Early this year several users recognized Google’s car, equipped with camera that takes 360° horizontal and 290° vertical panoramic photos. Mexico is the first Latin American country to have its streets digitally mapped, which nowadays includes many cities of United States and Canada, as well as countries from Europe, Asia, and Oceania.

Street View in Google Maps México

Mexicans showed mostly positive reactions to the service, although some expressed natural concerns for their privacy. User hekma expressed on Twitter [es]:

Mi jefe vio Google street View en Mexico y comenzo a tener panico… demasiado diria yo…

Another common first reaction to the service is to look for someone's house or office. Twitter user Rafaesp [es] did this and found his mother in front of his house:

Orales, en la foto de mi casa de Google Street View Mexico, sale mi madre recibiendo una notificacion para mi del IEDF… .

Twitter user avomx considers [es] that the images of Street View unintentionally make a social commentary:

Muy buena herramienta, pero como que se ven feitas las paredes grafiteadas y las calles llenas de baches ¬_¬

User mexico_df also perceived a contrast [es] of the living conditions of the Mexicans:

Con google maps Mexico view street puedes ver algunos contrastes de nuestra ciudad casas de cartón y residencias inimaginables. Interesante

Few days after its release, users were already developing useful projects with one of the most frequent uses of Google Street View: virtual tours. The blogger that is known as Juan Crouset provides historical details of the city of Monterrey in his posts [es], and has taken Street View to guide his readers [es] through old constructions. This makes an interesting contrast with his regular contributions that usually are supported with historical documents and photographs. A sample of his work:

Ver mapa más grande

Juan Alvarez con Guadalupe Victoria, colonia Industrial. Muy cerca de la central de autobuses. Casa de influencia americana, probablemente construida para trabajadores de alguna empresa cercana. Muchas construcciones que se cubrieron originalmente con techos de lámina, se encuentran en muy buenas condiciones gracias a la excelente capacidad de los techos de metal para evitar la filtración de humedad, ésto a pesar de encontrarse abandonadas algunas de ellas.

Several newspapers have already made coverage of the service, including collections of images that show urban decay in Mexico City [es].

Photo by circo_de_invierno, from Flickr under CC BY 2.0.

Words about violence must break SILENCE

UNIFEM, in the Say No to Violence channel on YouTube has already documented some of the actions being taken around the world to end gender violence. This first video shows the Ngara Girls High School in Nairobi, Kenya, where young girls are being taught to say No to Violence, to stand up for their rights and also how to deal with rape, assault, harassment and other forms of gender violence:

Also in Kenya, the Kenyatta National Hospital has a Gender Violence Recovery Center, where women and their children can go and receive care in cases of violence against them. In this next video, they tell of their experience running the center, the context they are in, and women who have been victims of gender violence speak out:

In Peru, the Flora Tristan organization is having a protest and mass gathering for another aspect they believe is related to gender violence: the denial of free access to birth control methods and the new law that determined that the day after pill (emergency contraception) wouldn't be distributed free of cost. They will be doing an educational campaign in a park in Lima and giving out information about birth control, also handing out day after pills and birth control packets as a symbolic protest:

In the context of all Latin America and the Caribbean, UN-INSTRAW launches this video as part of an awareness campaign :

Latinoamérica y el Caribe es un lugar peligroso para las mujeres. Más de 50 por ciento de las mujeres de la región han sido objetos de agresiones. En la República Dominicana, por ejemplo, 1,453 mujeres fueron asesinadas entre los años 2000 y 2008. En el marco del Día Internacional para la Eliminación de la Violencia Contra la Mujer, UN-INSTRAW lanza un nuevo video sobre la seguridad de las mujeres latinas y caribeñas.

In Spain, women participated in the 5th Self-Defense seminar against gender violence, where they are taught how to protect themselves in case they face a dangerous situation. Training is geared towards enabling them to disable their aggressor momentarily so they can run away from danger.

And from Chile, Hip Hop Artist COFLA has made a song titled Femicide. Whereas hip-hop lyrics are often thought to promote violence against women, this artist has put out a song condemning how men go from promises of love and protection to violence, aggression and even murder:

Have there been similar efforts and activities in your hometown or country? Please let us know in the comments how your community is moving towards ending violence against women!

Egypt’s chief Egyptologist Dr. Zahi Hawass called American pop-star Beyonce a “stupid person” during her brief tour of the Giza pyramids:

during Hawass’ self-guided tour, he said “I showed her the Sphinx and I gave her a book on King Tutankhamen,” but then his anger and frustration made its way to the forefront.

“Then he stopped being diplomatic and said in anger, ’she’s a stupid person and she doesn’t understand a thing and she doesn’t want to understand’,” wrote Summer al-Gamal for Al Shorouk Newspaper.

Hawass is known for his outbursts. A number of foreigners have told Bikya Masr that he has employed Arabic to insult others at dinner events and gatherings, believing the non-Egyptians will not understand his Arabic. Beyonce, obviously, did not understand his jabs, Gamal said.

And speaking as an honored guest at the Cairo International Film Festival, Salma Hayek described how she was sexually harassed in Egypt when she was 17:

Hayek said she went on a touristic tour of Cairo, visited the Pyramids since her arrival earlier this month and expressed her happiness to visit Egypt for the second time in her life and that she thinks the country is very safe, saying she could accompany her daughter in the streets of Cairo without fear. In her native Mexico, where kidnapping is commonplace, this would be unheard of, the Frida, From Dust till Dawn and Fools Rush In star told the audience.

But, she recalled memories of her first visit to Cairo 26-years ago when she was 17, which immediately garnered the applause of the audience for revealing her age.

Berlin Wall by Natalie Maynor

Today is the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, a complex security structure that once divided East and West Berlin in Germany. Today we are showcasing some of the videos from throughout the globe that are being uploaded to commemorate this date and what it meant to barriers not only in Germany, but throughout the world.

In Germany, a series of giant domino pieces crafted out of foam were erected, to be toppled down to mark the end of the Cold War. This video by NoCommentTV shows the dominoes, which were painted by children in Germany and also by artists living in other areas where there are divisions and walls, being set up. This other video's embed option has been disabled, but you can view how the dominoes were toppled by clicking this link to see it on its YouTube page.

In Colombia, students reenact the fall of the wall, by taking turns to demolish a concrete slab:

From Germany, domino toppling fan Annodomino2007 has uploaded his own domino tribute to the fall of the wall, and also to the 10 year anniversary celebration which kickstarted his passion for dominoes:

In the USA, college students erected a replica of the Berlin Wall that could be written on, as a way to raise awareness:

From Mexico, VarinVxx uploads a video featuring another wall that is still standing, in: Is not Berlin, is not Palestine is US Mexico border The Wall of Shame in USA :

Krista Schyler also makes the comparison between the Mexico/US wall and the Berlin wall, in this case, not only focusing on the impact on human migration, but from a wildlife conservation angle as well:

This pilot for a documentary by Ziashere showing s other walls that are still standingIn this pilot, one in Ireland:

This last video is 2 years old, but is still relevant: adamfilmaker interviewed youth both from the North and South of the Nicosia wall in Cyprus, a green zone patrolled by UN blue helmets  that divides Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots, earning the distinction of being the last divided capital of the world.

Image by Natalie Maynor used on post according to Creative Commons Attribution License.

In a previous post we announced the UN Citizen Ambassador contest where video bloggers had to record what they would say to World Leaders if they had the chance, to effectively win the opportunity to speak directly with Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon at the UN Day on October 23rd. The winners were chosen and notified through YouTube as well, and here is the video announcement by the United Nations Channel:

Emily Troutman from the USA, who we recently wrote about in relation to her Congo Matters video, was one of the winners. In her UN video response, she spoke about how World Leaders should remember that they are responsible for more than 6 billion of other human beings, one person at a time:

Jeremy Walker of Canada was another winner, who asked the UN to prove that it still can help solve worldwide problems, to return hope to those who still want to believe that there can be change:

Breno Coelho from Brazil uploaded a video answering what is needed to be done to make this world a better and safer place, where it is answered by many different people, all offering their solutions: more love, less greed, less hate:

Maricarmen Ortega of Mexico also included the voices of many in her video, this time in several different languages:

Kirsty Matthews of Canada had a short message, straight to the point: what is needed is equality, sustainability and justice for all:

United Nations TV uploaded a video showing the 5 Citizen Embassadors in NYC at the UN Day:

Congratulations to all!

A month earlier, as part of the discussions of the IESPS taxes, the Public Tax Administration Secretary, Agustín Cartens, recognized that half of the money spent on telecommunications belonged to 20% of the richest households in the country, according to a story by Mexican magazine Proceso [es]. He stated that since rural and public telephony services are exempt from the IESPS, citizens in difficult economic situations would not be affected by the tax. However, those low-income families that do use these services at home will be hit harder because of the assumption that the Internet is a luxury only used by those able to afford the service. With these words, the Mexican electronic community condemned the idea of Internet as luxury and began their protest on Twitter with the hashtag #internetNecesario (“Internet is a Necessity”) with great urgency because the final debate and vote started on October 20. The law was passed in the early morning on October 21.

Photo by Mark Schoneveld and used under a Creative Commons license.

The protest movement displayed the importance of Internet to Mexicans, and received coverage from national television and newspapers, as well as from high-audience blogs, such as Boing Boing. The Twitter service WhatTheHashtag estimates that the protest has gathered around 35,000 tweets from more than 7,000 participants.

These are some of their comments on Twitter.

MexiComunicado @mexicomunicado [es]:

Me voy a ir a finlandia a twittear haya [sic: allá] es un derecho y me cuesta 3% menos hacerlo #internetnecesario

Luis Macedo @Luismacedo [es]:

Lujo es el suel[d]o que se imponen como los bonos de fin de año y aguinaldo, nola comunicación #internet necesario

Citlali Avilés @missblissdior [es]:

Por que debo de pagar por algo que es necesario para mi profesión? No nos dejaremos!!!! #InternetNecesario!!!

@Neodevelop [es], quoting another user [whose account is now closed]:

Internet es nuestra única opción para llegar a tener un gobierno transparente #internetnecesario

The Mexican Internet Association (AMIPCI for its initials in Spanish) also showed their disagreement through Twitter [es] joining the protest:

Aprobación del IEPS a Internet alejará aún más a los gobiernos y a los legisladores de los ciudadanos. #InternetNecesario

Moreover, Mexican bloggers also rose against the tax before its approval. In Pixelaris [es], blogger Jitten considers tax increase as an error, especially in comparison with the actions of other countries:

Las propuestas de qué tipo de productos y servicios gravar suponen medidas inteligentes y planeadas en las cuáles los ciudadanos paguen lo que consumen pero recibiendo servicios de calidad.

El gran problema de los impuestos en un país como México es que las políticas fiscales van en contra de la lógica de otros países e incluso expertos en los temas económicos, en las que, por una causa u otra, se grava lo que en otros países se le considera un derecho humano e incluso un servicio básico garantizado.

Blogger Darinka publishes in her blog a manifesto [es] about the importance of Internet during difficult economic situations:

Somos nosotros, los blogueros y twitteros, los que nos despedimos para siempre del papel, no por convicción ecologista o afán ambientalista, sino porque leemos el periódico on-line a falta de diez pesos para el diario impreso y nos hacemos de libros en pdf ante el encarecimiento ruin de la industria editorial.

A recent study from the Berkman Center for Internet & Society of Harvard University (available online) about broadband Internet compared Mexico to other 30 countries, showing that it is the country with the least amount of broadband and 3G penetration from the whole group. In addition to this, Mexico appears at the top of the list of countries with higher prices for lower speeds-tier, as Internet users pay approximately twice of what it costs in the United States.

This affects approximately 30 million Mexicans who have access to Internet nowadays, an equivalent to one fourth of the total population of the country, following numbers from the Mexican Internet Association [es], as quoted by El Universal. Although there has not been a detailed study of Mexican Internet users, reports have given several key facts that cannot be ignored about their distribution in the different socioeconomic levels: in one, National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) in 2001 [es] reported that half of all computers in the country belonged to families that earned less than 800 pesos per month (approximately 62 USD). In AMIPCI's report of 2006, it was recognized that at least 10% of the Internet users live in rural areas and that more than 40% of the Internet users come from the two lower socioeconomic levels in Mexico.

The law was approved during the national alert of the AH1N1 virus, and it received notably lesser coverage compared of that of the flu. During the chamber session, more than 60 reforms of law were accepted without much debate in a move that several Mexican newspapers [es] call “a marathon vote” and “a race against time”.

Photo by splifr. Taken following a Creative Commons license from http://www.flickr.com/photos/splifr/3603388416/

Reactions are mixed, but certainly two things always came up in discussions: the situation of violence and murder in several Mexican cities related to the narco and drug trafficking, and also the haste approval. It can be said that an important part of the distribution of the story was “hand to hand” through social networks and re-publishing in independent media, but not properly from newspapers, which also carries some critique. Among the discussions, the difference between legalization and decriminalization was a frequent one, considering that the latter holds specific limits of use.

Twitter user Dx [es] comments on how the law approval was made “silently”:

ni nos dimos cuenta cuándo clavaron la ley de narcomenudeo, con eso de que solo se habla de #influenza

In the blog Seduciendo con Palabras [es] , Judith reflects about the other changes in Mexico's policies:

También aprobaron diversas reformas: una considera el tráfico de armas como tema de seguridad nacional —propuesta de Fernando Castro Trenti— y otra obliga a perseguir de oficio la piratería en programas de computación, videogramas, fonogramas o libros.

Nos chamaquearon

Blogger La Espantosísíma X (The Horrible X) understands [es] the approval of the law as a sign of the infiltration of drugtraffickers (narco) to the government, and compares them to the AH1N1 virus:

Tal vez no tenga nada que hacer y todo sea producto de que mis neuronas (gracias a Dios, completamente ajenas al consumo de cualquier estupefaciente estupidizante) padecen esa impopular tendencia a pensar, pero estoy segura de que en México durante los últimos días de abril se desató un foco de infección que aniquilará a gran parte de la población, y no es otro más que la evidente infiltración del narco poder en las huestes políticas y mediáticas nacionales.

User MarioMty comments in a blog post of Vivir México [es] that “legal” drugs (like tobacco and alcohol) have properly maximized their capacity to put health at risk:

Me sorprende que los noticiarios esten tomando esta importante noticia con apenas una mencion mínima, sin embargo me queda muy claro que es una forma de entrar al negocio de la droga de manera “legal”, a costa de nuestros jovenes, no les importa que condenen a las nuevas generaciones a una vida con drogas de fácil acceso, como pasa con el tabaco o el alcohol. En muy poco tiempo veremos cada vez mas cerca, a personas con serios problemas de salud, y a familias destruidas por este mal.

In August, the law was enforced in Mexico. Changes in everyday living are hard to notice. MCF of Cabezas Underground [es] publishes the news and commented in a humorous manner:

Yo tengo que comentar, que en caso de que alguien en este país le importaran las pinches leyes, esto se me hace demasiado confuso, es legal portarla, pero no venderla, ¿y luego de donde la saco pues?…no me da buen espina.

The community of the blog Hazme el chingado favor! [es] are indifferent to the law: in a recent post, user JF calls for the legalization of drugs, provoking a thread of more than 100 comments, and without making any reference to Ley de Narcomenudeo. On the other hand, Twitter user AramBarra retakes [es] a recent story of the growth of drug selling from 2006 to 2008 to put in question the latest actions:

Narcomenudeo en df crece 700% < --ya cambiamos la estrategia?

Initially the drug retail law was presented 4 years ago by then president of Mexico Vicente Fox. It acknowledges the personal use of more than seven drugs, both organic and synthetic. According to Agency Narco News, the quantities specified are random, conceding multiple dosages to certain drugs and incomplete dosages to others.

As chief prosecutor for the state of Chihuahua, Chávez has been denounced by Mexican and international human rights organizations, as described by The Rag Blog, which writes about Fear and Loathing in Mexico: A Pandemic of Paranoia. These organizations include the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH), the Inter-American Human Rights Commission (CIDH), members of the European Parliament, and others from the international human rights community.

Concern about the deaths of the women from Juárez has attracted international attention, and feminist activists like Eve Ensler, creator of the Vagina Monologues and actress Sally Field have led marches through the industrial city.

The blog Resistencia Hasta el Fin [es] makes reference to sexist and misogynist comments made by Chávez [es] about the murdered women, such as “If they raped and killed them (the women) it wasn't because they were going to Mass” and “They are at fault for being attacked, for the provocative way that they dress.” It is comments like these that make activists say that Chávez is unqualified for the job for which he is nominated.

The death toll continues to climb and many crimes remain unsolved, leaving the community with little recourse but to take matters into their own hands by forming grassroots non-profit groups to shed light on the issue of the border city femicides. Nuestras Hijas de Regreso a Casa A.C. [es] (May Our Daughters Return Home, Civil Association) is at the forefront of the current protests which have taken the streets in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, bordering the city of El Paso in Texas. They also held protests in Chihuahua's state capital and nation’s capital, Mexico City. Protesters who traveled to Mexico City on September 14, 2009 were unsuccessful in their attempts to speak directly with members of the Senate regarding Chavez’s negligent human rights track record.

Carolina of the blog Zapateando [es] writes about the Mexico City protest and how family members of the murdered women have mobilized against Chávez.

“¡No pasará!” gritaron alrededor de 50 manifestantes frente a la sede del Senado de la República, para exigir que los legisladores voten en contra del nombramiento de Arturo Chávez Chávez como procurador general del país.

Chávez met with the Senate on September 21, 2009. Blogger and twitterer Jesús Robles (@roblesmaloof) is a self-described human rights activist and witnessed the Senate hearings. He took pictures and videos of some of the testimony against Chávez from some of the witnesses who were present.

Mothers of some of the murdered women from Ciudad Juárez testifying in the Senate. Photo by Jesús Robles and used with permission.

He also took this video of protests outside the Senate:

However, the PAN political party has already nodded in his favor regarding the nomination. Ganchoblog writes that Chávez is likely to pass since three Senators who would be vital to derailing his nomination as Attorney General will not stand in his way.

Photo of the scene outside the Metro Station taken by Sharenii of Ciudad de las Sombras. Used with permission.

The security video of the entire incident soon appeared on Mexican television and on the internet showing the sequence of events in graphic details. Some, like Bernardo Degaray thinks that the video should not have been shown [es] because of what it depicted.

The images clearly show the actions of the police officer and of Robles Barrera, as well as their tragic deaths. On sites like Twitter, there has been an outpouring of admiration for the bravery [es] shown by the two men. Roberto Marmolejo (@AdrianusImp) writes:

Ver el video del Metro Balderas te demuestra que los héroes todavía habitan la miserablemente esplendorosa Ciudad de México.

Other Mexican bloggers describe where they were during the tragic event. Daniel Hernandez of Intersections writes about the recent tragedy:

There is a culture of violence in Mexico, definitely, but a crazy person randomly shooting people is not the sort of thing that happens here. To put it bluntly, that's an American thing. But something is shifting.

(…)

Yesterday when I first heard the news — in a frantic call from a friend — I was in a meeting near metro Patriotismo. I rushed out to try to make it to the scene. The metro was operating as normal. Then my train stalled in the tunnel just before the transfer point Centro Medico — for a half-hour. Crowded shoulder to shoulder, in the hot tunnel, moisture on our skin from the rain, we stood … and stood … patient. When our train was finally cleared to the platform, a wall of people attempted to push into my car, while a few of us inside tried pushing out.

The blogger at Historias y Reflexions del Albuelo [es] (Stories and Reflections from Grandfather) also provides a recap of the day:

Iba yo camino al Asilo, en el camión que pasa por mí al cyber desde el que me conecto, cuando, por ocioso, le pedí su cel al chofer y me conecté a Twitter para despedirme de mis nietas y los malandros, cuando empezó a llegar la información del evento.

Al principio pensé que era una mamada más como la del pinche loco que “secuestró” el avión de Aeroméxico, sin embargo, al empezar a recibir más y más información, entendí que el asunto era delicado.

Entre lo que publicaban las fuentes noticiosas y los comentarios de reporteros y camaradas a quienes sigo, pude darme cuenta de lo serio del asunto y, especialmente, de la inquietud que embargaba al carnal Morf0 quien sabía que una amiga utiliza esa ruta para llegar a su destino y no se podía comunicar con ella.

The reference to the failed hijacking of the Mexican flight involves a Bolivian priest, who attempted to divert the plane indicating he had a bomb. No one was hurt and he was taken into custody.

In this video, Mustafa, shows some of the advertisements that have recently been placed inside the subway cars inviting people to learn about the religion. The advertisement is from the Islamic Cultural Center in Mexico City [es], which offers a weekend cultural event.

Another effort to spread the message of Islam took place on the streets of Mexico City. This other video shows a van driving up and down the streets of this neighborhood inviting people to a conference.

According to the most recent census, Mexicans are overwhelming Roman Catholic at a figure of 88% of the population. The 2008 Census indicates that there are 25,000 Muslims in the country, which represents .02% of the total population.

While much of the activities and public events take place in the Federal District, there have been some recent coverage on a small group of converts in the state of Chiapas in southern Mexico. Journalist and blogger Franc Contreras of Mexico Monitor, also works for Al Jazeera English. In 2008, he traveled here to produce a report on a group of Mayan indigenous that converted to Islam. Watch the video report here.

There are also Mexican Muslims, who also use blogs to connect with others and to help spread the message of Islam. Carlos Alberto Rojas, also known as Isa, studied at the Islamic University of Madinah. He also maintains a blog where he offers up his assistance and support for those with questions. He publishes his phone numbers and the times that he is available to speak [es] with anyone with questions on Islam, fasting or to inquire about future events.

As a U.S.-born son of Mexican immigrants, Hernández spent half his life in the country of origin of his parents and the rest in the United States. According to Mexico Reporter, he is a national hero in Mexico and his life story is an inspiration to many in both countries. Hernández is a former migrant worker, who worked in the fields alongside his parents, and now he has made his first trip into space.

Astronaut José Hernández and from Wikimedia Commons

His bilingual twitter account has been providing updates during the preparation for the launch, which was originally scheduled for August 25. Due to some mechanical difficulties, it was pushed back several days. The false starts and the repeated preparation routine began to have a familiar feeling after awhile:

Going for a nice run. Looks like todays weather will cooperate for tonight's 1:10 a.m EDT launch! Feels like Ground Hog Day! :-)

It was during these preparations, when Hernández had a phone conversation with Mexican President Felipe Calderón.

Finally the day arrived, and the Space Shuttle launched into orbit on August 28. Once Hernández was already in space, he provided his thoughts on his first day in space:

Settling in and realizing my dream… Micro G is great. Finished setting up the computers and ready for bed! Don’t need pillow!

For the next two weeks, Hernández will provide updates about the mission's activities and future activities:

#onorbit Finished flight day 3 & docked to the Station. Met our 6 neighbors & they seem nice! So nice we are giving one of them a ride home!

Follow his tweets for the rest of the mission at @Astro_Jose