Archive for
December 3rd, 2007
Stories
Russia: More on the Duma Election
The previous Global Voices post on the general elections in Russia was a translation of Russian bloggers' views; the post below deals with what some of the English-language Russia bloggers have been writing recently.
On Dec. 1, The Russian Dilettante finally broke his silence with this comment on the upcoming vote:
It's all predictable, yet not quite
No doubt, tomorrow's parliamentary election is not going to be fair or free. But the interesting thing about it that United Russia, the “party of power,” is seriously afraid it may not get the majority it wants. (I'm not sure if it is 50% or 75% or some other number between 50% and 100%.) They're sure to fix it anyway, but it may not be the neat job they were hoping for.
Sean Guillory of Sean's Russia Blog wrote this on the eve of the election:
[…] If voter turnout does surprise Russia watchers and ends up low, there is always Plan B. The lack of physical appearance will certainly be supplemented with a flood of absentee ballots. Absentee ballots allow one person to cast several votes in several different polling stations. Police in Komi have already confiscated 60 absentee ballots purchased on Kirov region. Defiant, the Communists have vowed to not stand for the counting of “dead souls.” But in reality, what are they going to do about it? […]
In a comment to Guillory's post, Tim Newman of White Sun of the Desert described what the election felt like at Russia's - and Eurasia's - easternmost edge:
Election fever in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk consisted of a few individuals - who less like political activists and more as pretty girls paid to distribute flyers - standing about in United Russia bibs. I haven’t heard of a single person mention the election, never mind vote in it. The Russian in my household missed doing her civic duty by spending the entire day in bed sleeping off a mountain of alcohol from the night before. I suspect most Sakhalin Islanders were doing the same. I guess remoteness from Moscow doesn’t help.
St. Petersburg-based Megan Case reflected on political views of the Russians she knows:
[…] If my students are any gauge, this is A-OK with most of the Russian population. One young woman in all seriousness told me that she couldn’t understand why Putin couldn’t run for a third term as president. So many students just said that Putin is the only person who can ensure that the relative stability of the past few years continues. So many people seem to think that the “democrats” or the “westernizers” had their chance in the 1990s and they screwed it all up. I would say they never really had a chance, but try arguing that with someone who lived through the ’90s in Russia.
[…]
Anyway, tomorrow most of my friends will go out and vote for SPS and Yabloko without much hope, but a feeling of responsibility to participate in the shred of democratic process that is left. We’ll see what tomorrow brings, but I don’t think it will bring any light at the end of the tunnel for politics in Russia.
Nosemonkey/Europhobia made an attempt to explain the seemingly inexplicable:
[…] The only trouble is that Putin is one of the least understood, most unpredictable political leaders the world has ever seen. Nobody really knows what he’s going to do next. Theories run the full range from him being a mere puppet for shadowy forces behind the scenes to being an autocrat along the lines of Stalin and the Tsars. He may rule the country for decades to come - or he may fade into complete obscurity following March’s presidential elections (at which he must stand down), to be replaced by yet another classic Russian riddle wrapped in an enigma.
The one thing that is certain is that, for the first time in the country’s history, the vast, vast majority of the people of Russia are neither enslaved nor being massacred in their millions. Who can blame them for wanting to keep the status quo?
Mark MacKinnon cited the official results and wrote about the implications of the outcome:
[…] According to official results, his United Russia party won upwards of 64 per cent of the vote in yesterday's Duma elections. According to Vladimir Vladimirovich himself, that translates into 315 of the 450 seats in parliament.
That two-thirds majority in the Duma allows Putin and his acolytes to alter the constitution. They can abolish term limits so that Putin can run again in the presidential vote this spring. They can rename the country Putinistan. […]
MacKinnon has no doubts “that Vladimir Putin will continue to dominate the Russian political scene after his term ends next year”:
[…] If he doesn't find a way to retain the presidency (and I remain convinced that he will), he'll be the most powerful prime minister Russians have had since the post was created. If he's neither president nor PM, he'll be the man who yanks the strings on both. […]
Perspectives on the New Russia noted that, despite some predictions, four parties instead of just two have made it into the new Duma:
[…] 1. The Liberal Democratic Party, like the Holy Roman Empire (which was neither holy nor Roman), is neither liberal or democratic. Instead, it generally sells its votes to United Russia and is managed by the colorful Vladimir Zhirinovsky, who pontificates and makes alot of noise, ultimately signifying nothing.
2. A Just Russia, a party rumored to have been started by the Kremlin, that is headed by the sycophant Sergei Mironov, who like the Roman senate in the first century BC calling for Caesar to become dictator, is continually calling for Putin to set himself up for a third term…
Thus, in effect United Russia will control almost 80% of the Duma - enough to make any constitutional changes if they so desire. […]
Guillory's post-election entry ended with a Putin joke:
Putin calls his mother on the phone and says: “Hello mama. It’s me, Vladimir. I won the elections”. Putin’s mother responds:
“Really? Honestly?”. “Mama,” Putin answers. “Can you please not nag me about that.”
Just think. This election was just a dress rehearsal for March. Then, the gloves will really come off.
Chogm Appraisal: The Round-Up from Ugandan Blogosphere
Though he’s a journalist and could have been preparing for Chogm – the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting recently held in
I’ve got:
·
o DVDs
o Batteries
o
o Pringles
o Instant noodles
o Airtime
o Ammunition
I am ready for CHOGM.
Clearly, not everyone was excited about Chogm.
Chirs Mason, of Caked in Red Clay, has a good play by play of Chogm, but most interesting are the questions he asks:
When leaving Parliament, I gave thought to the piles of money invested in sprucing up the Parliament building for the Queen’s visit. The visit lasted about 20 minutes. A pattern was beginning to form. Mountains of money spent to prepare a site for a visit by a Royal figure or world leader during the meetings. Those visits would inevitably last a few fleeting minutes, perhaps an hour, and then the delegation would move on, leaving the refurbished site behind. I wonder how long the renovations will last before the paint again peels, the walls beings to crumble and the potholes make their inevitable return.
The new blog Citizen Uganda also questions some of the consequences of Chomg:
For Museveni though, this is a personal triumph. He managed to keep the protesters from upstaging him—they managed to make headline news on BBC—and raising some serious questions about his record on human rights. There was also very little mention of the stalled negotiations with the LRA in the north, or the country's tensions with the DRC.
Scarlett Lion (full disclosure, that’s me) berates the Ugandan government for some of their choices as well:
They tore up the sidewalks and streets for Chogm to rebuild nicer ones. But since the repairs haven’t been finished, and the Queen and other diplomats and visitors have come and gone, they’ll stay half-finished forever. Chogm came and went without the world’s notice or most Ugandan’s participation. Most Ugandans didn’t see the Queen, air their grievances, or even learn to untangle the acronym.
Hannah, at the View from Kololo, put it very succinctly:
Before moving to
New hotels have been built all over the city (and no one seems to be asking who will fill these hotels once CHOGM is over),
Everything seemed more orderly and in many ways less Ugandan.
Now that Chogm has come and gone, it will be interesting to see what kind of role
The hazards of journalism in West Africa
In a country whose name means “the land of upright people,” accounts of corruption will always find their way into Burkina Faso’s media. In this country with proud history of fighting kleptocracy, however, something now seems terribly wrong. To the average Burkinabé, corruption at all levels of government is a problem – one that's growing worse. Yet the majority of Burkinabé media pointedly look the other direction.
You may blame this on the fact that the nation’s largest newspaper, major radio network and local television service are all state controlled, and known for their mostly lackluster news coverage. For the country’s independent dailies, the government enjoys employing subtle forms of intimidation to ensure readers’ attention is directed elsewhere.
It all leaves Burkina Mom from BurkinaMom’s Life in Africa to argue that the reality of what’s happening in the streets is often light years apart from what’s found in the newspapers. That was especially true for recent coverage of a much-hyped World Bank report grading business conditions in more than 170 different countries:
“Corruption in Burkina Faso: Business Climate Really Improves!” was the headline of an article in one of today's newspapers in Burkina Faso. Here's a translation of how it began: “Without a bribe, you may have to wait years for your merchandise. There's nothing you can do...” says a Burkinabe small-business owner. The report “Doing Business 2008″ that outlines the business environment of various nations was published on September 26 by the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation. It ranked Burkina as 37th in Africa and the 161st in the world rankings, out of 178 countries. This is relatively better than previous years and the progress is much touted in the local newspapers, as well as TV and radio. Burkina was 165th in 2007……
Burkina Mom then compares the local media coverage with L’Evenement, a fearless independent bi-weekly that she considers to be the best in the country:
The press releases from the World Bank , Burkinabé government, and etc. are relentlessly upbeat. L'Evenement isn't buying the official line, though. I love how the bold black type claiming that the business climate is “Really Improved” is immediately followed by a quote illustrating how bad it still is. I also enjoy the subtle dig at the local tv, radio stations and many rival newspapers that never seem to research anything. They just publish the government press releases and keep their heads down.. .which is probably wise. A top journalist in Niger was just thrown into prison last September for annoying the powers that be. He is still being detained and faces life in prison. Being a journalist is hazardous stuff when done correctly, especially in West Africa.
China: Report from Hong Kong on sweatshop
After long effort, the Hong Kong-based student organization SACOM (Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior 大学师生监察无良企业行动) published a report on Dell Computer and its suppliers’ misconducts related to labor rights on mainland China. After searching through data, interviewing workers in person and referring to materials, SACOM decries Dell and its suppliers’ partial failure to implement the Chinese Labor Law, and gives an insight into the sweatshop on Dongguang (东莞)，Guangdong province in the report Dell—The Manufacturing of Sweatshop Computers Behind the Zero-Inventory Strategy . The report, fully cited in 163.com and then circulated in several main domestic websites, received netizens’ concern.
The report discusses the working condition of several first-tier and second-tier suppliers of Dell, and identifies the problems troubling workers are illegal wage and working hours, employment without labor contract, inhuman management practices, and use of child labor in peak production period. The sub-contract suppliers of Dell, due to the intense competition, have to exploit workers to gain profit margin. The zero-inventory strategy and stunning profit of the trans-national enterprise, accordingly, are founded considerably on the toil of Chinese workers. SACOM appeals to Dell to take its duty and assist its business partners to guarantee the labor rights.
The replies on Skyline (天涯), a popular net forum that has cited the report showed people’s concern.
Soul of Money said
“血汗工厂” 这就是中国腾飞的秘密
Sweatshop is the secret of the prosperous China.
Alex0755 moaned:
低层人民要生存,那些所谓的”血汗工厂”总是会有源源不断的工人进去.
The grass-root have to survive so that people would endlessly go to the sweatshops.
Most netizens’ showed appreciation to the Hong Kong students.
Farmer With No Land (失地农民) said:
感谢香港的同学们！
Thank you, Hong Kong students!
More people compared them to the domestic college students:
Who_knows said:
什么时候国内的大学也能出这样的报告，中国才有希望
China would have hope only when domestic colleges could have such reports.
No_Eating_Pork said:
很遗憾不是我们大陆自己的学生写出这样的报告
What a pity that it is not by out mainland students.
苏州过后没艇搭 said
为香港同学喝彩,为内地沉默的羔羊默哀
Acclaim for Hong Kong students, mourn for the silent lambs on mainland.
Learning_To_Host said
大陆的血汗工厂
需要香港学生呐喊
自从89后中国没有大学了
The sweatshops on mainland need Hong Kong students’ battle cry. After 89, mainland China has no colleges.
But there are also disapproval ideas against Hong Kong:
zztao2008 said
香港同学靠大陆输血吃香的喝辣的，又来指责大陆
The Hong Kong students eat the good enjoy the good based on mainland’s blood transfusion, but now they came back to criticize us.
thrall1976 at once rebuked：
这份报告指责的是大陆么？Dell代表中国？
Is this a report debasing mainland? Dell means China?
But the ideas are obviously divergent on how to solve the problems
一个人的冠盖京华 thought:
发达国家自己不愿意做的，都放到中国，印度这些地方。低廉的劳动力，肆意破坏环境。。。这些都老生常谈了。但是，没有了这些，中国能拿出去和人竞争的还有多少？中国的2位数的发展哪里来？
难，难，难。
What the developed countries are not willing to do are all moved to places such as China and India. The cheap labor and destructed environment are all clichés. But without this stuff, what can China have to compete with others? Where could the two-digit growth come from?
Hard, hard, hard.
Song-road said:
等到问题解决了，这些厂商已经搬到越南去了。
Nothing can really solve the problem. After it’s solved, the factories have already been moved to Vietnam.
Old_Shield thought consumers are condemnable as well:
戴尔是否可以指责每个消费向戴尔发出的低价订单？
当你买电脑杀价的时候，你就是跟戴尔一样，在发出一份低价订单，明白？指责别人的时候，想想自己。
你跟米商砍价的时候，有没有想过农民的待遇？
Could Dell reprehend consumers who ordered products in low price?
When you bargain for computers, you are just like Dell that makes order forms in low price (which reduce the wage). When you decry others you’ve got firstly think about yourself.
Have you ever think of farmers when bargaining with rice merchants?
But there existed a paradox:
如果你看不惯戴尔，停止对它发出低价订单，让它破产，这样，工人就不必接受低待遇了。确切地说，就算工人想接受低待遇，也不可能了，因为他们失去工作机会了。
If you are averse to Dell, then just stop buying its products and bankrupt it so that the workers won’t suffer from low wages. But accurately, they lose the jobs.
Rebuking a comment that attributed the low wage to supply and demand, HuaziGG stated:
供求关系只是其中一个方面。单个的工人是没有议价能力的，我们的工人又没有工会。香港学生抵制戴尔，相当于起工会的作用，协助工人讨价还价。通过戴尔施加压力，代工厂将改善工人的待遇。
Supply and demand is just one aspect. The single worker has no power to bargain and yet the workers have no right to organize labor unions. When Hong Kong students repelled Dell, they performed the function of labor union to aid workers on bargain. To pressure Dell, workers can improve their condition.
Hui_Li sighed:
这是无奈的啊
大陆不做这些代工自有其他地方的会做,做了还能养活一大批工人,如果没有这么多的代工工厂就会有很多了失业,最可耻的就是dell了.
What a pity.
If mainland doesn’t do this then there will be other places to do so. Many workers can survive if they rely on these factories. Otherwise many would lose their jobs. Dell is the most shameless.
What is the way out remains unknown, but after all, a heart that cares about motherland is always welcomed. When we appreciate the aid from Hong Kong, we had better introspect why we can’t take care of our duty well.
Guatemala: A Tasteless Advertising Campaign
“Living instead of dying” is what Claudia Navas said from Ordinaria Locura [es], where she details serious problems that Guatemala is facing in regards to violence against young women, she said:
Las cifras de feminicidio en el país son alarmantes, según la Policía Nacional Civil, hasta el 2 de octubre se habían registrado 377 muertes, cifra que seguramente ha aumentado, pues tan sólo al hojear los periódicos cada día me encuentro con una víctima más. Entre ellas, a muchas que ni siquiera han llegado a la mayoría de edad.
The statistics of feminicide in the country are alarming, according to the National Police, in the period up until October 2nd, 377 women were murdered, a number that surely has increased since then from looking at the newspaper every day, I find another name, many of who have not reached 18 years old.
In light of these tragic statistics, a Guatemalan shoe company launched an advertising campaign that many bloggers thought was out of line. The international blog VISUALMENTE [es] explains the content of these ads in a post called Poco hombre. The blog article also features the two ads in question.
El 19 de noviembre en Guatemala una empresa zapatera llamada MD lanzó una campaña por su nueva colección de zapatos. “Está de muerte” es el eslogan que acompaña las piezas gráficas de esta patética campaña de publicidad, en cuya imágenes aparece el cadáver de una mujer desparramado sobre un sofá, y en otra, el cadáver de otra mujer en una camilla de una morgue o de un hospital, eso sí, ambas con unos zapatos muy lindos y vistosos, pero muertas. ¿Mujeres muertas para promocionar zapatos?
On November 19 in Guatemala, a shoe store called MD launched a campaign to promote their next collection of shoes with the slogan “it is to die for.” On one of the posters, there is the body of a dead girl lying on the sofa, and on the poster, there is another girl, who is dead in a morgue or a hospital, both of them are wearing a beautiful pair of brand new shoes, both of them dead. ¿Dead women to promote shoes?
Desing Drink [es] agreed that it was in extremely bad taste on her post:
Coincido con muchos periodistas guatemaltecos que tachan la publicidad de la zapatería MD como INOPORTUNA, ya que el pasado 25 de noviembre se conmemoró un día más de la NO VIOLENCIA CONTRA LAS MUJERES, una fecha que ni siquiera debería existir.
I agree with several Guatemalan journalists that reject MD's advertising campaign, considering it inappropriate, especially since last November 25 the Day Against Violence Against Women, which is a celebration that should not exist in the first place.
Black Creative Box [es] also shares their point:
somos nosotros los exagerados? Es cierto que la publicidad mientras más controversial mejor pero existen millones de formas de hacer una campaña de zapatos.
Are we overreacting? It is true that in advertising, the more controversial the better, but there are million other ways of making a campaign for shoes.
Guatemalidades [es] shared on her blog a story of a girl (Wendy) murdered by an angry boyfriend, and their rejection against the advertising on Guatemalan streets:
..no pienso comprar nunca zapatos en MD. las muchas Wendys de Guatemala que han visto sus sueños truncados por una violencia tonta y la rídicula imposición de la moda y la necesidad de “venderse” para convertirse en mujeres “honradas” y “esposas”. esa misma moda que descalifica el cerebro y cualifica a la mujer por el tamaño de sus tetas y el diámetro de su cintura, es aberrante usar la muerte para vender precisamente lo que provoca la violencia.
… I refuse to buy MD shoes, since there are a lot of Wendys in Guatemala that have seen their dreams shattered because of senseless violence and a ridiculous imposition of fashion, and the need of selling themselves to become “honorable women” and “wives”. The same trend is the one discounting intellect and valuing women for their breast size and waist size. It is disgusting to use death to sell because it instigates violence.
La columna de Ana shares the concerns, saying on her post Muerte Súbita:
Esa publicidad, que copia una corriente surgida algunos meses atrás en otros países, y que fue interrumpida inmediatamente por las entidades de mujeres y de derechos humanos, debe ser retirada de inmediato porque es una bofetada en el rostro de las mujeres guatemaltecas. Guatemala es el segundo país en el mundo –solo Rusia le gana– con el mayor número de mujeres asesinadas.
That advertisement, which copied similar ads in other countries that were immediately put to a halt by women's rights and human rights groups, should be removed immediately because it is a slap in the face Guatemalan women. Guatemala is second in the world - behind Russia - with the highest number of murdered women
Kyrgyzstan: Political season gets hot
Bloggers in Kyrgyzstan discuss the changes that the government is undergoing after the President Bakiev’s sudden dismissals and appointments of a whole bunch of key state figures. Newly appointed and recently dismissed officials have always attracted attention of bloggers, who constantly express and share their opinions and forecast who is gong to do what and what is going to be next.
Bakiev’s recent decision to dismiss the prime-minister Almazbek Atambaev, who after being a strong opposition member, became a prime-minister and served 8 months only, was unexpected. It has spurred quite an extensive discussion and elaboration among bloggers as to what caused the head of state to do so. The long discussion took place on Edil Baisalov’s blog, who is the member of the Social Democratic Party. The chairman of the party is Atambaev. Baisalov believes that the president wanted to dismiss the prime-minister because for him Atambaev is a real threat in the upcoming elections as he is not letting manipulation of officials happen. Atambaev was criticizing the policy of the president towards elections, and obviously president did not like it and wanted to get rid of him, said Baisalov [ru]. (more…)
Links for Mon, 2007-12
David Sasaki walks around Zagreb, taking pictures.
La Russophobe posts translation of an article by Andrei Illarionov, former economic policy advisor to Vladimir Putin, in which he writes: “A year and a half ago, it was a question of premonitions of a catastrophe. One and a half months ago - prologue to a catastrophe. And now - its beginning.” At the New York Times Blog, La Russophobe's questions are among the 145 others posed so far to the newspaper's Moscow correspondents about “the meaning of the [Dec. 2] vote and the country’s political future.”
Social Science in the Caucasus examines the possible role of exit polls in the coming presidential election in Georgia and concludes that they are no substitute for a properly conducted vote.
TOL Georgia writes that businessman and outspoken critic of the Georgian government, Badri Patarkatsishvili, has warned of two possible scenarios that might play out in an attempt to discredit him.
A seemingly innocuous song seems to have raised trouble for the filmmakers. IndieQuill on the “offensive” lyrics.
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