Although the official media keeps appealing for national and ethnic solidarity, the pictures and coverage of the riot presented to most Chinese indicate it is nothing but a hate crime directed at Han Chinese by Uygur gangs. Furious at that scores of innocent people were killed, Chinese netizens are calling for a tough response to what they think is exactly a terrorist attack.

Kukumusic told what he heared from his friend in Urumqi. In his eyes, he saw no so-called ‘peaceful protest' by Uygurs but only brutal butchers:

早上起来终于联系到了一个在乌市的哥们儿，很高兴他还活着（不是开玩笑），后来说到了乌市的现况，他跟我说了点那边动乱的细节，和现在网上论坛里报道的有些不同，一起说出来吧。
维族人在大街上见到汉族人就上去割喉，分成7、8人一组，杀了汉人后，5秒钟就散开，走在路上，常看见躺着很多具尸体。
暴乱的维族人都是生活在贫困线下的维族，据说被境外收买后，实施暴动行为。有一些维族人已经到了丧心病狂的地步，有直接把人从天桥上往下扔，更狠的是有些维族普通老百姓也受到牵连，也被他们错打。

In EastSouthWestNorth.com, a number of witness accounts were translated into English, along with bloody pictures. The people injured, judged from their appreance, are most Han Chinese.

The brutal killings obviously provoked many netizens. Therefore, on the internet the call for a tough strike-back is prevailing. Some even complained the government is too soft.
lgf5156 (YY无罪) said:

我刚才和在乌鲁木齐工作的弟弟通了电话，感觉乌市汉人对政府的所作所为非常不满
认为
1 政府没有很好的保护他们，不相信政府。恐怖分子杀人时，打砸抢时没有武警（这个可能是政府对事件估计不足），等汉族人上街游行时，又是直升机，又是武警，催泪瓦斯，政府指挥镇压汉族人。
2 单位里本来很荣恰的民族关系变得很紧张。只要看到屠杀的汉族人，永远不会对维族有好感了。这是一个非常严重的问题。也非常难以解决。

The harm by the riot to both Uygurs and Han Chinese in Xinjiang is destined to be far-reaching. No one would forget the battle-field-like, horrible killings happened in Urumqi.

A journalist noted down what he experienced after the interview of Uygur women protesting for their missing husbands and sons who are said to be arrested:

当记者结束採访赛马场维族妇女示威后，约过了20分钟，好不容易找到的士返回酒店，车子刚行驶约10分 钟途经大湾北路时，经验丰富的汉族的士司机感觉前面气氛不对，急忙停车说，不能再走这条路了。记者不解其意，问他「为什麽不走？」仅过了1分钟，就见前面 许多行人像避雨一样慌张跑过来，有人边跑边喊，「快跑呀，前面又有事了！」循声望去，只见眼前100米路面已被大批维族人封锁，随即传来玻璃破碎声。的士 司机见状急忙掉头，四周汽车纷纷转向，一时间交通秩序大乱。Mitbbs.com
记者从未经历如此紧张场面，只见路上行人朝同一个方向奔跑….车子至一个交叉路口刚要转弯，车后忽有女人拼命拍打车尾，急呼「帮帮忙，我跑不动了」，好心的司机停车让她上车，
一行人脱险后，记者反问司机﹕「刚才情景好像在伊拉克打仗，要这样紧张吗？」司机回答说，「你没经历过当时惨景，那些维族暴徒连妇女小孩都不放过，被他们撞到能有好结果吗？」

Many Han Chinese are grieved to see that, the effort to restore order in Urumqi is, again, was seen by some western media as ‘crackdown', and the riot as but ‘peaceful protest.'
空气稀薄 complaint:

其实，为了维护民族团结，防止仇恨加剧，中国媒体的报道已经非常“不客观”了，那些血淋淋,惨不忍睹的镜头只有在海外媒体和互联网论坛上才可以见到，无耻的德国媒体竟然说中国政府用宣传propaganda来煽动汉人对维族人的仇恨。
如果是警方武力镇压造成所谓的维族“和平抗议者”大量伤亡，图片呢？视频呢？截至此刻，有哪家外媒，有哪个境外疆独组织能提供哪怕一张（段）这种性质的图片和视频？

On Youtube. in response to a video titled 新疆万人抗议 呼吁国际关注 (Thousands protesting in Xinjiang, call for international attention), ahuich said

放你妈的狗屁！有计划的镇压！
维吾尔人屠杀了154人，重伤800人，是冲突，是示威。武警前 来维持秩序，就是有计划的镇压

Dugles commented:

如果政府机关枪扫射了。拿我做梦都偷着笑。可怜的中国政府，什么 事都不做也照样被人扣屎盆子。既然这样，为什么不痛痛快快的干呢 ！！！

On New York Times, a series of pictures showing the riot is also criticized as catering to stereotypes and distorting facts.
This picture by Nir Elias/Reuters, which shows a man lying on the bed with the caption ‘Uighurs injured at a hospital in the city during a media tour by the authorities on Monday.', is ridiculed by Chin:

是啊，这照片明明是里面的名字明明是汉人，到了注解的时候变成维族了

walala said:

构图的idea就是: 先拍军警, 再拍维族, 拍伤者/血之类, 也放个维族在照片里. 总之
要旨是暗示军警打维族.

Radio Free Asia is also criticized for mistakenly citing a picutre of Shishou incident for Xinjiang riot. What is interesting is that, Rebiya Kadeer, the woman alleged by CCP to be the head of the riot, showed exactly this picture in her interview to depict the situation in Urumqi. Relative information can been at the bottom of this page in EastSouthWestNorth.

The journalists' unscheduled confrontation with a large crowd of Uygurs women, who were wailing for their missing families arrested by authority, was also thought to be suspicious. The protesting women were featured by several influential western newspapers.

The journalist of Wenhui Newspaper wrote about what happened at the time:

在成功吸引众多记者的注意后，这些维族妇女又分成几群，对记者、特别是外国记者，声泪俱下地用维语哭喊。她们当中，每几个人裡便会有一名懂汉语的维族妇女负责用中文作现场翻译，这让记者们很容易地明白其哭诉的主要内容是：她们的丈夫、儿子或父亲，昨晚被警察抓走了、打死了。但当被问及到底有多少人昨晚被抓或死亡时，这些维族妇女却又不断变换「口径」：最初向外媒记者说有100人，之后又改口说300人，最后又称有上千人。

记者注意到，在一些中国记者用普通话向这些妇女提问时，她们会用中文回答说听不懂，但面对外国记者的镜头，她们马上用流利的汉语大声哭诉，并不断有人晕倒。如果发现外国记者没注意到这些「细节」，还会有人主动上前，拉外国记者们去拍。

According to the words of one witness, as conveyed by a local blogger:

onlar 7 nefer olublar. yemek yedikleri yerde iki idmanci icheri girib Emini doymeye baslayib. Adnan Emine komek etmek isteyende onu da vurublar.
Idmancilar Shobede uzr isteyenden sonra onlari buraxiblar. Adnani ise 2 sutka saxlayacaqlarini ve sonra da xuliqanliga gore hebs vereceklerini deyibler. Emin de Adnanla birlikde qalacagini deyib. Onlari muveqqeti tecridxanasiya apariblar.

Thus, according to witnesses, both of the perpetrators had been detained, but were later released. Adnan and Emin then became the main suspects and denied the right to meet with their lawyer. They were transferred to a detention center handcuffed where they can be kept for up to 48 hours.

Emin has several injuries, as well as a cut on his leg, while Adnan's nose is broken, and they haven't received sufficient medical care.

A witness talking about the incident. For better viewing of the subtitles, visit video's original Youtube page.

Update: Today, on 9 July 2009, various representatives and activists of civil society, youth movements and political parties have held a ‘protest forum' in defense of detained youth activists. The protest forum was characterized with “overcrowded hall, furious speakers, plenty of civil society and party leaders, foreign press [and] no local TVs”.  The German Ambassador to Azerbaijan has talked about one irony that tomorrow Emin Milli, who is also a freelancing interpreter were scheduled to interprete for visiting German Human Rights Commissioner. Instead, tomorrow Emin and Adnan are going to stand trial for hooliganism. As Bart Woord from IFLY tweeted a previous similar hooliganism charge against a journalist in Azerbaijan resulted in 2.5 years of prison term.

Although photographing votes is a federal crime to prevent frauds as Mexican newspaper Milenio warned [es], "creative" ballots were shared publicly using the tags #votomx and #anulArte (wordplay on "null" and "art"). However, in Twitcaps -one of the services that helps Twitter to publish photos using microformats for links- is where the mosaic of null votes can be fully appreciated: ballots crossed out, Twitter's icon Failwhale, ballots in support to the satirical campaign of Dr. Mono as promoted by the Bunsen blog [es], several obscene drawings of penises and curse words, and even Shakespeare's allusions scribbled in crayons.

Priscilliana uses the famous Twitter icon Failwhale [es] in her ballot, suggesting what other users call “an Epic fail for the system”:

Image taken from http://twitpic.com/9el5l

Hernandezz voted in favor of Dr. Mono [es], a character from an online comic strip [es] that parodies Mexican political candidates:

Image taken from http://twitpic.com/9f5ww

 “Todos con Dr. Mono!!1 (O una prueba de que tengo pésimo pulso)”

Hgsantarriga goes for a straighter message in his ballot, with a figure that resembles a Zapatista rebel:

Image taken from http://twitpic.com/9ekc7

Aquí comienza la revolución.

These null ballots had media coverage in several national newspapers such as Milenio [es], El Universal [es] y Reforma, such as the following published by Jordi of a paper ballot that someone sent to him [es], whose author is unknown yet his message is quickly understood:

Image taken from http://twitpic.com/9ex9j

Elsewhere in the world, a nation is also preparing for the climax of the current political course: Indonesia's presidential election is here and happening.

Although the general election has not been a global controversy as in Iran, the future of Indonesia's governance is still under close monitoring by overseas governments, human rights organizations and international media establishments.

As the world's fourth largest country with 240 million people, Indonesia is still aiming high in reforming democracy, thus the documentation of this year's election will be considered as substantial for neighboring countries in Southeast Asia and the world as for Indonesians themselves.

As an example from the international front, Wall Street Journal set up an interactive graphics that display candidates' profiles, political timeline and the country's economic growth. Locally, Politikana.com is maintaining an editorial segment, Suara Mereka, reserved for election coverage along with updates through #politikana hashtag. Meanwhile, Kompasiana, journalist blog network established by Kompas Cyber Media, provides outlet for opinion articles by citizen journalists and also reporters from the news service.

Polikana.com: Suara Mereka

On the Twittersphere, likely sparked by media portals, the blogosphere and televised broadcasts, hundreds of tweets on the election are posted daily. Altogether the numbers have been stabilizing since legislative electoral period and predictably will continue to rise to its highest peak today, July 8th, as shown below:

Generated by BlogPulse, a service from Nielsen BuzzMetrics.

What is the role of Twitter in engaging the community in political campaigns and how? For voters, the microblogging platform generally facilitates these functions:

• As independent media among Indonesian citizens. In this respect, however, quantity is more signified than quality; from criticism to appraisal, the opinions are unfiltered as they are independent. It serves a paradox of purposes, aiding political education for the mass and catalyst for national cyber-activism, but also increasing the probability of black campaigning or counterproductive behaviors.

On Twitter, three primary hashtags become the virtual wall for gathering public opinion:

• #debatcapres. Twitter conversation on presidential debates broadcast nationwide during campaign period.
• #pilpres. Twitter conversation on presidential candidates and election.
• #indonesiaelection. Twitter conversation on General Election 2009. Mostly in English.

• As political campaign medium for the running presidential candidates. Each candidate's team have not yet reported or verified the effectiveness of campaigning through online social media however, except for allowing the seemingly direct communication between voters and candidates. It has been more of a “sandbox” for the newly introduced strategy, rather than the strategy itself, thus depending much on public initiative. The twittering candidates:

Megawati/Prabowo braces the iconic red for its Twitter page, actively communicating with fellow Twitter users.

Boediono, candidate for vice president representing Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono/Boediono chooses a more interpersonal approach, using “Tetap Semangat” as a personal jargon.

As for Jusuf Kalla for Jusuf Kalla/Wiranto, despite being a favorite for his on-screen performance, hasn't been showing activity on Twitter except for re-posting articles feed via AddToAny.

• As reporting medium for both citizen and mainstream journalism. Through online portals, mainstream media provides the required information source surrounding the Twittersphere. In return, Twitter users distribute and help shape the coverage by drawing the attention to certain subjects; it is considered an added bonus for social media-optimized news services.

On election day, a drastic rise of Twitter conversation is highly anticipated, and celebrated.  The call for celebration is not only for how social media technology enhances the nature of democracy, but also how citizens are getting themselves involved, regardless diversity of ethnics and religions, in the quest for better governance.

With the official results due on July 25th, what begs the question next is whether the political leaders will carry on improving sustainable, democratic and transparent interactivity in the long run, or be the fickle light that dims right after.

The free exchange of ideas, power of personal testimonies, and the quality of interventions during the meeting produced an enriching conversation that highlighted the need for a collective effort to report complete, factual information despite unfavorable conditions.

This meeting built on the foundation posed by the organizers and the participants of the first Malagasy Barcamp in October 2008.

One of the most striking aspects of the meeting was the substantial attendance despite recent reports from Reporters without Borders and the Committee to Protect Journalists that many journalists and bloggers received threats to themselves and their relatives during the crisis. Participants took a stand for freedom of expression, knowing well that their names and faces were now public knowledge and that members of former and current administrations were present in the room.

Audience at information meeting via ariniaina

The discussion had to happen because such authentic, powerful and apolitical testimonies were too important to not be told publicly and on record.

Here is an overview of the time line of the event:

An estimated 80 to 90 people came from 5 different regions and 4 different countries.

Alain Andriamiadravola, former journalist and now new media enthusiast, opened a meeting that turned out to be a free-flowing conversation with plenty of dissident opinions and unexpected authorities in the field of information and journalism.

I gave a quick overview of collaboration between traditional media and new media worldwide, its tremendous impact during crises and our hope that such a collaboration can come to fruition in Madagascar. A smaller meeting that was part of the American Cultural Center-driven “Friday talk” between journalists and bloggers allowed for an open friendly criticism of both sides and showed that there are room for partnership and mutual growth.

The poignant part of the meeting came when citizens from all over the country gave their account of how they used personal media to share what they saw during the crisis and how it cost them. Andry explained that his thirst for raw information drove him to be where trouble was brewing. Jentilisa explained that it was very odd that on black Monday (Jan 26th) people would announce that a building was burning even before it actually happened, hence suggesting that some events were probably planned and not just random acts of protests. Avylavitra told a story of how he feared for his life on March 28th when a soldier hold him at gun point and demanded his camera. Jaona from Fianaratsoa explained how his blog was mentioned at a public meeting as a threat to social order in Fianarantsoa and should be shut down. Many other bloggers/twitterers shared similar stories of major hardships while covering the crisis.

Thierry Andriamirado explained the increased relevance of online social networks in dispatching news about the crisis. Thierry was the first to exhaustively live-tweet the first tragic event of the crisis, “Black Monday,” and explained that he felt compelled to share the stories in real-time for a time-stamped digital record of the events.

Former minister of culture and communication Tsilavina Ralaindimby emphasized that such testimonies and citizens' willingness to report troubles are civic acts and must be protected at an institutional level.

Tsilavina Ralaindimby, former minister of communication, encouraging citizen journalism.

Barijaona Ramaholimiaso argued that his personal ethic as a blogger demanded that he reveal his true identity and pointed out that there is another form of pressure in Madagascar, the social peer pressure that prevents people from freely expressing their minds.

Christie Turner and Affick Gassard presented an initiative to promote the development of community radio in Madagascar. Some remote rural areas were aware of the development of the crisis thanks to a radio center that received online news feed through dial-up connection and broadcast the information to  rural communities.

Claire Ulrich gave a complete report on censorship online in the world building on examples from Iran and China, emphasized the importance of protecting first and foremost the well-being of journalists and bloggers. She also warned the audience to be mindful of the fine prints in the upcoming bill on the regulation of online communication in Madagascar. She also pointed out that both communities, traditional and new media, ought to come together to ensure that the memory of journalists killed during the crisis, like Ando and others, is never forgotten.

Finally, Harinjaka, Arinaina and Tahina presented the Foko Ushahidi platform, explaining how it came about and how SMS reports to a local phone number can be utilized for crisis reporting, but also other urgent humanitarian news and election monitoring.

Journalists also weighed in. Randy Donny, journalist and advocate of citizen journalism argued that there are no difference between journalism and citizen journalism in Madagascar. If anything he said, citizen journalist covered the crisis better because they were not under direct pressure from whichever regime ruled at the time.

The consensus at the end of the meeting was that the flow of information was/is severely affected bythe crisis. The information community came to a common agreement that we all needed to make a conscious effort to fight censorship and provide news free of government pressure. It was also an opportunity for people who followed the crisis through blogs to meet in real life the people behind the coverage.  For instance, Jacqueline, in the audience, was still beaming from chatting with blogger Jentilisa. She said

:” I read his blog everyday since January. It is just awesome to put a face and a personality on such remarkable people. “

Stay tuned for more on the current state of media in Madagascar.

Here are additional reports from the meeting:

Ariniana:
Tahina:
Avylavitra
Harinjaka:
sixthman:
photos
Madagascar matin ( print only version)