At Viva el Campo [es], they celebrated the decision with cheers: “Viva la Patria!” (Long Live the Motherland!), and they summarized the Senate's session where the law project of mobile retentions was rejected. At Paro Agropecuario [es] they make a call to build a better country, and they also hope the President continues her duties, for which she was elected -a response to “coup d'etat” accusations that sectors close to the Government attributed to those who carried out the protest. At Ciudadanos Participando [es] they say “Kirchner's has her Waterloo”.

Mendieta el Renegau [es] asks to understand Julio Cobos' position and discusses it without kicking him out of the Government. At Homo Economicus [es] they wonder about the consequences of the Government's defeat. And at El Blog del Ingeniero [es] they assure that, in fact, in this long four months conflict, nobody has won and it's more likely we all lost. Meanwhile, at Arte Política [es] , an user of the community started a post to allow users to insult “Cleto”, Julio Cobos' middle name, who untied the poll against the Government he's part of. Despite the title, you can find a debate about Cobos' role in the rejection of the law project.

By the way, La Nacion newspaper has a section called “Soy Corresponsal“, where readers can publish texts and pictures, and it had the Senate's voting as the main topic. For those who are looking for posts in English, there isn't much, but you can check out Understanding Argentina; By The Fault and Open Democracy.

The ruling came out 8 months ago but an increased online campaign for clemency for the farmers put the story back into public awareness. Polarized conversations about the verdicts are taking places on online forums and blogs.

(Photo credit L'Express de Madagascar)

Before reporting the different viewpoints, a brief background on the legal implications of the dispute and sentences is necessary.
According to L’Express de Madagascar, The legal rights to the 172 ha of land belongs to a promoter who acquired the land for a development project (unconfirmed sources mentioned the construction of an amusement park). However, the farmers have been effectively growing crops on the land since the 70’s when the legal ownership of the land were not clearly defined.

The 21 farmers were sentenced as follows: 13 received death penalties, 6 to 12 years were sentenced to forced labor, one farmer received one year of imprisonment and another one year on probation.
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(Photo credit to AFASPA)
A netizen, Raharimbahoaka Andriahobijaona, explains on the facebook page advocating clemency for the farmers that Madagascar is one of the nations that signed the pact to abolish death penalty (instituted in 1958 in Madagascar) so even though death penalty has not been removed from the constitution yet, all the 53 death penalty sentences pronounced to this day have all been effectively “transformed” into life sentences. He goes on arguing (fr):

“ devant la justice, vu les faits et les preuves, les riches ont presque toujours gain de cause. La justice n'est pas mal faite, mais certaines lois sont dépassées et ne correspondent plus au monde actuel.[..]Le vrai problème est que le foncier dans la tradition malgache reste un héritage culturel.”

In front of the court of justice, given the facts and evidences, wealthy people will always eventually win their case. The judicial system is not all at fault here, it’s just a few laws that are obsolete and do not correspond to the reality of the current world. The main issue in Madagascar is that real estate is still rooted in the tradition of cultural inheritance [inadequate in the globalization trends]

He also adds:

“Utiliser la presse étrangère, la diaspora malgache et tous les médias dont on disposent est, je pense, très utile. Car à notre ère, la présidence suit de très près ce qui se passe au pays et ailleurs. Ce qui compte c'est la manière et la façon dont on s'y prend pour agir. Nous devons respecter la loi en vigueur tout en négociant pour pouvoir trouver ce qu'il convient de faire sur le moment.”

I believe that utilizing foreign media, the Malagasy diaspora and all other media avenues can be effective. In this era, the presidency is following closely what is being said in the country and overseas. What matters is the way that we would go about acting [on behalf of the farmers]. We must respect the current legal system while negotiating what is best [for the farmers] at the moment.

A petition to free the farmers has been issued and formally presented to the president Marc Ravalomanana and the minister of Justice Bakolalao Ramanandraibe Ranaivoharivony by the French Association for friendship and solidarity with the African People (AFASPA).

Supporters of the liberation of the Malagasy farmers voiced their outrage at the sentencing especially considering the complex history of real estate inheritance in that region. Jean Razafindambo explains that the colonization period induced a lot of confusion regarding actual ownership of land. He offers the following solution (fr):

“Le dialogue ne devrait-il pas toujours primer sur la répression dans un litige foncier? [..]L'Etat de Madagascar devrait racheter ces hypothèques à leurs justes valeurs actuelles et effectuer une réforme agraire en bonne et due forme qui tient compte des facteurs historiques et non juste des archives héritées de la colonization”

Shouldn’t a dialog always be attempted before one moves on to aggressive repression when it comes to real estate dispute? […] The State of Madagascar should purchase back all the mortgage at their current values and implement an agricultural reform that takes into account historical factors and not just real estate archives inherited from the colonization period.

Last August, Global Voices published a two-part introduction to Morocco's Peace Corps bloggers, also a lively and vibrant group. As Peace Corps is a two-year assignment, several volunteers have left and many more have started their service; therefore, I've caught up with both new and old to see what they're up to now.

Connie in Morocco, who is about to complete her service, is reflecting on her time in Morocco:

People ask if I think I will have changed from this experience. I hope one thing that doesn't change is how much less I will use non-renewable resources. It's amazing how one can get by without paper towels or napkins…even less TP! I recall how Mom used to save string on a ball and other means of conserving things. Maybe we are progressive if we regress to our childhood ways? I believe I will be less materialistic than before; not totally, but less. And I know that I will need to continue practicing tolerance…in reverse from here!

27MonthsWithoutBaseball reflects on the difficulty of leaving Morocco behind (literally!):

Will I be able to let more go and live more clutter-free? I hope so! In the meantime, though, I keep buying Moroccan things for my imaginary next home. As I buy things, I do try to picture how they will fit in the imaginary home. Or at least fit into this home… Joy said that when she was in Tunisia doing research she knew a lot of Peace Corps Volunteers and when they got their things home they didn’t fit. I’ll be starting more or less from scratch, so I can build around things. And what doesn’t fit will make a lovely gift!

Cory of 32n5w, who finished his service and left Morocco in the fall, recently remarked in his blog:

whenever people ask what peace corps was like, from now on, i'm going to say it was kind of like this. but not in english. and with a lot more walking.

Jenny in Morocco is also reflective, focusing on the things she's learned so far:

If there's one thing I have learned during my time in the Peace Corps, it is that there are contradictions everywhere, but this is a part of life. Once you accept these contradictions, you can see and appreciate the human experience of life. Life can be so varied and diverse on earth and I am thankful I was given this opportunity to open my eyes to the rich diversity of life.

Finally, Duncan Goes to Morocco, a new PCV just beginning his service, remarks upon the first few weeks:

It’s been two weeks since I swore in and came to live in my site. People here are getting used to me being around and ask where I was if I’m missing for a day. I spend a good amount of my time just hanging out in the center of town where people sit around when there’s nothing to do. My language is improving, but I still don’t understand a lot of what is going on, especially when people are talking to one another, and not to me. Fortunately, I found a tutor in Tounfite (my souq, or market town). I’ll be going in there once or twice a week to get tutored, check email and mail, and hang out. There are two other volunteers there, a married couple, and they are generous to me and I like them a lot, which is fortunate since I’ll be spending a lot of the next year (when they finish PC) with them.
I have been trying to meet people in other douars (communities) as well. Basically what I do is hike along the road for a while until I come to a clump of houses. Then I walk around, greeting everyone I see, hoping to get invited in for tea or food. I kind of feel like a charity case, but my method hasn’t failed me yet. I’m meeting people and establishing contacts in other communities. I feel like this work is especially important because these other douars that I’m visiting are poorer and have greater need than my douar, which is a little more centrally located. One of the people that I met said to me, “help us, we are very poor.” It’s hard to hear that because there are no big changes with Peace Corps. I think the most important and effective thing I can communicate to the people in my commune is “wash your hands after you use the bathroom and before you eat.” But that’s not really what a guy who eats bread for three meals a day wants to hear when he asks for help.