Archive for
June 20th, 2005
Stories
Question to Iranian bloggers: What are the Persian blogs saying?
Global Voices invites a Persian-speaking blogger to help inform the world about what the Persian blogs are saying about Iran's election. Unfortunately we do not have a person on our team who reads Farsi.
If you would like to help, please post an English-language roundup on your blog - with summaries and maybe translations of key quotes, and links back to the original posts so that people with the language ability can see the original. Then please let us know in the comments section of this post that you have done so, and we'll link to it ASAP.
Also, if you don't have a blog but definitely have the language ability to help, please email us at: globalvoices DOT online AT gmail DOT org
Thanks!!
Declaration for a Free Internet
Reporters Without Borders and the OSCE (Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe) have just released a set of six recommendations which governments and corporations should follow in order to ensure a free internet.
Full text of the Declaration :
1. Any law about the flow of information online must be anchored in the right to freedom of expression as defined in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
2. In a democratic and open society it is up to the citizens to decide what they wish to access and view on the Internet. Filtering or rating of online content by governments is unacceptable. Filters should only be installed by Internet users themselves. Any policy of filtering, be it at a national or local level, conflicts with the principle of free flow of information.
3. Any requirement to register websites with governmental authorities is not acceptable. Unlike licensing scarce resources such as broadcasting frequencies, an abundant infrastructure like the Internet does not justify official assignment of licenses. On the contrary, mandatory registration of online publications might stifle the free exchange of ideas, opinions, and information on the Internet.
4. A technical service provider must not be held responsible for the mere conduit or hosting of content unless the hosting provider refuses to obey a court ruling. A decision on whether a website is legal or illegal can only be taken by a judge, not by a service provider. Such proceedings should guarantee transparency, accountability and the right to appeal.
5. All Internet content should be subject to the legislation of the country of its origin (”upload rule”) and not to the legislation of the country where it is downloaded.
6. The Internet combines various types of media, and new publishing tools such as blogging are developing. Internet writers and online journalists should be legally protected under the basic principle of the right to freedom of expression and the complementary rights of privacy and protection of sources.
We encourage bloggers around the world to translate this Declaration into different languages. If you do so please let us know by posting the link to your translation in the “comments” section below.
RSF says it hopes this declaration “will provoke discussion in the run-up to the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS).
UPDATE: Portnoy at Working Man has already done a Chinese translation.
Iran: bloggers mull election results
With election authorities now ordering a partial recount and a run-off between Rafsanjani and the conservative Ahmadinejad scheduled for this coming Friday, bloggers continue to chew over the results and disagree about what to do next.
From Teheran, Hossein Derakhshan (Hoder) writes of “the coming coup.” He says: “
All non-fundamentalists are rallying behind Rafsanjani. Many are talking about a possible coup by Sepah [the Islamic Revolution's Guards Corps] and Basij [army and police] after Friday‘s second round results.
In another post he writes of one possible silver lining coming out of the elections:
One good thing about an Ahmadinejad term could be that it would end the apathy among the youth born after the Iran-Iraq war.
Hoder will probably stay in Iran for a couple more days, but says he probably can't stay longer and hints at concerns for his own safety.
Mr. Behi, now in Ahwaz on business with a lost cellphone, remains terribly upset.
“Windsteed” at Iran Votes 2005 writes:
I have received reports from a number of towns that Basij (Sepah's militia) are active there trying to encourage people to vote for Ahmadi Nejad on Friday. This is done in a variety of ways including offering poeple money and clothes and provoking their “sense of dignity”. These reports come from these Iranian towns: Klardasht, Lahijan, Asataneh, Birjand, Neyshabour, Garmsar, Varamin, and Zanjan. In one case, I am told, that Basijis personally approach peoples' houses, asking for the ‘man/elder of the household' to come to talk to them. Then, they go on to give advise to the men that if they feel responsibility towards their family members, especially their women (Namouss) they must vote for Ahmadi Nejad, who will, they claim, protect their honour.
Iranian expats discuss:
Little Black Fish, writing from Canada, calls for a boycott on Rafsanjani in Friday's upcoming runoff, despite the fact that he'll be facing off against the conservative hard-liner, Ahmadinejad:
Although I believe Ahmadi will ruin the country but this will be short time and the crisis will shoot them out of the power forever. Rafsanjani will not initiate any true reform and will constanslty but silently bite the soul of this land.
I am not sure if the situation gets worse fixing the present system or replacing it with a democratic regime will be easier, in fact it might become more difficult. Nor do I believe that Rafsanjani would necessarily heed the call for reforming the system fundamentally. I just propose that by considering him instead of Ahmadinejad, the reformists and the pro-referendum camps might be able to sit aback, regroup, and plan a better strategy as Iranians will have to go to the polls again for the municipal councils and parliamentary elections during the next three years.
Jafar Rezaei, guest author at Free Thoughts on Iran (a “collective project of a group of Iranian students” mainly living outside Iran) has a long analysis of the results and calls for boycott of the next election round:
…old excuses will be repeated again for certain in the coming days to justify this mistake. If we still insist on remaining blind, only worse kinds of defeat will await us in the future. By rejecting a total boycott democracy in Iran lost an important battle on Friday. There would not be another such an opportune moment in the near future. This chance was missed. There is now the time to cut the losses and begin the real grass-root struggle for a referendum. The first step must be the boycott of the second round of this “elections.” It is finally time to understand the simple fact that freedom is not free.
Yaser at Free Thoughts on Iran disagrees. He thinks an Ahmadinejad victory will mean “the return of facism.”
One lesson from the June 17th election is the failure of boycott strategy. People's civil disobedience in order to get to democracy is just a dream. Boycotting the upcoming run-off is nothing just helping Ahamdinejad to run the country toward Fascism. Those who want other than Fascism have no choice but voting the other candidate, whoever he is.
Links for Mon, 2005-06
East Asia
New Mongols, under the guise of a complaint about a Chinese museum of Mongolian culture, takes a close look at patriarchal Chinese attitudes towards Mongolia.
An in-store McDonald’s ad has been accused of insulting all Chinese customers, reports Danwei. Like many similar stories that have come out of China, I suspect that there’s more to this story than meets the eye.
Bingfeng looks at the return of Confucius in modern China. Historically, the Chinese have turned to the old masters in times of change and crisis with mixed results.
After receiving publicity in Western press, two Chinese websites have been shut down by the authorities recently. EastSouthWestNorth wonders if there was a causal relationship…
Found on an message board: An eye-opening collection of Korean children’s anti-Japanese art.
Photograph by Janice Lo
The Middle East
The final round of voting for the Lebanese parliament has concluded, with the ultimate result being a solid majority for the anti-Syrian “opposition.” About Lebanon states that it’s time for differing factions to set aside their differences and work together, an idea strongly seconded by Pulse of Freedom.
The Beirut Spring has a great graphic breaking down the membership of the new parliament.
However, the Lebanese Political Journal asks some tough questions about voting irregularities.
More fallout from the Iranian Presidential election results: Mr.Behi calls on the forces of reform not to give up: “But this wall is our last to protection. If we show up little, they will cheat again and make the most logically impaired people to become the owners of our destiny and they will cut all the trees we raised in these years with our words and ideas so that under they shadow we can have better living and a more free society despite the barren desert of dictatorship around us.”
In addition, Hoder notes that election-related text-messaging (SMS) has been banned by the authorities.
The Big Pharaoh gets into a lengthy political conversation with some bookstore employees… and discovers that they didn’t complain once about Palestine or the USA. Perhaps the Egyptian political elite cannot deflect criticism with those two hot button topics anymore.
Egyptian Person comments on Farouk Kaddoumi’s recent statement calling on resistance groups to stop targeting Palestinian civilians: “But I think that Kaddoumi … did not have the courage, or perhaps enough wit, to include in his list of wrongdoings by the Palestinian groups other kinds of attacks against civilian Israeli targets …
Saudi Jeans on the rituals of the teenaged Saudi male:“During summer, large number of young men in Riyadh go to Jeddah to have a good time, because they are not allowed to enter entertainment places, such as shopping malls, in Riyadh, unlike Jeddah, which does not have this kind of boys-phobia.” Unfortunately, as the blog reports, some of the malls in Jeddah have been changing their policy on unaccompanied young men…
Mahmood’s Den has a simple explanation for why some Bahraini protesters were beaten badly by police: “That’s because they protested in front of the Royal Court.”
In less political news, the recent Jordan blogger meetup “was one big success,” writes AquaCool. She says that “I enjoyed every moment, I didn’t feel like a stranger, I felt I’ve already met the bloggers before and having an interesting, and a fruitful conversation with all of them couldn’t be easier!”
Latin America
MTYBlogs.com has a great English-language roundup of blogs from Monterrey, including this great guide to podcasting in Spanish.
Exhausted from the excitement of the Bolivian presidential resignation and change of power, Barrio Flores settles for doing a roundup of the past week in Bolivian blogs.
Blog From Bolivia thoroughly disassembles an Economist article about Bolivia’s economic troubles.
Bolivian legislatures are attempting to collect compensation in the event that the Congress is dissolved; MABB is understandably outraged: Never mind the 126 million dollars it would cost, how about the fact that they have been completely unable to deal with the crisis currently affecting the county.
South Asia
Kiruba Shankar, in the context of a podcasting meet-up, needs to know what the best way to connect some remote visitors…
Rashmi Bansal at Youth Curry uses the question—“So, when are you having another baby?”—as a starting point for an essay on the nature of the modern Indian family.
In sports news, a jubilant 3rd World View
is collecting news reports about Bangladesh’s massive upset cricket victory over Australia.
Photograph by Pyo
South-East Asia
Jakartass is relieved to know that Indonesia’s antiquated foreign marriage laws will be reformed soon: “Er Indoors and I should be able to complete the marriage procedures started 15 years ago.”
Macam-Macam notes some interesting disparities in Indonesian drug penalties and concludes that, as in many things Indonesian, the rules for the haves and the rules for the have-nots aren't always the same.
Europe
It’s graduation season these days; colleges and high school seniors get dressed in robes and funny hats and face their future. San Francisco-based Irish expatriate Dervala takes the occasion to reminisce about the Irish college entrance exam: “In Ireland, we didn’t get to prove our “scholastic aptitude” with a multiple-choice test of our parents’ ability to pay for Kaplan prep. Instead we faced the Leaving Certificate, a national examination that would, we sincerely believed, determine everything in our future except the color of the curtains.
In Hungary, Pesticide explains why turnout at a meeting celebrating 60 years of Russian-Hungarian brotherhood might have been a little low; it also details the link between nice weather and rising eviction rates in Budapest.
Africa
Ethiopundit write a long post about the government that rules Ethiopia: “Ethiopians are in the tragic position of being ruled by an undemocratic government that actively hinders their economic and social development and indeed values their suffering for the aid money it attracts.” The post also has a detailed roundup of blog posts about Ethiopia.
Apparently recovering from a back injury, the author of Black Looks uses her time to do a quick pan-African blog roundup.
Central Asia
The Carpetblogger discovers that mourning in Azerbaijan involves much more ritual than in the West.
From Registan.net, a report about a 20,000-strong opposition protest in Azerbaijan. Taking their cue from another former Soviet republic, the protestors have picked orange as the color to symbolize their fight.
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