Reactor and Nuclear Fuel Development Corporation (PNC), operators of Monju, first played down the extent of damage at the reactor and denied the existence of a videotape showing the sodium spill. Later, they released still shots only, showing things like intact pipes and clean floors and claiming that there had only been “a minor leakage in the secondary sodium loop [that had] caused some fumes”. While short videos were released, these were edited to hide the full extent of the damage. Further complicating the story, the deputy general manager of the general affairs department at the PNC, Shigeo Nishimura, 49, jumped to his death the day after a news conference where he and other officials revealed the extent of the cover-up.
Starting from September of last year, Nishimura's family brought the story back to light in a trial against the PNC at Japan's High Court. It is in this context that a never-before-seen video (the so-called “2 o'clock video”), described in a 1996 New York Times article as “show[ing] men in silver space suits exploring the room in which sodium compounds hung from the air ducts like icicles”, has finally come out, released on YouTube by a group called News for the People in Japan (NPJ) and also posted by blogger tokyodo-2005 at his blog. Japanese subtitles have been translated to English and posted at dotSUB, as well as embedded in this article below.
The opening lines in the video provide some background:
「動燃が隠したもんじゅナトリウム漏れ事故直後の映像 いわゆる2時ビデオ」
もんじゅナトリウム漏れ事故の直後動燃は職員を現場に入れナトリウム漏れの映像を撮影していた。
しかし、そのあまりの生々しさに動燃はこれを隠した。
動燃は隠した理由は「価値がないから」と説明した。
Just after the accident, the PNC sent employees to the site to film the leak.
However, due to the graphic nature of the footage, the PNC hid it.
The PNC explained that they hid it because “it has no value”.
あなたの目でなぜ動燃がこのビデオを隠したのか、判断して欲しい。
このビデオがもんじゅ（福井県）に隠されただけでなく、本社にもコピーが持ち込まれて隠されていたことが後に発覚した。
その釈明会見で嘘を発表することになった職員は会見直後自殺した。
彼を自殺に追いやったのは何だったのか…。そのことも考えてほしい。
This video was not only hidden at Monju (Fukui Prefecture), it was also discovered later that there was another copy hidden at the head office.
An employee who had to lie at the press conference committed suicide right afterwards.
What was it that drove him to commit suicide… Think about this.
![Snapshot from Monju leak video](http://blogimg.goo.ne.jp/user_image/08/b5/5fa1de1cc4fb88b7a4d1421dd2cf4608.jpg")
Snapshot from video showing pile of sodium under the leak.
In his blog entry, tokyodo-2005 goes into more detail about the video:
先日、この訴訟の口頭弁論が行われたが、西村さん側から大きな事実二つが主張された。
[…]
一つは、旧動燃が嘘をつき続けなければならなくなった２時ビデオの実態だ。
[…]
ナトリウムが漏れて小さな山のようにたまっている様子もはっきり撮影されており、これでは、旧動燃が隠したいと思うのも仕方ないと思えた。これが隠されたことによって、次から次へと嘘をつかざるを得なくなり、その嘘が外側から剥がれることによって、もんじゅ廃炉の声が高まった。先日の法廷での上映はその嘘の核となったビデオ、動燃が隠さざるを得なかったビデオの実態を伝えた。
Snapshot from video showing pile of sodium
事故が起きたのは、平成７年１２月８日、ビデオが撮影されたのはそれから６時間後の９日午前２時、ダビングされたビデオが本 社に持ち込まれたのがその日の午後９時半。居合わせた社員はこれを視聴している。
[…]
ここで、西村さんは２時ビデオが本社に持ち込まれていたことが分かったのは、１２月２５日だと答える予定だったが、なぜか、１月１０日だと答えてしまった。
[…]
そこで、西村さんは、自分で自分の口をふさぐしかなくなったのだろう。冒頭の遺書のようにすべてを自分のミスという形にして自殺した。
もんじゅはまもなく再開されようとしている。果たして西村さんを死に追いやった隠蔽体質は改善されているのか。少なくとも西村さんの裁判ですべてを明らかにして反省しようとする姿勢はまったく感じられない…。西村さんは命をかけて、ある意味、もんじゅを救ったが、西村さんは自分のような犠牲者が続くことは望んでいないはずだ。
More information about the re-opening of Monju can be found in this article at World Nuclear News.
[This article was co-written by Hanako Tokita.]
[Update (Jan. 28): More background to the trial mentioned in the article in this 2004 Japan Times article.]
2 comments · »»Burkina Faso: Rites, festivals and a new book
· 13:09
To everything, claims the Bible’s Book of Ecclesiastes (and the 1960s U.S. rock band the Byrds), there is a season. A time to be born. A time to die. It happens in Burkina Faso just like anywhere else.
Lacking any stories of birth or labor, we’ll skip straight to one of our most important rites of passage – the union of two people in the ceremony of marriage. These observations of a village wedding come from Ramblings from Rhadikha in Burkina:
Not unlike in America, weddings are good times with wild and crazy dancing and acceptable public drunkenness. Unlike American weddings, everyone is invited. Those immediately involved go to the “mayor’s” house for the exchanging of vows and signing of contracts. That is the equivalent of the ceremony. No one but the bride, the groom, and their parents are expected to be interested in that part. There are no registries with china patterns and cutlery. Your gift is showing up and getting down. The party starts at sunset and ends when the roosters start cock-a-doodle-doo-ing. The bartender is someone’s underage cousin serving up home brewed millet beer in nature’s beer mug, a dried gourd. There is drumming, dancing, and chanting of the sort that one might see on the discovery channel.
Gorom-Gorom, Burkina Faso’s most northern major city (485 kilometers north of Ouagaodugou), is home to “Festicham,” an annual festival that boasts horse and camel racing and a local craft and culture exhibition. This year, Keith from Under the Acacias made it to the festival just in time:
We arrived late, during the second heats of camel races. The whole town seemed to be there, along with a couple of government ministers, accompanying police guards, and a bunch of Italians who apparently finance the whole thing. Dust filled the air, kicked up by hundreds of hooves of various sizes, and thousands of feet.
Let’s stay with Keith a little longer. After 15 years of electing to live in Gorom-Gorom without electricity, his “woodless construction” mud hut leaped directly into the 21st century with the addition of electricity supplied from the town grid and a telephone link with an internet hook up, too.
After so many years of peace and quiet, these new additions take some time to get used to, reports Keith. After finishing his first blog post written and posted from home, he wonders whether “it might be time to leave Gorom-Gorom, and move somewhere a bit more remote…”
Stephen Davies, from Voice in the Desert, spent a little time in Ouagadougou late last year finishing up his last “tweaks” on the final installment of his children’s trilogy that takes place respectively in Oudalan Province in northern Burkina Faso (and home to Gorom-Gorom) and Niger. The first two installments include Sophie and the Yellow Cake Conspiracy and Sophie and the Locust Curse. Steven’s third book, originally titled Sophie and the Crooked General, has recently been renamed to Sophie and the Pancake Plot, he reports. The book is due out sometime in September 2008.
Because people live much closer to nature in rural Burkina Faso, death is constant companion. Charlie from Blooming Desert describes a loss from the animal world:
“He's in a bad way, I'm afraid”, said Steve, carrying the patient across the bus station. Six hours of dust, fumes and bone-rattling on the road from Ouagadougou had clearly been too much. His head was limp, his whole body flaccid. We laid him out on the ground and a crowd gathered. Instinctively I stretched out my hand, gently laid it on his chest and prayed. As I did, he shuddered and took his last breath. It was a sad moment.
She reports that “the other seven French hens were fine and have been settling in nicely to their new accommodation.”
In a decidedly more sterile environment, Valentine from My So-Called Life in Africa explains how she dissected a frog at school. She knew she was in for a long day in Biology class when her lab partner asked to work on the largest frog of the litter:
Well, we started cutting and you know how some things are suppose to be juicy like a nice steak, and some things just aren’t? Well let me tell you this was extra juicy frog. Maybe that’s a good thing if you are French and like frog legs, but not if you are an 8th grader in biology class. After a few minutes of poking around in the frog’s leg, we found a gross white thread with a few pieces of black stuff clinging to it. I don’t even know what it’s called and don’t want to know because after having met it, I don’t ever want to again!
Finally, a Peace Corps volunteer, AKIA, traveled from Burkina Faso to Taiwan to observe her grandfather’s funeral. In AKIA-BLOG, she describes the funeral rites, which she says are a mixture of Buddhist and Taiwanese traditions:
Since he passed away, my relatives have been going to the temple to pay respects to my grandfather. Each morning, they go to bai4bai4. This involves burning incense and giving thanks or offerings and general respect paying. According to Taiwanese beliefs, he is ascending to the afterlife but he has not taken anything with him. Each morning, after paying our respects by burning incense at his soul altar, we burn paper flowers (the steps for him to reach the afterlife) and sacrificial money (money for the afterlife). Basically, my grandmother's apartment is reminiscent of a paper/origami factory.
Afghanistan: Returned Refugees, Police Fatigue and Freezing Children
· 05:46
There has been a series of articles on the plight of Afghanistan's police. Bipasha Ray notes one of the many problems facing the creation of a police force from scratch:
[There are] overworked and grossly underpaid and under-equipped policemen on the verge of mutinying, in charge of enormous swaths of land.
He also notices a report about returning refugees from Iran and Pakistan:
4 comments · »»It finds that these young men and women find a degree of strength from the fact that they are now in their watan (homeland) even though they know very little about Afghanistan. But they are open to leaving Afghanistan if they face severe material or emotional misery – i.e. they don’t have a strong sense of attachment to Afghanistan.
China: A net campaign for the parents of slaves
· 02:28
It is now approaching the Chinese New Year, the most important festival in China. However, there is still a group of people who can’t go back home for the most pleasant time of the year; they are still rushing about towns after towns in search of their beloved children, who used to be the “brick kiln” slaves and were now still lost. They are the parents, the forgotten victims in the 2007 Chinese slave scandal.
As the time passed, the media and the public are gradually losing their concern over the issue, which is one of the most inhuman events in 2007. And the heated rescue movement by the government had come to an end and was alleged to achieve greatly by saving over 300 illegal workers.
However, it doesn’t mean that all the slaves received their salvation. Cai Changqing, a blind-deaf young man, got lost after the government stroke the kilns. His parents have rambled thousands of miles to seek their son, while the kid was yet out of their reach. Miao Lisong, a father, has also lost his son’s whereabouts since 2005. He had quit his job to devote to seeking the kid, and kept circulating the boy’s pictures. Moreover, under the harsh environment, some seriously tortured workers had been mental-impaired and a few of them got lost again after being rescued. Scores of parents have been wading alone, as the government had virtually ended the investigation after a transient storm. The aftermath and more facts are likely to be covered.
Their children unfound
The pictures of the lost workers
Our of direction
According to the attorney Xu Zhiyong, the lawyers in Xi’an had all received order that they shouldn’t litigate for the kiln workers for any kind of compensation. And the many lawsuits on the process are still pending, leaving the parents like Zhang, whose son got seriously hurt and burnt in the kiln, suffering from an endless waiting. That’s why the famous blogger IAMV in bulloger.com launched a donation project, which later evolved into a mass action in blogsphere, to aid these helpless parents.
为黑窑母亲群体及获救窑工派过年红包“网友送温暖”活动捐款方案
现实之于他们如此坚硬，我们可能没什么办法帮到他们什么忙，但至少可以让他们感受到世界还有人性的柔软的另一面。 所以，发起这次对部分黑窑母亲及获救窑工送过年红包的募捐活动。 以下是我们准备送红包的黑窑母亲及获救窑奴名单，他们只是黑窑受害者的一小部分，鉴于没有公开全面的信息来源，我们暂时只能做到这一步。
A donation project for netizens to bring warmth and give lucky money to the mothers and saved workers in the black kiln event.
The reality is so harsh to them. We might not be able to help them a lot, but at least we could let them feel that there is still a tender side of humanity. Therefore, we launched this campaign to call for donation to them, so that they may have a good new year. The list below features the names of the “black kiln” mothers and saved workers. They are just part of the victims. Since there had been no open, complete information about the issue, that’s all what we can do now.
捐赠人：所有自愿参加送温暖活动的网友 组织者：IAMV 受益人：失踪窑工袁学宇家长袁成、柴长青家长柴伟、苗全（又名苗旭鹏）家长苗立松、霍晨阳家长霍耀周、赵永民家长赵臣义、李鹏家长蒋花荣、秦明辉家长李玉亲、何建强家长何大楼；怀疑被掳为窑工的陈昌家长王小丽……等 获救窑工张文龙（化名）、李耀锴、陈小军、庞飞虎、周道明、肖文龙、刘亚飞、刘伟等
Donators: all those who wish to participate.
Organizer: IAMV
Beneficiary: Yuan Cheng; Cai Wei, parent of Cai Chang, Miao lisong, Huo Yaozhou, Zhao Chengyi, Jiang Huarong, Li Yuqin, He Dalou, Wang Xiaoli, and so forth. (All are the parents of the kiln workers).
接收捐款的银行帐号：4060101－01880211765 开户行：中国银行北京崇外大街支行 崇文区崇外大街44号 户名：钭江明 期限：2008年1月22日至2008年２月2１日（正月十五）24时。
Bank account: 4060101－01880211765
Bank: Bank of China, sub-branch in Beijing Chong Wai Street
User name: Dou Jiangming Term: 01/22/2008 to 02/21/2008
规则： 一、捐款汇至上述银行帐户；当你向上述帐户汇款时，表示你已经阅读、理解并接受本方案，视为你已经同组织者达成捐赠协议。 二、截至2008年２月２１日（正月十五）24时，将所有捐款以现金或实物方式送给受益人。 三、分别给每个受益人的数额由组织者IAMV与辛艳华、罗永浩、王小山根据受益人的家庭经济状况及个人意愿共同商讨决定。 四、受益人包括但不限于上述所列名单，捐款活动结束后一个月内，组织者公布所有受到捐助的受益人名单。 五、受益人自由支配获捐款项。
1. Please donate to the bank account listed above. When you make your donation, it means that you have read, understood, and accepted the project. An agreement with the organizer on donation was thought to be reached.
2. All the donation will be delivered to the beneficiaries no later than 02/21/2008
3. The amount allocated to each beneficiary will be decided by the organizer IAMV (a famous blogger) and Xin Yanhua ( a citizen journalist that has helped save the workers in person), Luo Yonghao (host of Bulloger, a celebrated blog fair), Wang Xiaoshan (a journalist), based on the financial situation and individual’s will.
4. Beneficiaries are not limited to those on the list above. One month after the campaign, the organizer will publicize the list of the beneficiaries.
5. The beneficiaries will have the complete right to make a use of the donation.
阳光保障措施： 一、罗永浩先生保管捐款帐户存折，保证不将该存折交给他人，并定期公布接收捐款的金额（公布频率不低于七天一次）。 二、王小山先生掌握捐款帐户密码，并保证不将自己掌握的折卡密码泄露给他人。 三、罗永浩先生、王小山先生、IAMV承诺仅在三人同时在场的情况下方可提款。 四、IAMV承诺捐款帐户提出的款项将仅交付给受益人。 五、取款及向受益人汇款的过程，由律师见证。 撤销捐赠的流程： 一、捐赠人在捐款后一个月内有权撤销捐赠。 二、要求撤销捐赠的，需要提交汇款凭证原件供组织者或组织者指定的人士查验。 三、核实汇款信息属实后半个月内，组织者将相应的款项退还给原汇款人（退款时，收款人、收款帐号为原汇款人、原汇款帐号）。
The open guarantee 1. Luo Yonghao keeps the bankbook and promises not to give it to anyone else. Also, he will periodically open the sum of money received.
2. Wang Xiaoshan keeps the account password and promises not to reveal it to anyone else.
3. Luo, Wang, IAMV promise that the money will be withdrawn from the account only with the presence of all the 3 people.
4. IAMV promises the money in the account will only be given to the beneficiaries.
Links
Americas
Luiz Carlos Azenha [pt] has started a series of posts in which he intends to translate all the official documents about the American support to the 1964 coup in Brazil, currently kept by George Washington University's National Security Archives. In this second post, he deciphers a “message from the then ambassador to Brazil, Lincoln Gordon, to his superiors in Washington”.
Eastern & Central Europe
Srebrenica Genocide Blog republishes a list of child victims of the Srebrenica massacre issued by Bosnia & Herzegovina's Federal Commission for Missing Persons.
Americas , East Asia , Sub-Saharan Africa
UNICEF has just published its annual analysis of the mortality rate of children under 5 years. Among the conclusions, Angola, Guinea Bissau, Mozambique, Sao Tome and Principe, East Timor and Cape Verde have rates far above the admissible, considering Brazil as the standard intermediate and Portugal as the only one who moves to a typical position of a “developed country”. See a comprehensive report at Timor Lososae Nação [pt].
Eastern & Central Europe
Dan McMinn returns to Ukraine and resumes blogging at Orange Ukraine; one of his first posts is on two Ukrainian women politicians: Yulia Tymoshenko and Raisa Bohatyryova.
Americas
Andre Lemos [pt] reports that, to celebrate the anniversary of 454 years of São Paulo, Second Life has inaugurated its main avenue in the virtual world at the New Island Brazil (183, 182, 41). “At least 20 thousand users are expected to take part of the celebration to launch the new island”.
Americas
Rodrigo Serrate of La TeVelisión [es] notes the obvious similarities in the new logo of the Bolivian channel Gigavision and the Argentine station Telefe.
Middle East & North Africa
From Kuwait, Fonzy sheds light on labour statistics in the oil-rich country - where women make up 42 per cent of the work force.
Middle East & North Africa
Muslim Bloggers Association has published a couple of logos[Fa] to support Palestinians in Gaza strip.One of logos says:”Gaza is a land of resistance in blood and fire.”
Middle East & North Africa
In Kamangir blog, we read:”my M.Sc. application was rejected, not on the basis of my academic performance, but because of where I am born”, writes Amin, an Iranian reader of this (Kamangir's) blog. Attaching a snapshot of the communication he has received from University of Twente, in the Netherlands.
South Asia
Green Views on the state of the economy in Pakistan - a rather positive picture.
Middle East & North Africa
Hundreds of bloggers support jailed students.According to Negha bi Hejab[Fa],on 31st January,the bloggers will change their blogs' names in “January 31 (Bahman 10 in iranian agenda),Bloggers Solidarity Day with jailed students.” Many students are jailed for their ideas in Iran.Most of them were arrested 50 days ago.
South Asia
Nepal Smiles aspires to get together three hundred photographs of smiling Nepali children by the end of 2008. :)
South Asia
Metroblogging Mumbai does a roundup for book lovers in the city - big shops, the shops around the corner, and hawkers near railway stations.
South Asia
just a little something writes about a trip to Bhutan. Immigration, instant noodles and breathtaking scenes.
South Asia
India Daily on the ups and downs on the stock exchanges in India - mirroring the volatility in markets worldwide.
Americas
Thebookmann attends a traditional “Old ‘Mas” performance in Trinidad and Tobago and posts video of the well-loved Carnival character of the Dame Lorraine.
Americas
A schoolyard incident in Trinidad and Tobago makes Jumbie's Watch wonder: “How and when did society ‘tief' our children, and their innocence? And how did we let them get away with it, without even a murmur of protest?”
Americas
“Derek Walcott's prodigious gifts, even in the face of tragedy, continue to amaze me”: Jamaican Geoffrey Philp links to the Caribbean writer's eulogy of Elizabeth Hardwick.
Americas
Do! You! Know!!! Who Guyana-Gyal is?? You should…
Americas
The Cuban Triangle blogs about the Catholic Church's role in Cuba.
Americas
Dan Schweissing blogs about prosperity theology in the Bahamas: “Telling someone that they are poor…because they don't have enough faith in God is the religious equivalent of telling a single mother with three kids and a full-time minimum wage job that she is poor because she's lazy and doesn't work hard enough.”
East Asia
Joel from DANWEI translated local blogger 10 years chopping of timber's post on “What are landlords like?” The post touches upon the labeling of “Landlord” for political and ideological control.
East Asia
Fai Mao criticizes the Employees Retraining program which exploits foreign domestic workers by imposing an unreasonable tax for local workers' retaining. Now the program plans to retrain 15 years old youth.
East Asia
Edo from Pink tentacle blogs about a student hacking into a game company for stealing 36 million yen worth of virtual currency for buying virtual dress.
East Asia
Ryoko from Ping mag has written a feature on Matchbox Art.
Americas
Paulinho, a Brazilian journalist, has compiled facts and provided comprehensive evidence of a criminal scheme in the sports media in São Paulo. He has investigated Futebol Interior website, which promotes clubs, managers and players who pay bribes to them, while destroying those who refuse to do so. Other bloggers are picking up the story from Blog do Paulinho [pt].
East Asia
Shisaku despairs at the arrest of Nakatsuji Masato, allegedly for programming a virus when in fact there are no laws against virus creation in Japan. The arrest is connected to a new campaign by the Ministry of Economics, Trade and Industry, who has placed ads in trains and on TV featuring Ueto Aya in a Sherlock Holmes outfit encouraging better computer security to combat copyright infringement.