Set over the course of seven weeks, a creative writing competition promoted by the young Cape Verdean journalist Odair Varela on his blog, Crioulo n'Descontra, has led a dozen word lovers from three different continents to get behind their keyboards and let their imaginations flow.

The competition was launched at the end of March [en] to “promote a taste for writing and for linguistic and artistic evolution”. Odair suggested a set of four challenges; the responses, written in either poetry or prose, were published on his blog.

On 9th May the winners were announced, determined by counting the number of views their texts had received. This article will provide an overview of the stories told.

What will Cape Verde be like in 2090?

In the first challenge, competitors were asked to imagine possible routes for Cape Verde in terms of sustainable development, energy, environment and climate change. Anete Carvalho wrote ‘País Museu‘ (Museum Country), José Soares posted a poem, ‘Verdes eram as ilhas‘, (The Islands were Green), and ‘Retrospectiva 2012-2090‘ (2012-2090: Retrospective) was written by Silvianne Spencer. The piece with the most views was a poem written by Suruk Rodrigues:

Men of the Atlantic. Photo by Martin Edstrom copyright Demotix (27/07/2008).

Constrói-se uma terra de betão.
E do sonho cultivado, colhe-se desilusão!
Que caia chuva, para transbordar apenas
barragens cheias de lágrimas dos que choram em vão!

Different approaches to tourism were also portrayed in several texts, such as that of Letícia Varela, written in Galician and entitled ‘Relógio do Tempo‘ (Time Clock). The possible extinction of Cape Verdean Creole was alluded to in the pieces by Nani Delgado, ‘Não Vou Ficar‘ (I Will Not Stay), and by Ary Rodrigues, ‘Um Povo Sempre Escravo‘ (A Nation Forever A Slave), which also talks about the country's economic growth and the influences of China.

Carla Gonçalves tells the story of an anthropologist and researcher who, in 2090, finds the book ‘A Morabeza das Ilhas Crioulas' (The Morabeza of the Creole Islands), which has a “clear cover that features stunningly beautiful white dunes; beautiful moraines and flowers with mountains towering in the background”, causing him to search for the meaning of “morabeza”. He travels to the islands; when he arrives, however, the last remaining inhabitant says ‘Não há mais Cabo Verde‘ (Cape Verde is no more):

Eis que Nhô Chico lhe responde num inglês rudimentar: Morabeza era a nossa essência, a música, a saudade. Morabeza eram as nossas crioulas, uma diferente da outra, mas todas únicas. Morabeza eram as nossas praias de areias brancas e negras, as montanhas fortes e imponentes, a simpatia e acolhimento. Morabeza eram as flores, a diversidade cultural, a dança. Morabeza era aquilo que nos distinguia, que nos fazia únicos. Mas isso acabou e não há mais aquele Cabo Verde…

Murder and escape

Dolls from Cape Verde. Photo by Wanaku on Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

“Someone has to be killed, and that's your task”, states the second challenge, which encourages the use of fast-paced prose to deliver crime, action and lots of gore.

From the boss murdered by an indignant ex-employee, the beautiful brunette who succumbed to the poison of a Loxosceles anomala spider, the ‘Grande Mistério da Boneca Assassina‘ (The Mystery of the Murdered Doll), to the crime of passion and the classic butler mystery, but there was still room for a coup d'état from the revolutionaries, and for the introduction of the movement of the “indignados” in Cape Verde, as Suruk Rodrigues wrote in the story of Zeca:

Zeca sofria com perseguição política dos novos tempos, que poucos entendem, ou seja, na rua era bandido, na escola era drogado, e não conseguia bolsas de estudo, estágio, trabalho ou coisa melhor. Arquitectou com genialidade o movimento dos indignados de Soncent com sede e acção no Mindelo, que no mês de Julho de 2012 vinha a ocupar as manchetes dos jornais neoliberais numa dura perseguição aos “fascistas” e entre eles o pai da sua amada.

He ends up being stabbed in the back by his future father-in-law in a public square, in full view of everyone.

Who killed Eva?

More crime to inspire the authors, but this time the challenge profiles the suspects of the murder of Eva Sequeira, a fifty-something-year-old wealthy widow who was found dead in her mansion.

Everyday life in Cape Verde. Photo by Nuno Lobito copyright Demotix (12/02/2008)

The suspects include “Eva's stepdaughter, who she never got on well with”, the “retired doctor who had been in love with Eva since childhood (although it was never reciprocated)”, the “young, good-looking stranger”, the “butler's son who was devoted to Cármen [the stepdaughter]”, and Eva's best friend:

No final do interrogatório, o investigador Nataniel Borges prendeu dois suspeitos sob acusação de cumplicidade na morte da senhora Eva Sequeira. Quem foi para a cadeia? Quais os motivos que os levaram a cometer tão horrendo crime?

The story with the most views, written by Margareth Lima, blamed Eva's best friend for committing a crime of passion:

…eu amei aquela vadia desde o dia em que a conheci. Sofria cada vez que a via com outro, meu único conforto era a existência de outra pessoa que ela ignorava o amor. E justo quando ganho coragem e me declaro ela pede desculpas dizendo que só me queria como amiga. Queria ficar com esse imbecil [o médico aposentado], porque era seu Adão. Mereceu morrer sem disfrutar do seu Adão.

Three days and a farewell

What would you do if you were told that you had only three days left to live?

The repentence of someone who only ever knew how to be “a vile executioner, an opportunist and often sadistic for power”: he is taken door to door to visit those he owes apologies to for his behaviour in life.

A woman from Santo Antão. Photo by Julien Lagarde on Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

The “poet“, in “Quando fui morrer” (When I went to Die),  “[she hurried] to condense [her] life for her family and closest friends” in an all-night celebration.

Vanda wanted to fulfil the dream she had beyond her Creole life: to see the snow. She ends up in the Swiss Alps with her eyes closed, a smile on her lips and a heart full to bursting.

While the “bride“ decided to block all social networking sites before she died (”I never liked the idea of seeing dead people on Facebook.”), Vitoria, the character in Bolivian Margareth Lima's winning piece, took advantage of the social network to arrange a huge birthday and farewell party with “family, former classmates, teachers, workmates, friends, and even enemies”. She was the only one who had a reversible death, as at the end of the story we find out that the results of the medical tests were not in fact hers.

And thus ended the first creative writing competition launched exclusively by a blog and promoted through Facebook, sowing the seeds for “changes in writing habits and routines that can put down their roots and become even more developed with the passage of time”.

Written by Sara Moreira · Translated by Georgi McCarthy · View original post [pt] · comments (1)
Share: Donate · facebook · twitter · reddit · StumbleUpon · delicious · Instapaper

Written by Silvia Viñas · comments (0)
Share: Donate · facebook · twitter · reddit · StumbleUpon · delicious · Instapaper

Прошу Вас принять меры к владельцам и пользователи аккаунтов в различных социальных интернет-сетях (русскоязычные сегменты Twitter и Facebook), активно содействовавшим в организации массовых беспорядков 6 мая 2012 года в г. Москве.

Khinshtein added that bloggers are also using these services to advocate violence against “the legally elected President” and Russia's “constitutional order.” (Twitter user Lucius Aevus, for instance, wrote [ru] on April 24, “Buy weapons, stockpile food, join up, and kill Putin.”) Khinshtein called specifically for (1) the prevention of the further spread of such illegal, extremist online appeals, (2) the criminal prosecution of individuals who use social networks to disseminate extremism, and (3) any other measures legally necessary.

Screenshot of Khinshtein's official Duma webpage, 15 May 2012.

Hours after news of this petition caused a stir in the media, Khinshtein responded by publishing the full text of his letter to Chaika, claiming [ru] that his initiative is not a plea for political censorship. Khinshtein did not, however, publish the supplementary materials he attached to the letter, where he cataloged dozens of examples of bloggers advocating illegal activity. The list, to which online newspaper Gazeta.ru has access and has graciously summarized [ru], focuses on nationalist and liberal democratic oppositionists — some anonymous and others well-known.

First on the list is self-described “ultra-right” anonymous blogger odinzavseh (”one for all”), whom Khinshtein links to soccer hooligans, like the ones infamous for inciting a small ethnic riot in Moscow in December 2010. On Twitter, odinzavseh has called on protesters to beat up Putin-supporters and public figures Sergei Minaev and Konstantin Rykov. He also allegedly encouraged oppositionists to attack government buildings with Molotov cocktails on the night of May 8. Both these tweets were later deleted, though evidence of the former can still be found [ru] on Yandex. In what seems particularly outrageous to many bloggers, Khinshtein has claimed, as well, that retweeting (reposting another user's message) also carries criminal liability. Odinzavseh, for instance, retweeted user LailaMooore's call [ru] on protesters to slash the tires of police vans and bring weapons to protests.

Not one to exclude Russia's homegrown social networks, Khinshtein also cited “The Moscow Front,” a nationalist group based [ru] on VKontakte that advocated attacks on government buildings near Chistye Prudy on May 7. As soon as these allegations went public, the group published its thanks to Khinshtein for the “free publicity.” Several members immediately posted anti-Semitic comments, complaining, for example [ru], “You know, Khinshtein's Jewish snout pisses me off.”

Also gracing the list is Mikhail Svetov, Twitter user msvetov, a Russian student living in Japan, who has been an active virtual participant in the opposition protests. During the May 6 “Million Man March” at Bolonatia Square, Svetov tweeted:

Не выбрасывайте омоновские шлемы в реку, надевайте их на себя. Это броня, она вас защитит от полицейских дубинок.

and:

Отнимайте у ОМОНа щиты, каски, дубинки, это уравнивает ваши шансы. Не нападайте на них, но отнимайте амуницию.

Khinshtein also accused oppositionists Vitaly Shushkevich and Artem Chapaev of online extremism. On May 7, Chapaev tweeted:

Думаю, частью стратегии должна стать дальнейшая радикализация масс, чтобы перейти к тактике ощутимой городской герильи.

That same day, Shushkevich used his Twitter account to encourage [ru] protesters to bring coins to Chistye Prudy and throw them at police and “Nashists” (members of the pro-Kremlin youth). He also reposted several unsavory messages from Twitter users gruppa_voina, ponny1, papumaria, and moskless, including calls to spread the fear that “Moscow is out of control.”

The always irreverent artist collective Gruppa Voina [en] responded in typical fashion, quipping [ru] that its followers would soon be confronted by Khinshtein himself:

Друзья, вы все шутки шутите - но не забывайте - за КАЖДЫЙ РЕТВИТ с вас спросит @khinshtein в комнате допросов ближайшей к вашему дому тюрьмы

Petr Verzilov, husband of Pussy Riot's imprisoned Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and a Voina member, sarcastically welcomed [ru] Khinshtein's efforts, saying that criminalizing retweets could become the “next step in the development of civil society and legal consciousness in our country.”

Aleksei Navalny is also on Khinshtein's list — included for a May 3 tweet [ru] that joked about burning down the Mayor's office. Navalny quoted the text of a Sergei Udaltsov tweet, altering the final line into a mock appeal for arson:

Чиновники из мэрии вышли на связь, обещают в течение часа согласовать марш. Если обманут – сожжем мэрию.

In reality, Udaltsov had written [ru]: “If they're lying, we'll make an announcement through the orgkomitet.”

Some RuNet voices have insisted that Khinshtein is asking the Prosecutor General to do something fundamentally beyond its legal authority, and is only causing a stir to grab a moment's publicity. In a series of identical tweets addressed to prominent RuNet bloggers, Yuri Suetin posted the scan [ru] of a letter from May 2011, where the FSB informs a certain Dmitri Goriugin that Russian law enforcement agencies are incapable of deleting or banning posts from Twitter. (Goriugin had apparently complained about personal insults directed at him, published online by pro-Kremlin blogger fritzmorgen — an account that ironically Twitter has since suspended.) Other users, however, were quick to point out that Khinshtein is citing anti-extremism laws that carry far more extensive police powers than Criminal Code 130 (to which Goriugin appealed).

Russian politician, Yuri Chaika, 8 December 2009, photo by Russian Presidential Press and Information Office, CC BY-SA 3.0; Wikimedia Commons.

Khinshtein's appeal to Chaika coincides with a draft project [ru] introduced to the Duma yesterday by United Russia deputies. The project denounces protesters who attacked police at Bolotnaia Square on May 6, and advocates criminal prosecution of those “responsible.”

The state's response to Khinshtein's letter will be an interesting test of the lengths to which the Kremlin is prepared to pressure oppositionists in their use of online social media. Services like Twitter and Facebook are widely credited with energizing the protest movement — indeed, the feasibility of recent mass demonstrations seems to have required these instruments. Likewise, heightened public scrutiny on the extremist content of oppositionists' blog posts and tweets will test the maturity and accountability of a space that until now has hosted language often violent and legally dubious according to Russian legislation.

Written by Kevin Rothrock · comments (2)
Share: Donate · facebook · twitter · reddit · StumbleUpon · delicious · Instapaper

Overall, the video met with a strong wave of harsh criticism, mockery, video responses, remixes [es], parodies [es], caricatures, memes and tweets, with the hashtag, #meiriademasiado [es], an allusion to the comment of one of the subjects in the video, “Yo sí me iría… Me iría demasiado [sic]” (”I would go, I would so go”) becoming a trending topic en Venezuela.

The video did receive some shows of support, albeit very few, which backed up the validity of its ideas, pointing out that behind the tone and the rhetoric (the most criticized aspects of the video), the video had served to stir up a highly sensitive topic within citizen media: emigration due to urban violence.

El brujo [es] points to what, in his opinion, was the main flaw in “Caracas, Ciudad de Despedidas”:

El problema del autocensurado video […] y de sus participantes, radica en la absoluta ajenidad y desconocimiento absoluto de la sociedad a la que dicen pertenecer, emitiendo juicios de valor totalmente sesgados y prejuiciados respecto a asuntos que obviamente conocen por lo que les dicen sus padres …

Meanwhile, Luis, on Panfleto Negro [es] (Black Pamphlet), underlines the main message:

…detrás de todo el mandibuleo [*] y el “me iría demasiado” hay una realidad a la que no queremos dar la cara; Venezuela no ofrece a sus jóvenes ni un presente ni un futuro viable, ofrece más penurias y que todo vaya a peor antes de ir mejor. Hablar de porvenir en un país donde se depende de la salud de una sola persona es casi tan ingenuo como los testimonios de estos chicos.

[*] In Venezuela, “mandibuleo” is a term used to describe the speech of upper-class youth in Caracas (who are also known as “sifrinos”).

On the other hand, Vanessa [es] opines:

Yo pienso que ellos sí tienen derecho a opinar lo que les dé la gana, así sea mandibuleado y mal redactado. ¿O es que acaso ya en Venezuela estamos tan acostumbrados a la mordaza en la boca que nos escandaliza una opinión distinta a la propia? Se ha formado una especie de dictadura opositora donde, al igual que los chavistas, todos repiten al unísono lo que les mandan a decir los “líderes opositores”. Al que se salga un poquito de la línea, los demás le caen a peinillazos.

Laura Solórzano, en her blog Debilidades y Vicios [es]  (Weaknesses and Vices) points to another fact:

[…] mi preocupación es que muchos de esos “jóvenes del este del este[”] que estudiaron en los mejores colegios y universidades” sigue sin entender el verdadero problema en Venezuela. Que esos chamos de “me iría demasiado” son los hijos de esos venezolanos que hicieron plata y se olvidaron que existía un país y que algún día les tenían que responder.

Meanwhile, Mirelis Morales Tovar [es] explains why the video moved her:

Me movió… Si, no lo niego. Quien tiene dos hermanos lejos, otro con un pie aquí y otr[o] allá, así como casi todos sus amig@s a muchas horas de distancia, no puede ser indiferente a lo que se plantea en el video Caracas Ciudad de Despedidas.
Es una realidad. Queramos o no. […] Todos quienes vivimos en esta ciudad tenemos el temor de no regresar a casa y eso no es precisamente una sensación con la que debamos acostumbrarnos.

Pero fomentar la idea de que emigrar se ha vuelto la solución a los problemas que nos agobian en este país es ir creando una generación de desarraigados.[…] Otros países han vivido situaciones similares o peores. Y es el espíritu de su gente lo que les ha permitido salir a flote. [Venezuela] es una nación herida. Herida por su propia gente. Pero también es tierra de gracia, de oportunidades.

Asdrúbal [es], for his part, comments:

lo que sinceramente no me gustó [de las opiniones expuestas el video] fue el hacer entender que la responsabilidad de mejorar al país era de «otros» exclusivamente.

Of the participants in the video, Raquel Abend van Dalen, was the first to break her silence. In her blog Merienda en el Espacio [es] (Snacking in Space), which was made private days later, she wrote:

La realidad de Venezuela nos afecta a todos. Tanto a los que viven en ella, como a los que se tuvieron que ir. Y cada quien busca la forma de sobrellevarla y de aportar para un cambio positivo. Yo amo a Caracas, yo a amo Venezuela. Es el país en donde nací y crecí. Venezuela es el espacio que me ha hecho ser quien soy, y que me ha brindado todas las oportunidades para crecer como persona y como ciudadana. Esta situación me ha servido de lección de vida: se vive y se aprende.

The youth involved in the documentary published a communique [es] in response to the reaction their video received. In it, they explained their reasons for producing such a video, adding:

Nunca nos imaginamos, esperamos o quisimos este alcance y ahora que lo tenemos no nos lamentamos, porque a pesar de que la forma parezca banal, lo que ahí se expresa sigue siendo la verdad: tenemos miedo por la inseguridad que existe en Caracas y por ello no hemos podido vivir nuestra ciudad como quisiéramos.

The communique concludes:

Respetamos las opiniones diferentes a las nuestras, agradecemos el apoyo de quienes nos han respaldado e invitamos a todos a mirar más allá de la forma y analizar el fondo, a leer entre líneas y considerar que todos formamos parte de lo mismo aunque seamos diferentes. No es una cuestión de discriminar a un grupo, es de exponer a otro y no es para ofender a nadie, es para compartir lo que algunos sentimos.

Finally, Leopoldo Tablante [es] reflects on the similarities and the discourse of the upper and lower classes, and on how this mirrors a common spirit which makes living together and social advancement difficult:

Por novatada o por lo que sea, el video parece inspirado por un muy particular espíritu de indolencia ante el proyecto de construcción del bien común. Y sin ese espíritu, ¿qué nos queda?
Por la izquierda o por la derecha (si es que estos clivajes siguen teniendo vigencia), en la urbanización o en el barrio, Venezuela suena en monofónico. Y con ese empaque al vacío, ¿a quién le queda fuelle para pensar en una reconciliación?

Written by Laura Vidal · Translated by Jea · View original post [es] · comments (1)
Share: Donate · facebook · twitter · reddit · StumbleUpon · delicious · Instapaper

Written by Janine Mendes-Franco · comments (0)
Share: Donate · facebook · twitter · reddit · StumbleUpon · delicious · Instapaper

Every year, this commemoration has been purely civic; the day has never been institutionally recognized [ca] as one of historic importance. This year, the Valencian parliament (Les Corts Valencianes), controlled by the right-wing People's Party, preferred to pay homage to the Valencians who participated in the Cádiz Cortes during the French occupation of Spain during the Napoleonic Wars and the drafting of the Spanish Constitution of 1812.

Popular portrait of Philip V of Spain hung upside down in remembrance of his orders to burn the Valencian town of Xàtiva

Those who wished to celebrate April 25 in a different way took to the streets that Saturday, as part of a contemporary tradition, a series of protests and concerts organized by Acció Cultural del País Valencià [ca] (Cultural Action for Valencia or ACPV). Others took to the internet and honored the day through social networking.

Every spring, Valencians remember the fateful moment in their history, when Archduke Charles of Austria suffered military defeat at the hands of Philip d'Anjou's army at the Battle of Almansa, against the backdrop of the Spanish War of Succession: a continental battle for control of Spain, in which Franco-Spanish soldiers fought against the allied armies of England, Portugal, The Netherlands and Germany.

Given the international ramifications of the conflict, it's understandable that traditional narratives tend to overlook the serious consequences the War of Succession had for Spain's Catalan-speaking regions–Valencia, the Balearic Islands and Catalonia–where the event is remembered as the main reason for the loss of political independence (for a comparison of historical perspectives, see the differences between Battle of Almansa articles on Vikipèdia [ca] and Wikipedia).

Certain blogs, like Hic Sunt Leones [ca], explain the history:

La victòria de les tropes del Duc de Berwik, favorables a Felip d'Anjou, sobre l'exercit dels partidaris de l'Arxiduc Carles d'Àustria va marcar l'inici de l'ocupació borbònica del Regne de València i de la de la resta dels Països Catalans. Anys després, amb l'aplicació dels Decrets de Nova Planta i “por justo derecho de conquista”, els regnes de la Corona d'Aragó van veure suprimit el seu autogovern i les seues lleis i institucions van ser substituïdes per les de la Corona de Castella.

The defeat at Almansa was the first in a series of fatal blows to Spain's Catalan-speaking regions: September 11th (Catalonia's National Holiday) of 1714 saw the fall of Barcelona and July 11th, 1715, of Majorca and the rest of the Balearic Islands. After his victory, Philip d'Anjou became Philip V of Spain, the first in a long line of Bourbon kings. Following France's tradition of monarchical absolutism [ca], Philip V implemented a series of sweeping administrative reforms to centralize his kingdom and foment a cohesive Spanish state.

He promulgated the Nueva Planta Decrees, which abolished the unique legal and cultural institutions of states pertaining to the old Crown of Aragon. This included Valencia's four-hundred year-old political and legislative system, the Furs of Valencia, as well as all bodies of sociopolitical representation, such as the Corts or Generalitat. A popular Valencian saying commemorates these events: “Quan el mal ve d'Almansa, a tots alcança,” or, “When evil comes from Almansa, it reaches everyone.”

On Twitter, the hashtags #25dAbril and #25Abril bridged the sentiments of Tweeters with very different profiles:

@ferran_campos: La història ens fa entendre el present i per això cal rememorar-la. Contra l'oblit, memòria i record. #25dabril #1707 #PaísValencià

@fraferfa: Bon dia! Fa 305 anys valencians i valencianes perdérem els nostres furs i amb ells la nostra sobirania. Recuperem-los! #25Abril

@ForcaJoves: #25dabril Sentim-nos orgullosos de les nostres arrels, la nostra cultura i la nostra història com a poble. País Valencià. #ForçadelsJoves

@mirodavid: Avui #25abril cal recordar que els valencians estem a punt de perdre la Generalitat per segona vegada.

@melderomerAV: “He juzgado conveniente abolir y derogar todos los fueros, privilegios, práctica y costumbre en los reinos de Aragón y Valencia” #25abril

@VicentFlor: Sabeu què us dic? Que no podran amb nosaltres! Ni Felip Vé, ni Joan Carles I ni els qui vindran! #25Abril

@Feliuventura: #25Abril 305 anys aguantant caçadors d'elefants.

@trencalos: Tota política que no fem nosaltres serà feta contra nosaltres. #insubmissió #jonovullpagar #Fuster #25dabril

Neither on Facebook nor Twitter did anyone forget the popular portrait of Philip V hung upside down (which is still on display at the Almodí Museum [ca] in Xàtiva, in remembrance of Philip's orders to burn the city), nor did they forget the references to songs that pay homage to this event, both new and old, like Cant dels Maulets, by Al Tall or Viure, by Obrint Pas.

@vicarlos: #25Abril Felip V tal i com està penjat en un museu de Xàtiva http://instagr.am/p/J0eirFJDpR

@jvdasi: 25 d'abril “… , els peixos en l'aigua i els amos al clot. I si no l'empara el Nostre Senyor, tallarem la cua a Felip de Borbó” #25abril

@Ingridlafita: “Les velles cançons, les noves emocions, el #25abril construïm les il·lusions!” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VF_GzJIhSrY

Every year, the official time for commemorating the Battle of Almansa is 6:00 PM on April 28th at the Plaça Sant Agustí. Bloggers and tweeters spread the word with the hashtag #25dAbrilDiallibertats.

Written by Violeta Camarasa · Translated by udell.db · View original post [ca] · comments (0)
Share: Donate · facebook · twitter · reddit · StumbleUpon · delicious · Instapaper

Written by Fabienne Flessel · comments (1)
Share: Donate · facebook · twitter · reddit · StumbleUpon · delicious · Instapaper

Written by Janine Mendes-Franco · comments (0)
Share: Donate · facebook · twitter · reddit · StumbleUpon · delicious · Instapaper

Written by Janine Mendes-Franco · comments (0)
Share: Donate · facebook · twitter · reddit · StumbleUpon · delicious · Instapaper

Written by Ruslan Trad · comments (0)
Share: Donate · facebook · twitter · reddit · StumbleUpon · delicious · Instapaper

Written by Ndesanjo Macha · comments (1)
Share: Donate · facebook · twitter · reddit · StumbleUpon · delicious · Instapaper

The previously featured Creative Commons documentary Runa Kuti on the identity of urban dwelling indigenous descendants in the city of Buenos Aires is looking for volunteers to help them subtitle the documentary into indigenous languages found in Argentina such Quechua, Aymara, Mapuche and Guaraní as well as into English.

On their blog they've posted their call for volunteers:

Quien quiera, tenga ganas, tiempo, ocio, curiosidad, computadora, internet y otros idiomas para apoyarnos se los agradeceremos añadiendolos a los créditos del documental y mandándoles buenas vibras, donde quiera que estemos y donde quiera que estén.

Todos los idiomas son bienvenidos pero guardamos un especial interés por el quechua, aymara y guaraní.

 

The trailer has been subtitled into Spanish, French, English and Portuguese, the full length documentary has the full transcription in Spanish.

This post is part of our special coverage Indigenous Rights.

Written by Juliana Rincón Parra · comments (0)
Share: Donate · facebook · twitter · reddit · StumbleUpon · delicious · Instapaper

On March 31, 2012, several simultaneous events took place in France's major cities, driven by the overarching goal of showing an unfailing support to regional as well as indigenous languages. These demonstrations took place three weeks prior to the French presidential election and showed a strong citizen commitment in favor of the recognition of regional and indigenous languages.

Participants called for the endorsement of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages [en]. Even though the treaty was signed by France in 1999, it has never been ratified. The participating associations are asking the presidential candidates to take a stand on the status of regional languages. As of today, regional languages are considered unconstitutional because the French State doesn't recognize minorities.

Demonstration in Toulouse on March 31, 2012. Photo by @elpasolibre on Twitter

A real political and legal imbroglio is surrounding these languages and their recognition due to people's prejudices and lack of knowledge about the issue. One hopes that a change of perspective is in the works.  The amendment introduced to the Constitution in 2008, seemed to pave the way for the definition of a status for these languages in addition to their teachings in schools. Nicolas Sarkozy had cut short these hopes arguing that such a procedure would lead to a community-based cultural evolution which is not compatible with a unified country.

Many local representatives  and regional representatives attended these events which brought together thousands of people in Toulouse, Quimper, Strasbourg, Bayonne, Perpignan and Ajaccio (Official hashtag on Twitter: #op31m):

@fredverbeke: #Deiadar: 7.000 manifestantes piden la oficialidad del euskera en Baiona!!!! bit.ly/HvvCCx

@urtzai: Bretoiera defendatzen 12000, Katalana 8000, #Euskara 7000 Korsoa 2000 eta Okzitaniera 30000! #kolosala #deiadar

The front page of the Télégramme newspaper : "Le Breton, a living language ". Photo : @letelegramme on Twitter

@elpasolibre: AUPA! 6000 lagun Perpynianen, 12000 Kemperren, 3000 Estrasburgen , 30000 Tolosaneta 7000 Baionan #deiadar #op31m

@caillonm: Chaîne humaine devant la Préfecture de Région à Ajaccio en défense de la langue corse. #op31M

@la_setmana posted an online photo gallery of the demonstration held in Toulouse. Langues régionales blog, cites more resources in addition to  a flow of real time tweets with the hashtag #op31M.

Méridianes has posted videos of the events showing various positions and debates as they ocurr. Until now, François Hollande (the Socialist Party candidate) is in favor of a status recognizing minority languages while Nicolas Sarkozy (UMP and party in power) and Jean-Luc Mélenchon (Left party) are showing their opposition to the project, Finistère Deputy Jean-Jacques Urvoas points out on his self-titled blog:

Pour le premier [c.-à-d. Nicolas Sarkozy], « aimer la France » c’est tout simplement  « refuser de ratifier la charte des langues minoritaires » !!! […]

Quant à Jean Luc Mélenchon, on se rappelle qu’il avait dans un débat au Sénat qualifié Diwan de « secte » et qu’il avait dans le même endroit proclamé sa fierté d’être  » jacobin, ne parlant que la langue française – et l’espagnol, langue de mes grands-parents. » Personne ne songe évidemment à lui en disputer le droit. […]

The issue of the status of regional languages is open not only with regards to presidential candidates. The readers' comments on Bigbrowser blog, following the post announcing the 31 March demo, are also mixed:

Xavi: The importance of Regional Languages? For Whom? For What? I'm not convinced that it's crucial to grant all local dialects an official status. I live in Spain and I witness the havoc that the linguistic division ended up creating. Thank God, in France, only French is the official language.

Language is part of the ties uniting all fellow citizen of a country: Let us not capitulate and yield to these communitarian claims.

ericparis11: With such type of arguments, we will soon reach the point where we will soon tell Quebecker, that it is time to relinquish their ‘patois' and speak the majority language of the country where they live, i.e. English for instance.
And it's within that same type of thinking that tomorrow all European Commission Documents and of the parliament will be in English, as for “the minorities”, (French, German, Spanish, Italian, Hungarian, Finnish and others speaking in Dutch or Portuguese) well they will have to live with this so logical and Cartesian “simplification”.
In fact, should our French researchers and teachers still use for the purpose of their work a language as obsolete and as rarely used as Molière's native tongue ?  This is already happening - clearly to the benefit of  our country's radiance around the world…

Elg: Ah… Regional languages! It's always that topic kindling passions, murderers from one side but idolatrous from the other!

While the best thing we can do is to get some balance. Knowing the Breton, Catalan, Corsican, Occitan or Basque does not live differently from people who do not speak a minority language. We can just read, write, speak and understand one more language!

thiziri: And when we don't have particular roots with a territory what language do we speak? neither Basque, nor Breton, nor Catalan etc living with a stranger, which already means two languages at home. In which school shall we place our children?

This debate scares me since it supposes belonging to a territory to which we identify. But for this, for how many generations should have we been living there? and stay for the rest of our lives.. I feel I am French and nothing else, I can't help it, it is my history and it doesn't bother me that some people wish to speak another language but they shouldn't forget the other French who also have the right to live with one single language. That too means tolerance.

Written by Rayna St. · Translated by Thalia Rahme · View original post [fr] · comments (0)
Share: Donate · facebook · twitter · reddit · StumbleUpon · delicious · Instapaper

Written by Onnik Krikorian · comments (0)
Share: Donate · facebook · twitter · reddit · StumbleUpon · delicious · Instapaper

The first blog post [ru] criticized Tuleyev for a pronatalist initiative [ru] that awarded 30,000 rubles (roughly 1,000 USD) to any couples who agreed to register their marriages on November 11, 2011 (“11/11/11”). Shipilov estimated that the project cost nearly 15 million rubles — one short of the sixteen million the government had collected for sick children in an October fundraising event [ru] that included visits by presumably well-compensated movie stars like Sophia Loren. Shipilov wrote:

So it turns out that the Kemerovo oblast' administration doesn't have any money for sick children, but, to support newlyweds obsessed with numbers, it's got money!

Shipilov also targeted the head of the region’s Department of Culture and Nationalities Policy, Larisa Zauervain [ru], highlighting her role in the government’s recent creation of a widely-mocked “Abominable Snowman Day” [ru] (or “Yeti Day”), as well as her part in a November 2011 local rock concert by the legendary Mashina Vremeni (“Time Machine”), which provoked loud booing from the audience, when fans were informed that the event was sponsored by the political party United Russia. After videos [ru] of the booing went viral on YouTube, Mashina Vremeni’s lead singer, Andrei Makarevich, explained that the band had agreed to receive honorary awards from the governor, but had not consented to make any political endorsements. (In a blog post on Snob.ru, the rock star described the tactics of Tuleyev’s staff as “screwing someone without permission.”) Zauervain, in turn, accused the group of political “provocations.”

In his blog, next to a photo of Zauervain, Shipilov wrote:

This is Larisa Zauervain, a pure maiden from the department of culture and ethnic hatred [sic]. After the head of this most exalted agency couldn't become provost of Kemerovskii State University for Culture and the Arts, she decided to go all out: she sent Vasily “I'll suck you off for eight grand a month and a crate of vodka” Zhopka up shit creek, removing him from the editorial board at the journal ‘Pust' govoriat' ‘Ogni Kuzbassa' (she gets my respect for that), then she ran around Mount Shoria, looking for female yetis to breed abominable snowmen, and finally she awarded the musicians of ‘Mashina Vremeni' a memorable and steaming pile of shit (which, for a couple of days, sent the whole blogosphere howling at how ‘Yetinited Russia' had tried to ride the coattails of such a famous band).

Finally, Shipilov turned to Elena Rudneva, Kemerovo’s Deputy Head of Municipal Education, whom he describes as a low-ranking but overachieving bureaucrat with sinister ambitions. The blog post includes scans (here and here) of a May 2010 departmental memo, in which Rudneva lays out a plan “to break up the illegal activities of [Kemerovo’s] destructive social forces.” In the text, Rudneva proposes the following curious approach:

Organize constant contact with destructive members of society, identify their personal problems (their employment situation, any medical needs, their children's schooling, and so on), and take timely measures to establish a constructive dialog with them.

Responding to Rudneva’s idea, Shipilov wrote:

[She] really wants to participate in the political life of the region, but the narrowness of her authority prevents it from happening, as propagating political ideas in educational institutions is prohibited by our country’s laws. So she decided to take another route, drafting a document that offers truly bedazzling brown-nosing.

About a week later, Shipilov followed this post with a bit of creative writing [ru], composing a script for a fictional television show set ten years in the future, titled “One Day in the Life of Aman Gumirovich [Tuleyev],” airing on “Al Jazeera Kuzbass.” (The racial overtones in Shipilov’s script, poking fun at the half-Kazakh, half-Bashkir Governor, possibly contributed to early reports [ru] that, in addition to Article 319, Shipilov would also be charged with inciting ethnic hatred under Article 282 [en].)

The text satirizes Kemerovo’s Governor, placing him in absurd and embarrassing situations (his wife feeds him bugs and urine, he receives hate mail at work, and so on), and Tuleyev himself behaves ridiculously. In one scene, he appears on “I Am Alive!” (a fictional Al Jazeera TV show), where he speaks in “balalaika language,” punctuating every word with the sound “ama,” imitating the Central Asian stereotype popularized [ru] by comedian Mikhail Galustian. When leaving the studio, an aide returns a left-behind cosmetics purse to Tuleyev, who responds:

Thank you, Zakhar. Just in time, too. I need some foundation and superglue. My ear came unglued and some spots of dead flesh are showing on my neck.

Reactions from Kemerovo bloggers have varied. Aleksandr Sorokin, a lecturer at a local liberal arts university, said in January 2012 [ru] that police officers interrogated him to confirm that he had read Shipilov’s blog posts (in order to prove in court that LiveJournal can be considered a public forum). By February 2012 [ru], while still opposed to the enforcement of Article 319, Sorokin faulted Shipilov for failing to keep the public informed about his trial. Kemerovo journalist Vasily Popok (whom Shipilov distinguishes above as a man willing to do most anything for money and liquor) welcomed this week’s verdict [ru], though he later lamented [ru] that Shipilov is unlikely to have learned his lesson. Popok also reposted an article by Andrei Ivanov, another Kemerovo resident, who took issue with how DozhdTV covered the Shipilov story. On air [ru], a DozhdTV anchor alleged that the Kemerovo court had, in fact, condemned Shipilov to hard labor. Ivanov responded [ru] sarcastically:

It turns out that Dmitri's sentence is far more than a bit of street sweeping, as naive Kuzbass natives might have thought. In Maskva [sic] they know for real that the vicious Tuleyev decided to send the guy to rot in the mines, digging for toxic waste.

Meanwhile, Shipilov has promised to appeal the ruling, saying that he is prepared to take his case to the European Court. Tuleyev's lawyer, Aleksei Sinitsin, on the other hand, told [ru] a Novokuznetskoe television station that the court's decision was within the confines of European law, claiming that no state allows its citizens to publish obscene insults directed at government officials. Ironically, Pavel Chikov, Chairman of the human rights group “Agora,” told Gazeta.ru precisely the opposite, arguing that criminal cases against bloggers are becoming a thing of the past because the practice violates Russia’s obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights [en].

Written by Kevin Rothrock · comments (2)
Share: Donate · facebook · twitter · reddit · StumbleUpon · delicious · Instapaper