One of the initiatives is Sadaka Reut, and this is what they say about their program:

With the majority of Palestinian and Jewish youth physically segregated from one another (in separate communities and schools) and fears, racism and prejudice the result, we look to build alternative models for interaction between the two groups. The ‘Building a Culture of Peace’ program seeks to create a space in which both Palestinian and Jewish youth may feel equal, respected and recognized as individuals and as national collectives.

The members of their program have also been participating in the One Minute Video Project, where they learn about video activism during a one-week workshop. Here are some of the results, and you can see the rest by clicking through to their site:

Arab:

AM/FM:

Few Love Singing:

Another initiative is the Windows for Peace project, which started back in 1991 as an effort to produce a bilingual and bicultural magazine for youth as a way for them to connect and learn about the conflict, promote equality and empower youth. However, it hasn't been easy, as they explain on their site:

It is no simple task for Israeli and Palestinian youth to overcome the vast amount of misinformation and stereotypes they are taught about one another. The limited availability for interaction, a result of living in mostly segregated communities and exacerbated by the ongoing violent political conflict, perpetuates the historical fears, prejudice, and hatred that divide the two peoples. Windows is therefore dedicated to fostering large scale change in the way Israeli and Palestinian youth see themselves, “the other” and the conflict. Participants in Windows programs go through experiences that promote conflict transformation among both peoples, towards a peaceful reality with which both sides can live. We believe that a just and lasting peace must be based on democratic values, human rights, and mutual knowledge and acceptance of “the other.”

They are also working on a new initiative called Through the Lens, where 15 to 17 year old youth who “graduate” from the magazine continue developing skills to create short films, news pieces and other video productions to further “productive, peace-building dialogue and positive interaction”.

Here is a video where the participants of Windows speak about their experience in the group and how they have dealt with the challenges it represents to get out of their comfort zone and speak about difficult topics such as the conflict between Israel and Palestine:

As the children in the video state in so many words: they may have a hard time dealing with many of the opinions and perceptions other children express, but having the space to discuss issues in a safe and secure manner helps them understand the world they live in with a possibility to interact, learn and share with other children and youth and even change these perceptions.

The anime tells the story of Kenji, an awkward teenage math genius who finds himself involved in an epic battle in a virtual world where he must become a code breaker and battle avatars to win. His allies are the members of a traditional, old-style Japanese family.

Official trailer by KADOGAWA Anime

Summer Wars [en], created by the award winning director and screenwriter, was received very positively by the Japanese public and topped 1 million viewers in the first few days after its release this summer.

MoriGuru particularly appreciated the mix of different elements and the family values that the film conveys.

テーマ的には人と人のつながりは大切だよねという普遍的なものみたいですけど、大人数の親戚とか、今の時代ならではのネット上の仮想空間とかそういう要素の融合が独特の雰囲気を生み出していたと思います。
正直言うと、最初は「あれ…なんかイマイチかも？」と思って観てたんですが
徐々に勢いのある展開が続き、一気に盛り上がっていったので不安は吹き飛びました。
鑑賞後に心地よい気分で映画館を後にできる作品だったと思います。
大家族って騒がしそうだけどいいなあって思いました＾＾

Taka also praises the anime and describes elements that he recognized in his own life.

観ていて、僕自身といろいろと共通点もあって、思いのほか感情移入してしまいました。
例えば、こんな共通点が。
●僕の出身が長野県（サマーウォーズの舞台は上田、僕は伊那出身）
●毎年夏休みになると、長野の僕の実家に、東京から従兄弟たちが泊まりに来て、
　みんなで大騒ぎして遊んでいた
●高山家は女系家族
●僕の祖母が春に亡くなった
●サマーウォーズの栄おばあさんの誕生日（8月1日）が、僕の家族と同じ

The movie has received also some criticisms, however. The ‘teenager saves the world' scenario, in particular, has made some [ja] consider the story too light weight to claim a special place in the viewer`s heart.

Blogger at Kz Loghouse feels somehow unsatisfied at the sentimental scenes.

感動シーンが満載でとても心にグッとくるものがありました。
ありましたけど・・・何か足りないような・・。
例えて言うなら「涙は出るんだけど、鼻の奥からツーンとくる感じじゃない」って雰囲気。

Summer Wars was first released as a manga to test people`s reactions and kazahoshi ranks the written version.

< 対象>
中高生以上
< 五段階評価>
・面白さ　　 ★★★☆
・読み易さ　★★★★
・文章　　　 ★★★
・補完　　　 ★★★☆
・総合　　　 ★★★☆
部分的に違うところがちょくちょくあり、ラストに至っては全く別物でした。
結論を先に言えば、映画には到底敵わない。

Why is this movie so successful? Certainly, one should not forget that 176 celebrities of Chinese cinema were cast, which made the trailer almost seem like a Power Point presentation. The fact that such cast will be once and never again has generated a huge buzz. Kai Pan of CNReview commented:

Come now, it’s true, and it’s true because — believe it or not — many Chinese already expect the film to be propaganda. They’re keenly aware of the circumstances surrounding it and the bigger question for them is: How many stars can they spot and identify?

An even simpler reason many bloggers have pointed out is that, the movie is not at all bad! It is not the type of third-grade propaganda nonsense that Chinese viewers were brought up with in the past. In a defense against the likely dismissal of the movie as mere propaganda, Kai Pan wrote:

…I’m happy to report that while a few events were portrayed in a noticeably skewed manner, there’s thankfully few — if any — obvious to outrageous rewritings of history (excusing dramatic artistic license). In fact, the movie was far more gracious in their handling of Chiang Kai-Shek and the KMT Nationalists than I expected. (Of course, this was because I feared the worst from this movie, and now I probably owe the CCP responsible for this movie a measure of respect for, well, not living up to my fears.) Unlike so many lesser PRC produced films and television shows set in the Chinese Civil War era, Chiang Kai-Shek and the KMT were not grossly vilified here. They were portrayed, I think, rather respectfully as multi-faceted humans with their human greatness, human flaws, and human mistakes.

IMDB User Markringo, likely someone from outside China, also praised the movie from a cinematic point of view.

I think Han (the director) really did his best this time - Kaige Chan successfully portraits warlord Feng Yuxiang, Jet Li as a hero and Andy Lau as an air force commander, Jackie Chan as a journalist..oh my what a crew… The most unforgettable role that I think is Jiang Wen as Mao Renfeng. Actually it is a personalized history of Han himself - the story telling almost sticks with Zhang Guoli and Chen Kun from the start to the end. The Shanghai gang bloodbath is the most decent scene in this film, full of Han's style. If you've watch some movies he made you will realize that. This is definitely not, as some unknown media says, a government's propaganda film.

However, the same comment pointed out another key factor behind The Founding’s success: the guaranteed support from the state around the time of the People’s Republic of China’s 60^th anniversary:

Usually government doesn't invest money on commercial films, once it does, it should reflect the highest film making level of this country as least. John Woo made the movie in which five pigeons fly out, whilst Han made this one nearly 5,000 pigeons fly out with a gunshot, what a difference!

The presence of the state may be felt everywhere, even outside the sphere of physical resources or financial backing. For instance, all 176 movie stars are allegedly “volunteers”, which means, as if for a charitable movie, they all chose to receive no pay no matter how involved they were. This helped to trim the budget to no more than 10 million dollars, a stunning feat with Chinese characteristics that the whole world will try very difficult to emulate.

No surprise that despite sincere portrayal of history and aggressive marketing strategy, the movie always follows the Communist party line. Kai Pan commented:

As for the Mao Zedong and the Communists, well, they were portrayed decidedly without much weakness and fault, save maybe being far poorer than the KMT Nationalists. While Chiang Kai-Shek and the Nationalists are repeatedly shown being driven around in fancy cars and pondering the precariousness of their rule within grand villas, Mao & Co. are huddled in mud huts, conserving candles, and laughing about getting stewed meat twice a month. This juxtaposition, of course, serves to make Mao and his band of merry Communist leaders seem the rugged, scrappy, and long-suffering David that eventually brings down the Goliath.

The movie itself might not be bad, and the heavy odor of propaganda may be set aside from the discussion for a while, but a much bigger irony remains: If the story of the founding of People’s Republic of China is a struggle for the prosperity, equality and democracy for all people, as it was portrayed in the film, what then of the result?

As dictated by this movie’s subject matter, a proper appreciation will inevitably involve a serious re-consideration of China’s past and present, after which, most people will find out something very awry. The People’s Republic now is still far from the kind of nation the founding fathers had imagined. It is a promise yet undelivered. It has been a long, long winding road with no end in sight. Han Han, the famous racer and satirical blogger, raised up this question in his typical sharp style:

我很怀疑导演是在用反讽的手法来拍摄这部电影。看着那些开国元帅们纵情唱着国际歌，毛泽东说，我们永远要团结。我看到了这部电影成为一部真正的优秀电影的潜质——那就是它不在1949年结尾，而是以1976年结尾。在1949年的时候，诚挚的人民诚挚的望着诚挚的毛泽东和诚挚的新中国，然而六十年后，人们依然没有一米自己的土地，大家都是寄生而已。以前我们的旧社会由很多的阶级组成，现在简单了，只有四个阶级，那就是穷人，房奴，富人和富豪。

从另外一方面来讲，建国大业是一部爱情文艺片，它委婉的讲述了穷小子追求富家女的故事，当时的共产党就是穷小子，新中国是待嫁的富家女，国民党是订了婚的情敌，各民主党派和社会名流是富家女的朋友，穷小子成功的秘诀就是一开始要有理想，谈未来，许承诺，拉拢朋友，乱开空头支票，当然，会打架是排在第一位的。最终终于成功的娶了新中国。当然婚后的生活就和在座的各位当年花言巧语的男同志们的婚后生活差不多。

你们泡妞时的承诺都做到了吗？

A Taiwan TV news report has reproduced the CCTV interview in which you can see Jackie Chan acted out his excitement. The clip is now at youtube:

ESWN translated the TV interview:

Chan: Our generation is so lucky because of what we run into. China has never been better in the last 5,000 years. Great unity … everything is good. Even the heavens are helping us. The call went out: “Everybody stand up and sing the national anthem!” You hear that … (making the sound of music) … Wow, it was unbearable. The tears. Really.

(note: the reference to “the heavens” is about how the weather in Beijing turned good in the morning of October 1st. The television host was embarrassed and had to inform him that more than 400 rockets were fired to disperse an incoming bank of clouds.)

(the voice over said that Jackie Chan was sitting in the first row of the audience at the Tiananmen parade)

Chan: The impulse. I saw our Chairman Hu come down. I really wanted to rush over to shake his hand. But I know that even before I can stretch my hand out, there would already be “Bang Bang Bang.”

TV hostess: There won't be.

(the voice over said that Jackie Chan then switched over to condemn the wave of immigration out of Hong Kong before the colony was returned to China. In so doing, he glossed over the fact that his wife lives in the United States and his son was born there and therefore an American citizen.)

Chan: You see, at the time I cursed them out. I said that those of you who leave are not Chinese. Now every one of them is back. They came back on their own. Chinese nationality is the most difficult to obtain around the world. You go anywhere else and you can buy citizenship with money. In China, you cannot even get it with money. This is why us China is awesome.

Many, who read Jackie Chan's interview as it is, were outraged. Charles Mok said in his facebook status on Oct 6 that he would boycott Jackie Chan's movie from now on. His comments were echoed by many others, such as:

Shame on him PK Jackie Chan

Shame of Hong Kong>< bastard Jackie Chan is a super medal of Chinese people!!

Jackie Chan is a Facist PK!

However, when one reads into the interview closely, one can see that he has spoken some truths, such as the fact that he would be “Bang bang bang” (shot) if he rushed to shake hand with Chairman Hu. In the youtube, the discussion pointed towards different directions:

merkabah read into the meaning of “Bang bang bang”

好一句蹦、蹦、蹦暗諷中共六四當年就在該處屠殺無辜學生，成龍大 哥果然是不為五斗米折腰的中華民族真心英雄！

yuhon09 agreed that Jackie Chan tried to assassinate the CCP by his praise/lie:

“捧殺中共”

Kelvinc8 said:

Jacky is funny, haha. Can't blame him, he's a joke. Anyway, he is right, I'm from HK living oversea, how can I be 中國人 (Trans: Mainland Chinese)? I don't have their passport. I'm 華人 (Trans: Hua Ren or Chinese) , 唐人 (Trans: Tang people), 東方人 (Trans: Oriental) but not 中國人 (Trans: Mainland Chinese). Just like Taiwanese, they have their own nation, how can they be 中國人 (Trans: Mainland Chinese). But of cause they are 華人 (Trans: Hua Ren). There is a difference between nationality and race, for crying out loud.

hin1972 commented on the idea of unity brought forward by Jackie:

什麼大團結,極權統治下叫大團結!
白色恐怖下既大團結!人民敢發一言嗎?
中共只係比奏始皇做得更好!懂得思想改造而已!

telecake and bblkwok discussed about Jackie Chan's nationality and education background:

telecake : Please keep in mind that he doesn't even have a basic high school education. And I believe he holds an American passport? I feel embarrassed for him in every which of ways.
bblkwok : he has not even had elementary school education, and I think he has Aust passport, while his wife and son hold US one.

stiafro commented that he had taken too much drug:

Too many stunts… hit too many times in the head.. now you are fucked in the head.

http://www.youtube.com/user/futubh>futubh made fun of his Chinese name by saying that the dragon has turned into a Chamaeleo.

浮誇偽人
成 了變色 龍
白痴冇得救小丑
蠢

Earlier this year, Jackie Chan made another outraging comment on “Chinese need control” which was interpreted by some as being racist. So what's your reading of Jackie Chan's comments this time?

floods

In less than a week, earthquakes, tsunamis and typhoons have struck several different countries in Oceania, East and Southeast Asia.

Previous Global Voices posts have kept us informed about what is going on at ground level in Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Philippines, Vietnam with Typhoon Ketsana (Ondoy) and about the series of strong earthquakes in Indonesia (1 and 2) just a day after the Samoa Earthquake which triggered a tsunami.

Through video uploading platforms, citizens who are experiencing these natural disasters and their aftermath have shared their video clips, so that people from other regions can identify the extent of the damages.

YouTube's CitizenTube blog have written a couple of posts regarding these events. This first one has a playlist of clips of the Samoa Earthquake and Tsunami aftermath:

And this other post has several videos of the aftermath of the Sumatran earthquake.

This one has families outside their homes, running to grab railings in case there's an aftershock:

This other shows a street view of what seems to be a shopping center with extensive damage and an area on fire:

This next video regards Typhoon (Ketsana) Ondoy, which hit the Philippines. In it you can see the extensive flooding, and the cameraman writes this in his description:

I just got back from the river's edge 5 minutes ago. A 10-15 feet height differential between the Marikina River and the embankment has now been reduced to the point that water is splashing against the high-rises of Eastwood, Metro Manila. A security guard for this sealed off area approaches me and covers me with his umbrella while I snap pictures from my phone. “Where are the police or firemen?” I asked. He first points at a speck in the middle of the river 300-400 meters out to my right. “That was a woman with her 2 year old infant clinging on to her. She passed through here in the middle of the river - waving at us for help. There was nothing we could do - she had passed though within 5 seconds. We've been seeing other people washed away.” We watched helplessly at the 20+ people 200 meters away that are now sitting on top of their corrugated roof-tops as the river rages beneath them on their submerged homes… waiting for emergency personnel yet to come.

This video, also about the flooding, shows a different face to the emergency, in the rapidly rising waters, a group of children can be seen playing and enjoying themselves:

It seems that humor has become one of the ways to cope with natural disasters for Filipinos. For example, in this blog post a message by Gwendolyn So is reposted, where she tells of her 10+ years experiencing flooding in her home at least once a year, you can see that even in the midst of trying to rescue furniture, goods and family, there is a space for having fun:

5. You can have fun in the midst of disaster so I took out our cameras and starting taking pictures. It was to make everyone have a good laugh as we surveyed the chaos around us, the cockroaches and rats swimming by, the black inky spots of oily stuff occasionally floating around.

At the end, she puts things in perspective:

It is easy to go insane after this kind of calamity, to despair of the material things we lost (especially the cars), but please be thankful you got away with your life and that of your family and loved ones

Image used to illustrate post by IronChefBalara according to CC attribution license