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Announcing the Global Voices Citizen Media Summit 2008

Georgia Popplewell · 23:12

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

Global Voices and Global Voices Advocacy are pleased to announce the Global Voices Citizen Media Summit 2008, which will take place in Budapest, Hungary on June 27-28, 2008 with the support of the McCormick Tribune Foundation, the Berkman Center for Internet and Society and MediaHungaria.

The event will bring together the members of the Global Voices citizen media project and its wider community with a diverse group of bloggers, activists, technologists, journalists and others persons from around the world, for two days of public discussions and workshops around the theme “Citizen Media & Citizenhood”.

Images from the 2006 Global Voices Summit in Delhi, India

The Global Voices Summit provides an opportunity for us to share the knowledge in our dynamic global community with bloggers, activists, students and media professionals. The meeting will explore important developments in citizen media spearheaded by people outside North America and Western Europe and investigate how the growing number of people distributing information globally can help affect lasting social change.

The first day of the Summit, hosted by Global Voices' Advocacy section, will be devoted to discussions about censorship and the challenges facing free expression online. The second day will highlight cutting-edge applications of Web 2.0 on electoral campaigns in emerging democracies; tackle issues of translation and the idea of the world wide web as a multi-lingual space; and showcase citizen media solutions in emergency situations. The day two program will also include a hands-on workshop in building activism tools using free, web-based services such as Google maps, Twitter and online video-sharing sites.

An overview of the Summit program is posted at the end of this message. A Summit web site with registration information and a updated program will be available within the next couple of weeks, but feel free to contact me at georgiap@globalvoicesonline.org if you have further questions or for information about sponsorship.

Please add the Global Voices Citizen Media Summit to your calendars. We hope you'll join us in Budapest!

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Global Voices Citizen Media Summit 2008
Budapest, Hungary - June 27-28, 2008

DRAFT PROGRAM

June 27, 2008

Session 1: “Toward a Global anti-censorship network”
Why do we need a global anti-censorship network? How can we facilitate the sharing of techniques, best practices and experiences around the protection of online free speech?

Session 2: “Citizen Media and Online Free Speech”
Citizen Media confronts the threat of censorship and oppression. Some case studies from Kenya, Burma, Egypt and Hong Kong.

Session 3: “Living with censorship”
Participants share their experience of living in countries where government censorship is a
reality and of being part of organized efforts to combat it.

Session 4: “Frontline Activists meet the Academy: Tools and Knowledge”
The tools to circumvent web filtering and other methods of online censorship exist, but they don’t always reach the people who need them as easily as they could. How can we facilitate better coordination between the developers of these tools and the anti-censorship movements that need them? And how do we facilitate the flow of information and from the activists back to the developers so the latter can design more appropriate tools?

Session 5: “NGO's and on-the ground activists: Defending the Voices”
How can NGOs most effectively work with on-the-ground free speech activists to combat censorship?

June 28, 2008

Session 1: “Web 2.0 Goes Worldwide”
The second incarnation of the internet means much more than social tagging, RSS, and trackbacks. Thanks to the steady proliferation of broadband connectivity throughout the developing world and the innovations of international web entrepreneurs, some of the most exciting online developments today are taking place in locations where, merely a decade ago, internet access was rare, if available at all. This panel will gather leaders of cutting-edge Web 2.0 initiatives from Bolivia, Botswana, Colombia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Session 2: “The Wired Electorate in Emerging Democracies”
The rise of blogging, social networking and micro-blogging services like Facebook and Twitter, video- and photo-sharing sites like YouTube and Flickr and the spread of mobile technology have given ordinary citizens the means, at least potentially, to participate more fully in the democratic process. This session looks at the impact these tools have had on recent elections in Kenya, Armenia and Iran and poses the question: is citizen media having an actual impact on democracies in transition?

Session 3: “Digital Activism Workshop”
Are you prepared for the next emergency in your blogosphere? In this session we break into group workshops for some hands-on training from activists who have used these tools to create mashups like the Access Denied map, which highlights censorship of Web 2.0 sites, Ushahidi.com, a presentation designed to visualize and document the post-election violence in Kenya, as well as report on crises using tools such as SMS and Twitter.
Group A) Google Maps mashups
Group B) SMS groups and flashmobbing
Group C) Campaigns for arrested bloggers
Group D) Video distribution
Group E) Reporting with micro-blogging tools

Session 4: “Translation and the Multilingual Web”
In the short history of global communication via distributed computer networks, numerous thinkers, specialists, media critics, social activists and writers have fashioned a vision of the Internet as a barrier-free forum for the inter-national and inter-cultural transmission of knowledge, ideas, and information. In practice, however, online communities are still divided by the differing languages they speak. Is online linguistic segregation a technical or cultural dilemma? Will machine translation tools such as Google Translate fulfill the promise of a multilingual web or is it up to human volunteer translators to construct bridges between language-oriented online spheres?

Session 5: “Citizen Media to the Rescue”
In moments of political upheaval, governments often silence the mainstream media either legally or with threats of violence. The only ones left to tell the story are citizens who witness it and share pictures and reports online. In this session we investigate the impact citizen media has had on emergency situations in Myanmar (Burma), Pakistan, and China, both internationally and locally.

20 comments · »»

China: Twittering Taiwan's presidential election

John Kennedy · 19:45

Venture capitalist and IT guru Isaac Mao tried something very interesting this week the day before the presidential debate in Taiwan, first posing six open questions [zh] via Twitter to any Taiwanese readers, then using Twitter-specific search engines to see who twitted back.

In his March 8 post, Mao writes:

台湾的新一届总统大选在即，这是近年来个人关心最多、最靠近的一次。除了因为了解和接触诸多台湾的部落格、产业界以及乡土朋友给我更多的兴趣去深入了解台湾社会，还更因为私下认为此次选举应当是台湾民主进程中一个新的经验重整机会，必定对中国的未来有很好的参考作用。

The upcoming Taiwan presidential election is the one in recent years to which I've paid the most attention, and the one to which I've been closest. Aside from the many Taiwanese bloggers I know of and have met, industry and native friends there have piqued my interest in learning more about Taiwanese society, particularly with the private view that this election ought to be a new opportunity to see reshuffling in Taiwan's democratic process, and is bound to serve as a great reference for China in the future.

作为没有宏观政治愿望的人，我当然是想从最平常百姓的角度去看这样的大选。所以如果能够请求台湾的朋友们给我启蒙一些民主观念，我觉得比中国人只能空谈要真实的多。当然，两类空谈（一个是民主社会主义，还有一夜民主），还是有本质的区别。有时候听听两边的Blogger们是如何的在不同时空进行思考，真想问问大家的思想在哪一个时代。曾经在大约五年前还有闲去看一些论坛上大陆、台湾两地网民的那些争吵辱骂。后来就根本无兴趣看那些匿名的重复性信息垃圾。而之后在两岸同步蓬勃兴起 Blog空间，就更多见的是对话和了解，这显然是不同的思维态度。于是，我罗列了大约20个问题，想借助纯粹的草根媒体空间来获得那种茶馆闲聊出来的认知，而不是主流媒体上轰炸致死的宣传言论。至于是否主观，根本不重要，倾听然后自我判断才是最重要的。那些所谓的义正言辞的立场，都是不动脑筋的泛我思维。就未来而言，说“我”比“我们”更重要。

As someone with no overall political aspirations, naturally I would want to watch this general election from the perspective of an average citizen. So if I were able to ask some Taiwanese friends to enlighten me with some thoughts on democracy, I think these would be a lot more real than empty talk from Chinese people. Of course, there are intrinsic differences between the two kinds of empty talk (one being democratic socialism and the other overnight democracy). Sometimes as I listen to bloggers from each side engaging in thought at different space-times, I really do want to ask everyone from just which era it is that their ideas come. Around five years back, I'd go from time to time to check out the disputes and abuse on BBSes from both mainland and Taiwan netizens. Later, I lost all interest in seeing this anonymous and repetitive information rubbish. Later still, blogs began popping up at the same time on both sides of the strait, and what you saw was more conversation and understanding, and most obvious were the different ways of thinking. So then, I came up with about 20 questions, thinking I could rely purely on grassroots media space to get the kind of cognizance that comes out in a teahouse chat, and not the kind of lethal bomb propaganda found in mainstream media. As for this being objectivity or not, it doesn't matter in the least; listening and making your own judgments is what's most important. Stances of so-called righteous rhetoric are all just mindless sort of pan-egoism. In terms of the future, “I” will be far more important than “we”.

所以我请求来自台湾的Blogger们来谈谈这些问题，为了简化，问题已经压缩到六个，这样交流面更宽一点，不必一定伸张自己的颜色立场，也不至于只和自己熟悉的部落客进行引导问答。所以有必要让这个“闲话”延伸到更多的空间（例如,Twitter)。而为了更好地整理，把这六个问题附加了六个标签（例如，[TWQ1] 。任何人希望回答这六个问题中的任何一个，都可以用对应的标签来简要说明。也许最后可以形成一连串有意思的社会对话流，让我们更了解台湾的民主形式，以及背后的诸多文化线索。如果你觉得这些压缩后的问题也有空泛之处，请理解本意在普及我等基础知识，不要再吹毛求疵了。

This is why I asked bloggers from Taiwan to discuss these questions. To keep it simple, the questions have been compressed down to just six; this way, discussion can be broader, and no one feels forced to assert their political affiliation or stance, or ends up directing questions to bloggers with whom they're already familiar. Thus the necessity to extend this “gossip” to as many spaces as possible (Twitter, for example). And for optimal sorting, six markers have been attached to these six questions ([TWQ1], for example). Anyone who wishes to answer any of these six questions can use the corresponding tag as a brief descriptor. Eventually this might give shape to a series of meaningful social exchanges, allowing us to further understand Taiwan's form of democracy, as well as the many background cultural cues. If you feel these post-compression questions have any vague spots, please understand that the intent is to increase my knowledge base, so don't have a hairy.

好，给台湾Blogger的六个问题是：

[TWQ1]. 在中国大陆，很多人不假思索地认为自己应当支持国民党，你觉得其中的原因是什么？
[TWQ2]. 除了国家认同的考虑，你是否认为中国大陆和台湾之间有哪些符合现实的合作前景
[TWQ3]. 在选择你理想的执政领导时，你如何全面考虑自己的决定？
[TWQ4]. 哪些人或者事件对你认识台湾的民主有过切身的触动？
[TWQ5]. 你觉得台湾的选举和美国的选举的不同在哪里？
[TWQ6]. 从你个人的思想经历，如何为中国的民主提供一些基本的建议？

Right, so my six questions for Taiwan bloggers are:

[TWQ1]: In mainland China, many people wouldn't hesitate to say they ought to support the Kuomintang; what do you think the reasons for this are?
[TWQ2]: Consideration of national identity aside, do you feel there to exist any prospects for cooperation between mainland China and Taiwan?
[TWQ3]: In choosing your ideal governing leadership, how do you go about making your decision?
[TWQ4]: Which individuals or incidents have had a personal hand in your understanding of Taiwan's democracy?
[TWQ5]: What do you feel are the differences between elections in Taiwan and elections in the United States?
[TWQ6]: From your personal experience, what basic suggestions would you make for democracy in China?

As responses trickled in [zh] over the following few days, Mao was able to keep track using the [TWQ] tag and services like Terraminds and TweetScan; here are the responses to [TWQ5]:

Kenworker的赐答：

[TWQ5] 單純從選制來看，美國比較複雜，台灣地狹人稠，可實現完全一人一票的直選。認真說起來是「真民主」，但弔詭的也是，這樣的民主是否真能反應正確民意，或需要更多制度的設計。

Kenworker:
Looking simply at electoral systems, America's is rather complicated. Taiwan is small and densely populated, so ‘one person, one vote' direct elections can be fully carried out. In all seriousness, this is “true democracy”, but it's also a paradox: can this kind of democracy truly reflect the will of the people? Or does the system need further design?

BestGuy的赐答：

[TWQ5]對美國的選制了解不深，但是台灣直接訴諸每一人民的選舉方式，會讓“嘩眾取寵“、“扒糞抹黑“的惡質選舉手法有可趁之機，因此學習期較長，需要整個社會一起進步，才能真正實踐民主真正的力量。

BestGuy:
My understanding of the American electoral system doesn't go that deep, but Taiwan's election style of directly appealing to every citizen leaves the door open for malicious election ploys like playing to the peanut gallery or dirt digging and mud throwing. This is why the learning period is so long; all of society needs to move forward together in order for the true power of democracy to truly be put into practice.

史莱姆的赐答：

[TWQ5].台灣的候選人議題比較混雜，左右翼的觀點可能同時出現在同一個陣營裡面。

Slime:
The topic of Taiwan's candidates is rather messed up. Both left and right wing views can appear simultaneously within the same camp.

PipperL的赐答：

[TWQ5] 我對美國的選舉不熟。 :p 不過應該沒有像台灣的選舉這麼流於意識型態，以對手為焦點(而不是以自己的政見為焦點)，媒體應該也不會過度注重於誰拍誰的背。

PipperL:
I'm not familiar with American elections. :p Though I imagine they don't flow along ideological lines like Taiwan's elections do, with the focus on the opponent (and not your own political views). The media probably doesn't pay excess attention to who's patting whose back either.

Annpo的赐答：

[TWQ5]明顯的是美國從黨內初選開始便有清楚政策辯論，選民也有清楚的政策方向上的認識。領導人風格清楚。但台灣派出的候選人常是「明星」，背後有個路線不清楚還在辯論的黨，因此選民流於民粹，單純地認定自己在情感或各種抽象因素上應該選誰。而不思量國家政策。

Annpo:
What's obvious is that in America, starting with the in-party primaries, there are clear debates over policy, and voters have a clear understanding of policy direction. The leaders have a clear manner. But the candidates Taiwan puts out are often “stars”, and behind them is a party still debating with no clear political course. That's why voters go with the populist flow, choosing who they think they should vote for based simply on emotion or other abstract factors. And not in consideration of public policy.

Ilya 的赐答：

[TWQ5] 台灣仍有許多歷史包袱尚未釐清、制度未建立。仍有許多意識形態空間讓政客便宜行事。比較原始。

Ilya:
Taiwan has many historical burdens which still haven't been made clear, and systems which haven't yet been established. There are still many ideological areas which leave politicians acting with discretion. It's quite primitive.

小王子（akiraken）的赐答：

[TWQ5]美國為地廣人稠，跟台灣的地狹人稀不一樣，所以選舉制度上本來就應該不同，美國的過程較為繁瑣，台灣較為單純，但就因為單純，也更能直接的表達人民的意識及意願。

Akiraken:
America is vast with sparse population, different from Taiwan with small area and dense population, and that's why their electoral systems are bound to be different. The American process is quite particular, and Taiwan's simple. But because of its simplicity, the people's ideas and wishes can be directly expressed.

Kerim的赐答：

RE: TWQ5, This has been excellently discussed by Turton: http://tinyurl.com/yvoszh My take: TW nat'l elect. are like US state elect's

Kerim:
RE: TWQ5, This has been excellently discussed by Turton: http://tinyurl.com/yvoszh My take: TW nat'l elect. are like US state elect's

MarkPlace的赐答：

[TWQ5]光以選舉人票與人民直選的方式來看應該就很不一樣。另外，2000 與 2004 年因為連戰的輸不甘心讓台灣亂八年，而美國總統過去兩次選舉輸的一方竟然很有風度的認輸，這也很不一樣。

MarkPlace:
There's quite a difference between looking to an electoral vote and a people's direct election. Furthermore, Lien Chan's refusal to accept defeat in 2000 or 2004 put Taiwan into chaos for eight years, yet the losers in both the past two American presidential elections actually admitted defeat with style.

Tenz 的赐答： (他的更多回答在自己的Blog上）

[TWQ5] 抱歉，我對美國的選舉制度不熟悉，無法回答。

Tenz:
Sorry, I'm not familiar with the American electoral system, unable to respond.

ancorena 的赐答：

[TWQ5] 美國選舉不僅指出願景、並且就特定政策內涵進行公開辯論（但並不平常）。一般而言台灣與美國選舉策略大致同步，但在議題設定以及深入探索等等行為上興趣極低。

ancorena:
American elections don't just point out vision, but also see the holding of open debates on the meaning of specific policy (although not as a rule). Generally speaking, election strategy in Taiwan is more or less in sync with that in the US, but in terms of setting topics or exploring things in depth, interest is extremely low.

Alice425 的赐答：

[TWQ5].美選制從黨內初選就開始有辯論，辯論會讓未來候選人的執政方針越來越清晰；台選制訴求全民直選，但是從有選舉開始，賄選永遠都是個說不清楚也看不清楚的黑盒子。

Alice425:
Debates begin in the American electoral system with the inner-party primaries, and it's the debates which bring future candidates' governing policy more into the open; the Taiwan electoral system demands that all citizens vote in the direct election, but ever since we began having elections, vote-buying has always been this inexplicable and indefinite black box.

Also in Taiwan this week, popular blogger Vista has been behind a Twitter-based campaign [zh] to rally support in hopes of seeing his favorite baseball team take part in this year's Olympic Games; so far only a number of his Twitterfriends have “put on the uniform”:

3/14 update: Taiwan blogger Portnoy shares a link on Twitter showing the different styles of ‘uniform' participants have been making for themselves.

3 comments · »»

Kuwait: Towers Mark 29th Birthday

Abdullatif AlOmar · 18:52

lingua → es

The Kuwait Towers, the country's major landmark, marked their 29th birthday without much fanfare. But one blogger did not forget the occasion.

IntlXpatr notes it with one entry. He writes:

In today’s Kuwait Times is a notice that today, the Towers turn 29 years old

Meanwhile, Forzaq8 follows up on the case of an internet news publisher, who is getting a big boost in a case in court. He writes:

they haven’t published the final report , but it would mean that online publishing does not fall under the publishing law YET

Forzaq8 also writes about a Kuwaiti bloggers meeting, held today. He says:

Well as always , it seem only the useal come to the blogger meeting ( why too many complain we don’t meet yet when we meet we don’t see anyone )

attending this meeting
* TaTtheddon
* Mr Chocolate
* exzombie
* ducatiq8i

some sample of topic that were discussed

* Current affairs of Kuwait bloggers
* Female Kuwaiti bloggers , whats the problem with them ?
* Did the US economy enter recession stage or not and is bernanke to blame
* Sectarian strife among Kuwaiti bloggers
* future of Safat , more idea for improving

and there was many more

i hope we get more attendance next meeting

Outlawq8 complains about films being screened in cinemas, the high costs of cinema tickets and food in this post. He writes:

the movies are mostly late and show old movies that some times been over a year since the movie is released in the US, and pick the silliest movies ever i don't know why! and they'll give you a movie discount,,, i know you're wondering how's that?! if the movie's runtime is 120 minute you can see it in 60 minute only in Kuwait :D now how about that? no other country can serve that kind of offers to the viewers :P

lately they've increased the price of the tickets from 2.5 KD to 3 KD, and in Monday's 1.5 KD i guess they knew there's going to be salary increasing BUT WHY THE HELL WOULD THEY SELL A CHOCOLATE FOR 500 FILS?! i mean com on : a pack of Maltesers for 500 fils? the prices are getting ridiculously high and someone gotta stop this

Babbler too is unhappy - and can't seem to find the olives she likes in the market. She explains:

I think that there is a serious olive crisis in Kuwait. I always thought that Kuwaiti super-markets have good reserves of nice olives. This notion remained there, albeit it was getting increasingly difficult to find the same quality olives everywhere. With the current increase in products prices, good olives seem to have disappeared completely.
A couple of days ago, I was completely disgusted when my significant-other pointed out that the olives he purchased, though were fine to eat, were preserved in cooking oil! I got so turned off that I binned them the next day.

And last but not least, Chillnite writes about a photo shoot contest in Kuwait.

Areas of competition:

* Photography of Kuwait
* Journalistic photography
* Interpolated pictures

0 comments · »»

Bahrain: Frustrated Fayrouz fans

Ayesha Saldanha · 18:35

lingua → es

This year's Spring of Culture, the biggest arts festival in Bahrain, has just started. Bloggers have got plenty to say about it – especially about the star attraction, Lebanese singer Fayrouz; tickets for her concert sold out almost immediately, and many are now being resold on the black market for highly inflated prices.

Image credit: Al Kaseef

We start with Hasan, who looks back to the controversy that surrounded Spring of Culture last year:

I just came back from the first event of the Spring of Culture here in Bahrain; the Armenian National Opera and Ballet Theatre was performing “Gayane” at the Culture Hall in Bahrain.
I actually felt different things while sitting in the Culture Hall in Manama. Exactly a year ago, the whole Majnoon Layla controversy was 'staged' in this place. This year’s opening act, interestingly, is also a dance based on the theme of love - which I found encouraging for those who stood on Marcel Khalife and Qassim Haddad’s message last year.
The Culture Hall, to me, is a pseudo-battlefield in which Bahrain is trying to figure out where it stands on different issues regarding its own identity. But I may be over-analyzing things.

Yagoob is confident that the Spring of Culture will be better than ever:

…reasons why this year’s spring will be much better than last year’s:

- Fairooz, you can’t get any classier!
- Much more family oriented shows such as Jump, Stomp and the Japanese Garden than the years before
- The big shows in Arad Fort are extended to two and three days unlike last year where most shows were one night only and left many people cursing themselves for missing out
- More Bahraini artists are participating
- Fayrouz (yes I changed the spelling) selling out in an hour!

Fayrouz is such an icon that everyone knew tickets to see her would sell like hot cakes; however some bloggers feel there is more to the story than meets the eye. Maroon Al Ras has a conspiracy theory, that he backs up with anecdotal evidence, about the involvement of the Lebanese community in Bahrain:

وعلى مسئوليتي، وبعد الاعتذار ممن يجب الاعتذار منه في إيراد هذا الاتهام، فإن متابعتي لموضوع تذاكر فيروز التي اختفت من مراكز البيع في دقائق معدودات، تبين الآتي:الشكوك تدور حول ” لوبي” من جنسية عربية في البحرين، وتحديدا هي”اللبنانية” قام بشراء معظم التذاكر، وهو يقوم بيعها الآن في الأسواق، وهناك أكثر من حادثة ” بيع سوداء” تشير إلى ذلك.

I take full responsibility and after apologising to those I should apologise to, those following the Fayrouz tickets issue, which have disappeared from box offices in a matter of minutes, have come to the following conclusion: There are suspicions surrounding a lobby from an Arab country, specifically the Lebanese, who have purchased most of the tickets, and are selling them on the black market. There are a number of incidents which point to that.

Butterfly blames other reasons for not being able to get a ticket:

أنا مستاءة .. مستاءة جدا .. ليس فقط بسبب عدم حصولي على تذكرة يتيمة لحضور حفل فيروز رغم أني ومنذ الاعلان عن مشاركتها في ربيع الثقافة لهذا العام وأنا أتصل يوميا بل كل ساعة للسؤال عن الوقت الذي سيتم فيه البيع فعليا، وليس لأنني ناقمة على من سلبوا مني ومن آخرين حلم أنتظرناه طويلا ولا ندري ان كان سيتحقق يوما فهذه هي المرة الثالثة وربما تكون الأخيرة التي سيهطل فيها صوت فيروز على أرض البحرين
أنا مستاءة .. مستاءة جدا لان ثقافتنا أصبحت ثقافة على قياس أصحاب الكروش الكبيرة وليسمح لي زميلي المدون الكسيف على استعارتي لعبارته التي وجدتها التعبير الأمثل لربيع ثقافة البحرين
أنا مستاءة لسلسلة الاكاذيب والتصريحات المتضاربة التي كنت الشاهد الاول على عدم صحتها او مصداقيتها .. لم تنفذ التذاكر في الساعة العاشرة صباحا ولا في الثانية عشرة ولا حتى في الصباح الباكر رغم استحالة حدوث ذلك بسبب وقوع أحد مركزي البيع في مجمع تجاري لا يفتح ابوابه قبل الساعة العاشرة صباحا. لقد نفذت التذاكر قبل ذلك الموعد بكثير بعد ان تقاسمتوها بينكم وبين اقاربكم واصدقائكم ومعارفكم هنا وهناك ولم تكتفوا عند هذا الحد فمنحتم المتبقي منها للمزايدين وتجار السوق السوداء
انا مستاءة ولكن عزائي الوحيد ان حضور جارة القمر كشف وجه ثقافتكم الحقيقية .. ثقافة الواسطة والمحسوبيات

I am annoyed… very annoyed; not just because I wasn't able to get a single ticket to attend Fayrouz's concert although I have been calling the organisers daily - no hourly - since the announcement was made that she will be performing at the Spring of Culture event to see when the tickets will actually go on sale. I am not envious that they have denied me and others a dream we have been waiting for a long time for, one which we don't even know will ever recur. This is the third and perhaps the last time Fayrouz sings in Bahrain. I am annoyed .. very annoyed because or culture has now become a culture which is measured by those with huge bellies. If my blogging colleague Al Kaseef would allow me, I would like to borrow some of his phrases which I found to be the most suitable to describe the Spring of Culture festival. I am annoyed with the series of lies and contradicting announcements which I witnessed personally … The tickets did not run out at 10am or at noon or at the wee hours of the morning simply because one of the sales points was at a commercial mall which doesn't open its doors before 10am. The tickets have run out before that by a long period of time - after you have split them up among yourselves, your relatives, friends and acquaintances from here and there. You did not stop there but distributed the rest to the black market traders. I am annoyed, but my only condolence is that the presence of Fayrouz exposed the true face of your culture - the culture of nepotism.

The Girl with No Face explains why Fayrouz means so much to her - but she is still prepared to part with her ticket:

I’m going to her concert.. YES .. i DID manage to get Fairouz concert tickets. I am fabulous. haha .. […] When I was younger, Every morning my mum would play fairouz and Majda al Roumi all the way from Adleya to Isa town (where we went to school for a few years). so now, when i listen to her music (some songs more than others) I get funny carefree feelings. I feel 5 years old again and happy =D

p.s. anyone willing to pay 400 dinars [approx. 1060 USD] for the ticket I have, I am willing to sell (need to pay off my credit card)

Al Kaseef is hanging onto his ticket, and going to the concert:

أنا ذاهب لفيروز. ومتيقن في ذهابي هذا أنني لن أستمع إلى بعض روائعها التي أحب وأعشق.. متأكد، فما عساها أن تكفي الساعة أو الساعتين.. لا تكفي لاختزال عملها.. لكن المحب غير الأناني لا يطلب الكثير.. المحب يستطيع تفهم أن فيروز الآن في السبعين في عمرها أو أزيد بقليل.

I am going to Fayrouz .. while knowing that I will not hear all her marvels which I love. I am confident of that as what is an hour or two? They are not enough to summarise her work … but a lover, who isn't selfish, doesn't ask for a lot. The lover understands that Fayrouz is now in her 70s or a little older.

1 comment · »»

Tajikistan: Hunger to Replace Cold and Darkness

Vadim Sadonshoev · 17:26

lingua → mg · es · zht · zhs

Tajikistan is a small country with big problems. The nation, particularly the rural population, is still suffering from energy crisis, but yet another crisis is going to embrace it very soon. This time it's about food.

Neweurasia reports that Barki Tojik – the country's electricity monopolist – promises to solve the problem with energy by the end of this month. However, the problem with electricity is being solved naturally - a warmer season has come and now there is enough water to move the turbines and generate electricity on hydropower stations.

However, this does not ease the social stress, because the food crisis seems to be harder to overcome. (more…)

0 comments · »»

China: Whose Congress?

Bob Chen · 15:12

Hu Xiaoyan（胡小燕）, 34, is a female worker. After graduate from junior high, she had been laboring on field. However, in 1998 she made a decision to leave hometown for a coastal city, working there as a pottery maker till now. Since then, she was sorted, along with 150 million fellow workers, into a specific and growing group, the migrant workers of China.

On 7th, March, Hu appeared in a room inside the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, dressed up neatly in suit. Reviewing with her fellow delegates from Guangdong pages of paper, she proposed two points —– enhancing the working skills of migrant labors, and taking a better care of their children left behind in villages. The attendant leaders from the central government nodded to the ideas.

It was not long after the Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao putting forth his work report on the annual session of National People’s Congress (NPC), and Hu was exactly taking her duty as a delegate, to review the government report, and more importantly, to speak for the millions of migrant workers. She is one of the three delegates chosen from this group, which had never been individually represented before.

Premier Wen is meeting the migrant worker delegate. (!A typical Chinese picture)

Their presence came to be a highlight of public. Another deputy, Mr. Knag from Chongqing, told how the swarmed reporters filled up his room, unwilling to leave until 12 P.M. Migrant workers have been supplying China with cheap workforce, a fuel that sustained the dazzling “Made-in-China”. But not until 2008, have they a chance to have someone really from them to stand for the group on the highest legislative congress of China.

Admire-Moral commended:

It marks the delegates speaking for such a huge but disadvantaged group finally come on stage. Their presence will allow the decision-making agencies to hear the voices from the grassroots.

But it’s just a humble start, given the only 3 migrant-worker delegates very much overshadowed by the over 1000 official delegates, more than 1/3 of the total 2987 in the congress, who stand for the 50 million in public office.

The overwhelming population of official delegates in the legislative congress unsatisfied the commons. The public, whose citizen awareness considerably awakened by series of public incidents in recent years, might have been fed up with the ritual for deputies to be merely “rubber stamps” or “hands”—- stamps to approve the official orders made beforehand, and the hands to clap for the authority.

They called for more different voices. The word “unanimous” doesn’t look as harmonious as it’s supposed to be. And that might explain why the public felt insulted when hearing some voices echoed from the Great Hall.

The vice director of Beijing railway bureau, Luo, also a delegate, suggested the extremely hardship of buying train tickets during Spring Festival, the time workers going back home for reunion, is due to the low price. It earned him a chorus of jeers, as blogger Chuang Tianmao commented, that either his IQ slumped or the delegate made a fool of the 1.3 billion Chinese.

“The wicket has never enough tickets, indeed, but in that case, however, we can always, and have to buy tickets from speculators at a much higher price. Why can they always get so many tickets? Because they feed the railway officers.” Bloggers unreservedly rail against the dirty deals under the table, and called Luo’s comment “eerie”.

And citizens have to suffer from more such sayings.

“Why do we have to apologize? Tell me why?!” the governor of Weather Bureau inquired boldly, oblivious of the snowstorm that afflicted China not long ago due to the poor preparation against the disaster. “The costly housing price can drive more money from the rich (what about the poor? People ask)” and “there is no monopoly in telecom industry of China” are another two examples. Reviewing the affliction of Chinese to catch up with the skyrocketing real estate expense and checking the landscape of telecom in China might tell you why netizens sighed and amazed at their words.

Therefore chehuokaixin appealed for more delegates really from and for people.

Since the foundation of the People Congress system, rarely have real people been the delegates. ……Isn’t it tragic that there has been no delegate really speaks for us? The a few PEOPLE delegates on the session, nevertheless, have no right to speak, but the right to listen —– to listen to how the officials praise themselves.

Would the delegates of migrant workers bring more fresh air in, letting officials long in office smell the wind of sweat and hear the roar of machines? They might have no chance, as the three delegates seemed to have already been alienated from their brothers and sisters once into the Hall.

Blogger Zhang Chunyun concluded, from the news coverage, how the delegate Zhu, one of the three, has changed.

When the journalists asked Zhu how she made of the workers’ residence permit (Hukou), she replied just like a government spokeswoman. “Our country will make it done step by step, and you have to be patient.”

The residence permit, an inch-thick book, secludes China into two worlds —– the villages and the cities. People living in the two areas differed on what social security and what voting rights they enjoy, letting alone the policy discriminations long existed. Migrant workers are in-betweens, aliens of either system.

So has the withdrawal from their normal identities been found on the farmer delegate, Hao Fuxia. When answering what should government do, as she think, to guarantee the civil life and self-improving opportunities for farmers, she just equivocated that the situation was getting better and better.

Tao Li felt sorry for them.

How does Hu Xioayan, as a delegate of migrant workers, learn to deal with the public with eyewash? She’s so proficient in claptrap! I really wonder what on earth a migrant worker she is! Who is she speaking for?
As delegates, they should sincerely reflect the situation of their group, calling for the solution of fellow workers’ problems. No blandishment, please! But it seems that the training on them works so well. And how regretful to find no proposals have really argued for farmers, while there are 0.9 billion farmers in China!

And zyb00544 didn’t cover up that his hope on the grassroots delegates was undone.

I come to understand —- when a worker from the bottom of the society presents himself before the public as a delegate, he will involuntarily turn into a decoration instead of a grassroot as he used to be. If such political shows continue, then even if all the delegates were commons, it could do no help.

0 comments · »»

Sudan: The definition of a blogger and an open letter to the president

SudaneseDrima · 10:40

lingua → mk · mg · es · sq

Since this is another round-up of Sudanese blogs, it is only appropriate that we begin with a proposed definition of what a blogger is, one expressed with a picture.

The Definition of a Blogger… or to be more specific, a political blogger, especially in our super democratic part of the world.

Speaking of blogging, Sudanese Returnee has finally returned to it after his three months long absence. He talks about an interesting experience he had centered on killing positive ideas:

… I was dumbfounded to listen all that negativity! Maybe the new returnee was even more shocked than I was. He did not say much after that. The rest just went on with listing all classic excuses of the impossible, killing this new returnee’s positive ideas in the process.

When I sat in a bar some hours later downing some cold Henieken, I discussed with another older returnee and I came to believe that I was like that new returnee not too long ago. In Juba, or Sudan in general, you see things that you know can be improved. Most of the time you know how to improve the situation because you have seen it somewhere else. You’d want to help every begger in the street, ask every kid in the street why they are not going to school, give a lift to every sick person dragging themselve to the hospital, buy medicine for that mother who can not avoid and so on. Life can be very complicated!

In Juba, some people would think you are mad if you keep sharing positive ideas.

I still have to meet and talk to the new returnee and share notes. I will do want I can to help this sister, but I have also come to learn that there are those who want to be helped, and others who have given up.

Sudanese Returnee also shared his observations on Juba just as Drima, The Sudanese Thinker expressed his on calls by the president of Sudan to boycott anything Danish in response to the republication of the Muhammad cartoons.

Amjad, a Sudanese studying in Texas, was amused by a phone call he received from Obama urging him to vote even though he is not a US citizen:

I have never thought that I would really one day blog about the American presidential elections, until last ~~Thursday~~ Tuesday when I got that call from Barack Obama. After that call, I started listening to his speeches on his YouTube channel, and the video above is the speech he gave the other day at Texas primaries, here in San Antonio, TX. I don't know but I just started admiring him…

I heard that he was supposed to come here to my city but for some reason he didn't. I guess the only cities in Texas he was recently at are Houston, San Antonio, Beaumont and Dallas. (not sure about the latter). A few weeks ago we had Bill Clinton here, though. If Barack Obama ever came here I would love to take a picture with him…

Meanwhile Kizzie took time to write a passionate open letter to Sudan's president Omar Hassan al-Bashir:

Dear Mr. President.

I really can't tolerate your government any longer. It's a criminal regime in every single way.
For the last 19 years, you've tortured, killed, looted, traumatized and you've failed to stabilize the country.

… We don't trust you Mr. President. You've failed us too many times. You've dishonored too many “peace” agreements.

I don't feel safe in my own country anymore.

Millions are living like refugees in their own country.

If we complain, you prosecute us.

We've been silent for 19 years.

Now, it is time to speak. It's time for you and the world to hear our voices.

… We don't like your violent ways. Remember what you did in Nuba mountains, remember the Jihad in the South, remember Darfur, remember the ghost houses in Khartoum, remember the soldiers buried alive in 1990- no, they were not planning a coup, remember the mothers complaining about their 15 year old sons being forced to fight a war they don't believe in.

A war we never understood.

You've had your cake, you've licked the plate and you've broke the plate…now keep your shattered plate, we are buying a new one.

Jah Guide, also known as ras babi babiker, like previously, posted a short political poem about the Sudanese regime:

blood in their hands
For Darfur
blood in their hands and money in their pockets
they are selling our future
the mark of devil is on their heads
this is my black list
brothers and sisters
vote for it.

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India: Losing Goa and the Scarlett Keeling homicide case

Javits Rajendran · 08:19

lingua → zht · zhs

My heart cries out that Goa the land of Sex, Drugs, Music, the once land of the hippies and lost Gods, had to be brought under the crime radar as a threat. Although I am partial in judging Goa, the land I spent my childhood and almost every other summer, it was not until the Scarlett murder, the conspiracy within and that odd feeling of lost sense of security in a familiar land, not only for foreigners but for the ‘other’ Indians alike has awakened the reality in this matter, losing ‘this once paradise’.

Colrama blogs about why ‘It is time to wake up’ at Citizens Alliance, giving sketches about the Scarlett murder.

The latest incident of Scarlett Keeling, a British teenager whose body was found on the beach in Goa has been added to the list of tragic incidents that have marred the tourist circuit in India. The sad fact is that the Goa police who claim “Improving police - community relations is another thrust area…..This can happen only if we are able to perform not only on the law & order and crime front, but also in our public dealings by our helpful and sympathetic behavior towards people who come to us in their moment of distress. ……..Cases where women, children and the elderly are victims of crime should always receive our prompt attention” did not respond appropriately in the Scarlett Keeling case.
The actions of the local police to brush under the carpet what was obviously a homicide have not helped. Insistence by the mother of the victim who claimed her daughter was raped and murdered and demanded a second autopsy was casually brushed aside by the local police.

Colrama goes on to add why Goa seems to be losing its lustre and is no more a pristine tourist paradise it once was. In a recent post he has quotes from the Goan Chief Minister, Kamat, blaming Scarlett’s mother for the murder and thus trying to evade responsibility.

Kamat held Scarlett’s mother, Fiona equally responsible for her daughter’s death. “How can a mother, let her minor daughter go out so late in the night?” said Kamat.
“Tourists should take care of themselves.” he added.

Laz has taken this situation to another level; she is questioning God.

My co-worker’s revelation was met with the sadness and bile that gorge up upon hearing of tragedies like these. One of our numbers astutely pointed out that there are “sick people everywhere” and not so astutely proclaimed that this is further proof that God does not exist.
Yes, he knows that God does not exist because if there was a God he would have stopped this injustice.
What I do know is that the irrationality that such inanities betray is as much an indicator of fallen humanity’s depravity as the things that were done to this girl.

‘The Ying has settled on Goa’s Yang’ say the Happy Shiny Bloggers,

Goa, the Hippie Mecca in the late 1960's and early 1970's, gave rise to a musical culture that embedded with the spiritual culture of India to give us Goa trance.
…But if this is what you know Goa for, she houses dancers no more; Goa has been case of a 15-year old Scarlett Keeling. For those who do not know, Scarlett's body was washed upon the shore of Anjuna Beach, the place which is coincidentally the epicenter of the peace and love culture, and its night-long parties.

The Happy Shiny Bloggers are questioning why Goa has become the hide-out for the Russian Mafia. They go on to question the happy state of the locals.

Where is Goa now? With the Russian mafia using it as their hideout to launder billions of dollars, do arms deals, run prostitution rackets, real estate deals and things we may not possibly incur in our day-to-day life. Pedophiles seem to be everywhere with poor families from neighboring states selling their children to tourists, ominous signs in hotel lobbies warn clients not to take children up to their rooms…
..are the Goans happy with the last draft regional plan announced more than a year ago proposing to open 80% of agricultural and forest land for commercial exploitation. Apparently not, the current scenarios have given birth to websites like Save Goa. Fueling the Goans fury is that the police and politicians that are frequently accused of abetting crime and receiving money.
Oh wake up Goa, wake up, from being the creator of spirituality for lost souls around the world, to become the taker of souls, who would have seen. With corruption and greed fueling your streets and murdered bodies lying on your beach.

A Russian drug-dealer, Anjuna Atala explains the corruption in the Goan police system, in this YouTube clip.

Meldreth from the United Kingdom, is asking the question out loud, is the world safe? In his blog post “Asking for Trouble”.

In the UK, common sense and logic has it that you just don't accept a ride in a private vehicle from a stranger. At times, this may seem like an over the top piece of parental advice, but is usually regarded as a sound tactic. Overseas, however, we lose this common sense for some reason.
Case in point: Scarlet Keeling, a Devon teenager living in India with her family, accepted a lift home from a stranger and wound up dead on a beach. Goa, India, where Keeling lived with her mother and siblings, is no London or Liverpool, but as a city of 1.5 million, similar precautions should be taken there as you might expect in the UK. However, as I can attest to, exotic countries can nullify one's sense of judgment. For example, when I was living in Nanjing, China, I thought nothing of flagging down a black cab. Well not nothing. I thought they were a cheaper alternative to licensed taxis. Granted I am a 16 year old male and Keeling was a 15 year old female, but the start of the sequence was the same. Whilst I usually traveled with several of my equally male friends, none of us were experts on the local road map and so could easily have been led into uncomfortable situations. Nothing untoward ever happened, but looking back, I was probably a bit foolish.

Ujj from Munity.in and Freedbird have more, here and here.

23 comments · »»

Video HUB: Protecting women activists' rights around the world

Juliana Rincón Parra · 00:19

lingua → mk · bn · es · sq · zht · zhs

Witness' The HUB Beta brings us three videos recorded at the “Human Rights for Women; Human Rights for All” event, where 3 strong women who defend other women´s rights speak about the International Campaign on Women Human Rights Defenders.

From the campaign's contextualization website:

The International Campaign on Women Human Rights Defenders is an international initiative for the recognition and protection of women who are activists advocating for the realization of all human rights for all. The campaign asserts that women fighting for human rights and particularly focusing on women's human rights face specific violations in the course of their work because of their sex and gender. In addition, the Campaign focuses on the situation of human rights activists defending women’s rights and in particular calls attention to the violations experienced by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and other rights activists on grounds of their sex and gender identities. The identities of these actors as well as the nature of the rights they strive to uphold are both factors that make them the focus of the Campaign.

There are currently 3 videos on The Hub, and they have been chosen as the Editor´s picks: Sunila Abeyesekera of INFORM in Sri Lanka talking about the campaign and how the implementation of gender specific strategies for human rights work is necessary,Lydia Alpizar from AWID who talks about why what she calls “unsexy” topics such as financing are vital for gender equality matters: “without resources there is no implementation of hard-won political commitment to uphold women's human rights” and Aisha Shaheed from the Global Campaign to Stop Killing and Stoning, explaining why crimes against women based on tradition or religion should be stopped.

Following, the 3 videos on strong women who are striving to protect the rights of other women, as uploaded by Violeta Krasnic.

So what is the Hub? It´s a website where anyone can post videos related to human rights, so that they get a wider audience that is interested in the subject, instead of having to dig through regular video uploading websites to find the content they want. It´s a way to get human rights content directly to those who are interested in seeing it.

The next is a 60 promotional video explaining what the Hub does, and how to participate.

1 comment · »»

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March 13th, 2008