Archive for
September 29th, 2007
Stories
Bahrain: Halfway There!
From Bahrain this week: a mid-Ramadan celebration, great happiness to be at university, a description of some dating practices, and a packet of rice that just doesn't make sense!
Ramadan traditions
We start this week with some special mid-Ramadan festivities, called Girgaoun. Shaima Al Watani explains what Girgaoun is:
وسأجيبكم أن هذه الكلمة مرتبطة بالتراث الخليجي والتراث البحريني على وجه الخصوص …
ففي الليلة الخامسة عشرة أي ليلة منتصف شهر رمضان الكريم يخرج الأطفال في البحرين ، لزيارة منازل وبيوت الجيران للحصول على القرقاعون .
والقرقاعون عبارة عن حلويات ومكسرات يتم توزيعها من قبل الأهالي على الأطفال الذين يطوفون الحواري وهم يرتدون الملابس الشعبية والفلكلورية القديمة ، مرددين الأغاني التراثية القديمة والأهازيج.
And I will answer that this word is connected to the cultural heritage of the Gulf, and of Bahrain in particular.
On the fifteenth night, that is the middle of the holy month of Ramadan, children go out in Bahrain, to visit their neighbours' houses to get ‘Girgaoun'.
Girgaoun means the sweets and nuts distributed by people to the children who go round the streets dressed in traditional clothes, singing old songs.
Butterfly has posted a slideshow of the Girgaoun festivities in one area, which you can see here.
Picture credit: Butterfly
Another much more recent tradition is that of watching the special Ramadan serials on television – but Matchless is not impressed:
What’s going on the TV.
I am fed up with their programs.
SILLY?
STUPID?
FOOLISH?
RIDICULOUS?
Yes all of them in addition of the NONSENSICAL.
I wish that western people care about RAMADAN and try to produce something worth watching.
Dating rituals
Ammar describes a scene of great anthropological interest:
His lane of traffic was at a standstill, but it was normal on a weekend night such as this. He glanced at the cars cruising slowly past him on the opposite lane; the fancy Benz with its triple-digit plate, the beaten down 80's Cressida, the shiny Cadillac with the polished wheels. “What are they all doing here?” he thought, as the car in front of him etched a few inches forward.
[…]
The traffic light turned red, and the cars came to a stand-still. A golden Honda passed by, and stopped in the traffic right next to him, two pretty ladies adorning its interior. He glanced with the corner of his eye, and although he didn't make it too obvious, they knew he was looking at them. “This is ridiculous” he thought; he wants to communicate with them, exchange a few words, maybe a number, but it wasn't possible. In the ‘rules' of this engagement, he has to drive around a few times up and down this road, find his prey, follow her to a dark alleyway or somewhere unfilled with people, and then make a move. That's just the way it was done here.
The light turned green, and as she moved her car he forced the gas pedal down turning the steering wheel, twisting the car through the traffic; it was a scene of tire smoke and a thundering engine, landing himself directly behind the two girls. They watched in amusement through their rear-view and giggled, not so innocently, as they pondered making their way through a side street. They decided to, eventually, and drove into a dark alley, with him on their tail.
He smiled. Something to ease the stress for tonight, at least.
Different path
Layal posts about a change in direction:
ولكن وجدت ان الدراسه التخصصيه لا تسمن ولا تغني من جوع, ان لم تكن معها دراسه اكاديميه فهي تعامل كطفل غير شرعي
مع العلم ان الاجانب يتخذونها سبيلا للوصول لارقي المناصب بدون الحاجه الي صك الغفران الاكاديمي
Happy!
Another student, Al 7urra has just started at the University of Bahrain:
A booklover disappointed
Butterfly has been to a well-known annual bookfair for the first time, but discovered she hasn't been missing anything:
Stupid rice
We end with Redbelt, who has noticed something strange on a packet of rice:
Picture credit: Redbelt
More from Bahrain next week…
Taiwan: Whose land?
黑暗從眼睛
滑落心頭，
令人害怕的
失去光明的窒息，
圍繞四周。
into my heart.
Scaring
suffocation without light
surrounds me.
‘Burning‘ by Mo-Na-Neng (a Paiwan poet)].
Smangus's battle for the unfair trial about the wind-fall beech, based on Smangus & Smangus Action Alliance News, can be traced back to October, 2005:
Terry the typhoon caused the damage to the only road that connected the neighboring areas. Smangus people cleaned the road with their own effort and put the windfall beech on the sideway. One month later, the staff of the Forestry Bureau chopped the wood into pieces and took them away secretly. Three of the Smangus youth transported the remains on behalf of the Tribal Committee for the purpose of community design. Consequently they were reported of stealing national woods. The accused became the accuser!
The Smangus people considered the charge a stigmatization of aboriginal people and decided to fight back in the court.
(Feb 24, 2007) The judge of the first instance ignored the Article 15 of the Forestry Act and the Aboriginal Basic Law which protect the indigenous rights, but instead, he convicted them by Article 52 of the Forestry Act. The penalty was 6 month imprisonment, a fine of NT$160, 000 for each person, with a two years probation. Smangus people cried, “Why don’t you put all of us in jail?” Therefore, the whole village went on the journey to plea for Not Guilty.
The main issue in this battle is ‘whose land is it?' Smangus people consider the wind-fall beech is in their territory, but the Forestry Bureau doesn't agree. How do we decide who is the owner of the land?
In May 20-21, 2007, because Tayal people considered the wind-fall beech case a serious threats to the Tayal tribes, Pinhaban, a traditional cultural ceremony, was held to make alliance among the villages to protect their territories. In the conference (based on The statements and declaration, from the conference of Pinhaban Alliance, the chief of the village of Mrqwang said:
We indigenous peoples are knowledgeable of our own traditional territories. We can accurately describe the landscapes of the mountains and the rivers in them. We name those natural objects and connect our own lives so closely with the surroundings. The staff of the Forestry Bureau does not understand our lives. When we heard the staff say that the traditional territory of Smangus is only about 12 acres, we regarded the notion absurd. The territory is absolutely larger than this measure.
Munch commented on this issue:
誰的山林？一直存在爭議。
從日本人強收山林，國民政府承繼遵行，原住民的傳統領域，始終成為被擱置的話題，在不斷族群正名以示尊重的心態下，就像掛上好看門牌，家園卻永遠不屬於自己的，林務局是山林裡的大地主，原住民每個人都清楚
Both Japan government and this government confiscated the mountains, and the ownership of the traditional land of the aboriginal people is always an ignored issue. Although there are many name-rectification actions that showed the respect to the aboriginal people, these actions only put on a beautiful doorplate while they don't have proper ownership of their homeland. All the aboriginal people know that the Forest Bureau is the largest landlord of the mountain.
對原住民而言，司馬庫斯櫸木事件，不是刑罰輕重，而是對於原住民領域及文化的尊重，他們堅持的是無罪判決，沒有人可以否定他們對於山林家園的權力。
In September 28, 2007, ignoring the Smangus people's claim and the Forestry Act and the Aboriginal Basic Law, the judge in the High Court decided to keep the original conviction but alleviate the punishment.
In press release held by Smangus & Smangus Action Alliance News, Pinhaban Alliance, Taiwan Association for Human Rights, and Wild at heart, Legal Defense Association, Wild at heart, Legal Defense Association said,
今天的判決是一個醜陋的妥協。因為，如果法院認定三人有罪，那麼根據《森林法》，結夥並使用搬運設備竊取林產物，應加重判刑，為何法官卻做出減輕刑責的判決？如果法官已體認到原住民族價值系統中人對自然的善待、和諧、永續與責任，為何沒有勇氣做出無罪判決？
Kazakhstan: Big politics and human lives
But politics first: Andy-taker draws attention to the fact that ministers in Kazakhstan are being reshuffled, migrating from one government to another in a manner which bears no particular relation to their professions. Pretty much the same happens on lower levels; maybe this is the reason for the people's dissatisfaction with the officials?
After visits to a number of government bodies and agencies, Astanchanka is very angry: “Bureaucrats are just killing me! They are rude and ignorant - ridiculously explaining this with low salaries and tiredness. Gorbachev was right: Citizens should start Perestroika from themselves” (RUS).
Raseyannaya from Ekibastuz (a town in Central Kazakhstan) is indignant towards those officials who are skeptical about non-traditional religions, consider Krishna followers as extremists and want to introduce religious education in schools. “Our state is secular”, she reminds people, “and even if I want to worship a Steam Iron, nobody shall have any objections” (RUS).
Iran: Ahmadinejad's Speech at Columbia University
Iranian President,Mahmoud Ahmadineajd’s speech at Columbia University in New York and university president Lee C. Bollinger’s criticism and tough words during his introduction remarks on Monday 24 September have become a hot topic in media throughout the world. Several Iranian and American bloggers have reacted to the incident. NikAhang Kosar,a leading cartoonist and blogger, has published several cartoons on this subject.
Dave Burdick and a few other students at Columbia University launched a blog named “Ahmadinejad at Columbia” to aggregate coverage of the event. The blog has published several photos of protesters demonstrating against Ahmadinejad’s visit to Columbia.
“No Homosexuals in Iran”
In the Ahmadinejad at Columbia blog we read:
some students believed that by visiting Columbia, the Holocaust denier only gained airtime, and not additional supporters of his questionable views. According to Jackson Nurmi, a biomedicine student, Ahmadinejad would have “come out clean” and “been able to manipulate, kind of, the general liberal views of a lot of the people on campus” had he avoided his denial of homosexuals in Iran and of the Holocaust. Others focused on the Iranian leader's ability to answer evasively. “He squirted a lot of the questions, but he did what every politician does so I don’t have less or more respect [for him] than I would for Bush or Cheney,” said Mehmet Bozatli, a twenty-nine-year-old student from Turkey. As revealed during today’s forum, the president of Iran believes that there are no gay people in his country. “In Iran, we don’t have homosexuals like in your country,” he said, eliciting both laughter and gasps from the audience.
Iranian Truth says that Ahmadinejad apparently hasn’t watched the CBC special entitled Inside Iran’s Secret Gay World.
No Freedom of Speech for us
Karim Orghandehpour, blogger and journalist, says [Fa] that the government media has launched a propaganda campaign about the opportunity given to Ahmadinejad to speak at one of the most famous universities of the world, and they defend his right to freedom of speech. The blogger asks why some Iranian academics aren't accorded similar rights in Iran. He also asks why some organisations are deprived of the right to publish newspapers.
View from Iran writes
he promised yesterday to invite professors and students at Columbia to Iran to say whatever they want to say. Why doesn't he make that same offer to Iranian professors and students? Hearing him talking about lack of democracy and human rights in the west is just another way of avoiding the realities in Iran. Mr. President, Iranians are dying for basic human rights and for basic democracy.
Winners and Losers
Ataloha Mahejerani, a former reformist minister, criticized [Fa] Lee Bollinger's remarks about Ahmadinejad and says that he was surprised to hear that Columbia’s President call Iranian president a cruel and petty dictator. Calling Bolliger's words insults, the former minister adds that God wanted this speech to provide a new opportunity for Iran, and that the losers were Israel and Columbia’s president.
Contrary to Mohajerani, Jomhour says [Fa] that it is the Iranian people who are the main losers at the hands of Ahmadnejad’s politics. The blogger asks Mohajerani how many of Americans he thinks believe Ahmadinejad’s claims, adding that the Iranian people feel his lies at a visceral level. Jomhour says that when Mohajerani talks about women’s rights, we should remember the jail sentences imposed upon women activists, and when he mentions academic values, we should remember the students being tortured in Iran.
“USA can become a friend”
Harfeh Hesab says [Fa] that the most important point is Ahmadinejad's message to USA is this: America can become a good friend of Iran.” The blogger adds that the “Iranian President was asked if Iran is ready to negotiate with USA and what are expectations. He answered we think USA can become a good friend of Iran.” Harfeh Hesab writes that it was the most positive message that the Islamic Republic has sent to USA so far.
Angry Cleric
A religious student in Madresyeh Ma wrote [Fa] an open letter to Ahmadinejad and criticized his speech at Columbia. The blogger tells the Iranian president that he may think he was successful at Columbia, but that ihs presence provided an opportunity for Columbia's University president to insult him, which is an insult to all Iranians. He accuses Ahmadinejad of placing his political agenda above respect for his nation. The blogger adds that, contrary to Ahmadinejad's speech, there is no distinction between the USA's government and its people.
China: Reality shows forbidden
No one would forget how popular Super Girl was on 2005. As a talent-search reality competition, it created a miracle both in economy and culture impact. Besides over 400 millions viewers watching the final episode, varied fans clubs founded across China and a revenue of 9 figures high in total, it was even extolled to the height of Democratic Expression because the winner was voted by short messages from viewers. Following this hallmark, more than 200 reality shows then emerged.
But on the 21st of September, State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT), the head of all TV stations, gave such programs a blitz. It promulgated a strict rule aiming at regulating reality shows, criticizing some of them as so vulgar that they hurt the reputation of media. From the 3 main points of the decree, those who are familiar with Chinese TV ecosystem would find deeper relish. The decree itself also came to be a controversy in an unusual way.
Part 1; reality shows will be expelled out of golden time (19:30 to 22:30)
要求自2007年10月1日起，各省级、副省级电视台上卫星频道所有群众参与的选拔类活动不得在19：30至22：30时段播出。
After 1st, October, 2007, from 19：30 to 22：30, no satellite television stations of provincial level or superior should hold such selective shows (talen-search competitions) that have multitude participation.
Actually, because of fund limitation, the hot shows were mainly organized by provincial TV stations. Therefore, the rule substantially sweeps such shows out of screen during golden time.
Part 2; strict and detailed control on duration; also, no live show is allowed.
各省级、副省级电视台上星频道举办、播出群众参与的选拔类活动原则上每年不超过一项，每项活动播出时间不超过两个月，播出场次不超过10场，每场播出时间不超过90分钟。其中，决赛的最后一场可以采用现场直播方式，并至少延时1分钟播出，确保不出问题。
For any TV station, such shows should not be broadcasted more than once every year, with the duration being no more than two months, content being less than ten episodes, and each episode being shorter than 90 mins. No live show should be allowed except the final episode, while it has to keep a delay of at least 1 minute.
Part 3; finally, a constraint on content aiming to resist the vulgarity.
主持人的主持词、评委点评、选手感言、亲友抒怀、插播画面等内容要大量减少，总时长不得超过整个节目的20%。歌唱类(外国歌曲专题比赛除外)比赛中，每场演唱国内歌曲比例要占75%以上。
Emcee lines as well as judges' critiques, contestants' or fans' short speeches, and introductions should be cut back a lot, with a total duration being no longer than 20% of the whole program. In singing competition, domestic songs should take up more than 75% of all.
不得制造噱头、刻意煽情和渲染悲切情绪，不得在节目中传播或暗示选手的负面消息和流言。
Don't make any stunt or purposively express seditious or sensational words; don't bruit rumors about contestants.
主持人之间不得相互挖苦、吹捧、调情。
Hosts should not flatter, flirt with or dig at each other.
Just before the decree was announced, the administration had halted a program of Chongqing TV station called The First Heart Temptation (第一次心动), for the cause named Ring-gate Case. On one episode of the live show, two judges furiously condemned each other because of a stunt by a constant. The situation was out of control then, which was seriously criticized by administration as a trick, vulgar and shameless, of capturing eyeballs.
This series of actions clearly demonstrates central administration’s disapproval of such shows. It has now turned into a practical regulation. To this relentless restraints and narrow rules, again, netizens expressed their opinions;
Some people doubted its validity. The following anonymous comments are from Netease.com, signed by their locations:
网易广东深圳网友
广电总局,真的让我看傻眼了,我觉得不能让大家上网,才是对的
Shenzhen:
This really made me dumbfounded. I think it would seem right only if we are not allowed to get on internet.
网易湖南长沙网友
政府行为！！！政府想怎么搞就怎么搞。
我觉得群众类的选秀节目蛮不错的啊，肯定是因为影响了央视的收视率才怎么做的。
哎！！！
大众传媒何时才能成为真正的大众传媒啊？？？
Changsha, Hunan
Governmental actions!!! Government just did what they fancy.
I think this kind of talent-search show is quite good. It must have affected ratings of China central television and therefore they made such a regulation.
Alas.
When could mass media really be mass???
However, except for a paucity of objections like above, this time, most of netizens came to stand with government. They demonstrate their strong support.
网易云南昆明网友
非常感谢国家有关部门所采取的这一系列有力举措。长期以来，一些娱乐节目为迎合一些审美情趣低下的受众的低俗胃口而变得俗不可耐。
Kunming, Yunnan
I very much appreciate the uncompromising measures taken by states administration. In order to pander to some people’s lower taste, a few entertainment programs have long been terribly shoddy
网易山东青岛网友
强烈支持！！！！坚决拥护！！！
那些低俗恶劣的流毒早就该清除了！！！
看看现在的孩子都成什么样了！！！
看看现在的社会浮躁到什么程度了！！
Qingdao, Shandong
Strongly support it!!!! Resolutely stand with it!!!
Such vulgar and baneful stuff should have been eradicated long before!!!!
Look what children have now become!!!
Look how meretricious our community has now been!!!
In a poll on MSN.com, more than 86% people approve of the measure. Rengjian Zhendao in Netease has a typical critique that shows voices of many people:
广电总局终于做了一件对人民有益的事情！大快人心！
杨二不会再出来了！
芙蓉JJ不会再出来了！
不男不女的不会再出来了！
误导青少年不好好学习、妄想靠投机一夜成名的缺德事会少了！把一个个好端端的人变得疯疯癫癫的事儿也会少了！
The administration has finally done something good to public! That's wonderful!
Yang'er won't show up again, Lotus Sister will be gone! Those tomboys vanish.
Mean stuff that misdirect young people to drop study and indulge them in pipe dreams of overnight fame will be less!! Those that drive a sane person mad will be less either!
(Annotation: Yang'er is the judge in a talent-search show, Lotus Sister will be introduced below, tomboys are allusions to Super Girl)
To understand this grumble you might have to know the landscape of Chinese television. Many people condemn the increasing entertainments programs are getting more and more low-quality, glutted by blatant and pretentious people. The Lotus Sister might be the most famous one. She is a “celebrity” famous for her coquettish postures with body curved in S shape and irredeemable self-love, though her boorish visage shocks everyone that see her pictures. Though audience tagged her “nauseating” and “disgusting”, she still frequently appears on screen since TV stations use her as a stunt.
Some people furthermore comment that certain televisions and talent-search shows have nothing but gaudy sensationalization:
节目制作者一切向“钱”看，只要能赚钱，想方设法制造噱头，同性恋、选手堕胎、家庭丑闻，不少节目越来越低俗。齐鲁晚报 张莹
Programmers did everything for money and only for money. They tried all methods to make stunts, such as homosexual, contestants' abortion, and family scandals, which make the shows more vulgar.
By Qi Ru Evening Post Zhang Ying
Cheng Yunfa (陈云发) criticized some shows as “pollution”:
不顾社会效益、专为一己之私，不惜以污染社会精神空气来捞钱.……实在是咎由自取。
Some TV stations disregarded public interest and hunted for money on self-seeking.…… They polluted our society's spirit. They have only themselves to blame.
These programs' misguidance of youngsters is another public focus. A student in secondary school spent 200 thousand Yuan to join in Super Girl. A boy in Guang Xi stole money to send short message voting for his idol, and even committed robbery for this crazy cause.
Liu Haoping (刘浩平) appealed in United Morning Post:
这种电视媒体的诱导，是造就人才，还是误人子弟，是把青少年一代向什么道上引？造成社会疯狂的追星族病态现象，电视媒体具有不可推卸的责任。《联合早报网》
Is the temptation created by TV media to find talents or to misguide youngsters? Where do they lead young people to? TV media should certainly be blamed on as creating such a fanatic morbide phenomenon in society.
Obviously, TV stations and talent-search shows have been targets of public criticism. That is why public choose to stand firmly with government on this issue. Under the surge of protests and official interdictionthe, the vulgar shows are likely to retreat . However, we still need more thinking on interminable problems facing Chinese mass media:
Why do talent-shows finally have to become farces and stunts? How should we treat them; do we simply need a relentless interdiction? Can we make high-quality and charming reality shows again? Or are we really going to amuse ourselves to death?
Uganda: Bloggers respond to massive flooding
The top thing on many Ugandan bloggers' minds in the past two weeks has been the massive flooding across sub-Saharan Africa. The floods hit particularly hard in northern and eastern Uganda, where 250 people have died and up to 150,000 have been displaced.
Omar Basawad describes the lasting toll the natural disaster will take on the country:
The floods only exacerbates Uganda's already many problems: the bloody and costly conflict in the North, it being plagued by HIV/AIDS and other diseases and an economy that has so far not taken off as strongly as hoped for. Now, Uganda has not only to feed and shelter the hundreds of thousands worse affected by the floods, but has too - to reconstruct, rebuild and repair the many roads, bridges and other structures destroyed by the floods. As for the worse affected people of the area, the agony and misery is even more and worse. And will continue for a long time to come; even when the World, much later, has forgotten about the floods in Uganda.
Many bloggers, including Zack, Kelly and Dennis, express their sympathies and ask their readers to help the victims, either by contributing to relief efforts or by keeping them in our thoughts. Tandra posts instructions for donating to relief efforts through SMS:
Send an SMS and save a life. Donate 1,000/= to flood victims. Simply type FLOOD and send to 198 and you will have saved a flood victim.
And Elit writes a scathing critique of the Ugandan government's response to the tragedy:
Since last week, the main press piece has been the floods in the North and Eastern parts of the country. Kudos to the dailies for if it were not for them, this would have been swept under the carpet in the way our government does when they'd rather not be bothered with the problem at hand.
…And what is the Ministry of Disaster Preparedness, headed by Prof. Kiwani [NOTE: “kiwani” can be translated as “liar” or “fake”; the Ugandan Minister of Disaster Preparedness is Musa Ecweru] doing? “We should develop a comprehensive plan to handle disasters”. Heck, a disaster has happened, is happening and you are sitted in your comfortable plush office that has been furnished at the cost of these children's parents' earnings, and you are talking about developing a plan!!
Links for Sat, 2007-09
IranianTruth informs us about a short video on “transsexuality in Iran” authored by Yasmin Vossoughian & Kouross Esmaeli.
Taras of Ukrainiana has collected videos of campaign advertising by seven Ukrainian blocs and parties - and has translated their messages into English. An invaluable resource for anyone who would like to experience the 2007 parliamentary election campaign the way ordinary Ukrainians have.
Ecuador Elige [ES] asks “have you decided?” in regards to Sunday's elections of representatives to the Constituent Assembly noting that the latest poll shows a 38% level of undecided voters.
New Mandala has summary of reactions from Japan on the Japanese Video journalists killing by Myanmar troops.
Soldier of Africa posts photos under the title, Preparing for the worst.
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