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Ecuador: Debates Over New Communication Law · Global Voices
Milton Ramirez

Ecuador's new Constitution, which was passed by a national referendum in 2008, says in Article 16 that all people, individually or as a group, have the right to free, intercultural, inclusive, diverse, and participative communication [es].  However, the interpretation of this article in the form of laws has created some controversy. Many have started to debate about the contents the new Communication Law, which is the very first one of this kind in Ecuador. On one side, the government seeks to regulate the media, partly in response to the frequent clashes between journalists and the administration of President Rafael Correa, who has been critical of the role of the media during his first term as president. Correa has described journalists as “corrupt, mediocre, shameless.“
Those who are opposed to the proposed law say that the government wants to silence critics and say that this is a danger to free speech. The draft bill of The Organic Law of Communication, Freedom of Expression and Access to Public Information [pdf]  is a document of 38 pages and is being presented and analyzed by different groups in the country, including bloggers, but particularly the media.
The government released this video with examples to answer the question, “Why do citizens need a Law of Communication?”
Blogger Silvia of Lunas Azules [es] for example, agrees with the government and thinks that journalists do need controls.  She reflects on the profession of journalist in the country:
En principio resulta hasta ameno constatar lo que muchas veces es ingenuidad de editores con poca preparación profesional y quizá ninguna experiencia en escribir textos, pero después termina siendo seriamente preocupante porque se comprende que nuestra prensa “profesional” no sólo es amateur, sino que muchas veces omite, agrega y selecciona intencionalmente, tendenciosamente, con designios que no son precisamente la entrega de información imparcial a los ciudadanos.
At the beginning, it ends up being entertaining to note what often is the naivety of editors who have little professional training and maybe no experience writing texts, but later it ends up being seriously worrisome because it is understood that our “professional” press is not only amateur, but often omits, adds, and selects intentionally, biased, with intentions that are not precisely to deliver information to citizens in an impartially manner.
One of the proposals in the law is that only those individuals who have earned journalism degrees would be able to practice the profession. Ricardo Tello of Periodismo por Dentro [es]  has lived and verified what Lunas Azules has commented before. He calls on all journalists to remember that laws governing the media themselves, do not become obstacles for the independent exercise of this career. His opinions against practices of which he disapproves had earned the ‘enemy of journalism’ according to a radio announcer in Cuenca, an austral city in Ecuador. Tello responds to his detractor and why a journalist does not necessarily need to have a journalism degree:
A pesar de ser profesor universitario, no reivindico la colegiatura o la obligatoriedad del título de periodista; el título solo es el primer paso de una formación profunda y permanente.
Y si eso me vuelve un enemigo de la prensa, pues me declaro enemigo del periodismo mediocre.
Despite being a university professor, I make no claim of making a journalism degree mandatory, the degree is only the first step in a profound and ongoing training.
And if that makes me an enemy of the press, then I plead that I am an enemy of mediocre journalism.
In Ecuador, the media is considered the fourth power, after Presidency, Congress and the Supreme Court. However, President Correa says, “power needs to be regulated and controlled, we need a balance of power,” when he speaks about media and journalists in his country.  His position has caused that many Latin American organizations including CIESPAL, that raises concerns about the draft of communications law. Groups in opposition to the approval of this law like to call it: Gag Law. In front of this, Galo Benítez of Migrante Latino [es] asks his readers, “Gag law for who?”and presents some of the 11 observations made by the CIESPAL including the allocation of frequencies into three equal parts: public, private and community, the banning of the concentration of frequencies, and media monopolies, and giving priority to national and local production. However, Benitez also criticizes some prominent figures in the Ecuadorian media, assuming they are not the only one in need to be heard:
Quién ha dicho que solo los encopetados comunicadores como Carlos Vera, Bernardo Abad, Jorge Ortiz, Marcelo Dotti, Alfonso Espinoza de los Monteros, Gissela Bayona, entre otros, pueden hacer comunicación en el Ecuador. Son ellos los que se rasgan las vestiduras, no para dolerse del oyente o televidente, sino por que les preocupa el alcance de la ley que podría incomodar a la empresa privada a la que representan. Lo que fastidia a esta élite mediática es que haya una Ley que atente no a la libertad de expresión como tal, sino a la libertad de empresa privada, que se ve afectada con el alcance del proyecto de ley que pretende hacer ciertas reformas necesarias para democratizar parcialmente el derecho a la comunicación.
Another of the major components of the bill would require TV channels to progressively include at least 40% of national production in its daily programming, and radio at least 50% of music produced, composed and/or played in Ecuador.  The Latin American country has more than 1500 radio frequencies,  97% belonging to natural and private persons. A radio entrepreneur can accumulate up to 96 frequencies under the previous Ecuadorian communication law.
To professor Hoax, a commenter on Ecuador sin Censura [es] the proposal to which Assemblyman from Guayas, Rolando Pachana,  has promoted and contributed, seems to be dedicated in some way to the former TV anchor, now politician and  the leader in opposition to Correa along to former president Gutierrez, Carlos Vera. Pachana proposal says that only community journalists do not need certifications.
Universities also have been promoting discussions within their institutions. One example has been in the University of Cuenca, where the President of the Association of Students of the School of Communication [es] says that having to reveal sources as the law proposes, journalism is being impeded to do investigation, and in a way, to apply self-censorship.  Diana Medina thinks this is a media law opposed to what they declare:
Siempre han existido regulaciones, pero no se las ha cumplido a cabalidad. Esta no es una ley de comunicación, porque sólo regula el aspecto informativo, no aborda la comunicación institucional, organizacional… es una ley de medios. Creo que la propuesta no fue bien analizada en algunos puntos, al tener que revelar las fuentes no podríamos desarrollar trabajos de investigación, eso daría paso a la autocensura y ningún periodista querrá aplicar una labor de esta índole.

author: Milton Ramirez


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Guatemala: The Film ‘Puro Mula’ Awarded at Havana Festival · Global Voices
Renata Avila

A vibrant movement of Latin American film producers is flourishing and creating a 21st Century “Golden Age” of Latin American cinema. A group of film artists from across the region recently filmed the movie “Puro Mula” (see trailer here) in a suburb of Guatemala City. However, it is not yet finished due to their reduced budget [es] writes Julio Flores.
Hacer Cine en Guatemala [es] summarizes the plot, which occurs during the course of the same day. Joel Fonseca, a lazy 28-year-old, who still lives with his parents, is the star of the film. He was given the responsibility to watch over his nephew, but the child leaves the house without notice, so Joel has to go out and try to find him.
The film is directed by Enrique Pérez from the collective Best Picture System, who describe themselves as much more than just a group of young people filming a movie, as they say on their MySpace page [es]:
El Best Picture System (BPS) es un colectivo de formación y creación artística cinematográfica. Fue fundado en Marzo del 2006 por un grupo de estudiantes de la Escuela Internacional de Cine y Televisión, EICTV en san Antonio de los Baños, Cuba. El colectivo esta conformado por jóvenes de diversas culturas latinoamericanas, fomentando así, la integración de los pueblos latinoamericanos además del desarrollo de una cinematografía autóctona, innovadora y juvenil.
In early December, “Puro Mula” was awarded with the “Latin American Post-Production Award” at the Havana Film Festival, as announced by blogger El Lugareño. Blogger Pro+ congratulates them for the film they just produced.
Puro Mula has its own blog, so stay tuned for the premiere in March 2010.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Renata Avila


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Haiti: Marching for Aristide · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Repeating Islands reports that “supporters of former Haitian President and liberation theologian Jean-Bertrand Aristide marched through Port-au-Prince…this week calling for his return from exile and protesting his [Fanmi Lavalas] party’s exclusion from upcoming elections.”

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Iran:Twitter hacked by ‘Iranian Cyber Army’ · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Twitter was hacked overnight by so called Iranian Cyber Army. Neersy tweeted [fa] that this group is a pro Islamic State one and its mission is attacking green movement's (opposition) sites and blogs.

author: Fred Petrossian


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Jamaica: Shock Over Buju · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Annie Paul republishes a Facebook post by Sarah Manley about why Buju Banton is Jamaica: “After reading this you will hopefully understand better why this country is reeling with shock in the aftermath of Buju's imprisonment in the United States.”


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Jamaica: Stealing Christmas · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“Instead of being merry and enjoying the upcoming season, Jamaicans have been plunged into a solemn mood, by a picture painted with more hardship for the poor and the struggling working class of this island”: Stunner says a new tax measure by the Golding government “will definitely put a serious dent into the personal budgets of the ordinary Jamaicans!”


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Morocco: Another Blogger Imprisoned · Global Voices
Anas Alaoui

A solidarity banner from the freebashir.org site
On Monday, December 14th, Blogger Bashir Hazzam and Internet cafe owner Abdullah Boukhou were sentenced to four months and one year, respectively plus a fine of MAD 500 (USD 63) each, in a Goulmim court. Hazzam was sentenced for “spreading false information harmful to the kingdom's image on human rights,” while Boukhou's sentence was for similar reasons and likely included a charge for providing a space for spreading those information. Three other students have been sentenced to six months and given a fine of MAD 5000 (USD 632) along with Bashir and Abdullah for an un-authorized sit-in in the city of Taghjijt.
Bashir Hazzam has been accused of “spreading false information harmful to the kingdom's image on human rights” after being arrested on December 8th, reported the Committee to Protect Bloggers, stating:
Moroccan blogger Bashir Hazem was arrested on December 8, 2009 following a protest in Tarjijt, during which students clashed with security forces, after posting a press release about the clash on his blog.  He has been interrogated about his blogging, specifically his most recent post, which contained the signatures of a committee of arrested students.
ANHRI, The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, denounced the arrest of the blogger Bashir Hazzam. Reporters without Borders (RSF) denounced and questioned why the sentence was given at a time when the Moroccan government is putting in place a program to promote internet access, information society and digital economy:
Alors que le gouvernement marocain a présenté, en octobre dernier, un plan visant à améliorer l’accès à Internet afin de mieux intégrer le royaume à la société de l’information et à l’économie numérique, ces condamnations marquent un retour en arrière et montrent que la liberté d’expression sur Internet ne s’applique pas aux critiques des autorités. La multiplication d’arrestations de blogueurs ces deux dernières années nous inquiète profondément.
While the Moroccan government put last October a plan to improve access to the Internet in order to better integrate the country into the information society and digital economy, these sentencings represent a step backwards and show that freedom of expression on the Internet do not apply to criticism of the authorities. The proliferation of bloggers arrests in the last two years are worrying.
Many reactions have been published on the Blogoma after this new case of imprisoned blogger. Blogger Larbi [FR] published a statement by RSF adding:
Voici donc où nous en sommes : dans un pays qui jette en prison des citoyens pour le seul crime d’avoir exercé pacifiquement leur droit à la liberté d’expression, à la manifestation … Un drôle de pays qui, aussitôt la page des années de plomb tournée, en a ouvert une autre avec son lot d’exactions, de condamnations arbitraires, de violences policières et d’atteinte aux droits humains.
Here we are: in a country that throws people in jail for the crime of peacefully exercising their right to freedom of expression and demonstration … A strange country that, once the page of the years of lead has been turned, has opened another [page] with its share of abuses, arbitrary sentencing, police violence and human rights violation.
Blogger and human rights activist Samira Kinani reported on a demonstration in solidarity with Bashir Hazzam and other opinion detainees in front of the Moroccan parliament in Rabat on December 15th. The demonstration was broken up by police. Ibn Kafka [fr], blogger and lawyer, published photos from Samira's blog and commented:
… les compagnies mobiles d’intervention (CMI) tabassent de paisibles femmes quadra- ou quinquagénaires, sans aucune gêne – imaginez ce que ça peut être avec de jeunes hommes à Taghjijt.
… mobile intervention companies (CMI) beat peaceful women in their forties or fifties, with no discomfort – just imagine what it could be with young men of Taghjijt.
Other bloggers are expressing their solidarity with Bashir Hazzam. Kacem El-Ghazali [Ar] who blogs at bahmut, writes:
نتضامن مع المدون البشير حزام ورفاقه…. مستنكرين ما طالهم من اعتقال تعسفي تحكمي ومطالبين باطلاق سراحهم والاستجابة لمطالبهم… في مغرب العهد الجديد، عهد الحريات والديموقراطية، مغرب الخطابات الرسمية التي ما تلبث أن يماط اللثام عن حقيقتها، لتبقى مجرد تهافت يتهافته كل من له مصلحة في ذلك، ومنفعة في استمرار واقع الظلم والاستبداد والتدجين
In solidarity with the blogger Bashir and his comrades, deploring what affected them from arbitrary arrest, demanding their release and respond to their demands, in the Morocco of the new era, the era of freedom and democracy, as state the official mottos. Those mottos appear on their real aspect, to be just empty mottos to anyone who has interest, and benefit from the continued reality of injustice, oppression and intimidation.
A campaign to help free blogger Bashir and his comrades has been launched. A Facebook group [Ar] was created to support blogger Bashir Hazzam along with a website, Free Bashir, and a Twitter account. A Flickr photo campaign has been set up too; those photos can be sent via the Facebook group or to freebashirhazzem@gmail.com.
In a recent post, Naoufel [Ar]  wonders if blogging is the first step to prison:
لابد أنك -في يوم ما- سألت عن التدوين.. و كيف تصبح مدونا.. و لا بد أنك وجدت عشرات الأجوبة المختلفة.. الغبية منها و المقنعة ..أمنحك الان جوابا غبيا اخر : التدوين هو أول خطوة الى السجن
You must have – one day – asked about Blogging .. And how to become a blogger .. And you must have found dozens of different answers .. convincing and stupid ones .. now I give you another stupid answer: Blogging is the first step to prison.
I hope this will never be the case in Morocco.

author: Anas Alaoui


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Russia: “Anti-crisis” is Word of The Year · Global Voices
Vadim Isakov

Three most popular words dominated Russian society in 2009 according to a well-known “Word of the Year” contest on Imhonet.ru. Those words are “antikrizisniy” (anti-crisis), “zomboyashik” (zombie-box) as a description for TV, and “Medveputiya” (Medvedev and Putin).

author: Vadim Isakov


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Sri Lanka: Evidence Of War Crimes · Global Voices
Rezwan

A new debate on the war crime allegations against Sri Lankan army has surfaced as the former army chief and presidential candidate Sarath Fonseka had mentioned that he knew that unarmed people were shot dead, in cold blood, “pursuant to a premeditated decision by government leaders.” Kumar David at Groundviews has details.

author: Rezwan


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Sri Lanka: UTHR Report On The War Against The LTTE · Global Voices
Rezwan

Indi.ca discusses the University Teachers Human Rights Association of Jaffna (UTHR) report on the war against the LTTE in Sri Lanka. It says that none of the sides cared about the human lives involved.


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Trinidad & Tobago: Climate Responsibility  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Blogging from Trinidad, Coffeewallah says of the climate change talks: “In Copenhagen world leaders debate over what they will and will not sign, but truthfully, it is all about commerce and making money…we are given the gift of life and the loan of the earth but we have yet to mature enough to appreciate it.”


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Trinidad & Tobago: Poor Packaging  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Trinidad and Tobago's This Beach Called Life is livid that a brand of silicone is being sold in bottles best known for packaging a popular children's soft drink: “I have no idea if the OHS Act in Trinidad and Tobago covers household chemicals and food but Act or no Act, somebody needs a big stick across their back for doing this crap.”


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Uganda: Can the media force a country to mourn? · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Can the media force a country to mourn? This it the main question that the Ugandan journalist and blogger, Rosebell Kagumire, raised in a lively conversation that took place on her blog and Facebook page following local media coverage of the death of Uganda's Vice President Prof. Gilbert Bukenya’s son.
In this post we will see how a blog and Facebook page were used to start a conversation about the role of national media in Uganda.
The discussion thread from her Facebook page are posted in her blog in a post titled,  “Coverage of VP Bukenya’s son’s death: Can you force a country to mourn?”. The post begins:
For the last 20 or so hours I have been involved in a discussion on my facebook page. it  was my reaction to the newspaper coverage of Vice President’s son’s death. First of all I do not in any way intend to say that there shouldn’t have been coverage, my focus and the focus of the debate is on the presentation of the news and the vocabulary used to sort of show like this was a national mourning instead of the media utilising a chance to highlight causes of road carnages that take thousands of lives in Uganda. And the recipient of my rant -if you want to call it that-was Daily Monitor for obvious reasons- ownership and a better level of editorial independence.
She continues:
If you follow the discussion you will realise that the newspaper reinforced hat the portrayal of Prof. Gilbert Bukenya’s loss as national in their first report about the death of former army commander Maj.Gen. James Kazini.
Below is the text from the Kazini story.
“The girlfriend has been arrested and taken for questioning at Kampala Central Police Station. Mourners, among them military officers and relatives, trickled in to the Namuwongo residence as the shocking news spreads.
The country was preparing for the burial later Tuesday of vice President, Prof. Gilbert Bukenya’s son, Bryan, who died at the weekend after suffering serious head injuries in a motor crash.”
Here is part of the discussion thread copied from her Facebook page and posted on her blog:
Rosebell Kagumire:
everyday many ugandans die in an accident we have lost MPs and leader opposition in parliament was just out of hospital instead of the damn editors and newmen using these times to bring out the real cause of these accidents and highlightin the needed changes they r busy writting without shame how a vp lost an heir. please dont mean to be mean but this doesnt need to be a leading story for both dailies.
21 hours ago · Delete
Bbc Karol Mama-Lover:
I noticed too but assumed they did not have news.
20 hours ago · Delete
Rosebell Kagumire:
this part of a Daily Monitor story about Kazin’s death made me mutter Jesus christ son of God with a sign of cross at 1 am: “The girlfriend has been arrested and taken for questioning at Kampala Central Police Station… The country was preparing for the burial later Tuesday of vice President, Prof. Gilbert Bukenya’s son, Bryan, who died at the weekend after suffering serious head injuries in a motor crash.”
Really the country was preparin really really?????????????????
19 hours ago · Delete
Doreen Ahumuza:
Question is ” Who is the country here????”
19 hours ago · Delete
Henry Mukasa:
Rosebell, get real… Bukenya is VP and as such anything that affects his life like bereavement, attack on him by mafia… could by extension affect the performance of his duties and hence national news! Did you know that Sebbanga made front news for Bukedde? The rationale is that this boy who was saved from starvation has not survived death, afterall. Seems Costa Rica beaches have put you in confort zone yet I know you as an aggressive person…
19 hours ago · Delete
Rosebell Kagumire:
henry i must sya am disappointed that u can defend a heardline like this. bukenya loses heir. realllly is this the journalism we studied. if the mafia as we know he imagines it when it best suits him and only to take back him words was 4 rio then we wd have reason to make a death of a son of vp a national story. so u think the country is preparing. hmmmm i am soooooo amazed.
19 hours ago · Delete
Daniel Kalinaki:
Rosie, what would you have led with if you were the editor?
19 hours ago · Delete
Rosebell Kagumire:
Daniel, there are mllion stories ugandans are experiencing. i am wondering if bukenya losin an heir is of national importance. it wd be if we are in mornachy and he’s in line to rule us. i know there r such days as bad days in the newsroom but to try to make a nation believe that bukenya’s loss is national as if no other ugandan is dying -right now… Read more probably in road accidents doesn’t seem reasonable to me. and to add that line in 2day’s story about the death of kazini as if to equate both deaths (in terms of impact on the nation) is even worse. his loss is not heavier than the ones we see everyday on ugandan roads may be we shd make everyday headlines for every ugandan life lost in an accident. unless u want to tell me the cause of death wasnt an accident which i hven’t seen in the report.
18 hours ago · Delete
Gaaki Kigambo:
Daniel, part of the larger (and worrying) issues the DM and NV headlines reveal is what someone on here has captured so well, and that is newspapers are looking for what’s new (Kibyaki), and now what’s the news.
And for as long as we run after our so-called news makers I don’t see how we’re going to avoid such bland headlines, or news. Because what that essentially means is that we must pick whatever they drop and sometimes it can be really something ‘juicy’ and at most times it’s likely going to be something stale.
So in asking what DM could have led with, I think the answer is not directly in the alternative stories the paper carried behind Bukenya mourning a dead heir. It is much more in the stories that perhaps never got covered because the paper was preoccupied with running after its usual news makers, or savers of the day if you will. … Read more
The challenge is to go back and figure what really are the issues that Ugandans care about or you can interest them in and then get on those and ‘force’ our news makers to explain themselves on those issues.
Of course, there will always be occasional events breaking that need to be covered, but if the newspapers’ primary focus is on those events, we’re not setting the agenda (as we like to puff ourselves) and nobody really cares about us. We’ll always be running after our ‘news makers’ and they’ll dictate, directly or otherwise, what gets into the paper.
18 hours ago · Delete
Gloria Sebikari:
Rosebell, remember our first news writing class (Bernard Tabaire sh’d be proud of me!) where one of the characteristics of news is prominence and human interest??? Well the VP is no. 2 in the country so almost anything about and affecting him is news!!!! Disagreeable but true. Prominent people are news in themselves.
12 hours ago · Delete
Rosebell Kagumire:
@Daniel & Glo, the main point of this argument is not that you cannot cover the vp’s son’s death but no u have to and i read the news on sunday on your website. but to make this the story worthy of a headline really i dont see how? did his the country know this youngman (may his soul rest in peac)? i still believe we can do better than headline … Read morethe death of the heir. and beyond this being a headline the way the story is written to try to creat a sort of national loss (dont get me wrong every death causes a loss to uganda) moment that doesnt exist is not acceptable. and putting prominently the heir part one would think we are saudi arabi and the young man was in line for power. we can do and we (ugandan journalists) are indeed better than this.
12 hours ago · Delete
Joe Powell:
This doesn’t necessarily make it right but don’t you think it would be on the front page on every newspaper in America if something were to happen to Joe Biden’s son?
7 hours ago · Delete
Gaaki Kigambo:
Joe, the story about Bukenya’s son dying can make the headlines. Personally I have no problem with that. It has shock effect enough to knock off any other story. But a follow-up lead that Bukenya is mourning his heir is totally off. That assumes an importance about the son that actually doesn’t exist, or better still was used up in the first headline story.
If the follow up was about what type of person Bukenya’s son was, what were his aspirations in relation to his father’s claims, what was he (academically) qualified in, what percentage of other people his age have died in similar circumstances etc, basically stuff that advance the story, then maybe a story about him would have qualified to lead again. But as it is, the story is static, its obvious (what would you expect a man to say of his first born?), its weak, and it demonstrates what you get when u tag at the coattails of those you’ve ringed off as news makers.
And that’s why I feel its unfair for one to make insinuations that some of us who advance these contrary views to such choice of stories that make headlines are doing so because of the comforts academe affords us. Those kinds of insinuations assume we haven’t been (or aren’t) journalists in our lives and we don’t know how the real world of reporting and putting good stories actually is. … Read more
Can we then also make the same assumptions and insinuations about the academe comforts that are currently being made here about someone who a few years ago penned a brilliant series about how Ugandan journalism was bastardised?
I think its important we resist the temptation to inject such insinuations/assumptions into otherwise worthy debates and discussions like this one because we risk being exactly like the people whose feet we like to hold to the fire.
5 hours ago · Delete
Below are comments on her blog:
Nevender:
I got lost during the debate but I think we should mourn for the losses. As long as death occurs, sorrow should be there. And then we should make sense of the sorrow and of the loss.
Rosebell:
Well Nevender, the debate is on the media not the loss in itself. like you say as long as there’s death there will be sorrow but who’s sorrow is it and why shd the media tell you whom or claim you’re mourning people you aren’t. As you must have noted in the posts we are not saying this is not a story to report about but i am questioning the place it’s given trying to portray the tragedy for Bukenya’s family as a national tragedy.
orton kiishweko:
Rosebell,the same way you cover public figures even in circumstances that are ’so private’ making them the laughing stock of everyone,is the same level of coverage and honour you should accord their souls when they are departed in such inhumane circumstances…..
To give Bukenya Bryan a worthhile send off,was worth it in every respect just as it was worth it for Monitor or Vision or Observer to lead with stories about circumstances under which he died and the last respects(i will call them’colour stories’,unfortunately.
For us,who had accurate and first hand information about the young man,we knew that had his life not been taken so early,he was gradually gaining the capacity that would have brought about change in every way(stop road carnage,political changes that would have affected millions in a way,So,in that sense,he is a single soul but his death,as a young person with great -great potential,represents the death of thousands Ugandans who have no voice or platform…..So, his death is a national issue in that respect…Orton Kiishweko,Dar es salaam
Rita:
When Uganda has BIG problems like lack of malaria medicine in hosptitals (maybe the situation has changed now, i don’t know), that is bad. How much publicity do these things that are so essential get?
But everyday Uganda is becoming westernised, it is about what sells the papers not what is important or essential. The hope keeps fading away everyday and i do not see it changing. We are trapped in a cycle which is blinding. Museveni will investigate this death, it will get more headlines that take away from more important issues that could be fed to the public. It is going to become a justice Sebutinde issue, how corruption was investigated and culprits uncovered, but nothing was actually done about it. In this case, this kind of publicity is not necessary, but it sells the papers and make museveni look ‘active and caring’ i guess.
Rosebell Kagumire is the winner of 2009 Waxal Blogging Award for African Journalists for Best Journalist Blog (Anglophone).

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Video: International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers · Global Voices
Juliana Rincón Parra

Red umbrella logo
December 17th is the International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers, a day which started  in 2003 as a memorial and vigil to the Sex workers killed in Seattle Washington and then evolved to an international day to call attention to the hate crimes committed against sex workers throughout the world.
Some of this violence is related to stigmatization and the immediate association many do between sex-workers and AIDS. Women in SANGRAM, an NGO in India, are working for that association to be a positive one, where sex workers are known for their work in preventing HIV/ AIDS and raising awareness.
The International Woman's Health Coalition recently visited SANGRAM to do media training and documentation and this is the short documentary film they made. You can also see some of the pictures they took during the documentation process here. As producer @AudaciaRay mentioned on Twitter:
The US sex worker movement has a lot to learn from Indian activists. Watch my video to see how they're collectivizing…
In the video, the women of SANGRAM explain how education regarding their human rights has made them take action to ensure that they receive proper medical care, that they are treated equally by law enforcement and government officials, that they protect themselves and so they can educate others regarding the risks of STDs and unprotected sex. From the description:
Based in a rural community in India's Maharashtra State, SANGRAM works to ensure equal access to HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment, care and support: Over 6,000 women in rural India have participated in HIV testing as a result of these efforts. Drawing on 15 years of work to empower marginalized communities to claim their rights, SANGRAM is becoming an increasingly strong advocate nationally, and globally for health policies and programs that are responsive to the real-life needs of local communities.
In Australia, Juicy Jessie Abraham  who works in a “legal” setting in the Northern Territories makes a vlog entry calling to abolish registration of sex workers. She wishes for stigmatization against sex workers to stop, and she believes registration is a way to identify sex workers and possibly use it to discriminate against them, among other issues.
From Grit TV, a short video explains what is the International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers and its history, as well as the importance of the red umbrella symbolizing resistance to discrimination against sex workers :
There are other organizations for whom sex work itself is equivalent to violence. They wish to combat legalization and decriminalization by eradicating sex work and criminalizing the purchase of sexual services. For example, that is the position that Honour Consulting in Canada holds. Founded by former sex worker Trisha Baptie who also was a founding member for EVE- formerly Exploited Voices now Educating, they have posted a song called Would you Wait where they put out their perspective. In Ms. Baptie's words:
We need to call prostitution what it really is, which is violence against women.
Calling it violence against women, and an attack on women's equality, allows us to name the injustice that we have to fight against.
Supporting the criminalization of the demand of prostitution, which is referred to as the Swedish model of law, or as of late, the Nordic model of law, which calls for an end of the commodification of women's bodies, is pro women and pro equality.
In a contrasting perspective from Macedonia, Witness.org and the Hops organization in Skopje, have produced the following 18 minute documentary about sex work titled You Must Know About Me: Rights Not Violence for Sex Workers in Macedonia. In it, sex workers speak out firsthand about what it is like to live in an environment where they are targeted, their human rights are overlooked and they are abused by the figures of authority who should be protecting them, and where they wish to be recognized as workers, with the same rights as any other consenting adult in employment, where the problem with sex work is not the work itself, but the stigmatization, insecurity and violence they face because of persecution and discrimination.
From the video description:
You Must Know About Me is a first-hand account of sex workers experiences and aspirations off and on the streets. While dealing with harassment and violence from clients, pimps, and the police, sex workers strive to counter hostile public attitudes by speaking out and fighting for their rights. The video calls for zero tolerance of violence against sex workers and the coordinated response of institutions to the actual needs of sex workers.
Do you know of any other activities or initiatives to end violence against sex workers? Please let us know!

author: Juliana Rincón Parra


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American Petitioner in China · Global Voices
Andy Yee

Julie Harms, an American and a Harvard graduate, hit the news as she becomes one of the few, or perhaps the first, foreign petitioner in China. Her case was a grievance against the government that her fiancé, Liu Shiliang, was jailed on a charge which she says is not true. She met Liu Shiliang a decade ago while traveling in China. They were engaged in 2007, but the wedding was delayed because of a neighbor dispute that year, and Liu was arrested in June this year on a trespassing charge.
Julie decided to resort to the petition system in Beijing this year as she feels that the local judicial system has failed to resolve the dispute with justice. The letter and visit petition system (xinfang) is an administrative system for hearing complaints and grievances from individuals in China. The state and local bureaus of letters and visits are in charge of receiving letters, calls and visits from individuals or groups.
While the verdict of the case is still to be decided, the experience of petitioning must have let Julie realized the differences of the Chinese and American legal system. As she has commented (from the news report above):
Local authorities are essentially counting on the fact that the local people don't have that much knowledge of the law. I think it's a shame.
Comments on a sina forum point to the legal and cultural gap between China and the US:
新浪网友 (2009-12-18 19:12:50): 外国人在中国上访，是因为他们还按照自己的国家的那种法律制度思维办事， 但是他们不知道这是中国，我们国人都已经习惯了，只是外国人还没有习惯中国的国情而已。 这么说，有些无奈，也有些可悲。但是这是事实！
Westerners petition in China because they are still in the mindset of their country’s legal system. They fail to realise that they are in China. While we Chinese are used to it, Westerners still have to adjust to the Chinese way. It is sad, but is the reality!
手机用户 (2009-12-18 19:50:18): 看来老外还是不了解国情，为法律、人权根本不存在的东西白费劲
Seems Westerners are still unfamiliar with China; they are demanding rule of law and human rights – things which do not exist in China.
新浪网友 (2009-12-18 20:17:46): 信访不过是个摆设罢了，还这会有人把这当回事，与其去上访，还不如花心思想办法把事情在网上炒火了更有效果
The petitioning system is just for show. For people who still think it is useful, I suggest they better popularise their case in the media to create an impact.
A NetEase forum also contains similarly negative comments:
网易北京师范大学网友 (2009-12-16 00:27:19): 我很不想贬低我的祖国，但我不得不说，姑娘带着你的丈夫走吧，中国的三十六计里边走为上策，此时此地的中国确实不是你们美利坚长大的人能够混得下去的地方，而究竟什么时候中国才能成为普适性的人类居住的国家，也是个未知数，至少现在，法律在中国充其量只是摆设，是你这种哈佛毕业生无法了解的。
I don’t want to belittle my country, but I cannot help but say: leave this country together with your husband. China is not a place where you Americans could survive. It is also uncertain when China would become a place with universal values which are suitable for people to live in.  At least, China now does not have rule of law. This is what even a Harvard graduate could not understand.
网易河北衡水网友 (2009-12-13 09:21:01): 在中国这个“神秘”的国度，很多事情是很奇怪的。希望她能最后得到她想要的结果吧。把这事拍成电影吧，在这国度，事情搞大了可能有解决的办法。
In this ‘mysterious’ state, there are a lot of strange things. I hope she would achieve what she hopes for. Make a film about the case – in this country, an issue could be resolved when you draw enough attention.
In his commentary, Xu Jingsheng (徐经胜) points out what Julie Harms fails to comprehend:
暂且不论这个“洋秋菊”的中国未婚夫刘士亮被以“非法侵入他人住宅”拘捕是不是合法，仅仅就她上访的情况看，几个月的奔波肯定让她感受到了文化与法律制度之间的差异与隔阂。就在前几天她去公安部信访处时，一位信访接待人员对她说，“公安部对你的事情很重视，部长几次就你反映的问题进行了批示”，她还是不明白这到底意味着什么
Without getting into the details of the case, months of petitioning experience must have made her realise how different China’s culture and legal system are from those of America’s. A few days before she went to the Public Security petitioning bureau, one official told her: “The Public Security treats your case seriously. The minister has given instructions regarding the issues you have raised.” She might still not be able to understand what this sentence means.
很多上访者都是有道理的，但这些有道理的问题在很多时候都难以依法得出解决。在不少地方特别是基层，不少上访者的问题本是可以依法解决的，但是，不少时候，相关法律法规却被有些人置之一边“闲置”不用，有时只有等到有领导重视了，相关法律法规才有用武之地，这时候，有关法律法规才能“履行”其自己的责任。可以说，在有些地方，有些时候，不同程度存在着只有领导重视了法律才管用的现象。
Even though many petitioners are totally reasonable in their causes, their issues could not be resolved legally. Very often, the issues could have been resolved in the lower levels. However, the relevant regulations are put aside and neglected, until the higher authority pays attention to them. We have a phenomenon that the legal system would work only when the leadership attach importance to it.
而目前很多上访者的目的，就是想引起相关领导的重视，而只有领导重视了，批示了，上访的问题好像就容易解决了。否则，即使上访几个月甚至几年，上访的问题都难以解决。对于这种现象，“洋秋菊”朱莉•哈尔姆斯在短时间内肯定是难以理解的。而在一定程度上，这个“洋秋菊”所不理解的地方，正是我们法制社会所欠缺并亟需得到弥补的。
The aim of many petitioners is to raise the attention of the leadership. Only when the leaders pay attention and give instructions could the problems be solved. Otherwise, there is no hope of resolution even if you petition for months or years. Julie Harms would not be able to comprehend this, and to some extent, this incomprehension is a reflection of where our legal system needs much remedy.

author: Andy Yee


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Armenia: Embracing multiculturalism · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Ianyan hosts a guest post responding to nationalist perceptions of identity, culture and language. The entry concludes that all nations and ethnic groups absorb other influences, benefiting from such a reality greatly while also evolving into something with their own unique peculiarities.

author: Onnik Krikorian


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Azerbaijan: Education, free thought and development · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Following a previous post from Flying Carpets and Broken Pipelines on European concerns with the situation of freedom of expression in Azerbaijan, and especially following the imprisonment of video blogging youth activists Adnan Hajizade and Emin Milli, the blog comments on remarks made by the country's Minister of Education. The blog says that accusations of foreign countries “brainwashing” Azeri youth studying abroad are simplistic and overlooking the obvious. Students are simply “learning, teaching and exploring…”


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Bolivia: Deforestation Rate Twenty Times Global Average · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

With the end of 2009 fast approaching, Carlos Gustavo Machicado of Guccio's [es] takes a look back at some of the economic and environmental issues in Bolivia, including noting the fact that the country's deforestation rate is 20 times the global average.

author: Eduardo Avila


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Chile: Vote for Chileans Abroad · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Centros Chilenos [es] released a statement calling for right to vote for those Chileans living abroad.


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Colombia: Twenty Years After Assassination of Luis Carlos Galán · Global Voices
Cati Restrepo

Luis Carlos Galán (1943-1989) was a well-known presidential candidate who was assassinated, and which was ordered by narcotrafficking cartels in 1989. His death came at a time in Colombian politics when he was leading in the polls for the presidential elections for the term 1990-1994.
Ibsen Martínez of Tal Cual Digital [es] writes about the person responsible for the murder:
Galán cayó mortalmente herido por las balas de sicarios, en momentos en que cerraba campaña electoral en Soacha, empobrecida localidad vecina a Bogotá. Desde el primer momento estuvo claro que Pablo Escobar había ordenado matar a quien, sin duda alguna, habría sido presidente de Colombia.
Thus, it is not surprising that 20 years later, that the Colombian media would continue to bring up the investigation regarding the motives for the crime. For example, the crime continues to be of an interest especially after the meeting between Sebastián Marroquín (Pablo Escobar's son) and the children of the assassinated candidate, which was facilitated by a documentary called “Sins of my Father” filmed by the Argentine Nicolás Entel, as mentioned by Verónica Calderón [es]:
Marroquín no puso un centavo, pero el coste emocional fue colosal. Debía volver la vista al pasado del que llevaba huyendo más de 16 años. Y no sólo eso. También sentarse al lado de los hijos del ex ministro de Justicia colombiano, Rodrigo Lara Bonilla, y del ex candidato presidencial Luis Carlos Galán.
Entel dio el primer paso. Se acercó a Rodrigo Lara Restrepo y a Carlos, Juan Manuel y Claudio Galán para explicarles que hacía un documental sobre los hijos de las víctimas de la narcoguerra en Colombia. (…) Compartir mesa con el hijo de Pablo Escobar, sin embargo, no fue fácil.
Para romper el hielo, el primer paso fue una carta. “Nunca tuve tanto miedo como hoy […] ¿Cómo le escribes a una familia a la que tu padre le causó tanto daño?”, escribe Marroquín. Pese a que los hijos de los asesinados recibieron con recelo el acercamiento, finalmente decidieron reunirse con el hijo del responsable de su tragedia. Pablo Escobar ordenó matar a Lara Bonilla en 1984 y a Luis Carlos Galán en 1989. Todos eran niños cuando los crímenes. Lara Restrepo y Marroquín sólo se llevan un año. “No fue fácil sentarse con una persona que, aunque es inocente, es el hijo del asesino de nuestros padres”, explica Rodrigo Lara Restrepo. “Vimos que era una víctima más de su padre, por cargar con la culpa y la estigmatización.”
Marroquín did not give one cent [for the making of the documentary], but the emotional cost was colossal. He had to take a look back at the past, from which he had been running for more than 16 years. And not only that, but he had to sit next to the children of the ex-Minister of Justice, Rodrigo Lara Bonilla and of the ex-presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galán.
Entel took the first step. He contacted Rodrigo Lara Restrepo and Carlos, Juan Manuel, and Claudio Galán to explain that he was doing a documentary about the children of the victims of the Colombian narco-guerillas. (…) To share a table with the son of Pablo Escobar, however, was not easy.
To break the ice, the first step was a letter. “I never had as much fear as I have today (…) How do you write to a family in which your father caused so much pain?” writes Marroquín.  Even though the children of the victims were suspicious of the approach, they finally decided to meet with the son of the one responsible for their tragedy. Pablo Escobar ordered the killing of Lara Bonilla in 1984 and of Luis Carlos Galán in 1989. [The ones who met] were all children during the crime. Lara Restrepo and Marroquín were only one year old. “It was not easy to sit with the person, even though he is innocent, who is the son of the killer of our fathers,” explains Rodrigo Lara Restepo. “We saw that he was one more victim of his father, for bearing the burden of guilt and stigma.”
However, in some sectors of society there is still some skeptical voices regarding Juan Pablo or Sebastían (as he has been known as later). María Jimena Duzán of the blog Round Talk [es] writes:
O el hijo de Pablo Escobar nos está mintiendo o no nos ha dicho toda la verdad. Esa es la sensación que nos deja a muchos colombianos el informe de la unidad de investigación de El Tiempo en el que ‘Popeye’, el sicario de Pablo Escobar, acusa a Juan Pablo, el hijo del capo, de haber participado en un operativo en Medellín que terminó con el asesinato del capitán de la Policía Fernando Hoyos Posada, en 1992, es decir, cuando Juan Pablo tenía tan solo 14 años de edad.
The criticism of Marroquín also involves the media attention that he has been receiving as a result of the film. Marsares of the Colombian digital magazine Equinoxio [es] writes “A show or repentance?“
Escobar Jr. viajó a Colombia y concitó la atención sobre sí mismo y sobre los pecados paternales, coincidiendo su visita con el estreno de la cinta, bendecida por este caudal de publicidad gratuita que muy de seguro redundará en la taquilla y en la fama de Entel y Marroquín, a cuyos quince minutos de popularidad tienen derecho como todo el mundo, según Warhol.
With the upcoming presidential elections, some feel that the attention should be given back to Galán and his ideas, and the current state of Colombian politics. The blog Colombia Invisible [es] quotes Galán's widow:
“que el mejor legado es que las nuevas generaciones lo conozcan”. Y agregan que: “Se pregunta uno, cual legado, si las ideas y proyectos políticos de Galán murieron en el momento de su asesinato. ¿O caso alguna de esas ideas, digamos sus mas controversiales, la lucha contra el narcotráfico y sus denuncias sobre la penetración en las esferas políticas y del propio estado, se retomaron y pusieron en practica; y como resultado de sus ideas, hoy el país esta libre de narcos y de violencia?”
A Flickr site called Galán Vive (Galán Lives) has been collecting historical photos of the slain presidential candidate.

author: Cati Restrepo


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Guatemala: Restaurant Review Blog · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

La Papila Gustativa [es] is a blog that has been reviewing a wide variety of restaurants in Guatemala City.


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Honduras: Christmas Songs  · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Nacer en Honduras [es] shares Christmas music from Honduras, including an album by the group The Speeds, which released the Christmas album in 1969.


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Japan: Peace picture books · Global Voices
Scilla Alecci

The pacifist association called Peace Picture Books [ja, en] published online their last story titled Evil & Punishment: psychology of punishment [en].
On the same website it`s possible to read picture books by different illustrators.

author: Scilla Alecci


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Podcast: Interview with Sudanese Drima · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Sudanese Drima is the pseudonym for Global Voices’ Malaysia-based Sudanese author. His deeply sarcastic blog The Sudanese Thinker has been featured by the BBC, USA Today, and Reuters. In this ten-minute interview we discuss how social media is affecting Islam, the Darfur conflict, and issues of Afro-Arab identity in South East Asia.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | RSS

author: David Sasaki


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Russia: A Third of Russians Use Internet  · Global Voices
Alexey Sidorenko

There are 42 million Internet users (29,6% of total population) in Russia according to the latest Public Opinion Foundation research [Google Translation ENG]. This is 2 million more compared to the Summer of 2009. Daily Internet audience in Russia accounts for 23,9 million.

author: Alexey Sidorenko


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Russia: Yegor Gaidar, Russia’s Economic Reformer, Dies at 53 · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Yegor Gaidar, a Russian economist and politician who initiated the 1992 “shock therapy” reforms following the collapse of the Soviet Union, died on Wednesday in Moscow at the age of 53. Initial reports said the cause of death was a blood clot; on Dec. 17, Maria Gaidar, Yegor Gaidar's daughter, announced on her blog (RUS) that it had been a heart attack.
In the obituary published in The Economist on Dec. 16, Gaidar is described as someone who, along with “his team,” “demolished the Soviet economy and laid the foundations of capitalism in Russia,” by pushing “astonishingly risky” economic reforms, which turned out to be “right but unpopular”:
[…] Too much shock, not enough therapy, people complained. In the years that followed, life expectancy plunged further, public services frayed and output plummetted. But much of that was the grim legacy of Soviet misrule. Other things began to work much better. Given the disaster that he inherited, Mr Gaidar’s record still looks pretty good. […]
Russian bloggers immediately reacted to the news of Gaidar's death, and their responses serve as a vivid reflection of how divided the Russian public still is on his legacy and the direction the country has taken since the demise of the Soviet Union. Gaidar spent the past decade largely outside the public spotlight, involved in academic work and writing, but he remained a hugely symbolic figure nevertheless: a highly esteemed hero to some of his compatriots and a reviled scapegoat to others. It is impossible to conclude which prevailed in the blogosphere on the day he died – praise and genuine sadness, or curses and inappropriately gleeful satisfaction – but there was definitely plenty of both.
In a way, LJ user faibisovich puts it best (RUS):
[…] Just as [Boris Yeltsin]'s death, the death of Gaidar is an extremely powerful litmus test, an instant photo of the consciousness of the country, its public figures and the not-so-prominent people. […]
Below is a selection of Russian bloggers’ reactions to Yegor Gaidar's death (translated from Russian).
LJ user viking-nord:
[…] He did indeed rescue us from humiliation, from fights for a loaf of bread… The majority doesn't think highly of it, which characterizes not Gaidar, but this majority. […]
LJ user afrikane3:
[…] He was faced with an extremely difficult task, something that no one in the world had ever done before him – from a fried eggs meal, to re-assemble a live egg on the molecular level. Did he do it clumsily? Yes, it was clumsy. Yes, a tractor rode over people's destinies. In our family, too, in the early 90s, there were no other words but curses directed at [Gaidar]. But on the other hand, there was no alternative, either.
[…]
Have you been to Yugoslavia? No? Go there, talk to the people, they'll tell you many interesting things about the “Great Serb” [Slobodan Milošević] and his allies. And they'll also tell you how people were burnt alive and forced to drink urine brewed with cigarette butts.
All this despite the fact that [Yugoslavia] was a much more cultured and European country, with agriculture that remained intact, with a developed consumer goods production, with roads and service!
Taking into account our backwardness and wildness, as well as the size of the Soviet Union – this would have been some 6-7 million of dead bodies.
So maybe he has saved these 6-7 million people – and not “robbed the old ladies”? […]
LJ user hasid:
Had Gaidar died between 1993-95, there would have been no need to feel sorry. But today, there is – because now we've got someone to compare him with – basically, the inanimate objects in office.
And he should also be given credit for not falling so low as to start “eating children” – despite being in an environment that favored that. He had managed to restrain himself.
Eternal memory.
Here's part of a discussion in the comments section to the post quoted above:
pivovaroffs:
“because now we've got someone to compare him with”
I don't know what's a good comparison for a person who had promised a threefold price hike but ended up initiating a 2,500% inflation. This makes even the events of [the 1998 financial crisis in Russia] dim by comparison.
[…]
hasid:
[Nikita Khrushchev] promised communism by 1980 to you, [Mikhail Gorbachev] promised a separate apartment to everyone by 2000, [Vladimir Putin] promised to catch up with Portugal by 2010.
Do you believe all the czars?
pivovaroffs:
These are promises of different kinds. Those czars were promising lifestyle improvements – and they kept these promises at least in part.
Gaidar was promising a deterioration – and he well exceeded on this promise […].
hasid:
Because he was honest, that's why.
LJ user rusanalit:
[…] Gaidar and Yeltsin are blamed for rendering worthless people's savings deposits at [Sberbank].
I'll note two things.
Thing #1. Sberbank of the USSR was bankrupt by 1992 – it had handed out over 90 percent of the accumulated funds to [Gosbank] of the USSR, which, in turn, handed out most of that in the form of loans to the Soviet budget. From formal bankruptcy Sberbank of the USSR was saved by the 1991-92 hyperinflation only, which also erased to dust the purchasing power of the savings.
Thing #2. Most of the depositors’ losses happened in the pre-Gaidar 1991, when prices rose 150 percent. That is, the purchasing power of savings fell by 60 percent. Then the 1992 inflation cut the [remaining] savings tenfold. That is, in 1991, depositors parted with 60 percent of their savings, and in 1992 – with 36 percent.
Anyway, if you are remembering Gaidar [unkindly], then the Soviet prime minister [Valentin Pavlov], a communist, should precede him. […]
LJ user knup_ru wrote this in the ru_politics LJ community:
[…] I've noticed that only communists are criticizing Gaidar openly. The rest are either praising him or carefully acknowledge his role in the Russian history.
It's not only the economic reforms that Gaidar is remembered unfavorably for by some Russian citizens. LJ user ingushetia-ru, for instance, brought up the Ossetian-Ingush conflict of 1992, at the time of which Gaidar served as first deputy prime minister of Russia. Writing on behalf of the Ingush population, ingushetia-ru concludes:
[…] All in all, so many curses are pouring at the deceased from all over the country, that one more – from the Ingush people – is simply drowning in the general mass of it…
And then there was also the “constitutional crisis” of October 1993 in Russia – “a political stand-off between the Russian president and the Russian parliament that was resolved by using military force.” Gaidar, who had been Russia's acting PM from June to December 1992, was Russia's first deputy prime minister again then. On the day he died, at least two bloggers posted a YouTube video (RUS) of his Oct. 3, 1993, TV address to the Russian citizens, in which he, among other things, described the “opposite side” as heavily-armed “bandits” and “revanchists” and called Muscovites to gather in downtown Moscow to “prevent turning the country into a huge concentration camp for decades again.”
One of the bloggers (LJ user gunter_spb) posted this video in the ru_politics LJ community, questioning Gaidar's “morality” – and while some readers seemed to share his scorn for Gaidar, others didn't:
garden_vlad:
A faithful servant of the [nomenklatura, the ruling class] and a Russophobe
***
agitator_mass:
Have listened carefully. Recalled that time. Am ready to sign under every single phrase.
Another blogger who chose to highlight Gaidar's 1993 address is LJ user cook. Here is what he wrote in his tribute to Gaidar:
Sometimes – very rarely – people appear in the human mass who are truly capable of assuming responsibility in a decisive moment.
Yegor Gaidar had been given this amazing and tragic gift in abundance: he was ready to act and to be held responsible for his actions. Again and again, he was taking upon himself what was most difficult, most unrewarding, and, sometimes, truly unbearable.
Here, have a look: a horrible moment, when a person meets his fate. Calmly, with dignity and with understanding of the real weight of the burden that he had been allotted.
This is what an act of bravery is. One of the feats that he has accomplished.
Eternal memory and eternal gratitude to Yegor Gaidar.
Below are a few more reflections on Gaidar, by people who used to know him personally in one way or another.
LJ user mikhail62, a journalist, was on the same train to St. Petersburg with Gaidar in late 1995; he spent a couple hours talking to him, had him sign a recently-published book and interviewed him:
[…] Gaidar changed into travel clothes once on the train – he put on an old shirt – worn-out, with marks left by a ballpoint pen near a small pocket. And all the buttons on his stomach had been sewn on anew. They differed in size and color, and the threads used were different, too…
And when I used to think of Yegor Timurovich, I kept seeing these different buttons and pen marks on an old shirt of a man who had transformed the economy. […]
Irina Yasina (LJ user yasina), an economist and a journalist, was the last person to interview Gaidar. On her blog, she wrote:
The main thing that Yegor Timurovich had taught me was to work for the country, not for the regime. I kept asking him many times beginning from 2003: Why are you helping THEM? And he used to tell me that he had lived through one catastrophe – a collapse of his own country – and he doesn't want something like this to happen again.
- Irochka, I do remember what it's like when there's just enough flour in Moscow for three days and in Leningrad for two! And this is what matters. To wish well not to the regime, but to the country in which you are living, having children and waiting for grandchildren.
God, such brains, such skills and knowledge – and no one basically had any need for them in the last years…
Below is a video (RUS, 15:22) of Yasina's last interview with Gaidar, recorded on Dec. 15, just one day before he died, at RIA Novosti news agency in Moscow:
Finally, here is some of what Gaidar's daughter Maria (LJ user m-gaidar; a political activist, currently serving as deputy governor of Kirov region) wrote on Dec. 17 on her blog:
[…] The death occurred between 2AM and 6AM, and, most likely, he didn't realize what happened. I saw it – his face was absolutely calm. He died at home, had been in a wonderful mood before that, had some meetings scheduled for the following day, had been working.
It is extremely difficult to see books and papers that he had been reading just a short time ago, and his notes that had just been written with his hand.
I am very happy that we had had a chance to see each other and to have a wonderful talk (he packed a whole sack of books for me to read), that he was home in a good mood, in a good condition, that he died peacefully, and that I happened to be in Moscow when I learned about it, because I was passing through to Kirov from Stavropol region. […]

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Russian Rock Star Talks About His Social Network · Global Voices
Gregory Asmolov

Ilya Lagutenko at the George Washington University
A Russian rock group “Mumiy Troll” is one of the oldest and most popular in the country. Founded in 1983 in Vladivostok by the group's vocalist and songwriter Ilia Lagutenko (41) a.k.a. Mumiy Troll,  the band still enjoys a wide recognition in Russia. Their concerts continue to attract thousands of people. Lagutenko successfully plays in movies and tours many countries.
Mumiy Troll is also active in humanitarian field. He was the first to support the activities of the PSI, a non-profit humanitarian organization, to fight AIDS in Russia. He is also an advocate for environmental protection and conservation policies. In November 2009, just few hours before his concert in Washington, D.C., Lagutenko attended a meeting at the World Bank as a patron of the British-Russian Amur fund for the protection of Amur tigers and leopards.
Aside from that, there is one more field where Mumiy Troll sets the tone. It's the Internet. Besides its Web page, Myspace and Facebook fan community,  Wikipedia entry and a good amount of fans on Livejournal, the group has its own social network Ikra.tv founded three years ago.
Ikra.tv currently consists of  about 6,500 members. It offers various forms of communications for the fans including blogs, forums and different options to share music, pictures and videos.
An hour before his meeting at the World Bank, Ilya Lagutenko met with few dozens of students from the George Washington University. He also sat down with GV to answer some questions.
GV: Why have you decided to found your own social network? What is its purpose?
Ikra.tv is the place of interaction for our fans who love “Mumiy Troll” but are not limited by “Mumiy Troll.” They have their own projects and mind-sets and need to have a place where they could continue those interactions. […] They need a place where they can exchange their opinions and understand that they have something in common. They need to place where they can understand that their ideas mean something. They just need to figure out what to do next.
It's been a couple of years since Ikra.tv launched. I watch how it is being developed. I understand that there are some technical difficulties but we are just a rock group and not a firm for technological development. We don't have resources to take the networks to a new level but I am sure that the fans can get together and have, say,  one entrepreneur, one technical person and one musician to create something. With this social network, we just set an example and those people can take this example and do something better and more effective.
As a musician, I always run into the same issues. People give me a CD and ask me to listen to it. I can certainly listen to it but I cannot do anything except expressing my opinion about the music. I am not a record studio. I don't have the best friend who is a great producer and whom I can ask to promote someone. We are a small group and we share many responsibilities. We just don't have physical capacity to build an Internet music empire.
Have you considered writing a blog or some kind of Internet diary?
Frankly, I am not a writer who can dedicate a lot of time to create something. I write songs and I treat them like my blogs. And I like it better this way. I like this form. We are talking to each other now and I am talking a lot… But this time can be spent for writing a song that will stay for long out there and that will bring more emotions to people. I will be more interested in doing this because it is harder to do.
Lagutenko is certainly not a geek. He also doesn’t treat his social network as a way to communicate with his fans. He said he didn't want to interfere with the life of the social network. Lagutenko perceives himself and his music as a common denominator that can unite people with similar interests and create a new space of communication. He said his responsibility are not to interact with fans and support the social network but primarily create new songs that can serve as new elements for the community's identity.

author: Gregory Asmolov


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Russia: Popular Blogger Would Be Glad If Russian Authorities Restrict Internet · Global Voices
Gregory Asmolov

Roman Doborohotov (27) is a leader of Russian youth democratic movement “Mi” (We).  He attracted media attention after he had interrupted the Russian President Dmirty Medvedev’s speech [RUS] by shouting that there were wide violations of the constitution in the country. Dobrohotov keep his blog on Livejournal and studies political science at the Higher School of Economics in Moscow. In November 2009, Dobrohotov visited the Kenan Institute at the Woodrow Wilson Center in the U.S. where he spoke about “Mi” movement. He also talked to GVO about the Internet, democracy and online activism in Russia.
Roman, thank you for talking to GVO. Let's start with a general question. What is the role of the Internet in Russian society?
The Internet is the only source of information [in Russia – G.V.] that is not censored. As alternatives, we have only newspaper “Kommersant” and radio “Echo Moskvy“ with, to some extent, TV channel “REN TV.” But “Kommersant” and “Echo Moskvy” also use the Web a lot as a source of information. Very often, their news sources are blogs. Most of journalists also have their online dairies.
Does the Internet help organize various opposition events?
All our activities are conducted via the Internet. Our movement is classically Internet-based. The main mechanism that creates and maintains our movement is a Google group. It is a very useful tool for sharing information. We  also consider it relatively secure. We use encrypted connection. We have around 100 members of the group. Obviously, we add only people that we know. Being a member of this group is equal to being a member of our movement. The start of a new movement is symbolized by creation of a new Google group. I am a member of about ten Google groups. A Google group is an institute of civic society.
Another category is the blogosphere and particularly Livejournal.com [popular blogging platform in Russia – G.V.]. It is a broader communication sphere. And it is characterized by not only the number of people who read your blog. I have about 2,500 friends on Livejournal. The most important thing here is the “high quality” of people on the blogosphere. Among my mutual friends, there are governors, an oligarch that escaped from Russia Leonid Nevzlin, famous journalists – Ksenia Larina, for example – and various opinion leaders who have a significant impact on the public sphere and take part in public decision-making process.
They all communicate on the blogosphere because we have a tough censorship in real life in Russia. People were pushed to the Internet and successfully self-organized there. For example, we discussed the last Medvedev’s article “Rossiya vpered” [“Russia Forward” – G.V.] that, by the way, was also first published on the Internet before being distributed among traditional forms of media . Marina Litvinovich, one of the leaders of the United Civic Front [social movement in Russia – G.V.], responded to the article. It created the second wave of discussion. All the significant people on the blogosphere expressed their opinion. I also wrote a post with my reaction to Medvedev's article. Not only because I wanted, but also because about twenty people wrote to me: “We are waiting for your response.”
The blogosphere is often treated as a kind of sublimation that replaces a real action. What's your opinion?
The blogosphere is not responsible for the fact that people sublimate. People are responsible for their inaction. If the Internet didn't exist, people would be discussing those issues in their kitchens. And, in that case, a number of people who do that would be very small. But on the Internet we have hundreds of thousands who talk.
I can say that there were a lot of real-life action that originated on the Internet. Someone shared an idea and it ended with a protest involving thousands of people. It  is exactly what happened in the case of Sychev [a soldier tortured by his peers in the Russian army – G.V.]. The entire campaign started on the Internet. Many people took part in it and made an impact. They attracted the attention toward this case and the soldier finally received the medical care he required. The online campaign also led to implementation of shorter compulsory service in the army.
A blog is not a waste of time. It’s a place for thinking and analysis. We share our opinion and develop our strategy online. It’s much more productive than meeting in a coffee shop. The latter can be a good place for brainstorming, but the blogosphere is much more useful for deep analysis and thinking.
In addition to Google groups, we use Twitter. But we do it during our real-life actions, not before it. Since not a lot of Russian are on Twitter, everyone has only about fifteen friends. We use Twitter as a chat. When you deal with an opposition movement, it is very important that your friends can always follow you in case something bad happens. You can be arrested at any minute, for example. One of my friends was arrested on a subway. He immediately wrote about it on Twitter. The news reached Livejournal blogs and then traditional forms of media.
Do you use social networks?
Odnoklassniki.ru [one of the two most popular social networks in Russia  – G.V.] is a very inconvenient platform. It is useless. Facebook it’s a great thing but it is only starting to proliferate and gain its popularity in Russia. Everyone already has a profile in Vkontakte.ru [the most popular social network in Russia with 50 million members  – G.V.] and now we start to realize that the rest of the world uses Facebook. I have a profile on Facebook but we use Vkontakte.ru for our political actions. Our new project “The network of Moscow Students”[RUS] is based entirely on this social network. The great advantage of Vkontakte.ru is that it already has a category “political views” that makes it possible to find people who share similar political interests. Using this category, we already found 600 supporters. We try to create a network for distribution of information about various democratic actions so members of this group could continue to distribute those messages via their networks in universities and colleges. They can can also publish our messages on the faculty’s public boards or disseminate them using e-mail.
If we manage to create this network, we will have an ability to distribute information about particular event or campaign among millions of students within 24 hours. To have this impact, we only need several hundreds of people who can distribute this information. When we had our first meeting of the network coordinators, 30 people came. We have 600 people enrolled in our group on Vkontakte.ru and 30 is just not enough. We then asked those 600 members to join a Google group and provide us with the names of colleges and universities they attend. Only 60 people joined the Google group. It is one in ten. The problem of Vkontakte.ru is that the real-world engagement of members is very low. Everyone joins groups and even writes something on the wall but  it is very difficult for them psychologically to transform their online actions into something real.
But how do you know who those people are? Some of them can be from the government.
It’s not a problem for us. We are an organization that doesn't violate any laws. The political campaigns are prohibited inside colleges and universities but we don’t do anything on campuses. We only distribute information about our organization and it is perfectly legal.
So how do you deal with people being too passive in real life? Do you think social networks are effective in political campaigns?
We use social networks to send a message that we exist to as many people as possible. We try to connect people with similar points of view. We try to let those people know that they are not alone. It changes their self-perception and creates willingness to meet with other people just like them.
The Russian authorities try to create an illusion that democrats in the country are marginal and unable to play any significant role in politics. If people believe that, they won't be able to create any political impact. The fascinating thing about the Internet is its ability to unite people with similar interests.
Some people claim that the Internet in Russia can have an impact only in Moscow and St. Petersburg where many Internet users live. But people in those cities comprise a small percentage of the Russian population.
It should be acknowledged that Russian authorities were very successful in developing Internet access in the country. A fiber cable reaches even remote places of Russia. It goes till the Far East.  The Internet is still unavailable in villages but one can find cheap Internet access in many Russian cities. If you look at the number of comments on my blog that I get from people living in Moscow, you'll see that it is proportional to the total population of Russia.
Are your activities limited to Moscow?
We have activities where we have active coordinators: in Cheboksary and Chelyabinsk, for example. On the other hand, St.Petersburg is a huge city, but we are very weak there. We have a lot of people from there in our online group and when we try to gather them, only two show up. We have a problem with energetic activists who understand that this kind of activities is a way to make themselves opinion leaders. It is easier to conduct a significant political campaign in a small city. Ten people will be enough to make an event visible there.  Again, the problem is not Internet access but the lack of motivated people.
You use blogs for discussions and Google groups for organizing people.  What about flash mobs?
We create flash mobs using Google groups. Our members brainstorm a flash mob scenario and use social networks and other open platforms to advertise the flash mob and ask people to join.
Do the Russian authorities try to control your online activities?
They can't do anything about it. They usually try to make sure that the police arrives to the place of our campaign beforehand and arrests us.
What about different online communities that don't approve what you do?
Someone tried to hack our Web site several times. They even managed to put “Stop condemning Putin” message on our site. But those things happen rarely.
And there is not much that can be done here. They can spam my blog with comments, but it will take one second of my time to delete them. It will take more time for them to open a new account and spam me again.
They can also to try to make provocations in real life. For instance, they hired some young ladies who invited us to an apartment and offered us drugs. They are very active on this field. And they certainly have people who provide information about us to the center “E.” It is the center responsible for the fight against extremism. And it is very effective. Sometimes we are arrested when we are only on the way to our meeting. One time we were planning to gather on the Pushkinskaya square. I was waiting for two of my friends inside a metro station. Suddenly, few policemen came, caught me by my hands and legs and took me to a police station. People around were shocked. It was a surreal picture. But it means that they are reading our Google groups and other supposedly secured sources. Actually, I don’t have any problem with it. They are welcome to read it. We have ways to make it secret anyway. We meet at coffee shops and develop codes for various places and later use these codes in Google groups. We can also change the location at the last minute.
Did you consider using any online tools to improve the security of your information?
The authorities have a legal right to ask any information from Internet providers. They have an access to everything we send through SORM 2 system. But information is encrypted and it will take a lot of time for them to decode it. The authorities can also create Internet filters or just shut down blogging services like Livejournal. But we can always work through other platforms. We can also use anonymizers and other tools like proxy services. It’s not so difficult. In general, security organizations in Russia have very unprofessional staff and it will be difficult for them to create problems for us online. They have only 20 experts in this field, but there are millions of Internet users who can challenge those experts.
There are claims that Russian Internet failed as a sphere of democracy because it exposed all the struggles inside democratic community. What do you think?
The idea of the Web that failed as a democratic sphere is wrong. We have one or two weird people who make a lot of noise about it but, aside from that, it is a very effective tool. We have only healthy discussions online. The story of Marina Litvinovich [Marina Litvinovich was expelled from the United Civil Front [ENG] party for urging members of Russian opposition movements to support the Russian President Dmitry Medvedev – G.V.] was an absurd, but the Internet played a positive role even here. The committee hearings related to Litvinovich were broadcast live on the Internet. Everyone knew that hundreds of people were following it online in real time. And later thousands watched it on Youtube. This kind of transparency creates more responsibility.
And what do you think about Medvedev’s blog? Is it an attempt of Russian authorities to influence public opinion on the blogosphere?
First, I really like the fact that I am more popular on the blogosphere than Medvedev. He may have more friends on Livejournal, but my Yandex rating [rating of Russian blogs by Yandex.ru – G.V.] is higher. Medevedev’s blog only underlines the unique role of the Russian blogosphere that includes such important bloggers as governors, oligarchs, politicians, journalists and other opinion makers.
But is it a real change in Kremlin’s approach to new media or just another attempt to conduct a PR campaign?
Obviously, it is cheap PR. But the question is why Medvedev decided to conduct his PR campaign on Livejournal. It only confirms the fact that traditional media are totally censored in the country. The real discussions are pushed to another platform: the Internet. Medvedev legitimizes this claim by his appearance on Livejournal. His appearance says: “People, I acknowledge the fact that TV is not a sphere for discussion.”I think he also laughs when he watches some Russian TV programs. That is why he decided to become a blogger.
And what do you think about various initiatives of the Russian Parliament to introduce Internet regulations. Can those be a threat to your movement?
It is a threat to Russian government. If they try to regulate the Internet, they will get 15 million people who aggressively oppose it. No one wants Big Brother to follow her on the Internet. There are lots of online communities that prepare to fight against Internet regulations.
Russian people have a tendency to think that everyone is spying on them. In any online discussion group, you will find ten percent of people who always disconnect a battery on their mobile phones before they say the word “Putin” in real-life conversations. It is a part of our mentality. But it might also be good for us because this fear will only increase the tension that will follow any attempts to regulate the Internet.
Actually, I would be glad if the Russian authorities try to restrict the Internet. They won't achieve anything by it. We always will find a technological solution to bypass online censorship. But it can create a wave of protests. It could be very helpful if the apolitical community online protests against Medvedev. It can promote group solidarity. But I am pretty sure that Medvedev won’t let it happen.
There are few initiatives in the U.S. that try to help young liberal leaders from all over the world to use Internet for their activities. What's your take on that?
We don’t need any money because the Internet is cheap. We know how to use it and if someone doesn't, there are a lot of easy ways to learn. But we need help with building Web sites. We have very few people who know how to do it and even they do it pretty bad. If someone could create a web platform that might be adopted for various political movements and include social networking elements, it would be great. We had an idea to create a social network for independent journalists from different regions in Russia that would allow those journalists to tell stories about different problems in their regions. The same  concept can also work for other projects.
What will be the role of the Internet in Russia in the future?
I think the civil society will function better on the Internet since the authorities won't be able to control it effectively. Chinese authorities are more effective in online control but they focused on it right when the Internet emerged in China. And even they have a lot of problems with controlling the  Internet.
If economic crisis gets worse, the authorities will cut all independent Internet sources because it is impossible to control them. It will significantly increase the number of public protests.
If Russian authorities don't do it, the Internet will continue  to be a place where liberal organizations and groups thrive. The number of Internets users in the country is growing and the number of such organizations grows with it. Different blogging platforms and Facebook will become more popular. It will help eliminate all remaining attempts to control the Web and, in this way, the Russian civil society will win.


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Chile: Presidential Election Runoff Scheduled for January  · Global Voices
Nike Jung

On December 13, more than 8 million Chileans went to the polls for general elections. The clear winner of the day was Sebastián Piñera, the candidate for the center right party. He won the first electoral round with 44% of the votes. The vote on the center to left was split between Eduardo Frei (29.6%), independent candidate Marco Enriquez-Ominami (20.1%) and Communist party candidate Jorge Arrate (6.2%). As expected, no candidate received the necessary 50% + 1 of the vote. A run-off election between the two candidates who received the largest number of votes will take place on January 17 and will determine the next Chilean president.
The deciding question for the runoff election is who will capture the votes from third-place finisher Enriquez-Ominami. Both Piñera and Frei have made speeches addressing those supporters. The fourth place candidate, Arrate, has announced that he has not decided who he will ask his supporters to back [es].
Frei is representing the Concertación coalition, which has won every election since Chile's return to democracy in 1990. However, the results from this recent election indicate that this run may end with the possible election of Piñera. Marta Lagos, director Latinobarómetro says [es] “We are electing a president from the right, even though the majority of voters are on the side of Concertación.”
Mario Alberto Muñoz Zepeda of Atina Chile [es] believes the right is “winning hearts” mainly because of the failures of the left. Much of this can be seen in the relative success of Enriquez-Ominami, which had attracted many dissatisfied Concertación voters. However, as Patricio Navia states [es]:
El mensaje es claro. Si la Concertación quiere mantenerse en el poder, necesita demostrar que ha escuchado ese mensaje y que tomará medidas para reencantar a esos electores inconformes.
However, other bloggers have a message for Piñera and call on him to show his true colors and to dissociate himself from the radical right fringe in his party coalition. Cristóbal Bellolio writes from his blog at La Tercera [es]:
Piñera debería ser aun más explícito en esta convocatoria, sacrificando todos los elementos vinculados con la dictadura. … el empresario debería reafirmar el compromiso de su proyecto con el reconocimiento y respeto a la diversidad de opciones de vida. El eje “valórico” debería quedar finalmente instalado en el ala liberal de la derecha.
A disillusioned blogger, Barbara Werner summarizes that everything will be business as usual [es] regardless of which candidate emerges as the winner:
Chao reforma a la constitución, nacionalización del agua (hoy en manos extranjeras), nacionalización del cobre y recursos naturales.
Ojala que estos señores no privaticen el AIRE y nos cobren cargo fijo por respirar ( y curiosamente la licitación se la ganen los españoles) .
Presidential candidate Jorge Arrate following his vote. Photo taken by Diego Martin™ and used under a Creative Commons license.
Television news and bloggers spoke of the high voter turnout and long lines for the polls. Despite this, only one in five young people, those less than 30 years old, went to the polls. By contrast, turnout among those 60 years or older was between 70-90% [es]. Longstanding electoral laws threaten   Chileans with a fine for failure to vote once they register. Another controversial voting law is the one that prohibits Chileans who have lived abroad from voting until they have returned to Chile for five years.  Groups like the blog Centros Chilenos en el Exterior [es] (Chilean Centers Abroad) have been raising awareness to this issue.
Finally, Paloma Baytelman documented her vote [es] in this video and later worked as a voluntary electoral observer in an area of the capital Santiago with many senior citizen voters.

author: Nike Jung


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Hungary: Bloggers Discuss the Corporate Use of Social Media · Global Voices
Marietta Le

Some two weeks ago T-Mobile Hungary had problems with its mobile network service after an overnight software update. Lots of costumers reported that they couldn't receive or make calls, or send or get their text messages. T-Mobile tweeted on their corporate Twitter account (HUN) at 10:20 AM, December 4 (HUN):
In reference to the problem of network, an official statement will be released. We beg your patience!
It was not the tweet of T-Mobile, and not even the interruption of their service, which later generated a vivid online discussion, but the reaction of Vodafone Hungary to the phenomenon. The first step was re-tweeting an answer of their online marketing department employee. Tamás Müller, who was managing the Vodafone Hungary Twitter account (HUN) that day, tweeted at 11:49 AM (HUN):
Ok, ring us up! ;) RT @tmobilehungary In reference to the problem of network, an official statement will be released. We beg your patience!
Hungarian internet users were very much on the spot, and they soon discovered that Vodafone Hungary started a Google AdWords campaign related to the outage of T-Mobile. Orosznyet of BurninGames (HUN) posted a screenshot of the advertisement that appeared when he googled up “T-Mobile broke down” – and he also commented on it (HUN):
[…] The point is that Vodafone kept its end up and reacted fast. They set up a Google AdWords advertisement: “With us you can still reach your friends!” […] I like the style of Vodafone, even if it's a big company, they're not forcing the office blurb, but the one that everybody uses. […]
The story continued some days later with the dismissal of the re-tweeting Vodafone employee. The author of Webisztán (HUN) – one of the most relevant IT-related Hungarian blogs – Hírbehozó (also known as hh), published an interview (HUN) with Tamás Müller:
As you all know, Vodafone dismissed one of their newly employed colleagues in online marketing. The reason was that during the time of last Friday's big T-offline, he dared to write on Twitter this message.
The news of his firing evoked steady revulsion among the  (in the meantime commenting has been disabled [to the article of Index.hu]) and among twitterers, too. After this I contacted the protagonist of the case, Tamás Müller… […]
After discussing the corporate use of social media in general, Tamás Müller re-told the story of his tweet and the Google advertisements to Hírbehozó. “In the judgement of Vodafone in that given situation, taking those steps hadn't been ethical, and since I hadn't agreed on them within doors, they dismissed me from my job,” he said.
Later on Hungarian twitterers started to re-tweet Müller's message (HUN):
So, yes. Unfortunately, I'm looking for a new job because of the Vodafone-RT http://bit.ly/53O5Dt: RT this, if you'd like to help. ;)
The group of Müller's supporters is still growing, and now they are discussing, collecting and producing content related to his case on a Facebook page.
Some days ago Mátyás Dobó (also known as Doransky), another expert in online activity-related affairs, published (HUN) a sort of a study on the case, which he prepared on a request from Vodafone.
The post of Doransky right away generated reactions in the Hungarian blogosphere. Bloggers of Karmamedia  (HUN) wrote this (HUN):
[…] We heavily criticized poor Telekom, that it would be the time of updating their crisis communication manual, and think over their behavior in online communities. Favored by fortune, we can suggest the same to Voda. Without reference to Tamás Müller: unless there are no frameworks for using social media, tomorrow the same can happen to anybody. […]
Explaining his doubts, hh of Webisztán wrote an “unsponsored” post (HUN), in which he accused Vodafone of pushing positive PR by requesting a case study from an expert, leaking this information, and then “arranging” for the article to be published. Hírbehozó called the organizational establishment of Vodafone “arrogant” and added:
[…] Second, I take it as a blurring that Doransky adopted the argument of Vodafone, according to which it wasn't the ominous tweet, but the AdWords advertisements that blew the gasket at the management of the mobile provider. To me it's totally evident that they're emphasizing this because they want to act as if they wouldn't have ever had any problem with Twitter. […]
As for the breakdown of the T-Mobile service, according to index.hu (HUN), János Winkler, the deputy director of the company, announced that their loss was 700 million HUF, together with the recompensation to their costumers.

author: Marietta Le


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Lebanon: Fun(d)raising · Global Voices
Layal Al Khatib

A group of Lebanese bloggers decided to draw smiles on the faces of underprivileged kids by getting them toys for Christmas. Fun(d)raising is the name of their project and it's bringing joy and fun to everyone.
According to their website:
Fun(d) Raising is a non-profit collaborative project by several young persons who got together with one wish in their hearts and it is to draw a smile on the faces of underprivileged kids who are not as fortunate as our little children, siblings and relatives. Fun(d) Raising seeks to collect toys and give them to kids of an organization in Lebanon (TBA soon) on this upcoming Christmas.
Unlike other fund-raising projects, the process of collecting funds isn't just giving out money or toys; Donors get to have fun and learn as well.
People can be involved in the project by doing one of the following:
No Money is accepted. Only new or used but with a good condition toys can be donated and they're willing to pick them from the your front door.
You can check the donated toys so far at the Photo Gallery.
One of the donated Toys
Two events have been organized so far and the third should be coming up soon. The first one was a total gaming night at LINK – Antelias. Toys were collected during the bowling/darts/hockey gaming night.
The second event took place at RootSpace‘s office where a training session titled “WordPress for non-geeks” was held to help out non-technical bloggers to improve their skills in WP.
Help promoting for the event by spreading the word either to your friends or by grabbing one of the badges and place it in your blog/website.
For more updates, follow @lebfunraising on Twitter or join their Facebook group. You can also tune to the Twitter hashtag #lebfunraising for more reactions.

author: Layal Al Khatib


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Sri Lanka: Groundviews wins Manthan South Asia Award · Global Voices
Rezwan

ICT for Peacebuilding (ICT4Peace) reports that the Sri Lankan citizen journalism platform “Groundviews” has won the prestigious Manthan Award for South Asia under the e-news category.