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Technology for Transparency Review, Part V · Global Voices
David Sasaki

If “hanging chads” and faulty computer chips are causes for concern in today's elections, just imagine the likely fraud that took place in Classical Athens when residents often used small pebbles to cast (literally) their votes. The study of those pebbles, or the votes they represent, developed into an entire academic discipline,  Psephology. (Psephos, or ψῆφος, is literally “pebble” in Greek).
But then, Classical Athens in the 5th Century BC was made up of only around 30,000 eligible voters. (The vast majority of Athenian society was comprised of slaves without civil rights; women also could not vote or own property.) With just 30,000 participants, Athens could be governed by direct democracy. Adult Athenian men did not elect representatives to vote on their behalf, but voted on legislation and executive bills in their own right. Today's average national democracy, in comparison, attempts to govern over 30 million individuals. The federal government of India, the world's most populous democracy, governs over one billion citizens. It is simply neither practical nor possible for each of those billion voters to take part in every legislative decision.
As a result, we almost all live in representative democracies where we elect public officials to create and vote on legislation on our behalf. This layer of representation, while necessary, takes citizens away from the decision making process. For decades broadcast media provided just about the only link between citizens and their elected representatives, but coverage tended to focus more on the lives of the politicians and less on the issues they vote on. Over the past five years a new generation of websites have sprouted up which combine information from parliamentary websites with social media tools in order to give citizens more information and clarity about the profile and activities of their representatives, and to become more active in the legislative process.
You can see all of the parliamentary informatics projects we reviewed at the Technology for Transparency Network by clicking on the “parliament” filter underneath the map interface.
The first such website we reviewed is Vota Inteligente, a project of the Smart Citizen Foundation in Santiago, Chile. Like most of the parliamentary informatics websites we documented, Vota Inteligente “scrapes data” from the websites of Chile's Senate and House of Deputies in order to more effectively gather and present information about representatives, political parties, and legislative bills. Using the information gathered by the Vota Inteligente team, you are able to compare congressional terms by party, gender, age, and incumbency. There is also a section called “Informed Citizen” which provides contextualization and analysis of the large flow of information that is added to the website every week. The website's archive presents access to all collected data and documents. It includes a glossary, source list, document library, multimedia library, and collection of legal and legislative documents.
Vota Inteligente depends on Facebook and Twitter to sustain interaction with its users. The team has also started a “webinar” series where invited guests use streaming video to present a particular topic to anyone who shows interest. All of this information and interaction comes at the cost of a serious time investment. I had the opportunity to visit the Vota Inteligente headquarters, a comfortable two-story house in residential Santiago, which was buzzing with eager volunteers who were adding information to the database and discussing how to improve the functionality of the website. While their enthusiasm and hard work was infectious, one must wonder if it is sustainable.
Unlike the dozens of volunteers that Vota Inteligente has managed to attract, KohoVolit.eu relies on the dedicated work of just two individuals who have managed to create a directory of profiles about every representative in both the Czech Republic and Slovakia. It even includes fairly extensive information about the activities of representatives (MEP's) of the European Union. In our interview, project founder Michal Skop emphasized that the sustainability of parliamentary informatics websites depends on their level of automation. Any such website that depends heavily on human labor to input and organize information, Skop says, is likely to run out of steam. By taking government data and automating its presentation and distribution in new ways, the participants of such projects can spend more time on adding much-needed contextualization and analysis to the stream of information.
Automation, however, depends on the availability of properly structured, open government data that programmers can easily import and manipulate. Brazilian political scientist and co-founder of Congresso Aberto, César Zucco, says that the current transaction costs of seeking out congressional data across multiple websites in Brazil is so high that he and his colleague Eduardo Leoni have not been able to analyze any of the data they have collected. They are now waiting for the Brazilian government to implement the proposed Government Information Law, which should mandate government agencies to make official data available in structured formats that can be put to use by platforms like Congresso Aberto. Congresso Aberto was modeled on two other, similar websites: Open Congress (United States) and Vote Watch (European Union). It contains: 1) data and analysis about Brazilian Congress such as voting records and attendance; 2) profiles and information about representatives; 3) information about Brazilian political parties; and 4) proposed bills and legislation. The information comes from the official websites of Brazil's Congress, but it is not yet as timely and granular as Zucco and Leoni would like.
In fact, in terms of sustaining the movement of open parliamentary data, a strong argument could be made that activists should first work on implementing satisfactory government information laws – along the lines of the Open Government Directive in the United States – before working on information management systems to help bring that information to more citizens. Of course, it doesn't have to be one or the other, but analyzing and communicating the information does depend on having access to it.
In Kenya, Mzalendo is another platform which came into existence precisely because of the lack of official data from parliament. Ory Okolloh and her colleague Marc launched the project at the end of 2005 after the website for Kenya's Parliament was shut down following protests by some MPs who were embarrassed about having heir CVs published online. Kenya's parliament website is now back online – and much improved since its former 2005 incarnation – but Ory and Mark feel that they still have an important role to play in using online tools to hold Kenyan MPs more accountable. According to Mzalendo, the MP profile pages of the official Parliament website “are not working and the Hansards are still in pdf and not xml format, which makes them hard to repurpose.” The new (though not yet launched) version of Mzalendo, on the other hand, promises much more information and interaction. The Mzalendo blog has launched a new section called “Mzalendo Vox Pop” where guest contributors “discuss issues affecting their constituency in more detail.” Okolloh hopes that by the 2012 general election Mzalendo will have enough content to produce voter cheat sheets which rank incumbents by their participation and performance in parliament. The idea is to hand them out to voters without internet access who otherwise wouldn't be able to take advantage of the content from Mzalendo to make a more informed vote. “It’s one thing to tell people to make informed decisions, but that’s difficult when there is no information.” Still, like most of these sites, there are concerns about Mzalendo's sustainability. “We thought we could be sustained by volunteers, but that clearly is not working,” says Okolloh. “We think we are onto something good and potentially powerful, but how to build on it without becoming an NGO is a challenge.”
A hybrid model, which depends on volunteer students, but is able to count on the institutional support of the University of the Andes, is Congreso Visible in Colombia. As the websites of both Colombia's Senate and House of Representatives are hopelessly out of date, Congreso Visible depends entirely on students of the political science department of the University of the Andes to manually input the data about representatives, political parties, and legislative activity. There is also a useful section called the “Agora” that provides context, investigative reporting, and opinion pieces. Each quarter they publish a printed review of activity that took place on the website in order to distribute it to offline readers. As of today the website includes 1858 profiles of members of the Congress and aspiring candidates, 5614 legislative documents and almost 1144 voting records. Of all the parliamentary informatics websites we reviewed, Congreso Visible has the cleanest presentation, and might also have the most thorough inventory of information. It takes advantage of Flickr, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter to encourage interaction with the content published on the site. Colombia's Congress has contacted the Congreso Visible team to learn how to develop a similar website for the official Senate and House of Representatives domains. While the Colombian Congress should be applauded for seeking out expertise on how to modernize its information systems, this does beg the question, what will be the use of Congreso Visible if the Congress itself uses the exact same platform?
Most of the parliamentary informatics websites we reviewed seek to provide readers with more information about their representatives and how they vote. Others are more pro-active in encouraging citizens to think about issues rather than individuals. Vote na Web (“Vote on the Web”) is a tool developed by WebCitizen, which was launched in November 2009 at TEDx São Paulo. Using a clear interface, congressional bills are translated into simple language with clearly defined context and consequences. Beyond just explaining legislative bills in everyday language that most citizens can understand, the interface also encourages users to vote on the bills themselves, and then compare their votes with other users and with the politicians. So far most bills have only attracted between 10 – 500 votes, but if the number of users scales up, Vote na Web will provide an excellent visualization of just how representative Brazilian politicians are in their voting histories. KohoVolit.eu has also developed a number of online and offline applications to compare citizens’ votes with those of elected officials.
500 sobre 500 (“500 for 500″) also encourages more pro-active interaction by creating profiles of all 500 representatives of Mexico's House of Deputies, and then asking users to adopt each candidate and follow a list of updated “challenges”. The project ends at the end of the month.
Recommendations:
What stood out as most surprising throughout our documentation of all of these projects is that each one wrote an extensive amount of code to develop distinct platforms even though nearly all of the platforms follow the same basic structure: 1) profiles of representatives with voting records, 2) legislative bills, 3) profiles of political parties, 4) a section for context and analysis. We recommend that donors convene a meeting of technologists working on parliamentary informatics websites to agree on a single platform that can be used in all representative democracies. They should collectively develop and release the Ushahidi-equivalent for parliamentary informatics. So far OpenCongress, which is written with Ruby on Rails, backed by a PostgreSQL database and Solr full-text indexing, seems like the best bet. However, MySociety's TheyWorkForYou platform, written mostly in PHP, is another strong contender, especially for Commonwealth parliamentary systems that use a Hansard. The Congreso Visible platform, which was developed by Monoku and written in Django and jQuery is also worth further exploration, as is the Vota Inteligente platform, which is written in PHP.
[Update: We have since been informed by the Participatory Politics Foundation (developers of OpenCongress.org) that they are currently developing OpenGovernment.org, a new project that will make the open-source OpenCongress code base more modular and will be used to reveal state-, city-, and local-level government data. Its current code its hosted on GitHub.]
There is a lack of research comparing the practices and effects of parliamentary informatics websites. Arthur Edwards’ 2006 paper “Facilitating the monitorial voter: retrospective voter information websites in the United States, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands” is one of the few such studies, but it is by now outdated and limited in scope. Of specific value would be a quantified, comparative study of web analytics from each website. Where do visitors come from? What type of information are they seeking? Where do they spend most of their time? What parts of the website are frequently ignored? All of these questions can be answered with closer research into the web analytics of each website.
The majority of the projects we reviewed took advantage of social media services and relationships with their national blogospheres to distribute information and analysis from the website. We saw less evidence of collaboration, however, with civil society organizations and mainstream media institutions. A notable exception is Vota Inteligente, which has established an impressive network of like-minded national, regional, and international civil society organizations. They have also collaborated closely with mainstream media, such as CNN en Español to spread awareness and put pressure on politicians.
We recommend to project leaders that they thoroughly study search engine optimization and apply its strategies to their website development. Most users will likely arrive to their websites by searching Google for information related to a particular politician or keywords related to a legislative bill. It is crucial that the relevant page is among the first ten search results.
We recommend to project leaders that they work with local newspapers, radio stations, TV stations, and mobile phone service providers to distribute information and analysis from their websites to offline readers. Other strategies for offline distribution include Congreso Visible's model of quarterly reports and Mzalendo's plans for non-partisan voter pamphlets to be distributed before elections. We recommend that project leaders work in partnership with high school teachers to develop lesson plans that integrate these platforms into school curricula so that students understand the workings of their government from an information perspective. We also recommend to project leaders that in addition to scraping data from official parliamentary websites, they also take advantage of the wealth of contextual information found on sites like Open CRS, Parlio, and the National Congress Library of Chile in order to give a more thorough overview of how congress works.
We recommend to the Global Centre for ICT in Parliament that they reach out to technologists and administrators of parliamentary informatics websites to involve them in discussions and agreements related to XML and open standards in parliament. The 14-17 September 2010 Internet Governance Forum in Vilnius, Lithuania could be one potential venue to convene such a discussion.
We recommend to project leaders that they follow the strategy of Congreso Visible and partner with local universities to take advantage of eager students who can help input data into the system, and then analyze and distribute that information. We recommend to donors and universities that they facilitate more conversation between researchers of open government data and technologists working on parliamentary informatics websites.
We recommend to governments that they seek out the opinion of open government activists and technologists when deciding how to publish information online, and what information should be made available.
Thanks to Renata Avila for her contributions to this piece.

author: David Sasaki


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Thailand: Arson in Bangkok, protests spread to other provinces · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Bangkok burning. Photo by BKKApologist
The anti-government Red Shirt camp in central Bangkok is already under military control but retreating protesters burned several buildings in the city. Protests also erupted in other provinces, particularly in Udon Thani, located northeast of Thailand. A curfew was imposed in the capital and in most parts of the country.
Below is a google map of the clashes between the Red Shirts and government soldiers
A timeline of events that took place in Bangkok in the past 24 hours via Bangkok Pundit, Reuters Live Blog, The Thai Report, and Prachatai. Eyewitness accounts of the chaos in Bangkok by Simon Roughneen, Nirmal Ghosh, and Saw Yan Naing who was able to enter the Red Shirt camp. Pictures of the “battles” in the city were uploaded by Thailand’s Troubles.
The Drop described this scene after the dispersal of the Red Shirt protest camp
The street is covered in filth, food everywhere fermenting in the hot sun. A small crowd hidden behind a wall stares at the tall building overlooking the soi, trying to spot snipers. The soi is completely opened in the front, no tires left. The building that at the corner with Rama IV, an office of Kasikorn Bank, has been completely burned, leaving an empty blackened shell with electric wire swinging from the light pole to the street.
Arson in Bangkok. Photo by Abhinew
Malls, banks, cinema houses, TV stations and the Stock Exchange in Bangkok were set ablaze by fleeing Red Shirt protesters. Parts of Bangkok were literally burning yesterday. Here is a video of a burning Central World Mall, one of the largest shopping centers in the country.
As protest crackdown ends in Bangkok, the situation in Udon Thani is quite different as Red Shirt supporters were able to seize control a government building. Life in Rural Thailand provides timely updates about the situation in the city. Pictures of the protest were uploaded by the Thai Report. Here is a video of a protest scene in front of a government building.
The Red Shirts have a strong base in northeast Thailand. Many of them are from rural communities who are supporters of ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. But the Red Shirts today are no longer composed of loyal fans of Thaksin. They are also joined by groups and individuals who wanted to replace the “elitist” system of government of Thailand.
Udon protest. Photo by anonymost
The Red Shirts are demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva whom they accuse of being illegitimate and undemocratic. They also want the Prime Minister to dissolve the parliament and call for new elections.
For the past two months, the Red Shirts mobilized thousands of their members to protest in the streets of Bangkok. Violence escalated about a week ago when the government ordered a blockade of the protest camps and later a crackdown against the protesters. The government blamed “terrorist-protesters” for the rising tension and violence in Bangkok.
Jotman compiles tweet reactions about yesterday’s events. Here are other reactions from Twitter
Bameecutie: MY CTW HAS GONE ! so does any of those buff gonna pay for this .. ? NO THEY WON'T ! And I heard they re still burning Siamsquare ..
PRA3WA_P: @toeytoeyy But not only bkk. They re burning tires in the middle of the freakin road near my house too. U gnna come up n visit the warzone
pippopunkie: A gold shop in my Soi is completely burned down … so that's where the burning smell came from yesterday .. :(
slmackley: RT @paisal_nt: Thai PBS: Fire is still burning at Siam Square, Big C Rajdamri, Bangkok Bank Saphan Luang as rioters still clashed with authorities
iBangkok: Just wondering where all the firefighters were i don't see much on thoses burning Central World videos..
dvanpelt: Two large plumes of smoke this morning at Din Daeng and Ratchaprasong. Smell of burning tires still hangs in the air.
Bangkok
nunid880517: There r ppl dying, there r many places still burning outside but I can't do nething to save and protect my beloved home ;(
tulpin: I can smell burning everywhere around this area dont know where its coming from

source: news-globalvoices

license: Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

author: Mong Palatino


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Ukraine: The Plight of the Crimean Tatars · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Paul Goble of Window on Eurasia writes about the 66th anniversary of the deportations of the Crimean Tatars and the current plight of those who have returned to their homeland and those who haven't: “But because of the importance of where they live, their difficulties will not be theirs alone.”

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Uruguay: First Woman Elected as Intendant of Montevideo · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

Ana Olivera is the first woman to be elected as the Municipal Intendant of Montevideo. As a member of Uruguay’s Communist Party, Olivera’s candidacy became a dividing force among supporters of the Frente Amplio (Broad Front) coalition, the party that chose her as their candidate for Montevideo and also the party the current President, José Mujica, belongs to. Internal politics of the Broad Front distracted many bloggers and social media users from the historic fact that Olivera is the first woman to hold this office, which is roughly equivalent to city mayor. Nevertheless, whether focusing on politics or feminist history, Uruguayans had a lot to say about Olivera and they used the web to voice their opinions.
The site 180 [es] reported that 13.8% of the votes were cast as blank, making a record of blank votes. Users commenting on the article say they voted blank because they either did not like Olivera representing the Broad Front, or because they were tired of the party’s 20-year management in the capital, like user Juan [es] who wrote:
Esto es muestra clara de que la gente esta recontra podrida y hay un gran descreimiento de la clase política.
Ana Olivera. Image uploaded by user Marcopolo2007 to Wikimedia Commons and used under a Creative Commons license
The left-leaning Uruguayan blog Internacionalismo Militante [es] explains one of the reasons behind the high percentage of blank votes.
Una explicación posible a este fenómeno en Montevideo, capital del país y principal ciudad, fue que la elección del candidato frenteamplista a la intendencia montevideana resultó equivocada ya que la base electoral del FA prefería otro candidato, el ex ministro de industria Daniel Martinez [… ]De hecho desde la elección de Ana Olivera como candidata varios grupos de militantes frenteamplistas comenzaron a propagandizar el voto en blanco.
Agustín Tajes of the blog Qué Pasa Uruguay? [es] takes this explanation further, analyzing the results as a lesson for the Broad Front on its electorate’s discontent with Communist ideology.
Eso es también una señal para el Frente, que a pesar de que juega a la democracia, la cúpula está dominada por quienes profesan la fe marxista leninista y sueñan -como dijo Mujica en “Pepe Coloquios”– con el hombre nuevo y una patria marxista y no han perdido las mañas fascistas para hacerse del poder, con un congreso donde se cocinaron las candidaturas de Mujica en lo nacional y de alguien del PCU en Montevideo.
Facebook Uruguay [es], a blog showcasing Facebook groups and pages created by Uruguayans, noted this division and posted a story listing groups in favor and against Olivera’s candidacy for Montevideo. A group called I will not vote for Ana Olivera as the Municipal Intendant of Montevideo [es] changed its name to MVD: Muncipales… ¿Vos Decidiste? (Montevideo: Municipal results…Did you decide?) [es]  after Olivera’s victory.
Two groups celebrating Olivera’s triumph are Ana Olivera, the first Female Elected Intendant in the History of Uruguay!!! [es] and Ana Olivera Intendant –a Woman in the
Front [es]
Despite the majority of comments coming from supporters in the latter group, Vincent Bidegain [es] wrote:
Ni enfermo voto a blancos o colorados, pero tampoco votare a Ana. Estan faltando 3 cosas: 1) Una lista de los PROBLEMAS de MVD 2) una lista de las soluciones propuestas. 3) una explicacion de por que no se hicieron en los ultimos 20 anios. // No voto a Olivera porque soy frentista a muerte. Por el FA votare en blanco o anulado.
However, others showed their support for Olivera, like Leo Carro Moroni [es] who noted that it is important to recognize that she is the first woman holding this position, and reminds the group that whether they like it or not the newly elected intendant is now representing the Broad Front:
hay que valorar el hecho de que una mujer es electa por primera vez intedenta de Montevideo,y ademas una comunista,pero debe quedar claro que mas alla de la persona hay un colectivo detras,y que el sillon de la intendencia le pertenece al colectivo, es decir al FA,como todos los demas cargos pubkicos,salud Ana,salud Montevideo
Echoing the historical significance of her election, in the group Ana Olivera, the first Female Elected Intendant in the History of Uruguay!!! [es]
Hugo Benitez [es] wrote:
y dicen que no hay equidad ya era hora la postulacion de una mujer como intendente de Montevideo eso muestra que lo importyante es la capacidad y no los prejuicios

author: Silvia Viñas


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USA: Tough Reviews on Huffington Post’s Birthday · Global Voices
Solana Larsen

Upon the 5th anniversary of the Huffington Post, five harsh critiques of the infamous U.S. lefty news website on Columbia Journalism Review.

author: Solana Larsen


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Argentina: Rocker Gustavo Cerati Suffers Stroke After Concert · Global Voices
Jorge Gobbi

Argentinean musician, Gustavo Cerati, who became popular in Latin America as the lead singer and guitar player of the band Soda Stereo, suffered a stroke caused by cerebrovascular disease after performing a show in the city of Caracas, Venezuela on May 15. The musician had surgery, and is currently in a coma. After his condition became public, Twitter became one of the means of circulation of news and rumors about the musician. The hashtag #cerati  became one of the most popular worldwide, and others such as #fuerzacerati (stay strong Cerati) also came up in local versions of hashtags rankings.
Photo of Gustavo Cerati by annais and used under a Creative Commons license.
On Twitter, the large number of messages published by users were words of support for the popular rock star. For example, Erika Vargas (@_erikilla_) writes:
sigo orando por @cerati mandandole la mejor energia y mucha fuerza!!!
There was also a lot of room for rumors. At times, talk about the death of the singer came up, something that was quickly denied in the media. However, many journalists from traditional media published news about Cerati's health condition through their Twitter updates.
In the case of blogs, something curious happened. Before the death of the popular Argentinean singer, Sandro, Clarin newspaper, the most popular in Argentina, published a special issue [es] on its website they had prepared in case he died, something that happened weeks later. We need to take into consideration that it's normal for the media to prepare obituaries of people who are in risk of dying as a way of planning the publishing of content. Since that event, the blog UDN [es] published an entry where, by using an images editor, they created a fake cover of Clarin's Showbiz section, that read “goodbye Cerati”. The image spread through Twitter, where some users took it seriously and believed it was another Clarin leak. Hours later, the newspaper reported “actions” against them [es]. While the blog that published the “fake cover” maintains a pro-government position and against Clarin newspaper, it is also true that the entry made it clear it was a joke, and not a leak of Clarin newspaper's material.

author: Jorge Gobbi


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Bermuda: More on the Media Bill  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Wishful Thinking says “it's really hit the fan over this Media Council Bill”, while Politics.bm adds: “So, the PLP during the election were against locking up violent criminals but are apparently for locking up the press.”

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Brazil: 5XFavela: Art Breaking Social and Cultural Barriers · Global Voices
Debora Baldelli

The Project 5X Favela [5 Times Favela], which aims to teach young people from the favelas (slums) of Rio de Janeiro how to work in the movie business, presented its first feature film, “5X Favela: Now by ourselves” at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival on 18th May.
The film shows five shorts of 20 minutes [pt], each made by different students from the several film workshops from the Project 5X Favela performed by renowned Brazilian filmmakers such as Nelson Pereira dos Santos [pt], Ruy Guerra, Walter Lima Jr., Daniel Filho [pt], Walter Salles, Fernando Meirelles, João Moreira Salles and others.  “5X Favela: Now by ourserves” reflects the voice and point of view of the youth living (and growing up) in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro.
It is hard not to be charmed by a social and cultural project of this size [pt], which intends not only to inform both Brazilian and international population about the lives of slum-dwellers, but also to professionalize and provide opportunities for talented young people who bring new ideas to Brazilian cinema.
Participants of the film production went through a long and arduous apprenticeship until the final selection for the project. 229 young people attended various workshops such as screenplay writing, direction, production, photography, art, editing, post-production, and interpretation. They had also received an allowance to make it possible to attend classes. From these workshops, 84 young people were chosen to join the film crew, which resulted in “5X Favela: Now by ourselves”.
During production (Photo Courtesy of the Film Production)
The workshops were developed in partnership with organizations and communities of the favelas (slums) and the CUFA [pt] [Favela's Central Unit) in Cidade de Deus[City of God], the Nós do Morro (in Vidigal), the Observatorio de Favelas [Favela Observatory] (in the Maré Complex), the AfroReggae [pt] (in Parada de Lucas ) and the Cidadela/Cinemaneiro [pt] (headquartered in Lapa neighborhood, bringing together people from various communities of the Linha Amarela Highway) [pt].
Published in the project blog, Professor Ruy Guerra, the group's patron, gave an emotional statement at the end of the workshops:
Para ser bem sucedido em qualquer forma de expressão artística, como no cinema, não basta a sensibilidade, a intuição e o talento. É preciso ser do seu tempo. É preciso saber de onde viemos, para saber quem somos, para falar do presente, do passado, e até do futuro, que é também um território da arte.
É indispensável termos a consciência clara que nunca estamos prontos, que devemos estar sempre de olhos abertos, bem abertos, vendo, lendo, questionando, vivendo.
(…)Antes queria que soubessem por que é que este momento é tão especial para mim. Por que este encontro, além de um ato festivo, além de um ritual de passagem, é também um gesto político importante. Este encontro, no qual todos nós somos atores, faz parte do sentimento político que os fazedores de cinema, (e aqui uso o termo cinema no sentido amplo de todas as formas de expressão que usam as imagens em movimento), podem e devem vir de todas as camadas sociais de uma nação, e não apenas de minorias previlegiadas. E que o cinema, como objeto, como filme, pode e deve estar ao alcance de qualquer um. Todos aqui, estou certo disso, estamos habitados por essa convicção.
To be successful in any form of artistic expression, like in the movies, sensitivity, intuition and talent are not enough. You have to be someone from your own time. You must know where we come from to know who we are to talk about the present, past, and even about the future, which is also a territory of art. It is vital to have a clear awareness that we are never ready, that we should always have our eyes wide open, watching, reading, questioning and living.
(…) First, I wanted you to know why this moment is so special to me. Why this meeting, along with a festive act, besides being a rite of passage, is also an important political gesture. This meeting, in which we are all actors, is part of the political feeling that the cinema-makers, (and here I use the term cinema in the broad sense of all forms of expression that use moving images), can and should come from all social layers of a nation, not just privileged minority also, the cinema as an object, such as film, can and should be accessible to anyone. Everyone here, I am sure, is inhabited by this conviction.
A few weeks ago, Rodrigo Felha, one of the directors of the film, reported in his blog the joy and anxiety about the chance of the film being shown at Cannes:
“Quinta-feira dia 15 de Abril é quebrada a ansiedade de saber se estamos no Festival de Cannes. É verdade, é histórico… das favelas cariocas pra Cannes, uma responsabilidade muito grande, do jeito que gosto. Agora é manter os pés no chão e se preparar. Ganhar o mundo não é pra qualquer um, mas é pra quem corre atrás e sabe representar uma massa de profissionais de qualidade que moram nas periferias do Rio e do Brasil. Espero estar representando bem! Vamu q vamu…”
Directors of the movie (Courtesy of the Film Production)
The film went to Cannes, and according to several encouraging statements circulating on Facebook and Twitter, is going well:
Cannes ferveu com a festa do 5xFavela ontem, tomara que alguém poste fotos ou vídeos. “Mas eu só quero é ser feliz, fazer a minha mala para vir até Paris, e poder me orgulhar de vir aqui pra cannes com a Renata e com o Cacá”. Foi emocionante pacas. Ponto alto do festival. (A. L. B.  no Facebook)
@Ana_Moreno @la_lima I watched the 5xFavela shorts last night, it was pretty emotional, all Brazil was there!
@LuigiGt @5xfavela The movie we all Need to see!
@malu_muniz (+) un fresco de ficción sobre base desgraciadamente real firmado por cineastas jóvenes e inexpertos que saben de lo que hablan… #5xfavela
Watch the movie promo:
The barriers yet to be broken
But as life is not a bed of roses. Just before leaving for the Cannes festival, one of the film's directors Rodrigo Felha, was humiliated by policemen in the square of Cidade de Deus [City of God]. The blog BrazilianGirlsRadio wrote:
O fato ocorreu na noite de sábado (15/5) na Praça da Cidade de Deus  (apartamentos). Ele foi vítima de abuso policial sendo obrigado a ficar em trajes íntimos na presença de outros moradores.
Movie Scene (Courtesy of Film Production)
MVBill [pt], a leading Brazilian rapper also denounced the incident on Facebook and twitter:
@mvbill  Diretor do Filme 5xFavela é humilhado na véspera do embarque para Cannes #cannes http://migre.me/FoYh MV Bill TTbr#viradacultural
Celso Athayde [pt], a community leader and creator of Cine Cufa [pt], a film festival that showcases movies made by residents of poor neighborhoods from several countries, also commented about the episode on his blog:
Essa não é a polícia que queremos, como também não acreditamos que isso seja orientação do Governador Sergio Cabral ou do Comandante da PM, ao mesmo tempo queremos sair do caminho comum da simples denúncia e punição do policial autor dessa arbitrariedade, pois, para nós da Cufa, isso seria muito fácil, no entanto seria como enxugar um chão molhado e deixar a torneira aberta, pois a cultura dominante autoritária que carrega o estereótipo das favelas e seus habitantes como humanos (sem direitos) permaneceria, mesmo com o policial punido.
Some comments on his post had a similar tone:
É impressionante que este tipo de coisa aconteça em pleno século XXI. Lastimável. Está na hora de todos, sociedade e governantes darem um basta neste tipo de atitude, que é o mesmo preceito do nazismo que o planeta tanto odeia. Rogério Garcia – RJ
É impressionante que,depois de anos de repressão, continuemos sofrendo com atitudes humilhantes e constrangedoras de pessoas que,não sabem o que é ser um policial. Aposto que este homem não sabe a real função de um policial. Este homen denigre a imagem de uma corporação, que ainda tento acreditar que em sua maioria são pessoa honrradas.
The blog Cinema é Magia [Cinema is Magic] has also addresses the topic, saying that CUFA already contacted the state government of Rio de Janeiro to report the case and submit proposals for an awareness of the police:
Felha disse que a Cufa (Central Única das Favelas) já entrou em contato com o governo do estado do Rio de Janeiro para pedir uma reunião em que serão apresentadas propostas de um projeto de conscientização dos policiais.
Ainda segundo Felha, o projeto está sendo elaborado em parceria com o rapper MV Bill e o líder local Celso Athayde. A ideia é que “os policiais que estão sendo formados agora para trabalhar como pacificadores façam antes um curso nas favelas, diretamente com os moradores”, revelou. As aulas, afirma, seriam ministradas por ele e possivalmente pelo policial contra quem ele diz ter registrado queixa por constrangimento ilegal.
These facts show how many barriers have still to be crossed and that are far beyond having the film shown in Cannes. Internal barriers and cultural stigmas are deeply rooted. But with initiatives and opportunities such as these, they can be increasingly diluted.
The film's official website is http://www.5xfavela.com.br/. Click here for the blog. For tweets, follow @5xfavela.

author: Debora Baldelli


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Cuba: Monitoring Arrests · Global Voices
Susannah Vila

Ever since the February, 2010 death of Orlando Zapato Tamayo, the first Cuban hunger striker to perish in 40 years, the situation in the island appears to have become even more tense.  Roughly 30 people were arrested around the time of Tamayo's funeral, including blogger Yoani Sanchez and independent journalists Ramon Velazquez Toranzo, Calixto Ramon Martinez Arias and Yosvani Anzardo Hernandez.
Sanchez blogged about her most recent encounter with the police after waiting 60 days for an official response from the Cuban government on the incident.
Hace más de 60 días envié a varias instituciones cubanas una denuncia por detención ilegal, violencia policial y encarcelación arbitraria. A partir de la muerte de Orlando Zapata Tamayo sucesivos arrestos ilegales impidieron a más de un centenar de personas participar en las actividades relacionadas con su funeral. Estuve entre los muchos que terminaron en un calabozo el 24 de febrero cuando nos dirigíamos a firmar el libro de condolencias abierto en su nombre. El grado de violencia empleado contra mí y la contravención de los procedimientos para recluir a un individuo en una Estación de Policía, me hicieron interponer una demanda con pocas esperanzas de que fuera ventilada en un tribunal. Durante todo este tiempo he esperado la respuesta tanto de la Fiscalía Militar como de la Fiscalía General, haciendo un esfuerzo por no sacar a la luz este testimonio revelador, evidencia dolorosa de cuán vulnerados son nuestros derechos.
She documented the arrest on her cellphone and released the audio along with this blog post.  Download the transcript here [PDF]. You can hear the entire ordeal, from the moment when police approach Sanchez and her sister on the street and force them into a paddy wagon, to the huddle between prison guards. Below is an excerpt.
YS: Esto es un delito (This is a crime.)
[Los  golpes arreciaban] (The beating increases)
POLICE: Sí,  sí,  sí  [dijo uno con ironía] (Yes, yes yes [says one sarcastically])
YS: ¡Qué cobardes son ustedes! (What cowards you are!)
YS: ¿Este es el único método? (Is this the only method?)
YS: ¡Suéltame! (Let go of me!)
YS: Están incurriendo en un delito de secuestro, coacción y violencia. No tienen ningún derecho. (You are committing the crime of kidnapping, coercion and violence. You have no right.)
POLICE: ¡Pum,  pum!  ¡Cállate  la  boca,  mi´ja! (Shut  your  mouth,  honey!)
YS: “Pobrecitos. Ellos no saben que la palabra les esta taldrando el piso donde estan parados.  Ellos no saben que van a tener que rendir cuentas enel futuro por todo esto”
(“Poor things. They don't know the word, they are cutting the floor out from under themselves, the floor where they are standing. They don't know that they are going to be called to account for all of this in the future.)
A couple of weeks later, another blogger, Dania Virgen Garcia, was arrested and sent to a women's prison called Manto Negro, or Black Veil. She was released after 15 days, and blogged about it:
Llegué a Manto Negro, una prisión de mujeres de mayor rigor, a las 6 y 30 de la tarde del viernes 23 de abril. Mi primera semana en la cárcel fue muy tensa…Muchas están a la espera de juicio o de que baje la petición fiscal. La espera puede demorar de siete meses a un año y más…
Había casos absurdos e injustos. Una joven que se resistió al acoso sexual de un Jefe de Sector de la Policía. Una cubana-americana acusada de contrabando de oro por viajar a Cuba con sus joyas. Una mujer, acusada de asesinato, que intentó defenderse de unos ladrones que penetraron en su casa y mataron al jardinero. Por algo las presas bromean que la Prisión de Mujeres de Occidente debía llamarse Prisión de Mujeres Inocentes….La tarde que llegué a la prisión, una presa se cortó las venas en la celda. Estaba sentenciada a 10 meses por vender jabitas de nylon. Hacía dos meses que estaba en la cárcel y tenía problemas mentales. Al lunes siguiente se suicidó…Desde que llegué a la prisión, fui tratada como si fuera una espía del gobierno norteamericano. Las guardias me hostigaban y me miraban con odio. Según decían, los yanquis me habían enviado para que averiguara y sacara a la luz todo lo que ocurría en la prisión…Las guardias le decían a las presas que yo era una disidente y periodista independiente, una peligrosa mercenaria, para intentar virarlas en contra mía…
There were absurd and unfair cases.  A young woman who resisted the sexual harassment of a Chief of Sector in the police.  A Cuban American accused of smuggling gold to travel to Cuba with her jewels.  A woman, charged with murder, who tried to defend herself from thieves that broke into her house and killed her gardener.  Some of the prisoners joked that the Western Women's Prison should be called the Innocent Womens’ Prison…the afternoon that I arrived, one prisoner had cut her veins in her cell.  She was sentenced to ten months for selling nylon shopping bags. She'd been in the prison for two months and had mental problems.    The next Monday she killed herself…Since I had arrived at the prison I was treated like a spy for the U.S. government. The guards harassed me and looked at me with hate. According to them, the Yankees had sent me to bring to light everything that happened in the prison.  The guards told the other prisoners that I was a dissident and an independent journalist, a dangerous mercenary, in order to try and and pit them against me.
Yoani Sanchez interviewed Garcia and posted the video on YouTube; it's garnered a little over 10,000 views.
The diaspora blog Uncommon Sense writes:
Every day, Cuban secret police somewhere on the island knock on a door and take one of the Castro dictatorship's opponents to jail. Many times, they are released after a few hours, but many times, they are not.
Among the recently imprisoned are Calixto Ramon Martinez Arias, an independent journalist for Hablemos Press, who was arrested on April 23rd by security officials who broke into the house where he was covering a memorial service for Tamayo. Arias has since been released.  Yosvani Anzardo Hernandez, the former director of a defunct online independent newspaper, was detained on April 24th and questioned for over six hours over anti-government graffiti. Carlos Serpa Maceira was harassed when he tried to cover the weekly march by the activist group Damas de Blanco — meanwhile, the Damas themselves are not protected from violent harassment.
As Laritza Diversent, a Havana based lawyer and independent blogger, writes:
In Cuba, there are several forms of expression. The most peculiar one is when you want to criticize the political system. There are several steps you need to follow. First, you need to look around the place where you are. Second, with whom are you trying to have a dialogue. And third, you need to converse quietly, using signs and code words…The current criminal statues protect State’s leaders, officials and institutions against negative expressions and opinion from the citizenry. In other words, in Cuba, criticism may be a crime.
Someone whose behaviors and words are fully coded, though, remains vulnerable to arrest—in Cuba, “dangerousness” is a crime—making it more difficult to surmise whether these most recent episodes of detainment have been precipitated by the international attention that the hunger striker's death has trained on the island.

author: Susannah Vila


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East Timor: Short Story Competition in Tetum · Global Voices
Sara Moreira

Istoria Timor Short Story Competition in Tetum language is running until the end of June. The concept notes from the previous edition offer an overview to literacy and language in East Timor and can be found in this post.

author: Sara Moreira


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Egypt: Ask and ElBaradei Will Answer  · Global Voices
Marwa Rakha

In the Presidential succession race, and after Gamal Mubarak's Sharek Initiative, Ayman Nour's Facebook activism, Omar Soliman's blog, now you can Ask ElBaradei. From May 17 to 26, you will be  able to ask Dr ElBaradei through Google moderator any question and he will reply. Zeinobia asked him two questions.

author: Marwa Rakha


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Egypt: No Longer Jewel of the Nile · Global Voices
Marwa Rakha

Four of the seven upstream Nile Basin Initiative countries have decided to sign a new Nile deal. Despite strong Egyptian and Sudanese opposition, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and  Ethiopia signed a new water-sharing agreement. The other three countries, Kenya,  Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo are expected to sign the new deal  within the next 12 months as allowed by the accord.
Bikya Masr reported:
It is water. Water for all. At least this is the argument that upstream  countries along the Nile River have been saying for years, but Egypt continues  to refuse to renegotiate a colonial-era treaty that would allocate more water  for use in the upstream countries part of the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI). Egypt  says that without its access to water, the country could face severe shortages  and possible nationwide anxiety and protests.
Egyptian Citizen laments the current situation saying:
Nawara Negm is also worried – but for a different reason:
Bikya Masr does not see a reason for panicking:
However, despite a new agreement being signed, little is likely to change. Egypt is already pushing international donor bodies, such as the World Bank – the main financier of the NBI – to cut funding to the signatories.
According to World Bank officials last July in Alexandria, they would not fund any new project without the approval of Egypt.
“Egypt is the leading country in this consortium and the World Bank will not get behind any initiative that leaves them out,” a World Bank official said at the time on the sidelines of the NBI conference in the Egyptian port city
Meanwhile, The Egyptian Silent Majority is ashamed:
Nawara Negm disapproves of President Mubarak's visit to Italy:
Ethiopia tells Egypt the Nile is for all, Bikya Masr reported:
Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said on Wednesday that the bullying of Egypt over the construction of dams along the Nile River must end as upstream nations attempt to implement a number of water projects despite Cairo’s opposition. He rejected threats by Egypt to prevent the erection of projects along the world’s longest river.
In an interview with Al Jazeera, Zenawi argued that a new era in the Nile basin has begun. His statements come less than one week after Ethiopia, Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzania signed a new treaty on water-sharing along the Nile.
Egyptian Citizen wondered:
On Nawara's blog, the independent initiative for water conservation took off:
Blogs that are part of the initiative are Egyptian Resistance, A Human Being, Egyptian Citizen, Me and Those, Ehab Affandy, Silence Screaming Out loud, and Internet-ian.
On Facebook, Against the Nile Basin Countries page was created in fear of the coming wars over water.
And another group was created to promote the Independent Initiative for Water Conservation.


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Ghana: New book by Ghanaian blogger · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Kajsa writes about a new book by a Ghanaian blogger: “Well, maybe it is a stretch to say that Circles by Boakyewaa Glover (click to go to her blog) is a blog book, it is maybe rather a book by a blogger.”

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Haiti: Burning Seeds · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Haitian farmers react to news of hybrid seed flooding the country – Repeating Islands links to a comprehensive report.


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Hiring: Global Voices Seeks Director for Rising Voices · Global Voices
Ivan Sigal

Global Voices  seeks a Program Director for its Rising Voices citizen media training and outreach initiative. Rising Voices was launched in May 2007 with the support of a Knight News Challenge Award. Rising Voices seeks to empower under-represented communities to make their voices heard online by 1) providing financial support to outreach projects, 2) developing a series of participatory media tutorials, and 3) cultivating a network of passionate citizen media activists to help encourage and support the replication of outreach trainings. Over the past three years Rising Voices has funded 22 grantee projects, published a series of multilingual guides, and grown its mailing list related to citizen media development to around 1,000 subscribers. Rising Voices, working together with other Global Voices projects, creates a path for local stories and voices to reach a global audience through translation, contextualization, and advocacy.
Global Voices is a global, virtual organization, supported by the paid and volunteer efforts of over 400 people on every continent. The director of Rising Voices must possess a wide range of professional and personal skills to help the project reach its potential as the leading international network for the development of successful and impactful citizen media projects.
The Rising Voices director will be responsible for the following:
- Management oversight of Rising Voices staff and current grantee projects, including direct communication with project leaders, grant disbursement, financial oversight, and technical support
– Design and coordinate future microgrant competitions to support the development of new citizen media projects in communities that are currently under-represented in both traditional and new media
– Facilitate the translation, contextualization, and editorial amplification of content from each project so that it is repurposed in a variety of media
– Build and maintain relationships with partners, other networks, and donors interested in supporting specific issue initiatives related to citizen media development
– Draft and manage operating budgets for the program – in collaboration with Global Voices’ Managing Director and Executive Director
– Update, aggregate, develop, and distribute a collection of guides, tutorials, and resources related to citizen media production with a focus on community development
– Foster networks of participatory media initiatives in underserved communities around the world, and increase access to knowledge resources, best practices, and training materials for those networks
– Work with media and technology conference organizers to ensure active participation of citizen media projects from under-represented communities
– Promote and facilitate the localization of free and open source software into languages that are currently not supported
– Extensive travel in the course of supporting the work of grantee projects and representing Rising Voices
Specifically, we are seeking a candidate with
- Strong leadership skills
– Experience managing a multilingual, multicultural team
– Strong technical skills and experience with citizen media, including blogging, podcasting, and digital video
– Familiarity with the open source software and open content communities
– Strategic planning experience, preferably in a nonprofit or media context
– The ability to work independently and be able to produce results
To work effectively with our community, we would prefer that candidates:
- Have experience living and working internationally, or have traveled extensively in the developing world
– Are active bloggers or creators of online media
– Are multilingual, with fluency in English and at least one other language
– Have experience working in diverse, multicultural environments.
The ideal candidate must have a passionate commitment to the values and goals of Global Voices, they will be joining a well established team of editors and authors who are dedicated to amplifying the voices of world. There is no geographic requirement associated with this position – Global Voices has no office, headquarters, etc. – but substantial travel is expected. Candidates must have access to broadband internet connectivity and be comfortable working in a wholly virtual environment. We strongly welcome candidates from outside North America and Europe, and encourage people currently working on the Global Voices project to apply.
The position is full-time, but should be treated as a freelance contract.
To express your interest, please send a cover letter and CV to “rvjob AT globalvoicesonline DOT org” by no later than June 10.

author: Ivan Sigal


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India: Manipur In Peril · Global Voices
Rezwan

“The entire north east is in the grip of an unprecedented wave of Christianization with the help of foreign money,” comments Tarun Vijay, while discussing the problems in the Indian state of Manipur.

author: Rezwan


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India: Things They Don’t Teach At School  · Global Voices
Rezwan

Amit Sodha at The Power Of Choice lists 17 things that should be part of the education system, but are not.


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Jamaica: Double Cross?  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“Approving the extradition order for Dudus  was  the cross… Now we’re waiting to find out what’s the DOUBLE CROSS”: Jamaica and the World reads between the lines.


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Jamaica: Logan Act?  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

My View of JamDown from Up So thinks that “it should be clear in the aftermath of the Prime Minister's revelations about the Jamaica Labour Party's retention of a lawyer in the Dudus case that Jamaica needs a Logan Act.”


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Kyrgyzstan: Bloggers seek stability amidst a frenzy of rallies · Global Voices
Chris Rickleton

“Yes we can see that active forces want to divide us on the basis of North and South, divide us on ethnic grounds, split us into two camps and make us weaker…I ask you, find in yourselves hope and understanding… Only together, brick by brick, will we be able to create a truly democratic and economically developed modern state where law and order will prevail…and where the identity of the multi-ethnic people of Kyrgyzstan will not be lost.”
“If only Kurmanbek Bakiev could have shown such love for his country,” the blogger had concluded wistfully.
Ten days on and Tyuleev supporters were taking to the street, voicing their anger at the provisional government for replacing their protagonist with the less popular Isa Omurkulov[ru]  in the aftermath of the coup on April 7. While a rally organized by Alzambek Atambayev later on during the same day drew an even larger crowd, it is evident that Tyuleev, who served as Mayor of the city for 2 years, is not without his 	sympathizers.
Still more people, however, saw these demonstrations as additional, unnecessary upheavals, occurring just as it seemed the provisional government had restored a modicum of stability to the country as a whole.  Among these were students [ru] of the American University of Central Asia (AUCA), some of whom were  taking final examinations when they were forced to evacuate the university as a result of the nearby demonstrations.
“They say that in our country there was a revolution. They even 	invented a new term – the “people's revolution” to define a coup d'etat. But was the revolution made by the people? It's just shifting the responsibility for an anti-constitutional intervention and the overthrow of the state system by specific individuals onto a generalized notion of the people.”
The blogger went on to make it known that he 	didn’t support President Bakiev, but that the nation itself was 	partly at fault for being passive in the face of widespread corruption and electoral fraud. “Every country deserves the leader they get,” he summarized grimly.
On the positive side, rumours predicting [ru] scenes of mass unrest in the capital on Monday May 17, failed [eng] to bear fruit. The new week commenced with a memorial for those that died on April 7 in Bishkek, and a demonstration against ethnic discrimination in Dostuk, Jalal-Abad oblast.

author: Chris Rickleton


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Nigeria: Nigerian Blog Awards 2010 · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

The second annual Nigerian Blog Awards was launched May 10, 2010.


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Pakistan: Banning Social Media Sites · Global Voices
Rezwan

“It is unfortunate that the government is taking staunch steps in banning social media websites across Pakistan in response to a campaign,” comments Sana Saleem Malik at Mystified justice.


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Puerto Rico: The University Protest seen through Online Video  · Global Voices
Juliana Rincón Parra

The University of Puerto Rico month long protest against budget cuts is still going strong, and through online video and other social media outlets the students hunkered down inside the Rio Piedras campus have kept the information flow active. The students are protesting against cost-cutting measures which would eliminate artistic and sport scholarships, as well as those for students who excel in academics, which would lead to many of those in the lower income brackets without access to higher education.
Students wave the Puerto Rican Flag
This student movement has stood out for its incredibly creative and  extensive use of blogs and social media as communication platforms.  Students, supporters, and detractors, have opened blogs, Twitter and  Facebook accounts, Internet-based radio stations, and shot videos  related to the student strike that has turned a month old today.  Alternative digital media has played a fundamental role in disseminating  information about the strike. Students, and other groups, have had a  space to voice their perspectives, thoughts, and feelings about what is  happening to them without having to depend on the mainstream media.
Some citizen videos tell us what is going on inside the University of Puerto Rico grounds. For example this following video by Noelia González [es] shows the places where supporters of the protest on the outside are gathering food and drink for students for distribution to the inside. The students also take us on a tour of the grounds including  makeshift showers, washing stations and how they are keeping the grounds free of trash.  Outside, support is strong, as vox-pop interviewees state:  the protest is a teachable moment and students are standing up for their rights.
This next video [es]shows how support is also coming from mainland USA. People marched in New York City to show their support for the students in Puerto Rico holding banners and signs:
This next video by Raymond O'Brien is a moving homage to all those protesting. The simple message, 1 University : 1 people  needs no other words to tell the story. Instead images of the artistic marches, the parades, students and alumni singing and dancing their support to the public university they care about.
Carlos Marcial also added his tribute video and posted it on the net. In the video, some slips of paper and signs are show, and they read: “Sorry for the inconvenience, we are building a public university”

author: Juliana Rincón Parra


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Puerto Rico: Violent Confrontation With Demonstrators · Global Voices
Firuzeh Shokooh Valle

Last night, as the governor of Puerto Rico Luis Fortuño held a political fundraiser in one of the salons of the Hotel Sheraton in San Juan, the capital city, students and supporters clashed with special police forces who arrived to quash the demonstration in the hotel's lobby [EN]. Members of the police riot squad beat demonstrators with batons and used pepper spray against them. At least five students were arrested. Leaders of trade unions, students, and other demonstrators were wounded and transported to nearby clinics and hospitals.
Video by Univisión Puerto Rico of violent clashes with demonstrators.
Student demonstration in San Juan. Photo by Mariana Muñiz from Desde Adentro. Republished under a CC License.
Demonstrators inside the Hotel. Photo from blog Desde Adentro. Republished under a CC License.
Police forces mobilize into the Hotel Sheraton. Photo by Mariana Muñiz from Desde Adentro. Republished under a CC License.
This is yet another incident in the students strike that started April 21, 2010. For almost a month, students have paralyzed the main campus of the state-run University of Puerto Rico (UPR) protesting against $100 million in budget cuts and the proposed elimination of certain registration and fee waivers [EN]. About 20,000 students are enrolled in the main UPR campus in Río Piedras. Ten of the UPR's 11 campuses on the Island -where around 62,000 students study- have joined the protest. The student strike has catalyzed a national social movement that was already displeased with Governor Fortuño's economic and social policies. Artists, politicians, professors, members of trade unions, and activists, from Puerto Rico and the world, have joined the students in solidarity.
In the past days, tension has risen in the Río Piedras (main) campus of the UPR. A special police unit has surrounded the campus. Parents have been legally denied the possibility of delivering water, food, and other basic supplies to their kids: students who are participating in the strike. There have been violent police encounters with parents, students, and other people who have supported the strike.
In the blog of students maintained by students of Río Piedras, Desde adentro [ES], Mariana Muñiz and Aura Colón offer a detailed account of the incident at the Hotel Sheraton, which forms part of the Convention Center in San Juan:
Entonces, los guardias comenzaron a tirar gas pimienta y los manifestantes a huir desesperados hacia el Centro de Convenciones. Varias jóvenes salían llorando y cojeando, mientras gritaban que sus compañeros seguían adentro. En esos momentos, la Policía lanzó una granada de gases lacrimógenos, que cubrieron con una nube blanca gran parte del área y dispersaron aún más a los manifestantes.
Toda el área alrededor del hotel estaba rodeada decenas de patrullas. DESDE ADENTRO observó, además, tres ambulancias. Se informó luego que 10 estudiantes se encuentran recibiendo asistencia médica en el Dispensario Hoare, en Miramar. También se notificó que varios estudiantes con dedos rotos y heridas en los brazos fueron atendidos en el Hospital Ashford.
On the other hand, blogger Michael Castro believes the Police has to do its job [ES], although he is also against the use of violence:
Estoy contra el abuso y apoyo la huelga de los estudiantes en la UPR pero hay que tener varias cosas claras. La Policía de Puerto Rico tiene un trabajo que hacer, siguen órdenes y ahora mismo las órdenes son las de mantener a los huelguistas controlados. Si una manifestación se sale de control no esperen otra cosa que no sea palos y empujones, están haciendo su trabajo.
Today, for the first time in Puerto Rican history, professors from the entire UPR system are holding an assembly [ES] in Cayey to discuss the institution's situation. Also, after the UPR temporarily suspended its law suit against various student leaders, negotiations between the Student's Negotiating Committee and the President of the UPR, José Ramón de la Torre, and the President of the Board of Trustees, Ygrí Rivera, started again today [ES].
Online citizen media have been a vital source of information during the student strike. Professor and blogger Mario Nuñez Molina (@digizen) has prepared a list of citizen media in Puerto Rico covering the student strike [ES]. Some of them are: the Río Piedras students blog Desde adentro [ES] and live radio and streaming of students reporting from Río Piedras through Radio Huelga [ES]. UPR es un país [ES] is aggregating the digital citizen and alternative media resources. Huelga Digital [ES] is also republishing and making a compilation of information. Blogger and graduate student Miguel Ríos created another excellent list of resources that includes Facebook, YouTube, and Flickr.
The hashtags #paroUPR, #huelgaUPR, and #radiohuelga are being used to discuss and follow the student protests on Twitter. Students of the Mayagüez (on the west coast of the Island) campus are using @luchasrum and the blog Luchas en el RUM [ES] to inform about their events. UPR Río Piedras Law professor Erika Fontánez is blogging about the situation. The members of the Association of Professors also have their blog: Cátedra en acción [ES]. Anonymous blogger(s) have been writing critical posts about the students, the UPR authorities and the government in Agenda de la nación puertorriqueña [ES]. Students who are against the strike opened the Facebook account La mayoría silente [ES].The UPR's monthly newspaper Diálogo is also covering the strike. The alternative weekly Claridad is live-streaming the strike (you have to register first in order to have access). Mainstream media, such as Primera Hora and El Nuevo Día, are publishing minute by minute accounts of the events.
Please see Global Voices’ coverage of the student strike here, here and here.

author: Firuzeh Shokooh Valle


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Russia: Video of Vibrating Bridge Over Volga River · Global Voices
Alexey Sidorenko

User hrom252 posts a link to almost unbelievable video of the newly built bridge over Volga river that is vibrating under heavy wind like it's made of rubber. As blogger alliruk notes, the bridge was finished six months ago and now traffic in the city is paralyzed.

author: Alexey Sidorenko


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Saudi Arabia: Al Farhan Returns to Blogging  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

The Fouad is Free banner from www.alfarhan.org/
Popular Saudi blogger Fuad Al Farhan is back to blogging – to the delight of the blogging community.
Al Farhan stopped blogging for the second time after his arrest on December 10, 2007. Although no official charges were pressed, he was held in solitary confinement, and finally released on April 26, 2008. Prior to this, he had also stopped blogging for a period of time, after government officials warned him to “tone down” his commentary (see source above) – making this his third debut into the world of blogging.
Upon his return to blogging, Al Farhan, who is outspoken in favour of political reform in the Kingdom, writes a post entitled: Blogging..the Best Option, which opens up a debate on the merits and disadvantages of micro-blogging and social networks.
In this post, he says:
Al Farhan then discusses the different social media tools he was using while away from his blog. About Facebook, he writes:
جربت الفيسبوك فترة طويلة وأعجبني كما أعجب المليون ونصف سعودي المسجلين فيه، وأبرز ميزاته هي:
The speed at which you get to know and communicate with friends
The speed and intensity of participation from friends
The strength and effectiveness of planning, gathering and group work
Not bothering with the technical and technological details (all the Facebook user pages are the same and differ in content only)
The entertainment factor
But everything has its down side – and here are Facebook‘s, in Al Farhan's words:
Another medium Al Farhan toyed with during his hiatus from blogging was Twitter, where he is still actively tweeting away. He writes:
On Twitter’s benefits, he blogs:
As for Twitter‘s disadvantages, Al Farhan says:
Al Farhan also writes about his experience with Tumblr, before returning to explain why he is back to blogging:
Al Farhan used to previously blog here.

author: Amira Al Hussaini


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Slovenia: Student Protest Turns Violent · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Borut Peterlin posts photos from the May 19 student protest in Ljubljana, which turned into a riot. Sleeping With Pengovsky writes: “What Ljubljana witnessed yesterday was not an outpour of crisis-fueled rage or misery. These kids go to school, do their homework, take tests and have crushes. They are not unemployed, without future or socially disenfranchised. What we’ve seen was a joyride of vandalism, alcohol induced courage and herding instinct by a generation used to getting away with anything.”

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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South Africa: Best World Cup commercial · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Sean shares a video of the best 2010 World Cup commercial he has seen so far.


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South Africa: Build up to the World Cup · Global Voices
Muhammad Karim

With 20 days left to the the greatest spectacle showcasing the “beautiful game” in South Africa, there has been a lot of preparation going on behind the scenes and a lot of talk in the South African blogosphere on various issues surrounding the World Cup. There is Official Government site covering the World Cup where all the “official” information and updates on what is being done to prepare for the World Cup can be found.
Still not sure what exactly the World Cup is and especially clueless on any information about the World Cup 2010?  The World Cup Blog has a great Beginners’ Guide to the World Cup which covers the basics very succinctly.
First up in the blogosphere, though, let's start with traffic situation. The Portfolio Travel Blog points out various road closures which will be taking place in Cape Town around the time of the World Cup:
The City of Cape Town has released the following road closure information for all in the Mother City during the World Cup.
“Traffic will be affected on match days in Cape Town during the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ due to a number of necessary road closures. The City asks the public to be aware of these and to plan their routes and travel times accordingly.We apologise for any inconvenience caused,” said the City’s Director: Communication and 2010 Spokesperson, Pieter Cronje.
Public transport services have been extended as part of the City’s transport plan for the event.
“We encourage commuters to utilise these extended public transport services offered by the City,” said Peter Sole, Manager: 2010 Transport Operations.
All trains and certain train stations will have additional security for the duration of the World Cup. In addition, the use of non-motorised transport and car pooling is greatly encouraged.
You can get all the additional details on these road closures by visiting the full blog post. I hope the same is not the same for the other host cities. I'm sure this is a special case.
Keeping with the theme of transport,  The Mpumalanga Explorer highlights how the FIFA World Cup Official page is misrepresenting information about one particular town which will host a few World Cup Games, Nelspruit.
The Mpumalanga Province is regarded as one of the most tourist-friendly provinces in South Africa. Despite its close proximity to some neighbouring countries, such as Mozambique, the province is also less than three hours drive from Johannesburg and some four hours from Polokwane” Fair enough all this is factual. I am guessing that at some point along the border of Mpumalanga you could get to Polokwane in four hours, but the facts are that it would take another 2 hours from there to Nelspruit. The FIFA World Cup™ tournament games are being held in Mpumalanga, but more specifically Nelspruit which is approximately 360 km's from Johannesburg, which distance can be covered in 3 hours with no stops and no other traffic if the rules of the road are adhered to. Polokwane is another couple of hours from Johannesburg going north.
Aside from the world-acclaimed Kruger National Park which is the main tourist destination in Mpumalanga Province, very little is known about this province and its surroundings.” What utter claptrap. Mpumalanga is known for more than just the Kruger Park. Making it sound like Mpumalanga is largely unexplored and wild is foolish. The roads in Mpumalanga, specifically in the Lowveld are largely tarred. We have many tourists visiting the smaller towns like Graskop, Hazyview Sabie and Barberton because of the attractions they offer. These towns are not unknown as much as FIFA wish to claim that.
The blog does go into other inaccurate information on the FIFA World Cup page. It seems FIFA's not done it's homework on this one.
Some great news now for World Cup Ticket Holders from Capeinfo blogs…there is free Metrorail for World Cup ticket holders:
Metrorail will transport match ticket holders of the 2010 FIFA World Cup free of charge on its special dedicated trains to host stadiums.
Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) will run special commuter services through its Metrorail and Shosholoza Meyl intercity services during the tournament.
This is an additional special train service over and above the normal services provided, and will be synchronised according to match schedules.
Additional rail services will be scheduled to cope with the demand as government has promised that by 2010 there will be a train available every five minutes during peak times. Train services will be running between 14 and 16 hours every day.
Metrorail Gauteng Region will service a total of 12 routes namely Soccer City with 14 train sets, Coca-Cola Park with 13 train sets and Loftus Versfeld with 14 more trains.
The short routes include Pretoria to Rissik station, Johannesburg to Nasrec station, Westgate to Nasrec station as well as Westgate to Doornfontein station.
All stations will start operating from 5am to 10pm on match days while for late games, stations will operate until midnight.
Each soccer train will be staffed with a team of ten ticket officers, both to and from venue stations. One inspector or supervisor will be deployed on each soccer train.
Shosholoza Meyl, with an active coach fleet of 1 223, already runs on 19 scheduled routes stopping at 95 stations, while Metrorail services 468 stations in Gauteng, Cape Town, Durban and the Eastern Cape.
Regional and cross-border train services have been revised to coincide with matches in the various host cities, this includes the scheduling of dedicated trains to matches and from outside the Gauteng region.
Passengers will be able to choose between the various products such as the Tourist Class Train Service, Economy Train Service and Premier Class.
The train services will run from Musina in Limpopo, Komatipoort, Rustenburg, Durban, Bloemfontein and Cape Town. Passengers will then connect to Metrorail trains to take them to their respective games.
Great news for World Cup enthusiasts wondering how they will be able to attend matches in different cities.
VOANews blog has a post giving a high five to the South Africa World Cup 2010 official Mascot, Zakumi.
World Cup mascots usually show a characteristic feature of the host country.  One of my objectives during my first trip to South Africa in June is to give a high-five to Zakumi, the official mascot of the 2010 World Cup.
Zakumi is a leopard, a common animal found in South Africa, and his green and gold colors represent the national colors of South Africa’s national sports teams. A high-five for you, Zakumi!
Green Point Stadium and Capetown Daily Photo's gives us a great picture of the New Green Point Stadium taken from the old one:
Covering some humorous content around the World Cup, Dizzy Dee blogs about a US broadcast which actually confused which continent the World cup will be held on:
Note the photo in the article above shows South America, while the heading over the image reads “South Africa“. Seems like there is some confusion in the US as to which continent exactly hosts the Soccer World Cup during 2010.
Kameraad Mhambi blogs about a Netherlands based group called De Zoltans, which sings a song “Zuid-Afrika” based on the tune of YMCA and is all about the World Cup, absolutely hilarious:
A friend Lizelle living in the Netherlands sent me this. A song called Zuid-Afrika about the Football World Cup.
Moenie my glo as ek sê die Hollanders is sokkerbefok nie. Check maar gewoon hier.
Not quite Die Antwoord. The Dutchies are one of the teams with a chance of lifting the cup.
Just for your information, Die Antwoord are a white South African Based Hip-Hop group which has gained tremendous popularity with their music being spread solely over the internet.  They are available on Youtube.
Bringing it all back on a more sombre note, Medialternatives blogs about Fifa, Racism and the World Cup.
FIFA continues to fund apartheid-era companies in South Africa. DSTV SUPERSPORT for example has rights to broadcast live coverage of the World Cup event in High Definition, but its holding company Sanlam/Naspers remains engaged in a lengthy labour dispute involving racism and discrimination in which gross failures in the coverage of issues affecting previously disadvantaged communities have come to light.
SuperSport channels “will provide spectators with full coverage of the World Cup event”. A DSTV official has stated: “there will be a 24-hour coverage and we will be bringing the games on High Definition (HD).” Yet millions without the luxury of HD languish in poverty caused as a result of FIFA partners.
Racism, whether in low or high definition is still racism, and apartheid however misconstrued via Satellite or Cable TV is still apartheid. FIFA should not allow its brand to be associated with a company which failed to make a submission to the Truth & Reconciliation Commission.
In the final report Archbishop Emeritus and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Desmond Tutu questioned the sincerity of  Afrikaner-dominated  media houses such as Media24: “Is silence from that quarter to be construed as consent, conceding that it was a sycophantic handmaiden of the apartheid government?”
In the commissions findings Naspers/Media24/MNET were condemned for their complicity in the apartheid system: ‘[Naspers] chose to provide direct support for apartheid and the activities of the security forces — many of which led directly to gross human rights violations.”
It's an interesting viewpoint and one that isn't much covered in the blogosphere, let alone mainstream media.
An element of hope is stirred by kameraad mhambi again in a blog post on two rugby teams (one being known as the most ‘afrikaner’ team) who, because of the World Cup, will be playing their match in Soweto of all places…
This weekend, due to the Football World Cup, history will be made when the Blue Bulls play the Crusaders in the Super 14 Rugby tournament in Soweto.
The Bulls, from Pretoria, traditionally are seen as the most Afrikaner off all South Africa Rugby Unions. The game will be an opportunity to smash or reinforce some stereo types.
Ending off on a very inspirational note, especially when it comes to motivating the teams themselves, Hyundai have had a competition coming up with Team slogans for each country which has qualified for the World Cup.  Below are their results…
Algerie – Star and crescent with one goal: Victory!
Argentina – Última parada, la gloria – Last stop: Glory
Australia – Dare to Dream, Advance Australia
Brazil – Lotado! O Brasil inteiro está aqui dentro! – The whole of Brazil is in here!
Cameroon – Les lions indomptables sont de retour – The Indomitable Lions are back
Chile – Roja la sangre de mi corazón, Chile campeón – Red is the blood of my heart, Chile will be Champion
Cote D Ivoire – Eléphants, battons nous pour la victoire! – Elephants, let's fight for victory!
Denmark – Det eneste der kræves, er et dansk hold og en drøm – All you need is a Danish team and a dream
England – Playing with Pride and Glory
France – Tous ensemble vers un nouveau rêve bleu – All together for a new dream in blue
Germany – Auf dem Weg zum Cup! – On the road to get the Cup!
Ghana – The hope of Africa
Greece – Η Ελλάδα είναι παντού! – Greece is everywhere!
Honduras -Un país, una pasión, ¡5 estrellas en el corazón! – One Country, One passion, 5 Stars in the heart
Italy – Il nostro Azzurro nel cielo d'Africa – Italian Azzurro on African sky
Japan – 侍魂はくじけない！日本勝利！ – The Samurai spirit never dies! Victory for Japan!
Korea DRP – 또다시 1966년처럼,  조선아 이겨라 ! – 1966 again! Victory for DPR of Korea!
Mexico – ¡Es tiempo de un nuevo campeón! – It is time for a new champion!
Netherlands – Let niet op de grote 5, maar pas op voor de oranje 11 – Don't fear the big five, fear the Orange eleven
New Zealand – Kickin’ it Kiwi style
Nigeria – Super Eagles super fan united we stand
Paraguay – El león Guaraní ruge en Sudáfrica – The Guarani lion roars in South Africa!
Portugal – Um sonho, uma ambição…Portugal campeão! – One dream, one purpose… Portugal victorious!
Republic of Korea – 승리의 함성, 하나된 한국 – The Shouts of Reds, United Republic of Korea
Serbia – Igramo srcem, vodimo osmehom!  – Play with the heart, lead with a smile!
Slovakia – Rozbehnime to: Slovensko do toho! – Shake the green field: Go Slovakia!
Slovenia – Z enajstimi pogumnimi srci do konca – With eleven brave hearts to the end
South Africa – One nation, proudly united under one rainbow
Spain – Ilusión es mi camino, Victoria mi destino – Hope is my road, victory my destiny
Switzerland – Hopp Schwiiz! – “Hop Suisse!” – “Forza Svizzera!” – “C'mon Switzerland!”
Uruguay – El sol brilla sobre nosotros. ¡Vamos Uruguay! – The sun shines upon us. Go Uruguay!
USA – Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Victory!
All in all the country and the world are excited about the upcoming World Cup. There will be a few hiccups I'm sure, but overall it all seems to point to a hopeful and colourful World Cup 2010.

author: Muhammad Karim


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South Africa: Economic Benefits of 2010 World Cup  · Global Voices
Richard Wanjohi

It is always the fun bit that we focus on when thinking about major world tournaments. There is the other side, which has corporate gurus and the business world talking. The opportunities and benefits of hosting the 2010 World Cup have been highlighted by a couple of bloggers from across the continent; mainly from South Africa – the host of course.
We start by quoting TheSportsEconomistwho puts monetary figures related to the World Cup into perspective:
Football Fans in South Africa
This BBC story has a number of figures on the costs and revenues of staging this year’s World Cup in South Africa.  Among them (in British pounds):
•	FIFA’s expected revenue:  £2.1bn
•	FIFA’s budget:  £800m
•	Recent increase to ensure training camps are in good condition:  £67m (included above)
•	South Africa’s budget:  £3.5bn, or 1.72% of GDP
The expense incurred in South Africa is for building and renovating 10 stadiums, improved transport infrastructure, and security.  You can learn a bit about the stadiums here; they appear to be smartly designed…
But how much money will South Africa generate?:
No figures are given for the anticipated revenues that the country expects to generate.  But let’s do some work on the back of an envelope.  A total of 48 group games, 15 knockout games, and the third place game are to be played.  The ten stadiums have an average capacity of just over 56,000.   The average ticket price looks to be in the range of $200 (that’s using the median of the category two bracket, which is a bit generous).  If all games were to sell out at an average price of $200, that would total $717m in ticket revenue…. The story notes an accountant from the firm Grant Thornton believes that the 1.72% of GDP in direct expenses is “affordable” because it provided an economic stimulus for the country in the midst of a global economic downturn.  The story also states that FIFA’s general secretary “was confident the event would leave a lasting legacy on the country and the African continent.
The DailyStocks.com and MoneyMorning go deeper and look at the economic prospects both from within and from beyond the South Africa borders in their posts:
We have said continuously that this is an African World Cup,” South African President Jacob Zuma told parliament last week. “We have an opportunity to promote foreign investment, tourism and trade.”South Africa spent a total of $3.7 billion on infrastructure improvements, including a new international airport in Durban and a high-speed train between the Johannesburg airport and the city center, the Miami Herald… Analysts estimate that the World Cup will rake in $2 billion for South Africa’s tourism industry, and $1.1 billion for retailers. But the real hope is for longer lasting effects to emerge.“We all need to grab this opportunity to show our visitors what South Africa is all about. We need to work together with creative insight and energy after the World Cup to maintain arrivals to South Africa,” Thandiwe January McLean, CEO of South African Tourism told the Economic Times. “This World Cup offers our industry and nation a rich legacy. We should not see World Cup as one event that solves all economic issues, but rather an opportunity to refine the way we do things and create a legacy for the future.
Nigeria is set to capitalise on the event:
Nigeria, which is competing at the World Cup, plans to open an exhibition on the sidelines of the tournament to promote investment in the oil-rich nation. “We wish to showcase Nigeria and its enormous potentials via a Nigeria village at the World Cup,” Sani Lulu, head of the Nigeria Football Federation, told AFP.
Puma's Blog, one of the main apparel sponsors of the tournament talks about marketing and advertising:
World Cup marketing, business marketing is usually taken to have the World Cup sponsorship, naming, please football star for product spokesperson, introduced the concept of product design as well as the World Cup jersey to buy advertising, stadium advertising and other forms. Sports Marketing from input-output ratio of view, by sponsoring the World Cup and soccer star hired as a spokesperson to enhance cat puma shoes brand image, at least three to five times the investment in sponsorship. In order to make huge investment value for the enterprise marketing platform in the World Cup must find the right market opportunities, through appropriate media platforms, will be the right message to the appropriate audience.
An older post written by one of Kenyan’s leading business bloggers, Bankelelelooks at how Africa, particularly Kenya, can benefit from the World Cup:
Tourism: The World Cup will draw thousands of people making their first or a rare trip to African continent, which can yyield opportunities for locales outside South Africa
– Beach tourism: The World Cup is associated with summer, but takes place in winter in SA (southern hemisphere), and while the weather will be relatively mild compared to Europe and US winters, its not beach strolling weather like you could get in Mombasa, Zanzibar or Seychelles.
– Regional packages: Ethiopian Airlines has travel packages that cover more than one country e.g. see the attractions of Ethiopia, Tanzania, Egypt, and Kenya and will probably sell those in SA. Likewise Kenya Airways (or local agents) who will probably have travelers from Thailand and China can draw on the same to entice people on the way back e.g. also tour the Great Rift highlands of Kenya and Ethiopia and visit athletic camps to see where world beating Olympic athletes hone their skills.
He discusses the role of governments:
Governments: there are opportunities for proactive governments to get involved and promote their countries with marketing campaigns, or with travel advice for locals, expedited transit visas (JKIA) or passport renewals. See what UK government is doing.
On a lighter note though, a blog appropriately named BeerBeer, says that there shall be enough alcoholic drinks to take care of the football fans who may seek a way of having fun. “World Cup fans need not fret, South Africa will not run out of beer during the month-long tournament…,” says beerbeer:
World Cup fans need not fret, South Africa will not run out of beer during the month-long tournament, its biggest brewer says. There’s no need to worry, guys. There will be plenty of our beer for all the fans during this period,’ said Norman Adami, managing director of South African Breweries, the local arm of global drinks giant SABMiller. The company, which produces roughly nine of every ten bottles of beer drunk in South Africa, is predicting a 5 per cent increase in sales during the tournament starting on June 11. However, it will be able to meet the extra demand – equivalent to 30 million bottles – because the southern hemisphere winter is normally its slowest sales period, Adami said… Budweiser, owned by SABMiller rival Anheuser-Busch InBev and an official Fifa partner, is the only authorised supplier inside stadiums. SAB will be allowed to sell beer at 10 Fifa fan parks in the World Cup cities, but only in unmarked bottles to avoid breaching Fifa’s jealously guarded rights rules.
Finally the SouthAfrica.Info blog, says though the projections have been reduced, the estimates still indicate a ‘massive impact’ by the tournament,
Indications are that overseas tourists will stay an average of 18 days compared to the 14 days used in the original projections,” said Saunders. “Average overseas tourist spend per trip is also forecast to be up, at R30 200 compared to the R22 000 used before…. The gross economic impact will be R93-billion, with 62% expected to be generated pre-2010 and 38% during the course of the year. Foreign tourism will account for 16% of the gross impact… “We continue to be upbeat about the impact of the World Cup,” said Saunders. “The stadia will be full and it will be great event; the profiling of South Africa and future spin-offs have always been the real benefit of hosting an event of this magnitude.

author: Richard Wanjohi


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Sri Lanka: Emergency Flood Relief · Global Voices
Rezwan

In Sri Lanka thousands of people are affected by the recent heavy rains and flashfloods especially in the western, southern and Sabaragamuwa provinces. Sarvodaya blog has the situation reports and information about relief, aid and assistance.


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Thailand: Blog reactions to Bangkok violence · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Thailand Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva announced on national television that Bangkok is now under full government control after government troops successfully removed the Red Shirt protest barricades in the city.
The two-month street protests of the Red Shirts finally ended when soldiers blockaded the protest zones last week and forced the dispersal of the protesters. Violence escalated last May 19 during the final assault operation of the military. The retreating protesters set on fire 36 buildings in the city which included the country’s biggest shopping center, the stock exchange, two TV stations, and several banks.
Based on recent reports, 52 people were killed and more than 400 were injured during the fighting between soldiers and protesters.
Curfew has been imposed in Bangkok and 23 other provinces where the Red Shirts maintain a strong following. The Red Shirts are demanding the resignation of the Prime Minister whom they accuse of being illegitimate and undemocratic. They also want to dissolve the parliament so that a new round election can be conducted.
Red Shirt barricade. Photo by Journotopia
Here are several blog reactions from Bangkok about the political tension in the nation’s capital:
Bangkok Dazed writes about the impact of the May 19 chaos in the capital
People don’t walk much in Bangkok. But this afternoon they did; lots and lots and lots of them. After yet more gangs of Red Shirt thugs hijacked several city buses and burned them, all bus service was stopped in the greater metropolitan area. That’s thousands and thousands of buses. Factor in that there has been no Skytrain or subway service all week, and water taxis have also stopped operating, and all of a sudden Bangkok’s myriad transportation options have dwindled to nothing. Yeah, good luck finding a taxi today.
So I walked home, joining the rest of the strolling masses
I’m still stunned, and very much angered, by the recent events in Bangkok. How can these horrible things be happening in this wonderful city?
Karen was billeted in an almost empty hotel
We arrived in Bangkok last night, around midnight, on the eve of a military crackdown on protesters who had occupied the city core for weeks. “What are you doing in Bangkok now?” the night desk man asked when we checked into our usual hotel, eerily quiet even at 1 a.m
Our street was blocked, no traffic in or out. How strange to be two of only three guests at a normally packed hotel.
GJBKK Blog asks about the status of the protesters who were “escorted” by government buses
Yesterday the government said buses will be provided to escort protesters out of their encampment and take them home. from a distance I saw a few red shirts inside those buses that looked like women and children. The buses were located on the Patunam side of the protest site yesterday afternoon.
I need to get information on how many did actually leave on those buses and did they return safely home, as there a rumour that the buses went South and not North as promised by the government.
I am very concerned that these people may have been taken to army bases for interrogation or worse.
Dr. Will is against some of the methods of the protesters but supports the goal to promote democracy in the country
I watched from my 9th floor window as plumes of smoke rose over the Bangkok skyline. Transportation remains extremely limited and many stores and banks are closed. We've had two nights of curfew that silenced the city. Birds could be heard singing before dawn this morning.
I was a supporter of the red shirt cause as I understood it, true democracy in Thailand and an end to double standards.
But when the Bangkok demonstration began in March I had a bad feeling about it. While the stated goal was simply new elections (which the reds were certain they would win), it didn't seem to me that confrontation with the military could ever succeed. Thailand's enemies are mainly internal and the military, a regime unto itself, is very well armed. I suspected that the real goal was to create martyrs in an attempt to sway the middle class in Bangkok to their side.
While I'm angry at the mobs rioting in the streets, I feel I understand their discontent and rage and sympathize with what I saw as the long term goals of true democracy and an end to double standards.
Suthichaiyoon likens the burning of the Central World mall to the destruction of the World Trade Center twin towers in New York
Bangkok's Central World's arson looks frighteningly similar to New York's World Trade Center's 9/11 incident to me. In fact, Central World was previously known as World Trade Center (Thailand) too.
The big, highly depressing difference, of course, is: The WTC's fiery destruction was brought about by foreign terrorists. Bangkok's Central World was torched by Thais against Thais.
Manik Sethisuwan analyzes the different keywords used on twitter about the crisis in Thailand
But notice how there is almost no significant sign of “Abhisit”, or “Thaksin” or “terrorists”, or “weapons”. Perhaps all these terms are mentioned often times in full length news reports or news highlights, but in Twitter the trend seems to be more priority of keeping people informed of the present live situation or breaking news, rather than detailed analysis, etc, as you can notice how prominent the word “now”, is.
BangkokDan blames the major political forces for the chaos that took place in Bangkok
The events of the past few weeks, days and hours will be burned deeply into Bangkok’s psyche. Our Bangkok will be back. Not tomorrow, not next week – and any other attempt to hold a colored mass protest masqueraded as peaceful will ring alarm bells…May 19th, 2010, will be remembered for a gigantic collapse of common sense, for utter failures on all sides. The government, the reds, the people.
Protests and arson attacks were also reported in the provinces. Andy provides historical background to the burning of a provincial hall in Udon
While this massive arson attack was of course something never happened before in Thailand, it wasn't the first time a province hall was destroyed. The province hall of Surat Thani suffered that fate twice, at first it burned down on December 8 1941 as it caught fire during the Japanese invasion, and a second time on March 19 1982 it was damaged beyond repair by a bomb placed by insurgents. The place where this old province hall was located now contains the city pillar shrine.
Here is a video clip of the Red Shirt protests in Ubon
Lilian writes about the impact of the protest crackdown in Chiang Mai
From one hour to the next, things changed here in Chiang Mai! One road was blocked, and all the malls started shutting down around 4pm. Traffic in town was  nightmare. I had to take my kids to music lesson. I was soo nervous that I nearly turned around but the jam was even worse in the other direction so I just kept going. We made it back safely and didn’t see any demonstrations or road blocks. Just traffic traffic traffic!!.. Seems for now demonstrations were on the other side of  the town.
Talen received this report from Mukdahan
She said today there were 2 bomb blasts and at least two protesters were killed in Mukdahan. She also said that there were large gatherings of armed protesters. I would have thought they would just go to Nakhon Phanome as it is a much bigger city but apparently Mukdahan is the hot spot with many protests happening in Nakhon Phanom as well. Tomorrow there is a big rally planned for Nakhon phanome and I have a feeling  it won’t be pretty.
Pictures of the protests in Ubon are available in Isaan Style, GuideUbon, and The Thai Report. Check also these pictures in Udon through UdonMap. Pictures of the clashes in Bangkok can be accessed in the websites of GJBKK Blog, Jon Russell, and Newley. Read also the account of Newley about the events that took place in Bangkok last May 19. Short video clips were uploaded by Richard Barrow which showed the destroyed buildings of Paragon, Siam Theater, and Zen
Empty stage. Photo by Journotopia

author: Mong Palatino


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Trinidad & Tobago: Politics  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

gspottt looks at the two main political parties’ stance on “same-sex unions, homosexuality [and] sexual orientation”, while KnowTnT.com asks: “Does the PNM led by Mr Patrick Manning morally deserve to be re-elected on 24 May 2010?”

author: Janine Mendes-Franco