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There is No Festival in Cartagena

David Sasaki · 18:23 · Americas

The following is an abbreviated translation of a post originally written in Spanish by Colombian journalist, Efraim Medina Reyes at Blogscolombia.com.

In the most recent issue of the magazine, Arcadia, a brief note appeared about the virtual event, No Hay Festival (There is No Festival) which, with the collaboration of some friends, I am organizing. The idea of making a magazine about the “dark side” of Cartagena and other cities along the Atlantic Coast came about over a year ago while conversing with the journalists Tadeo Martínez and Juan Manuel Buelvas. Writer and comic strip creator, Alfonso Múnera Cavadía was also interested by the topic. Due to the costs of the project and the difficulty of finding funders, it was shelved, but the dream remained intact and I decided that, before landing the project, we could at least take it for a virtual non-stop test flight which starts on Thursday January, 26 at the website of Fracaso Limitada (Limited Failure). The name was, of course, inspired by the “Hay Festival,” which is taking place this week in Cartagena and is our way of giving it an enthusiastic welcome and recognizing its importance to the city and country. Events like “Hay Festival” can generate positive press attention towards Colombia outside of its borders and are magnificent opportunities for those who are sufficiently privileged to attend the lectures, to listen, meet, and receive the autographs of excellent authors like Vikram Seth, Hanif Kureishi, or Balisario Betancur.

Our “No Hay Festival” will try to show, through a series of chronicles, reports, essays, and columns, the grave situation facing the other Cartagena. The Cartagena that doesn't make it into postcards nor international festivals. The city of the everyday Colombian, the environmental ruin, the unemployment, the displaced, the absolute misery, the sex work by minors … the desolate Cartagena, immobile and invisible which only receives such eminent personalities during election campaigning. With photographs, videos, and comic strips, “No Hay Festival” will have writers in the districts of Bazurto, Nelson Mandela, Zona Suroriental, Henequén, and Mis Cojones. Vistors to the page are free to leave comments and complaints to the different authors. Among those who have confirmed their participation in this first installment of “No Hay Festival” are Juan Manuel Roca, Daniel Samper Pizano, Alberto Salcedo, Heriberto Fiorillo, Alvaro Restrepo, Cristian Valencia, Alfonso Múnera Cavadia, Rómulo Bustos Aguirre, Daniel Samper Ospina, Miguel Iriarte, Andrés Felipe Solano, Alonso Sanchez, Antonio Ungar, Ricardo Silva, Ernesto McCausland, Tadeo Martínez, John Junieles, Juan Manuel Buelvas and Alvaro Suescún.

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WSF Bamako - What it means for Africa

Sokari Ekine · 15:53 · Sub-Saharan Africa

The World Social Forum (WSF) is a yearly gathering of civil society groups and social movements that meets every year in order to try to find solutions to fight against the continued domination of corporate capitalism. For the first time this year the WSF changed its format from one centralised forum to a more global one with events taking place in 2006 - Bamako, Mali (January 19th-23rd) Caracas, Venezuela (January 24th-29th; and Karachi, Pakistan (date to be set).

The first WSF was held in Porto Alegre in 2001. The organisers say they began the forum as a response to neo-liberalism and corporate
capitalism and to enable activists, NGOs and civil society groups to come together to share ideas, experiences and seek solutions. This is now the 6th year and some people at this year's forum began to question the fact “that nothing seems to be coming out of this enormous effort“

“This forum will not lead to anything; we'll just hear the same speeches,” said a teacher from Bamako to South Africa's Mail & Guardian on 18 January, the eve of the forum. “Before, it was politicians putting us to sleep with their words – now it's those who question globalisation…” Similarly, the secretary general of Civicus, a world alliance of non-governmental organisations, Kumi Naidoo, called for the forum to agree on and propose real solutions instead of only complaining about the world’s problems

The holding of the WSF in Mali was important to Africans for a number of reasons. First it allowed the participants to feel “more connected to the process than if it was held elsewhere“. Secondly it enabled Africans to lay down their own agenda and discuss issues that are more specific to their countries and needs such as Female Genitle Mutilation, early marriage, literacy of girls, the occupation of the Western Sahara by Morocco, and the conflicts in Darfur and the DRC. The forum also enabled groups such as the Ogoni of Nigeria and the Yaaku of Kenya to speak to their particular concerns. Finally the forum in Bamako acted as a preliminary to the WSF 2007 which is to be held in Nairobi Kenya and for the other landmark events in 2007 which will mark the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade and the 50th anniversary of Ghana's Independence

In addition to the above debates there were 9 major themes at the WSF: War and Militarism - Security and Peace - Globalized liberalism - Aggressions against peasantry - Alliance between patriarchal and neo liberalism systems, and marginalisation of women’s fight - Culture, Media and Communication - Destruction of ecosystems - International trade, debt and economic and social policies - Social fights, social and human rights.

Heida of Economy & Society was one of the few blogs that covered the Bamako forum. The extremely well organised and informative blog has a number of reports but two in particular stand out. The first is the “World Court of Women“. The court was created in 1992 and acts as a “symbolic process” holding hearings on gender violence. This year's theme was: “Resistance to Wars – Wars of Globalisation, Wars Against Women.” The second report on employment and poverty was attended by male and female trade unionist which ensured there was a gender dimension to the discussions. Indymedia South Africa reported on the failure of the Bandung du Peuple discussion which was supposed to be a debate on Imperialism from a grassroots perspective but whose outcome was “poor”.

“The tone of the conference was openly anti-american. Although a critique of the forgein policy of the United States of America is not only everbodys right but also more than understandable, the voices to be heard in the conference argued partly in a very unreasonable way and ignored that in today’s world of interconnection and global gouvernance it simply doesn't work to single out one country to be responsible for all the evils in the world. In Bandung in 1955 the states of the Third World were not even that one-sided in their critique and condemned the Soviet Unions, US and French imperialism equally. Here in Bamako it was all one-sided. Members of one panel discussion went so far to call for the unconditional support of the Iraqi resistance and quite a few people supported this. And no one objected. So I do it now”:

The Bandung revival issue was also raised in an article by Open Democracy. The issue is that Bandung was a movement which led to the creation of the Non-aligned Movement between countries whilst the WSF is a “gathering of social movements where neither governments nor parties are invited”.

Pambazuka News has a report on the WSF and what it means to Africa. The report asks a number of questions the first of which is “Who funds the WSF?”

“It's very difficult to determine who pays for the WSF: The website cites no sponsors, and it is hard to find any organisations or funding bodies highlighting their role as sponsors. The WSF charter is silent regarding what kinds of international sources of funding may be tapped. The registration fees are minimal. All organisations participating in the WSF are asked to contribute towards a translation solidarity fund, which is intended to help cover the WSF's translation budget”.

Their second question is “Are grassroots organisations represented?” The answer to this highlights the problem faced by many grassroots organisations and explains why so few Africans have previously been unable to attend. Unless groups can find sponsorship from private foundations attending is not possible.

“Organisations working on the ground are usually far more cash-strapped than those that network, train, research or sponsor them, and the former usually (hopefully) spend their money largely on meeting the direct needs of their beneficiaries. Several private foundations did manage to sponsor representatives of grassroots women's organisations to attend the events in Bamako, enabling many to make voices heard that are frequently absent in international ‘jamborees”

Open Democracy also covers the question of whose views are represented at the forum.

“Do the people at the forum represent the views of the organisation whose name they carry around their neck? Do they represent all the people their organisations claim to work for? It wouldn’t be democratic to pretend they always did. A new study by Ibase in Brazil actually shows the majority of participants do belong to an “unaffiliated leftist elite”, that rejects hierarchical structures and “the old practices” of power politics.”

It is difficult to see exactly what has been achieved after six years of WSF forums. However it is possible that the change in format from one centralised gathering to this year's format spread over three continents may enable more participation and decision making at grassroots level by activists and civil society members.

It is unfortunate that there has been little coverage of the forum in Bamako by either bloggers or the mainstream media. When compared with the coverage taking place in Caracas this is even more lamentable. The African blogosphere has also been sadly lacking in commentary on the forum. One reason for this may be the lack of publicity about the WSF in Mali by all sections of the media. More to the point though is most Africans on the continent do not have access to the technology needed to blog and Mali does not have the infrastructure or the funds to provide the necessary technology for WSF participants. Mali is one of the poorest nations in the world and though there are internet cafes in Bamako, service is sparodic and limited due to poor telecommunications and electricity provision.

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Introduction to Ukrainian Blogosphere

Veronica Khokhlova · 09:02 · Eastern & Central Europe

Only a few Ukraine-based English-language blogs were around when the 2004 mass protests began, and, just like Ukraine in those exciting days, they received lots of unexpected attention. Some of these bloggers are no longer in Ukraine, but others have taken their place, and, although not numerous, Ukrainian blogs are quite diverse now.

Among those whose November and December 2004 archives preserve live accounts of the Orange Revolution are Le Sabot Post-Moderne (now dormant), TulipGirl, Orange Ukraine, Abdymok, Notes from Kiev, The Periscope, Foreign Notes, and Ukrainian Democracy. Additionally, Adrian J. Erlinger began posting his Orange Revolution notes from Lviv over at Leopolis in February 2005, and Stefan Iwaskewycz launched Orange Dykun, his second blog, to mark the revolution’s first anniversary, re-posting his June 2004-March 2005 listserve messages from Ternopil region and elsewhere in Ukraine.

A common complaint back in 2004 was that there didn’t seem to be a single Ukrainian blog by someone who opposed the Orange Revolution. Part of the reason may have been that the majority of English-language blogs were (and still are) written by expats (Estee is one of a handful of blogs by Ukraine natives; its style is at times redolent of Jonathan Safran Foer’s “Everything Is Illuminated”). The Ukrainian LiveJournal community is flourishing, however, and every possible point of view is, perhaps, overrepresented there – in Ukrainian and Russian, though. (There’s at least one known defector from LJ: Andrei Chernikov, a Ukrainian journalist who used to write for the Russian Kommersant during the Orange Revolution; Chernikov’s Blog is in Russian and covers Ukrainian politics, the media and other, less serious, matters.)

For over a year Ukraine has been stuck between two elections: the 2004 presidential vote, a poignant memory and a reference point for much of the current Ukrainian political discourse, and this year’s parliamentary race. Although there’re still no bloggers out there favoring politicians from the former regime, all major steps and missteps of Victor Yushchenko and his team cause heated dicussions, as they are sure to affect the outcome of the March 26 vote.

To get a taste of Ukrainian pre-election politics, visit Orange Ukraine (where Dan McMinn’s meticulous analyses often spill over into the comments section), Foreign Notes (where, among other things, Scott W. Clark and guest-blogger LEvko differ in their views on Yulia Tymoshenko’s policies), and Abdymok (a mazelike blog on “ultra-competitive ukrainian-style politics,” by Peter Byrne, former Kyiv Post staff writer, who, among other things, got expelled from Belarus in 1997 and was denied a Russian entry visa in 2005).

To see how Ukrainian politics relates to reality – and how it’s often divorced from it – check Stefan Iwaskewycz’s primary blog, Dykun. Stefan, a Ukrainian-American, often writes on his Ukrainian travels and on life in a small Western Ukrainian town of Pidhajtsi, where his family hails from.

Petro’s Jotter – written by a father of three, who also manages a Kyiv company “American style in a post-Soviet ‘business’ culture” – is another blog that covers both politics and the mundane: for instance, Kyiv is drowning in various parties’ campaign ads now, and Petro has started a photo collection of these attempts to attract voters.

For a seasoned Washington, D.C., political correspondent’s perspective on Ukraine and the politics surrounding it, stop by at Room 12A, a blog by Ethan Wallison, who moved to Kyiv this past summer.

For quick reference on what English-language media have been saying about Ukraine, go to Kiev Ukraine News Blog, where Nicholas compiles full-length articles on all major issues (source info is listed at the end of each item, which may be a bit misleading at first). This blog is devoid of its author’s personal views, but its value – besides informational – is sentimental: before the Orange Revolution, coverage of Ukraine was so sporadic, it often seemed the country didn’t exist; now it’s possible to update one’s clipping collection more than once a day!

Blogs focusing on specific non-political issues include Ukraine Adoption blog, a hub for those who have adopted a Ukrainian baby or are considering such an adoption, and Everybody I Love You, written by Stephan Clark, a Fulbright fellow spending ten months in Kharkiv, researching online marriage agencies.

Reincarnated–Stranded In Ukraine is a Simferopol-based, slice-of-life blog by a Malaysian medical student: recently, he chose Lviv over France as a weekend getaway destination – and was very impressed with this Western Ukrainian city’s architecture.

Among other bloggers exploring Ukraine are the Ranger at NVASHAG (his dream is to buy land in Transcarpathia and set up a vineyard there), and his friend Limey at Collected Whines, who often writes from Dnipropetrovsk (and also runs a soccer blog, Limey’s World Cup Blog).

Finally, many of these Ukraine blogs – including the now dormant RomkaBlog (in German) and Workhorse – have awesome photos to supplement, and sometimes substitute, the text: make sure you don’t miss them (or the links to the albums) when you’re browsing!

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The Race to Wire Brazil

Patrick Hall · 03:10 · Americas

The $100 laptop (previously covered here at Global Voices) isn’t the only contender out there designed to bring personal computers into the lives of a broader spectrum of Brazilian society, as a spin around Brazilian blogs will attest:

O Velho introduces Microsoft’s recent launch into the Brazilian mass market. In a deal with a huge department store called Magazine Luiza, they’re releasing a consumer machine with an unusual payment plan:

“The machine will work more or less the way pre-paid cell phones do: to use it, you have to buy a card that enables you to use the machine for a set number of hours.”

But “Hell Cyberdeliah” crunches some numbers, and he thinks that they don’t add up—free software on commodity hardware is a better deal, in his opinion:

“R$48 would come out to 48 hours of computer use, after the credit runs out the “system” stops working, and the owner has to buy new cards until the price listed in the agreement is reached.”

His tabulation:

Cost of the same machine in any mass-market store with free software: R$1200.
Total cost of a “pre paid” machine: R$3000

A bit of digging around in Brazilian online stores will prove that you really can get a preinstalled Linux box: R$999. And guess where? At the same place selling the Microsoft machines, Magazine Luiza!

But it seems that the low entry price of the Microsoft offering has won over a fair number of Brazilian consumers: Michel Lent Schwartzman at ViuIsso? (“Did you see that?”) describes just how quickly those Microsoft “Connected PCs” are selling—15 thousand Microsoft PCs sold in 13 days.

fofinhopil, on the other hand, reminds us that with a sense of humor you can sidestep all those decisions, and create your own PC… with common household items!

“After the computer for millions, the government created another way hahahaha of popularizing computing in Brazil. What did they do? Easy. They proposed a simpler way to make your own PC. And wow, did that ever work out hahahaha.”

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South Asia: Listening to the Blogs

Kamla Bhatt · 01:46 · South Asia

BANGLADESH:
Downloading music from the Internet, a new blogging platform and a model-turned entrepreneur helping the local artisans and weavers are some of the topics that bloggers of Bangladesh are writing about.
Salam Dhaka has some pointers on where to look for Bangla music on the Internet. Adda writes about the winds of change in South Asia, and Bangladesh in particular. He writes about a Norwegian company's introduction of a blogging platfrom in his country. Razib has an interesting story about Bibi Russel, a Bangladeshi model turned designer, who works with local artisans and weavers of Bangladesh.

BHUTAN:
Read about the largest book in the world. Bhutan is fast becoming a hot travel destination and here is Aaron's description of Bhutan, while Amelopsis has beautiful visuals of this land-locked country tucked away in the Himalayas.

INDIA:
Should it, or should it not…Bangalore or Bengaluru? This South Indian city famously known as “Silicon Valley of India,” may get a new name and that has become an interesting source of debate among Indian bloggers around the world. Amardeep has a nice round-up about on this hot topic button.
Food is big in South Asia and here are some interesting pictures and blogs from India. A picture speaks louder than words, and here are some mouth-watering image of Gujrati food , while MyDhaba talks about fixing fish the India way. Read why Supersaps feels that all Indian food does not taste the same.

NEPAL:
Nepal and cricket, somehow those two words don't go together when you think of this Himalayan state. Guess what Nepal has a cricket team. Uzwal has a post about it. Oliver writes about the current political situation in Nepal.

PAKISTAN:
If you needed a visual and update on what is the latest mobile PDA making the rounds in Pakistan read Go2Net posting. Saj Shirazi has a fascinating travelogue about Chillas, a small town nestled in Northern Pakistan, which was one an important post for travellers, including Marco Polo. Fiona has a visual and an account of the famous Khyber Pass. Ramla of Karachi Metroblogging has a Google Video link about Karachi, and this slide show comes complete with music and some of you will recognize the Pakistani singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan singing.

SRILANKA:
Relief for Sri Lanka highlights 11-year old Rebecca's contribution to the Read Write Sri Lanka Project. Phil Bogle shares some wonderful pictures of Sri Lanka.

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