Archive for
November 30th, 2007
Stories
Egypt: Seven Years for Murder
Egyptian bloggers this week rejoice over the imprisonment of corrupt police officers, who tortured a carpenter to death.
The celebration is all the more special, following the sentencing of men in uniform who tortured Emad Al Kabir. They had used a cell phone to film their sadistic acts on the bus driver and circulated the video among their victim's colleagues to shame him. Little did he know that bloggers would soon be on their trail and the very tool they used to humiliate their victim would be used as evidence against them in court.
Elijah Zarwan explains:
Close on the heels of the conviction of the men who tortured `Imad al-Kabir, a court in Mansoura has sentenced four police officers to prison for slamming Nasr Abdallah’s head into the wall until he died. Abdallah was a carpenter. The police were trying to get him to tell them where his brother, a suspect in a drug case, was hiding.
The sentence was the most severe imposed on a policeman for torture in 10 years. Three cops will serve seven years. Another will serve four. For torturing a man to death.
Ibn Al Dunya delves into more detail:
On Tuesday evening the Mansoura Criminal Court convicted three policemen, a captain and two informers of torturing a man to death, a fourth man received a lighter sentence of three years.
The incident occured on July 31st , when Nasr Ahmed Abdullah, a carpenter was taken into custody and held without charges when police was searching for his brother in the village of Telbana, 110 Km north of Cairo. He was later taken to hospital where he died. The cause of death was determined as internal bleeding close to the brain.
This is the harshest sentence in a similar case for the last ten years according to Gasser Abd al Razeq from the Human Rights watch.
Ibn Al Dunya, however, remains pessimistic that such high profile cases would root out corruption and human rights abuse in his country. He notes:
Human Rights Organizations claims that torture is widespread and systematic, something that the state refutes, allthough it admitts to occasional cases were individuals make mistakes. These two sentences is hopefully the beginning of a new page in terms of taking torture cases involving police and innocent caitizens seriously. I am very pessimistic though. There are ample cases to suggest that the opposite is still the norm. Just to days after the sentences in the Imad al Kabir case, came the next dead victim in the Omraniyya police station case. If the government wants to adress the issue in a positive way, they could start by expanding the definition of torture in Egyptian law according to their international obligations. This would be a good sign of The Egyptian state taking their role role as a current member on the UN Human Rights Council seriously. A positive step has recently been taken by the state affiliated National Council for Human Rights, something that i salute. It would be nice if their friends in the same building could take notice of theiir work.
On a related topic, Ibn Al Dunya is alarmed that video hosting site YouTube had disabled the account of Wael Abbas, who has brought police torture to the forefront. He says:
It´s such a shame that You Tube does not take the opportunity to stand up for such a basic issue as torture. The BBC has a You Tube ¨channel¨, would anyone ever fathom the idea of you tube suspending the BBC, because of them showing graphic images from Abu Ghu´raib for instance?
In a recent development, Wael now claims (Ar) that his Yahoo email account has since been disabled too.
Special Coverage: Middle East Peace 2007
The Middle East Question has grabbed the international headlines for more than half a century. It is now the turn of the region's netizens to vent off and add their perspectives to events touching their lives and the security and stability of the countries they live in.
Will there ever be peace in the Middle East? Leaders of Israel and Palestine have once again showed up for peace negotiations in the United States at the end of November, but evidence of true progress is lacking.
How are average citizens reacting? What are the people on the ground saying? Over the previous few days, emotions have been running high and bloggers in the Middle East have vented their frustrations, hopes, and first hand experiences on the long, bumpy road towards peace.
We have collected these posts on a Special Coverage page that includes live feeds of what bloggers in the region, from Bahrain to Morocco, are writing about about and their hopes for the future. Emotions range from the cynical to the hopeful, with one common thread linking all those blogging - a concern for tomorrow. The page will include links to Global Voices' detailed coverage of blogger's reactions too.
This is not all. Reuters is also now carrying our live feeds here, giving bloggers a voice and an input on mainstream media as history is being made.
Israel: Blogger's Views on the Annapolis Summit
The Annapolis Conference, held on November 27, 2007 at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, ended with the issuing of a joint statement from all parties. Over the past week, Israeli bloggers shared mostly pessimistic voices around the topic of this conference. Many are cynical to the possibility of peace emanating from these leaders who have little support from their people.
Even though mostly pessimistic, this post from oleo's blog displays a slight optimism claiming that leaders with little support have little to lose, a situation which enables them to take on more risks when aiming to reach a common solution:
The leaders are coming from the bottom of an abyss. Olmert's support is still low after the last war, even though it increased slightly when his sickness was found. Abu Mazen's situation is also not the best amongst his people. If he does not bring political and economic improvement to the Palestinians, he will not be able to stay in his position much longer. And above all, president George Bush's situation is bad. He finished two terms with no substantial accomplishment. He will be remembered as the president who placed America in the Iraqi mud, and will be held responsible to the deaths of thousands of soldiers there. In order to change his mark in the history books from a person who lead the world to war to a man who leads the world to peace, he needs to host a compelling peace agreement; and what peace agreement is more sought after than the one between Israel and the Palestinians.
The Annapolis conference will be remembered as the conference of the hated. Not one of the sides, including the mediator himself, has the support of their people. But perhaps because of this fact, the conference will succeed. When someone has nothing to lose, he starts thinking differently - he has the possibility to gamble, take a chance, which would not be possible if polls were in his interest.
We need to keep hoping that our leaders will be able to find the perfect formula in order to not enter unnecessary wars in the coming years. Because it is obvious that peace will not reign here in the near future; at least not until the people themselves realize the other people's right over their plot of land.
Uri Avnery's argument, published in the anti war blog, negates the optimism described above. He describes the Annapolis conference as a poker game where no player has spare cents to put on the table:
Bush is bankrupt. In order to succeed at Annapolis, he would have to exert intense pressure on Israel, to compel it to take the necessary steps: agree to the establishment of a real Palestinian state, give up East Jerusalem, restore the Green Line border (with some small swaps of territory), find an agreed-upon compromise formula for the refugee issue.
But Bush is quite unable to exert the slightest pressure on Israel, even if he wanted to. In the US, the election season has already begun, and the two big parties are bulwarks standing in the way of any pressure on Israel. The Jewish and Evangelistic lobbies, together with the neocons, will not allow one critical word about Israel to be uttered unpunished.
Olmert is in an even weaker position. His coalition still survives only because there is no alternative in the present Knesset. It includes elements that in any other country would be called fascist (For historical reasons, Israelis don't like to use this term). He is prevented by his partners from making any compromise, however tiny – even if he wanted to reach an agreement.
This week, the Knesset adopted a bill that requires a two-thirds majority for any change of the borders of Greater Jerusalem. This means that Olmert cannot even give up one of the outlying Palestinian villages that were annexed to Jerusalem in 1967. He is also prevented from even approaching the ‘core issues” of the conflict.
Mahmoud Abbas cannot move away from the conditions laid down by Yasser Arafat (the 3rd anniversary of whose death was commemorated this week). If he strays from the straight and narrow, he will fall. He has already lost the Gaza Strip, and can lose the West Bank, too. On the other side, if he threatens violence, he will lose all he has got: the favor of Bush and the cooperation of the Israeli security forces.
The three poker players are going to sit down together, pretending to start the game, while none of them has a cent to put on the table.
On a different note, Syria's presence at the Annapolis peace conference could help ease tensions in Lebanon, which has entered a leadership vacuum after rival factions reached deadlock over the election of a new president. Syria, which exerts powerful influence over the Lebanese opposition to the Western-backed government in Beirut, is attending the Annapolis conference after US officials agreed that the fate of the Golan Heights – Syrian territory occupied by Israel since 1967 – could be discussed.
In the JCPA blog, Pinhas Inbari describes part of the Lebanese argument:
As the Annapolis summit draws close, it becomes clear that even though the formal part will be designated to the Israel-Palestinian problem, the corridor conversations will deal with the Lebanese problem, and the possible return of Syria to the land of the cedar tree (Lebanon). One might notice that Siniora's first reaction to the presidential crisis breakout in Lebanon was to send a delegation to Annapolis. It is clear if this is because of Olmert and Abu Mazen's problems, but because of a new trend appearing recently - Syria's responsibility over his country.
Syria is more than interested to return to Lebanon, and understands that its path to Beirut goes through Annapolis. For this reason, Syria decided to send a delegation to Annapolis, which will serve as a counter-force against Siniora's delegation.
There is a possibility that Siniora's team will try to make contact with Israel, even if indirectly through the Americans. Israel, on the other hand, will try to contact the Syrian delegation. Israel stands as one of the major engines to drive Syria back into Lebanon, in contrast with the public impression, Israel was not sympathetic about Syria's removal of forces from Lebanon. Even though it portrayed its formal support, Israel understood that there are many disadvantages to this move: pushing out a “responsible body” which is capable of restraining Hizbollah, raising the issue of the Golan Heights after the loss of Lebanon and turning Syrian targets in Lebanon irrelevant when Israel reacts to Hizbollah's attacks. From an Israeli viewpoint, as long as Syrian targets are attacked within Lebanon, a war-dynamic does not develop, as the tension zone is outside of Syrian territory. Attacking targets within Syrian territory might lead to a potential war in which Israel is not interested.
Kuduro: The Sexy Angolan Rhythm With a Message
Whether the word Kuduro comes from the Kimbundu language, native to northern Angola and means “location” or from the Portuguese expression meaning “hard ass” or “stiff bottom” is debated but there's no argument that the dance is sexy. As one watches the dancers of this Angolan music style jutting their bottoms and swinging sensuously to the rhythm of the hard-hitting Kuduro beat, one can see how the Portuguese translation makes sense. Born in the suburbs of Malange in the 90's, Kuduro has recently become the darling of some European DJs, and the blog ‘Raízes e Antenas‘ [Roots and Antennas] brings an historical perspective.
A paz em Angola - depois de décadas de guerra (primeiro a guerra contra as tropas portuguesas, depois uma guerra fratricida igualmente sangrenta) - proporcionou o desenvolvimento de variadíssimas e riquíssimas formas musicais e a sua divulgação interna e externa. Não que muita música não se fizesse e gravasse antes - vejam-se as gravações contidas na caixa «Angola», já referida há alguns meses neste blog, ou na recente compilação «Os Reis do Semba», todas feitas durante os anos finais de dominação portuguesa - ou as inúmeras gravações de artistas de kizomba editadas ainda durante a guerra civil. Mas, nos últimos anos, outros géneros foram nascendo e crescendo com uma força imparável: a versão muito própria e angolana do hip-hop e também o kuduro e a tarrachinha.
Tarrachinha - A Música Mais Sexy do Mundo (e Outras Músicas de Angola) - Raízes e Antenas
Tarrachinha - The Sexiest Music in the World (and Other Musics from Angola) - Raízes e Antenas
“No Dancing da ‘Mãe Ju’ começa-se a dançar às 14h
e só se pára quando nasce o dia”
“In ‘Mãe Ju's Dancing, we start to dance at 2 pm
and stop when the new day comes”
Documentário Mãe-Ju - Caboindex
According to some referenced sources, Kuduro's dance style was inspired by an unlikely character: the Belgian movie actor Jean-Claude Van Damme. In the video below, Tony Amado explains how he was inspired by Van Damme's funny way of dancing all stiff and with a tight ass in one of his films, and how the first Kuduro song and steps soon emerged while he and his friends laughed at the white man's dance.
Kuduro was recently portrayed on a Brazilian Sunday night TV show called ‘Central da Periferia' [Periphery Central], where the reporter Regina Casé searches for marginal cultural movements in the outskirts of the big cities throughout the world. The director Monica Almeida blogs about what she saw at Sambizanga, a poor neighborhood in Luanda and also home of ‘Os Lambas', the most popular local Kuduro group.
O Kuduro é facilmente comparável ao nosso Funk Carioca. As músicas são produzidas em estúdios caseiros, precários, na periferia de Luanda. Exatamente como acontece, por exemplo, na Cidade de Deus. Basta um quarto (mesmo que mínimo) e um computador. A divulgação é feita de maneira simples e eficaz: entrega-se o CD para um candongueiro - motorista de van - e ele bota pra tocar! Se a música é boa, ela vira um hit, sem precisar de rádio ou de gravadora. Assim foi com os Lambas, o grupo de kuduro mais estourado em Angola nesse momento.
Só Sucesso - Central da Periferia
Só Sucesso - Central da Periferia
The analogy with the Funk Carioca also brings forth the idea of a cultural movement that is seen as marginal by the mainstream. The former leader of ‘Os Lambas' was killed by the police accused of murder, and the video clip above shows that the relationship with ‘the law' is at best, contentious. But a recent article in a local newspaper linking the Kuduro movement with gangs and violence generated 73 comments, the majority of them rejecting the connection with marginality as a relevant issue.
Quando de forma irritante os kuduristas iniciaram a dar o show, eu detestava-os, mas o meu kota dizia-me: sinto que esta pode ser uma contestação a realidade que vivemos. e, bem ou mal, começa a sair do controlo daqueles que gostam de ouvir o que lhes agrada/culto de personalidade e o escape as frustrações saem dia a dia nas músicas porque as “gravadoras” já não estão sob o controlo dos “chefes” que só deixam desabrochar aqueles que adoram as suas personalidades. Sou contra o modo de vida, sou contra algumas letras, mas não vou ao extremo. muitas querem condenar o kuduro, mas dançam o rap com os disparates mais claros e chocantes que contêm as suas letras; por outro lado, o semba não é apropriado para contestações ou frustações, nem kilapanga, nem sungura; o rap que se faz em angola é na sua maioria amordaçado…o escape é o kuduro e como é espontaneo terá maior sucesso porque o ghetto se revê nela; querem ver a juventude dançar nos ghettos? mete kuduro!!!!
Comentário de Prenda, in A Relação Entre as Gangs e o Kuduro - Angonotícias
Comentário de Prenda, in A Relação Entre as Gangs e o Kuduro - Angonotícias
É só entrar num candongueiro par ouvir estas músicas destes malandros q usam o kuduro para se vingarem e fomentar a deliquencia. a policia deveria retirar em circulação e difusão destas musicas q normalmente são os Kandongueiros que promovem. o KuDURo já se tornou musica popular quando bem executada e cantada como o miudo Dog Murras e esses outros cantantes deste estilo deveriam passar mensagens positivas e educativas.
Comentário de Aurora KonaKente, in A Relação Entre as Gangs e o Kuduro - Angonotícias
Comentário de Aurora KonaKente, in A Relação Entre as Gangs e o Kuduro - Angonotícias
O Estilo de uma musica é o reflexo do estado de uma sociedade não podemos condenar. Nos EUA os hip hop denuncia o racismo e a intolerancia e ninguem condena. Nos os Angolanos, devemos valorizar todos os gestos que a sociedade produz.
Comentário de Marta (Luanda), in A Relação Entre as Gangs e o Kuduro - Angonotícias
Comentário de Marta (Luanda), in A Relação Entre as Gangs e o Kuduro - Angonotícias
Este ritmo é típico de Angola. Em Luanda arrisquei uns passinhos, mas não estão neste video. É como diz o cantor: que africano que não dança? que angolano que não dança? e eu complemento: e que descendente de África não dança?
Kuduro - Ieda de Oliveira
Kuduro - Ieda de Oliveira
In the eye of the storm: Bangladeshi bloggers speak
You have probably heard the news about Cyclone Sidr which devastated Bangladesh’s southern coastal regions, claimed thousands of lives, and displaced millions. It is likely that you have read the news in the newspaper or blogs and seen graphic images on TV or heard the horrid report on the radio. But your understanding of the destruction of the cyclone and the resilience of the people of Bangladesh will be incomplete if you have not read the first-hand accounts from local bloggers.
Nari Jibon’s bloggers tell their reaction to the natural disaster on their English blog, Bangladesh from our view and on their Bangla Blog, Amader Kotha.
Kazi Rafiqul Islam tells his experience from the capital Dhaka:
“Due to strong wind electricity was cut off at about 10:15 pm (Thursday). Then I went to bed but could not sleep as the roaring of the wind was increasing. …. At 2:00 am I got a phone call from my eldest sister who was in her sister’s house at Barisal city. She informed that they were in great danger. The roof of the house (tin shed house) was flown away by the cyclone and somehow they were saved. …..I phoned my youngest sister in village. She informed me that she is safe but many trees were broken and fallen down by the Cyclone…. At about 2:30am I heard a big sound outside. I looked outside and saw that the Eucalyptus tree had fallen down on a tin shed house and people are shouting.
Since there was no electricity I could not turn on the TV or Radio all day long (Friday). We could not contact cyclone affected people as we could not get the mobile charged. …. So we were detached from the world. At night Dhaka city became ghost city. We did not have electricity, no water; we could not take bathe also many people could not cook as they did not have water.”
Similar experiences and reactions were posted by other Nari Jibon participants:
Sofia Khatun [bn]: “Millions of Bangladeshis are helpless. Please lend your hand.”
Zannat Ara Amzad Liva [bn]: “Questions arise in my mind why this wrath of nature was steamrolled on innocent children, and extremely poor people?”
Irin Sultana [bn] “The cyclone-affected people are still affected by needs of drinking water, food, cloth and medicine. This cyclone has made many people penniless.”
Laily Jahan Meghla [bn] “the news that depressed me a lot that a girl child was born on 15th of November morning in Shariatpur and was killed in the storm later that night.”
Taslima Akhter “We passed that night fearfully. I and my family became sick as we had to wet in rain”
Nari Jibon’s executive director Dr. Kathryn Ward tells about the inspiring resilience of the Nari Jibon staff and students. The staff and students of Nari Jibon project had turned out to the office on Saturday for work and classes despite a complete lack of electricity and internet. She also posted regular updates on the situation and relief efforts.
MG Rabbany Sujan depicts with photos how the slum dwellers in capital Dhaka are coping with the damages that the category 3 cyclone brought them. Sujan had posted more updated reports and pictures which even got highlighted on CNN. Rafiq was also interviewed in CNN despite a poor telephone connection.
Sujan also posts photos and news about the local communities’ relief efforts.
Last Friday the Nari Jibon project arranged a training on video and digital photography for the female blogers. Participant Shirin Sultana says:
I enjoyed this training very much and also very happy to join this program. I think of buying a digital camera so that I can take lots of pictures from Bangladesh and I would like to show how beautiful is our Bangladesh.
Read more of the participants' reactions.
Here is a video posted by the Nari Jibon staff last July portraying flooding in the low-level areas of Dhaka, the capital city. Soon we will see more photos and videos from the participants that attended the recent workshops.
Caribbean: Earthquake Update
Last night passed rather uneventfully in the Caribbean - there were no reports of strong aftershocks from yesterday's earthquake as had been anticipated - but bloggers were still busy posting updates from their individual territories…
Uncle Sam's Cabin linked to mainstream media updates about the effects of the tremors in Martinique, the island closest to the ‘quake's epicenter, while Notes From The Margin linked to an online article that provided “a good summary of the damage”.
Barbados Free Press was concerned that “the controversial Barbados Greenland Dump construction site was damaged during Thursday’s lengthy earthquake” and Living in Barbados feared that many of today's Independence celebrations on the island may be canceled:
I suspect that many will not want to venture to the beach, fearing a tsunami. Let's hope that it does not arrive. The PM was due to have an independence reception tonight, but so far no word if it will go ahead.
Steve's Dominica, the first blog to report on the initial tremors, posted a tectonic summary from the U.S. Geological Survey office, while further south, ttgapers.com reported that “in Trinidad, none of the valuable oil fields or oil and gas refineries were affected.”
Blogging from St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Abeni writes:
Living under the shadow of La Soufriere meant almost everyone feared the mountain was awaking from its slumber.
Living Dominica was amazed at how “the trees trembled”, but she also found it “interesting how strongly felt this quake was in St Maarten.”
Ishie, a medical student in Grenada, writes:
Through the grapevine, apparently Martinique got hit by a pretty significant (in the 7s) earthquake, so we got the ripple effect, thus giving students from all over the world a little taste of it.
Guyana-Gyal, who felt the rumblings all the way on the South American mainland, as always tries to put an optimistic spin on a distressing situation:
I know this rumbling from the real thing I experience plenty times in the Caribbean Island. This trembling was eerie. No sound. Just silence and trembling. Thank you Santa, you big, clumsy oaf, leggoing…letting go of…a load somewhere, shaking up the land before Chrismus.
Links for Fri, 2007-11
Jennifer Dorroh posts pictures of Piran and links to her article in the American Journalism Review on how “multimedia journalists may change the definition of ‘foreign correspondent'.”
Jordanian Ohoud is lost for words after reading that an Israeli has opened four shops in Dubai.
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