Global Voices » Arts & Culture

Southeast Asia: Restoring Historic Towns

Mong Palatino — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 02:42:50 +0000

Dr. Apiwat Ratanawaraha writes about several projects in Southeast Asia that seek to restore historic towns and promote cultural tourism. Some of the ongoing projects are located in Singapore’s Boat Quay, Malaysia’s Georgetown, and Thailand’s Chiang Mai

Puerto Rico: Life One Photo a Day

Firuzeh Shokooh Valle — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 19:47:27 +0000

The artist and producer Jose Marti (@Jose_Marti) has shot one picture a day for the past two years as part of his online project “Fotos de Hoy” (Photos of Today).

He explains:

Dentro de los temas que publico en su mayoría son fotos casuales donde la foto me encuentra a mí en vez de yo buscarla y bien pueden ser fotos de la ciudad, de mi casa o donde quiera que me encuentre por que en realidad lo importante es expresar algo sobre el momento, donde estoy, que estoy haciendo, etc. Ese es el elemento que me ha llevado ha constantemente publicar en Fotos de Hoy, el poder visualmente resumir semanas y diversas experiencias en un compilado accesible por internet.

They are mostly casual photos, where the photograph finds me instead of me looking for the photograph, and they may well be pictures of the city, my home or wherever it finds me because what is really important is to express something about the moment, where I am, what I'm doing, etc.. That is the element that has led me to constantly publish in “Photos of Today,” to be able to visually summarize weeks and diverse experiences that are accessible online.

I have selected some of his pictures of Old San Juan, the colonial city of the capital of San Juan, Puerto Rico (all photos are republished with his permission). You can follow his visual life daily at Fotos de Hoy.

City with a View.

San José Church.

The window.

Beach El Escambrón.

Fort El Morro.

Bar El Batey.

Luna Street.

Trinidad & Tobago: Seeing Siparia

Janine Mendes-Franco — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 22:24:12 +0000

MEP Publishers visits Siparia, a vibrant community that has had a fascinating part to play in the island's history.

Trinidad & Tobago: Cocoyea Craftiness

Janine Mendes-Franco — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 22:05:35 +0000

The cocoyea (pronounced Ko-ki-ye) is “the mid rib of the coconut leaf that is stripped with a knife” and has many uses, from bird-catching to kite-flying; in this post, Simply Trini Cooking explains how to make a broom out of it, which he calls “an integral part of our culture.”

Mexico, USA: Journalist and Author Sam Quinones Starts Blogging

Silvia Viñas — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 14:18:42 +0000

Author and journalist Sam Quinones has started a blog about “Los Angeles, Mexico, migrants, culture, drugs, neighborhoods, border, and good storytelling.” You can also follow him on Twitter: @samquinones7.

Argentina: Musician Luis Alberto Spinetta Dies

Betsy Galbreath — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 11:48:15 +0000

Luis Alberto Spinetta, “El Flaco“, one of the most influential rock musicians in Argentina, died on February 8, 2012, as a result of illness; Spinetta had lung cancer, diagnosed in July, 2011. His condition became public when, towards the end of the year, he addressed his fans with an emotional letter [es] that began like this:

Buenos Aires. Diciembre 23, 2011. Mi nombre es Luis Alberto Spinetta. Tengo 61 años y soy músico. Desde el mes de julio sé que tengo cáncer de pulmón. Estoy muy cuidado por una familia amorosa, por los amigos del alma, y por los mejores médicos que tenemos en el país. Ante el aluvión de información inexacta, quiero aclarar públicamente las condiciones de mi estado de salud. Me encuentro muy bien, en pleno tratamiento hacia una curación definitiva. […]

Buenos Aires. December 23, 2011. My name is Luis Alberto Spinetta. I am 61 years old and I am a musician. I have known since July that I have lung cancer. I am very well cared for by a loving family, by my closest friends, and by the best doctors in our country. Given the barrage of inaccurate information, I want to publicly clarify the state of my health. I feel very well, in full-on treatment towards a definitive cure. […]

Luis Alberto Spinetta, by Facundo M. Nívolo. Image licensed by Creative Commons license Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

In January, Spinetta was admitted to the Cemic Institute to undergo surgery for intestinal perforation due to diverticulitis, a diagnosis unrelated to his cancer. On January 30, after 25 days in hospital, he was discharged and was able to go home.

On February 8, just over a week later, “El Flaco” died at home, surrounded by his children: Dante, Catarina, Valentino and Vera, according to [es] the Argentine newspaper Telám. And it was his children themselves who started a wave [es] of messages full of melancholy, sadness and pain, expressed on the social network Twitter. [translator's note: all Twitter links are in Spanish]

Dante (@dantespinetta), in a brief but very profound tweet said [es]:

Te amo por siempre Papá.

I love you forever, Dad.

While Valentino (@Leeva_) posted [es] on his account:

T amo papá, siempre vas a estar en mi alma y mi corazón.

I love you Dad, you will always be in my soul and my heart.

Quoting a line from her father, Catarina (@Cataspinetta) also tweeted [es]:

‘No habrá un destino incierto, ni habrá distancia que pueda alejarme de ti…' Amor eterno a mi Padre♥

‘There will be no uncertain fate, nor any distance that will take me away from you…' Eternal love to my father ♥

Reactions on social networks

The hashtag #chauflaco [goodbye Flaco] quickly became a trending topic, gathering the tweets of those users wanting to express their emotions with the news of the death of a musician with one of the longest careers in Argentine rock:

User Paula Castro (@_paucastro) reflected:

La tristeza de decir #chauflaco .. Gracias x tanta poesia!

The sadness of saying #chauflaco… thank you for so much poetry!

Technology writer Federico Wiemeyer (@wiemeyer) recalled a verse by Spinetta:

“Si no canto lo que siento me voy a morir por dentro” #ChauFlaco

“If I don't sing what I feel I'm going to die inside” #ChauFlaco

Pablo Ferreyra (@PabloRFerreyra) mourned:

Murió el mejor músico argentino. El que más voy a extrañar. Barro tal vez, flaco. #ChauFlaco

The best Argentine musician has died. The one I will miss most. Barro tal vez, flaco [line from a Spinetta song meaning “Mud, perhaps, Flaco.”]. #ChauFlaco

User Bruno Vaccotti (@peztresojos) quoted Spinetta to explain popular sentiment:

“La gente está incluida en el alma. Yo soy toda la gente” #elflaco dixit. Por eso hoy, todos morimos un poco. #chauflaco

“People are part of your soul. I am all people.” So said #elflaco. So today, we all have died a little. #chauflaco

Paula Zuviría (@pau_apichela) related an anecdote:

Mama entra llorando a mi cuarto y me dice: Porque no me contaste que murió Spinetta ? #chauflaco

Mom comes crying to my room and says: Why didn't you tell me Spinetta died? # chauflaco

User Cecilia Ann Tosh (@_CeciliaAnn) reflected:

Por qué se puede estar acongojado por la muerte de alguien que no conociste? Porque su obra enriqueció tu ser. #ChauFlaco

How can you be so distressed by the death of someone you didn't know? Because his work enriched your soul. #ChauFlaco

Messages from Twitter netizens are flowing [es] in at a rate that probably won't slow down in the coming days or weeks, which is understandable since Luis Alberto Spinetta is considered by many the greatest exponent of music in Argentina. And while such a statement is completely subjective, it is undeniable that his work has greatly influenced the work of many musicians, and his legacy will always be part of the heart of Argentina and Latin American culture.

“And this is always true, whether you are staying or you are going.”

Malaysia: Organization Advocates for Human Rights Through Video

Juliana Rincón Parra — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 05:26:24 +0000

An interview in EngageMedia showcases KOMAS, an organization in Malaysia that since 1993 has been using video production as a tool to educate and advocate for human rights.

Anna Har is the director of Pusat KOMAS (Pusat Komunikasi Masyarakat) Community Communication Centre, and she explains the role video has in their outreach programs where they produce resource materials, facilitate processes, organize communities and give media training on the topics of non-discrimination, citizenship and voter education, as well as grassroots advocacy:

KOMAS is not a video production house nor do we specialise in producing films; rather, we see it as part of the strategic and creative use of media tools for the advocacy of human rights.

Freedom Film Fest by KOMAS

Between Love and Race is a short film focusing on racial discrimination, produced by KOMAS on 2006. In it, Angela and Rashid face backlash from friends and family because they've decided to date each other. Angela's parents object because they wanted her to date a Chinese boy,

Rashid's mother wishes he dated a nice Malaysian girl, as do Rashid's friends. Angela's friend Yati at least speaks Mandarin since she went to a Chinese school, so even among Yati's friends, Angela is singled out for not speaking her family's language.

Angela comes to discover that through labels, stereotypes, discrimination and expectations on race and love, what maters is how she and Rashid feel about each other.

In addition, KOMAS has also been running the human rights documentary festival FreedomFilmFest in Malaysia since 2003. The festival includes a documentary film competition where a first time film maker can pitch a proposal that they'll be able make into a documentary if they win, video workshops and film screenings; and it has become a platform for showcasing human rights documentaries that may not have enough commercial backing or space in mainstream media to get otherwise exposed. The 2012 FFF will be on the subject of Democracy, with the slogan of “Democracy – Who is the boss?”

The 2011 festival trailer gives us a perspective on the types of issues and topics the film festival promotes:

One of the 2011 winners of the documentary competition include Afiq Deen, who directed Huruf J, a short documentary on the hardships and discrimination faced by divorcees in Malaysia. A society that sets them apart for their condition, debt, poverty and a legal system which is unable to enforce fathers' financial obligations with their children are some of the hurdles these women have to face when trying to move on with their lives. The film includes some subtitles and audio in English.

With the online premiere of the documentary, the FreedomFilmFestival is asking you to view and review the documentary so they can add the opinions on their site.

Armenia: Eurovision Hopefuls

Onnik Krikorian — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 11:12:24 +0000

Unzipped: Gay Armenia posts the video and lyrics of a song by Armenian rock band Dorians. One of the three most likely contenders to enter this year's Eurovision Song Contest to be held in Baku, Azerbaijan, the blog says that the group is also his favorite to represent Armenia in the international music competition.

Trinidad & Tobago: Carnival Must-Haves

Janine Mendes-Franco — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 16:07:28 +0000

Travel blogger Rishi Sankar lists nine items every man should have for Trinidad Carnival.

Palestine: A Blogging Initiative for Jerusalem, the Praying City

Mohamed ElGohary — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 20:10:30 +0000

Palestinian bloggers joined hands to blog for their country, in a blogging initiative led by several Gaza bloggers under the theme: “For you, oh praying city, we blog.” In the following post, Abir Kopty, one of the prominent Palestinian bloggers, writes in Arabic about social media utilization in the Palestinian cause, and coordinating it with offline events on the ground.

She gives an introduction first:

انطلقت قبل أيام حملة “لأجلك يا مدينة الصلاة.. ندون” وهي حملة التدوين لأجل القدس التي بادرت إليها مدونات من غزة وانضم لها مدونون ومدونات فلسطينيون وعرب من جميع أنحاء العالم، سيقومون بالتدوين والتغريد على التويتر عن القدس حتى 31 كانون الثاني. هي ليست الحملة الأولى من نوعها التي يبادر لها فلسطينيون\ات في العالم الافتراضي. منذ اندلاع الثورات العربية وكثرة الحديث عن أهمية ودور الإعلام الاجتماعي، تشهد الساحة الفلسطينية تصاعدا كبيراً في استعمال الأدوات التي تتيحها وسائل التواصل الاجتماعي لإيصال رسالة الشعب الفلسطيني إلى العالم. مع العلم، أن في غزة بشكل خاص، كان استعمال هذه الأدوات قائماً وقوياً نظراً لحصار غزة والذي يحتم على الشباب إيجاد وسائل للتواصل مع العالم الخارجي من سجنهم.لقد شكلت وسائل التواصل الاجتماعي أداة هامة للتواصل بين الفلسطينيين في الوطن والمخيمات والشتات، رغم الحدود والحواجز والحصار. وأصبح التواصل بينهم شبه يومي، إذ يتحدث اللاجئ مع ابنة رام الله، والفلسطينية في الداخل مع ابن غزة، والمقدسية مع الفلسطيني الأمريكي.

A few days ago a blogging initiative started under the theme:”For you, oh praying city, we blog.” It is a blogging campaign for Jerusalem, started by bloggers from Gaza. Others followed from Palestine and Arabs from all over the world. The campaign goal was blogging and tweeting about Jerusalem till the 31st of January. This is not the first online campaign of its kind initiated by Palestinians. Since the beginning of the Arab Spring there were a lot of discussions about the important role of social media. The Palestinian arena is witnessing a strong tendency to use social media tools to deliver the Palestinian people's message to the world. Keep in mind that in Gaza specifically, using these tools was crucial in the fight against the Gaza siege that forced youth to utilize everything available to communicate with the rest of the world.

Social media tools are a very important media between Palestinians at home, in the refugee camps as well as in Palestinians in diaspora against all the boundaries, barriers and sieges. Communication has become nearly daily. A camp resident can communicate with someone in Ramallah, with a Gazan, and even between someone from Jerusalem and a American Palestinian.

Then she describes the utilization of social media among Palestinians:

مثلاً، أصدر المدونون الفلسطينيون في الفترة الأخيرة عدة بيانات مشتركة، قام بنشرها كل مدون فلسطيني يوافق عليها على مدونته الخاصة، منها البيان الرافض لإعلان الإخوان المسلمين في مصر تنظيم جمعة “إنقاذ الأقصى” في أحد أيام الجمعة ملتفين على إعلانها من قبل ثوار التحرير جمعة لإسقاط حكم العسكر، وذلك في ظل القمع الوحشي الذي تعرضوا له من قبل الجيش. كتب المدونون في بيانهم “نحن، مجموعة من الشباب الفلسطيني، نرفض أن يتم الزج بالأقصى وبفلسطين لضرب الثورة المصرية العظيمة”، وختموا بيانهم ب “فلسطين أقوى بمصر حرة وكريمة”. وقد لاقى هذا البيان رواجا كبيرا وتناقلته العديد من وسائل الإعلام المصرية. كما وأصدر المدونون بياناً متضامناً مع المدونة السورية المعروفة رزان الغزاوي والتي تشهد لها مواقفها في التضامن مع فلسطين وقضيتها العادلة. وقد طالب البيان بإطلاق سراح الغزاوي وكافة معتقلي الثورة السورية.وفي الذكرى الرابعة والعشرين للانتفاضة الأولى أطلق المدونون الفلسطينيون دعوة عبر مدوناتهم لكافة المدونين الفلسطينيين بتخصيص مدوناتهم يوم التاسع من كانون الأول لنشر قصص أو مقابلات مع شخصيات عايشت الانتفاضة الأولى أو نشر مقالات أو صور وأشرطة ذات صلة. وأكد المدونون والمدونات في بيانهم بأن هذه الذكرى تشكل مناسبة لتأكيد “إيماننا بالمقاومة الفلسطينية الشعبية كجزء أساسي في نضالنا من أجل الحرية وتحصيل حقوق الشعب الفلسطيني، غير القابلة للتصرف أو المساومة أو التفريط، وبمواصلة النضال حتى تحقيق الحرية والعودة.”كما وقام الناشطون في العالم الافتراضي بحملات مختلفة ترَكَّزت في فترة معينة، هدفت إلى رفع الوعي والمعرفة لدى المتابعين حول ممارسات الاحتلال. خلال أيام إضراب الاسرى عن الطعام نشط الشباب على شبكات الفيسبوك والمدونات والتويتر في دعمهم للإضراب، وأطلقوا دعوة عامة للإضراب عن الطعام يوما واحداً تضامنا ودعما لإضراب الاسرى، وطلب من كل مضرب أن يعلن هذا في شبكات التواصل “أسمي كذا وكذا، يوم 12.10.11 أنا مضرب\ة عن الطعام دعماً للأسرى الفلسطينيين”. وبالفعل قام الآلاف من العرب والأجانب بالاستجابة لهذه الدعوة. وبعد استشهاد مصطفى التميمي خلال المظاهرة الأسبوعية في قرية النبي صالح، بعدما أطلق جندي إسرائيلي قنبلة غاز مسيل للدموع على وجهه عن بعد أمتار قليلة، قام الناشطون بحملة على شبكات التواصل حيث كتبوا النصوص في المدونات، وقاموا بحملة مركزة على التويتر كان وسمها #Israelkills، لإلقاء الضوء على جرائم الاحتلال بحق الفلسطينيين.يرى الكثير من هؤلاء الشباب أن النشاط في العالم الافتراضي ليس بديلا عن النشاط على الأرض، بل مكملا له، حيث يشارك البعض في المقاومة الشعبية في القرى الفلسطينية مثل النبي صالح والولجة والخليل وغيرها. ويقوم البعض بتنظيم أيام تطوعية، ويبادر لمسيرات ونشاطات مختلفة.

For example, recently, Palestinian bloggers announced several joint statements, shared by every approving Palestinian in their own blog. One of them is about refusing the Muslim Brotherhood announcement to organize the “Saving Aqsa” Friday, while backing the Tahrir revolutionaries [in Egypt] to name it as a Friday to take down the military rule, after the brutal repression that they faced at the hands of the army. The bloggers wrote in their statement: “We, a group of Palestinian youth, refuse to have Aqsa and Palestine's names used against the great Egyptian revolution.” They ended the statement saying: “Palestine is stronger with Egypt freedom and nobility.” The statement became very popular between bloggers and was also picked up by Egyptian media. They also issued a statement in solidarity with the Syrian blogger Razan Ghazzawi and all the Syrian revolution detainees.

To mark the 24th anniversary of the first Intifada, bloggers launched a campaign inviting all Palestinian bloggers to dedicate a post in the 19th of January about stories or interviews with people who witnessed the first Intifada, or publishing related articles, photos or videos. The bloggers assured in their statement that the Intifada memory is a suitable moment to reassure “our faith in the Palestinian resistance as a basic part of our struggle for freedom and to earn the non-negotiable rights of the Palestinian people, and to continue struggling till the realization of freedom and the right of return.”

Many online activists organized campaigns that are focusing on a certain period, aiming at raising awareness and knowledge to those who follow the occupation practices. During the detainees' hunger strike, young activists shared their solidarity on blogs, Facebook and Twitter. They also announced a one-day hunger strike in their support. Everyone participating was asked to announce that on social networks in the following format: “My name is …., today 12.10.11 I'm on hunger strike supporting the Palestinian detainees.” Following that, many Arabs and foreigners supported the idea and joined in. After the martyrdom of Mostafa ElTamimi during the weekly demonstration in ElNaby Saleh village, after an Israeli soldier shot a tear gas bomb in his face from just a few meters, social media activists organized a campaign where they blogged and tweeted under the hashtag #Israelkills to spotlight occupation crimes against Palestinians.

A lot from those youth see that activism online is not a substitute of activism offline, but compliments it since some are involved in civil resistance in the Palestinian villages like Al-Walaja, Al-Khalil, and others. Some people also arrange volunteering days for marches and different activities.

Kopty then talks about coordination between the online and offline worlds:

كما أن حماس الشباب على هذه الشبكات لا يقل عن حماس الشباب على الأرض، فقد شهد العام الأخير نشاطات وتحركات شبابية فلسطينية تعيد الاعتبار للمقاومة الشعبية السلمية، بطرق مبدعة ومختلفة عما عهدنا سابقاً، فنرى نشاط أمواج الحرية وركّاب الحرية، نرى مسيرة السيارات التي أرادت السير في شوارع المستوطنات احتجاجا على نظام الأبارتهايد وقام جيش الاحتلال بمنعها، وكذلك حملة “أهلا وسهلا في فلسطين” يعلن من خلالها القادمون عبر مطار بن غوريون بأنهم قادمون إلى فلسطين، ومسيرات العودة في ذكرى النكبة والنكسة وأيام تطوعية ونشاطات فن الشوارع، فمنذ أسبوعين لوحظ نشاط مميز لمجموعة مجهولة من الناشطين يقومون بكتابة الشعارات السياسية على جدران في القدس، وخاصة في الأحياء التي تم تهويدها بالكامل منذ 48. وقد قالت هذه المجموعة في بيانها بأن “هذه رسالتنا لمحتلينا ولأبناء شعبنا في فلسطين كاملة وفي الشتات لنقول إننا هنا وإن صوتنا ما زال هدّارا وبأننا سنستمر في المقاومة.”إن هذه النشاطات تساهم في بعث فلسطين من جديد. فالعديد منها يصوَّر وينقَل لحظة بلحظة إلى العالم، إما من خلال تقنية البث المباشر أو من خلال التدوين أو من خلال الفيسبوك والتويتر وغيرها. وفي هذه المعركة يجد الاحتلال نفسه خاسراً، فمن يتابع شبكات التواصل الاجتماعي يرى بأن ماكينة الدعاية الإسرائيلية لا زالت غير قادرة على محاصرة، أو محاربة “جنود” الإعلام الاجتماعي المناصرين للقضية الفلسطينية.يساهم النشاط الفلسطيني على شبكات التواصل الاجتماعي من خلال إطلاع العالم حول ممارسات إسرائيل ضد الشعب الفلسطيني، في تعزيز الحملة الدولية لمقاطعة إسرائيل، كابوسها الأكبر. هذا بالإضافة إلى أن التواصل اليومي بين الفلسطينيين في كافة أماكن تواجدهم، يساهم في توحيد بعض الجهود على هذه الشبكات والتنسيق لحملات وأنشطة مشتركة على الأرض.

Considering the fact the youth enthusiasm online is no less than their colleagues offline, the past year witnessed many events and youth initiatives raising the peaceful resistance value. All this was done in ways which were creative and different than before. So we see the freedom waves and freedom riders, we see a march of cars that wanted to drive through the settlement streets protesting the apartheid regime. The march was stopped by the occupation army. Not to mention the “Welcome in Palestine” campaign in Ben Gurion Airport telling visitors they have reached Palestine. They also organized the return marches commemorating the Nakba and the Six-Day War, along with volunteering days and street art activities. Two weeks ago, some special activity for an anonymous group was noticed, writing political slogans on Jerusalem walls, especially in Jewish dominated neighborhoods since 1948. This group mentioned in their statement that “This is our message to our occupiers and to our people in Palestine and in diaspora, we are telling them that we are here, our voice is still loud and we will continue to resist.”

These activities contribute to reviving Palestine. Many are engaged in photographing what is happening in real time, by live steaming or live blogging or via Facebook and Twitter, etc. This way the occupation is in a losing battle. Those who follow social networks know that the Israeli propaganda is not yet able to neutralize or fight the social media “army” who support the Palestinian cause.

Palestinian social media activity contributes to telling the world the Israeli practices against the Palestinian people, thus supporting BDS as well as the daily communication between Palestinians wherever they are, integrating their efforts on their networks and coordinating their campaigns and joint activities offline.

And finally, she concludes:

هؤلاء الشباب لا يرضون بالفتات ولا يرضون بحالة الإحباط التي تصيب شعبهم. يبدعون كل يوم فكرة جديدة ومن الصعب كسر همتهم. هؤلاء يؤكدون أن المقاومة ليست بالسلاح فقط، وأن إسرائيل فشلت في مخطط إحباطهم.

These youth only agree to have big goals achieved, and they are not content with the frustration their people suffer from. Everyday they come up with a new idea and it is very difficult to break them. These youth prove edaily that resistance is not only via weapons, and that Israel didn't succeed in frustrating them.

Jamaica, St. Vincent: Happy Earth Day, Mr. Marley

Janine Mendes-Franco — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 19:52:05 +0000

Geoffrey Philp and Abeni both pay tribute to the late reggae icon Bob Marley on his birthday.

Cuba: Bloggers on SOPA, Culture and the Democratization of Knowledge

Ellery Roberts Biddle — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 15:08:46 +0000

Since mid-January 2012, the proposed anti-piracy legislation in the United States Congress known as SOPA/PIPA has drawn reactions from a broad range of cultural and political perspectives around the world.

Global Voices contributors have given readers a glimpse of responses from open Internet advocates throughout Europe, Asia, and the Americas (here, here and here). Open Internet advocates in the U.S. scored a major victory in January when members of Congress agreed to withdraw the bills from consideration.

Teatro Karl Marx, by Edgar Rubio. CC: BY-NC-ND.

In Cuba, where very few citizens use the Internet regularly, and where the concept of a site like Wikipedia or BitTorrent remains foreign to most people, bloggers brought a unique perspective to the discussion. Unlike many SOPA/PIPA critics in the U.S. and around the globe, Cuban bloggers did not focus on the technical implications of the proposed laws. Both independent and state-affiliated Cuban bloggers saw SOPA/PIPA not merely as legal measures that would have stifled online innovation and openness, but also as a powerful statement about how legislators (and the music and film industries) value culture and creativity as part of U.S. society.

Karel Pérez Alejo, writing for Cubadebate [es] and Trabajadores [es], framed the issue as a polemic dividing “society” or “the 99%” and the laws' strongest supporters:

Si bien algunos han analizado el fenómeno como la confrontación entre Hollywood y Silicon Valley, los millones de reclamos de los usuarios hablan de una guerra más profunda, entre una sociedad que busca manejar una información sin restricciones y un grupo de intereses que intentan seguir un obsoleto modelo de propiedad.

While some have analyzed the phenomenon as a confrontation between Hollywood and Silicon Valley, millions of users speak to a more profound war, between a society that seeks to manage information without restrictions and a group of interests that are attempting to follow an obsolete model of property.

Voces Cubanas blogger Regina Coyula drew a connection between SOPA/PIPA and the FBI’s partial shutdown of file locker site MegaUpload (Spanish version here). Coyula argued that such shutdowns, which would likely have increased if the legislation passed, limit access to knowledge and culture for people who otherwise can’t afford it:

[US authorities], with allegations of piracy, encroached [upon] the alleged right of millions of citizens of the global village to download content that they know they should not — or cannot — pay for.

On La Pupila Insome [es], Iroel Sánchez compared the paradigm of intellectual property rights in the U.S. to the Cuban model, remarking on the ways in which Cuba’s education and cultural systems have attempted to “democratize” knowledge, making it easily accessible for all:

Cuba, con una formación masiva de profesionales universitarios….no hubiera podido desarrollar [su] capital humano sin una concepción democratizadora y no lucrativa del conocimiento…

Cuba, with its massive population of professionals in academia….could not have developed [its] human capital without a democratic and not profit-oriented conceptualization of knowledge…

Since they were introduced in the 1960s, the revolutionary government’s cultural policies have generated bitter controversies over the ideological role of artists in Cuban society. But they also have yielded a strong system of support for artists and cultural institutions. In Cuba, one can attend the national ballet for just a few pesos more than it costs to buy a movie ticket. Access to culture, knowledge, and education is meant to be open to all citizens.

However, when it comes to culture and knowledge that is created and exchanged online, most Cubans are far worse off than any U.S. citizen. For those who do not occupy high-level positions in government, scientific research, or academia, Internet access remains limited.

The Internet has become a contested space where government authorities and the official press have denounced the United States’ “cyberwar” on Cuba; the seemingly limitless landscape of culture and knowledge online is rarely mentioned in the public sphere. Cuban authorities have elected to limit Internet use, presumably in an effort to dampen the potential societal effects of independent online political speech and economic activity.

Similar to Sánchez, Coyula alluded to the uniquely politicized nature of Cuba’s cultural policies, but cast a critical gaze on this “democratized” system for knowledge exchange. In closing, Coyula promoted the notion of an equilibrium, in which the interests of the market and the public good could be harmonized with one another:

It’s true that there is a symbiotic relationship between art and the marketing that puts it in the hands of the consumers. But to see art as a commodity has resulted in the promotion of products of dubious quality at the expense of other values. […] At some point, a balance must be achieved between both interests.

Mozambique: All Aboard the Musical Marrabenta Train!

Janet Gunter — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 09:00:04 +0000

After a season of elections and cyclones in Mozambique, the country was owed some entertainment and good news. One of the highlights of Mozambique's cultural calendar, the Marrabenta Festival (celebrating its fifth year), came just in time.

The Festival consists of musical events in the capital Maputo, with the highlight being an acoustic musical train trip to Marracuene. The train picks up music fans for free along the way, taking them to the Festival's finale, a lively outdoor concert that lasts until dawn.

In Marracuene last year, photo courtesy of D J Clark (www.djclark.com)

The train trip this year was documented by YouTube user Charline Van Deth:

Website MozambiqueTV shared a clip from private television station STV on the platform of Maputo's historic train station before the train departed. The clip features an interview with a smiling producer of the Festival, Lito, with Logaritmo Productions:

Marrabenta is a genre of music closely linked to African urban life and modernity, making the train trip a delightful match. Marrabenta arose in the south in the 1930s and 1940s, the word coming from the verb rebentar (to break) which is a way people describe dancing. One urban theory is that the word originally described cheap guitar strings breaking with the energetic playing of musicians.

The genre was a mix of traditional Mozambican rhythms and new guitar arrangements inspired by that period's global explosion of popular music fuelled by radio. Pioneering artists such as Dilon Djindji, Fany Mpfumo, and Wazimbo (and the Orchestra Marrabenta Star) made an ever-lasting mark on Mozambican music.

Guitar is a key feature of Marrabenta, photo courtesy of D J Clark (www.djclark.com)

Ever since its beginnings in colonial Lourenço Marques (now Maputo), writes nostalgic website Xirico [pt]:

A música é um dos atributos culturais mais marcantes do povo moçambicano. O primeiro acorde provoca o primeiro movimento que ninguém ensinou. Depois não há força para resistir ao chicuembo da marrabenta. O requebro sincopado das ancas, uma mão na nuca outra atrás das costas, movimentos sensuais…

The music is one of the most distinguishing cultural features of the Mozambican people. The first chord provokes the first movement that nobody taught. Then, nobody can resist the chicuembo [a kind of invocation to the ancestors] of marrabenta. The syncopated ‘breaking' by the hips, one hand of the nape of the neck, the other behind the back, sensual movements…

Performers on the mainstage last year, photo courtesy of D J Clark (www.djclark.com)

Photographer DJ Clark captured the essence of the festival last year in a stunning photo album. This video from the Marrabenta Festival in 2010 by YouTube user TheMarrabenta shows how the Festival is living proof of the power of marrabenta to enchant generation after generation:

The Festival is a breath of fresh air in Mozambique and crucial to maintaining roots music, as critics such as Fortunato of the Matapa blog pull no punches in relation to contemporary music

Local music does get its share of airplay here, but the thing, is, most of the current Mozambican (popular) music is nowhere near as interesting as the echos from its past. On Radio Maputo, you can hear a lot of local classics from the 70ies: they sound totally amazing, a diverse and experimental blend of tradition with pop influences. But nowadays about half of the musicians seem busy vocalizing the fact that Mozambican musicians need to find their own style. The other half seems more than happy selling whatever suits the mobile phone operators or the governing party.

In clear contrast to this kind of music were the headliners this year, the South African group the Mahotella Queens, celebrating their thirtieth anniversary. They just reinforced the links between popular South African music and Mozambican music, which have been intermingling since well before the railroads linked Johannesburg with Mozambique's then capital Lourenço Marques. Language groups transcends colonial borders, and the musical languages of neighboring South Africa and southern Mozambique have a great deal in common.

This year, @Verdade newspaper reported that more and more foreigners take time out and travel to Mozambique for this unique musical moment. But the Festival has an economic impact in Marracuene irrespective of foreign visitors, with informal bars and food stalls set up to sell palm wine, grilled chicken and fried fish, where visitors from Maputo infuse cash into the town's economy.

Azerbaijan: Qubanin Ag Almasi and Eurovision

Onnik Krikorian — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 05:58:26 +0000

Gultekin Garadaghly posts a rendition of Qubanin Ag Almasi, an Azerbaijani folk song. The YouTube channel of the young musical video blogger from Baku also features a cover of Drip Drop, her country's 2010 entry in the Eurovision Song Contest, as well as last year's winning Running Scared. Azerbaijan host the international music competition in May.

What Makes Vietnamese Coffee Unique?

Mong Palatino — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 22:38:30 +0000

Nathan Beyerlein writes about the coffee culture in Vietnam and learns the difference between Vietnamese coffee from its Western counterparts.