Archive for
April 30th, 2008
Stories
Egypt: Facebooking the Struggle
Banners from Egyptian Facebook groups calling for the May 4 Strike.
After little less than a month following the April 6 strike in support of the textile workers in Mahalla City, during which a number of prominent Egyptian bloggers and internet activists were arrested, preparations for the next round of a planned general strike to mark the 80th birthday of President Hosni Mubarak, on May 4, 2008, are currently spreading all over the blogosphere and the Internet. And like the preparation for the April 6 strike, the internet has a vital role to play in mobilizing for the upcoming protest. SMS, email, blogs, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter: almost all of these outlets are used by Egyptian Internet activists in their campaign the May 4 event. We've even seen a Facebookist Movement to Overthrow Mubarak being created. Another group entitled “We don't want Muslim Brothers” is calling for the strike but without participation of the Muslim Brotherhood, who recently decided to join May 4 protest.
Logo of the Egyptian Facebook group “Facebookist Movement to Overthrow Mubarak“
This approach of politicising the internet is not taking place without concerns being raised not only by pro-government and state-run newspapers (who recently waged a campaign against web 2.0 services like Youtube, Blogger and Facebook used by online activists) but even by opponents of Mubarak's regime and outspoken bloggers. And while the Al-Gomhuriya daily called for a “boycott [of] Youtube and Facebook websites” and the weekly Rose El-Youssef portrayed the former website as “a secret room aimed at running Egypt”, blogger Hossam el-Hamalawy, an outspoken Egyptian blogger, wrote, in a blog post titled “I do NOT endorse the May 4th General Strike Call” criticizing what he described as a call “coming from the cyberspace by bloggers, “Facebook activists” and the Islamist-leaning Labor Party whose leaders have declared themselves more or less as some “provisional govt” in cyber-exile”, that:
We, the Egyptian bloggers, have always prided ourselves on the fact that we have one foot on the ground and the other in the cyberspace… But this time, it seems some have thrown both their feet as well as brains in the cyberspace and are living some virtual reality, mistakenly believing (helped by the media sensationalist coverage of the “facebook activism“) that they are the ones behind the events in Mahalla…
Blogger and activist Nora Younis was kind enough to agree to this interview over email. Nora shares some of her ideas with us about the role of Internet in Egypt as a platform for political activism.
Sami Ben Gharbia: What was the role of internet in mobilizing Egyptian citizens to participate in the April 6 strike and do you believe that the kind of Facebook Group, with its 71,200 members, has an effect on the street?
Nora Younis: Internet was the main tool in mobilizing for the 6 April strike. It's true a tiny fringe of Egyptians have access to Facebook but the 70,000+ members of the group acted as strike advocates in the society and took the debate from PC screens to taxis, workplaces, dinner tables and breadlines. This forced the topic on the independent main stream media. The second tool in mobilizing for the strike was SMS. People I have known for years with no relation to politics or public participation were circulating messages advocating the strike. The word “strike” has never been uttered and repeated that much in Egypt during my lifetime. However, we should not forget that what gave April 6 its weight was the labor movement uprising and their struggle for a dignified minimum wage. Internet alone, without the popular base, wouldn't have led to the successful strike we witnessed April 6.
Sami: we've seen an anti-strike Facebook group formed to counter the pro-strike group and it seems that the political battle is taking place on blogs and on social networking websites. How do you describe this new development and do you believe that the Egyptian government or the ruling party is behind the aforementioned group?
Nora: Young members of the ruling party have initiated blogs and Facebook groups to polish the regime's image and counter the call for dissent. Such pages are probably encouraged by party officials, because when it comes to content they lack the passion. Furthermore, they remain unable to attract members and visitors.
Sami: It seems that the Egyptian regime is trying to calm down the situation. During the last week many of the previously arrested activist and bloggers have been released such as Khaled Hamza Salam the editor-in chief of Ikhwanweb, and blogger Mohamed Sharkawy and Esraa Abdul Fattah. How do you assess the situation in Egypt at this stage?
Nora: The Egyptian regime took preemptive measures to abort the April 6 strike by arresting activists early morning from their homes, and taping their calls days before. After the day was over and with the rising riots in Mahalla measures were taken to contain and calm the situation, as a way to weaken the planned May 4 strike. A government delegation headed to Mahalla, met some 2000 textile workers, and promised bonuses and privileges. Government statements have alienated Mahalla workers from the riots. Popular bloggers-activists have been released. All seems to be in attempt to calm the situation before May 4 - the president's 80th birthday.
Sami: The use of web tools has caused the arrest of some of those activists, but it also helped release the American student James Karl Buck who was arrested while photographing the 6 April demonstration. His Twittered message ‘ARRESTED‘ through his cell phone alerted the world about his arrest. Who do you believe is going to win this new kind of battle of information?
Nora: On April 5 the number of my Twitter update followers was 90. On April 6 it was 130, and today it is 180. Only because I was Twittering strike and detainees updates. James Buck gained wide support through his Twitter SMS. More people are joining the blogsphere, Facebook, and Twitter by the hour. I don't think this could ever be reversed. There is a techie, passionate, frustrated generation now on the playground….and one could only expect more to come. In few years time there will be no need for registration of political parties. Like-minded people will organise and will be heard.
Qatar: Online Community Comes to the Aid of Workers
Early this week a fire broke out at a labour camp in Doha, Qatar, which destroyed the belongings of 600 workers. Labour camps in the Gulf states are usually large single sex-segregated dormitories that house hundreds of migrant workers who earn around $220 a month. The Gulf Times broke the story with details of the devastating impact of the fire on the labourers. Within hours of the story being reported, it was posted to the online community Qatar Living by SPEED under the headline “Appeal for QL donations for needy Labourers!” where he made this appeal to site members:
I feel pity for these labourers and wish to help them whatever I can.Humble request to All Qlers: Please if anyone can visit the site and donate whatever you can, New or Used Blankets/Pillows/Bedsheets/Mattress/Clothes/Shoes/Dry Food items such as rice, cereals, grains etc…They are in bad need of donations, they have lost everything and I am sure their sponsor will not provide them with eveything they have lost except few Qatari Riyal …. last time in another incident the sponsor compensated QR. 100 only to each labour !! Do you think this amount will help them to cover their loss ???
His plea generated over 200 responses in two days. It was a powerful example of how an online community organised itself to provide real world assistance to a mostly marginalised offline community. Through the on-going discussion members of Qatar Living rallied to collect supplies and money which they would distribute to the workers affected by the fire.
Gulf Time, the national paper who first reported the story subsequently published another article on the massive community response to the fire:
After Gulf Times highlighted the plight of the 600 workers it triggered a rapid and heartfelt response from Doha residents with one community website being among the first to organise aid donations.
Posting a plea on Qatar Living, the samaritan named ‘Speed’ urged other members to gather blankets, sheets, mattresses, clothes, shoes and food items. His call was immediately answered with pledges of help.
Planning for the aid is still on-going. Users Scarlett, SPEED and PWB have organised drop-off points in Doha where people can leave donations tomorrow. A number of community members will then take the donations to the affected workers.
Rising Voices Seeks Micro-Grant Proposals for Health-Related New Media Outreach
Application Deadline: June 1, 2008
Rising Voices, the outreach arm of Global Voices, in collaboration with the Open Society Institute Public Health Program’s Health Media Initiative, is now accepting project proposals for the third round of microgrant funding of up to $5,000 for new media outreach projects focused especially on public health issues involving marginalized populations.
Ideal applicants are dynamic NGOs or individuals who:
- Represent the vital voices of communities affected by stigmatized health issues whose stories, viewpoints, and experiences are often marginalized, unheard, or misrepresented in mainstream media. These communities include people living with HIV and AIDS and/or tuberculosis, people with mental illnesses or intellectual disabilities, injecting drug users, sex workers, LGBTI individuals, people in need of palliative care services, and Roma facing discrimination in healthcare settings.
- Are enthusiastic about using new, interactive modes of communication to build relationships and establish dialogue on the important advocacy issues of their community.
- Envision and highly prioritize media and communication strategies to achieve the advocacy goals of their organization.
Pre-requisite for the competition:
- Organizations must have their own website or participate in a network website.
Rising Voices and OSI aim to bring new voices from new communities and speaking new languages to the conversational web, by providing resources and funding to local groups reaching out to underrepresented communities. Examples of potential projects include:
- Working with a tuberculosis or HIV clinic or local drop-in center with the offer of training health workers, local harm reduction or sex worker outreach workers, patients, and their families to blog and upload video, in order to document their work, their experiences, and their community.
- Use blogs, podcasts, and online video to help give voice and representation to LGBTI communities and advocate for their rights.
- Distribute mp3 recorders to a local NGO working on palliative care issues, and help them produce monthly audio testimonials and/or interviews featuring stories and experiences of participants, for uploading to the NGO's website.
- Organizing a regular workshop on blogging and photography at a legal aid center representing the rights of people living with mental disabilities. Part of the budget could be used to purchase affordable digital video cameras and internet café costs, so that participants can describe their challenges and life experiences to a global audience.
- Purchasing an affordable digital video camera and teaching a group of local Roma community outreach workers how to produce an ongoing video-blog documentary about their work, which could then be posted to the organization's website and linked to other networks' websites.
Rising Voices outreach grants will range from $1,000 to $5,000. Special consideration will be given to proposals from Sub-Saharan Africa and the Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and the Caucusus. Please be as thoughtful, specific, and realistic as possible when drafting your budgets.
Successful projects will be prominently featured on Global Voices.
Completed applications will be accepted no later than Sunday, June 1st in either English or Russian. Please submit your application on the Rising Voices apply page. Russian-language proposals should be submitted here. All applicants will receive a confirmation email by June 3. Grantees will be announced on June 28 at the Global Voices Citizen Media Summit in Budapest, Hungary.
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The OSI Public Health Program’s Health Media Initiative aims to increase public awareness of health issues, especially stigmatized health issues involving marginalized populations. The initiative focuses on supporting health NGOs to develop their relationships with journalists across all media platforms so they may communicate health and human rights issues effectively with the public. Where the media environment is especially hostile, OSI also supports “community journalism” initiatives to encourage NGOs to use digital technology to communicate their stories and issues to each other and to the world at large. The initiative also seeks to build the capacity of media professionals to report responsibly on public health issues.
Rising Voices aims to help bring new voices from new communities and speaking new languages to the conversational web, by providing resources and funding to local groups reaching out to underrepresented communities.
Cuba: Las Damas de Blanco
“‘They are dying, they are dying.'
It was the lament of one of the handful of women in white who attempted to demonstrate peacefully in Havana…”
- Ninety miles away…. in another country
*****
It has been the most discussed topic in the Cuban blogosphere over the last week: the arrest of Las Damas de Blanco as they staged a peaceful demonstration for the release of their husbands, jailed by the Castro regime.
As if to underscore its impact, Free Thoughts posts a series of photos as well as video of the incident, while over at Revista de Asignaturas Cubanas [es], Laura Pollán a Dama de Blanco also posts some photographs with descriptions taken by Bárbara Jiménez of the group of women prior to being removed.
Child of the Revolution examines the media's role in shaping perceptions of the event:
The whole shameful episode was captured by a handful of foreign media journalists in Havana and broadcast to the rest of the world, although in the scheme of things, the coverage was fairly limited.
Now, two days later, the regime has used its media apparatus to attack the Damas de Blanco directly. Instead of doing what they normally do and ignore the demonstration, the regime has publicly accused the women of being subversive elements and mercenaries doing the bidding of, yes, those nasty Americans.
The women have now accused the Castro regime of spying on them, following the broadcast by the official media of telephone conversations between some of the Damas de Blanco and a US congresswoman…
The Cuban Triangle links to a BBC report from Havana (Sp) that “puts the action in the context of overall opposition activity”:
The Damas, correspondent Fernando Ravsberg writes, are “the only dissident group that undertakes street activities. The bulk of the opposition has limited itself to working indoors, with press conferences, meetings, and statements.” Ravsberg describes divisions within the movement regarding political issues and tactics in the face of a government that “practically every week announces changes, the large majority of which are well received by the public.” The movement, he writes, is “small, divided, and with very little social influence.”
I’m sure that many will read that as criticism, but Ravsberg is leading to an interesting question. If changes in Cuba continue, and especially if additional changes materially affect all Cubans, not only those with hard currency to spend, will that change the political context in which the opposition operates? Will it change tactics? Should it?
La primera generación thinks that “Cuba clearly violated the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which it is a signatory to”, adding:
The United States has deplored these actions and brought this violation to light. Is anyone besides the US going to do anything about it?
Osvaldo Alfonso Valdés of Miscelaneas de Cuba [es] states his view of what this action says about the new regime:
Digámoslo claramente: si el régimen de Raúl Castro no puede tolerar que 10 mujeres estén de manera pacífica presentando una carta al Gobierno y manifestándose públicamente, entonces; ¿qué cambios y mejorías en el respeto a los derechos fundamentales y que cambios políticos en dirección a la apertura democrática podemos esperar de este nuevo gobernante de la dictadura cubana?
Finally, Uncommon Sense posts an update:
Radio Martí reports that the Damas De Blanco (”Ladies In White”) today resumed their weekly demonstration on behalf of their imprisoned husbands, fathers, sons and brothers, less than a week after 10 women were roughed up and arrested by the police and a Castroite mob.
Unlike what happened April 21, the women were left alone as they marched in silence down Fifth Avenue in Havana.
Eduardo Avila contributed to this post.
Kazakhstan: Bloggers Discuss Elites and Economics
Plitical intra-elite battles and anti-corruption crusades both remain hot topics on the agenda of Kazakhstani blogosphere, but speculations over the looming global food crisis and its implications for Central Asia made the bloggers cover this issue in their discussions.
Ehot wonders, what will Kazakhstan be looking like if the food deficit strikes the region harshly and marks out that in such critical period
“elites - including ardent oppositionists - will leave the country with everything what can be taken out, and leave the nation to the mercy of fate”.
According to various assessments of experts, aggravation of the food problematique can lead to doubling of prices for foodstuff in the next five years. Epolet writes that in such conditions it would be natural if the national business starts eyeing the ways of making money on food (more…)
Kyrgyzstan: An Anxious April
A next to last week of April started from the unexpected fall of temperature. A lot of bloggers posted the photographs of the frozen greenery and the trees under snow. Yanagi presented the beautiful photos of the leaves under snow in her blog. red_ptero called [ru] this fall of temperature “grimaces of the global warming”.
A fall of temperature has happened not only to nature, but to the Russian-Kyrgyz relations too. A Russian soldier was heavy injured in an incident between Russian militaries from the Russian airbase in Kant city and the Kyrgyz police. Many people consider this incident as a threat for the Kyrgyz-Russian relationships.
Links for Wed, 2008-04
Vilhelm Konnander posts an extensive analysis of the issues surrounding the first anniversary of the Estonian Bronze Soldier crisis.
“The Mufti (religious leader) of Mount Lebanon is a foul-mouthed demagogue who needs to be demoted as soon as possible,” writes Beirut Spring from Lebanon.
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