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Caribbean: Giving Thanks

lingua → mg · es

Thanksgiving may be a traditionally North American holiday - but more and more, the Caribbean seems to be taking notice. Whether it has to do with the large Caribbean communities transplanted in North American cities, the smaller community of North Americans who make their home across the Caribbean archipelago, or the fact that saying “thank you” just seems to be a great reason for a holiday, many regional bloggers have been paying a warm West Indian tribute to Thanksgiving…

Bryan Morris, a blogger from Aruba, admits that Thanksgiving “is not such a big celebration here”, but goes on to make the point that…

Tourism is by far the biggest industry here on Aruba and the Americans (Thank You!) make up the largest percentage of tourists…so thanksgiving is still celebrated to some extent.

On the other hand, Puerto Rico, which is a US territory, does celebrate the holiday - and Dondequiera takes the opportunity to list a few things he thinks his fellow Puerto-Ricans should be thankful for:

Give thanks that you live in a place with wonderful weather year round, with sandy beaches, blue water, and tropical breezes. It makes the rest bearable.

Give thanks that you live in a place where we have a “real” vote, the right to disagree with the Government, and to practice any religion (or not to practice) we see fit. Far too many people in the World have none of these rights.

Babalu Blog is convinced that “Thanksgivings are perhaps the truest proof of our Cuban-Americaness:

On the fourth Thursday of every November we have on our tables what we, as Cuban-Americans (or Americans of Cuban descent if you prefer), have in our daily lives: the best of both worlds.

Pwoje Espwa - Hope in Haiti writes:

It may sound a little strange to you all as you are gathered with family and friends on this Thanksgiving Day to hear that today is just another day here in southern Haiti. No parades, no televised football games, no huge table brimming with scrumptious food and turkey. That’s not to say that we are not grateful.

Belize-y Livin' believes she has “so much to be thankful for”, and although the occasion is not a public holiday in Barbados, My Barbados Blog says:

We are counting our blessings, taking a much deserved holiday break, and will be back blogging on Monday.

Jamaican blogger Geoffrey Philp pens a Thanksgiving Poem, while Now Is Wow's “Thanksgiving” was celebrated soon after the Trinidad and Tobago elections:

I went to the COP Thanksgiving rally at Helping Hands grounds in the Pasea area. It wasn't a jump and wave rally. It was an interfaith event, with various spiritual leaders (Muslim, Hindu, Christian, etc.) each saying a prayer and a few words…I was not moved to feel patriotic about T & T…but I was touched by the genuine sense of togetherness and respect of the people and by the sense of gratitude and determination emitted by those on stage. It was a peaceful, communal, ‘old time feel' of an evening.

This perhaps lends even greater credence to the words of Dondequiera:

Give thanks to people who exhibit little acts of kindness. It has an interesting effect of rippling throughout society.

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Kazakhstan: Gangster Movie Hits Box Office

Adil Nurmakov · 05:48 · Central Asia & Caucasus

lingua → mg · es · zht · zhs

The first Kazakh fully commercial movie – shot, cut and promoted without state support with the purpose to extract money from the box-office – has produced a big debate in the blogosphere. “Racketeer” is a movie about a young sportsman, who had to make money in the 1990s – a period of serious economic depression in Kazakhstan – and in order to do so, he quits university, joins a gang and knocks out money from the businessmen with his own fists.

Adam Kesher says that the movie has hit the box-offices – it was impossible to buy a ticket for three days after the first show. “I don’t think that the people were dying to see our version of many Russian “bandit soap operas”. More likely, a consumer wants to see the domestic films, wants to be proud of it”. He also regrets that the local distributors are not too keen in promoting Kazakh cinematograph. “There is no other way to support the domestic industry. France and South Korea were doing so – and look at their movies now! If distributors are to support only gangster films, the deformation of culture will be inevitable”.

Megakhuimyak is more positive. “I didn’t see the movie yet, and I may not like it at all, but I approve the fact of its appearance” he says, meaning the movie as a cultural and social phenomenon. “It’s good that we now have the industry that shoots films for the local consumers, not for the festival jury in Venice or elsewhere! It’s good we now have producers who don’t beg the money from the ministry of culture! It’s good that now we will have a new breed of actors, not the nephews, nieces or other types of somebody’s relatives!”, he says.

Sarimov has got a whole bunch of thoughts about the Kazakhstani cinematograph in general — after the discussion, which mostly took place in the abovementioned LiveJournals. “I’ve analyzed the films made in Kazakhstan over the past 10 years. It’s mostly an introspection, a self-reflection. Most of the topics are tied to aul [rural] thematique. Five recent films end up with the main character leaving the country – it’s an alarming signal, taking into account that the artists feel the reality more emotionally. The Nomad-type films are not the movies, but a pure propaganda. And we have some new and good social dramas”, he concludes with a sign of optimism.

Note: All links lead to posts in Russian.

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Kazakhstan: Economic Crisis Aftermaths

Adil Nurmakov · 05:42 · Central Asia & Caucasus

lingua → zht · zhs

In the aftermath of slight economic and financial crisis, which the government prefers to call a “correction of the market”, the bloggers keep on discussing its consequences.

Sarimov says that the annual Kazakhstan’s Congress of Financiers has been postponed indefinitely. Mr. Saidenov, chairman of the National Bank, explained that the “president gave us his instructions, so the situation is clear, and the tasks given to the banking sector are clear also. No need to discuss them”, he said. An attempt to curtail discussions raises concerns of the blogger. “They are frightened”, he opines, supposing that some kind of political backwash can be expected next year.

Syndikator reflects on the government’s stipulation that the “poverty line” is calculated as 40 per cent of the cost of living. “Apparently, if I fail to earn this 40 per cent of the living wage, I would hardly survive. But is I managed to obtain, say, 43 per cent, I cannot be regarded as a poor man. Dura lex…”

(more…)

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HiperBarrio: Changing Perceptions with Creativity

Rezwan · 02:31 · Americas

lingua → pt · zhs · zht · es

Rising Voices grantee, the HiperBarrio project, is a great example of how underrepresented communities are increasingly able to tell their stories to the world from distant and remote places. Their success lies in the use of new media tools like blogs, videoblogs, and photoblogs to enable communities to to portray their thoughts and creativity.

Izpapalotl sums up HiperBarrio’s activities up to October. She highlights some of the project achievements to date.

Juliana Rincon reports that the photography workshop on November 10 was different than the previous ones as the participants went out in the open and visited the Carabobo walkway of Medellin to take photographs. Since they have already reached the limit with their HiperBarrio Flickr account their photos were uploaded on a Picasa album.

Galo, a participant, talks about their first encounter with video editing. They used images and videos taken during Cultural Week at the Fe y Alegría School in Santo Domingo. The videos are up on youtube and the images are in Medea´s flickr account.

The picture above is of the pageant participants dressed up with their ball gowns made from recycled materials.

The video shows the pageant participant who secured second place dancing with her partner. She is dancing a tropical medley including Porro, a regional dance popular in Medellin.

A couple of new posts were published in the group blog Convergente.

First the participants vowed to change the perceptions of the La Loma neighborhood in Medellin:

We want to share truths from the Public Library in St. Javier hill with the rest of the world, via the Internet.

The latest post [Es] tells the story of 78-year-old Manuael Salvador, a resident of La Loma who is known as “Suso Mugre”. The blogger talks about his struggles as a garbage scavenger who lives in a dilapidated house. Everybody seems to accept his state without offering to help. The Convergentes participants point out that we sometimes fail to notice our neighbors or people like Suso as become simply another part of the landscape.

HiperBarrio published their first newsletter in October. Their next goal is to arrange a writing workshop and publish a 2^nd newspaper.

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Russia: “Dirty Tricks” and Opinion Polls

Veronica Khokhlova · 01:43 · Eastern & Central Europe

lingua → de · es

Ten day to go before the Russian Duma election, and here is the third quick blogosphere roundup (the first one is here, the second one - here).

Dmitri Minaev of De Rebus Antiquis Et Novis reports on the “dirty tricks” used in this year's campaign. Here is one:

I was told yesterday of new leaflets posted on the walls in one of the districts of Samara. The text was like this: “Dear citizens, the Union of the Rightist Forces (SPS) informs you that we have asked AIDS-infected people to participate in our campaign to disseminate printed materials and to participate in the public opinion polls as interviewers. Please, be tolerant towards them.”

Considering the AIDS-phobia, imagine the reaction of the average people when an SPS interviewer would knock their doors… I've never heard of such tricks before.

And here are a few more, from Dmitri's rather comprehensive follow-up post:

[…] In St.Petersburg, the city officials campaign for the pro-Putin Yedinaya Rossiya (United Russia) even in churches. When the activists of Fair Russia asked about 10,000 citizens of St.Petersburg whether they felt any kind of pressure from the officials demanding them to vote for United Russia, 35% said yes, and 32% more said that they heard such stories from their friends or relatives. In Mozhaisky Military Academy the students are informed that their future job will depend on who they vote for. Workers of kindergardens report that the officials oblige them to participate in advance voting and to fill the election bulletins at work, in the presence of the superiors. The Vaileostrovsky regional health service offices demand the physicians to carry on propaganda for the United Russia. The local administration of Kalininsky district threatened to fire the school teachers who will not vote for the UR.

The director-manager of the “Siberian Coal Energy Company” Alexander Loginov received the following letter from the Kemerovo regional office of the United Russia:

“Your refusal to financially aid the the regional office of United Russia in the election campaign to the 5th State Duma is considered as a refusal to support President V. V. Putin and his creative policy.

I feel obliged to inform the President's Administration and the Governor of Kemerovo region on your position.”

The letter is written on the official blank of United Russia, has the signature of the regional party leader, the official stamp and the registration number. […]

This last item has been the subject of discussion on other blogs, too.

La Russophobe provides the translation of the letter - as well as one Russian blogger's commentary (LJ user sergeyhudiev):

I don’t know whether V.V. Putin would be pleased to have his name used as part of a racketeering/”ironing” enterprise. Perhaps he would not be pleased - judging from his comments about “impostors” (prokhodimtsi). This is, however, an unavoidable consequence of his cult of personality - this is the identity the impostors will use for their fraudulent ends. And it is for this purpose that a cult is established.

TOL's Elections in Russia offers more details on the letter scandal:

[…] It turns out that the executive director of the Siberian coal company, Alexander Loginov, has worked in the coal mines all his life and is a traditional supporter of the left wing parties. […]

Siberian Light reports that, judging by the results of Levada Center's opinion poll, “only two of the ‘major’ parties are likely to scrape together the seven percent of votes needed to gain any seats in the Duma - United Russia, and Communist Party of the Russian Federation.”

LJ user drugoi, a top-ranking Russian blogger, has conducted a poll of his own (RUS) on his blog - and the results are quite different.

If the Russian electorate was comprised of bloggers reading drugoi's journal, then three parties out of eleven would make it into the next Duma - SPS/Union of Right Forces (15.9% - 892 votes), Yabloko (8.6% - 484 votes), and Vladimir Putin's United Russia (7.0% - 391 votes). Although the Communists aren't among these three, they are really close, just two votes behind the United Russia: 6.9% - 389 votes.

The percentage figures in drugoi's poll are, of course, misleading - primarily because bloggers who are going to skip the vote altogether (31.2% - 1755 votes) or to spoil their ballot (18.1% - 1017 votes) are counted along with those who plan to cast their votes for a certain party.

But, as LJ user turchanovo wrote in a comment, “any sample is representative. What matters is what exactly it is representative of.”

Overall, this polling post by drugoi has received nearly 600 comments (RUS), and below are a couple of them:

obrut_mra:

Internet audience is the most passive. “I will not go to the polling station” means that the government will be chosen for you by your grandmother - who has been instructed by the TV who the right candidate is. […]

***

norlink:

It'd be interesting to conduct this kind of an opinion poll - “Among your acquaintances, is there one person who is voting for [the United Russia]?”, “Are there two people…?”, et cetera.

chernovv:

Why get yourself disappointed in people? :)

***

kociak:

Isn't there an “against all” option at the Duma election?

drugoi:

Not anymore.

kociak:

No wonder I've a feeling that something's missing! :)

kociak:

P.S. I hope they'll at least keep this option at the presidential election?

hedyn:

They've canceled it everywhere.

[…]

agent_008:

Soon there'll be a “FOR EVERYONE!” voting option :)