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Haiti: Security vs. Relief? · Global Voices
Nicholas Laughlin

A UN vehicle keeps watch in the Carrefour neighbourhood of Port-au-Prince, 26 January, 2010. Photo by Georgia Popplewell, posted at Flickr under a Creative Commons license.
More than two weeks after the 12 January earthquake in Haiti, official estimates suggest over 100,000 people were killed, 200,000 injured, and 1 million left homeless. (The Haiti Vox blog has posted a partial translation of a government bulletin containing these and other statistics.) Despite an outpouring of aid from many countries around the world, and the presence in Haiti of thousands of relief workers, United Nations peacekeepers, and US troops, media reports suggest that a substantial percentage of affected Haitians in and around Port-au-Prince have still received little or no relief assistance.
The sheer scale of the disaster is one reason, compounded by severely damaged infrastructure and the earthquake's impact on Haitian government agencies, many of which have lost key staff. But some Haitians online, and others on the ground, are suggesting that exaggerated concerns about security and violence may be hindering relief efforts.
One outspoken commentator is the musician Richard Morse, who is also the proprietor of the Hotel Oloffson, where many foreign media personnel have been based. Within hours of the earthquake, Morse began posting news and commentary on Twitter (as @RAMhaiti), and the stream of information has continued. On 18 January, he angrily suggested that UN personnel were avoiding certain areas of Port-au-Prince:
A journalist receiving a ride from a UN vehicle was dropped off at Canape Vert.”We are prohibited from taking to the Oloffson”!!!
The Oloffson is “RED ZONE” How can the UN help the people of Carrefour Feuille if they are prohibited from coming to the neighborhood!!
I went to the so called Red Zone on foot with the CBS crew so they could get a close up look at the destruction; smell the bodies
If the UN can't go to where THE PEOPLE need their help then what are they doing here?
He added:
The fact that I haven't seen an international presence in this area tell me that others are following the lead of the UN
He refers to a system pre-dating the earthquake by several years, in which Port-au-Prince is divided into “red” and “green” zones depending on levels of perceived risk to UN staff and others. Many parts of downtown Port-au-Prince are designated “red” zones, while the more affluent Petionville area to the southeast, for example, is a “green” zone. UN staff are required to have a military escort to enter a “red” zone for any reason, including aid distribution (according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs). Even before the earthquake, some residents of the city believed the zoning system disadvantaged certain neighbourhoods, as a September 2009 CIDA report on the Bel Air area made clear.
In the subsequent days, Morse has continued to comment on the “red/green” zoning system, alleging it has more to do with politics than security, and is affecting relief efforts:
RED ZONE either means “poor” or “we don't want our people spending money there” or “we don't like you”
RED ZONE/GREEN ZONE still seems to be an issue when getting aid to different neighborhoods.
Eventually GREEN ZONE/RED ZONE in Haiti will becom an embarrassment.It's part of the Haitian politics of MONOPOLIES.Everything goes 2 a few.
On 22 January, the US-based Democracy Now media organisation posted a video report on their blog, making similar claims. The report quoted Sasha Kramer of the NGO Sustainable Organic Integrated Livelihoods:
What I’ve been witnessing here is that the aid actually arrived fairly quickly…. As I understand, there’s thousands of tons of food that are available. But the problem that they’re having is distribution of the aid.
And one of the issues with that is that large aid organizations working in Haiti, because it’s an area that has a State Department warning, there’s a lot of regions in Port-au-Prince that are considered red zones that they’re not able to go into without very high security restrictions. So when the large aid groups circulate around Port-au-Prince, they’re often in sealed vehicles with their windows up….
British photographer Leah Gordon, working with the NGO HelpAge International, posted several photos of elderly Haitians in “red zone” areas of Port-au-Prince in a HelpAge Flickr set.
Janine, 73, and Lemoine, 68, live off Grand Rue, in Port-au-Prince's "red zone". Photographed on 23 January, 2010, by Leah Gordon, and posted at Flickr. Used by permission of the photographer.
Other accounts suggested that security concerns are also in play in areas outside Port-au-Prince. The website Haiti Analysis posted a report (dated 26 January) by journalist Kim Ives of the weekly newspaper Haiti Liberté, describing a food drop-off in Léogane, near the epicentre of the earthquake:
Léogane … probably had the most extensive damage of any Haitian city. But earlier that day, the United Nations had announced that it could not bring relief to Léogane until it had established security.
“I don't know what security they need to establish,” responded Roland St. Fort, 32, another one of the town's neighborhood leaders. “There have been no riots here. The people have been very disciplined. They set up their own security around their outdoor camps.”
Freelance journalist Ansel Herz, based in Port-au-Prince since September 2009, suggested on his blog Mediahacker (on 19 January) that biased reporting by international media might be fuelling relief workers’ fears:
I have not seen a single incidence of violence. The tent camps through the city, whether in Chanmas or near Delmas, are destitute but totally peaceful…. Tell CNN, the BBC, and other media to stop being alarmist fear-mongers.
He repeated on Twitter (@mediahacker): “Stop pushing this violent criminals idea. Talk to the people, not the police.” Charity worker Troy Livesay (@troylivesay) has also commented several times that he has seen little violence on the streets.
And on 26 January, two observers gave eyewitness reports via Twitter of a food distribution operation near the ruined National Palace in Port-au-Prince, overseen by UN peacekeepers. “Brazilian soldiers throwing tear gas!” announced @karljeanjeune. Radio journalist Carel Pedre (@carelpedre) commented:
I'm more than pissed! UN are spraying gas in the distribution line!
#UN, if u're here to help! Do it the right way for God sake!
But Olivier Dupoux (@olidups) seemed skeptical. “I don't think you believe they're doing this because they are bored/testing new gas bombs,” he said.
A few hours later, Pedre posted video footage on YouTube, where it appeared the peacekeepers were in fact using pepper spray, despite mostly orderly behaviour from people in the distribution queue. He also posted five items of advice to relief organisers:
Advice #1: Ask each family affected to choose someone to receive the humanitarian Aid.
U will have less people on the line and you'll be sure that u feed at least 1 family.
Advice 2: Prepare kits (little bag) of food. Give Away a large bag of rice to one person. It is a waste
Advice 3: have a group of volunteers to do the packaging and the distribution.
Advice 4: Distribution must be made at a fixed point on a fixed scheduled.
Advice 5: You don't have to give away food everyday.  Make sure that What U give can feed a family for at least 2 days.
Global Voices managing director Georgia Popplewell, leading a two-member GV team working on the ground in Haiti, offered some thoughts on her blog to put these reports in perspective:
As the tear gas story above demonstrates, it’s difficult to verify information. You try to get around as much as you can, but in the end you’ll see only a tiny fraction of the whole, and perhaps understand or read accurately only a fraction of that. But the overriding story is about the distribution of aid: how badly it’s going, how supplies are failing to get to those who need it, and also how difficult the whole exercise is.

author: Nicholas Laughlin


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Haiti: Teen Found Alive  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Real Hope For Haiti reports that rescuers have pulled a 16-year-old Haitian girl alive from the rubble 15 days after the devastating earthquake.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Japan: In Choosing a Job (or Company) · Global Voices
Tomomi Sasaki

With limited work experience, how does one make the decision on which company to work for straight out of university? The question carries more weight when there's a good chance that person might spend their entire career there.
In the past, Global Voices has written about how a Japanese university student typically goes about finding a job, and the issues that this system has raised as times change.
Game analyst and consultant Hisakazu Hirabayashi offers his thoughts on a more personal level – for when a student starts contemplating what companies to consider for job hunting. The post is titled On having a restricted perspective in choosing a company to work for (狭い視野でしか選べない就職希望企業) [ja].
Note: The post was translated in its entirety with permission from the blogger. All links were added by Tomomi Sasaki for reference.
This weekend, a colleague asked me to give career advice for their son and daughter. They wanted to work in the game industry but were not sure how to proceed.
The two students had already compiled a list of companies where they would like to work. Criteria for these choices were simple:
1. Companies that sold the sort of games they were personally interested in
2. Well known companies with an established reputation
3. Companies that were in a good financial state
I predict a major upheaval in the next few years for not just the game industry but the media and IT industries on a whole. I did my best to convince them that to base one’s choice on the three criteria above would most certainly not be wise and practically begged for them to broaden their perspective.
One big reason for my prediction is that terrestrial analog broadcasting will cease in July 2011, which will mean the broadbandization of mobile communication…. but this kind of talk didn't resonate at all.
It just wasn't relavant to them. They loved games and had come to me for insight on breaking into the game industry but I was a “weird person” that talked about how the laws were changing.
At times like this, the situation become clearer when I use examples. No offence to the people working at this company!
This is the question I'd ask: “Okay, think back to 5 years ago. Do you know which company topped the list of desired employers for university students in 2005?”
Neither parents nor students can answer this question right away. When I tell them the answer is Japan Airlines, they understand immediately what I'm trying to say.
The danger of making decisions based on what one knows. The obvious fact that the world changes.
And it's not just 2005. It depends on the surveys but JAL was always listed as a favorite. Now, they're a company that filed for bankrupcy under the Corporate Rehabilitation Law.
Oh why is it that Japanese university students look only to the past and the present, become anxious about respectability and oddly stability-oriented? (I was this way as well.)
First imagine what the future will be like and work back from there, to think about desirable work styles and environments. They've never gone through this experience.
Students alone can't be held responsible. I feel this is a passage of rite that's much more important for a 20 year old than celebrating Coming of Age Day.

author: Tomomi Sasaki


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Korea: Translating The Tweets Of Novelist Lee Oisoo · Global Voices
Ayesha Saldanha

Lee Oisoo is a Korean novelist and artist who has been described as “an eccentric, a genius and a lunatic“. Even though he was named Korea's most popular novelist in a recent poll (he is especially popular with young readers), he is little known outside of his country because his work has not been translated into other languages. Writing since 1972, Lee Oisoo is recognised not only for his novels and essays, but for his work on radio and television, and online. When he set up a Twitter account last year he quickly amassed thousands of followers. Now his tweets are being translated into English in order to reach a wider audience. But how did a Bahraini blogger get involved?
Lee Oisoo (Twitter profile photo)
Lee Oisoo's translated tweets are being posted on a blog. This tweet introduced the novelist:
소설가 이외수입니다. 대한민국 강원도 화천에 서식하고 있습니다. 세상이 개떡 같다는 생각이 들거나 인생이 눈물겹다는 생각이 들거나 사람이 못 견디게 그립다는 생각이 들면 로긴하겠습니다. 모기가 정력에 좋다는 설이 있습니다. 소문내서 멸종시킵시다.
One of the translators of the tweets is Hasan Hujairi, a Bahraini blogger and musician who lived in Japan for a number of years. In an interview with Global Voices, he explains how the project started:
How did you get involved in this project? Who had the idea of translating these tweets?
While I was in Japan, I had much access to East Asian culture and arts. One of the friends I made in Japan, Ohsoon Yun from Korea, personally knew Oisoo for years. I became interested in the works of Oisoo through Ohsoon's descriptions and was disappointed to find that his works are not easily accessible to non-Korean speakers. Once I arrived in Bahrain after spending four years in Japan, I was informed by Ohsoon that Oisoo just launched his own Twitter account.
In regards to the idea of translating Oisoo's “tweets”, Ohsoon had mentioned to my surprise that Oisoo, though being famous inside of Korea and especially among youths, is relatively unknown to the outside world. We had discussed on several occasions the idea of making both Korean and Arabic literature more accessible to the rest of the world by translating different works and making them accessible through open mediums such as the Internet. When we heard of Oisoo's Twitter activities, we jumped into the translation project immediately!
How does the translation process work? Do the participants work on the tweets individually or as a group?
The translation process is certainly a team effort. There are three people involved in the translation process: Hasan Hujairi, Ohsoon Yun, and Hyoseon Eo. When Oisoo posts his tweets, Ohsoon would read his writings carefully, as she has an extensive knowledge of his works and also regularly contacts him with any questions she may have on his writings via email. She then produces a literal translation of the tweets as a rough draft for us to discuss and develop at a later stage. Once I am provided by Ohsoon with the new rough translations, we'd discuss them and explain how to present it in a style that comes close to capturing the voices used by Oisoo in his writings. We also discuss, when necessary, whether any footnotes on Korean culture or linguistics need to be made. Discussions are held online via video chat and/or email correspondences. Once we agree on the most suitable translation, we upload it to the website.
The process is relatively flexible and doesn't terminate at the time the translations are uploaded online. We look at comments left by some readers and see how they react to our translations. In some cases, readers suggest changes and we discuss such suggestions carefully to see whether those changes need to be introduced to our translations.
I must also add that a key member to this project is Hyoseon Eo, who is the technician of the group. He is the one who helps us out with any technical issues and suggested that Oisoo's translations should be presented through Tumblr.com in a way that isn't typical to how most would use the service to get around Twitter's limit of 140 characters per tweet.
As the process suggests, the bulk of the work happens by interaction through the Internet. Lee Oisoo and Hyoseon Eo live in different parts of Korea, Ohsoon Yun lives in Tokyo, and I am currently based in the UK. I have personally never met Lee Oisoo or Hyoseon Eo, and yet we are managing to see this project through. Despite the physical distance between everyone involved in this project and despite the difference in time, the project is still underway thanks to today's technology and means of communication.
시적인 포스팅에는 비교적 리트윗이 달리지 않는 편이다. 현저하다. 그러니까 여기서는 문화의 비경제적 부산물인 시가 확실하게 왕따를 당하고 있음이 분명하다.
Has Lee Oisoo been using Twitter for long? Does he read your translations?
Oisoo started using Twitter in June 2009, but prior to that he used a Korean social-network service (SNS) called PlayTalk (similar to Twitter) between 2007 and the time he switched to Twitter. Incidentally, Oisoo is also known to have a very interesting approach to using the Internet in order to connect with readers. He launched his website back in 1998 and one of the key features of this site – along with his writings and illustrations – is the forum he maintains (and very often participates in), using it as a direct line of communication with thousands of readers. He is also known to use computers to make digital music and art at times, making him an artist with a contemporary approach to things. It may come as a surprise that Oisoo is in his 60s right now, yet knows how to communicate well with youth through modern ways. He also has a reputation of knowing how to talk to youth using their own terminology (he even knows how to use web emoticons effectively to the point in which he created his own unique emoticons and Internet-based expressions that are commonly used by Korean Internet users today!). This can only suggest that the Internet can be a very powerful and effective tool for artists both for communicating directly with their audiences and for in a sense using it to create art.
In regards to whether or not Oisoo himself reads our translations and gives us feedback, I must say that Oisoo has been very supportive of this translation project. He does not personally give us feedback on his opinions as he does not know English, but his apprentices and friends directly report to him about the translations that are uploaded and what they think of them. As I mentioned earlier, Oisoo is very accessible and he always replies to any questions we may have about the meanings of his writings. I can't stress enough the fact that communication is seamless through the Internet is key to this project.
What comes next, as far as this project is concerned?
We intend to translate these messages until Oisoo stops using Twitter. A major publishing company which publishes all of Oisoo's works intends to publish Oisoo's tweets in a book. In March 2008, a book containing selected writings he posted on PlayTalk was published and is said to have sold over 500,000 copies in its first year in Korea. In a sense, this type of project is not Oisoo's first, but a work that also contains his translations within the same work is a new development. We hope that if this publication gains much attention, we will work on translating some of his novels that had a huge impact on modern Korean culture. We hope that this movement encourages people to find way to promote Korean literature and art as it remains relatively inaccessible to non-Korean speakers. If this could spur similar projects and collaborations with other artists (maybe even from places outside of Korea), I think that this would be a success in its own right. I would also like to translate some of his works into Arabic after seeing the reception we receive from the English translations.
30년 이상을 글밥만 먹고 살았는데도 국수틀에서 국수가닥 뽑아내듯이 글을 뽑아낼 수는 없습니다. 140자밖에 안 되는 단문을 올리는 데도 장인정신이 필요합니다.

author: Ayesha Saldanha


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MENA: Breaking the veils  · Global Voices
Katharine Ganly

AltMuslimah reviews the exhibition Breaking the veils: Women artists from the Islamic World, which contains art and literature from women in over 20 countries, including Palestine, Yemen and Morocco. The exhibition, which stated in Jordan, is now touring the US. The review can be read here.

author: Katharine Ganly


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Morocco: A Charter for the Environment · Global Voices
Hisham Almiraat

On January 15, in the city of Skhirat, south of the capital Rabat, the Moroccan government  launched an ambitious project on environment. A series of regional meetings, workshops and conferences are to follow, sparking a national debate that aims at establishing a Charter for the environment. This effort follows a policy speech delivered last summer by king Mohammed VI in which he insisted on the significance his government is attaching to environmental issues.
The Charter for Environment and Sustainable Development, as it was officially dubbed, will lead among other things to the creation of 16 regional observatories that would provide the government with yearly reports and recommendations on environment and developmental issues. The initiative has now a website with interactive content and a blog in three different languages.
Mabrouk Benazzouz, writing [Fr] for the online regional news website Eljadida.com, explains how the new approach is in part about holding polluters to account. He writes:
L’idée de prise de conscience collective et notamment la prise de conscience nécessaire au niveau de tout un chacun et à commencer par les industriels, a imposé un principe nouveau dans notre pays, celui du pollueur /payeur. Madame la Ministre, explique que « ce principe est nouveau, mais tout le monde donc en a conscience, et nous travaillons progressivement pour le mettre en œuvre, à travers les lois et les décrets appropriés, pour faire en sorte que chacun assume ses responsabilités.”
Big Brother Morocco wonders [Fr] if the decision makers will be up to the task, praising the apparent open process initiated by the government:
Quand on sait qu'il y a très peu d'experts en Écologie au Maroc et Nos chers élus locaux s'y connaissent tellement en écologie que le débat sera, bien sur, soporifique. Dormir debout dans une conférence, ça va être possible avec ces débats sur la charte Nationale de l'environnement. Mais heureusement, le débat sera ouvert au Grand Public, à travers internet et le blog/site de la charte. Il y a même un forum -internet- ou Vous pourrez poster vos propositions et répondre à un formulaire. Ce qui est Louable dans tout cela, c'est que l'état “OUVRE” le débat : une première étape pour instaurer à la fois, un dialogue, et surtout de faire impliquer les Marocains dans les actions à entreprendre.
Tayyibi A., writing [Fr] on Architecture et Société – Architecture de terre au Maroc recaps the timetable for the project and explains how it was mainly inspired by the French experience:
Octobre/Novembre 2009 : Elaboration du projet de la charte.
Du 15 janvier au 20 février 2010 : Lancement de la concertation nationale à travers les 16 régions du Royaume.
Mars 2010 : Elaboration du projet final de la Charte.
Le 22 avril 2010 : Adoption officielle de la charte.
Le 25 avril 2010 : Célébration de la journée de la Terre.
Le texte de la Charte […] est fortement inspiré dans sa partie la plus importante (valeurs et principes), des articles de la Charte de l’Environnement adoptée dans la constitution Française en 2005!
The text of the Charter is heavily inspired in its main lines by the French Environmental Charter adopted in the French Constitution in 2005!
Some bloggers however deplored a lack of consistency in the government policy and contradictions between what has been announced and the reality on the ground. Lbadikho posting on Sustainable Mediterranean Rif Now! [Fr], denounces what he describes as the outrageous environmental damage caused in the eastern city of Oujda by the decision of the local governor (unelected official, who's nominated by decree) to uproot a large number of trees. He writes:
Jusqu’à quand cette situation de Walis/Gouverneurs non élus avec plus de prérogatives et de pouvoir que le député ou le maire élu? […] Tout comme la démocratie et le développement vont de paire, le développement durable et la démocratie ne peuvent avoir lieu l’un sans l’autre de façon durable. Seule une réforme constitutionnelle profonde pourrait épargner à des régions comme l’orientale d’être à la merci d’un Wali exogène à leur choix, et encore mieux, d’une technocratie marocaine qui a prouvé ses limites avec tout le mal qu’elle a faite à Saîdia, dans le plus grand crime contre l’homme et la terre que cette région a connu depuis peut être la colonisation.

author: Hisham Almiraat


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Pakistan: In Search Of A Pakistani Identity · Global Voices
Rezwan

In a recent survey three quarters of Pakistani youth viewed themselves as Muslims first, Pakistani second. Raza Rumi talks about the identity crisis of the Pakistani younger generation, which deviates from the views of the founding father of the nation.

author: Rezwan


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Russia: Draft Law to Limit Daytime Access to Explicit Online Content  · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Svetlana Gladkova of Profy writes about a Russian draft law aiming to limit access to explicit online content during daytime: “It is obvious that internet here is taken as some wider analogue of television.”

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Russia: Political Dossier Web Site Shut Down · Global Voices
Alexey Sidorenko

Compromat.ru, a notorious Web site that publishes controversial dossiers on various Russian politicians and businessmen, has been allegedly closed following a court order, Elena Tokareva (a.k.a. LJ user elena-tokareva2) reported [RUS]. There are no further details on the issue but a mirror site kompromat.ru has been launched with some of the materials from the previous version of the site.

author: Alexey Sidorenko


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Russia: Prosecution Against Opposition Blogger Stopped · Global Voices
Alexey Sidorenko

Dmitri Soloviev, photo by hro.org
The first criminal case against a blogger Dmitri Soloviev in Russia with a happy ending unfolded over a long period of time. After two years of investigation and three socio-linguistic assessments, experts didn't find any evidence of “incitement hatred against police and Russian Security Service officers.”
Soloviev's  victory, however, is rather an exception than a rule. It was not the court that found Soloviev not guilty, but the prosecutor's office. It stopped the prosecution process after realizing that the case against the blogger would fail anyway. But the precedent has been established. The blogger has been found “not guilty” and, more importantly, the Federal Security Service (FSB) and police workers could not be defined as “social groups.”
On March 25, 2008, Dmitri Soloviev (aka LJ user dimon77), an opposition blogger from Kemerovo [EN] (an industrial city in Siberia),  has been accused of “inciting hatred, animosity and disgrace towards police and FSB workers” (infamous part 1 of Article 282 of the Russian Criminal Code [EN]). The basis for the accusations turned out to be Soloviev's blog posts critical of political situation in the country. Although his posts are currently available only to Soloviev's friends, they are still widely cited [RUS] online.
The troubles started four years ago when Soloviev was summoned to the regional FSB office “for a conversation.” After that, Soloviev's friends warned him that he had been placed on some sort of an FSB “watch list.” Soloviev is sure that the reason for criminal prosecution wasn't his blog posts, but his active civil position. He believes that his blog became his “Achilles’ heel.”
In one of the posts that later was cited as an evidence of his “hatred,” Soloviev wrote:
Вы уверены, что лучший способ общения с гражданином – это когда у гражданина завязан рот. Хорошо, вы заткнули ему рот, Вы связали ему руки и привязали ноги к стулу. И что же Вы получили? Вот это Вы называете суверенной демократией? Вот это Вы пропагандируете на всяких международных форумах как достижение стабильности? Нет, Вы боитесь. Вы дрожите, что все узнают, во что Вы превратили свободную страну за восемь лет. Сколько безвинных сидят в СИЗО, годами дожидаясь несправедливого приговора. Сколько покалечено и сколько убито в ОВД, из которых выбивали признания в том, чего не совершали – и всё ради ежемесячных показателей борьбы с преступностью. А сколько Вы уже забили в планы по двести восемьдесят второй? Савва Терентьев – это обкатка методов? Сколько таких Савв Вы готовы принять в свои железные объятья?
Вот Ваш успех борьбы с экстремистами: с начала года уже 37 убийств по Москве на национальной почве. Впрочем, Вы этого и добивались: нагнетая страх, легче внушить обывателям собственную незаменимость.
The criminal case against Soloviev started on August 11, 2008 after official accusations passed bureaucratic process in the prosecutor's office. The police searched his apartment and confiscated a laptop, mobile phones and stickers of “Oborona” [EN] movement, which he was a member of (later these items were returned, except Soloviev's office computer). On August 20, a group of bloggers organized an online campaign [RUS] claiming that the accusations had no legal base and were anti-constitutional. Livejournal post in Dmitri's defense gathered more than 600 comments. Soloviev convinced that making the case public was exactly what helped him at the end.
Further process of the criminal case is described in a judicial resolution published on December 31, 2009, a year later after the events. Blogger Oleg Kozlovsky published [RUS] its scanned copy online. The resolution shows the mechanisms of the blogger's prosecution, which can be used against every critic of the Russian authorities. The evidence of “incitement of hatred against FSB and policemen” was first found with the help of socio-linguistic assessment.
The first assessment defined Soloviev's postings as propaganda. The experts, however, were not sure if policemen and FSB officers represented distinctive social groups and they requested additional sociological assessment.
The additional assessment, performed on December 1, 2008, claimed that policemen and FSB officers could count as social groups. The assessment report proposed ‘scientific’ explanation of policemen being a social group:
Сотрудники милиции и ФсБ являются социальными группами, так как обладают отличительными признаками социальных групп: выполняют общественно значимую функцию и объединены сходными знаниями и навыками, чувством идентичности с профессией и другими ее представителями. В текстах статей присутствует негативный образ социальных групп сотрудников милиции и ФСБ.
However, Soloviev's advocates requested third assessment. It was was performed on September 2009 by the experts of the Federal Center of the Legal Medicine in Moscow and Tomsk University. The third assessment report had two important conclusions. First, those experts found that the previous  assessments were wrong and there were no such social group as “policemen” or “FSB officers.” Second, there were no negative images of them in any of Soloviev's posts. The experts also found that his posts were not did not incite hatred towards the authorities. On that basis, the prosecutor's office found Dmitri not guilty and stopped the prosecution process.
Answering GV question if he is going to continue his posts on Livejournal after all that, Soloviev said:
Буду, только это уже будет повзрослевший Дмитрий Соловьев.
I will, but it will be a grown-up Dmitri Soloviev.
Answering GV question if he will be practicing self-censorship, Dmitri said:
В некотором смысле самоцензура есть всегда, она ограничивается
морально-этическими рамками. Но как показало время, еще на это влияет
жизненный опыт и реальная загрузка по времени. Скажу, что сейчас опыта у
меня стало больше, а времени свободного меньше. Но мои жизненные
принципы и взгляды на общество не изменились. Я считал и считаю до сих
пор, что права человека и гражданина, которые прописаны в Конституции,
являются неотъемлемой ценностью, что демократия является наиболее
цивилизованной формой государственного устройства.
Надеюсь, что в будущем не только я повзрослею, но и наше гражданское
общество как главный сдерживающий фактор бесконтрольной власти.
Теперь, я могу снова не боясь говорить фразу, запавшую с детства:
Да пребудет с нами Сила!
I hope that in future not only I will grow old but also our civil society will grow [and will become – GV] the main deterrent to the uncontrolled power.
Bloggers enthusiastically welcomed the news of the ending of the case. Most of the bloggers were just forwarding news about the case closure. Some were more elaborate:
alexey_ivanov:
Good news. One more good news would be cancellation of the Article 282.
nik_sud:
There are still experts with conscience and judges with honor
The role of anonymous experts in Soloviev's case was critical. The vagueness of the Russian laws usually works to the authorities’ benefits who use terms like “extremism” or “social group” in their widest definitions in order to justify accusations. As Soloviev's case shows, local experts tend to cooperate with the prosecutor's office and are more likely to pronounce accusatory results after a socio-linguistic assessment. Federal experts who are less dependent from the regional police or the prosecutor's office in this case presented a more reasonable verdict.
Another important feature of the case is that it was not the court that found Dmitri Soloviev not guilty but the local prosecutor's office that stopped the blogger's prosecution. Since FSB and police officers were proved not be social groups, this was not a judicial verdict but an assessment result that can be appealed.


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Russia: Yandex vs Google Search at Mail.ru · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Svetlana Gladkova of Profy writes about Mail.ru's relationship with Google and Yandex.ru.


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South Asia: The Dream Of Visa-less, Peaceful Coexistence · Global Voices
Rezwan

Pakistani blogger Raza Rumi attended the SAARC folklore festival held in Chandigarh, India and commented: “It will take years, perhaps decades, but the dream for a visa-less, peacefully coexistent countries of South Asia will be realized. We will wait, but not give up.”


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Sri Lanka: Latest Updates On Twitter  · Global Voices
Rezwan

“The short window for freedom of expression is now closed. It is unclear when and to what extent it will open again. #srilanka #lka” reads one Tweet by the Sri Lankan citizen media site Groundviews. Follow the Twitter account of Groundviews for more latest info.


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Trinidad & Tobago: Giving Up the Post?  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Despite the devastation taking place in other parts of the region, in Trinidad and Tobago it appears to be politics as usual.  On the heels of news that party voting for leadership of the opposition United National Congress had gone in resounding favour of Kamla Persad-Bissessar, former party leader (and founder) Basdeo Panday reacted by refusing to admit defeat.  Bloggers discuss the impasse…
Trinidad and Tobago girls, politics, sports, technology, carnival, and lifestyle comments:
In effect, he is challenging Mrs Persad-Bissessar to prove she has the support of at least 7 MP's in Parliament, excluding herself.
It appears she has the immediate support of 4 members, Harry Partap, Winston Peters, Jack Warner, and possibly, Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj.
Whatever happens, politics in Trinidad and Tobago will never be the same.
Barbadian blogger Cheese-on-bread! can't believe Panday is refusing to go graciously:
Basdeo Panday just doesn't know when to call it quits.  Show some humility for once, Bas…
Of Panday's claim that “boxes allegedly containing thousands of party membership cards were discovered hidden at the Rienzi Complex, Couva, headquarters”, Trinidadian diaspora blogger Jumbie's Watch has this to say:
An  argument can be made that they belonged to people who are supporters of Kamla and it was Bas’ team who suppressed them.
All I can think of is the ‘Bas lil boy syndrome’, you know the one where ‘if I cyah bat, I taking meh bat and ball and going home’.
This man behaves (at the age of 77) the way a little child would!
Islandista, meanwhile, refers to an old Sparrow calypso, “Ten to One is Murder”:
10-1 is murder!
Or so Sparrow said.
Yet, despite a 10-1 drubbing by Kamla in the UNC leadership elections, Bas, like Denyse Plummer, ‘nah leaving.’
Not that I think we expected any different. Kamla have to hold strong now.
kid5rivers puts it a little more bluntly:
Accordingly, gentlemen, please stop the shyte! Your antics are pathetic…and that's a most diplomatic description, okay? You were soundly beaten, fair and square!
Trinidadian journalist B.C. Pires, who now resides in Barbados, marks the occasion of Panday's “political passing” by republishing an interview he did “with then Leader of the Opposition, Basdeo Panday, in March 2002″, adding:
No one I've met is nearly as quick on their mental feet as Basdeo Panday; and that certainly includes everyone on the TT political scene today.
Back in Trinidad, Taran Rampersad considers what the result could mean politically:
According to the twittersphere, Kamla Persad-Bissessar has won the United National Congress Alliance internal election. For the nosebleed section, that means that Basdeo Panday is no longer running the show.
That being said, there has been some mention of a coalition between COP and the UNC-A. What it should be, if they want to wedge their way back into the misdirected Westminster system, is a reconciliation between the two groups of supporters. The UNC-A supporters strongly echoed the sentiments of a split vote yet the voices from which they echoed did not openly recognize the fact that the vote was split because people didn't believe they weren't very good at Opposition. If the last two elections have demonstrated anything, it is the lack of popular support of the party parading (barely) as Opposition.
KnowTnT.com‘s Edmund Gall has the last word:
UNC MP Vasant Bharath and ex-Chairman of the Membership Committee Kelvin Ramnath hosted a news conference yesterday to give further details on the alleged discovery of boxes containing “thousands” of undistributed UNC membership cards at Rienzi Complex, home of the UNC's administrative offices.  It was carried live by media houses on the Internet and reported in today's papers…
I looked at the news conference via C News’ live Internet broadcast Internet yesterday and was left a bit confused.  At the end of it, I quite frankly was left with the feeling that here was a bunch of poor-me-ones trying to deflect public attention from the winds of change by claiming some fraud occurred.  Their hinting of the possibility of some member of the public seeking court-room clarification on this discovery was puzzling: clarification of what?
In management, there is collective responsibility for governance. If anything, this discovery just shows how pathetic the whole of the ex-management committee of the UNC were in terms of organising their affairs, especially when added to their inability to maintain as fundamental and basic a thing as a proper members list, lack of public clarity regarding the rules about voting eligibility, and their forcing Tobago's members to travel to T&T to vote.
Never a dull moment.  It appears that in T&T, politics not only has a morality of its own, but also a unique stance on logic.  In fact, to me, it appears too frequently that logic is unwelcome in our political landscape.


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Video: Call for Aid in the Peruvian South due to Flooding · Global Voices
Juliana Rincón Parra

rio urubamba rage by Carlos Jose Rey of Living in Peru, used with permission
The state of emergency the city of Cusco in Peru and surrounding areas has moved many locals to make videos and upload them to the web, trying to get mass media to pay attention to the drama lived by villagers throughout the area who are now homeless, isolated and without food, water or electricity.
Oscarpucha uploaded a video he took of the train ride returning from Machu Picchu: the train he was in was the last one to depart from the sacred Inca city, before the rain, the rising river levels and mudslides made it impossible to get more people out of the Aguas Calientes village at the base of Machu Picchu and into Cusco.  In the video,  you can see the foaming river that even splashes passengers as they ride by.
Multimediantonio, who has also uploaded plenty of footage used in a regional Cusco television channel, shows us some of the damage caused to the inside of a few houses, where not only mud, but also raw sewage has covered the floors.
From Urubamba, a village near Cusco, Mamaderodriguin posts a video showing the overflowing river and explains how it wiped out a recently inaugurated beach promenade. The population is staying at a stadium for the meantime, but at the moment the video was made, they had no tents to sleep in, and with the constant rains these days and the rains that usually come during the month of February, they will need shelter. You can see this next video and others regarding the damages in Urubamba in his YouTube channel.
In this next video, Zenobio Valencia talks to Mayten Sanchez in Cusco discussing the amount of damage caused by the river in his neighboring village of Huacarpay in Lucre. In the case of his village, most of the houses are built traditionally out of adobe bricks and he esteems that about 98% of the houses are either lost or will crumble down in the next few days. In his plea for help he asks for blankets, non-perishable food items, water, items for personal hygiene as well as tents. Ms. Sanchez mentions that she personally is arranging for donation pickup as well as putting together a human team made up of a doctor, two nurses, a geologist and a civil engineer. He also provided images and pictures, which Mayten uploaded on her blog, telling the story of the vast damage caused by the river.
In Mayten's case, she is something of a pro at doing exactly this, and the following video shows how she helped in the 2007 earthquake in Chincha, Peru, arranging relief efforts during the aftermath such as teams of volunteers, doctors, nurses and teachers who helped build and run soup kitchens, temporary schools, houses, delivery of groceries to those who needed them, medical services and other such services, some of which are still running and which helped found the volunteer organization Mayten's House where they continue providing services to the Chincha community, long after the media has ceased to report on their situation after the earthquake.  Following is the video [en] telling the story of Mayten's House:
Mayten contacted us and asked us to please add the bank account information if you are interested in making donations to help the people in Cusco. Global Voices Online is in no way related to the Casa de Mayten efforts except in the hope that they can provide aid to the people in the Peruvian South.  If you have any questions regarding donations, please contact Mayten at lacasademayten@gmail.com and she can give you the information regarding the bank account.

author: Juliana Rincón Parra


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Africa: African women’s struggle for credibility · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

A discussion about African women's struggle for credibility: “Africans have faced discrimination for centuries, yet women have been marginalized for much, much longer.”

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Africa: On Homophobia in Africa · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Responses to Homophobia in Africa by Sokari: “I’m writing this post in response to number of articles on the prevalence of homophobia in Africa and to try and give some perspective and historical context.”


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Africa:Mocality: Business directory for mobile phone · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Mkaigwa writes about Mocality, Africa's business directory for mobile phone.


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Azerbaijan: Democracy is… · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Önər Blog [AZ] posts a video [EN] made by the OL! Azerbaijani Youth Movement for the Democracy Video Challenge. OL! has been exemplary in its use of new media in the region and was co-founded by now imprisoned video blogging youth activist Adnan Hajizade.

author: Onnik Krikorian


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Bangladesh: A Trial Ends After 34 Years – Closure At Last? · Global Voices
Aparna Ray

In the wee hours of Thursday morning, Bangladesh authorities executed five ex-army officers for their role in the 1975 assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman – the country's independence leader and its first President. Mujib, or Bongobondhu (friend of Bengalis) as he was popularly known as, was assassinated along with most of his family members, relatives and aides during a coup by young army officers on August 15, 1975. Two of his daughters survived, as they were out of the country at the time. The elder of the two, Sheikh Hasina, is the leader of Awami League and the current Prime Minister of Bangladesh.
Bongobondhu  Sheikh Mujibur Rahman And Bangladeshi Flag. Image by Ujwala Prabhu. Used under a Creative Commons license
For the supporters of Mujib, it had been a long, 34 year wait for justice and closure. Soon after the assassination, the newly installed President, Khondaker Mostaq Ahmed formulated the Indemnity Ordinance which offered legal immunity to those involved in the coup. It would be much later, in 1996, that Sheikh Hasina and her Awami League party would come into power and revoke the ordinance, thereby clearing the path for trial and conviction of those involved in the massacre. In 1998, 15 of the 20 accused were given death sentences by a judge. However, most of them had by then fled the country. Only 4 were in custody and later one more person was jailed after being extradited from the US. Nevertheless, the trial dragged its feet. When Hasina lost the 2001 elections, the next elected government did not show any interest in furthering the case. Furthermore, the usual bureacracy of the judiciary and the politicization of the process resulted in the trial slowing down. On returning to power as Prime Minister with a landslide victory in the 2008 Parliamentary Elections, Hasina promised a speedy conclusion of the trials. Finally the judicial process reached its conclusion earlier this month, with the President also turning down the convicts’ plea for clemency. Five convicts were hanged, with six others still absconding.
As news of the late night execution spread, hordes of Mujib supporters crowded outside the Dhaka Central Jail. Emotions ran high. For many, it was a time for closure. Tiktiki at Unheard Voice wrote:
The execution of the convicted murderers of Bangabandhu has happened. People started gathering around jail gate last night. The sms-es started flying. The journalists started gathering with cameras. There was a sense of inevitability around it. Yet, when it happened, how did the people react? I talked to one of them who until recently believed this will never happen. ‘Nothing to celebrate’, ‘End of a tragic chapter’, he said. But more importantly he said, it gives him a sense of closure.
In the comment section of the same post, Robin wrote the following:
I personally hoped hasina & Rehana and other members would recommend to the Court commutation to life in prison without the possibility of parole. I dont even know if that is possible in Bangladesh. Neverteless this was a long time coming & justice has prevailed however flawed and delayed.
As ambulances left the jail premises with the dead bodies, the crowd apparently became a bit unruly, with some among them hurtling shoes and stones at the passing vehicles, thereby giving vent to pent up emotions. However, surprisingly there were no significant public demonstrations during the rest of the day. Brian Palmer noted in his Letter from Dhaka:
The streets in the Dhanmondi section of Dhaka, where I am now, are traffic-choked and chaotic, but no more so than usual. Bangladeshi journalist colleagues report no major disturbances or celebrations other than last night’s deathwatch. They are slightly perplexed by the lack of public demonstrations and tell me they suspect that the ruling party, Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League, instructed its people not to make a ruckus. The opposition, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, has issued no statements. This was an absolutely momentous event with very little public drama.
However, emotions ran high among netizens who reflected these emotions in their writings online. Shamim Chowdhury, from Maryland, USA wrote in the forum Daily Online Alochona:
…A shameful chapter been closed ushering return of trust on system of justice. Honor has returned home leaving dishonoring history behind. For last thirty-four years we have mourned Bangabandhu's departure with distress and guilty feeling for not been able to bring the killers to justice. Now justice has been served, we will be able to face the memory of our greatest leader, our friend, Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
There were plenty of tweets and re-tweets announcing the news of the execution. While some tweets spoke of delayed justice and closure, others wondered if it will impact the nation's current political scenario.
@a_mahapatra Bangladesh executes Mujib‘s killers. “Justice delayed is justice denied” but at least it isn't an injustice! http://bit.ly/97oRpG
@SumonCNNIBN Great day for Bangladesh. Founding father Mujib‘s killers finally punished..remdeption for a nation figthing devlis (sic) of radicalism
@pragmatic_d: The divisive politics in Bangladesh won't end with the hanging of killers of Mujib. http://is.gd/7euBr
The issue of the long wait and delayed justice was brought up in many blog posts. For example, Abu Sayyed Ziauddin mentioned in Amarblog [bn]:
অনেক মানুষ বিশ্বাস হারিয়ে ফেলেছিলো। কেউ কেউ বলতো – এই বিচার হবে না। কেউবা বলতো – সম্ভব না এই বিচার। কি দরকার বিচারের কথা বলে…কিন্তু অনেক মানুষ বিশ্বাস হারায়নি।
Firoz announced in a post in Globalization and South Asia :
Justice Delayed, But not Denied: Proved in Bangladesh
To many Bangladeshis, this trial was as much about reaffirming their faith in the judicial system and justice. It was also a time for healing. J at Shadakalo blog commented as follows:
Madam Prime Minister, we know how easy it would have been for the five convicted killers to get caught in a “riot” and be accidentally killed. As cross-fires are happening every day outside the jail, one could have happened inside, too. Thank you for letting the law take its own course…Perhaps the face of your little brother will not haunt your sleep any more. You have aided justice to prevail. Now let the healing begin. Work to make this the shonar bangla your father promised, that the country expected from him. Complete his unfinished work.
Blogger Himu at Sachalayatan used this opportunity to remind the Prime Minister Hasina that there yet remained the task of bringing the war criminals of 1971 to trial. [bn]
পুরো রাষ্ট্রযন্ত্রকে দেখি এই বিচারের কাজে সক্রিয়। মনে আশা জাগে, হয়তো বাংলাদেশের প্রতিটি মানুষের হত্যার বিচারেই রাষ্ট্র সমান আগ্রহ, উদ্যম আর ধৈর্য নিয়ে নিয়োজিত হবে। সুবিচারের যে দৈত্যটিকে বোতলে পুরে তার মুখে বঙ্গবন্ধুকে ছিপি হিসেবে আটকে দেয়া হয়েছিলো, সেই ছিপিটি হয়তো মাত্র অপসারিত হলো। প্রধানমন্ত্রী শেখ হাসিনা…জাতির পিতার হত্যার বিচার তো সরকারের আগ্রহে এগিয়ে গেলো, এবার জাতির হত্যার বিচারে উদ্যোগ নিন। যুদ্ধাপরাধীদের বিচার চাই।
Amidst this outpouring of emotions however, there are some voices of dissent too. The assassins have their share of sympathizers too.
At Somewherein for example, in the comment section of a post by Chintito darshonik, blogger Nissongo Pothik wrote the following [bn]:
…বঙ্গবন্ধুর পরিবারের খুনীদের ফাঁসি হয়েছে ঠিকই কিন্তু তারা কেন, কোন পরিস্থিতিতে বাধ্য হয়ে সেদিন এমন হত্যাকান্ড ঘটিয়েছিলো তার কারণসমূহও আমাদের পর্যালোচনা করা উচিত।
Another blogger Hitlar09 raises some questions regarding the motivations behind the coup says that it is equally important to find out the real reasons that prompted the young officers to kill their once beloved leader. [bn]
সাজা প্রাপ্ত সকলেই বীর মুক্তিযোদ্ধা ছিলেন। কেন তারা হত্যা করলেন তাদের প্রিয় এই নেতাকে?? সে যাই হোক তাদের ভুলের প্রায়শ্চিত্ত তাদের করতে হয়েছে, এবং বীর মুক্তযোদ্ধা হওয়া সত্তেও এদেশে তাদেরকে ফাঁসির কাষ্ঠে ঝুলতে হয়েছে… আমার প্রশ্ন কারা তাদের অনুপ্রানিত করেছে এই নৃশংস হত্যাযজ্ঞে?? কারা সুবিধা লুটেছে ১৫ই আগষ্টের?? তাদের কি বিচার হবে না??
Some bloggers also expressed discomfort at the public venting anger at the vehicles carrying the dead bodies of the executed men.
Shopnochari at Amarblog noted that extreme hate often makes the one who hates as inhuman as the one he had hated for inhumanity.
যেকোন অপরাধের শাস্তি হওয়া উচিত। আর এত বড় একটা অপরাধের শাস্তি হওয়াটা খুবই জরুরি ছিল… কোথায় যেন একবার পড়েছিলাম – কাউকে খুব বেশী ঘৃণা করতে নেই। ঘৃণার মাত্রা ছাড়িয়ে গেলে যাকে ঘৃণা করছি এক সময় আমরা তার কাতারেই দাঁড়িয়ে যাই।

author: Aparna Ray


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E.Africa: Mobile Web East Africa Conference 2010 · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

John writes about Mobile Web East Africa Conference: Mobile Web East Africa is a very cool conference taking place in Nairobi of Feb. 3-4. The event focuses on “harnessing the potential of the internet and applications on mobile devices,”


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Eritrea: Remove current regime quickly · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

According to Mohammed Hagos, democracy project in Eritrea has to start with the removal of the current regime: “The hurdle preventing the Eritrean people from having their say is the Issayas regime. The path to democracy thus starts with removing the Issayas regime as quickly as possible…”


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Global Voices in Haiti: Arriving in Port-au-Prince · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Global Voices has sent a two-person team to Port-au-Prince in the wake of the Haiti earthquake, to help support citizen media activity. Georgia Popplewell and Alice Backer are also contributing firsthand reporting to our coverage of recovery efforts. Find out more about their assignment here.
PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI, 25 January, 2010
Only managed to sort out reliable Internet access yesterday evening, so lots to catch up on.
***
We arrived in Port-au-Prince on Saturday afternoon, after a long but uneventful drive from Santo Domingo. As we approached Jimani, on the Dominican border, we began seeing probable evidence of the situation on the other third of the island: makeshift roadside stalls selling gallon bottles of gasoline, heavy trucks carrying cargo, a motorcycle passenger with his leg bandaged to the thigh. The area near the border gate was swarming with vehicles and people, and we fully expected border formalities to take some time. But after a mysterious confab between our driver and the two associates who’d come along on the trip and a man in a purple cap, we drove through the border gates just like that, with nary a nod from the guards or a request to see a passport, through the few yards of tierra de nadie between the two borders, and into Haiti. Later I noticed that the man in the purple cap had joined us and was sitting in the tray of the pickup among our luggage — turns out he was our Haitian navigator.
***
It was some time before we saw any earthquake damage — the epicentre was south-west of the city of Port-au-Prince, and we were approaching from the east. Then, here and there, the odd ill-starred building with a collapsed balcony; clusters of makeshift tents in parking lots and clearings. Then both sights became became more frequent: residences with collapsed upper storeys, framed pictures still hanging off the walls, crushed sofas. The clusters turned into tent cities. But still not anything like the images from the news.
***
I think that part of me has come to Haiti wanting to believe that the images I’d been seeing in the media were somehow exaggerated. In largely middle-class Delmas, where our journey from Santo Domingo ends on Saturday, a number of commercial buildings and residences along the Route de Delmas have collapsed, either entirely or partially, and walls everywhere show cracks and fissures. From one building, a large pane of glass leans precariously out over the sidewalk, and a pale yellow three-story residence has caved in on itself like a fallen cake, the ground floor flattened beneath the weight of the floors above. The arbitrariness of the damage was striking — why this building and not that one? The Canadian Embassy is perfectly intact, and a reporter is recording a stand-up on one of the parapets above the road. Businesses, including gas stations, are operating. People carrying five-gallon water bottles are lined up in orderly fashion in front of a water distribution shop. Traffic is flowing, and in spite of the damage it appears that things have returned almost to normal in Delmas.
Queueing for water in Delmas
The offices of the National Democratic Institute, which the Internews team has commandeered for its use while in Haiti, are buzzing with activity. A young Haitian hanging out in front of the building helps us take our luggage up the stairs. “Ça va [How’s it going]?” he says. “Ça va bien,” I reply. The stock response, but it displeases him. “Ca va *pas* bien [It's *not* going well]”, he says. “J’ai perdu ma maison, mon beau-frère. Je suis sans-abri [I’ve lost my house, my brother-in-law is dead. I’m homeless].”
We’ve arrived just at the moment when the Internews team is rushing to get their daily information programme on air, so nobody pays us much heed. The place is crammed with suitcases, air mattresses, cases of water, laptops, emergency radios. Towels are slung over chair backs, and one shelf of a stationery cupboard is loaded with canned food. It doesn't look like there'll be room for us. We issue tweets saying we're looking for accommodation and Alice gets on the phone and starts working her family contacts. Within 45 minutes Alice’s friends L and B have arrived to collect us, and we head back out on to the Route de Delmas, now in darkness except for the headlights of cars and the fires and flambeaux on street vendors’ stalls.
On our way up to L and B’s house in Laboule we pass through well-heeled Pétionville, which is reported to have been largely unaffected by the quake. Two of its gracious squares, Place Boyer and Place St. Pierre, have nevertheless been transformed into teeming tent cities, filled with the newly homeless from other parts of this divided city. The luckier people are settling down for the night under the canopies of camionettes parked at the side of the road. In spite of the people milling around in the darkness, it is quiet. Parked across from the Hotel Kinam on Place St. Pierre is a MINUSTAH truck.
Tent city at Place St. Pierre, Pétionville
It’s odd to wake up the next morning in Laboule and look out upon a stunning mountain view. None of the houses in the area appears to have sustained much damage, though L and B have lost a retaining wall. The absence of running water and electricity probably have less to do with the earthquake than the fact that we’re in Haiti. At L and B’s house there are a few hairline cracks in the mortar that L, an engineer, has marked with black crayon, so he’ll know if they widen. L takes what he calls a scientific approach to the quake. He explains the math behind the Richter Scale and has decided it’s not worth worrying about aftershocks. In fact, L sleeps through the aftershock that occurs on Sunday afternoon.
The radio reports on Sunday indicate that people continue to be evacuated from the city. Over lunch, L tells us that some “méchants” (troublemakers) are spreading rumours that people who opt for evacuation won’t be allowed to return to the capital for five years. We also talk about L’s sister, a physician who has come from the States to volunteer her services and is now working in a centre at Croix des Bouquets. L’s sister reports that Haitian doctors are being sidelined in the relief efforts, and it’s only after she gives an interview to CNN that she starts getting some grudging respect from the big international agencies.
***
We finally leave Laboule late on Sunday afternoon and descend into Port-au-Prince. There are fallen buildings all along the Route de Bourdon and a slum that stretches like a skin over the hillside in the distance looks chipped and battered. It gets worse as we get nearer to the city centre, but it's still not the total wreckage from the photos.
We arrive at the Champs de Mars, the massive square in the centre of town that's been partly overtaken by a multi-section tent city. The sinking feeling sets in officially as we stop in front of the National Palace with its caved-in roof. That one certainly matches the news photos, except that up close it’s more massive, and more desolate. We drive around the Champs de Mars and pass in front of the Plaza Hotel, where a news cameraman is filming what looks like a heap of black rags in the street. The rags are in fact two dead bodies, perhaps recently pulled from the wreckage, their limbs intertwined.
The area just east of the Champs de Mars is straight out of the news photos. A long corridor of rubble, not a building left standing. You’ve all seen it by now, so I don’t need to describe it further, or the scent of decay that hangs in the air, now several times less intense than it was a few days ago.
I'm adding these last few lines just so I can say I didn't end on a note of despair. I apologise for adding to the heavy burden of bad news already borne by this country. And now to make a plan for what we'll be doing while we're here.
Originally posted at Caribbean Free Radio.
Global Voices’ work in Haiti is supported by our general support donors and by a humanitarian information grant from Internews. Please visit the Global Voices Haiti Earthquake page for more coverage.

author: Georgia Popplewell


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Global Voices in Haiti: Litmus Test · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Global Voices has sent a two-person team to Port-au-Prince in the wake of the Haiti earthquake, to help support citizen media activity. Georgia Popplewell and Alice Backer are also contributing firsthand reporting to our coverage of recovery efforts. Find out more about their assignment here.
PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI, 27 January, 2010
We went into downtown Port-au-Prince again yesterday. We'd heard via Twitter that food was being distributed near the National Palace, followed by reports, from Carel Pedre and Karl Jean-Jeune, of UN security “spraying gas” and “throwing tear gas”. Examining the  footage  posted to YouTube by Carel Pedre, my Global Voices colleague Marc Herman concluded that the substance being sprayed looked more like pepper spray. The pepper spray story was corroborated by reports from the UK Times Online and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, though Al Jazeera English maintains the tear gas line.
Whether pepper-spray or tear-gas-related, the scuffle has died down by the time we arrive in town. The line is long, but people are waiting patiently. We ask a bystander what’s being distributed. He says he thinks it’s rice. I ask Roosevelt, our driver, to circle the Champs de Mars for a bit, so we can see what’s going on in the vast tent city that now occupies most of the city’s central square.
Unsurprisingly, the regular rhythm of Haitian life seems to have established itself in the maze of makeshift shelters clustered among plinths bearing statues of Toussaint, Pétion and company, the country’s founding fathers. Women are cooking, bathing babies and doing laundry in basins along the perimeter wall, bathing themselves at the roadside. Children are playing football, vendors have set up stalls on the periphery. Near the National Palace, people have gathered to watch a safe being lowered from a government building. Less formal salvage and scavenging operations are taking place in other parts of the city as well. We pass groups of men shoveling rubble, people picking among the ruins of buildings for things they can reuse. Among the detritus, Port-au-Prince is slowly coming back to life.
Last night a friend who's come here to work with a Canadian NGO wondered how many of the “displaced” were people whose homes were intact but who were simply afraid of sleeping indoors. Yesterday the Haitian government, such as it is, issued a bulletin summarising the impact of the earthquake. On her blog, Anne-Christine D'Adesky posts translations of some of the  highlights:
“Around 112,000 dead, 195,000 wounded, 1 million homeless, half the houses destroyed in Port-au-Prince, Jacmel and Leogane; at least 23 private hospitals collapsed.
“The government yesterday announced the creation of 2 camps for displaced persons in Port-au-Prince: one on the road to Tabarre, the other at Croix des Bouquets. Another site has been identified in the zone of Leogane.
“Only qualified engineers can determine if a damaged building is sound enough to be recoccupied. The rule to follow until an engineer has evaluated a property is: if the building doesn't look sound, it isn't.
“Today, we estimate the capacity of food distribution varies between 200,000 and 300,000 rations a day. This means that, in Port-au-Prince and its surroundings alone, over 800,000 people will not be reached. This is the major challenge.
“The government is opposed to precipitous adoptions and uncontrolled departures from Haiti of vulnerable or orphaned children and is concerned about the risk of trafficking.
“NGOs engaged in humanitarian or food aid are encouraged to work with the UN system that has been established.”
It’s hard to know what’s really happening on the ground. Port-au-Prince is a vast and unfamiliar city, and my primary goal in being here is not to report on the situation. We’re staying in Pétionville, away from the fray. As the tear gas story above demonstrates, it’s difficult to verify information. You try to get around as much as you can, but in the end you’ll see only a tiny fraction of the whole, and perhaps understand or read accurately only a fraction of that. But the overriding story is about the distribution of aid: how badly it’s going, how supplies are failing to get to those who need it, and also how difficult the whole exercise is. I'm pretty sure that one is true.
On the edge of the tent city near the National Palace I talk to a pair of middle-aged women from Bel Air. They say they haven’t received any food supplies. I ask them if they plan on leaving the city for the countryside. The older one says no. I ask why. She says it’s because her father is dead — she has no family left “en province“.
We drive out west to the bedroom district of Carrefour, where 40 to 50% of the buildings are said to have sustained damage. Along the main roads at least, the impact of the quake doesn’t seem as dramatic as in central Port-au-Prince, as the buildings are lower and not as densely clustered. Tent cities have sprung up on the median strips and there are mounds of burning garbage along the roadside. But Carrefour didn’t need an earthquake to render conditions appalling. Still, the community is going about its business, obviously accustomed to the general squalor and the grey slurry of macerated garbage underfoot. We pass three money transfer agencies with long lines in front, a sign that remittances, which by some estimates account for over half of the country's national income, are flowing back into Haiti once more.
We head back into central Port-au-Prince to engage with a different side of Haiti at the storied Hotel Oloffson in Bois Verna, where it seems like half of the Corbett Haiti mailing list is lunching. We chat briefly with hotel proprietor Richard Morse (@RAMhaiti), who now has 12,065 followers on Twitter and appears on 638 Twitter lists, all as a result of the earthquake. Also there: Anne-Christine D’Adesky, who’s been  blogging and posting to the Corbett list consistently since the earthquake hit, and who says that Haiti is the litmus test for whether the lessons learned in other recent humanitarian situations have really been learned; New Yorker Tequila Minsky, just in from taking photos in a nearby neighbourhood; writer Amy Wilentz, who’s  blogging for TIME magazine; Haitian photographer Daniel Morel, who corrects my camera-holding techniques; and Leah Gordon, who offers to take us to Portail Léogane to visit the sculptors of the Grand Rue.
But that's the subject of another post. Over and out.
Originally posted at Caribbean Free Radio.
Global Voices’ work in Haiti is supported by our general support donors and by a humanitarian information grant from Internews. Please visit the Global Voices Haiti Earthquake page for more coverage.


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Global Voices in Haiti: Our Team on the Ground · Global Voices
Nicholas Laughlin

In the wake of the 12 January earthquake that devastated southern Haiti, Global Voices assembled a small team of editors and authors to provide detailed coverage of rescue, relief, and recovery efforts. One of our challenges is the relatively small scale of Haitian citizen media. Very few Haitians currently use online tools to publicly share news or opinions. In the past two weeks, Global Voices has leaned heavily on the social media streams of a handful of regular tweeters and bloggers with access to electricity and Internet connections. We've supplemented this coverage with information from the blogs and Twitter streams of foreign aid workers and NGOs on the ground.
We at Global Voices believe there is an urgent need to amplify Haitian perspectives on relief and reconstruction efforts. One crucial way is to increase citizen media activity locally in Haiti, thereby making available more news and commentary that may positively affect awareness, interest, conversations, and decisions in the coming months.
To this end, Global Voices has sent a two-person team to Port-au-Prince, to help support citizen media coverage. GV's managing director Georgia Popplewell and former Francophonia editor Alice Backer have spent the past six days assessing the situation on the ground, making contact with Haitians using citizen media tools, and identifying others with the potential to participate in and enrich the online conversation, given the right resources.
Both have been issuing regular reports via their personal blogs and Twitter accounts: Georgia at Caribbean Free Radio and @georgiap, Alice at Kiskeácity and @kiskeacity. Georgia is also posting photos at her Flickr account. And we will be using their firsthand reporting to complement Global Voices’ coverage of the ongoing online conversation.
Writing at her blog a few days before leaving for Haiti, Georgia explained:
I suspect that given the magnitude of the damage—and the magnitude of US involvement in the relief and reconstruction efforts—the Haiti earthquake isn’t going to disappear from the pages of the major media in the way that other stories have. But it’s going to be a different kind of coverage, and one that won’t necessarily highlight local stories.
Another of our key goals, therefore, is to highlight the need for local voices in the mix and increase the opportunities for communities affected by the earthquake to be heard and understood by those working and reporting on the recovery—a group that includes Haitian institutions and media as well as international agencies. We don’t expect it will be easy: Haiti is a complex place and the damage to the country has been severe.
Global Voices’ work in Haiti is supported by our general support donors and by a humanitarian information grant from Internews. Please visit the Global Voices Haiti Earthquake page for more coverage.


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Haiti, Poland: “Lost Polish Tribe on Haiti” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

“Poland and Haiti – who would have thought…?” Raf Uzar writes about “the most intriguing group of people among Poland’s huge diaspora” – the “Poles of Haiti.”


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Haiti: The Politics of Recovery  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

The last thing that Haiti needs as it faces the monumental task of recovering from the earthquake that devastated Port-au-Prince and its environs on January 12 is a lack of good governance.  Yet, some members of the Haitian blogosphere are bracing themselves for more of the same when it comes to the 2010 earthquake recovery effort.
Twitter, as has been the case since the dolorous news broke, proved the quickest way to transmit opinions: Musician and hotelier Richard Morse, who has been regularly tweeting as RAMhaiti, continues to be quite candid with his:
What happened to money from 6 years of devastation.Big Black Hole.Go visit Gonaives if u don't believe me.We need new people involved,NOW
Six years ago was presumably September 2004: About 3,000 people died when Tropical Storm Jeanne unleashed her wrath on the northeastern end of the island, causing disastrous floods and mudslides in Gonaïves. Calamity struck again in September 2008, thanks to a seemingly unending succession of storms which battered the already beleaguered country.
The recovery process becomes more complicated when Haiti's political climate comes into play. Morse seems to have little faith that relief money will get into the hands of those who will use it properly:
Has anyone ever heard of an audit??? Historically, devastation funds don't go where they're supposed to. What's the difference this time??
He explains in a later tweet:
Haiti's former Prime Minister asked for an audit so she was dumped. The team that's now in place feared the audit.
He is referring to Michèle Pierre-Louis, who, after President René Préval nominated her for the post in June 2008, faced a tough battle for approval by the country's Parliament.  She was eventually confirmed, but lasted just over a year in the post, causing some bloggers to question the circumstances of her discharge. But that wasn't the only controversial development in the country's political arena: Fanmi Lavalas, the party of ousted former President Jean Bertrand Aristide, which still enjoys considerable grassroots support in Haiti, was barred from contesting the country's next elections, which had been carded to take place at the end of February this year.
Morse continues:
OUT WITH THE OLD; IN WITH THE NEW. Let's hear what the candidates want. Let's hear what the PEOPLE want. No one wants current STATUS QUO
Haiti falls at position 168 out of 180 countries on Transparency International‘s 2009 Corruption Perception Index ranking.  Morse unabashedly refers to 2009 as “the YEAR of FRAUD” in Haiti, adding in another Twitter update:
It's not recovery if it's embedded in FRAUD and CORRUPTION.Did you see those elections last year? Internat. Comm. 100% approve @ZOEmagazine
He also responds to @ZOEmagazine quite sardonically:
If Haiti is part of IMF auditing system, then why is no one in JAIL?    @ZOEmagazine
…but is careful to clarify his statements:
The UN was becoming part of the problem.Never said anything about disappearing AID and approved fraudulent elections @Dohnanyi
Morse is not the only Haitian blogger talking about alleged corruption on Twitter.  thehaitian puts the practice in context with this tweet:
You can not expect an underpaid or unpaid govt workforce to not be corrupt. Hospital staff and teachers can go years w/out pay.#haiti
Still, he concedes that the government's track record leaves something to be desired:
Quick. Who trusts the Haitian govt to rebuild even one govt building? Honest question.#haiti
RAMhaiti seems to concur, sharing a bit of his own experience:
I'm getting visits from people.They're concerned about how the AID to Haiti is going 2 be distributed. Very concerned about locals in charge
thehaitian yearns for transparency in the way the aid money is disbursed:
I need to know where all this money is going to go. I really do. Is the point to get back to where we were? That's a bad idea.#haiti
…and suggests that:
Any funds going to the haitian govt should require a top to bottom rebuilding of the tax collection office and property rights reform#haiti
Interestingly enough, New American Media conducted a poll of the Haitian diaspora in the U.S. and one of the major findings revealed that:
Haitians in the United States appear to have lost confidence in the current Haitian government and its handling of the aftermath of the earthquake. Three-fifths of the respondents agree that the Haitian government has practically disappeared since the earthquake and 63 percent disapprove of the reaction of President Rene Preval and the Haitian government to the earthquake. The concern about the ability of the Haitian government to deal with the crisis is so strong that a majority of Haitians in the United States feel that officials from the United Nations and the international community should govern Haiti “at the very least until it recovers from this catastrophe.” And the poll reveals that most Haitians are not concerned about the large American military presence in their country.
Other netizens also put in their two cents’ worth on Twitter, with a critical contribution to the discourse coming from melindayiti:
We need to have a voice in the plan for Haiti, more importantly, our HAITIAN partners need to be the ones creating that plan for #Haiti
Finally, meandering posts a link on his blog to the Haiti Business Portal and suggests that the international community also has a critical role to play:
$1-3 billion is coming Haiti’s way: maybe more  Will the crowd pay attention, or will they buy their relief, recovery, and reconstruction goods and services abroad? At the risk of being politically incorrect, perhaps the international community might consider Rwanda strong man Paul Kagame’s words: “TRADE not AID”.


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Haiti, U.S.A.: Donating Breastmilk · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Repeating Islands links to a story about the importance of breast milk for the infant victims of Haiti's earthquake.


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Hungary, Slovakia: Open Borders, Assimilation, Nationalism · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Hungarian Spectrum writes about nationalism, assimilation, open borders, Hungary's minorities and the Hungarian diaspora in the neighboring countries.


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India: Jaipur Literature Festival · Global Voices
Rezwan

Nilanjana at Akhond of Swat attended the Jaipur Literature Festival and wrote a series of articles on the festival.


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Iran: Green Tune to Support Protest Movement · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

The Green Movement (Iranian opposition) uses different ways to protest against the Iranian regime. Some Iranian bloggers proposed that people change their mobile tone into ‘Ey Iran’ song, a famous and popular anthem in Iran to show their solidarity with the protest movement. Here is one part of the song:
Oh Iran, oh bejeweled land
Oh, your soil is the well spring of the arts
Far from you may the thoughts of evil be
May you remain lasting and eternal
Oh enemy, if you are of stone, I am of iron
May my life be sacrificed for the pure soil of my motherland
Since your love became my calling
My thoughts are never far from you
In your cause, when do our lives have value?
Rezza view writes  [fa]:
Solidarity and resistance have been the secret of our victory so far. Ey iran oh bejeweled land is a beautiful song that we all remember. Let's choose the tune of this song for our mobiles. In schools, offices, streets and universities we will hear this music again and again and we will be more persistent to continue our goal: free Iran.
Fermesk also writes [fa] that the next step of the Green Movement is to encourage people to change the ring tones of their mobile phones into the Ey Iran song.
Harfehesaby notes [fa] at the end of Iran-Iraq war, the Iranian radio started to broadcast this song, which motivated many people to go to the front and fight. The blogger says he hopes Iran would be free from its invaders on 22 Bahman (11 February), the anniversary of the Islamic Revolution.
Several bloggers make the song available in their blogs:

author: Fred Petrossian


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Japan: Micro-gardens · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Palmsundae from Tokyo Green Space blogs about the micro-gardening practice in old Tokyo neighborhood.

author: Oiwan Lam


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Japan: Sit-In Protest against US Helipads in Okinawa · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

TenThousandThings from Kurashi blogs about a sit-in protest against the construction of US Helipads in Yanbaru Forest, a mountainous region full of biodiversity in the northern part of Okinawa.


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Malawi’s President to formally declare new love on Valentine’s Day · Global Voices
Victor Kaonga

Malawians are digesting news that the country's president Dr Bingu wa Mutharika is on May 1 to marry his former tourism minister Callister Chimombo. This will be preceeded by a tradional custom engament on Valenetine's Day 14 February. A couple of bloggers have wished the president well in his new found love following the death of his wife Ethel three years ago.
Emmanuel Sobilika of Malawi Digest writes:
In a press statement issued on Wednesday made available to Malawi Digest, the State House says that President Mutharika is expected to marry Chimombo on 1st May, 2010.
However, before the official marriage itself, the two will have their traditional custom engagement on 14th February, 2010. 14th February is the world’s Valentines Day where people commemorate love with their loved ones.
The official statement discloses that both Dr Mutharika and Miss Callista Chapola Chimombo are a widower and widow respectively. State House says that both Dr Bingu wa Mutharika and Chimombo are devout Roman Catholics.
Journalist Kondwani Munthali congratulates the president for what he calls:
leading the way by announcing their intentions for Holy Matrimony, adding hopefully we will find a card for the event and share with many of my freinds here the pictures.
Callista was spoted at several state functions sitting next to the president. She earlier on denied the love story. State house officials also refused to explain the protocol and justify the former minister's closeness to the president at the state functions. Richard Chirombo in Malawi's commercial capital Blantyre wrote:
Chimombo has since mid-December 2009 been seen sitting next to Mutharika, a position reserved for high government officials and trusted pals. Instead, Chimombo says it is the president who chooses who to sit next to him, and as such it was “just a previlege” that Mutharika has allowed her to sit next to him.
This will be the second state wedding in Malawi after Bakili Muluzi's in 1999.

author: Victor Kaonga


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Nigeria: Uzoma Okere wins court case against the army · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Nigerian curiosity writes about the case of Uzoma Okere in Nigeria: “Uzoma Okere is the young Nigerian lady whose assault by military officers became a viral video that raised the ire of many.”


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Peru: Video of Stranded tourists near Machu Picchu · Global Voices
Juliana Rincón Parra

Periodismo en Línea points us to a two day old video by NicoRios, a Chilean tourist stranded in Aguas Calientes. In the video he shows how they wait for the helicopters to arrive and explains how they were running out of food and stores have drastically increased prices for food and water. Today the Chilean Government sent a presidential plane to pick up 70 Chilean tourists who were already in Cusco.


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Poland: Anglophone Blogs · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Polandian reviews Poland's Anglophone blogosphere.


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Russia: Book Written Using Collective Efforts Online · Global Voices
Vadim Isakov

Russian writer Evgeny Popov decided to create his new book using online input from readers of his blog. The author publishes every chapter of the book [RUS] online with several questions at the end. The readers’ answers and feedback shape the next chapter. Popov plans to publish the book along with the most interesting comments from other bloggers.

author: Vadim Isakov


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Russia: CJR Piece on the Media · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Robert Amsterdam recommends Adam Federman's article on the Russian media, published in Columbia Journalism Review: “[…] Federman focuses on the remaining mechanisms and political dynamics for freedom of press and the conditions in which genuinely good investigative journalism can still occur in today's harshly repressive media environment in Russia.”


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Russia: How To Dress In Yakutia In Winter · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

AskYakutia.com explains “how to dress in Yakutia in the middle of winter.”


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Russia: Newspaper Blog Covers Practices Of Trolling  · Global Voices
Vadim Isakov

A recent post on the blog [RUS] of a famous Russian oppositional newspaper “Novaya Gazeta” covers general practices of political trolling on the Russian Internet.


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Russia: Opposition Blogger Finally Gets Permission To Leave Country · Global Voices
Alexey Sidorenko

An opposition blogger Oleg Kozlovsky tells his story [EN] on how his blog helped his to finally receive a passport allowing him to leave Russia. The country's Federal Security Service (FSB) refused to issue a new passport to Kozlovsky but quickly changed its decision after he published a blog post describing the situation.


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Russia: Potential iPad Pricing and Sales · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Svetlana Gladkova of Profy writes that “representatives of one of the local retailers that is now negotiating iPad sales in Russia expect to be able to sell iPad at the price that will be twice as high as it is in the US”: “Now can anyone explain me why Apple cares so much about its pricing goals in the US and does not care about them internationally?”


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South Korea: Why do Koreans like cute things? · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Ask a Korean! tries to answer the question on why Koreans like cute things.


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Syria: A Short Story · Global Voices
Anas Qtiesh

Medad blog published a sarcastic short story [ar] depicting a Muslim cleric and a Christian cleric passionately discussing virtue and interfaith understanding as each of them tries to claim a spot that allows them to peep through a crack in the wall of a women's bathhouse.

author: Anas Qtiesh


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Trinidad & Tobago: iThink, therefore iPad · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“When iHeard Apple called the device iPad, iImmediately thought of tampons and iAm a man. iThink Apple has unwittingly provided  fodder for stand up comedians and may have to change the name to something like iTouch-Big, iMoses or iAintKnow”: Trinidad and Tobago's This Beach Called Life has a lot to say about the new Apple offering, while KnowTnT.com blogs about the trademark implications of its name.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Uruguay: President-Elect Mujica Tackles Botnia Issue Before Taking Office  · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

Uruguayan president-elect José “Pepe” Mujica is trying to intervene in a conflict that started more than seven years ago, and which still makes headlines in Uruguayan and Argentinean Media. Since the opening of Finnish pulp mill Botnia in Fray Bentos (Uruguay) along the Uruguay River—a natural border between Argentina and Uruguay—environmentalists and locals from the area and its neighboring Argentinean city Gualeguaychú have been protesting against alleged environmental and health hazards caused by the mill.
Botnia Pulp Mill. Picture taken by Flickr user Gonzak and used under a Creative Commons license.
Blogger and industrial designer Julián Ballesteros Riveros [es]  spent recent Carnival celebrations in Gualeguaychú where he witnessed firsthand the activism against Botnia:
Una bella ciudad con gente muy amable, vale la pena conocerla si se tiene la oportunidad; tiene termales, zonas para acampar y playas a lo largo de la costanera del río Gualeguaychú. Sin embargo, aunque lo más atractivo resulta ser los recursos naturales de la zona, es llamativa la constante exposición de avisos en las casas, en los establecimientos comerciales y hasta en los automóviles oponiéndose al unísono a la amenaza contra el medio ambiente que supone la instalación de “papeleras” y de Botnia en particular en límites con Uruguay
Skepticism about the plant posing an actual environmental or health hazard opposes the claims made by environmentalists, as various organizations have denied that the mill contaminates the air. According to local news organization from Entre Rios, Agencia de Noticias de Entre Rios APFD [es] , Marisa Arienza from Green Cross reported that the there have not been any changes in the levels of sulfur dioxide in the air since the plant began operations.
Still, the strongest and most established protest came from the “piqueteros” who are discontent with the pulp mill and have used protest tactics like the takeover and blockade of bridges that act as important passage ways between the two countries for tourism and commercial purposes.
‘I Said No!’ Blockade from Fray Bentos, Uruguay and anti-Botnia slogans. Picture taken by Flickr user sebaperez and used under a Creative Commons license.
Mujica, who will not be sworn into office until March, has paid special attention to this conflict and wants the blockades lifted before he takes office. Mujica met with Cristina Kirchner, president of Argentina, and with the governor of the Argentinean region Entre Rios, Sergio Urribarri, where Gualeguaychú is located. However, environmentalist Lilian Melnik sees no progress in these meetings, as reported by local Uruguay River newspaper Rio Uruguay Digital [es]:
[Mujica y Urribarri] son ‘traidores a una causa noble’ hacia quienes ‘defienden el levantamiento del corte sin argumentos y sin querer verdaderamente que se vaya Botnia’
Melnik also said that environmentalist will have to defend the blockade even harder, now that Mujica has tried to mediate.
In an editorial, Ignacio de Posadas [es] criticizes these attempts made by the president-elect to reach out to the Argentinean side:
El Presidente electo, por sus gestos (sobre todo la visita a los piqueteros) y por sus palabras (describiendo la violación de tratados y de normas y usos, como “un asunto interno” de la Argentina), dio razón al gobierno Kirchner y a los patoteros de Gualeguaychú, banalizando el asunto, debilitando la posición jurídica y de principios del Uruguay y enviando a La Haya el peor mensaje posible (¿qué juez se parará en los pedales si la parte agraviada dice que todo es negociable?).
Shortly after taking office, Mujica will have to face the verdict from the International Court of Justice at The Hague, where Argentina issued a formal case against Uruguay in 2006. Mujica’s close relationship with Kirchner and his recent attempt to reach out to governor Urrubarru will also be tested when he becomes the official president.
Argentinean journalist and blogger Pepe Eliaschev [es]  condemns the blockades as useless and contrasts Mujica’s close connection to the Kirchners with the current Uruguayan president Vázquez’ tumultuous relationship with the neighboring government:
En pocas palabras, el corte de la frontera con Uruguay no sirve para nada y es un pastiche siniestro que solo ha provocado daño. La planta de Botnia, inaugurada hace ya dos años, trabaja y produce con absoluta y total normalidad, y lo hace en toda su capacidad. El corte no solo no redujo el flujo de turistas, sino que lo incremento, demostrando la pasmosa estupidez de la medida. De la famosa “contaminación” nada significativo ha vuelto a aportarse, mientras que en el inicio del conflicto la llamada asamblea “ambientalista” de Gualeguaychú llegó a decir que la fabrica instalada en Uruguay era equivalente al Auschwitz, el campo de exterminio que los nazis instalaron en esa ciudad polaca durante la Segunda Guerra y donde fueron aniquilados centenares de miles de judíos.  […] Operativo seducción: el viejo guerrillero quiere engullirse a la pareja presidencial argentina para que levanten el corte de la frontera. El septuagenario tupamaro imagina que podrá extraer de los post montoneros argentinos lo que le severidad del oncólogo socialista Vázquez no pudo.
Mujica has said he will not negotiate with “piqueteros,” and the “piqueteros” in turn, say they will not take action until the Hague pronounces its verdict.

author: Silvia Viñas


text:
Haiti: Bloggers’ Reactions to Regional Interventions  · Global Voices
Fabienne Flessel

For more than two weeks, the governance of Haiti after the earthquake has been seriously questioned by Haitian bloggers. They are now discussing the reactions in the neighboring countries and islands of the Caribbean. Here is a review of the French-speaking posts dealing with this question.
Radio Kiskeya reacts to Fidel Castro‘s statement about the alleged “American occupation” in Haiti. After giving his “Lesson of Haiti” regarding health and cooperation, the former Cuban leader now condemns the military American intervention and above all the consenting silence of the UN [Fr]:
“Au milieu de la tragédie haïtienne, sans que personne ne sache comment ni pourquoi, des milliers de soldats des unités des Marines des Etats-Unis, des troupes aéroportées de la 82e Division et d’autres forces militaires ont occupé le territoire d’Haïti”, affirme le “lìder maximo” dans un billet publié sur le site officiel Cubadebate.cu.
“Pire encore, ni l’Organisation des Nations Unies, ni le gouvernement des Etats-Unis n’ont fourni aucune explication à l’opinion publique mondiale sur ces mouvements de forces”, a poursuivi Fidel Castro…
Radio Kiskeya reinforces this point by mentioning similar fears about the American intentions among other Latin American presidents [Fr]:
Avant Fidel Castro, les Présidents nicaraguéen Daniel Ortega, bolivien Evo Morales et vénézuélien Hugo Chàvez avaient dénoncé avec véhémence le déploiement sur et autour du territoire national d’un imposant contingent militaire américain qui devait s’élever dimanche à près de 20.000 hommes.
Potoprincipe also takes interest in the question of the Caribbean countries, in a post entitled “Chavez cancels Haiti's debt” [Fr]
“Nous allons annuler (la dette). Elaborez les documents nécessaires et la dette est annulée”, a déclaré Chavez à l'issue d'une réunion des ministres des Affaires étrangères de l'Alliance bolivarienne des Amériques (Alba) sur Haïti à Caracas, sans préciser le montant de cette dette.”
As Potoprincipe concludes this post [Fr], the beginning of a Caribbean collaboration via ALBA is dawning:
Le plan inclut l'assouplissement des conditions d'accueil des Haïtiens dans les pays de l'Alba: Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Bolivie, Equateur, Honduras, la Dominique, Antigua-et-Barbuda, Saint-Vincent et les Grenadines.
Other bloggers have been either worried or sceptical concerning the intervention of Haiti's neighboring country, the Dominican Republic.
Blogger Réseau Citadelle expresses his total refusal at the deployment of soldiers from the Dominican Republic in Haiti [Fr]:
Rien n'est plus révoltant que de lire sur Radio Kiskeya un article faisant état d'une autorisation du gouvernement haïtien accordée aux Nations Unies pour le déploiement de 150 soldats dominicains en Haïti.
In this same post, Réseau Citadelle advocates self-reliance so that Haitians provide support for their own people [Fr]:
Nous voulons démontrer aux étrangers qu'il y a encore en Haïti des hommes et des femmes capables d'assurer la continuité nationale. La destruction de Port-au-Prince, n'est pas celle d'Haïti.
In a follow-up post, Réseau Citadelle insists on the psychological impact of this Dominican intervention [Fr]:
Le déploiement de soldats de la République Dominicaine sur le sol d'Haïti est un coup dur pour le moral des haïtiens. Dans la ville du Cap-Haitien, les observateurs n'y croient pas…
In a post entitled “the Dominican solidarity” [Fr], Alterpresse lists all the initiatives from Dominican people and their government to help Haiti since Jan. 12th. However, the post mentions some distrust among some Haitians, echoing Réseau Citadelle's rejection:
Des migrants haïtiens, qui ont été contactés par AlterPresse à Santo Domingo, se sont montrés prudents, voire sceptiques quant à l’intention réelle du gouvernement dominicain d’aider Haiti.
Condemning altogether the Dominican Republic, MINUSTAH and President Preval, Réseau Citadelle is questioning the opportunity to resort to the Caribbean Community [Fr]:
Toutefois, pourquoi il ne fait pas appel aux soldats de la CARICOM ? Ils avaient intervenu en Haïti en 1994 au coté des troupes américaines.
Meanwhile, according to blogger Bajan Global Report, CARICOM considers an active participation in the recovery effort of Haiti. Following the same logic as Réseau Citadelle and Radio Kiskeya, former Jamaican Prime Minister PJ Patterson defines one priority – Haitians living inside and outside Haiti provide support for their own so that the recovery could be sustainable:
“Unless there is ownership by those directly affected, the best laid plans will come to naught. In addition to the involvement from the outset of the Haitian authorities, that of civil society and of the people of Haiti is also of overarching importance,” he added.
[…]
The former Jamaican leader further recommended the involvement of the Haitian Diaspora, as well as the urgent reinforcement of the public functions of the state, including the public service, to ensure that the progress made in the provision of public goods and basic services is sustainable.

author: Fabienne Flessel