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World's Eyes on Obama

Amira Al Hussaini · 22:20 · South Asia , Americas

lingua → es

As his ratings continue to slip in the primaries, US presidential hopeful Barack Obama's popularity is on the rise among bloggers around the world. Global Voices Online editors and contributors joined hands to bring us the reactions of bloggers from Japan, Haiti, Republic of Macedonia, Pakistan, India, Ukraine, Singapore and Chile in this article.

Japan:

Our first stop is in Japan, where Paintbox77 (Jp) says Obama scores brownie points thanks to his patriotism. He explains:

オバマ候補、ソフトムードは良いですが、大統領となったときに世界を牽引する米国の大統領としての指導力はどうか、という気もしますが、強引にイラク戦争を始めてしまったブッシュに比べれば何でも良いかも知れません。
政策は、ヒラリー・クリントンよりもリベラルということで、ジミー・カーターのような感じかも知れません。
但し、リベラルでも、「愛国心」を強調して保守層にも人気を得ているようで、こういうところは、私にも共感できますね。
日本の左翼も、オバマのように、「愛国心」をベースにして訴えればよいのではないか、と、書いているブログもありましたが、私も、そう思います。

Candidate Obama's soft mood [soft-spoken character] is good, and although I wonder about what his leadership will be like as president
of the United States, the country which tows the world, still anything is good compared to Bush, who forcibly started the war in Iraq. His policy is more liberal than Hillary Clinton's, I have the feeling something like that of Jimmy Carter. However, although he is liberal, he emphasizes “patriotism” and is also popular among the conservative class, and in this sense, I can also sympathize. It has been written in many blogs that it would be a good thing if the
left wing in Japan, like Obama, made an appeal in terms of “patriotism”, and I also think this.

Haiti:

For Natifnatal (Fr), a Haitian blogger in Abu Dhabi, UAE, both Obama and his competition Hilary Clinton want to shake the status quo. She writes:

Il est indéniable que et Hilary Clinton et Barack Obama veuillent secouer le status quo. Une femme et un noir portés par le même rêve de présidence de la nation la plus puissante du monde. Devant la défaite essuyée à New Hampshire un charismatique Obama scande trois petits mots qui galvanisent— « yes we can »— alors qu'une Hilary Clinton triomphante proclame que l'homme moyen ne sera pas invisible pour elle. Une Amérique encore à rebâtir veut encore croire que le changement est possible.

It is undeniable that Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama want to shake the status quo. A woman and a black carried by the same dream of presiding over the world's most powerful nation. In the face of defeat in New Hampshire, a charismatic Obama chants three little worlds that galvanize— « yes we can »— while a triumphant Hilary Clinton proclaims that the average man will never be invisible to her. An America that's to rebuild again needs to believe again that change is possible.

Ukraine:

And it is precisely this strong push for ‘change' that doesn't quite cut it for Ukraine blogger Taras, who writes:

‘Change' — not 'stability' — is the buzzword. I learned this after studying CNN and CBS reports on the Iowa and New Hampshire primaries. No matter how desperately I searched for 'stability,' my search efforts suffered a massive failure. I couldn’t find a single S-word in the campaign rhetoric of either Democrats or Republicans. All they talk about is change.

Chile:

Chile's Luis Ramirez (Es) likes what he sees in regards to Obama, but hopes that he is able to keep it up. He notes:

Obama es la política como nos gusta: incluyente, esperanzadora, audaz!…Yo sinceramente espero que no se cumpla esa maldición a la que
alude con su cinismo habital The Economist: “El Establishment Siempre Gana”. Por ahora es 1 para Obama y o para el el establishment.

“We like politicians like Obama: inclusive, inspiring hope, bold!.. I sincerely hope that the curse, “The Establishment Always Wins,” which The Economist alludes to, does not come true. For now, it is 1 for Obama, and 0 for the establishment.

Pakistan:

Chapati Mystery, from Pakistan, says Obama's ‘inexperience' is working in his favour. He further explains:

Obama, so far as I can tell, matches Hillary in every aspect of resume “experience” save years. Where she outstrips him leaves the gap many of us, with reservations, have filled with the support that so bewilders America's chattering classes; he is unstoppable precisely because he is inexperienced, because he does not yet carry the taint of the Imperial Corporate Machine that fleeces citizen, subject and enemy alike; he is too young to have investments in their entrenched isms, ists, and grievances; he is too new a convert to consider his ascendancy ordained by Jesus; he is just naive enough to believe that, by building a mandate across parties, races and classes, that he might at last rouse the great and drowsy American spirit that once a century rises to correct the hundred years' of errata preceding it.

India:

On the other side of the fence, Indian Manesh, compares between Obama and Bobby Jindal, Louisiana's Governor. He writes:

Obama is also a second-gen immigrant, much like Bobby Jindal. But in one key way, they're poles apart. Afraid of being niched as an ethnic politician, rather than just an American politician, Jindal has by and large refused to speak out on desi issues after collecting checks from cardiologist uncles. When two Indian LSU students were murdered in their homes, Jindal remained conspicuously silent until even white Louisiana politicians nudged him to speak. … In contrast, Obama has not divorced himself from one of his ancestral homelands. Last week he issued a statement on the post-election violence in Kenya.

Meanwhile, Amardeep Singh discusses how Obama's ‘foreignness' and ‘difference' may be working in his favour.

Singapore:

Though a die-hard Clinton fan, Singapore's Abhijit says Obama's candidacy shows an America “free from racial prejudice.” He further explains:

I admire Obama and admire those who support him. It shows America at its finest, eager for new directions and free from racial prejudice…Democrats are spoilt for choice this time with a plethora of good candidates.
I can understand the impulse to praise Obama. It makes one feel good. He has youth, intelligence, charisma, all the great qualities. But Hillary and Edwards and the other candidates are pretty impressive too. Give them a fair hearing.
Even Obama fans are entitled to enjoy the excitement of a close — and not a one-horse — race.

Republic of Macedonia:

But one blogger from the Republic of Macedonia remains skeptical about Obama's foreign policy. Marko Attila Hoare raises serious concerns about whether an Obama presidency would pursue a responsible policy in the Balkans. He writes:

Let us hope that Obama’s sponsorship of this resolution is simply a cynical ploy to win the Greek-American vote, and will not translate into a genuinely anti-Macedonian policy in the event that he becomes president. For if it does, the consequences for the peace and stability of South East Europe could be catastrophic.

*Chris Salzberg, Jennifer Brea, Veronica Khokhlova, Neha Vishwanathan, Eduardo Avila and Preetam Rai selected links and translated blogs for this article.

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FreeAccess Plus!: Web 2.0 Censorship workaround

Sami Ben Gharbia · 20:59, January 14th, 2008 · Middle East & North Africa

lingua → bn · pt · ar · mg · es

Based on Hamed Saber's “Access Flickr” Firefox extension, which enables users to circumvent the filter currently in effect in Iran and in few other countries that block Flickr, the popular photo-sharing website, another Iranian developer, MohammadR, has released “FreeAccess Plus!“, a nifty extension that turns Firefox into a proxy that bypasses censorship on popular Web 2.0 websites such as YouTube, del.icio.us, Flickr, Technorati.com, FriendSter.com, livejournal.com, MySpace, Hi5 and others. Many of those web sites are barred in Iran.

MohammadR is very satisfied with the response “FreeAccess Plus!” has garnered so far within the Iranian blogsphere. On Balatarin (which means “the highest” in Persian) an Iranian version of Digg, 23 people have voted for a story that praises the FreeAccess Plus! extension as something that is “making miracles” (معجزه میکنید)“.

“Some major Persian bloggers wrote about this extension before it was made available on “Mozilla Addons” site,” MohammadR told Global Voices Advocacy. “Only during the first week, FreeAccess Plus! has been downloaded 150 times. Now, after about one month from it's release, it has been downloaded more than 3500 times,” he added.

MohammadR said that FreeAccess Plus! is very simple to install. “Just go to “https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/6139“, and on the bottom of the page, click “Install Now” button. This will pop up a new window where you will be asked to confirm the installation, click again on “Install Now”. Note that you need to restart Firefox before the extension works.”

Just install the plugin and restart your browser; and Firefox will do the rest! You will be able to access Youtube, Flickr, MySpace and all websites listed on the add-ons page.

The current version of “FreeAccess Plus!” does not support the option to add websites to those currently listed. MohammedR said, however, that this feature — an editable and configurable list — will be added in a future version of the program.

MohammedR hops that his “FreeAccess Plus!” plugin will serve his fellow citizens by helping them bypass the censorship that is targeting the social web. “Most of the Iranian bloggers were unhappy about the unreasonable blocking of Web 2.0 and social networking websites” he says.

P.S: For more information about the web 2.0 censorship and anti-censorship, please refer to our Access Denied Map.

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Egypt: Social Responsibilty and the Safety of Individuals

Amira Al Hussaini · 20:09 · Middle East & North Africa

lingua → es

Egyptian blogger Amr Gharbeia looks at the ethics of bloggers and the roles they play in exposing torture against victims. Are they victimising the victims even further by exposing their identities in a society which still washes its dishonour with the victim's blood?

Gharbeia argues his views as follows:

من يعذب شخصا أو يأمر بإيذائه لا يرى غالبا أنه يقوم بأسوأ الأمور، فهو بإيذاء فرد في رأيه يحمي المجتمع ككل، و ما يقوم به هو أخف الضررين: عندما تسيء معاملة شخص عابر، أو أحد المشتبه فيهم، أو أحد السياسيين فإنك تحفظ الأمن، أو تعيد المسروقات، أو تبقي على الاستقرار.
عندما كانت محررة موقع التعذيب في مصر تبدأ العمل، اقترحت عليها أن يكون شعار الموقع “سلامة الأفراد مسؤولية المجتمع”. المنطق كالتالي: الأفراد ضعاف في مواجهة آلات القمع، و الأفراد المحتجزون هم من أقل الفئات قدرة على المبادرة للتأثير في مسار حياتهم. يحتاج هؤلاء و كل الأفراد في العموم لتضامن واسع من المجتمع غرضه حماية سلامتهم الجسدية على الأقل حتى يقدرون على الأخذ بزمام حياتهم.

Whoever tortures someone or orders his torture, doesn't see that he is committing the worst of crimes. He sees that in creating the suffering of one individual, he he protecting society as a whole and that what he is doing in the lesser of two dangers: When you abuse a random person or a suspect, or a politician, you are upholding security, or returned stolen goods or maintaining security. When the editor of the Torture in Egypt (Ar) site first started her work, I suggested to her to make the slogan “The Safety of Individuals is the Responsibility of Society” as the campaign's motto. My reasoning was because individuals are weak in confronting the machines of oppression and detained people are the least able to impact the way their life is going. Such people and all others in general, need the support of society as a whole to ensure their physical safety at least.

حققت حركة حقوق الإنسان في مصر مؤخرا نجاحات في بعض القضايا بسبب تحالف بين النشطاء الحقوقيين و نشطاء الصحافة الشعبية و بعض قنوات الإعلام و الصحف الخاصة. هناك أفراد–أبرزهم وائل عباس و حسام الحملاوي و مينا ذكري–صاروا يمثلون وسيطا بين مدونين آخرين يقومون فعلا بتغطية مباشرة من موقع الحدث و بين الإعلام الكبير. أصبح بإمكان هؤلاء، و تيار الصحافة الشعبية مجملا، التأثير على أولويات ما ينشر في الصحف و القنوات. كان من نتيجة هذا التحالف أننا نرى الآن تراجعا في خطاب النظام فيما يتعلق بالتعذيب، فهو الآن موجود بعد أن كان منكرا، إلا أنه لا يزال “ظاهرة فردية”. يا ترى ما عدد أفراد الأمن العام؟ و ما هي نسبة الحالات الفردية هذه؟
إلا أن تلك المكاسب كان أمامها خسائر أزعم أنها فادحة. فأثناء العام الماضي اشتركنا في التعريض بأفراد تعاملنا معهم بشكل قد لا نرضاه على أنفسنا، و الأهم أنهم هم لا يرضون عنه. عماد الكبير مثلا، بالرغم من فرحته بحكم القضاء لاحقا بسجن إسلام نبيه، لم يوافق بداية على نشر قصته في الصحف، و لم تهتم الصحف و لا المدونات حينها لموافقته من عدمها. من الممكن أن أقارن تعاملنا مع عماد الكبير بمنطق ممارس التعذيب: هناك مصلحة عليا أكبر من عماد. هذه المصلحة نعرفها نحن أكثر من عماد، و لهذا فإن جرى لعماد مزيد من الضرر في سبيل القضية فلا مانع، و قد لا يجري. أنا هنا طبعا أفترض حسن نية جميع النشطاء ضد التعذيب.

Egypt's human rights movement has achieved a few successes recently thanks to alliances between some human rights activists, citizen journalists, a few media channels and private newspapers. There are individuals - particularly Wael Abbas, Hossam Al Hamalawi and Meena Dhekri - who now act as mediators with other bloggers as they actually cover incidents as they happen and transfer them to major media outlets. Those three and the entire citizen media trend, in general, is able to impact what the priorities are for what is being aired on channels and published in newspapers. As a result of this alliance, we see the regime changing its stance towards torture. It is now something which is actually happening as opposed to the past when it was denied. However, it is still seen as ‘individual cases.' I wonder how many personnel is the Public Security forces made up of? And what is the percentage of those individual cases?
Despite this, I am sure there are people who lost heavily in comparison to our success stories. Last year, we all participated in exposing people in a manner which we would not have allowed for ourselves. Emad Al Kabeer, for instance, despite his delight with the sentencing of Islam Nabih, did not accept at the beginning having his story published in newspapers. Newspapers and blogs at the time did not concern themselves with his disapproval. It is possible that I compare the way we dealt with Emad Al Kabeer from the logic used by tormentors: There was a larger interest than Emad. We know this interest more than Emad and this is why, if Emad suffered a bit for the overall benefit of this case, then there is no harm. In this case, I presume the good intent of all those activists against torture.

أعتقد أنه تم إنجاز الكثير في العام السابق، و جزء كبير من هذا يعود لمجهود النشطاء و المدونين المذكورين، و هو أمر يدعو للفخر. ترسخ الآن في وعي الرأي العام المصري أن التعذيب و إساءة المعاملة يحدثان كثيرا في البلد. يكون من المفيد الآن أن ننظر قدما و أن لا نعيد تكرار أخطاء ما مضى.
شيء من هذا القبيل قد يكون في دور الحدوث فعلا. فمؤخرا حاول وائل عباس التفكير في الضحية. الفلم الأخير الذي نشره وائل يصور إجبار رجل إمرأة على خلع ملابسها أمام الكاميرا و في حضور آخرين، فلم ينشر إلا صورة ثابتة و تسجيلا صوتيا. أحب أن أعرف إن كان دافع وائل هو حماية المرأة لأنها أنثى، و إن كان دافعه سيختلف حال كان الضحية رجلا يجبر على التعري خلاف إرادته.

I believe that a lot has been achieved in the previous year and a lot of it is due to the efforts of activists and the bloggers mentioned here. It is a source of pride as the Egyptian public opinion is now aware that torture takes place a lot in this country. It would be worthwhile now to look into the future and avoid repeating the mistakes of the past. Something of this sort maybe happening now. Lately, Wael Abbas tried to think of the victim. The latest film he published shows a man forcing a woman to take off her clothes in front of a camera and in the presence of others. He only published a still picture and an audio recording. I would like to know whether Wael's motive in protecting the woman was because she was a female or whether his motive would have been different had it been a man forced to undress.

على أي حال، أداء وائل هذه المرة كان أفضل كثيرا من قناة المحور فيما يتعلق بالتركيز على الضحية؛ فقد عرضت القناة الفلم للملايين مظهرا وجه الفتاة و ملابسها الداخلية الزرقاء، لكن حفاظا على حياء المشاهدين أخفى تفاصيل صدرها–لاحظ أن الضحية لا تهم هنا. المجتمع أهم من الأفراد، تماما عكس “سلامة الأفراد مسؤولية المجتمع”. كنت أود أن يلحظ وائل، أو محامي حقوق الإنسان محسن بهنسي–الذي حضر معي في تحقيقات النيابة–هذا بينما يسائلهم المذيع عن مسؤولية المدونات.
الضرر هنا ليس فقط نفسيا و مجتمعيا كالضرر الذي عاناه عماد جراء التعريض به. هناك أيضا خطر على سلامة هذه المرأة، و بالذات لأنها أنثى. فنحن في مجتمع لا يغسل فيه الشرفَ إلا الدم.

At any rate, Wael this time was much better than Al Mehwar Channel in trying to concentrate on the victim. That channel broadcast to millions the video which shows the girl's face and her blue underclothes - while covering her bust to protect the sensitivities of viewers. Note here how the victim isn't important. Society is more important than individuals which is the complete opposite of “The safety of individuals is the responsibility of society.” I had hopes that Wael or human rights lawyer Mohsin Muhnisi - who attended the Public Prosecutor's investigations with me - would have paid attention to this at the time the announcer was asking them about the responsibility of bloggers. The damage here is not psychological or social, like that suffered by Emad after he was exposed. This woman is now in grave danger just because she is a female. We are a society which doesn't wash off its dishonour - except with blood.

أرى أن حركة الصحافة الشعبية حققت مكاسب جيدة، و يتعين عليها الآن التفكير في المزيد، و من هذا المزيد أخلاقيات ما ننشر. استطاع صحافي حديث في جريدة الفجر اسمه كمال مراد أن يعثر على عماد الكبير ممارسا بذلك نوعا من الصحافة يسمى الصحافة الاستقصائية، إلا أنه لم يفكر في تبعات نشر قصته على عماد. كمال مراد غير نقابي، أي لا فرق كبير بينه و بين أي مدون يريد القيام بذات الشيء. من الأفضل أن نحاول العثور على ضحايا التعذيب و أن يعمل النشطاء معهم بدلا من أن نعرض بهم.

I see that citizen journalism has made a lot of achievements and it is time we thought of more, especially when it comes to the ethics of what is being published. A young journalist in the Al Fajer newspaper called Kamal Murad was able to find Emad Al Kabeer and interview him in what is known as investigative journalism. However, he did not think of the implications on Emad which would follow the publishing the story. Kamal Murad doesn't belong to the union. This means that there isn't a difference between him and any other blogger who thinks of doing the same thing. However, it is better that human rights activists deal with the victims of torture when they are found as that is better for them than being exposed.

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Iraq: Videos of snow in Baghdad

Juliana Rincón Parra · 19:20 · Middle East & North Africa

lingua → pt · es · ar · jp

For the first time in living memory, the people in Baghdad, Iraq got to experience firsthand something many had only heard
about or only seen in movies: snow fell for several hours on their city.

On January 11th, many people took the opportunity to whip out their cameras and record this event: some tout it to a mythical sign of times to come, several blame the climate change and others just enjoyed the once in a lifetime experience. You can read some bloggers' opinions in the roundup written by Salam Adil, Iraq: Snow in Baghdad.

Video uploading site YouTube user SpliceandDice is one of those who blames climate change, and on his 1:51 video he shows some shots of commuters and traffic moving under the light snow.

Aliii313, posted a 1:20 second video of the light snowfall. On this video´s description he writes:

this is 1st time in history a light snow fall in baghdad wow, in Jan,11 2008 at 7:00 am…this vedio recorded by mohamed tarik(my brother) in our house garden in ZAYONA-BAGHDAD..ah and the actror was yahia tarik(walk in Boulevard).

Another YouTube user, hq9sctgd, has 3 different short videos of the snow falling as well. Following, is one of them:
For me, it is certainly a bit strange to see snowflakes in the foreground and palm trees in the background, as it can be seen on YSDallali´s 49 second video.
On user aowsalmsafir´s channel you´ll be able to see several other short videos of the snowflakes falling on the palm tree filled background in Baghdad.Tigernip uploaded content from Fox News, where the newscaster reports that the snow had a deeper effect: there were no reports of violence during the morning and early afternoon, as if the whole city just had gotten together to admire the spectacle. You can see that video here.

Snowflake image taken by CaptPiper and used according to Creative Commons License.

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Colombia: Uncertain Future for the Hostage Situation

Juliana Rincón Parra · 17:27, January 14th, 2008 · Colombia , Venezuela

lingua → es

Image from Television taken by novato.com Clara Rojas and Consuelo González de Perdomo, who had been hostages of the terrorist group FARC (Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces) for 5 and 6 years respectively, were finally freed on January 10th.

The independent media source equinoXio [es] wrote:

El presidente venezolano Hugo Chávez y el ministro de Defensa colombiano Juan Manuel Santos han confirmado por separado que la ex candidata vicepresidencial Clara Rojas y la ex congresista Consuelo González de Perdomo fueron liberadas en algún lugar del departamento del Guaviare (vereda La Paz, inspección La Libertad del municipio de El Retorno, según la periodista Constanza Vieira, de la agencia IPS) la mañana de este jueves. Chávez había recibido las coordenadas proporcionadas por la comandancia de las Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC), grupo terrorista que secuestró a ambas políticas y que había prometido su liberación hace tres semanas, y anunció la misión humanitaria la tarde del miércoles.

The Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez and the Colombian Minister of Defense Juan Manuel Santos have separately confirmed that the former vice-presidential candidate Clara Rojas and the former congresswoman Consuelo González de Perdomo were freed somewhere in the department of Guaviare (La Paz hamlet, in the La Libertad area of the municipality of El Retorno, according to journalist Constanza Vieira from IPS agency) on Thursday morning. Chávez had received the coordinates that the commanders from the Colombian Armed Revolutionary Forces (FARC), terrorist group who kidnapped both politicians and who had promised their liberation three weeks ago, the humanitarian commission announced on Wednesday afternoon.

EquinoXio [es] has kept a very complete and updated report on the events, since before the failed liberation attempt in December to the most recent developments, and it can all be read on their blog.

The liberation of the two women was bittersweet for many bloggers. As an example of the conflicting reactions, Jenny Giraldo writes on her blog Intemperie [es]:

La reacción primaria, tras la liberación de dos mujeres, fue de alegría mezclada con desazón al pensar en las familias de los 700 secuestrados (otras cifras señalan que son casi mil, y en Las voces del secuestro se asegura que en la actualidad hay unas 4200 personas secuestradas) que se quedaron atrás, y que seguramente se olvidarán por un tiempo, pues ya está cumplido el objetivo de la liberación de dos personas que son símbolo y que representan algún peso político.

The first reaction, after both women's liberation, was happiness mixed with unease, thinking of the families of the 700 hostages (other data points to closer than 1000, and in “Las voces del secuestro” it is established that there are currently about 4200 people kidnapped) who are left behind, and who will surely be forgotten for awhile, since the objective to release two symbolical people who have some political weight has been accomplished.

Colombian blogger Víctor Solano from ¿Comunicación? [es] puts in his own 2 cents about the liberation:

Con menos parafernalia, con menos Oliver Stone y comisiones parásitas, y con menos helicópteros llenos de fotógrafos chavistas, Clara Rojas y Consuelo de Perdomo ya están en poder del Comité Internacional de la Cruz Roja…Hoy Chávez se hará tomar muchas fotos con sus trofeos de guerra, pero so no debe importar. El círco mediático de esta noche será mucho menor que el del 30 y 31 de diciembre. Bienvenidas Clara y Consuelo. Ahora quedamos a la espera de los otros 700 secuestrados por las Farc y de que no tengamos más episodios bochornosos.

With less show, with less Oliver Stone and parasitic comissions, with less helicopters full of Chavist photographers, Clara Rojas and Consuelo of Perdomo are already in the hands of the International Red Cross Committee… Today Chávez will have many pictures taken with his war trophies, but that won't matter. The media circus tonight will be a lot smaller than the one on December 30th and 31st. Welcome back Clara and Consuelo. Now we are left to wait for the other 700 hostage by the FARC and [hoping] we don't have any more embarrassing episodes.

Other bloggers, such as Carlos Caicedo, noticed a suspicious conversation going on in the liberation videos and wrote about it [es]with transcribed bits:

Mientras todos nos alegrabamos al ver las imágenes de la liberación de Clara Rojas y Consuelo Gonzáles, algunos se percataban de la curiosa (y casi sospechosa) despedida del Ministro del interior de Venezuela, el señor Ramón Rodríguez Chacín al dirigirse al grupo de guerrilleros de las Farc:

“…Ehh…en nombre del Presidente Chavez…estamos muy pendientes de su lucha. Mantengan ese espiritu, mantengan esa fuerza y cuenten con nosotros…

…Cuidenese camaradas”

El video lo pueden encontrar en esta dirección.

While all of us where happy to see images of Clara Rojas and Consuelo Gonzales' liberation, some noticed the curious (and almost suspicious) farewell between Venezuelan Home minister Mr. Ramón Rodríguez Chacín and the members of the FARC guerrilla:
“Uhm, in the name of President Chavez, we will be paying atention to your struggle. Keep that spirit, keep that strength and count on us…

… take care comrades”

You can find the video by following this link here.

The empathy between the Venezuelan government and the FARC has been palpable this last couple of months, and it seems to increase as the relationship between Venezuela and Colombia desintegrates. Chavez' latest move was the request to the international governments to stop calling FARC terrorists and to consider them as an insurgent group. JammieWearingFool, on their post Better yet, call them activists writes:

You can't make this stuff up.

Here we have Venezuelan thug Hugo Chavez calling on world governments to refer to terrorist groups as insurgents and by the fourth paragraph of the story, Reuters indeed refers to them as insurgents.

Why not just call them activists?

Colombian blogger Ricardo Buitrago writes on “Desde mi Caribe Colombiano” referring to Chávez' request [es]:

Quienes ingenua o torpemente creían en la acción humanitaria del mandatario venezolano en la liberación de los secuestrados, e insistían en su intervención para un acuerdo humanitario, ahí tienen la verdadera respuesta sobre las acciones e intenciones del gobernante venezolano.

Those who naively or dimly believed in the humanitarian acts of the Venezuelan mandatary when freeing the hostages, and who insisted in his intervention to get the humanitarian agreement, there you have the real answer to the Venezuelan ruler's actions and intentions.

~~Nicolás París~~ Alejandro Peláez writes in Machete [es] about his perspective on lifelong debate of what to call the FARC:

El hecho de que un grupo [FARC]tenga ideales o quiera gobernar, en nada cambia su calificación ética. Sí, son políticos, sí, tienen ideales. Pero siguen siendo una porquería. Importa un pepino si masacran a civiles y reclutan niños en nombre del paraíso en esta tierra o a cambio de unos billetes. Un grupo no deja de ser perverso por el simple hecho de hacerlo por un ideal.

The fact that a group [FARC] has ideals and wants to rule, doesn´t change in the least its ethical qualification. Yes, they are politicians, yes, they have ideals. But they are still garbage. It doesn´t matter one bit if they massacre civilians and recruit children in the name of paradise on earth or in exchange for some paper money. A group doesn´t stop being perverse for the simple fact of doing it for an ideal.

Mauricio Duque Arrubla [es] doesn´t see the future brightly, and points out the backward steps he believes the government has taken, which instead of creating greater rejection of las FARC internationally, their popularity seems to have increased:

Se nos avecina otra horrible noche, como la del himno nacional. Tengo frases enteras atragantadas pero solo logran salir diluidas en lágrimas. Estoy triste por mi país.

We are approaching another terrible night, like the one in our national anthem. I have complete phrases stuck in my throat but they only manage to come out diluted by tears. I´m sad for my country.

Through Gacetilla Colombiana, a Colombian popularity article index, I found about a peaceful event organized by ColombiaSoyYo next February 4th at 12 noon Colombian time (GMT-5), where Colombians and friends of Colombia will meet and show their desire to see las FARC dissappear. On their site, they have diverse meeting points all around the world for people to gather and show their dissapproval of the terrorist group. They are also asking people to join the march through their facebook group “A million voices against the FARC” which was only created this past January 4th and which 10 days later already had more than 70 000 members and they claim they have become the largest facebook group created in Colombia. The following excerpt is taken from their objectives page, which are translated into several languages:

We need our voices to be heard. Let’s not be silent anymore, let the world hear us; let every guerrilla man or woman hear us: We repel FARC - EP (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia - People's Army). We DON’T want more armed fight.

Image of tv screen taken by novato.com and used according to Creative Commons License.

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Iraq: Snow in Baghdad

Salam Adil · 16:13 · Middle East & North Africa

Sunshine photographs a Christmas tree at her neighbour's house.

Yes, seriously. For the first time in living memory it actually snowed in Baghdad. And for one Iraqi whose blog is titled: “In Iraq, sex is like snow” the irony is not lost on him. Caesar of Pentra writes:

It's cold over here in Baghdad these days. The electric power is off since the beginning of this year, the tap water is available in days unavailable in others, the mobile network coverage is very bad over my nieghborhood & the landphones are out of reach since only god knows when. But the important thing is the security stituation, which is kinda stabled. But I think as a human being, I have the right to enjoy a comortable lifestyle by providing the main civil services like (electric power, feul, water, land phones… etc.). Anyway, let's enjoy the view of snow and hope that the sex part comes later! ;)

The snow even melted the heart of one of the more hardened Iraqi political bloggers. Iraq Pundit takes time off his usual subjects to write:

Iraqis welcomed this week's rare snowfall in Baghdad with smiles and optimism. It might sound funny, but we do believe it's a good sign. To us, it's like manna from Heaven. Because while it does snow in the north of Iraq, nobody had seen it snow in Baghdad for perhaps 100 years. It's only natural for us to ask what message the skies are sending….

Before you start laughing, let me remind you that we are a superstitious people. And we look for signs in everything.

Even Fayrouz was happy:

Mother Nature looked at Baghdad early Friday morning and said, “Let it snow in Baghdad. Let the faces of the tired and the wary shine with big smiles. Let the skies bring calmness and joy where it's desperately needed.”

So, it snowed in Baghdad yesterday morning.

But not all residents of Baghdad were impressed. Shaggy wrote: “I peeked outside and it was indeed snowing. Unfortunately, the snow melted once it touched the ground. Well after that I was so excited that I went back to sleep.”

UM ALI by ZZ:
There were dreams for a house
scratched on paper …
at odd moments when the corner
of an available room was free
and the light sufficient.

Dreams for a home
while on the run
from dream-killers
and home-destroyers.
Thoughts of reunion
under a roof
when blood mattered
and distance had drawn too long…

Her scratches as emblematic as
sunshine on sunflowers;
groping for a reality
loudly passing away.

Silently scratched on scrap paper
supported by thick books of thought
that were very different
filled with skeleton letters that danced to
a homesick tune…

Hiding from the moonlight
under eroding bus stop signs
escaping the end
though it loomed
as close as the following second…

Then suddenly out of a sunflower second
the dream-killers
seized the scratches
and ripped the paper house to lonely pieces
shredded all dreams of homecoming
and shot the last ‘different' thoughts
back into the skulls of snoozing sunflowers
before the sun could
even dream of a horizon…

Um Ali was an Iraqi communist who was hunted down, detained, tortured and eventually murdered by Saddam’s regime, in the early Eighties. In her run from one hideout to another, escaping Saddams ‘gestapo', she dreamed of building a family home.

Peace in Baghdad

The good news is from Baghdad. There is a certain impression of peace and goodwill settling in city that has taken the brunt of the violence that beset Iraq in the past years. I wish I could say the same for Iraq's second city, Mosul. Sunshine writes about her journey to school last week:

I got ready to go to school in such cold weather with no electricity just like everyday, I was waiting for the driver in the hall when HEAVY shooting started, the driver came with 3 girls, grandma didn’t allow me to go out , when shooting almost calmed down, I ran to the car, and the driver drove fast , we drove among so many tanks, the national guards didn’t allow any car to pass the bridge except ours because they saw we were students and we wouldn’t attack them … as soon as I reached school (at exactly 7:37 pm) a loud explosion happened followed by another few minutes later!! What a great way to start school .. the situation is not good, and many car bombs entered Mosul today, they didn’t explode yet and I hope they won’t, so please don’t forget to pray for us, 2 weeks ago a car exploded at 10 pm, many Iraqis died, poor people they were in their houses, asleep, or having showers, maybe studying, or having dinner, and for no reason an idiot put a car there, killed and injured tens of citizens..

But back in Baghdad, where Sunshine spent her Eid holiday, things were more peaceful:

One of the things that made me happy, is the streets in Baghdad were clean, and in the road junctions there were beautiful gardens with roses and some of them had fountains..

it’s strange, how people in Baghdad slept on one day feeling afraid from the unknown future, and had no idea what’s happening, then in the next day suddenly the killing stopped, the situation calmed down, and the sun shone after long time of darkness, no one knows how nor why .. is it a Truce? or it is a bargain?!!!.

Many shops were destroyed , we saw the shop owners cleaning their shops and fixing them. I felt happy to see how they were re-building their shops and I am looking for the day we’ll re-build Iraq.

And the new peace in Baghdad helps Sahar take stock of the situation:

all the deliberate chaos and violence was like a curtain, keeping everyone so distressed there're incapable of seeing the real issues - the ones for which the war was fought in the first place. … They should begin to ask questions and demand answers of those whom they elected. Have many lost faith in their religious leaders? Have they had enough of being manipulated by them in the name of their brand of Islam? … But the government still feels safe, in spite of that. For who will do the serious questioning? The greater majority of the middle class has fled, and the government still has a strong hold upon their own people because of the sectarian fears - the evil seed that was sown after the occupation.

And FInally…

The Muslim Eid Al Ahda celebration came on December 18th. You cannot find a better description of how Iraqis celebrate this holiday than Sunshine's two posts here and here. Most of this can be summed up in one picture: Food Glorious Food