Seed by theogeo

The Alzar las Voces (Raise the Voices) project in Nicaragua brings farmers in rural communities the possibility to speak out  through video telling of their concerns, their projects, their wishes and ideas.

There are six organizations in Matagalpa Honduras who are working on this project including women's collectives, Matagalpa Organization for the Blind,  farmer organizations and an information center for Sustainable Development with the aid of Simas.   The website is part of a project which will serve to showcase the work these organizations are doing with the members of the community by having members of the rural communities speak about their life, concerns and interests.

In this next video,  Marcial Gonzalez, a promoter of the Farmer to Farmer program, explains how the program has helped them: first, they learned they shouldn't burn their lands to clear them,  how to build or grow ditches and barriers to help control erosion. Another lesson they've learned is the importance of saving and keeping seeds from national varieties of plants, since they are ideal to grow in their environment and why trees should be kept and not cut down, since they provide oxygen, shade and maintain the water sources.

Juana Urrutia, in another video, explains what it means to be a community promoter. A Promoter is in charge of a group or community, protecting the community's interests, be it in fieldwork, production or socially. They also transmit knowledge which they received during workshops or activities, since it is their responsibility to put into practice what they have learned within their communities.

Martha Elena Montenegro is a beneficiary of the credits and programs to help women start their own businesses. She makes some products using materials she harvests from her farm, however, after all the effort, she now has to pay back her loans, and she uses the video medium to ask how she should best distribute her earnings in order to be able to pay back her loan.

Azahálea Solís Román, from the Nicaragua Autonomous Movement of Women (MAM for its initials in Spanish) wrote in Barricada.com.ni [es]

Ayer por la tarde en Nicaragua, la Corte Suprema de Justicia, por medio de 6 personas que fueron nombradas como magistrados de ese poder del estado, pero que en realidad son militantes de un partido político, declararon la inaplicabilidad de un norma constitucional porque se opone a otra norma constitucional, es decir declararon inconstitucional la Constitución.

The Supreme Court decision produced a minor event a few days later, when a Supreme Court judge, Francisco Rosales (FSLN militant) was being interviewed by a local news tv channel [es], when he was met by a group of young people who attacked him with eggs. In addition, the United States Ambassador in Nicaragua, Robert Callahan, gave a speech where he declared the Supreme Court decision on reelection as inappropriate, undiscussed, and biased towards one party [es]. As a result, protests organized by students took place in front of the US Embassy in Managua.

There was also unrest about the actual budget the universities would receive. By law, they must receive 6% of the National Budget, a budget that is itself is being reduced. However, at the same time, there a proposal to create a new governmental office called the National Council of Evaluation and Accreditation (CNEA for its initials in Spanish). This office will take over functions from the National Center of Universities, which approves all universities in the country and distributes the 6% budget to the public universities, including giving part of this budget percentage to private universities.

Gabriela Montiel wrote on this Facebook page, later reposted on Barricada.com.ni [es], a review of the first day of protest for the 6% budget (October 21st).

El 6% constitucional se ha ido reduciendo a tal punto que son aproximadamente 200 millones los que se han ido recortando y se seguiran recortando. Los perjudicados, LOS ESTUDIANTES, sobre todo los de afuera de managua. Es importante retomar la lucha del 6% hay muchos que creen que por tener un gobierno frentista este 6% esta asegurado pero se han olvidado de los princpios de lucha y se han acomodado al plan del gobierno y no a las necesidades de los estudiantes, que son o deberian ser la prioridad de UNEN.

Two accounts have come up from the first protest of October 29th. Gabriela Montiel wrote on El Boletincito Nica [es]:

Foto: Gabriela Montiel, CC-BY-NC-ND 3.0

Y empezaron a tirar botellas y bolsas de agua hacia la tarima, son tan inteligentes los Universitarios que demandaban que canal 2 y la UCA (Universidad Centroamericana) se fueran, que uno de los botellazos le dio directamente a Edwing Castro (diputado) mientras este declaraba en la tarima el apoyo del gobierno pàra vetar la ley acreedora del CNEA, se logró ver que en la boca de Castro habia sangre…aunque la mayoría de botellas iban directo al periodista y camarógrafo de Canal 2, también se escuchaban abucheos hacia Edwin CASTRO ya que el fue uno de los que votó a favor del CNEA y luego llega aca a estar en contra de CNEA…Incoherencia!!!! Dulce y comoda incoherencia!!!!

Foto: Gabriela Montiel, CC-BY-NC-ND 3.0

The student in the photo carried a sign reading “Assembly: CNU, UNEN and CNEA doesn't represent me, We are students, not ignorant! We demand respect to autonomy and a transparent use of the 6% budget”. Delni Ayala, President of Humanities Faculty of UNAN accused her of damaging the CNU and asked the crowd to repudiate her, which the crowd did with water balloons and other objects.

This shows that the Student Movement is divided because the official association, UNEN, is pro-government, but not all of the students see it that way. That was one of the reasons that Sandinista deputies were booed by the crowd when UNEN and CNU leaders invited them up the stage, while its known they voted for the CNEA law that takes over functions over CNU and 6% budget.

Gaby Castro, UCA Student, wrote on her Facebook [es]:

Pero el grado de hostilidad tuvo su máxima expresión una hora después de concluida la congregación por el 6%. Frente al busto de Casimiro Sotelo, joven sindicalista que murió asesinado por la Guardia Nacional y símbolo de la resistencia en nuestra universidad, nos salimos a gritar más “en lo íntimo” por nuestras becas, en conjunto con algunos de nuestros vecinos, los estudiantes de la UNI y otros de la UNAN. Un grupo de jóvenes encapuchados – unos dicen que eran CPC (Consejos de Poder Ciudadano), otros de la Juventud Sandinista 19 de julio y hasta estudiantes de la UNAN – se bajaron de una camioneta doble cabina y nos agarrabron a morterazos ¡A quemarropa! A los que estábamos en la calle y a las instalaciones de nuestra universidad… Resultado: nueve heridos, todos de la Facultad de Humanidades y Comunicación y daños al edificio en construcción de la UCA. Todo esto a causa de rehusarnos a seguir la protesta organizada por el FNT (Frente Nacional de los Trabajadores, organización satelito del FSLN) en la Embajada Americana, en respuesta a las declaraciones del embajador Callahan emitidas un dia antes, que fueron catalogadas como “injerencistas”.

The USA Embassy was vandalized with wall paintings and minor destruction [es], and the police had to fire tear-gas at the end of the afternoon to disperse the crowd in front of the building [es]. This second protest was caused by the declarations of the USA Embassador, but only Sandinista aligned groups supported this protest.

Later, it was revealed by Twitter user Ojoz [es] that a crew from TV10 news was attacked near UNAM, but there was no aparent reason for this attack.

The event's logo

Many participants are looking forward to the event and to visit the city of Estelí. Leandro Gómez describes the location of the festival in his home country:

Estelí is a city in northern Nicaragua, near to the border of Honduras, 150 kms. from capital city Managua, and the official venue of the First Central American Free Software Summit.

The city of Estelí, known as the Diamond of the Segovias, will also host the first international meeting of Ubuntu community leaders in Central America, with the participation of members from the Ubuntu Local Community Teams in Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras, Panamá, Costa Rica, Guatemala, and special guests from other communities in Latin America.

From neighboring Honduras, Diego Turcios writes about the different communities that will be attending the event [es]:

De nuestro bello pais Honduras, asistiran 9 o 10 personas. De las cuales son representates de las comunindades linuxeras del pais.Las cuales son: GULTGU, Linux Maya, Comunidad GNU/Linux del Progreso y Ubuntu Honduras LocalTeam.

Events like these are usually heavily attended by males, but there will be a strong presence from female members of open-source software communities. Victoria Zeledón, one of the few members of “Centroamericanas” a network of female Central Americans working in the field of free software welcomes everyone to Estelí adding:

A pocos días de conocer a mucha gente ya estoy emocionada por la experiencia a vivir. Además las Mujeres Centroamercianas que trabajamos por el software libre haremos presencia al igual que muchas personalidades que harán que este encuentro sea de mucho provecho.

In addition, she recommends this link to learn more about Estelí and its nightlife.

ECSL09 has its own blog, and provides updates and logistical information for participating groups. Among the groups from across the region include Asociacion de Usuarios GNU/Linux El Salvador, Debian Costa Rica, Debian Nicaragua, Debian Panamá, DebianSV, and El Salvador Ubuntu Team, just to a name a few. A complete list can be found on the blog's sidebar.

Even though many of these communities have been part of the planning of or have known about the event for quite some time, there are some who believe that it is important to share information using social networking tools. Rodrigo Peñalba of Nicaragua writes that this promotion can help attract attention and media support for the event, despite some resistance because Twitter and other sites are not free software [es].

The excitement for this event is showing. MMGC84 of the GNU/Linux community of Nicaragua thanks the organizers for this opportunity and posts the image of the receipt for the registration payment saying, “I'm almost in Estelímar!”

Majailah Francis, 18, daughter of Bridgete Ivonne Budier Bryan of the FSLN party and an alternate deputy in the Central American Parliament, was denied entry to the club El Chamán. She is an Afro-Nicaraguan whose family hails from the Caribbean coast where the majority of the country's black population resides comprising 9% of the country's ethnicity according to the 2005 Census (.pdf format). Her mother led the charge alleging the club had discriminated against her daughter based on race calling for the closing of the establishment.

After the accusations were made, the debate became public in the media, online forums, and also in blogs. Dozens of opinion articles discussed the topic, while the newspaper El Nuevo Diario criticized the nightclub and denounced inherent racism in Nicaraguan society. The human rights ombudsman called for the closing of the locale [es] and some intellectuals provided their own opinion, even comparing the case [es] to what happened with Rosa Parks.

Wilder Pérez of iEntonces [es] writes that “El Chamán does nothing more than reflect one of the many problems in Nicaragua, we are not racist, we are classist,” and lists various reasons why this scandal has more to do with the inherent classism in the society, instead of racism.

In local interviews conducted in various clubs around the city, La Brujula [es] found that much of the discrimination against club-goers had more to do with the person's dress or personal style. The author Roberto Salinas García found that there was a diversity of people who were enjoying themselves at the club, but did overhear discriminatory comments from some of the club's patrons.

“Creo que es una política de la discoteca. Si yo tuviese una no dejaría entrar ni a bolos ni a majes pintas” afirma Norman Espinoza…

“¿Y qué es para vos un pinta?” le pregunto. “Pues un pinta, un chambrín… un maje todo cholo” explica. Norman no es blanco, pero tampoco muy moreno. Se peina hacia atrás con los dedos el pelo negro. Su camisa es blanca con rayas café…

“A los que yo no dejaría entrar es a los indios” afirma Jackeline Orozco…, “No me refiero a los indios como raza. Un indio para mí es la persona intolerante, que no aceptan las diferencias culturales.”

María del Carmen Pérez Cuadra of Animal Inedito [es] has no doubt that there is racism in Nicaraguan society:

Con justa razón están protestando los ciudadanos afrodescendientes porque se sienten afectados y está muy bien que protesten, pero creo que se debe aprovechar este hecho como un momento que propicie la reflexión en torno a la discriminación. La sociedad nicaragüense es racista y discriminatoria. Hay colegios para gente “blanca”, colegios para gente india y pobre y hay colegios que no contratan si parecés pobre, sos gordo o gorda, o si profesás una religión que no sea la del centro de estudios. Yo, personalmente he llenado cuestionarios en los que preguntan si estás casada (o) civil y por la iglesia, si sos o no católica, quién es tu párroco, y que cuánto pesás y cuánto medís de estatura.

Other blogs opted for a more balanced position [es] like Alex Zedch:

…en ningún momento me imagino a los coordinadores del local indicándoles a los bouncer la lista de características de las personas idóneas a batear, es simplemente ilógico. Ponte a pensar, a ella no debe ser la primer mujer del Caribe que batean (niegan la entrada) a su vez que yo mismo sé de muchas mujeres que son de nuestra costa y que entran en cualquier disco sin ningún problema. Esto me parece mucho más a un treta política, extorsión o venganza de parte de la diputada por sentirse bateada, y es normal enojarse, yo alguna vez también estuve en su situación y aunque se siente de lo peor tienes que pensar que fue eso que te faltó para poder pagar por los servicios del local…

… la mayoría de las personas que vamos a las discos al menos una vez hemos sido bateados, y si usted no acostumbra a salir mucho le va a pasar constantemente, por que las discos tratan mucho mejor a los clientes frecuentes. El código de vestimenta existe y es para todos, al igual que usted no iría en calzón a la Asamblea yo no iría desnudo al Chamán y si piensa que usted fue expulsada del lugar por ser de su tierra piense que también está en el pacífico y como me quedaría viendo la gente del la Costa Caribe si les bailo Palo de Mayo a medio día con camisa manga larga y pantalón de vestir, es lo mismo. Y si piensa que la falla de una persona es tan imperdonable como para querer que cierren el local entonces eso de muestra su poca cultura y actualización de lo que sucede en el país, además de su poca madurez y carácter ante la vida.

Other comments were severe in regards to the congresswoman's actions and her exagerrated, incorrect, unfocused judgement. Twitter user @isonauta writes [es], “(there is) a racist crisis in the middle-class discos after five centuries of structured racism disguised under an ideology of mixed races.”

Penalba.info [es] comments:

La diputada dijo tener conocimiento previo de otros casos así, pero solo hasta ahora procedio a una denuncia porque la afectada era su hija; aunque se presenta como defensora de la identidad y raza del caribe…

Existen suficientes personas que estoy seguro estarían a describir historias personales con respecto como no los dejaron entrar a ciertos bares o discos… Muchas otras pueden dar fe de haber sufrido racismo, yo mismo he visto esos casos, pero hay que tener inteligencia para poder apreciar cuando es racismo, cuando es machismo, o cuando simplemente es que le el portero no te quiere dejar entrar y/o te odia o desprecia personalmente por quien eres o porque no les parece y no por tu raza o género. Ser Negro o ser Mujer no te da el menor derecho de ser tratado distinto, sino igual que todos. Que alguien o alguna situación te sea contraria no la hace necesariamente racista.

The owners of the El Chamán club published a communiqué stressing their business' commitment to an inclusive and non-racist environment [es]. Days later they published on their website a photo of the congresswoman's daughter in the club, who had been a regular client.