Archive for
May 26th, 2008
Stories
El Salvador: A Computer in Ecuador Stirs Up Salvadoran Presidential Campaign
A computer file purportedly discovered on a laptop computer at a guerrilla camp in Ecuador, has bloggers in El Salvador wondering what impact it will have and what impact it should have on the upcoming elections in their country scheduled for March 2009. The laptop computer was taken in the Colombian army's raid on the camp of FARC guerrillas in Ecuador. In that raid the number two man of the FARC, Raul Reyes, was killed, and his computer seized.
The furor in El Salvador started when the Spanish newspaper El Pais disclosed[es] that one document on the computer referred to a Salvadoran making an introduction in 2007 from the FARC to Australian arms dealers. The Salvadoran named was Luis Merino, a senior official of the left-wing Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) and member of the Central American parliament. The conservative press in El Salvador played up the story with prominent pictures showing Merino beside the FMLN's presidential candidate Mauricio Funes.
Photo by Fixem and used under a Creative Commons license.
Bloggers in El Salvador have been writing about how this story could impact the presidential campaign of Funes. Blogger Hunnapuh wrote a post [es] which put the issue in the context of the campaign strategy of the ruling right-wing ARENA party. According to Hunnapuh, ARENA is trying to convince the “swing” voter. This is the person who is currently inclined to vote for the FMLN and Mauricio Funes, but is not a party militant and would not vote for the FMLN if convinced that “FMLN = [Venezualan president Hugo] Chavez.” But the strategy is shifting with the disclosure of the FARC computer files:
Por lo que se vé, la estrategia la han cambiado un poco dados los acontecimientos, ahora la tesis me imagino que es FMLN = FARC, pero como lo expuse anteriormente, nuestro pueblo tiene una memoria coyuntural y toda esta publicidad y cobertura mediática actuales sera pronto olvidada.
Si en realidad hay algo de verdad en todas las acusaciones, se deben ejecutar las acciones legales pertinentes de parte de los paises que se consideren ofendidos e iniciar los juicios legales que correspondan, pero si solo se queda en la pura propaganda, se demostrará que símplemente se trata de estrategias electorales.
If indeed there is some truth in all accusations, the relevant legal actions should be implemented on the part of countries deemed offended and they should initiate appropriate legal proceedings. But if it only stays in the realms of pure propaganda, it will demonstrate that the [media focus] was just electoral stratagems.
The writer at the blog Salvadorans in the World [es] sees the repetition of the regular themes of Salvadoran politics in this story:
Y es aquí dónde las principales fuerzas políticas salvadoreñas se enfrentaran en una guerra de acusaciones e insultos. El FMLN dirá que todo esto es un montaje, un show, una estrategia más de la derecha para mantenerse en el poder. Por otro lado, ARENA volverá a repetir la misma historia, que el FMLN tiene nexos con grupos que no benefician en ningún modo al país, bla bla bla, etc. En la guerra de acusaciones e insultos, las propuestas para sacar al país adelante quedarán relegadas a un tercer o cuarto plano.
En este escenario adverso, Mauricio Funes debería dar señales inequívocas que tiene criterios propios, y más importante, que tiene suficiente independencia de los comandantes en el FMLN para pedir que se investigue a fondo las acusaciones.
In this adverse scenario, Mauricio Funes should give clear signals that he has his own criteria, and most importantly, that he has sufficient independence from commanders in the FMLN to ask for a thorough investigation into the allegations.
Ernesto Rivas-Gallont did not believe [es] that presidential candidate Funes had done well in his initial response to the story. In Funes' initial statement after the El Pais story, Rivas-Gallont saw an unconditional defense of Merino, the FMLN leader, with Funes acting almost as an apologist for the FARC.
Con esa actitud, Mauricio ha desilusionado a aquellos que creímos en su independencia, porque estamos convencidos que un gobierno de Funes sería controlado por los mismos que hoy controlan el partido y parecen controlar al candidato.
With this attitude, Mauricio has disappointed those who believed in his independence, because we are convinced that a government controlled by Funes would be controlled by the same ones who today control the party and seem to control candidate.
El-Visitador [es] referred to the links to the FARC to support his conclusion that the FMLN was a “very dangerous entity.”
Reflecting the polarization of El Salvador's politics and parts of its blogosphere, the view of El Visitador is counter-balanced by Chichicaste [es], who has a lengthy post[es] challenging the media coverage of the FARC computers and looking at the links between El Pais, its ownership and the owners of powerful media in San Salvador. For Chichicaste, the nonstop coverage in Salvadoran newspapers and television is an sign of the fear that foreign multi-national corporations have over the prospect of a Mauricio Funes' victory.
Japan: The Secret of Mizuki Shigeru
At age 86, Mizuki Shigeru (水木しげる) is one of the most well-known manga artists in Japan thanks to work that stretches over more than four decades, including among them some of the most popular Japanese manga and anime TV series. His work is celebrated in particular for expressing stories of “yōkai” (妖怪), creatures in Japanese folkore which Mizuki first became interested in as a child. GeGeGe no Kitarō, a manga series he created in 1959, is Mizuki's most famous, featuring an orphaned yōkai named Kitaro, born in a cemetary and missing his left eye, who fights for peace between humans and yōkai. (”GeGeGe” refers to the sound of insects and vermin that follow Kitaro around.) Adapted for TV several times, the manga is credited with popularizing the idea of yōkai throughout Japan.
Opening for GeGeGe no Kitaro 2007 series
Part 1 of a Japanese TV interview with Mizuki Shigeru (see Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5)
Mizuki's GeGeGe no Kitaro recently celebrated its 40th anniversary, as popular in Japan it as ever was. In a post that asks the question “Why has GeGeGe no Kitaro remained popular for this long?”, blogger ta26 proposes the following explanation for the manga's longevity:
今尚進化する鬼太郎
日本のアニメやドラマで息の長い作品の代表格はと言えば、『サザエさん』であり、『水戸黄門』ということになりそうだが、すでにその域に達したと言ってよい作品に、水木しげる氏の『ゲゲゲの鬼太郎』がある。この『ゲゲゲの鬼太郎』の原型とも言える『墓場の鬼太郎』が貸し本として登場したのが1960年、少年マガジンに初めて掲載されたのが1965年、『ゲゲゲの鬼太郎』としてアニメ化されたのが1968年というから、アニメ化されてから数えても、すでに 40年目ということになる。
鬼太郎がすごいのは、今まだ完全な現役であるだけでなく、『進化』していることだ。この2008年にも『ゲゲゲの鬼太郎千年呪い歌』*1として7月12日より劇場公開される予定だし、原型である『墓場の鬼太郎』*2のほうも2008年1月よりフジテレビ系の深夜アニメ枠「ノイタミナ」で放映され、13日深夜に放送された第10話の視聴率が5.8％（関東地区、ビデオリサーチ調べ）を獲得し、 07年1月放送の「のだめカンタービレ」（第2話）の5.5％を抜き、同枠の新記録となった*3。また、水木しげる氏の故郷である、鳥取県境港市では、境港駅から繁華街のアーケード通りまで『水木しげるロード』*4として多くのオブジェを配して町おこしに成功し、今や観光地としても多くの来客を迎えるようになった。
Trailer for “Gegege no Kitaro: Sennen Noroi Uta” [Millenium Curse Song]
GeGeGe no Kitaro episode 13 of 2007 series
成功の秘密は？
『妖怪物』というような特異な分野が、一時期のブームでは終わらずに、定番として半世紀の間人気を保ち、なおかつ、今尚進化している。この秘密はいったいどこにあるのだろう。一過性で終わってしまうものと、これだけ長く受け入れられるものの違い、それは何なのか。
一つには、水木しげる氏の徹底ぶりがあると思う。水木氏は、幼少時代から怪異なもの、不思議なものに対する憧れが強く、子供のころは彼が『のんのんばあ』と呼ぶ不思議なおばあさんに様々な伝承や怪異な物語を聞き、境港という土地に根付く妖怪たちと共に成長する。そして、長じて戦時中には、徴兵されて南方戦線に送られ、悲惨な戦争を体験するだけでなく、自ら九死に一生を得て片腕を失って帰還する。まさに生と死の狭間である幽界を自ら彷徨った体験を持つ。そして、戦後は妖怪漫画を書く傍ら、古い文献にある妖怪伝承や、古い絵巻や絵本、そして、柳田國男氏らの民間の妖怪伝承等を積極的に塊集した。のみならず妖怪伝承を収集するため、自ら旅に出て、それは遠く海外にまで及ぶ。塊集家としても研究家としても間違いなく第一人者である。
One thing I think is that there is a thoroughness to Mizuki Shigeru. From his childhood days, Mizuki was strongly attracted to strange and mysterious things, and when he was a child he heard about various traditions and strange tales from a mysterious old lady who went by the name of “Nononba”. In this way, he grew to adulthood together with the ghosts rooted in the land called Sakaiminato. Growing up during the war, he was conscripted and sent to the southern front, where not only did he experience the misery of war, but he also narrowly escaped from death, returning with with one arm lost. This experience was nothing less than that of wandering in the realm of the dead, in the interval between life and death. Then after the war, while writing yokai manga, he began to actively mix together yokai traditions from ancient literature and ancient scrolls and picturebooks, as well as from elements such as the yokai folklore of Yanagida Kunio. Not only that, but in order to gather together such yokei folklore, he left his family and even went all the way overseas. Whether as a collector compiler [塊集家, see note] or as a researcher, there is no mistake that [Mizuki Shigeru] is a leading figure.
[Note: If anybody can help in translating the term “塊集家”, please let me know.]
そしてその研究を元に、そのつかみ所のない怪異な存在に、形と色を与えて行く。その成果が、『妖怪事典』*5シリーズや『妖怪画談』*6シリーズとして、結実している。『妖怪画談』のあとがきで、水木氏は、『柳田國男*7のあたりのものは愛嬌もあり大いに面白いが、形がないので全部ぼくが作った』と言っている。『妖怪画談』はもちろん怪異なもの達に溢れているのだが、いつの間にか日本の原風景の持つ郷愁にいざなわれ、葛飾北斎の浮世絵に見る美しさを感じてしまう。 500年くらい後の研究者には、柳田や北斎等と同列に水木氏が扱われているのではないだろうか。
その土地の風景にやどりながらけして姿をあらわすことがなかった妖怪は、水木氏によって次々とその姿を我々の前に現すことになる。日本人の心の古層とも言うべきレイヤー（層）に今も死に絶えることなく、妖怪、怪異なものが住んでおり、それを眼前にした我々ははっと驚きながらも、強く魅了されてしまうのではないだろうか。この古層にある原型を掘り出したものは、商業的な成功はもちろん、地域のコミュニティーの強烈な求心力を手にするのではないかと思う。そして、その実例が、鬼太郎TV番組の高視聴率や映画の成功であったり、境港の活性化なのだろう。
For more on Mizuki Shigeru in Japanese, see information collected [ja] by blogger Yoshida Ami, who blogs about Mizuki in many of her posts (most recently here [ja] and here [ja]). See also this fan site [ja].
Update: Notes (all link to Japanese pages)
- Official site of the movie “Gegege no Kitaro: Sennen Noroi Uta” [Millenium Curse Song]
- “Hakaba Kitaro” official site
- Yōkai animation site (Mujara)
- Sakaiminato: Mizuki Shigeru Road
- Yōkai Dai Hyakki [Encyclopedia of Ghosts/Monsters]
- Yōkai Gadan [Discussions of Ghosts/Monsters Artwork]
- Yōkai Dangi
Thanks to Taku Nakajima for the suggestion to translate this blog post.
Colombia: Paramilitary Leaders Extradited to the United States
The last two or three weeks have been quite intense in Colombian politics. After a new scandal for alleged bribery while the presidential re-election was voted on in the Congress on May 13, came some interesting news. In a surprising move, 14 demobilized paramilitary bosses were extradited to the United States, where they will face drug-trafficking charges. This happened a few weeks after the President Álvaro Uribe's cousin was jailed for alleged links to the paramilitary militias (some 30 Congresspeople have been jailed so far, and another 30 are being investigated).
Carlos Cuentero [es] angrily criticizes the Colombian government's decision of extradition:
No creo, como dicen hoy muchos columnistas, que haya fracasado la ley de Justicia y Paz. Más bien, creo que fue todo un éxito. Porque eso fue lo que negociaron en Ralito: una farsa de verdad, un teatro de justicia y nada de reparación. Eso fue lo que pactaron a puerta cerrada, a espaldas de un país que aún desconoce sus alcances.
I don't think, as many columnists are saying today, that the Justice and Peace Law has failed. Rather, I think it was a huge success. Because that's what they negotiated in Ralito: a real farce, an illusion of justice and nothing about reparation. That's what they pacted behind closed doors, behind the back of a country which still is not aware of their reach.
On the contrary, Jaime Restrepo of Atrabilioso [es] applauds the decision and says the justice, peace, and reparation process will not be affected:
But this is an emotional ingredient: the paramilitary bosses will not stay in summer houses (as some government critics described the Itagüí maximum security prison), nor will they serve just eight years in prison (one of the things they most criticized of the Justice and Peace law), because the most useful cooperation for the American justice is the tip-off from the bosses, and the truth is that the extradited are the top and not the bottom of the narco-paramilitarism hierarchical pyramid. They can build their hopes, but they will actually have to serve more than 8 years in prison. Things being so, if they will indeed serve a sentence in maximum security prisons, what is the difference if it is a Colombian or an American prison in favour of the criminals? None. But it is evident that many of the victims see the peace process with the paramilitary as a bitter revenge against their victimizers -something understandable- which does not allow them to see that extradition is not a prize but an even stronger punishment for the criminals. In any case they will not have the privileges or the benefits they could get in Colombia, and that makes the punishment they will get in the United States stronger.
Restrepo also slams the opposition parties on their contradictions:
At the time the opposition hit the ceiling by pointing out that Uribe wanted to give benefits to his “partners” by no extraditing them and they claimed that threat could not be removed from the table. Now, when the Uribe administration decides to extradite them, then it is useless for them, and they find it inconvenient in order to achieve the truth, justice, and reparation. Nevertheless, that is an incoherent position if we take into account that they were (the opposition) who did not wanted to shut the door to the extradition and put so much pressure that they ended leaving open the possibility which is a reality today. They should not be losing sleep over that now, because the Alternative Democratic Pole and the Colombian Liberal Party have fathered the extradition of the paramilitary chiefs, the same which today they find hideous and inconvenient.
But Marsares, at equinoXio digital magazine, after slamming the Justice and Peace “joke”, believes the so-called parapolitics scandal may be over and that the second re-election of Uribe is ahead:
The government alleges that the extradited chiefs broke the Justice and Peace Law by not telling all the truth, not hand all their assets over for repairing the victims, and continue committing crimes from prison. That is true. They were delivering the “truths” little by little to the judicial authorities, containing veiled threats or simply they did not say a word claiming cynical amnesias. Nevertheless, the tip-off of their political allies and the revelation of the location of the common graves where their victims are buried are an evident gain. As for the delivering of their assets, the joke was obvious. Very few of them, if not devalued or in others’ hands. So scarce that, after doing the math, each victim would receive COP7,000 (US$4 or €2.50).
(…)
A last play is the perfect finale of the game for the Government: if the paramilitary leaders had broken the Justice and Peace Law why were not they left in hands of the Colombian ordinary justice in order to be prosecuted as any other criminal? The high sentences would have meant that the government did wished to defeat impunity. But it was not done so, perhaps because they wish to avoid new revelations. Though there is the promise that the paramilitary chiefs can continue to telling the truths in the United States, the preparation of the trial can take one year, enough time to stop the damaged caused by the parapolitical scandal, and devote firmly and with a big heart to the second re-election, safe from any danger or threat, with an ad hoc Congress.
Adam Isacson, from Plan Colombia and Beyond, also posted on the issue:
Now that they have little to lose - and probably feel that they owe nothing to Colombia’s political and economic elites - the paramilitary leadership may be more willing than before to talk about who helped them over the years, what their financial and logistical networks looked like, and perhaps what happened to their victims. From a jail cell in Miami with little hope of leniency, they have little incentive to stay quiet and protect those who helped them. The question is whether those who wish to share such information will be able to do so. President Uribe and his government must be held to the statement above. Colombian investigators must have the access to the paramilitary leaders necessary to fully and aggressively comply with the “quest for the truth.”
To Isacson, if the investigators have that access, it will be a victory for the victims. If they do not, it will become a “tragic victory for the politicians, economically powerful individuals and military officers who made paramilitarism possible in Colombia.”
The political blog Colombia Hoy [es] also added its two cents [es]:
Lo que ocurre es que una vez ante los fiscales gringos podrán negociar todo. En realidad en Colombia no les esperaban penas muy altas, por lo que en el país del norte la situación no será muy diferente, aunque es posible que allí consigan algún tipo de amparo frente a la Corte Penal Internacional. Es un buen plus. Más impunidad frente a los delitos de lesa humanidad. Más legalización de las fortunas. Más residencia legal y cambio de identidad. No suena mal.
What happens is that once [they face] the American attorneys they will be able to negotiate everything. Actually in Colombia they would not face high sentences, therefore in the northern country their situation will not be very different, though they would likely get some kind of protection from the International Criminal Court. It's a good advantage. More impunity towards their crimes against humanity. More legalization of their fortunes. More legal residence and change of identity. It does not sound bad.
Days later the extradition, it was learnt that some of the personal computers and SIM cards of the extradited paramilitary bosses were not properly seized [es] by the Colombian authorities, with some of their relatives having access to the hardware [es]. Tienen huevo [es] and Ricardo Buitrago Consuegra [es] refer to the issue.
China: Environmental Fallout After Sichuan Earthquake
A week after China's deadly earthquake killed nearly 56,000 people, environmental and other costs of the 8.0 magnitude earthquake are becoming clearer. On this post we examine posts related to the environmental fallout of the earthquake, and also the plight of animals in the earthquake area.
Plans for a proposed petrochemical plant that brought out NIMBY protesters earlier this month may be shelved after the earthquake. Six people were detained for the protest, called a “stroll” to get around applying for a protest permit. Charlie McElwee at China Environmental Law blog says:
I would hope that those arrested and detained are treated leniently. It appears they had valid points to make, and they wouldn’t have had to make them in an unorthodox fashion if the public participation regulations applicable to construction projects had been complied with.
Julian Wong at Green Leap Forward blogs about the long-term energy implications of the earthquake. He notes that the operations of China's largest steam turbine producer were evidently decimated, while the impact on Chengdu's dams and hydropower are potentially even more serious,. Julian expresses hope that long term considerations will come into play after normalcy is restored, saying
It is hard to imagine that amidst the chaotic frenzy to restore a sense of normalcy across the region, that such far sighted considerations will be given much weight over the immediate needs of those affected. When the dust settles, however, there will be an opportunity to consider, and not without international cooperation, what it means to rebuild a more sustainable set of infrastructure.
Several bloggers are highlighting stories about animals. Richard Heisler spotlights the plight of the Wolong Pandas and the efforts of Panda International organization.
In the aftermath of the earthquake earlier this week the situation is very desperate in Wolong. Both the animals of the Wolong Giant Panda Preserve and the caretakers need all the possible support they can gather to assist with the incredibly difficult task of caring for the bears, the cubs and the people of the town of Wolong. Pandas International is assisting Wolong directly with the help of the Red Cross in China to get medicine, food and supplies flown in to the completely isolated town to aid the doctors, veterinarians, pandas and people.
The IFAW Animal Rescue blog writes about the plight of Animals stating
By now, there have been more than 300 smaller aftershocks in the region. The torrential rain has been unrelenting, causing mud slides. Huge boulders are coming down the mountains, blocking the already treacherous roads and making any rescue attempt difficult. Wolong Nature Reserve, the synonym for China’s Giant Panda is at the epicenter and is still not accessible.
I am not so concerned about wild animals. They often have the ability to sense the abnormalities in nature and thus get away, like those elephants and monkeys that sensed the Indian Ocean Tsunami and scurried away from the beach to higher ground. It is the animals that are in confined environments that will likely become victims, millions of livestock on farms, companion animals in people’s homes and even pandas that are kept in captivity.
Danwei reports that the Yunnan White-Handed Gibbon of southwest China has been declared extinct.
Andrew Field at Shanghai Journal blogs about the damage of eating shark fin soup, a popular dish in China. He notes that the damage is caused by mass killings of sharks, which causes an imbalance in the ocean ecology. adding…
While many countries are waking up to this disaster, most people here in China are completely in the dark as to what the mass killing of sharks is doing to the ecology of the oceans. Many fancy restaurants in Shanghai and in other cities serve shark fin soup and some restaurants (such as Yu Xin on Weihai Road, where I ate last Sunday) have prominent displays of shark fin cartilage in glass cases. Shark fin soup is especially popular for high-status events such as weddings or official banquets.
As of the writing of this post on May 25th, China Digital Times reports that powerful after shocks hit China. More about that developing story on their blog.
Links for Mon, 2008-05
Foreign Notes writes about PM Yulia Tymoshenko's defeat in the Kyiv election, her meeting with PM Vladimir Putin, and the future of her cabinet.
An update on oil, inflation and other Ukrainian issues - at Orange Ukraine.
S.M. of Macedonia: Cradle of Culture, Land of Nature posted photos and videos from the recent protest of over 30,000 ethnic Macedonians in Australia, who demanded that their government stop using derogatory prefixes when referring to the Republic of Macedonia and ethnic Macedonians.
Changing Up Pakistan! interviews an expert from Rand Corporation to get some insight on the security situation.
Shashwati's Blog on mobocracy - where mobs hand out punishment in India.
The complications of being surrounded by India and China. More at Nepali Netbook.
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