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March 17th, 2006


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Who Won the Elections in El Salvador? 

a small portrait of this author Juliana Rincón Parra · 19:54

The following post, “Who Won the Elections in El Salvador?” was originally written in Spanish on Tuesday March 14th and has been translated by Juliana Rincón Parra.

Who won the elections in El Salvador? Almost two million of Salvadorans went to the electoral booths this past Sunday March 12th to elect the Deputies and the Municipal Councils. It could be said that this number represents roughly fifty per cent of the electorate. A lower number than what the polls predicted, claiming more than 60% electoral participation.

Although it can’t be said that there was great absenteeism, it wasn’t a massive turnout either. Rather, the general and historic tendency of more or less half the population voting in El Salvador was maintained.

At the time of writing this commentary the final count, which will determine the official results, hadn’t begun. Thanks to the quick vote count that the TSE implemented (and which finally worked) we can have an idea of the results to be able to present to you the first commentary.

I wish to clear up that we do not have definitive results, and when such a short time has passed since the electoral event, it is likely that some elements will not be exact. Besides, even if we wish to be objective, in the first days we still walk around with a “hot head” regarding what just happened. Please take into account these two elements which no political analyst can avoid, much less this considerate and trusty servant.

Both ARENA and FMLN felt victorious last night. Both parties kept announcing they had won the elections and both celebrated their triumph in the El Salvador Mayor’s office. But in truth, who really won the elections?

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The Balkans: “Finally, the Post-Milosevic Era” 

a small portrait of this author Veronica Khokhlova · 10:50

Slobodan Milosevic, former Yugoslav leader and a war-crimes defendant, died of a heart attack in his prison cell in the Hague on March 11. After much debate, it was decided to bury him privately in his hometown of Pozarevac, 80 km of Serbia's capital Belgrade, on March 18. Until then, following the government's controversial decision, his coffin has been placed on display in Belgrade's Museum of the Revolution.

Below are some bloggers' reactions to Milosevic's death, his upcoming funeral, and the future of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY).

“Finally, the Post-Milosevic Era,” writes Eric Gordy of East Ethnia:

The news is probably good news for Serbia, which will be hostage to one person fewer. […]

It is bad news for ICTY […]

[…] the Tribunal will complete its activity without having completed its most important trial. The decisions which led to a frequently interrupted trial lasting years will be questioned far into the future, and will probably be used as a negative example for future tribunals.

[…] while anybody's death is a cause for regret, what is to be regretted most about Milosevic is that during his life, he was able to take so many other people down with him.

srdjankosutic.com notes, too, that, hopefully, a new era has begun for Serbia:

[…] His death ends a whole era of modern Serbian history, and as someone who participated in the silent 5th October revolution when we overthrow him in 2000 I just wish to let the past behind, and move forward. […]

Henry Shepherd of Thayer and Charlesfield offers a compilation of responses from a number of Balkan bloggers, including this one from Seesaw of Balkan-Scissors and Sarajevo Photoblog:

[…] Personally I can say I did not follow his trial - I was a living witness of his political career and saw enough with my own eyes. I did never think well of his ideas…

To me Milosevic was nationalist and populist, and the politician who played the main role in dissolution of Yugoslavia.

I must add I spent the war in Sarajevo (1992-1995) and saw so much suffering… I am not Moslem but visited Srebrenica and could not believe my eyes…

But I also saw many graves in Republic Srpska of Serb soldiers, and for a decade now I have been witnessing the poverty of people from former Yugoslavia - Serbia particularly - all that being - mostly - the result of ambitious, nationalist and populist policy of Slobodan Milosevic.

But as you could notice on my blog I am not willing “to join the company” so to say and prefer to keep my mind focused on other things. After all Milosevic does not deserve so much publicity, never did, and always had it.

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From Darfur to Avian Flu: Views from the Horn of Africa and Sudan 

a small portrait of this author Chippla Vandu · 06:02

The Darfur crisis continues to dominate the English-speaking Sudanese blogosphere. The blog Coalition for Darfur quotes a World Food Program (WFP) report, which tells of rations of pulses, sugar and salt being cut from March 2006 in Darfur. This is as a result of “slow donor response to WFP’s Emergency Operation in Sudan.” Furthermore, situation still looks tense going by the report:

“The security situation remained tense during the month with continued reports of the build-up of troops, artillery and vehicles in West Darfur by both government and rebel groups. Humanitarian access to the north of El Geneina [the capital of West Darfur province] remains closed with continued reports of attacks targeting commercial trucks.”

Sudan Watch presents series of write-ups on the situation in Darfur. These include coordinated efforts between the Arab League and the African Union (AU) to bring an end to the conflict as well as a quest by a former Sudanese slave and a Sudanese NBA basketballer to walk from New York to Washington DC as a call for action on the situation in Darfur. The handing over of the AU mandate in the Darfur to a United Nations (UN) peacekeeping force has generated much debate especially in Sudan. The United Nations Secretary General, Kofi Annan is reported as saying that the support of the Sudanese government is needed for such the handover to proceed.

Part of the Ethiopian blogosphere continues to rumble with thought-provoking political discussions as ever. ethiopundit lashes out on the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Meles Zenawi, for his high-handedness. In reference to the last Ethiopian election, it states:

“Pressured to treat his people decently for a change by the West, or at least to spill a little less blood in public - the Prime Minister has been totally defiant.”

And even though the government of Mr. Zenawi recently made some progress on the border dispute with Eritrea, ethiopundit appears unimpressed. In its words:

“Take the recent negotiations with Eritrea where there has been a ‘breakthrough' which can only mean that Meles is finally going to go along with the results of the arbitration that he rejected then accepted then rejected then accepted then rejected over the past six years…Ethiopia is in these negotiations now simply to make Westerners happy and possibly Eritrea's government too.”

Ethiopian Politics reports that the former Ethiopian dictator, Mengistu Haile Mariam, (who is currently in exile in Zimbabwe) has been interfering in Zimbabwean politics. It tells of a Zimbabwean news service report, which states that there is evidence to prove that “Mengistu was the brain behind a recent controversial ‘clean-up’ campaign that left millions homeless.”

Meskel Square tells of an investment that gives a higher return than Google—chickens in Ethiopia. The advent of avian flu has seen the price of chickens in Addis Ababa plummet:

“Come to Addis and buy every chicken you can get your hands on. Chickens cost as much as 35 birr [US$ 4] before the scare. Anyone who buys low and sells high could be talking about a 438% return in their initial investment.”

Food Crisis in Somalia continues to draw attention to the plight of millions in Somalia and the Horn/East of Africa who are caught up in a drought and are currently short on food and water. Despite the fact that rains have come to some drought stricken regions of Somalia and Ethiopia, there is sign for little hope, according to Meskel Square. The reason for this is that:

“…the short unseasonal shower [experienced] is actually being seen as a sign of more dry months to come and a failed April rainy season.”

Harowo tells of a new ocean that is being formed as a result of the splitting of the Afar Triangle near the Horn of Africa. It states that the ocean is being formed at a “staggering speed — at least by geological standards. Africa will eventually lose its horn.”

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Creative Commons Mexico 

a small portrait of this author David Sasaki · 04:11

Berkman Center Executive Director John Palfrey certainly sounds enthusiastic when he writes:

Right this very minute, Creative Commons Mexico is launching in Mexico City. Congratulations, Larry Lessig, Leon Felipe Sanchez, and all the CC International team on yet another landmark on your road to world domination. For atmospherics, Larry has “My Life” playing in the background… (This launch is coinciding with the end of Day 1 of iLaw-Mexico here.)

ilawEduardo Arcos, a native of Ecuador who now resides in Mexico City, is at iLaw live-blogging each seminar. Regarding spam in Mexico, he summarizes the main points (ES) of Clara Luz Álvarez González de Castilla (pictured) from the Federal Telecommunications Commission (ES) as follows:

  • The problem in Mexico is a problem of cybersecurity and it's similar to other countries.
  • Spam is occurring in other media. (Text messaging for example, not to mention spam comments on blogs)
  • Mexico is the 11th greatest generator of spam.
  • There are two constitutional guarantees: freedom of expression, which can't prohibit the mass mailing of messages on the internet and freedom of work which can't prohibit someone from working in this.
  • There is a proliferation of political spam.
  • There are initiatives to develop policies in relation to cybersecurity in Latin America.
  • In Mexico there is a very clear digital divide. With slow connections in the majority of Mexico, reducing spam is a relatively high cost in time and resources.

ilaw

Photo by Eduardo Arcos

Last week, León Felipe Sánchez interviewed Luis Alberto Bolaños and Emilio Saldaña of the Presidential Internet System (SIP) which recently decided to license all of its content using Creative Commons. When asked why the presidency decided to adopt CC licenses, they responded:

One of the principal interest of the Presidency of the Republic is that, once content is published, it reach the largest quantity of people possible. The content is used by researchers, academics, students, the press, and general public. By using Creative Commons licences, we have the possibility to permit the content's copy, reproduction, diffusion and everything which lets it get shared with more people. All without any charge or commercial cost, which is exactly what the licensing scheme of Creative Commons protects against. All of this, and the fact that it's based in Mexican copyright legislation.

iLaw Mexico continues throughout the day and you are sure to find more coverage on the weblogs of Ariel Vercelli (ES) and Eduardo Arcos (ES).

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Landing at the Iraqi Blogodrome 

a small portrait of this author Salam Adil · 04:00

Today's report is dedicated to the women of Iraq. Women have suffered greatly in the new Iraq and on top of everything have to cope with the prejudice of some western journalists too. Again a mixed selection of blogs but you must read to the end for more cute animals!

First, my heartfelt condolences go to our blogging family that lost an uncle to the violence in Iraq. They relate in their own blogs how they came to terms with the tragedy.

Mama of the Emotions blog describes her feelings:

I can't bear more anxiety, fear, and sadness. Counting our losses every day. Yesterday we lost our dear family senior; he is my father's uncle. He was shot to death by the American soldiers in his parent's in-law neighborhood …

I couldn't sleep last night, neither my parent's, my husband nor my father in law. I wonder if the soldier who shot him and left him in his car ,asked himself about that old man , did he wondered if he was alive or died immediately?.. Did he sleep as a lamb?! Probably he forgot all about it, and had nice dreams….….The soldiers left him dead in his car after they shot him BY MISTAKE

And she wants answers: “We need help to stop the violence, and the disrespect of the humanity. I am giving some of the details about my relative's accident to seek for help, and investigation.” because “Such accidents… had been repeated to [such] a large extent that turned the appreciation of the Iraqis toward the American liberation from Saddams' regime to hate or violence or at least suspicious about the intentions of the American. I doubt, there is any Iraqi still trust the Americans … , even the most peaceful optimistic..”

Truth teller reminds us that what happened to his uncle nearly happened to him. And he related the stories of others who died in a similar way. He writes that at the postmortem: “the American officer there told him ‘we are sorry.' It is as simple as this, they are sorry and every thing is settled, no problems, as far as the victim is an Iraqi.”

Rose Baghdad speaks for all her family when she writes: ” Sorry will not be enough. I have nothing to say… I'm so angry now and in need for an explination.”

Sunshine posts more information on her weblog with details of the ongoing investigation.

Lets hear it for Women:

A great big congratulations goes to Iraq's own Riverbend for winning the Bloggie for the best Middle Eastern weblog!

Truth About Iraqis and Fayrouz bite back at a book by Washington Post reporter Jackie Spinner who among other things said that Iraqis consider a woman who looks into a man's eyes to be a whore. Fayrouz writes: “I lived in Iraq the first 28 years of my life. Never during these years I heard someone telling me NOT to look directly into a man's eyes.” Truth About Iraqis is equally outraged:

Iraqi women are mothers who have sacrificed their sons to endless wars. They are sisters who have seen their brothers killed. They are daughters who missed their fathers buried by years of war, oppression and occupation.

But they are also students, teachers, scientists, politicians, artists, dancers, singers, novelists, athletes, philosophers, doctors, nurses, soldiers and a valuable fabric of Iraqi society. … And … they are also winning bloggers.

Take that, Jackie.

Sooni posts “my brother was in a press conference held by the Organization of Woman Freedom in Iraq where they showed some drawings condemning the terrorism and the woman abuse in jail in the name of the law and I thought you would like to see some of those pictures. The drawings were made by the prisoners themselves inside the women prison in Iraq.” Visit his blog to see the pictures.

And Hala s speaks up for women:

Does it really require men to pull Iraq out of this mess? Whatever they said so far is gibberish; all they wrote was only waffle. Look how stubborn and single-minded they have been. Is it that hard to compromise? Is it that complicated to reach an understanding? Their false pride and greed for power weighs more than the Iraqi blood on the scale. …

It is time for Iraqi men politicians to retire and have a long rest. I am all for women.

Can't agree more!

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