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May 11 2012
Robert F. Kennedy Award Will Recognize Social Media Journalism
One of the foremost international human rights organizations, the Robert F. Kennedy Center, is calling for nominations to a new Journalism Award on International Photography and International Social Media hosted by their European Office in Florence, Italy. The award will recognize the achievements of professionals and students who investigate human rights issues and advocate for change.
The journalism award is a first step of a long-term Smart Dissident Project by the RFK Center, aiming at providing digital activists from countries in the Middle East and North Africa with a physical working space (the former prison complex Le Murate in Florence, now beautifully restored) and an opportunity to stand up for freedom of expression and for the defense of human rights. The winners in the professional categories will win two weeks stay at Le Murate complex.
Previous award winners have been given a bust of Robert F. Kennedy, a civil rights activist and U.S. politician who was shot dead in 1968, only five years after the death of his brother President John F. Kennedy.
As part of the same project the Center will offer a course on “Social Media and Human Rights: Can Smart Dissidents Create Change?” planned for 18-19 June, 2012 (with participation from Global Voices), followed by the Journalism Award ceremony.
Nomination entries should describe the causes, conditions and remedies of injustice and critical analysis of relevant public policies, programs, attitudes, and private endeavors.
Submission deadline is May 15, 2012 (click here to download an entry form).
Updates from the RFK European Office are on Twitter:
@RFKennedyEurope: RFKennedy Journalism award 2012 on SM and human rights is open to blogs: http://bit.ly/AwardEntryForm - http://bit.ly/JournalismAward #egypt #syria
The Robert F. Kennedy Center present awards every year for both Human Rights and Journalism. In September 2011, the winner of the Human Rights Award was Frank Mugisha, Executive Director of Sexual Minorities Uganda, an umbrella organisation that protects LGBTI people in the country.
Mali: Junta Aims to Take Back Control after Caretaker President's Term
Marcus Boni Teiga explains why he thinks we should not hold our collective breath for a resolution in the Malian crisis [fr]. While rumors of Captain Sanogo vying to be promoted General circulated in Bamako, reports indicate that the military coup leaders aim to seize back control of the country after the term of the caretaker president comes to an end.
China: In Bo Xilai Saga, Did Social Media Challenge Government?
Bo Xilai portrayed as Greek mythology character Icarus, who tried to fly too close to the sun with a set of wings made from wax. Source: Beijing Cream.
Political struggle, murder, corruption, espionage and diplomatic conflict - the downfall of Bo Xilai from the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) elite ranks has turned out to be a multi-faceted story. The Bo Xilai affair is also a good example of the disruptive role that social media plays in today’s China. Despite censorship, discussions on social networks caused international media to prick up their ears.
With the CCP's once-in-a-decade leadership succession [pdf] scheduled for October 2012, Bo Xilai’s case has jumped to the front page of international and local media. It has been widely argued that social media has made it unfeasible for the government to keep the story behind the scenes. However, it is also true that the government has stirred social media to its own advantage. Did the Chinese government really want to hide Bo Xilai’s story? Did social media really challenge the government control on information? The opacity of China’s politics makes it impossible to answer these questions, but they are worth a thought.
Let’s re-cap on how Chinese social media played a major role by apparently forcing disclosure and challenging government control on information.
February 2012
1. First rumors spread
Wang Lijun, Vice-Mayor of Chonqing, disappears from his post. Despite censorship, speculation regarding his whereabouts spreads on China’s micro-blogs. The rumors state that Wang has requested political asylum at the US consulate after falling out of favor with the local high-profile party secretary Bo Xilai, who aspires to a top political post. Wang may have denounced Bo's implication in the murder of British businessman Neil Heywood.
2. A “vacation-style therapy”
An official statement on the Twitter-like Sina Weibo says Wang has been temporarily removed from his post for a “vacation-style therapy”. The phrase becomes an ironic meme on the Chinese Internet.
3. Where are the censors?
The Chinese government confirms that Wang did enter the US consulate in a post on Sina Weibo that netizens hurry to re-tweet. The censorship machine not only allows but boosts online discussions, making netizens suspicious. Blogger C. Custer, from ChinaGeeks writes:
At the moment, Wang is back on the Sina Weibo trending topics list twice. […] Searches for “Wang Lijun” (typed correctly) remain uncensored. It’s quite clear that Sina is not trying to suppress this story at all, which begs the question: is someone at Sina trying to damage Bo Xilai?
March 2012
4. First rumors confirmed
Official news agency Xinhua makes a double announcement: Wang has been removed from his position and Bo Xilai has been replaced as Chonqing Party Chief by Zhang Dejiang. Another report confirms that Wang did request political asylum at the US consulate.
5. Second wave of rumors flows in
In the midst of hectic public discussion on Bo’s political purge, online rumors spread about a coup d’état in Beijing and a confrontation between President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao on one side, and Bo’s supporter Zhou Yongkang on the other.
6. Talks of coup finally wake the Great Firewall up
Micro-blogging sites Sina Weibo and Tencent Weibo block word search facilities. Days after the blocking, the government cracks down on social media. Six people are arrested and 16 websites closed for “disseminating online rumors” that “severely disturb the public order, undermine social stability and deserve punishment”, Xinhua reported. The same report states Sina Weibo and Tencent Weibo have been “criticized and punished accordingly”. The two sites halt the posting of comments for three days.
April 2012
7. Rumors become the truth
On April 10, Xinhua makes two separate announcements: Bo’s dismissal from his position at the CCP Central Committee for “serious discipline violations”, and his wife's alleged role in the murder of British businessman Neil Heywood over “economic interests”.
Netizens can't get over their surprise. The rumors that have been flooding the net for months suddenly make it to the covers of all official newspapers. Jing Gao, from
Ministry of Tofu writes:
Weibo user Zhang Xingsheng wrote, “We had already followed the instruction from the higher-up that we’d never believe or spread a rumor. But today, the rumor became the truth! I am puzzled! To believe or not to believe? This is a question!
China’s 550 million micro-blog users have witnessed a twisted public information stratagem. Online rumors becoming official truth overnight, endorsed by the same official media that censored and demonized them in the name of social harmony.
8. Political struggle and corruption
The government insists that Bo’s fall is a fight against corruption that has nothing to do with political struggle. As details on Bo’s family fortune emerge, public discussion gets heated over the enrichment of party officials. With corruption debate taking over the press, the government manages to sideline sensitive discussion on political infighting.
Again, Jing Gao reflects:
But one thing is certain. Before the advent of social media, the government never owed the people an explanation. […] Today, with tens of millions of Chinese actively use Sina Weibo, a low murmur of political gossip may have already been amplified and heard by thousands before the internet police step in.
Social media play a major role boosting public discussion in China by breaking systematic cover ups. However, it seems clear enough that the Chinese government has shown a remarkable expertise in playing with censorship, leaking or blocking information at its convenience to lead public opinion. Who wins? Do China’s social media outlets really challenge the government’s control of information?
This post and its translations to Spanish, Arabic and French were commissioned by International Security Network (ISN) as part of a partnership to seek out citizen voices on international relations and security issues worldwide.
Visit the ISN blog and see more related stories.
Russia: Yavlinsky Stir Reveals Opposition Rift
On May 10, Grigory Yavlinsky [en] controversially wrote [ru] in his LiveJournal blog that the Russian opposition's recent turn to more confrontational tactics is a bad omen for democracy. Yavlinsky, born the same year as Vladimir Putin, is one of Russian politics' oldest faces. He played a pivotal role in the immediate post-Soviet period, authoring important elements of Russia's transition to a free-market economy. Since the 1990s, Yavlinksy has been the face of Yabloko [en], Russia's original liberal democrat political party. In the Putin era, Yavlinsky's party has remained a curious outlier to both “systemic politics” and “nonsystemic politics,” having lost its Duma presence in 2007 but remaining an officially registered party that is still viewed by many oppositionists as compromised and pro-establishment.
Grigory Yavlinskiy, economist and politician, 15 Jan 2011, photo by Skilpaddle, CC BY-SA 3.0; Wikimedia Commons.
True to Yabloko's troubled past and present, Yavlinksy's May 10 blog post has upset many and pleased relatively few. While he made a point of praising protesters' bravery and placing “main responsibility” on the authorities ('those who falsify elections, propagate corruption and thievery,' etc.), many have focused exclusively on Yavlinsky's criticisms of the protest movement. Lenta.ru, for instance, ran an article [ru] titled, “Yavlinsky Declares Protests Meaningless.”
Yavlinsky's concerns with the new developments in Moscow protests center on spiking violence and a perceived drift away from politics. He writes:
При этом я считаю, что если у организаторов есть расчет на то, что жестокость омоновцев будет мультиплицировать количество желающих с ними сражаться, то это неверный расчет. Опыт Триумфальной показывает, что мультипликации не получится. Наоборот, люди перестанут ходить на митинги и шествия, если там льется кровь, если их там избивают. Неужели кто-то полагает, что можно чего-то добиться лобовым столкновением, гражданской войной?
[…]
САМИ ПО СЕБЕ ГРАЖДАНСКИЕ МИТИНГИ, АКЦИИ, ГУЛЯНИЯ И ПРОЧИЕ ФЛЕШМОБЫ, ПРИ ВСЕЙ ИХ ЧЕЛОВЕЧЕСКОЙ ДОСТОЙНОСТИ, ПОЛИТИЧЕСКИ НИЧЕГО НЕ ИЗМЕНЯТ И В СИЛУ СВОЕЙ БЕСПОМОЩНОСТИ БУДУТ ЧАСТО ПЕРЕРАСТАТЬ В ДРАКИ И СХВАТКИ. Разрастание насилия сделает ситуацию во всех отношениях гораздо хуже.
If organizers are counting on the brutality of riot police to multiply the number of people wishing to join their fight, I think that's a flawed count. The experience of Triumfalnaia [Square] shows that no such multiplication occurs. On the contrary, people stop coming to rallies and marches, if blood is being spilled there, or if people are being beaten. Do some people really believe that anything can be accomplished with a head-on collision, or a civil war?
[…]
BY ITSELF, CITIZEN DEMONSTRATIONS, RALLIES, WALKABOUTS, AND SIMILAR FLASHMOBS (WITH ALL THEIR HUMAN DIGNITY) WILL NOT CHANGE ANYTHING POLITICALLY, AND BY VIRTUE OF THEIR OWN IMPOTENCE WILL OFTEN ESCALATE INTO FIGHTING AND CRACKDOWNS. The spread of violence will make the situation much worse in every respect.
As an alternative to this brand of dissent, he proposes a response “personal, programmatic, idealogical, organized, professional, moral, AND POLITICAL,” saying that a gradual, long-term approach is the only real option:
Надо начинать заниматься серьезной политикой , выигрывать выборы и брать власть. Долго? Да, шесть лет очень долго, но раньше и мы ничего не успеем. И следует понимать - альтернатив будет не одна, а три: левая, демократическая и националисты. Какая победит - скажет народ.
Reactions to Yavlinsky's comments have varied. Some bloggers have been less than polite. Anti-Putin LiveJournal user i_l_d responded [ru] simply: “Go screw yourself, Yavlinsky.” Nationalist blogger sinn-fein-front wrote [ru] gloatingly:
Ну вот и Явлинский, отчисливший Навального за национализм, в своем блоге на Эхе Москвы признал националистов равноценной силой протеста. Что ж, отрадно. Один за одним падают бастионы русофобии в публичной политике
Prominent blogger Rustem Adagamov [en], linking to the above-mentioned Lenta.ru article (not Yavlinsky's original text), tweeted [ru]:
Вот и Явлинский! http://lenta.ru/news/2012/05/10/yavl/ “Надо начинать заниматься серьезной политикой” Вау, а 16 лет до этого—это что было?
Dmitri Ivanov, a political satirist from the website CarambaTV.ru [ru], a webtv project, tweeted [ru]:
Явлинский заявил о бессмысленности митингов. Митинги заявили о бессмысленности Явлинского
Despite the backlash against a politician infamous for upsetting pro-Kremlin and oppositionist figures alike, support for Yavlinsky also exists on the RuNet. Some of his supporters are predictable, like Ivan Bolshakov, a deputy chairman of Yabloko's Moscow branch, who faulted [ru] critics for taking Yavlinsky's words out of context:
И каким же надо быть простачком (или сознательным дискредитатором?), чтобы этот смысл извратить до «Явлинский – против митингов» и фактически приравнять заявление Явлинского к позиции Путина его дружков!?
Vladimir Milov [en], another prominent oppositionist politician who briefly served in the Russian government as Deputy Energy Minister in 2002, is another figure who has publicized his disdain for street confrontations. He tweeted [ru] a mild attack on Lenta.ru and announced his support for Yavlinsky's comments:
Вот образчик типичного наглого хипстерского вранья http://www.lenta.ru/news/2012/05/10/yavl/ а вот оригинал, с которым я полностью согласен http://gr-yavlinsky.livejournal.com/43985.html
In the aftermath of parliamentary elections, between December 2011 and February 2012, the Russian opposition experienced an explosion of mass popularity that disadvantaged professional politicians like Yavlinsky and Milov, whose careers (or ‘activism,' if one prefers) are fixed on evolutionary improvements to Russian society and governance. Theirs is the politics of policy and statecraft — what critics view as regime-collaboration and allies see as realistic, constructive work.
Current developments in Russia's protest movement have widened the gap between populist dramatics and nuts-and-bolts politics. Consequentially, Yavlinsky's blog-post scandal is symptomatic of a growing rift between guards Old and New. And, yet, men like Milov are fairly young. (He turns forty this summer.) The question is less about age than temperament and tactical preferences. Does one work ‘within the system' for gradual change — a relatively thankless task with only distant satisfaction — or, to borrow a phrase from Yavlinsky, opt for more aggressive “head-on collisions”?
Kenya: Mark Kaigwa to Global Voices: “The East is Coming to Africa.”
Mark Kaigwa is a Kenyan blogger and new media consultant based in Nairobi, whose work is to “help international companies and African brands to connect with each other to develop creativity”. He is also a former film maker and was a judge at the 2012 Kenyan Bloggers Awards that took place on May 5. His session at the recently concluded re:publica conference, “Silicon Savanna, how African technologies are changing the world”, was dedicated to illustrating the shift in Africa's image - a shift from the clichés of crisis, war, or even wonders of nature, to an Africa that is showing the world a way to foster development in a competitive environment, specifically through the use of mobile technologies.
Global Voices caught up with Mark at the re:publica to better understand his hopes and dreams about Africa's digital future.
Mark Kaigwa. photo by Suzanne Lehn
Global Voices Online (GV): When and how did you get into blogging?
Mark Kaigwa (MK): I started blogging in 2007 – 2008, first with a personal blog. I wanted to express myself so that someone in the world would listen and hear.
Now I run three blogs : my personal blog mark.co.ke - where I give my personal views about creativity in African technology, afrinnovator.com - with focus on technology, start-ups, who is bringing money and from where and africandigitalart.com - about animation, illustration, graphic design, in one word, all about the combination of art and technology. It features, for instance, artists giving responses to the North African uprisings.
GV: Do you have any links/connections with French-speaking African countries?
MK: I have personal business connections through the Internet, yes, but I have yet to travel to a francophone African country. I am trying to get inputs from francophone as well as lusophone countries, but not because they belong to the non-English sphere (editor's note: The notion of language-based sphere appears pretty much irrelevant to Mark). To give you an example, Angola is interesting to me as a country regardless of the fact that it is part of the lusophone sphere.
GV: The world went through a period in which low-cost labor was the most sought after commodity. Then recently it was low-cost natural resources. In your opinion, is it now a period in which low-cost technologies will be the most sought after?
MK: The 1990's were the decade of China's boom, the 2010's are India's and the 2020's will be Africa's. The West was going to the East, now the East is coming to Africa.
The east has a smart strategy. It brought to Africa what it learned and it does not consider Africa as one entity. On the contrary, eastern countries have understood that Africa is composed of 56 countries. They build the infrastructure in exchange for the natural resources that they are of course in need of. Technology is last on their agenda.
GV: It has been said that Africa's real problems are transport and the banking systems. What is your opinion?
MK: Those problems indeed exist but these are not the only ones.
The African challenges are the infrastructure and the economic climate for doing business, but we as Africans are in the process of solving them; and as a prominent economist of the World Bank noted, Kenya's debt-to-GDP ratio amounts to about 45%, which would make many European countries very envious !
The true size of Africa, an infographic presented by Mark at the conference (CC License. No Rights Reserved, public domain)
GV: So how will the shift of economic power work in favor of Africa?
MK: They know that Africa will compete with them. China's competitive advantages - economies of scale, low costs - are going to shrink, and might even cancel out in the next 10 or 20 years, along with the development there of the middle classes, the rise of wages and consumption. China's low-cost advantages will then probably go to Africa. Once the infrastructure is up to par, Africa will be able to be competitive with the East – provided the political leadership holds its end of the bargain.
At the re:publica 2012. Photo by Suzanne Lehn
GV: Regarding African breakthroughs in technology that came about after the well-known Ushaidi, you mentioned the following in your session - SwiftRiver, CrowdMap, Kopo Kopo, iCow, M-Pedigree, MXIT. However, these are mostly operating on mobile phones. Is technology in Africa over-hyped ?
MK: What we have now is that for the first time, Africa has a way to influence the world. Political leadership permitting, technology is getting some serious attention. Furthermore, the Kenyan government is acknowledging that opening its data will result in better accountability and leadership, and that this is good for their political legacy.
I don't deny there's hype, but it's a good hype and I prefer it to the former one-sided vision of Africa.
GV: A meaningful fact for conclusion?
MK: All of East Africa started to learn Chinese – starting, not from English, but from Swahili.
The interview was conducted by Global voices author Suzanne Lehn. The photos of Mark Kaigwa used in this post were taken by her.
Ethiopia: The World Economic Forum in Africa 2012
Over 700 leaders from more than 70 countries are attending the World Economic Forum taking place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopian from 9 - 11 May, 2012.
The World Economic Forum is an independent international organization committed to improving the state of the world by engaging business, political, academic and other leaders of society to shape global, regional and industry agendas:
Africa is experiencing strong growth and despite the increasingly volatile global economy, African leaders are pursuing measures that will transform the region into the next global growth pole. In this context, the World Economic Forum on Africa will seek to leverage the positive political, economic and social progress of recent years by providing a true multistakeholder platform to develop new ideas and actions to achieve further sustainable, inclusive growth, - says Elsie S. Kanza, Director, Head of Africa, World Economic Forum.
Caroline Kende-Robb, Kofi Annan and Bob Geldof - World Economic Forum on Africa 2012. Photo source: World Economic Forum (CC BY-SA 2.0) .
It is not a surprise that such a forum would take place in Africa since African countries are among the top fast growing economies in the world. The top ten countries with fastest growing population are also in Africa. But the choice of Addis Ababa leaves many unanswered questions to human rights activists.
Ethiopian blogger and Global Voices author asks, “When Addis Ababa hosts the 22nd World Economic Forum for the first time on Africa soil will anyone care?”:
I strongly believe that one topic that should be tackled in numerous debates in the forum should be the role of free and independent media and economic growth in Africa. Also other topics on the agenda should be issues like journalists’ incarceration, telecom services control by government and may be corruption. In fact the present spotlight of media on Ethiopia’s economic breakthrough is distracting attention from many serious challenges that Ethiopia’s free media is facing on day to day basis.
The forum has started on Wednesday after lots of bad news about Ethiopia’s free press five journalists—Woubshet Taye, Elias Kifle, Re’eyot Alemu and two Swedish journalists — sentenced to at least 10 years and more behind bars and 2012 PEN America press freedom award winner, Eskinder Nega, could face the death penalty if convicted this Friday.
However, Bekele argues that bringing the WEF to Ethiopia “marks a real shift in the perception of Ethiopia”:
Bringing the Forum to Addis Ababa marks a real shift in the perception of Ethiopia by the international community – a gradual understanding that this is a continent of potential and opportunity and not just misfortune and intractable problems.
As a representative of civil society among what will be an impressive gathering of influential political and business figures, I will be reinforcing the logical progression from building strong communities to strong economies, and, ultimately, greater political stability.
On Twitter, tweeps use the hashtag #WEFAfrica to share key insights and lessons from the Forum:
@Kwabena: Who (here) is using new technologies to engage the youth? - Klaus Schwab asks at the World Economic Forum on Africa #wef #WEFAfrica
@waresafrica: “l wouldn't really invest anywhere apart from Africa today because that's where the growth is.”Dangote tells #WEFAfrica in Addis
@msibeko: Best time for Africa in 50 years, but don't confuse economic growth with economic transformation. Kaberuka #WEFAfrica
@StephanMorais: My view is that there is no connection between democracy and economic growth, but democracy is good in itself, PM Ethiopia @ #WEFAfrica #YGL
@Africa_activist: Is the ordinary African touched by this #AfricaOptimism, is it an elitist movement, how can it be real & transformative? #WEFAfrica #YGL
@FightPoverty: Very inspiring day yesterday @GrowAfricaForum - key message: shift mindset from developing agriculture to developing agribusiness
You can follow the Forum live here.
Cuba: Remembering the Dissidents
This week, members of the Cuban diaspora have been blogging about two main things: the one-year anniversary of the death of dissident Juan Wilfredo Soto, and the re-arrest of human rights activist Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia.
Of the former, babalu places blame for Soto's death squarely on the shoulders of the Cuban government:
Mercilessly beaten in a park by agents of Cuba's political police, Soto died three days later from the injuries he received. His murder at the hands of the Castro dictatorship, like that of Cuban prisoner of conscience Orlando Zapata Tamayo, caused an uproar in the international community and forced the regime and its defenders here in the U.S. to mount a campaign seeking to blame his death on natural causes and diminish the role Castro police had in his murder.
One year after the murder of Juan Wilfredo Soto, things have have changed Cuba, but for the worse. The rate of arrests of human rights activists on the island has skyrocketed…One year later, the Castro regime is as repressive and violent as ever, if not more so…
Pedazos de la Isla corroborates his account of increased numbers of arrests in this post, quoting a “Lady in White and independent journalist” who claims that:
The Cuban police, as well as State Security and other watchdog branches of the regime, prefer to unleash this kind of repression against peaceful activists who demand freedom and democratic changes in Cuba instead of pursuing and detaining those who rob, rape, and even kill other citizens.
The recent re-arrest of Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia, as Uncommon Sense reports, also appears to support this claim:
Cuban dissident Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia was arrested in Havana on Wednesday.
Ferrer, who had been released April 29 after almost a month in jail, was on his way to the Czech embassy to access the Internet, when the Castro police swept in and arrested him.
Details of his whereabouts were not known, but human rights activist Elizardo Sanchez, with whom Ferrer was staying while visiting the capital said he thought Ferrer would be returned to his hometown of Santiago de Cuba.
Finally, Notes from the Cuban Exile Quarter, which gives a detailed history of the case, says that Soto Garcia, who died on Mother's Day last year, should never be forgotten:
Juan Wilfredo Soto García, 46, belonged to the Central Opposition Coalition (Coalición Central Opositora) and the previously unrecognized opposition organization Foro Antitotalitario Unido, (United Anti-totalitarian Forum) and according to Amnesty International Juan Wilfredo ‘had previously been imprisoned for 12 years for his political activities.'
Amnesty International called for an investigation into his death which over a year later has not been conducted. The Cuban dictatorship has sought to deny Juan Wilfredo Soto García's status as a former political prisoner and human rights defender in order to portray him as a common criminal.
In addition to Amnesty International, 12 former Cuban prisoners of conscience from the 2003 Black Cuban Spring met on Saturday, June 4, 2011 and petitioned the Cuban regime for an independent investigation into the May 8, 2011 death of Juan Wilfredo Soto García in a document called The Declaration of El Roque. Others continue to [be] badly beaten and denied adequate medical care in Cuba and their lives remain at risk. It is for that reason and the continuing demand of justice for Juan Wilfredo Soto García that we must never forget.
Taiwan: Indigenous Tao People's 30 Year Nuclear ‘Nightmare'
After Japan's Fukushima nuclear accident last year, more and more Taiwanese have started to become aware of the problems caused by nuclear power plants. One of the most serious issues is nuclear waste on Orchid Island, where the Tao people have lived for generations.
In December 30, 2011, a group of Tao people went to Taipei to protest against [zh] the nuclear waste storage facility situated on the Orchid Island in front of the presidential building. However, the president did not respond to their protest.
Another protest took place on February 20, 2012, with more than 500 Tao people demonstrating [zh] in front of the nuclear waste storage facility on the island due to concern over radioactive isotopes detected outside it and their anger with the owner company Taiwan Power's unfulfilled promise to store the nuclear waste elsewhere.
Jessie Tai from Wired Taiwan explained why [zh] Taiwan Power failed to keep their promise and move the nuclear waste out of the Orchid Island by the end of 2002:
因為核廢料處理最終場址的選定程序過於漫長，以及把核廢料運往國外處理的計畫失敗。
A reporter from Taiwan New Talk listed the Tao people's demand [zh]:
首先，已經完成核廢桶檢整的貯存場應立即遷出蘭嶼；其次，蘭嶼將不續租土地給台電放置核廢料，已造成污染之土地必須進行除污與活化；第3，政府部門與台電應對核廢料貯存在蘭嶼的錯誤政策進行檢討，並重新與達悟族人談判後續賠償事宜，以彌補多年來達悟民族因核廢料所損失的健康。
Some Tao people have also joined the political party and are pressuring the government through the legislature [zh], according to Jessie Tai's report from Wired Taiwan:
在農曆年前的大選中，提倡環保的綠黨為了強調其反核立場，將長期推動反核運動的達悟族單親媽媽希婻瑪飛洑列為該黨不分區立委名單第一人，綠黨雖然後來並未達到政黨票5%的國會門檻，但在蘭嶼卻創紀錄地拿下35.7%的政黨票，突顯出蘭嶼人長久以來的不滿，以及對自身家園環境的隱憂。
Below is a documentary produced by Taiwan Indigenous TV on the history of the nuclear waste problem on Orchid Island:
Here is selected translation of the video script:
0′18″: To the Tao people of Orchid Island, the scene of first shipment of nuclear waste in the harbor of the Orchid Island in 1982 is a 30-year-long nightmare.
4′24″: On February 20, 1988, Tao people protested against the nuclear waste storage facility. Twenty four years ago, on a rainy day, the residents of Orchid Island angrily gathered together in front of the nuclear waste storage facility. They shouted their slogan loudly, “I love Orchid Island, and I do not want nuclear waste.” The Tao people's protest against nuclear waste started from that moment.
4′53″: On June 1, 1995, the Tao people were angry about the Taiwan Power company's plan to build six new nuclear waste storage trenches. There were protests against nuclear waste in Orchid Island and Taipei at the same time.
5′19″: (Former President Chen Shui-Bian said on TV): Our policy about nuclear waste on Orchid Island is very clear. We will move all the nuclear waste out of Orchid Island before the end of 2002. We will give the beautiful island back to the Tao people.
5′40″: The township magistrate of the Orchid Island asked, “Did the people on Orchid Island produce this nuclear waste? Who produced it?” The crowd answered, “Taiwan.” The township magistrate asked, “Do we use the electricity generated by the nuclear power plants?” The crowd answered, “No.” The township magistrate said, “Do not give others what you do not want. Chen Shui-Bian should eat this [the nurclear waste]”.
6′44″: In 1996, the nuclear waste storage facility was full. There are more than 97,000 barrels of nuclear waste [in it]. However, Taiwan Power company still planned to ship more nuclear waste to Orchid Island. The Tao people were mobilized to surround the harbor. At last, the ship of nuclear waste was blocked in the waters off the small island. That ship returned to Taiwan. No more nuclear waste has been shipped to Orchid island.
7′36″: Breaking news: there are radioactive isotopes, Cobalt-60 and Caesium-137, [evident] outside the nuclear waste storage facility on Orchid Island. Although the Atomic Energy Council said the amount of radioactive isotopes is far below the standard, researchers found these radioactive isotopes are from the nuclear waste storage facility.
8′28″: Looking at this photo, you can see what happened in the nuclear waste storage trenches in the past 30 years. This is horrifying. As a mother, when I look at the photo, I think our health may be seriously threatened. I cannot stop yelling. In the past 30 years, in last year, we Tao people have kept yelling. We are yelling for help.
9′09″: What you throw in front of our houses will make the Tao people die and become extinct. You are talking about increasing the compensation. I am sorry. Can you tell Mr. Ma Ying-Jeou what you just said? The only thing we ask for is the removal of nuclear waste from Orchid Island.
Afghanistan: How to Use an Afghan Box Camera
The Presurfer shares a small video documentary of one of the only two remaining Afghan box photographers left in Kabul, and how he takes pictures and processes them inside a small black box.
May 10 2012
Bahamas: Power of the People
“It no longer feels like hatred for me when the PLP wins, it no longer feels like time to panic”: A reflection on the country's recent elections, from Womanish Words.
Trinidad & Tobago: SEA “Ordeal”
Today, children across Trinidad and Tobago sat the SEA Entrance Examination for admission to secondary school. Coffeewallah calls it an “ordeal so intense, that it can be likened to Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games novel”, explaining: “While these children do not have to kill anyone to survive, their self esteem, peace of mind and their very childhood, is marked with a stress that is at best unfair, and at worst, draconian.”
Video: Robot Shows us How to Stay Safe Online
ONO the Robot
With 8 new weekly releases for their new series Survival in the Digital Age, ONO the robot will help us with email security, facebook security, private browsing and more. The first video in the new series is HEY YAHOO! HTTPS MY EMAILS! where how to chose a safe web based email provider. The organization is using crowdsourcing efforts to translate the videos into as many languages as possible.
In 2010, ONO made its appearance explaining the Digital Traces we leave behind and how to keep our personal information and contacts safe when using mobile devices, cameras or the internet. The videos in this past series have been subtitled into many different languages already.
Through ONO's own eyes, we see how we are constantly tracked through our digital communications. While a lot of the time this might not be harmful for us, we have little control over what we want to keep private and what is available for viewing, recording and information harvesting. This is crucial for activists and journalists who might be under surveillance and whose digital activities can put them in danger. ONO explores some of the ways that people can protect their identity and separate who they are from what they are doing such as: the use of anonymising and circumvention tools and encryption. ONO warns us that we need to know what we are doing when trying more advanced privacy techniques and provides a checklist for the best practises which everyone can implement in our daily use of email, mobile phones and online services.
With a callout to Global Voices Advocacy Access Denied Map, ONO'S GUIDE TO SAFE SURFING tells people how to stay safe while surfing online, specially when accessing sites that may be blocked.
You can learn more about ONO through Facebook, twitter (@onorobot), and more about online security through the Tactical Tech site.
Europe: Economic Crisis Fuels Rise in Anti-Immigration Politics
The French presidential election may be over, but the fact that outgoing president Nicolas Sarkozy chose immigration as a core theme of his campaign [fr] is still the subject of much debate on the Web. Many netizens have wondered whether his choice to flirt with the far-right wing of his electorate helped temper his defeat or whether, on the contrary, it was one of the reasons his electorate deserted him [fr].
Given the apparent waning appetite of European voters for multiculturalism, singling out immigration as the root of the global economic crisis has proven fruitful for far-right parties across the continent.
African refugees by Vito Manzari on Flickr (CC BY 2.0)
If this rhetoric sounds familiar, it's because it has affected the old continent, when in times of crisis, in a cyclical pattern for centuries. Valérie, on her blog 'Crêpe Georgette', recounted the chronology of perceptions on immigration in France [fr] from the first half of the 19th century until today:
S’il est une idée en vogue, c’est bien de penser que les anciennes vagues d’immigration (italiennes, polonaises, espagnoles, belges …) se sont parfaitement intégrées au contraire des vagues, plus récentes, maghrébines et africaines.
Les anciennes vagues d’immigrés étaient travailleuses, ne posaient aucun problème et les français les ont d’ailleurs parfaitement acceptées, entend-on souvent.
Constatons donc que les propos actuels sur les immigrés les plus récents ne sont qu’une répétition d’idées reçues anciennes et qui se sont exercées à l’encontre de toutes les communautés migrantes (qu’elles viennent de province ou de pays étrangers).
We often hear “the former immigration waves were related to labour, did not cause any issue, and were indeed perfectly accepted by the French.”
Let us then recognise that current comments on the most recent immigration waves are the mere reiteration of old stereotypes which all migrant communities have faced (whether they originated from the countryside or from foreign countries).
Valérie drew a parallel between allegations that Italian and Spanish immigrants did not and could not be integrated, and those against today's immigrants from Eastern Europe and Africa:
Toutes les populations d’immigrés – mais aussi les populations pauvres de manière générale – sont vues au cours des siècles comme sales, non intégrées, se vautrant dans la luxure et des coutumes exotiques. Ce qu’on entend à l’heure actuelle sur les quartiers « islamisés », « envahis » de femmes en burqa avec 10 enfants n’est que la répétition, comme vous le constatez, de propos tenus sur toutes les vagues d’immigration précédentes. L’italien lui aussi fait une cuisine infâme, trop d’enfants et se vêt d’oripeaux. Le polonais se ridiculise avec son catholicisme particulier et à se tenir debout pendant la messe alors que le bon français est assis.
Economic downturn not the only reason
Nevertheless, the economic downturn alone cannot explain the attractiveness of anti-immigration arguments. In an editorial on the future of multiculturalism in France, Julie Owono highlighted that:
The reason for the growing worry over the future of Europe is not simply related to the crisis. Contrary to what some politicians were quick to explain on the evening of the first round, it seems that the French who gave their vote to extremism do not suffer that much from the immigration scourge. French analysts have found that, while the latter represents a major concern for 62 per cent of National Front voters, areas where the party has received a significant number of votes do not have a particularly high immigration rate.
A European phenomenon
Foreigners in Europe by Digital Dreams on FlickR License-CC-BY
Politicians singing this weathered old tune against immigration are not limited to France. In Greece, the Neo-Nazi party known as Golden Dawn took advantage of the country's economic difficulties and broke through during the most recent general elections. In Great Britain, a commenter posting under the name James reacted to the fact that Cameron, Merkel, and Sarkozy declared the failure of multiculturalism in Europe:
She [Merkel] wanted People from richer nations to embrace and train poorer region folk! It hasn't worked, its cost us all billions and its getting more expensive year on year! Would you rather have a farmer from romania working in britain, claiming to be poor and sending all the money home to build a mansion! thats whats happening.
Valérie said she is no longer surprised by recycling of anti-immigration rhetoric. She suggested in her blog some reading to open up the debate:
Pour combattre les craintes face aux immigrés maghrébins et africains, on gagnerait à lire les textes du 19eme et du début du 20eme pour comprendre comment se fondent ces peurs et comment l’on ne fait que répéter les mêmes idées ayant cours dans les siècles précédents. Conseils de lecture :
- Conseillé par Melle S. : A. SAYAD « L’immigration ou les paradoxes de l’altérité » (1. L’illusion du provisoire et 2. Les enfants illégitimes).
- Gérard Noiriel, « Le creuset français ».
- Laurent Dornel, « La France hostile. Histoire de la xénophobie en France au XIXe siècle ”
To address anxieties over immigrants from Maghreb and Africa, one would gain from reading texts from the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries in order to understand the foundations of such fears and how the same arguments are being used throughout the centuries. Suggested reading:
- Suggested by Melle S. [fr]: A. Sayad, Immigration or the Paradoxes of Alterity [fr] (1. The illusion of the ephemery and 2. The illegitimate children)
- Gérard Noiriel, The French Melting-Pot
- Laurent Dornel, Hostile France. A History of Xenophobia in France in the 19th Century [fr]
Russia: American Video Streaming Site Ustream.tv Attacked Over Russian Blogger
On the morning of May 9, 2012, unknown parties launched a DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attack on the live feed website Ustream.tv [en]. According to Victoria Levy of Ustream.tv, the attack took place from thousands of unique IPs, based in Russia, Kazakhstan, and Iran. It was centered on one particular user, reggamortis1 [ru], who for the past four days has been covering opposition rallies and protests in Moscow.
Although Ustream.tv began operating normally after ten hours of downtime, the reggamortis1 channel remained inaccessible for several more hours. CEO Brad Hunstable said in an interview [en] that this was the most serious DDoS attack on the website ever.
Screenshot of Ustream.tv's homepage featuring reggamortis1's coverage of the protests in Moscow.
True to this mission, Russian citizen journalists like Kirill Mikhailov, aka reggamortis1, who also tweets at @reggaemortis1 [ru] and blogs at reggae-mortis.livejournal.com [ru], have been utilizing the service to report on recent Russian protests in lieu of coverage by official Russian television networks.
One such live broadcast, by user vova-moskva [ru], gained traction through Twitter on March 5. It covered the situation on Pushkinskaya Square in Moscow during the rally against Vladimir Putin’s reelection. Mikhailov blogged about the need for such action [ru] on February 29:
From every square we will need to maintain constant coverage and concentrate it in one place. But that’s for the future.
At this point Mikhailov was slightly behind the times. The Ustream.tv channel of Ridus [en], a Russian citizen journalism platform, has been posting live feeds of protests starting last December, and has since collected well over two million live views.
This type of guerilla reporting is in line with the general trend of internet-based news coverage in Russia. For example, tvrain.ru [ru] is a liberal-leaning online television channel that often interviews opposition leaders and hosts them on its talk shows. It recently provided a platform [ru] for new opposition darling Ksenia Sobchak after her political debate show had been forced out from mainstream television. On the other side of the barricades, MinaevLive [ru] is a live-streaming “internet-show” run by Sergei Minaev, a Russian writer and blogger with reputed ties to the Kremlin. His from-the-rooftops YouTube coverage of the May 6 March of the Millions was a four-hour bird’s eye view of the conflict and its development. (A compressed and sped-up 4-minute YouTube version is located here.)
The current DDoS attack on Ustream.tv is consistent with other attacks on Russian opposition websites and social networks. RuNet Echo has previously covered [en] DDoS attacks against Russian opposition media and blogs during the Russian parliamentary elections last December. Ridus’ Ustream.tv channel was likewise DDoS’d on December 6 and January 6. Attacks on online media were most recently repeated during the March of the Millions. “The tvrain.ru website isn’t working, and so are the sites of Slon [slon.ru] and Echo Moskvy [echo.msk.ru],” tweeted @tvrain [ru] on May 6. On the same day, General Director of Kommersant, Demian Kudriavtsev, warned on his Facebook [ru] that the daily newspaper’s website was under a DDoS attack. Echo’s Varfolomeev gave the same reason [ru] for his site’s erratic behavior.
Perhaps because of this Mikhailov, an opposition activist from Ufa [ru] who charmingly calls himself “Navalny’s battle-hamster,” doesn’t put all of his eggs in one basket. Although he has been using Ustream.tv since April 15 [ru], during the May 9 attack on his channel he switched to a Bambuser.com account (Bambuser is a streaming service similar to Ustream) to continue his coverage. On his blog he also lists the Ustream channel of his colleague, romanpomych, whose stream was up while Mikhailov’s was down.
Before his current project, Mikhailov had been covering the Astrakhan hunger strike (GV coverage is here and here), in which he participated as one of the strikers. Incredibly, he is conducting another hunger strike [ru] at the moment, even as he is running around Moscow and reporting. Amidst all of this activity, Mikhailov has found time to write an email [ru] to Ustream.tv, in which he implicates the Russian government and the youth group Nashi in the attacks:
[…] Russia actively tracks the current events thanks to your website. This is the only source of communication, thanks to which we will find out how Putin is killing our citizens. […] Your site currently doesn’t work only because of these bastards – kremlin.ru and nashi.su. These people, under Putin’s orders, rob the people of information and are trying to hide the mayhem happening in the capital of Russia and are conducting a DDoS attack against ustream.tv.
Brad Hunstable also finds the attack very disturbing. To him, someone is trying to take away the right of global citizens to speak and be heard, in essence subverting his company’s mission. Currently, Ustream.tv is debating the best response to the situation. In the meantime, and in a gesture of defiance, they have added a Russian-language option to the website:
May 09 2012
Armenia: Campaign in Support of Bar Targeted by Nationalists
Following an arson attack on D.I.Y., a bar frequented by activists, progressive youth, and alternative writers, musicians and artists, as well as members of Armenia's LGBT community, Unzipped: Gay Armenia reports that a campaign to raise funds to pay for the damage inflicted by local nationalists has now been launched.
South Korea: Broadcasters' Strike Marks 100th Day of Protest
South Korea's major broadcasting station, MBC marked 100th day of protest on May 9, 2012. Its union workers uploaded another Youtube video [ko] blaming its president of embezzlement and filtering news criticizing the current government and its anchors tweeted photos of their protest/fundraising event today.
Africa: Review: The Chicken Thief
Nana reviews The Chicken Thief by Fiona Leonard: “The Chicken Thief (2011; 340) by Fiona Leonard has been described as a political thriller of sorts. Set in an unnamed African country, it provides a different take on the struggle for independence in a southern Africa country.”
Russia: Charity Crowdfunding
Private Charity: the Situation in Russia
The main representatives of the ‘third sector economy' are non-profit organizations and independent voluntary bodies. Despite the obvious importance of the contributions from volunteers, charities, and NGOs to the resolution of social, ecological, and legal problems (among others), their status is extremely unstable. The activities of NGOs are severely restricted by legal regulations, and their financial situation depends mainly on the generosity of individual donors and businesses.
Last year, Russia moved up from 138th to 130th place in the annual ‘World Giving Index' [ru] compiled by the Charity Aid Foundation (CAF). Each country's ranking is based on several indicators: private individuals' donations, voluntary work, and impromptu charitable acts (for example, giving money to beggars). Despite Russia's moving up on the list, the situation cannot be considered favorable for the charity sector.
In terms of charitable donations in Russia, business contributions remain incomparably higher than private donations. This can be explained by the fashionableness of corporate social responsibility (which in one form or another exists today even in small businesses), as well as the fact that large corporations are obliged to fulfill certain budgetary redistributions in the regions where they maintain a presence.
No provision is made in Russia for tax breaks or other incentives for donors, and — despite the best efforts of the non-profit sector to expand through social media and the wider mass media — there are very few successful cases. This is possibly because ideas about mutual aid and voluntary participation in the resolution of problems that are not one's ‘own' have yet to become mainstream.
According to the research carried out, only 5% of those questioned across Russia donate to charity. Certainly, on a national scale, this seems insignificant. But this is not to say that there is a lack of successful ‘people' projects, financed by private philanthropy. While much activity exists only in cyberspace, the effects of charitable organizations' work is quite tangible and real, and confidence in these groups is undiminished. The proof: the Tugeza [ru] (”Together”) community.
“Togetha: Suddenly Inflicting Good!”
The section on the official Tugeza site, titled ‘Who Is Doing This?' states the following:
Нас часто с опаской спрашивают: «Кто вы, ребята?» Мы теряемся, краснеем и не знаем, что ответить в двух словах. Мы не религиозная секта, не политическая партия, не благотворительный фонд, да чего уж там, мы даже плохо знаем друг друга.
Tugeza began its life on the blog dirty.ru [ru] and eventually became, on August 7, 2010, a volunteer project. The names of the organizers are not a trade secret, but finding them is practically impossible. This is on purpose, as Tugeza is not a hierarchical structure but a ‘charitable anarcho-syndicate,' as it is called by its creators.
Screenshot of Togeza's website, 9 May 2012.
Tugeza is now a community without leaders. The running and moderation of the portal is handled by coordinators: the founding fathers and newer volunteers, whose participation is strongly encouraged. Sometimes this coordination is carried out on a regional basis and the monitoring of activities being carried out is taken on by volunteers who live not far from (or at least closest to) to the location where the aid is being directed.
Tugeza helps to attract financing for projects all over Russia that are diverse in both theme and scale: at the moment, volunteers are raising funds for a rehabilitation and education complex in Kaluga [ru] and last month helped an equine therapy center in the Pskov region [ru].
The technology on which the work of Tugeza is built is called crowdfunding [ru]: the collective collaboration of people who voluntarily pool their money or other resources (as a rule, via the Internet) in order to support the efforts of other people or organizations.
How Tugeza works
It all begins with a discussion through the community's social networks: who needs help? And what kind of help? Each project is jointly organized, so that anyone wishing to can make a contribution and share what they have to offer — transport, for example, or the possibility of helping not by collecting money but by donating unneeded clothing, a drumkit, for instance, or bringing friends along to volunteer. This way, as practice shows, significant resources can be shared: time, as well as money.
Next comes the most interesting part: information about the new project is posted on the Tugeza site, such as how much money must be raised and the timeframe involved, what it is being spent on, and who is being helped. Sometimes the beneficiaries are located in isolated rural regions where there is no Internet access, without the chance to comment on what is going on or take part in the fundraising themselves. In such cases, this work is undertaken by Tugeza organizers, who more often than not remain behind the scenes.
All funds are raised virtually, via e-wallet. On the one hand this complicates fundraising (not everyone has an e-wallet) but, on the other, it makes it simple to keep track of things. Tugeza fights the mistrust of e-payments and, even moreso, of ‘e-philanthropy' as best they can: they have released data regarding the proceeds of their Yandex e-wallet, so that everyone can see that their donations have been received. After the completion of the project, they can see on the same site how their money has been spent.
Original [ru]
South Africa: Remembering Brenda Fassie
Abena remembers an African icon: ‘”The late great South African musical icon Brenda Fassie may be remembered by some only for her infectious hit Vulindlela that took the African continent by storm in the late 90s and early '00s.”
Cuba: Radio Marti Editorial Controversy
“Radio Marti last week published and broadcast an editorial, ‘The Cardinal’s limits,' that asserted that Cardinal Ortega is involved in ‘political collusion' (contubernio) with the Cuban government…”: The Cuban Triangle suggests that Radio Marti also has its limits.
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