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Jorge Jurado Raps About Citizen Media

David Sasaki · 22:29 · Americas

lingua → bn · es

I know, it probably sounds a little cheesy - someone rapping about video-blogging - but the lyrics of Jorge Jurado's song ‘ConVerGentes' are not only poetic, they also reflect a truth a about participatory media in general: we create because we are compelled to, not because we are told to.

The most active members of ConVerGentes. Jorge Jurado is on the far right.

Jorge is one of about 20 young people in the peripheral working class community of San Javier La Loma who form the citizen media group “ConVerGentes.” They are one of three groups who make up the larger outreach project HiperBarrio. ConVerGentes is a play on words which combines the Spanish words for convergence, seeing, and people.

Jorge, who produced a short documentary about La Loma's graffiti culture and blogs at La Voz del Silencio, is also a talented graphic designer and hip-hop artist. His song “ConVerGentes”, which he performed live above in early January 2008, discusses the potential of using participatory media to rescue the forgotten history and culture of local communities. He also somehow manages to mention the title of every ConVerGentes weblog in a way that describes both its content and the person behind it. You too can visit each of their blogs by going to the ConVerGentes site and clicking on each of the links on the right-hand side beneath the header “Blogroll”.

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Pakistan: Goodbye Musharraf!

Neha Viswanathan · 19:01 · South Asia

lingua → es · bn

With the results of the elections in Pakistan becoming more clear, it is obvious that Musharraf, despite his promises hasn't won the confidence of the voters. Crow's Nest writes, reflecting on those associated with Musharraf.

In the election results of the year 33 former ministers who were closely associated with Musharraf have lost their seats. PML-Q has suffered losses to the seats of those who were stalwarts of the previous administration and were thought to be close to Musharraf himself. the results express more so a disgust and hatred with Musharraf and anything even closely related to him.

Meanwhile, contrary to expectations and despite the flaws, the electoral process appears to have been relatively free of rigging. KO writes

It seems like every single political commentator (which these days is most of Pakistan) was wrong about the elections being heavily rigged.

To be fair, there was a massive and transparent attempt at rigging by the outgoing government, and it would have been enough if the results had been closer - but the difference is so vast in the actual polling results that the rigging was just not enough!

Picked Politics has an account of a British resident.

I spent the whole days on roads, visiting different polling booths. The turn-out was slow but at some booths I saw crowds. In particular, seeing women voters in large numbers was reassuring. I also met British residents like myself, keen on voting. There were also Pakistani American and Pakistani Australian voters.

It was refreshing to see and talk to them but it was not surprising. Pakistan politics over the past few years have become international news with the world’s eyes focused on the region. These European and American residents of Pakistani origin were keen on making a difference.

Over at Metroblogging Lahore, the blog discusses the wins and losses in the city. The Pakistani Spectator seems to think that the outcome of this election signals a departure from tyranny. Pak Tea House asserts that the process and the outcome are a clear sign that the people of Pakistan have chosen to reject extremism of any kind.

They undo the Musharraf paradigm of ousting the two mainstream parties from the political arena; and instituting real democracy that is hostage to the bogey of Islamism and local feudal cliques through non-party local governments.

These elections are also a slap on the face of the global corporate media (and their backers, the global military machine) that had painted Pakistan as a breeding ground for Islamic extremism and dare I say terrorism.

Sepia Mutiny greets the news with a little caution, asking if this really is victory for the people of Pakistan.

So what will we see play out in Pakistan? There will be celebrations for a few weeks. Everyone will denigrate Musharraf some more for good measure. Then the people will see that their new democracy, probably composed of a weak and continually warring “coalition,” isn’t all that and that their leaders are as corrupt as they were the first time around. Eventually the new general in charge of the army will be forced to take over, just like Musharraf did eight years ago.

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Serbia: Bloggers Discuss Kosovo Independence

Sinisa Boljanovic · 18:51 · Eastern & Central Europe

Kosovo's parliament passed the declaration of Kosovo's independence on Feb. 17. This decision came as a consequence of unsuccessful direct negotiations between Serbia and Kosovo, which lasted for the past few years.

During Milosevic's regime, Albanian ethnic group was clearly expressing the desire to separate from Serbia. Albanians who live in Kosovo felt that basic human rights were endangered there because that NATO forces were bombing Serbia over 70 days in 1999.

Adopting the declaration immediately provoked many Serbs to organize mass protests in Belgrade and several other Serbian cities.

Dejan Stankovic, Serbian blogger, on his B92 blog (SRP) expressed his feeling regarding the vandalism in Belgrade on Feb 17:

Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica charged the U.S. President and his European followers for creating the false country Kosovo.
Serbia shall never recognize the independence of Kosovo.
Bombs are laid in the foundation of the false country, Prime Minister marked.
And the culmination: “A McDonald's restaurant in Terazije (Belgrade's street) was demolished.”
As wife divorces her husband, he decides to lose the dignity and humiliates himself.
I was ashamed of the smashing.

Dejan Jovic, a fellow B92 blogger, considers that Kosovo will never be independent and this situation is not a permanent solution. He wrote on Feb 17:

[…] If it happens, however, that some countries recognize Kosovo independence, I fear it will just lead to new problems, not to a permanent solution. Why am I so pessimistic?
Firstly, it is obvious that Serbia will not recognize Kosovo's independence. Serbia will treat Kosovo as its own territory. There is a broad political consensus about it among almost all parties. […]
[…] This situation will produce new political conflict with countries that have recognized the independence of Kosovo. […]
[…] Secondly, Kosovo issue is now a big problem even for Europe that agreed (did it agree?) to be a guarantor of public order and peace on that territory. At the same time, some countries, members of the EU, will not recognize Kosovo's independence and the question is who and how will make decisions about this mission in the name of Europe. […]
[…] Thirdly, if Republika Srpska tries to do what Kosovo has done (and decides to block to the state institutions), this will create a new crisis in Bosnia and Herzegovina. If Russia, in that case, supports Republika Srpska, there'll be a new political conflict between Russia and the U.S. The Kosovo issue will be supplemented with the new Bosnia issue. That would mean no stability of Bosnia and canceling of all that was done so far. […]

On his B92 blog (SRP), Marko Jevtic invited Serbia's public to boycott Slovenia's shopping centers in Serbia. He wrote on Feb 18:

An e-mail, which was created by an intelligent person, has been circulating around the internet this days:

Slovenia hasn't yet decided officially about recognizing Kosovo's independence. Slovenia's government clearly wants to do that but Slovenia's business people are not happy because of their big investments in Serbia and a possible reaction of the Serbian public. Help business people to persuade Slovenia's government that it is not valuable to disturb the relationships with Serbia and make the investment risks for the sake of unnecessary recognizing of independence of Kosovo. We shall do the best if we demonstrate a decisiveness and begin a boycott of Slovenian merchandise and companies such as Mercator and Merkur. That would be a support for Slovenia's business people to resist their government. To accomplish this, don't go to any of Slovenia's shopping malls on Feb. 19 and 20. The goal of the boycott is to change the anti-Serbian politics of Slovenia's government, not to disturb the relationships between the two countries. And Slovenia's business people are strong enough to change the politics of their government, if they are motivated. So: motivate them!
And, of course, send this email to everyone you know. […]

Dejan Ristac, a B92 blogger, on Feb. 17, wrote ironically about Serbia's refusal to accept this situation:

[…] [Tennis player Novak], forget others Grand Slams, don't play tennis at the heart of the ecil until they stop dancing over Kosovo. […]

A few days ago, Maruska commented at one of the blogs and recommended:

[…] I have added a petition against Kosovo's independence to this web site:

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/petition/905791187 […]

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Morocco: Facebook's fake prince could face five years in prison

Sami Ben Gharbia · 18:10 · Middle East & North Africa

lingua → zht · zhs

Fouad Mourtada, a 26-year old IT engineer has been held under arrest in Casablanca since February 5th for “villainous practices linked to the alleged theft of the identity” of King Mohammed VI's younger brother, Prince Moulay Rachid, on the popular social networking website Facebook. Fouad appeared in court on Friday February 15th. The trial has been postponed until February 22.

According to a statement released by the Committee of Support for Fouad Mourtada, following the first visit to Fouad on February 12th at Oukacha jail in Casablanca, Fouad provided more information about the circumstances of the arrest and claimed he was “beaten, spat on and insulted”:

I was arrested on the morning of Tuesday by two individuals who embarked me on a vehicle then blindfolded my eyes with a black band. After about fifteen minutes, they changed vehicles, then took me along to some building to undergo an interrogation there. I was persecuted, beaten up, slapped, spat on and insulted. I was also slammed for hours with a tool on the head and the legs. This calvary lasted such a long time that I lost consciousness several times and also lost the notion of time. I was completely surprised to learn, when I was taken again to another location, that it was Wednesday.

In the same statement, Mourtada stressed that he created the Facebook account of Prince Moulay Rachid as a joke. It's not clear how the Moroccan police found out who was behind the account or whether there was any kind of collaboration between Facebook and the police.

I actually created this account on January 15, 2008. It remained online a few days before somebody closed it. There are so many profiles of celebrities on Facebook. I never thought that by creating a profile of his highness prince Moulay Rachid I was harming him in any way. I, as a matter of fact, did not send any message from that account to anyone. It was just a joke, a gag. I regret my gesture and beg my forgiveness from my whole family for the harm that I have caused them.

Fouad Mourtada could face five years in prison “for having done what thousands of people throughout the world do everyday: Create a profile of a celebrity or a star on Facebook,” his lawyer Ali Ammar said, adding: “This is a cultural problem. This is the first time that a Moroccan poses as a very important personality on the Internet (…) This is already a common practice in Europe and the United States.“

“There are on Facebook 41 Nicolas Sarkozy, 10 prince William of England, Many Jacques Chirac (former French president), Roger Federer, George Bush, Osama bin Laden” lamented Fouad's sister, Amina Mourtada, in the Facebook group “Help Fouad Mourtada” she created to campaign for his release. So far, 1636 members have joined the group and 1807 other have signed the Help Fouad petition.

Today, the Moroccan blogosphere is showing its solidarity with Fouad and his family. Many prominent Moroccan bloggers are on strike, such as Ibn Kafka, Larbi.org, Lionne d'Atlas, Fhamator, Ayoub, 7didane, Jihane, Eatbees, Laïla Lalami, Reda, Farid Taha. Many of them are displaying this text:

Today, Tuesday, February 19, is the fourteenth day of Fouad Mourtada's imprisonment. He committed the error, but not the crime, of creating a Facebook account in the name of Prince Moulay Rachid. This account contained no insults against the Prince nor was it the instrument of any swindling attempts. His name was immediately given wide publicity by the authorities, in breach of the presumption of innocence he's supposed to enjoy, and he alleges having been beaten and mishandled during his arrest. He initially had trouble finding a lawyer willing to defend him. The trial, due to begin on February 15, has been postponed to February 22, while his habeas corpus application has been rejected.

(…)

For this reason, this blog will be on strike on Tuesday, 19 February as a gesture of solidarity with Fouad Mourtada and the other prisoners of opinion currently jailed in Morocco.

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Morocco: Bloggers Rally Behind Fouad Mourtada

Lydia Beyoud · 17:50 · Middle East & North Africa

Moroccan media and bloggers have rallied behind Fouad Mourtada since the 26 year-old's arrest earlier this month.

Some media sources have called Mourtada “a Martyr of the Net” and others have described the case as a “media lynching” pushed by “les SAR et consorts” [all those bearing the title “Son Altesse Royale” (His/Her Royal Highness) and consorts]. Still others have proclaimed the only way the Moroccan government could justify its five-year sentence would be through charges of trying to defraud the Moroccan Treasury or targeting state security.

Francophone bloggers write that Mourtada's arrest reveals the tensions between modern Morocco and Morocco of the Middle Ages.

Stephan Carville, a French free-lance journalist splitting his time between Casablanca and Paris writes that this event provides further proof of the wide cultural and social gap between “East” and “West” on his blog:

La plaisanterie avec la famille royale a ses limites, comme celle de caricaturer le prophète. On touche ainsi du doigt une civilisation qui nous semble à des années lumières de notre culture, celle qui nous donne le droit de critiquer Sarkozy, ou de balancer dans la presse en ligne que Nicolas aurait envoyé un SMS à son ex Cécilia avant de se marier avec Carla. On mesure ainsi le gouffre qui sépare les deux pays. Il est insupportable. L'affaire Fouad Mourtada ne grandit pas encore un soi-disant “Maroc en mouvement” de façade qui use de pratiques et comportements dignes du Moyen-Age.

Joking around with the royal family has its limits, as does caricaturing the Prophet. This is how we experience first-hand a civilization which seems to be light years from our own culture, a culture that gives us the right to criticize Sarkozy, or to leak to the online press that Nicolas might have sent an SMS to his ex [wife] Cecilia before marrying Carla [Bruni]. From this we can measure the gulf that divides our two countries. This cannot be tolerated. The Fouad Mourtada Affair has not yet sprouted a so-called “Morocco in Movement” with a facade that makes use of practices and customs worthy of the Middle Ages.

On the blog Culture Maroc, the author decries the Moroccan government's response to Fouad's actions:

Je ne vais pas refaire l'histoire mais tout le monde est au courant de ce qui arrive à Fouad Mourtada. Ce jeune marocain de 26 ans, ingénieur en informatique, arrêté à Casablanca le mardi 5 février.

La raison de cette arrestation ? Une blague, une idée insouciante sans arrière pensé aucune. Bref une connerie comme en fait tous. Enfin, une connerie pour le Maroc seulement.

En effet, Fouad a simplement crée un profil sur le réseau social du moment : Facebook. Ce profil était un faux du prince Moulay Rachid. Une personnalité donc.

Pour information, il existe des dizaines de profils de personnalités sur Facebook, de Sarkozy à Bush en passant par….Mohamed VI. Hey oui!

Fouad risque 5 ans de prison. 5 ans! De quoi ruiner la vie d'un homme pour toujours.

On en revient à l'éternel problème : Le Maroc moderne Vs le Maroc du Moyen âge.

I'm not going to repeat the story but everyone knows what happened to Fouad Mourtada. This 26 year-old Moroccan engineer, arrested February 5th in Casablanca.

The reason for this arrest? A joke, a thoughtless idea with no ulterior motives. Really just the same kind of stupid stuff we all do. Or at least, only stupid for Morocco.

In fact, Fouad simply created a profile on the popular social website Facebook. It was a fake profile for the prince Moulay Rachid. So, a celebrity.

For your information, there are dozens of celebrity profiles on Faceback, from [Nicolas] Sarkozy to Bush to…Mohamed VI [the king of Morocco]. That's right!

Fouad is facing 5 years in prison. 5 years! Enough to permanently ruin a man's life.

It always comes back to the same eternal problem: Modern Morocco vs. the Morocco of the Middle Ages.

Larbi, author of the blog Comme une bouteille jetée à la mer!, views Fouad's trial as a unique opportunity for the Moroccan judicial system not to kowtow to the Moroccan regime's policy of harsh sentences when it comes to the “sacrality” of the King and company:

Un procès surréaliste dans son objet (création de faux profil sur Facebook), abusif dans son déroulement (placement sous détention provisoire) et inéquitable par ses parties prenantes (un simple citoyen et un Prince) . Il crée de surcroît un précédent inacceptable : On pourrait désormais tenir à merci n’importe quel internaute et lui réserver n’importe quel sort. Dans un Etat qui se respecte le procès de Fouad ne devrait même pas avoir lieu.

Bien entendu, il incombe au juge seul d’apprécier les faits et de statuer, mais il est des raisons de s’inquiéter. Faut-il rappeler ici que toutes les affaires judiciaires relatives aux délits de presse et d’opinion ou aux délits d’atteinte à la sacralité de la famille royale se sont systématiquement soldés par des condamnations et que jamais aucune relaxe n’ait été prononcée ? Faut-il rappeler ici l’excès de zèle des tribunaux dès qu’il s’agit du Roi et son entourage ?

Le Tribunal de grande instance de Casablanca peut faire l’Histoire en brisant cette série de jugements arbitraires. Le juge peut entrer dans l’Histoire en officiant en arbitre indépendant de toute pression, en ne cédant à aucune crainte , en ne redoutant nulle colère, en disant la loi dans la sincérité de sa conscience, en homme d’ honneur et de dignité. Il ne peut alors qu’acquitter Fouad et clore ce triste et insupportable chapitre judiciaire.

Le Tribunal de grande instance de Casablanca a une occasion unique : en rendant justice à Fouad il peut, ne serait-ce qu’une seule fois, donner raison de ne pas désespérer de la justice du Maroc et des juges du Maroc.

A trial surreal in its goal (creation of a fake Facebook profile), abusive in the way [the process] has unfolded (detention pending trial) and unbalanced in terms of the parties concerned (a simple citizen and a Prince). Moreover, it is creating an unacceptable precedent: anyone internet user can be held at the mercy [of the state] and be dealt any kind of fate. In a self-respecting country Fouad's trial shouldn't even be happening.

Of course, it's all up to the judge to appraise the facts and to adjudicate, but there are reasons for worry. Need I remind you that in this country all judiciary cases relating to infractions by the media or personal opinion or that sully the sacredness of the royal family are systematically condemned and there has never been an acquittal? Need I remind you of the [Moroccan] courts' zealousness as soon as the King and his entourage are concerned?

Casablanca's Tribunal of First Instance [E.U.; “State Court” or similar U.S.] could make history by breaking with this series of arbitrary judgements. The judge could go down in history by acting as an arbitrator, independent of all pressure, by not giving in to any fear, by not dreading any anger, by stipulating the law with sincerity and conscience, as a man of honor and dignity. Then, he could not but acquit Fouad and close this sad and disgraceful chapter of judiciary history.

Casablanca's court has a unique opportunity: by delivering justice to Fouad it can, if only this once, give a reason not to lose faith in Moroccan justice and Moroccan judges.

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Serbia: Anger, disbelief over proclamation of Kosovo independence

Ljubisa Bojic · 17:03, February 19th, 2008 · Eastern & Central Europe

lingua → es · bn

Ortodox church, Pristina, Kosovo and Metohija Orthodox Church, cc-licensed photo from Flickr by decafinata.

Kosovo provincial parliament declared unilateral independence from Serbia, yesterday. In his reaction Vojislav Kostunica, prime minister of Serbia, criticized America for inspiring these acts against a sovereign country. He said:

“The United States have also humiliated the European Union, and forced it to trample on the principles it is built upon,” Koštunica added, and warned that Europe, “which has lowered its head”, will be responsible “for all the serious consequences that Kosovo's independence carries with it.”

Kosovo and Metohija is province in southern Serbia. Metohija means monastery land. This reefers to great number of historical monuments mostly represented in about 2000 Christian orthodox monasteries.

Ivan Jankovic sums up all the news that stroke southern Europe yesterday:

The declaration was celebrated loudly with firecrackers and music on the streets of Pristina and other cities in the province. On the other side [in Serbia], it was not so happy. Except few bomb explosions in front of UNMIK building in [northern] Kosovska Mitrovica [where Serbs are majority], riots happened in Belgrade, Novi Sad and other cities. Hooligans […] were mad, so they crashed everything that came in their way. They stoned Slovenian and American embassies, McDonald restaurants etc. […] This caused great material damage.

Petarj cited local news and president of Socalist Party of Serbia, Ivica Dacic:

[…] [Less than 100] of citizens and police have been wounded in street clashes that broke out after unilateral declaration of Kosovo independence. Protesters attacked police in front of American and Slovenian embassies. […] [Dacic said:] “We should protect all foreign embassies in Belgrade, but those countries should think about their attitudes. They took 15% of territory from us. What should we do? Should We Applaud them? Breaking story was that crowd destroyed a kiosk. Kiosks are destroyed every day, but Kosovo is taken from us only once […].

Popkitchen titledher blog post “confused”. She adds:

[…] There is no one reason why I would wish to have smaller […] country than it is. The fact, that international law is neglected indicates how unimportant we are […].

Zivot says:

[…]Of course I am against independence. This is similar to one simple situation. Think one person coming to my house and taking away one of the rooms from me. So if that person stays there so long and finally proclaims the room his or her own. My comparison is ridiculous, because this [Kosovo] problem is greater in its proportions. […]

He then cites words of medieval Serb nobleman Stefan Nemanja ):

[…]Where our word is heard […], know my child, that is still our land, no matter who governs it. Emperors change, countries vanish, but people and their language stay, so conquered people and land will come back to the people and country they originate to”

Cika Miloje reacts to B92 blog post titled Independent Kosovo by writing:

[…] Kosovo was under Turkish governance since Battle of Kosovo (in 13th century), all up to 20th century. This time, we shall wait less, until Muslims get into some kind of big conflict with America. Taiwan is produced by America so it can defend its “independence” from China. Relations of China and Taiwan are getting closer and it may take few decades until they merge on economical grounds. East Germany got stolen from Germany. Marionette regime was placed in power there. It lasted 50 years, and now the country is united. I know the latest news sound like Armageddon to us, but history is long term process, and everything changes. […]

Mariopan reacts to the same post by foreseeing implications of this unilateral decision:

[…] This is not end of anything […], this is beginning. As soon as tomorrow or day after tomorrow, every ethnic group in the world will start terrorizing someone and proclaiming independence of some territory. I am so glad this circus will kick off around the globe so [they will understand implications of their actions when its late]. The [international community] tried hard to find a model to make this happen. So they made it and deserve to suffer all the consequences. […]

In his personal blog Avram says:

[…] It’s all the same to me. I am not so patriotic [to say out laud, all the time] “Kosovo is Serbia but I see double standards applied by the West, in first row, USA and EU. They broke UN declaration which guarantees territorial integrity to all internationally recognized countries. To be frank I would love to see Kosovo independence triggers independence declarations of all autonomous regions around the world, like that one in Spain. Abut republic of Srpska [entity of Bosnia Herzegovina], I am not sure what the situation is there. This is not autonomous province like Kosovo, but it would be nice if they could proclaim independence too. If Kosovo can do it, why can’t the others?

This is only small chunk of reactions which are written throughout Serbian blogosphere as we speak.

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