Archive for
November 29th, 2007
Stories
Caribbean: Earthquake Tremors
Just a few hours ago, several Caribbean islands experienced strong tremors from an earthquake that originated off the coast of Martinique - and soon after regional bloggers caught their breath and got over the initial shock, they were on their computers blogging about the experience…
Steve's Dominica was first on the ball - yesterday, his blog reported on “A Little Tremor”:
10:19am - a 4.8 ‘quake' shook us. A little thing really, centered east of Martinique.
When the most recent tremors hit, however, his new post title quickly got upgraded to “HUGE Tremor”, followed by a report on the specifics of the ‘quake:
We were just rocked by a substantial earthquake - magnitude 7.3, centered not far west of Martinique. Now that's what I call scary - about 2 minutes of sustained shaking. Cars rocked, motorbike shook, water tank shook and slopped water… and Puss fled.
Further down the Caribbean archipelago, some Barbados blogs were also writing about the experience. Barbados Underground called the tremor “nerve wracking” and provides a time line of what happened from beginning to end. Cheese-on-bread! says that she “had to exit the building hastily”, but as soon as she was allowed back on her computer she provided a more detailed account:
Traffic is gridlocked, especially near the City, and there were reports of roof tiles falling from the Royal Bank of Canada in Broad Street, damaging a car and blocking the street. Part of a house in the parish of St. George reportedly fell into a gully. People are in the streets and walking to open areas. The cellphone system is partially down so persons are having difficulty communicating. Some patients were also evacuated from the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. In Guadeloupe there are reports that a 3 year old girl was killed and her sister injured.
Caribbean Lionesse describes it as “possibly the strongest earthquake in Barbados' living memory”, adding that “the whole island is still in a bit of a tizzy and on edge”:
I was sitting at my desk when I realised I felt dizzy or lightheaded - like my head was swimming. A few seconds later I heard my workmates shrieking and realised it was not just me. To be honest, I was in a panic. I just froze and clutched my desk, hoping it would pass but the ground just kept swaying and swaying and swaying. In my mind I was thinking “oh my god, we're still moving, why are we still moving?”
But after about forty-five minutes, she is able to post a “funny” earthquake update:
Guardian General swooped in RIGHT AWAY and is sponsoring Starcom radio's emergency broadcast on the earthquake. So every 15 minutes or so between nervy reports from town and around the region, you hear ‘Guardian General - trust us to be there!' Talk about marketing!
Notes From The Margin gives an insightful account of how people reacted, more concerned for the safety of their loved ones than their own welfare:
We all bolted for the door this afternoon as we felt and saw the ground shake beneath our feet. Everyone is asking what’s going on and no one appears to know. Calls on cell phones are met with “Network Busy”, calls on landlines are met with busy tones. No one is hurt but everyone is calling their loved ones to see that they are okay. People are sounding strained on the phone not because they are scared for themselves but because they fear for those dear to them. “My husband is on a construction site”, “My parents are on a plane coming in, will the airport be okay?” “I can’t get through to my children’s school I wonder if they are okay?”
Amit at Pull! Push! says:
Google is all over it…
He actually got on IM with me (I was entering my own post about it at the time) and we traded stories:
Amit: hi
take it u heard/felt the quake?
me: oh yes!! how bad was it in your neck of the woods?
Amit: first time i felt a quake/shake.
like being on a boat in the water.
i was at home.
me: we had a pretty scary one last year, but this one was way longer.
Amit: i've got a full blog post up already. USGS says 7.3 around martinique.
me: incredible.
apparently the aftershocks are expected to be quite strong
Amit: good grief.
me: i know.
Amit: this is the first time in my entire life and for most bajans as well i bet, that i've been through this.
Living Guyana reports feeling the effects of the tremor:
For a few seconds at approximately 3:04pm this afternoon a strong tremor rocked houses and other buildings on coastland Guyana. The tremor sent persons scattering out of their homes, offices and other buildings in Georgetown as people became scared and ran onto the streets.
West Indies Cricket Blog also weighed in:
A massive earthquake (7.3 on Richter scale) rocked the Caribbean today, sending tremors as far as Guyana and Suriname in South America. The earthquake was centered 23 miles southeast of Roseau, the capital of Dominica, where the shaking lasted for about 20 seconds.
As the people of the Caribbean brace themselves for possible aftershocks, Marginal says:
It’s a time to hug your family and count your blessings, it could have been much much worse.
Uganda: Ten questions with the Comrade
Beloved by the blogren for his prolific, provocative comments and his endless, passionate devotion to North Korea, the 27th Comrade was until recently one of Uganda's most active bloggers.
Self Portrait
27th Comrade
Two months ago the Comrade decided to take a hiatus from his blog Communist Socks and Boots, limiting his writing to the occasional post on the group blog The Kampalan. His decision was met with surprise, sadness and well-wishing on the part of the blogren, and this blogger missed his manifestos so much that she sought him out for a conversation about writing, reggae and, naturally, Communism:
ONE: How long have you been blogging?
Back when I was just starting out in serious software development, I had a small blog. Very clunky thing that I no longer maintain. I don't consider that phase, though. After all, it had only three readers - myself and my two alter-egos. Then came the real blogging, which I date starting in the last quarter of 2006, at CS&B. Not that much of a Long March to write books about, I'm afraid.
TWO: What made you decide to start a blog?
I had the ingredients: non-expensive internet, some stray time, and stuff to rant on about.
THREE: What do you use your blog for the most?
First I thought it would be something like an open journal. I have almost completely succeeded in keeping the tech stuff off the blog - it wasn't meant to be an outlet for my tech stuff. It was merely something to chronicle my more-interesting moments. And then, some day, I put an opinion out there. And then it became a kind of rant zone, on top of being a diary. By last post, the rant zone personality of the blog had won the civil war.
FOUR: Who influences your writing?
When I was in school, I used to read Ernest Bazanye's articles. Always. That cheeky, laid-back thing, you know. I like it. Other elements of my style came from Mario Vargas-Llosa, Salman Rushdie, Robert McLiam Wilson, and maybe Adam Thorpe.
FIVE: Top three favorite blogren?
Baz, funniest bugger alive. It's a shame he isn't announcing an up-coming novel, because I think Uganda's time is ripe for a Nobel Prize for Literature.
Tumwijuke has such rude talent with the camera that, while checking her well-written posts, I tend to wish I were a photographer myself.
Ivan. He's a graphic artist, and it shows in his writing. He writes paintings, in a cheeky style.
SIX: Why did you stop writing on CS&B?
I'm quitting my job to make some time for myself, so out goes the non-expensive internet. That's one of the ingredients for my blogging, and it won't be available for a while.
SEVEN: Do you think you'll start up again?
Yeah, definitely. You don't stop this kind of thing. I'll probably be programming my own blog engine when I'm off the job. When I come back, I may be self-hosted, or (if all that fails), I'll be back to CS&B. Both are equally likely.
EIGHT: Why are you a Communist?
Everyone is born a Communist. But living in a Capitalist society can quickly brain-wash people into thinking Capitalism is the norm. It isn't. Your mother didn't sell you breast milk. Your parents didn't rent a room out to you. And when you are taking care of them, you won't forward them the bills.
NINE: How do you feel about the United States?
How would you like it if every country were like America? If there were 200 countries in Iraq, 200 countries polluting the world, 200 slave histories, 200 Jena Sixes (that's Jena 1200), 200 million nuclear bombs at the ready, 200 hundred trigger-happy empires, 200 times that the American natives have been massacred, 200 bullying hegemonies, 200 causes and targets of modern terrorism. 200 stray, uncontrollable evils. The only positive of America is having shown us what Capitalism becomes if it is not squashed before it hatches. Looking at America, I find it harder to condemn the (rather brutal) purges that happened in twentieth-century Communist states.
So it's not just an act, then.
I'm Red. Through and through. Maybe nobody will doubt if I register the Communist Party of Uganda?
TEN: Last question: as an avowed fan of Bob Marley, do you have any comments on the death of South African Reggae star Lucky Dube?
A: I was shocked by what nobody seems to be saying about Lucky's death. He was killed by Capitalism. This rampant crime in South Africa, it is blamed on a trinity of poverty, un-employment, and the legacy of apartheid. Apartheid slave-driving and segregation were supposed to prop up the Capitalist machine. So was slavery in the USA. So was the raiding and massacring of the Australian Natives. So is the massacring of the environment. So is the massacring of the Middle Eastern children. Even when these regimes finally cave in to the revolutionary forces or civil rights movements or Umkhonto we Sizwe, the effects of the cannibalist nature of Capitalism will tarry with us for the next millennium.
Thanks, Comrade.
Philippines: Rebel Soldiers Take Over Manila Hotel
UPDATE: Seems the rebel leaders have surrendered
Dave Llorito writes
It’s 5:10 pm and Senator Trillanes and General Lim walked out of the hotel to avoid the loss of lives—their lives. With the APCs and the SWAT troops moving in, there’s really no other way for them but to surrender. It was so stupid of them to initiate a “coup” in the first place. You want a coup and you launch in a hotel?! My goodness! Such incompetent fools!
Earlier in the day, Philippine Commentary writing from Manila
An assault on the Makati Peninsula Hotel is underway. PNP Special Action Forces appear to be posing for the cameras at the front of the hotel, but earlier gunfire seemed to be coming from elsewhere. Troops are moving in from various directions visible in the news patrol helicopter coverage.
Seems like yet another attempt at coup in Philippines.
In the post titled “Trillanes, Lim at Makati: Another coup?” the blogger at AWBholdings.com wrote
Something’s happening at Makati right now. It seems that Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV together with Gen. Danilo Lim have walked out of the coup hearing at Makati RTC. They are now walking along Ayala Avenue.
Antonio Trillanes and other soldiers were on trial for an earlier coup attempt from 2003. They walked out of the court hearing and headed to the Manila Peninsula Hotel where they gave a statement to the press.
The Wikipedia page for Trillanes has more details on his background
He is best known for his role in the 2003 Oakwood Mutiny when he and a group of 321 armed solders took over the Oakwood apartment towers in Makati City, lined them with bombs and threatened to demolish them. In the general election held in May 2007, Trillanes was elected to the Senate on the anti-government Genuine Opposition ticket, and assumed office on June 30, 2007. He is the first Philippine Senator to be elected while in jail.
Mukamo.com wrote
Trillanes also called on the people to join them in Makati. “Magsama-sama tayo. Nanawagan po kami sa taongbayan na naniniwala sa pagbabago. Join us po,” he said. Former vice president Teofisto Guingona, who was marching with the rebel soldiers, said the move is part of various groups’ call for the rejection of Mrs. Arroyo’s “morally bankrupt” administration.
The Warrior Lawyer describes the reaction from the government.
President Arroyo, caught flat-footed, hastily convened the National Security Council to assess the situation.
There is now a classic Philippine stand-off, with each side watching and waiting how things will unfold while making blusterous statements, neither side wanting to be the first to precipitate a violent clash.
The blogger adds
At this point, it looks like another half-assed attempt to generate enough public sympathy to generate another “people power” event which might hopefully drive Arroyo out. In the meantime, what better place to wait it out than at the Penn. At the very least, you’re guaranteed good coffee.
The blogger at Touched by An Angel suspects the motives of the rebels
Trillanes is so original. After Oakwood Hotel, he latches on to Manila Peninsula where they are setting up a command center on the second floor. I don’t wonder anymore why anyone voted for Trillanes. I mean, wow… how noble he is to bring us out of poverty. Maybe my tolerance for pain is quite high even if I sympathize with the poor, but another coup attempt from Trillanes smacks of power hungry motives. Two Bishops, Former Vice President Teofisto Guingona and some civilians are some of the first supporters to join Trillanes in the hotel.
Cathy at Nancydrewandme updated
The government gave Trillanes a 3PM deadline to surrender and get out of the hotel which has now been emptied of guests. Sayang ang 89% occupancy! It's 3:20PM now. What are they going to do? Shoot a mortar through the Pen? I hope not. Trillanes and company say they will not leave the premises and a group is starting to gather at the Ninoy Aquino memorial in Makati. Plus, the Magdalos have two Catholic Bishops sympathetic to their cause.
Pen here refers to the Peninsula Hotel.
Leigh Reyes is wondering why they picked the Peninsula Hotel
I wonder why they picked the Pen. The buffet? The Amorsolo ceiling? The piano and bongo drums on the second floor?
Rising Voices Microgrant Application Deadline Extended to Dec. 3
The application deadline for microgrants of up to US$ 5,000 to fund citizen media outreach projects in the developing world has been extended until Monday, December 3. Ideal applicants will present innovative and detailed proposals to teach citizen media techniques to communities that are poorly positioned to discover and take advantage of tools like blogging, video-blogging, and podcasting on their own.
This second round of funding differs from the first in one important aspect. You have the choice to submit your application via email as before or you can publicly post your proposal on our wiki and receive feedback on how it can be improved. Public applications can be posted on the wiki at any time and can be reworked as often as the applicant sees fit, but all applications must be finalized by the new December 3rd deadline.
Even if you don't plan on applying for a grant yourself, you can still help this round's applicants by offering feedback on their open proposals. A list of all current applications is available on the front page of the Rising Voices wiki. To leave feedback on any individual project proposal, simply press the “Comments” tab at the top of the proposal page.
To learn how to apply using the wiki you can view the screencast below or visit the instruction page on the wiki. If you would like to submit your proposal privately via email you may do so by downloading the application and emailing it to outreach@globalvoicesonline.org by December 3. No late applications will be accepted.
Download grant application in .DOC format
Download grant application in .RTF format
Egypt: The Annapolis Peace Conference
When the onset of the Annapolis Peace Conference first arose hopes were high and all were looking forward to meeting at the peace table. Since then complications and controversies have muddied the waters and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has been in the middle trying to bring all parties back to order. Many if not most Arab leaders had originally refused to attend following the release of contextual details. Egypt's bloggers can help us to understand why.
The Arab Observer
When those leaders meet, I can't help but wonder how much can they really do? The question that keeps on hitting my head without a real answer is: Is it really a matter of a leader decision to achieve peace or not? and if it is, and everyone is talking about it, then what is holding them?
Away from political and power plays, those leaders carry a burden of long history of cultural, religious and race conflict, while at the same time, carry a burden of a long future that would define the lives of two races who even if they achieved peace on papers, their history wouldn't let them to keep it at their hearts for a long time to come.
We have been there, done that, and while I would like to think that this summit can be different. With a clearer messages from all parties that they are more willing than ever to achieve peace, I can give myself the luxury of raising my hopes and pray for Al Quds (Jerusalem) to raise up again and kick off war from the hearts of this world.
Often times in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict a strong contrast between foreign media and leading newspapers appears. Sometimes that contrast is so drastic that it causes some of the Middle East's intellectuals to scratch their head as the Arabist does in his most recent post.
Reading the New York Times’ editorials on Annapolis, full of praise for “moderates” and worrying about who shook whose hand, I am reminded of why I barely read that newspaper anymore. The reporting is occasionally good, such as the very nice long feature on radicalism in northern Morocco a few days ago, but when it comes to Israel just forget about it. This piece for instance quotes, aside (current) US officials, Martin Indyk, Dennis Ross and John Bolton. Never mind the jovial hamster and his bosses.
It's fair to say the Arabs have little if no faith at all in Annapolis. That lack of hope derives from the exclusion of main issues, namely right of return, Jerusalem and the settlements. Zenobia explains her frustration.
Zenobia
Seriously I do not know why 16 Arab countries are going to attend the meeting , first the main countries in the meeting that will have direct talks are : Israel and the Palestinian authority representing only half of the Palestinian territories ,as the other half is under Hamas' rule, these Arab countries agreed to stick to the Arab initiative Saudi Arabia proposed in the Beirut Arab Summit 2002, the same initiative Israel refused totally so I do not know what the rest of the Arab countries other than Syria are going to do , they have no business what so ever there , as long as the Saudis swore that they won't shake hands with Israelis at least in front of the cameras.
Understanding Annapolis is difficult enough. There are so many conflicting perspectives and few details available in conventional media. Augustus has a convenient breakdown.
Augustus
DIFFICULT ISSUES
—————-
–Much has been said over a long period of time about critical issues like border, refugees and Jerusalem.–One of the truly crucial components underscoring these issues is how these states will relate to each other in practical terms concerning security and economic issues.
–We are going to do everything we can to help the parties as they try to arrive at an understanding on a wide variety of outstanding issues that must be resolved if there is to be peace and a Palestinian state.
There's no definite outcome for the peace conference but the guesses are out there and admittedly, some are much more likely than others. Until next time.
Links for Thu, 2007-11
Window on Eurasia writes: “Russian President Vladimir Putin’s characterization of his political opponents and those standing behind them as ‘the enemies of Russia' has sparked a discussion among his supporters about the relationship of that term to Stalin’s notorious one, ‘the enemies of the people.' Pavel Danilin, editor of the pro-Putin website Kreml.org, addressed that issue […], [and] [h]is comment should disturb all who care about the prospects for democracy and freedom in Russia.”
Robert Amsterdam posts a YouTube interview with human rights activist Ludmila Alekseeva (in Russian, with English subtitles).
TOL's Elections in Russia cites a Russian blogger's post on ways “to falsify the elections in a more ‘civilized' manner.”
De Rebus Antiquis Et Novis and Executed Today write about the myths surrounding life and death of Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya.
De Rebus Antiquis Et Novis posts another pre-election update that covers some virtual and real-life attacks on the opposition.
Borin does not wish to welcome the Burmese leader to Cambodia.
The blog War in Rio, o Jogo [pt], which defines itself as “a manifest game and a bad taste joke”, has been quickly gaining popularity. Inspired by Wargaming, the idea behind the project is to use humor to generate a debate about the situation in Rio de Janeiro: “While politicians deliver speech to a disinterested middle class, the extermination squads, paramilitary groups, police and drug traffickers dispute over control of the capital”.
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