The Brazilian bloggers from Esse Tal de Meio Ambiente [pt], Minas Ambiente [pt] e Coisas de Sampa [pt], for instance, have created a standard post for those who have no time to create their own posts for the Blog Action Day but still want to reach their readers with a relevant message. They have also launched the campaign “A day without a plastic bag”:

Você imagina o que acontece com as sacolas plásticas que pegamos nos supermercados para acondicionar nossas compras, quando as jogamos no lixo?

Algumas vão direto para aterros sanitários, onde levam mais de 300 anos para decompor. Outras, jogadas nas ruas, entopem bueiros e provocam enchentes nas áreas urbanas. Outra parte, ainda, é ingerida por milhares de espécies animais – em terra ou no mar – provocando-lhes asfixia e morte. As estimativas são de que, todos os anos, a ingestão de plásticos causa a morte de cerca de um milhão de aves marinhas, cem mil mamíferos e inumeráveis peixes.

Dia 15 de Outubro é o Blog Action Day, dia em que blogueiros de todo o mundo se juntam para mobilizar a sociedade em prol de uma causa. [..] nessa data um desafio é proposto: um dia sem sacola plástica. E aí? Vai ficar aí parado? Junte-se a nós. Mobilize. Faça parte desta ação.

Fire in the Amazon Forest. Photo by Flickr user leoffreitas.

Blogger Aninha from O Divã de Einstein [pt] has based her post for Blog Action Day (#BAD09) on the B F Skinner book “What is Wrong with Daily Life in the Western World?”, depicting many cases in which people don't react to the climate change discussions because they don't feel like it, and won't necessarily experience the impact of global warming today.

She adds:

A solução está muito mais nas mãos dos que têm poder para mudar as regras do reforçamento do que na “vontade”, “consciência” ou “informação” dos indivíduos em particular, porque a situação requer uma mudança drástica e rápida dos comportamentos de muitas pessoas – ou melhor de TODAS as pessoas – ao mesmo tempo. Não temos tempo para esperar que o ambiente remodele os comportamentos, porque quando estiver quente pra dedéu, e todo mundo começar a se preocupar em fazer coisas que não aumentem ainda mais a temperatura, a coisa não terá mais como ser revertida. E é por isso que é tão importante pressionar os caras que têm o poder de mudar o ambiente imediato das pessoas: sobretaxando o uso de combustíveis fósseis, fazendo leis que diminuam a emissão de poluentes que aumentam o efeito estufa, investindo em produção de combustíveis alternativos e na mudança da matriz energética, educando a população para a diminuição do consumo, etc e talz.

É por isso que eu digo: Obama!! Já ganhou o Nobel, agora se mexe, meu filho!!!

On the other hand, the bloggers from Homens Modernos [pt] emphasize that although most of the responsibility for the environment rests with the governments, ordinary citizen can make a difference too:

Não preciso nem dizer que mudança climática não é somente uma lenda urbana mas sim uma realidade em progresso que pode (ou não) vir a ter consequências desastrosas pra nós se ficarmos sentados de braços e pernas cruzados sem nada fazer pra reverter ou amenizar o quadro. Sim, claro que uma fatia grande deste fazer cabe aos governos do mundo, mas isso não quer dizer que não possamos dar uma bela “contribuída” nessa. E nem que esta contribuição não vá fazer lá muita diferença, porque vai. Afinal as escolhas que a gente faz todo dia tem peso e com certeza vão refletir no futuro do planeta, para o bem ou para o mal do próprio. Portanto, pondere as suas and take the green way as much as you can.

Tower of Belem in Portugal surrounded by garbage. Photo by Flickr user starrynight1.

Journalist and blogger Wander Veroni from Café com Notícias [pt] brings the role of journalism about climate change to the discussion. He says that nowadays weather forecasts and related news get much more attention than before:

Até bem pouco tempo, a previsão do tempo era tratada como uma editoria “menor” em boa parte dos noticiários. Coisa de menos de cinco anos atrás. Era muito comum apenas se noticiar a previsão do tempo do dia - ou no máximo do dia seguinte. Se acontecesse algo de mais importante no montante de notícias do dia, a previsão do tempo era a primeira a cair e não entrava no ar.

Hoje, vemos uma situação completamente diferente. Muitos veículos mantêm jornalistas apenas para cobrir fatos relativos ao tempo e temperatura no pais e no mundo. Além de render pauta constantemente, a editoria ouve especialistas e traduz termos técnicos importantes para que o público entenda o porque dos fenômenos meteorológicos interferirem no seu dia-dia.

Blogger Daiane Santana from Vivo Verde [pt] has made a selection of the 15 blog posts related to climate changes that had been discussed in her blog. She is among the most popular Brazilian environmental bloggers. As she says:

Hoje é um dia bem especial para a blogosfera e principalmente para nós, blogueiros ambientais, que tratam dos assuntos voltados ao meio ambiente com o coração aberto para nossos leitores.

Daiane has also blogged for the group blog Nerds Somos Nozes [pt], in which she brought up the issue of toxic waste and its impact on society. She pointed out the way every citizen can contribute towards fighting it:

Quando  empresas de telefonia promovem campanhas de devolução/coleta de baterias , não pense você que  com esta ação a empresa está gerando apenas lucro para ela, lembre-se que o seu ato de depositar aquela bateria inutilizada e até a carcaça de seu celular que “você considerou” como lixo, poderá ter um destino qualificado e deixará de ser um fator de perigo para você e sua família.

From Portugal, blogger Marta from the Mil Visões blog [pt] listed some tips that the average citizen can follow for an environmentally friendly lifestyle,  saying:

Apontada como uma das grandes causas para as alterações climáticas, as emissões de gases poluentes para a atmosfera têm deixado os “Deuses loucos”! E a nós também. É por isso urgente todos intervirmos para que os nossos filhos, netos, bisnetos e por aí fora, possam usufruir de um planeta mais limpo e seguro.
Se já se pode considerar lugar comum dizer-se que já se faz isto ou aquilo para combater estes fenómenos, muitos há que ainda acham que reciclar um pacote de leite não irá fazer a menor diferença. Mas faz, e muito! É a tal história do “grão a grão enche a galinha o papo”.

Finally, Elisio Leonardo from Informática Moçambique [pt], published his post to the Blog Action Day too. He says:

É momento de pensarmos no futuro e mudarmos o nosso modo de vida, para fazer-mos da terra um lugar melhor. Michael Jackson disse isso no seu “Heal the World”,  e é exactamente o que o Blog Action Day está a tentar mostrar.

Many other bloggers from all over the world have been contributing to the Blog Action Day. You can track the updates through this link.

On 30 August, 1999, hundreds of thousands of Timorese voters braved an Indonesian-directed terror campaign to cast ballots for independence in a U.N.-organized referendum. This event, which ended Indonesia’s 24-year illegal, brutal military occupation, led to the creation of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste as the first new nation of the millennium. The vote was the culmination of decades of struggle by Timorese people, supported by solidarity activists around the world.

The release of journalist Max Stahl's video recording of the outrageous Massacre de Santa Cruz in 1991 increased global awareness about the crimes occurring in East Timor under the Indonesian occupation.

In 1996 Jose Ramos-Horta and Bishop Ximenes Belo were awarded the Peace Nobel Prize and only three years later Indonesian President Habibie allowed the people of East Timor to choose between autonomy within Indonesia and independence. And the world united along with East Timor.

"Die-in" protest in the US. Credit: www.etan.org

Solidarity movements able to pressure their governments and protest Indonesian abuses sprung up in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Portugal, France, Holland, Ireland, Germany, the UK, Canada and the US during the 1990s. Even within Indonesia, East Timorese had friends working to stop abuses and promote self-determination.

In the summer of 1999, in the lead up to the Referendum, the International Federation for East Timor assembled the Observer Project, an international team of members from at least 22 countries to go to Timor and monitor the vote. The security arrangements for the months preceding the referendum were shaky, as the UN-brokered agreement for the Referendum left security to the Indonesian police.

UN poster that reads "We will not leave" credit to Australia Timor-Leste Friendship Network

IFET monitors bravely fanned out across the territory, a project report from August 22, 1999 explains

We have rented houses and deployed teams in every area of East Timor. Upon arriving in a town, an IFET-OP team first makes contact with the police and local authorities, and then with various community leaders and advocates on both sides of the campaign. They settle into a house which an IFET-OP advance team has arranged, and begin observing and inquiring about events and perceptions related to the campaign and other aspects of the consultation. Each team reports in nightly by phone and files a written weekly report. Although nobody on any of our teams has been injured, several have witnessed violent or intimidating incidents, and have reported such events to the appropriate authorities, UNAMET, and IFET-OP headquarters in Dili.

The IFET observers reported the violence that engulfed East Timor after the vote, which it turned out, was overwhelmingly for independence from Indonesia. The IFET Observer Project reported on September 3

The observers, members of the International Federation for East Timor Observer Project (IFET-OP), traveled to the Becora neighborhood of Dili to investigate reports of militia burning houses in the area yesterday. When they arrived, they found a house newly ablaze, and with both firefighters and journalists at the scene, the IFET-OP team went to investigate. Ten minutes after the observers arrived, the Indonesian military-backed militia showed up at the house.

The Aitarak (Thorn) militia struck one U.S. IFET-OP member in the face. Another team member, a woman from Finland, was hit in the back by a militia holding a gun. Yet another Finnish team member was threatened at gunpoint. The militia members also punched the IFET-OP driver and smashed a window on his car.

With militia violence kicking off again almost immediately after the vote, solidarity groups around the world began to demand their governments pay attention to the worsening situation in East Timor. The following video, from Jose Budha, portrays how Portugal stood up and stopped in that period:

[Subtitles] The images of a country standing for 3 minutes in solidarity with a distant people ran the world, as did the aerial view of a 10 kilometers human chain. Thousands ended up heading towards Madrid, so that they could shout loudly their rebellion against the Indonesian Embassy. Indonesia eventually accepted the entry of an international force in East Timor. The UN took another week to send this force. We do not know how many people died. Out of the 18 accused in Indonesia of involvement in the events of 99, only 1 was convicted and the others were acquitted in different instances. There is a certainty that in the future, when necessary, there are millions of voices ready to scream, reaching as far as 14,000 kilometers away, to Timor Lorosa'e.

After the results were out in the 4th of September numerous atrocities, killings and devastation happened as TAPOL reported in 1999:

After the referendum results were announced on 4 September, the militias and their Kopassus bosses unleashed a scorched-earth policy of gigantic proportions. Para-military forces joined the fray, along with six TNI battalions, including two notorious local battalions, 744 and 745. Altogether about 15,000 men were involved. Without such a large contingent of men, it could never have taken hold so rapidly.

Although [Operation] Sapu Jagad-II sought to create the impression that this was a spontaneous outpouring of anger by pro-Indonesia forces, there is overwhelming evidence that the destruction was a well-prepared military operation. In many places, villagers were forced to destroy and burn their own neighbourhoods, even their own houses. The aim was to destroy as much as possible and punish the pillars of the pro-independence movement. The Catholic Church, which had given sanctuary to fleeing East Timorese throughout the occupation, was one of the main targets.

Photo from "Genocide Watch: East Timor 1975-1999", researched and written by Adam Jones. Shared under a license for non-profit use.

All IFET OP volunteers were forced to leave Dili by September 7, 1999 under extremely harrowing circumstances

Today, September 7, the last of our observers was forced to leave East Timor. Over the past two days, the Royal Australian Air Force evacuated 60 of our nonpartisan volunteers to Darwin from Dili and Baucau.

We left East Timor for safety, but with tremendous sadness. The East Timorese people have no Australia to run to, no place to hide from militia terror. Last night, Australia and Indonesian military officers prevented one of our East Timorese staff members from boarding the plane with us — and he faces an unspeakable horror shared by hundreds of thousands of his fellow East Timorese.

Most international observers and media fled East Timor before IFET-OP had to leave, and we were the last international NGO to leave. UNAMET has withdrawn from the entire country except Dili, where their communications and electricity has been cut off, and they are surrounded by militias who shoot into their compound virtually without interruption.

The mentioned “world pressure” became more and more real as citizens did not resign. Some photos of solidarity ties in Portugal may be seen in Tane Timor website. Maremargo posted images from Spain. Antonio Jose, from Uma Lulik blog, illustrated and emotionally described what was happening in Lisbon in a never before seen solidarity during the 7th and the 8th [pt] of September 1999:

As sirenes dos bombeiros ouviram-se ininterruptas nesses 3 minutos… parámos por Timor-Leste como nunca parámos por mais nada… TODOS (…)
Durante toda a tarde do cimo daquele prédio foram lançados constantemente papeis e papelinhos, rolos de papel higiénico, tudo o que vinha à mão era material para protesto. No final da tarde percebe-se que esse stock acabou pois eram as páginas amarelas que fluíam nessa altura… aquele ventinho sempre a ajudar e a depositar os protestos em plena embaixada dos EUA, nas árvores, no seu jardim e envolventes. No topo do prédio viam-se gente de gravata e camisa, a causa era a mesma…

"Civil non-obedience for Timor Loro Sa'e" in front of the US Embassy in Lisbon, Portugal, September 1999. Photo by Flickr user nopasaran, used with permission.

While the East Timor Action Network put people on the streets in September 1999, it was also able to count on the phone calls and letters of over ten thousand Americans

ETAN grew during 1999, enlarging our membership from 8,500 to 11,700. […] Using our experience and national activist network developed through eight years of dedication to a cause many called hopeless, ETAN mobilized public and official pressure. […] In September, ETAN’s web site was visited by more than 40,000 people a week. […] During September, our most active staff and volunteers were featured or quoted in countless mainstream media articles and programs, reaching tens of millions. ETAN activists authored op-eds in major U.S. newspaper, wrote letters to the editor, and appeared on local and national radio and TV shows.

On the other side of the world, the decisive moment for international intervention happened on the eve of the APEC summit in New Zealand, when Bill Clinton privately met with Pacific leaders. Only days prior he had announced the suspension of US military training with Indonesia. According to blogger Nigel Morley of “Writing for the Future“

To some readers this may seem fanciful but when Timorese Nobel Peace Prize winner José Ramos-Horta met United States (U.S.) President Bill Clinton at the APEC meeting in New Zealand in 1999, Clinton remarked that Ramos-Horta had more influence with Congress than he did (Zubrycki: 2002).

New Zealanders turned out in numbers to welcome Clinton, Ramos Horta and Australian Prime Minister Howard. Australians also “Take To The Streets Over East Timor”:

From Sidney, Australia, "Mother & Child" photo by Flickr user Potsy, used with permission

Banners saying “Stop The Slaughter” and “Wiranto - Murder.” Chants of “Free East Timor” and “Viva Timor Leste” (long live East Timor) came from the crowd after it heard from East Timorese resistance leader Mr Jose “Xanana” Gusmão during a live telephone hook-up from Jakarta.

“We need you, brothers and sisters of Australia, we need your voice,” Xanana Gusmao in Jakarta said by telephone, “I think it is important to send a message to the Indonesian Government that the Australian community and Australian workers will do everything they can to stop the killings. Viva East Timor,” he said. “Viva,” the crowd yelled back.

Students from Kingsgrove High School pledge their support for a free Timor in 1999. Photo by Flickr user sHzaam!, used with permission

During the torturous days of September 1999, world leaders moved slowly to intervene in East Timor, when it was clear that the Indonesian military and its proxies were completely destroying the territory, and setting off a humanitarian crisis of massive proportions. But the decisive protest and advocacy of groups of concerned citizens across the world shamed the US, Australia, and Indonesia into turning a new page for East Timor.

A decade later, it is time to celebrate that global union. Several events are scheduled in Dili, such as a photo exhibition in Fundação Oriente (which was itself the place where a massacre occurred in 1999) describing solidarity movements over the years.

This is the first in a series of posts to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the popular referendum in East Timor, a vote which led to the territory's internationally recognized independence. If you would like to share memories from the acts of global solidarity for East Timor in 1999, please do so below.

Unemployment diaries

There are several websites which provide regular news updates on job losses. For example: Layoff Tracker, Layoff Daily, The Layoff List, Singapore Retrenchment Blog. For its part, the International Labour Organization has uploaded a document on latest unemployment figures for every country in the world. These websites highlight the fact that job layoffs are perceived by most people as the primary and most recognizable indicator of the global economic recession.

There are many unemployed individuals who document their daily struggles by creating blogs. A few examples of these unemployment diaries are Furbier.com (Brazil), Retalhos Da Vida De Um Merdas (Portugal), Jobless and Less (United States), Unemploymentality (U.S.), Pink Slips are the New Black (U.S.)

‘Escape from Unemployment’, a book about the life of an unemployed person in Korea was published. Also noteworthy is the Unemployment Haiku Weekly blog of a recently laid-off worker.

Unemployment Haiku Weekly

Fabio C from Brazil echoes the sentiments of the unemployed:

Ficar desempregado é terrível. Você se sente inútil, nem descansar consegue, já que você pensa que precisa achar algo para fazer. Seu corpo e sua mente se acustumam ao trabalho, agora entendo porque aposentados ficam depressivos ou porque alguns profissionais vendem 10 ou 20 dias de férias.

Meus dias tem sido pesados, cansativos por serem iguais.

According to the ILO, the Middle East and North Africa region recorded the highest unemployment rate in 2008. Amira Al Hussaini of Global Voices has written a post about the job losses in the Arab world. One of the hardest hit by the recession was Dubai. Kinan Jarjous in Dubai wrote a poem and several goodbye emails after being laid-off:

There’s no need to be upset. I, for one, am ecstatic that this is over. Granted, I will miss the income, and feeling somehow “useful”, but it is now due.

I have drafted several goodbye emails, but picked the shortest and sweetest to send. There’s nothing left to do, nothing I would talk home about anyway. My energy now should be spent on pressing forward, and following my own wishes. I have to stop pretending to be someone else.

Even workers in the movie industry are in danger of losing their jobs. A producer for a major movie studio in Hollywood was recently laid-off:

They say that the movie business is one of those recession proof industries, but when you have the base of such an interconnected economy collapse and you also have lots of people suddenly waking up to the fact that they've been living way beyond their means, then it seems that even the mighty Hollywood ends up shedding jobs. And those people, just like everyone else, will have to think about finding work, staying in their homes, and making sure their families have good health insurance.

A blogger from South Korea identifies the possible reasons of companies for firing workers. Aspan, also from Korea, observes that “society is not comfortable with the unemployed.” Below is a translation of what Aspan wrote in his blog:

Most unemployed people feel humiliation when they receive unemployment compensation. They feel upset in workshop places where they can receive the compensation. We all know we lost jobs, but they painfully remind us in such a cruel way. We’re not begging, but it leads us to be upset. In order to receive the compensation that is provided every two weeks, we have to go to a public place on time and have to show evidence of how hard we have looked for jobs for two weeks. After passing, we can finally receive the unemployment compensation. In addition, the moment when I feel sad is how other people look at me. The way they look at me, why the person who is supposed to be the breadwinner of the family is stuck at home. “Can I take a rest for filling up new energy?” Even when I try to make a credit card, I was rejected from companies that had begged me to make cards before… Our society is not comfortable with the unemployed.

Unemployment has taught many people to appreciate the valuable things or persons in their lives. Pedro from Portugal is comforted by the fact that he is supported by family and friends:

Valem-me muitas coisas. O conforto da família, os amigos, os colegas. E, mais do que tudo, poder pegar na tua mão e sentir que ao pé de ti nada mais importa do que ver-te verdadeiramente feliz. É essa a razão principal que ainda me faz sentir uma ponta de optimismo e afasta de vez a palavra desistir do meu dicionário mental. Porque nada irá estragar um bem precioso que me caiu na vida de forma tão incrível. Como que a dizer que a vida tem sentido. E tem. Contigo tem. Bastante.

But sometimes unemployment also defeats the spirit. An Egyptian politician blames the high unemployment rate for the phenomenal rise of suicide cases in Egypt.

The video below features the unemployment crisis in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) member countries.

Job hunting journals

Bloggers are also writing about their quest to find jobs. Most of them are encountering difficulties.

An expat in Israel lost his job during the Israel hi-tech bubble burst in 2003. But he was able to bounce back. Now he is on the job hunt again. His wife discusses the problem of age discrimination in the job market:

While age discrimination is illegal in Israel, anyone in the hi-tech industry knows that it’s “Logan’s Run”; i.e. if you are over 55, you simply do not exist.

What does one do when one has a life-time of experience and no one seriously considering you for employment because you’re over “a certain age”?

One of the toughest parts of having an unemployed spouse is seeing the daily toll on their ego and self-esteem between potential job openings and on-going interviews. In some cases, the selection process has run upwards of 3-5 months while companies narrow the field.

Mona, a Palestinian in Canada, is frustrated that IT companies are looking for individuals who know everything but willing to work for almost nothing:

You can tell that the job hunt of mine sucks, but I am sorry companies and recruiters, I do not have the knowledge of over 20 languages, with 5+ years experience. However, I do have the ability, like any other Computer Science grad with years of experience, to learn new things. Is learning such a bad thing now a days or a person has to know everything from the start and get paid almost minimum wage?

IT jobs nowadays are not based on post secondary education or continuous learning ability. It is based on finding a human robot that knows everything and willing to work for nothing.

In Hong Kong, Oiwan Lam of Global Voices has written a post about the controversial subsidy plan of the government for university graduates looking for work:

As the unemployment problem is getting worse, preserving job is considered the most crucial task. (Financial Secretary) John Tsang decides to put the university fresh graduate on sale with a subsidy plan. However, many people worry that the policy will distort the job market as it allows corporates to pay university graduates as low as HKD 4,000 (a bit more than US500), in which HKD 2,000 is government subsidy.

Several Facebook groups have been set up to protest against the policy. The most popular one is Hong Kong Financial Secretary deserves HKD4000/month only!

In Germany, many job hunters are forced to work for shorter working hours in exchange for government wage and social-insurance subsidies. Curiously, unemployed investment bankers from London are flocking to Singapore. Saudi women who lost jobs are faced with limited working opportunities - sexual harassment in the workplace is a major reason. A Cambodian blogger invites Khmer-Americans who are looking for stable jobs to return and work in Cambodia. Social media tools are being used too for job applications. For example, Twitter Job Search.

There are worries that Japan is already experiencing an “employment ice age” which would create another “lost generation” of young Japanese with no full-time employment. At least 87 companies had canceled 331 informal promises of employment to university students last year. More than 500 temp workers stayed in tent cities last January after losing their jobs.

The short video below shows temp workers in Japan who sought refuge in tent cities last January.

Returning migrants

Migrant workers are returning home in large numbers after losing their jobs in the U.S. and Europe. This reverse migration can be a source of conflict in poor nations which cannot provide adequate employment and social services for their citizens.

More than 8 million Filipinos are working abroad. The remittances they send to their families help sustain the Philippine economy. Today, many Overseas Filipino Workers, including professionals, are returning home. A Filipino couple who lost their house and jobs in California are moving back to the Philippines. Filipino domestic workers in Hong Kong are being replaced by locals. In the previous post, I mentioned that a Philippine airline has increased its flights in the U.S. and Canada which can be interpreted as a sign that more and more retrenched Filipinos are forced to go back to the Philippines.

In the past Brazilians with Japanese descent are migrating to Japan. Today, “Brazil is the new Japan.” Paula Góes of Global Voices has written a post about Brazilian immigrants in Japan who are returning home because of the crisis. At least 40,000 Brazilian immigrants are planning to leave Japan.

Elaine has opted to stay in Japan; but she observes that the Japanese economy will continue to worsen. She is also worried that there are Brazilians who are living in the streets of Japan:

A crise não dá sinais de melhora e com isso existem mtos brasileiros que aqui residiam e que já regressaram ao Brasil,os que ficaram,como eu,estamos tentando sobreviver nessa crise brava que afetou o Japão,quase todos os dias eu vejo nas notícias do Japão alguns brasileiros que vivem nas ruas, que não tem nem o que comer e outros que vivem em abrigos públicos,contando com os donativos de pessoas solidárias.

Dubai’s population is expected to decrease by 8 percent as foreign workers continue to leave the city. A blogger contends that Dubai’s population will decrease by 25 percent. Schools in Dubai are receiving numerous applications for school transfer certificates as children of foreign workers return to their home countries. One school lost 10 percent of its student population.

The economies of most countries in South Asia depend on the remittances sent by their migrant workers. Rezwan of Global Voices has written a post about the continuing and disturbing trend of migrant workers who are suddenly returning home in South Asia.

Supriyo Chaudhuri at Sunday Posts writes about the reverse migration from the U.S. to India

Recession, uncertainties and difficulties in the immigration process and emerging opportunities in India combined, have created a flow of reverse migration from the United States to India. There is a trickle added to this from the UK, and the dam has burst in Dubai. So, suddenly, Indian cities are full of returnees, with a bit of cash, trying to start a new life all over again.

The number of workers leaving Nepal has decreased. As Malaysia prefers to give jobs to locals, Bangladesh migrant workers are forced to go back to their home country.

Thumbnail image used from the Flickr page of Per Bjorklund. The Portuguese text was translated by GV editor Paula Goes. The quote from Korea was an English translation provided by GV editor Hyejin Kim.

UNESCO Map of Languages at Risk

Iglesia Descalza, a librarian, blogs:

As someone who loves languages, I am chagrined to read the news coming out of UNESCO's presentation of the updated Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger of Disappearing. According to the Atlas, unveiled on the eve of International Mother Language Day (21 February), nearly 200 languages have fewer than 10 speakers and 178 others have between 10 and 50 speakers.

The data shows that out of the 6,000 languages currently in existence, over 200 have died out over the last three generations, 538 are critically endangered, 502 severely endangered, 632 definitely endangered and 607 unsafe.

As the last remaining speakers of a language pass away, the language itself dies. The language of Manx in the Isle of Man died out in 1974 when Ned Maddrell, the last speaker, passed away while Eyak, in Alaska, United States, met its demise last year with the death of Marie Smith Jones.

[…]

We need to prize bio-diversity, cultural and racial diversity, and linguistic diversity because we lose too much by becoming homogenized into one big, white, English-speaking society.

While disappearing languages are mostly those of indigenous peoples faced with globalization and state-nationalism, Daniel Moving Out, a blog by a Portugal native now in the UK, says not all “unofficial” languages are dying out:

[…]

The Galician sounds like a cross between Spanish and Portuguese, somewhat like a dialect originated from the second and enriched with vocabulary and accent of the first. The language is originated from the Galician-Portuguese of medieval times, and it was spoken at all the County of Portucale. […]

This week, the Unesco atlas of world languages was released, regarding Galician as a strong language among those that are not the main languages of any country. It receives protection from the Castilian (common Spanish) from being geographically close to Portugal.

[…]

The blog, nonetheless, summarizes some of the worst data:

[…]

199 languages have less than a dozen of native speakers. In Indonesia, the 4 remaining speakers of Lengilu talk within [themselves]; the Karaim in Ukraine is kept by only 6 people. Over than 200 different languages have disappeared in the last 3 generations. The Manx, from the Isle of Man, here in the UK died with the last native speaker in 1974.

But not everyone is concerned with disappearing languages. Commenting on TED blog, user Magnus Lindkvist says:

[…] Why do we insist on romanticizing ancient languages that arguably noone wants to speak anymore? What about the hundreds of new programming languages that have sprung up in the past decades? Or the infinite variations of English that people are adopting and “remixing” to make their own around the world? These are real languages and show a lot more vitality than Manx and Tirahi.

Abdullah Waheed, a native speaker of Dhivehi – an “official” language yet one with not many speakers in Maldives – explains in one example why language preservation matters:

[…]

Dhivehi language is absolutely vital to the identity of Maldivians as a people and Maldives as a country, because it is the only feature we all share and which few others have. It is a strategic factor in our advances towards sustainable development and the harmonious coordination of our affairs.
Far from being a field reserved for writers, Dhivehi lies at the heart of all social, economic and cultural life. Dhivehi does matter to all of us. It matters when we want to promote cultural diversity, and fight illiteracy, and it matters for quality education, including teaching in the first years of schooling. It matters in the fight for greater social inclusion, for creativity, economic development and safeguarding indigenous knowledge.

[…]

The latest Portuguese orthographic agreement was signed in 1990 by seven out of eight Portuguese speaking countries. It intends to unify the two current orthographic standards and was meant to go into effect after all signatory countries had ratified it. However, by the end of the decade only Brazil, Cape Verde, and Portugal had done so, although in Portugal the change was passed into law only in May 2008. Brazil, which has nearly 80% of the Portuguese speakers in the world, is the first to implement it.

The spelling changes will affect about 1.6% of the words in the European norm (also adopted in Africa) and 0.5% in the Brazilian spelling. Across the Lusophone world, many linguists, philologists, politicians, journalists, writers, translators – and of course bloggers – do not quite understand the need for, or agree with, the international treaty meant to improve the language's international status through a single official orthography. The debate is a heated one, but most bloggers seem to be on the same side.

“A sign in both Chinese and Portuguese in Macau, China. Actually, “主教座堂辦公室” (in Chinese) or “Cartório Da Sé” (in Portuguese) means “The Office of the Cathedral.” By Wikimedia.

Starting with Portugal two petitions (1 and 2) collecting thousands of signatures calling for the suspension of the implementation are being evaluated by the National Assembly. There, the reform is perceived as a “abraziliament” of the language with no real advantage for the other countries. It is also claimed that the new spelling rules disagree with the way the Portuguese people pronounce words. A Portuguese citizen who has grown up in Macau, Ricardo José [pt] has taken an extreme decision:

Um país não é um hino ou um desenho numa bandeira. Um país é a sua língua e é a sua cultura.

E se um conjunto de políticos se arroga o direito de interferir na língua que é minha, contra aquilo que caracteriza a cultura dos cidadãos dum país, servindo interesses que não os dos portugueses, então repudio-os, porque já não são mais políticos de Portugal.

A partir de hoje e para sempre, se este acordo não tiver retrocesso, o meu voto será sempre público e será sempre o mesmo: votarei em branco.

In fact, for what has become known as Brazilian Portuguese, changes will be kept to a minimum, and some bloggers have adopted them already [pt]. However, the majority of people are not happy with the reform either. A doctor of the Portuguese language, Marcelo Leite [pt], for one, seems to agree with the views of the blogger above, adding that the reform was an agreement which has much more to do with political and economic interests than language issues.

Na verdade, fizemos a comunidade lusófona engolir a maioria das regras para se unificar em nome de uma unidade lingüística que, assim como o Godot, de Becket, fica sob uma árvore esperando. Podemos até escrever do mesmo jeito, mas o que nos faz tão distantes, tão distintos não está na grafia das palavras, mas em uma herança cultural que, fora a língua, nos separa por mais de um oceano. E acho que essa diferença é que é o legal da coisa.

Eugênio Costa Almeida [pt], from Angola, agrees with the Brazilian blogger that a game of power is at play and wonders how this reform can be implemented in language prolific Africa:

Como será que a CPLP vai descalçar esta bota, bem apertada, quando há países que ainda nem ratificaram a nova ortografia, como Angola e Moçambique, sendo que o primeiro, ao contrário de Moçambique e Guiné-Bissau, já tem quase mais falantes em português que nas próprias línguas nacionais.

Talking about Mozambique, Nyikiwa [pt] thought that the country should stop models that much of the time are not in line with their reality:

A questão do acordo ortográfico, quanto a mim mostra claramente que a população não é consultada, nem ouvida. A população apenas serve para votar. Na verdade quem ratifica os documentos quer a nível nacional, quer a nível internacional são os dirigentes, que ignoram o facto de haver diversas culturas e diversos comportamentos no seio de um povo que aparentemente é homogéneo, quiça entre povos de diferentes culturas e comportamentos? Julgo que está na hora de antes de se avançar para esse tipo de acordos, se ausculte o povo e se faça ouvir suas ideias.

“– Here's to the spelling reform!
– Poor thing, he is dyslexic and is ever so happy with the multiple spelling words. He says that he will never make a mistake again.” A cartoon against the agreement by Foram-se os Anéis.

Virgílio Brandão [pt], from Cape Verde, is not too happy either - the blogger also says that apart from Portugal and Brazil, the other Portuguese speaking countries had no say in the process - as if “these other speakers did not exist”:

Não existem senhores nem donos da língua; nem é preciso, em boa verdade, um acordo ortográfico como o que se tenta impor às comunidades falantes do português. Até porque, até me demonstrarem o contrário, a diversidade é um bem estimável.

É por essa razão – para não estarmos presos a um desejado e sub-reptício império da língua – que a língua cabo-verdiana deve ser implementada como língua de trabalho ao nível internacional. Se somos independentes, que o sejamos em tudo, caramba! Quem não tem coragem de fazer o que é preciso, que dê lugar a quem tenha. É, para os cabo-verdianos, uma questão bem mais importante do que aparentemente possa parecer.

Portuguese is a Romance language originating in what is now Galicia and northern Portugal. During the Portuguese colonial empire, the language spanned around the world: from Brazil to Goa to Macau, in China, where it still is one of the official languages. Nowadays, Portuguese ranks 6th in a list of languages according to number of native speakers, which makes it one of the world's major languages, with an estimated 240 million speakers in virtually every continent. It is spoken by about 187 million people in South America, 17 million in Africa, 12 million in Europe, 2 million in North America, and 0.61 million in Asia.

Participants from El Salvador and the 22 member states are divided into one of a broad range of areas including: Astronomy, CampusBot (robotics), Innovation, Modding, Campus Create, Digital Leisure and Digital Inclusion, and includes the participation of bloggers. These bloggers have captured the feeling of being in a room with their fellow technology enthusiasts through their blog posts, photos and videos.

Photo by Patinet and used under a Creative Commons license.

David of the blog Dark Manfred [es] and a native of El Salvador writes about his first impressions about the amount of computers in the room, numbering in the hundreds.

With representatives from all 22 Ibero-american states, it is an opportunity to meet others, share ideas, and see what others are doing across the region. Blogchorno [es] from El Salvador had the opportunity to see the XO computers from the One Laptop Per Child project that attendees from Uruguay had brought to demonstrate. The traditional media is also presented, as La Prensa Grafica, one of San Salvador's most important newspaper is devoting a blog [es] to the event and published a note about theBlogs & Beers event for local and visiting bloggers. David Mejia is also promoting the event on Facebook [es].

Many bloggers are writing about their favorite areas of Campus Party Rafael Monge was thoroughly impressed with modding (modification) of computers from their original factory enclosures with “customized designs by their owners to make things truly surprising: personalized equipment which are more works of art.”

The robots have also been a notable attraction, with original designs built by representatives from across Ibero-América. Joster Ricardo took a video of a robot that stands up on its own.

As many of the participants are enthusiasts of Open and Free Software, many were excited about the recent release of the newest version of Ubuntu 8.10. To spread the word, there were signs everywhere, such on the computer towers and also on signs on people's backs to let everyone know for sharing purposes. Edwin of Sansivar Graphics [es] has photos.

However, not all bloggers arrived from around El Salvador, others travelled varying distances such as Gustavo Reyes of Guatemala [es], Hugo Miranda of Bolivia [es], Carolina Botero of Colombia [es], and Julio Juan Ortega of Nicaragua [es]. The gathering was also an opportunity for first-time visitors to El Salvador to try local cuisine. Joan Guerrero from the Dominican Republic [es] captured an outing to try the traditional pupusas.

The event continues through Saturday morning, and one can follow the rest of the agenda on Campus Party's official YouTube, Twitter, Flickr, and Facebook page.

When Angola became independent in 1975, the former Portuguese colonizers were forced to go back to Portugal. But they were not the only ones. Angolans too, Portuguese descendants or not, left their whole life behind. They abandoned goods filled houses, cars, jobs, and most of them travelled only with a change of clothes. They did not have time to say good bye, to give notice at work, to guarantee they possessed the houses of which they left the front doors open.

Many years later, the home owners returned to recover their goods. They got nothing back. The houses had been occupied in most cases by people coming from the countryside or given to other people by the Angolan state, which declared them abandoned by previous occupants.

They arrived in Portugal with no hopes, looking lost, holding their kids by their hands, with their only a certainty an unstable present and grey future. In Portugal, they were dubbed the “returnees”, a pejorative term which has dimmed with time, but which still marks the soul of those who fled their own country.

The author of 25 de Abril - O Antes e o Agora [April 25 - Before and Now, pt] blog reproduced the story of a man who left everything behind to flee Angola:

“Entre essa massa anónima de pessoas de destino incerto encontrava-se Ribeiro Cristovão, a sua mulher e os três filhos menores. “Mantive-me em Angola quase até à independência. Acreditava que apesar das alterações radicais haveria lugar para todos. Enganei-me.” No final de 1975 abandona o seu emprego na cervejaria Cuca e a sua casa em Nova Lisboa. O homem do desporto da Rádio Renascença confessa que os primeiros três meses passados em Lisboa foram os mais difíceis da sua vida. E sem o abrigo na casa da irmã em Alcochete, a sua história estaria hoje pintada em tons ainda mais negros. “Recordo-me de calcorrear a cidade à procura de emprego, sem sorte nenhuma. Estava mesmo desesperado. No primeiro Natal na capital, Ribeiro Cristovão afundou-se numa tristeza profunda. Ali estava ele rodeado com a sua família mas com a árvore despida de presentes. O rótulo de retornado teimava em fechar-lhe as portas”.

JPF, from Fado Falado [Spoken Fado, pt] has a different perspective:

”Tenho contudo a ideia – e a convicção – de que por cá, os retornados foram na generalidade bem acolhidos. Pelo Estado e pelas pessoas em geral. Aliás a maioria e a sua descendência está por aí em situação identica à dos casos dos que já cá estavam e nas respectivas descendencias. Dir-me-ão que conhecem um caso X e outro Y diferentes. Provavelmente, há casos desses. Como os há de retornados que, não necessitando de nada, se fizeram e beneficiaram de toda a prebenda”.

The Cubatangola [pt] blog author tells us a curious fact:

“Ontem tive a certeza que uma grande maioria dos antigos habitantes de Agola, não enjeita serem chamados de “retornados”. Tenho um familiar que devido a graves problemas de saúde, ACV já por mais de quatro anos se encontra internado num lar para idosos. Recentemente conseguimos arranjar um novo lar com umas condições bastante melhores e uma assistência mais completa, para o mudamos ontem. Quando umas das empregadas soube que este novo utente tinha vivido bastantes anos em Angola e tinha regressado na leva de 75, chegou-se a ela e disse simplesmente, EU TAMBÉM SOU RETORNADA! Uma frase simples, mas tão cheia de significado que foi suficiente para acalmar esta pessoa idosa, arrancando-lhe um sorriso, aqueles sorrisos de cumplicidade que trocamos com as pessoas que já conhecemos há muitos anos. Sim, mais do que nunca continuo a acreditar que esta palavra “RETORNADOS”, identifica um povo, povo esse que não se deve envergonhar de assim ser chamado, mesmo que alguns o achem pejorativo”.

The truth is that neither the Portuguese state or citizens themselves made the life of those returning to the country easy. JPF confirms this:

“Tenho família que fugiu de Angola em 75. Foi terrível para muita gente, para muitas famílias. Pelo que apreendi na altura e sei hoje, o Estado português, na época, não lhes prestou lá o apoio que deveria. Abandonou-os, mesmo. Mas isso é uma questão que têm de colocar aos responsavéis políticos de então. Basicamente, militares barbudos, alguns comunistas, muitos revolucionários e oficiais-generais, como Rosa Coutinho, Vasco Gonçalves e Costa Gomes. E outros de quem não conhecemos os nomes”.

I have family who fled Angola in ‘75. It was terrible for many people, for many families. As far as I learnt at the time and know today, the Portuguese state did not provide them with the support due at that time. They were indeed deserted. But this is a question which should be directed to the relevant polititians of the time. Basically, bearded militaries, some of them communists, others revolutionaires and general-officers, such as Rosa Coutinho, Vasco Gonçalves, and Costa Gomes as well as others whose names we don't know”.

It is true that tha majority decided to leave for the old metropolis, but some decided to stay. It was, nevertheless, the place where they had started a family, a place where dreams and a promissing future were bonded together. JPF publishes a story of courage and love for the homeland on his blog:

“Há uns anos, li na revista Pública, uma excelente reportagem com “o mais velho português de Angola”. Era um tipo com quase 90 anos. Tinha nascido lá, por volta de 1910. O seu avô tinha ido para Angola na primeira metade do século XIX.
O homem relatava a história da sua vida. Em 74 ou 75, quando rebentaram a sério as hostilidades em Angola, desfez a casa, carregou carros e camionetas e rumou, da cidade onde vivia, a caminho de Luanda, para se pirar com a família. Chegado a meio do percurso, de muitas centenas de quilómetros e milhares de perigos, parou o carro e pensou: vou fugir para onde? Porquê? Esta é a minha terra! Esta é a terra que eu gosto!
Voltou para trás com a família e ficou. Hoje terá perto de cem anos. Ou já morreu - na terra onde nasceu e que sempre amou. E onde foi enterrado pelos seus familiares.
Não tenho dúvidas de que este velhote amava mesmo de Angola”.

To round off, Carlos Pereira of meus escapes [my scapes, pt] uploads a video made in Luena in 1975 showing what he calls “moments of great drama for the victms of a disasterous decolonization”:

Mexendo nuns quantos papéis que já perderam a frescura da novidade, encontrei um artigo sobre Lisboa escrito há uns quantos anos, e, não me envergonho de confessá-lo, emocionei-me. Talvez porque não se trate realmente de um artigo, mas de uma carta de amor, de amor a Lisboa. Decidi então partilhá-la com os meus leitores e amigos tornando-a outra vez pública, agora na página infinita de internet e com ela inaugurar o meu espaço pessoal neste blog.

These are the first lines of Portuguese writer and Nobel Prize laureate José Saramago's blog “O Caderno de Saramago” [Saramago's Notebook, available in Portuguese and in Spanish], launched on September 15 initially on the Saramago Foundation's website and now on the Wordpress platform. Since them, Saramago has blogged on his “infinite page on the Internet” about the Catholic Church's appology to Darwin, George Bush and the credit crunch, Berlusconi's fortune, Pulianas (a cemitery in Granada province), and global warming. On his last post, yesterday, Saramago wrote about the future of family libraries when couples get divorced.

They are all great articles for the joy of the Lusosphera: bloggers from virtually every Portuguese speaking country welcomed him to the world of blogs (and have linked to, or copied and pasted his posts freely). Aline [pt], from Mozambique, was a little skeptical to start with. Would it really be the winner of the 1998 Nobel Prize for literature behind those online words?

Fiquei confusa… será que é mesmo o JOSÉ SARAMAGO??? Isso não é dele… muito estranho! Fui conferir: era ele mesmo! Imaginem o autor de A Caverna e todos aqueles outros livros maravilhosos virando um blogueiro, como um simples mortal, como nós! Como não tive tempo de ler tudo ontem, hoje acordei e, sem tirar o pijama, liguei o computador. Tomei café lendo o Caderno de Saramago. Fantástico! Ele promete escrever diariamente. E está cumprindo a promessa, desde segunda-feira já são três posts.

As of now, there are 8 posts. From Portugal, Vasco Corisco [pt] believes he too can recognize the writer behind the blogger:

Na secção O Caderno de Saramago temos acesso à escrita de opinião do autor na primeira pessoa, no tom marcadamente político ao qual estão acostumados aqueles que conhecem os seus escritos.

Also from Portugal, João [pt] was very pleased to welcome Saramago to the blogosphere:

Embora desconfie que é um blogue completamente diferente deste, porque será certamente um lido por muita gente, fica a sensação de que Saramago se juntou cá ao grupo dos que têm um cantinho algures na Internet para escrever desabafos. Não deixa de ser estranho ter ouvido contar, há bem pouco tempo, que Saramago terá dito que jamais escreveria sem ser à mão. Depois passou a só escrever numa máquina e, agora, desconfio que utilize um computador para o fazer.

From Cabo Verde, Neu Lopes [pt], himself a new blogger, takes the opportunity to spread the word about Saramago's new book, The Elephant’s Journey, which is expected to reach bookshops by end of the year. Apparently not a big fan of Saramago, another Cape Verdean blogger Miguel Barbosa [pt] leaves his two cents:

Vamos torcer para os posts não serem tão chatos quanto os livros, hehehe…

Moving to Brazil's blogosphere, Hemetério was a little disappointed that Saramago had joined the online tribe, but was happy to find such sharp texts, which he printed out and left on the bus for other people to read and leave on the bus in turn:

Achava que o venerável escritor português era avesso à tecnologia, que defendia o arcaísmo de sua labuta em máquinas de escrever como o japonês perdido numa ilha distante, que devotara sua vida a proteger o forte, anos depois da guerra ter acabado.

“Casting pearls before swine?”. Brazilian blogger Hemetério [pt] printed out the post about President Bush, who “expurgated truth from the world to, in its place, bring the era of lies to fruition”, to leave on the bus

On the other hand, Lara [pt] thought it was interesting to see a renowned writer as such beginning to use this type of tool. She chips in:

É um bom sinal de que a comunicação pela internet não está apenas ganhando espaço por sua agilidade, mas também pela facilidade e amplitude com que atinge o público. Comentaram comigo, inclusive, que fazer um blog pode ser só uma tentativa de Saramago de ser cool. Mas, minha gente, Saramago tem 85 anos. Uma pessoa de 85 anos não liga para ser cool.

Perhaps Saramago doesn't need to be cool, but this itch to join cyberspace might be called marketing. Apart from his forthcoming book, his well-known novel Blindness is about to be released in the cinemas as a movie by Fernando Meirelles (also a blogger [pt]) starring Mark Ruffalo and Julianne Moore. On these lines, Portuguese blogger Miguel Drummond de Castro [pt] reminds his public that not even a Nobel Prize winner can be turned into a blogger overnight:

Há aqui uma confusão antropo-cibernética de primeiro grau. A de crer que a utlização de uma maquineta - no caso o computador ligado à rede - transforma imediatamente a pessoa num “verdadeiro” blogger. A maquineta, qual deus, confere de imediato a graça divina. A pessoa que no dia anterior não sabia nada de blogs, que não fazia a menor ideia dia sobre o que é um template ou um Html, de repente, por infusão divina da santíssima técnica, já se comporta como um “verdadeiro blogger”. De um momento para outro adquiriu todas as competências.

Does it matter? Deborah Icamiaba [pt] likes it for being quality online reading:

Que frescor tem sido a leitura do recém-criado blog do Saramago!
Eu já gostava de seus livros e ele virou ídolo quando tornou-se o único escritor de porte a exigir das editoras que seus livros fossem publicados em papel reciclado.
Quando a gente está na net e quer ler algo legal, fica procurando e não acha, vale a pena passar por lá: http://caderno.josesaramago.org/ - tem sempre algo interessante sendo dito de maneira singela e poderosa.

Photo by Periodista digital.com licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License