Archive for
April 3rd, 2008
Stories
Uzbekistan: Blogging fosters freedom of speech
Recently, the U.S. State Department has ranked Uzbekistan among “top ten” of the most authoritarian countries in the world. During almost two decades of his reign, president I. Karimov and his clan have taken control of all spheres of life in the country – political, economic and social. Civil society, which emerged and was developing in the country after the collapse of Soviet Union, has felt the severe pressure of Karimov's regime, especially after the Andijon events in 2005 that resulted in international sanctions on Uzbekistan. The state has full power over mainstream media in the country. Even though Karimov glorifies democratic values in his public speeches, there is no freedom of speech in the country. However, today, voices are breaking through via new media – blogs.
One of such cyber-activists is Gerchik, discussing sociopolitical problems in the country in his blog. (more…)
Video and mobile video contests for global citizen journalists.
Three different video contests open for video bloggers from around the world to participate in, either especifically geared for citizen journalists or with a category for them. One for mobile movies, one to promote causes you care for and the last to report news through online video. So bring out your cameras and read on to discover how to participate.
From Spain, ElPais.com brings us the Movil Film Fest, an online mobile 1 minute video contest. Although it is geared primarily to locally made movies, which they call “national”, there are no restrictions regarding nationality of the producers, although only the local films will compete for the main awards, videos from outside Spain will have their own category. All the videos have to be less than 1 minute long and have been shot with cell phones or PDAs, what they call mobile communication terminals. There is time until April 21st 2008 to submit a video.
The novelty is that this year they will have an award for Best Citizen Journalism piece, although they haven´t yet mentioned what the prize will be. There will also be a honourable mention for the best foreign film and the best “made 4 mobile” film. Judges will vote for the main categories and viewers will get to vote for their favorite for a final viewer´s choice category. Last year voting took place through SMS messages, but this year they eliminated that and opened it to online vote. Last year´s submitted videos can be found following this link.
The second contest is a worldwide contest based on myspace.com social networking site. They are requesting for youth between 14 and 24 years of age from all around the world to “Film your issue” in more than 30 seconds but less than 2 minutes. Prizes include internships at different organizations such as USA Today, The United Nations and the Humane Society, however there are citizenship restrictions and mostly the winners will have to pay for their tickets, lodging and meals during their internships, and the $5000 USD College scholarship is only valid for US citizens, making the prizes themselves less attractive for international participants. However, the winning videos would be broadcast on different networks, TV stations and websites, making street cred and bragging rights the likelier reward for the foreign participants. Already some videos have been uploaded for this contest, and participants have time until April 14th to participate in any of the several issue categories.
Last year's International Jury Selection winner was Dolly Ovadia Nahon from Haifa, Israel, who wrote:
“I chose woman trafficking because it feels to me that its a subject that has fallen out of the social agenda, prostitutes are stigmatized and that makes there freedom less viable.
800,000-900,000 women and children are trafficked and prostituted against their will worldwide each year. This is the story of one of them. Modern Slavery must be Stoped!!!”
The winners for the “UN Department of Public Information – FYI Award and Audience Award for International Film” were 10 International Relations students from Brazil, presenting this insightful piece on urban violence in Rio de Janeiro:
Another chance to win money and make a name for yourself is the citizen journalism video contest is being organized by VideoNews24.net[es] . Although it is used mostly by Spanish vloggers (video bloggers), it is open to any person who wishes to participate. The contest opened on March 1st and will run to July 31st. The top three videos will be chosen from those with more hits and highest ratings given by other users and then the winner chosen from them. The complete guidelines to participate can be found by following this link [es].
Here are three contests open for citizens of any nationality: do you know of any other contests for citizen media videos in your country or region? We would love it if you shared this information in the comments!
Kazakhstan: Celebrating Nauryz
Nauryz, a Central Asian non-religious celebration of the spring equinox, symbolizes a renewal of the nature. Originating from ancient Mesopotamia, the holiday’s name derives from the Persian, where - just like in Tajik language - Novruz is translated as a “new day”. In Soviet times Nauryz was declared ideologically inconsistent and was curtailed. It came back only with the republic’s independence. For nearly a decade it has been hardly understandable for the people – economic crisis and lack of tradition of the holiday’s celebration made all festivities come down to public open-air fete with shashlyks [kebabs] and yurts [felt tents]. Actually, all other “new holidays” – Independence, Republic and Constitution days – were celebrated in pretty much the same way. But as the wealth of the nation began to swell up after the oil prices went up in early 2000s, the celebrations’ scale and creativity grew prominently. Obvoiously, you think more of the way to salute the holiday when you have money to make a decent festivity.
Last week I asked the bloggers to speak out their thoughts about and attitude towards Nauryz, being both a traditional and an instilled-by-the-state new holiday. ehot opines that Nauryz is historically much more substantial and sensible holiday than New Year, because it has material substrate, which is equinox, while New Year is rooted in administrative system of the Roman empire. bireherz objects: “Nauryz is not accepted; a pagan holiday, just a day-off for me” [ru].
(more…)
Links for Thu, 2008-04
Hungarian Spectrum offers more analysis of the current political crisis and writes about SZDSZ, the Alliance of Free Democrats – the Hungarian Liberal Party, “a deeply divided party.”
Srebrenica Genocide Blog marks a “grim anniversary”: “five years since the first Srebrenica genocide victims were buried” in the village of Potočari.
A roundup on the Macedonia-Greece name dispute: Balkan Baby writes that posters in the capital of Macedonia “featuring a customised version of the Greek flag in which the cross […] was replaced with a swastika” did “nothing but shoot Macedonia in the foot”; A Fistful of Euros examines “one of those perfect Balkan storms where you have obnoxious and stupid behavior that leads to even more obnoxious and stupid behavior”; Say: Macedonia pledges to call Greece “‘the Former Macedonian Province of Greece', or FMPG for short” from now on; Greater Surbiton mocks the Greek Foreign Minister; The Board, a blog written by the New York Times editorial board, notes that “tiny Macedonia doesn’t threaten Greece under any name.”
Cinencuentro [es] writes about the Nomadas project, a traveling film company that is currently located in the Southern part of Peru. Its objective is to promote Peruvian cinema and participates in health campaigns through the use of audiovisual tools.
A roundup on Ukraine and NATO: A Fistful of Euros reads Yushchenko's address and isn't surprised “other NATO countries are balking”; Mark MacKinnon writes that granting membership to Ukraine might lead to “further internal strife”; Eternal Remont highlights the Communists' “sophisticated and highly nuanced policy position”; Ukrainiana posts a video of another Ukrainian political group greeting Bush; Orange Ukraine posts a note on the four years of NATO's words and deeds regarding Ukraine's membership, writes about the “craven capitulation of Germany and France to Russia,” and reports on this year's pathetic April Fool's Day in Odesa, followed by an anti-NATO rally: “Since Odesa has been dragged down into the leaden stupidity of politics, the citizens can't muster the light wittiness that made the city so unique.”
A Fistful of Euros questions the credibility of B92's report on “Kosovo as the ‘heart of [the] Balkan drug route'.”
Alfredo Rivas of the Nicaraguan Report states that President Daniel Ortega is proposing to suspend local elections in order to allow regions to recover from Hurricane Felix. However, Rivas believes that Ortega may disenfranchise voters because their potential results would be unfavorable to his party.
Over 12,000 kg of meat is set to be on the barbeque, when Uruguayans aim to enter into the Guinness Book of World Records [es] at an event that will take place on April 13. They hope to top the previous record set by Mexican BBQ aficinados who grilled over 8,000 kg of meat, writes Martin Balao.
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