Archive for
August 25th, 2008
Stories
Palestine: A New Blogging Revolution
Blogger Times, a blogging magazine written by Arab bloggers, covering new developments and current issues within the Arab blogging world, has published a new story called Blogging.. a Palestinian revolution.” How is the blogging scene in Palestine and what should bloggers focus on?
According to the site:
This is what has came out of the seminar, entitled Blogs, The new revolution, that was organized by El Thoraya for information and communications organization, in el Salam Hall, Gaza beach, and attended by a gathering of Palestinian journalists and bloggers.
The report adds:
في حين شدد محسن الإفرنجي , المحاضر في الجامعة الإسلامية بغزة, على ضرورة حاجة الشعب الفلسطيني للتدوين , وقال في مداخلته حول واقع التدوين في فلسطين أن :” التدوين لم ينضج بعد في الأراضي الفلسطيني ولا زالت المسألة بعيدة عن المقارنة ببعض الدول العربية , حيث أن هناك موقعين فلسطينيين فقط , لحقا بركب التدوين , ويمكن الزوار إنشاء مدونات عليهما, وهما شبكة أمين للإعلام ومؤسسة فلسطين للثقافة”. ولفت الإفرنجي الى أن التدوين باللغة الانجليزية هو المطلوب اكثر من اللغة العربية, لما يحتاجه الغرب من تصحيح لقناعاته المسبقة عن الصراع في المنطقة ونقل صورة حية وواقعية عن معاناة الشعب الفلسطيني للغرب الذي يستقى معلوماته فقط من سي ان ان وفوكس نيوز وبي بي سي. داعيا في الوقت نفسه الشباب الفلسطيني الى التدوين باللغة الانجليزية وفضح الممارسات الاسرائيلية تجاه الشعب الفلسطيني.
من جانبه قدم , ابراهيم عمر, مراسل الجزيرة توك في قطاع غزة , لمحة تعريفية عن الجزيرة توك وإسهاماتها في عالم التدوين ,مشيدا بالدور الذي لعبته التوك في تأسيس اتحاد مدونون بلا حدود ,وحصولها على لقب المدونة الأولى عربيا, وبين خمس مدونات هي الأولى على مستوى العالم . وقال عمر, ان زوار موقع الجزيرة توك من فلسطين يحتلون المرتبة الثانية بعد مصر في حجم الزوار. واوضح مراسل الجزيرة توك, ان مراسلو المدونة قاموا بعدة تغطيات مميزة لعدد من الفعاليات والتقارير المميزة حتى باتت مصدرا رئيسا للصحف ومواقع الانترنت في العالم العربي.
El Madhoun further explained that despite the prosecuting campaigns against bloggers and arresting a few of them in Arab countries like Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain, bloggers continued on their path towards revealing the truth and expressing the worries of the simple Arab citizen, impacting Arab public opinion through what is written and blogged on the Internet.
Meanwhile, Mohsen El Efrangi, the lecturer at the Islamic university in Gaza, emphasised the need for Palestinian people to blog, addressing the present situation of blogging in Palestine . He said: “Blogging in the Palestinian territories didn’t mature yet, and it’s still beyond comparison with some Arab countries. As there are only two Palestinian websites working as part of the blogging crowd, where visitors can create their blogs, and these are El Ameen Information Network and the Palestinian Cultural Foundation.”
And El Efrngi pointed out that English blogging is more necessary than blogging in Arabic, to correct the West’s prior beliefs and convictions towards the conflict in the region and to transfer a vivid and realistic picture of the Palestinian misery to the West, which only gets its information from CNN, Fox news and the BBC. At the same time, he invited Palestinian youth to blog in English and expose the Israeli practices against the Palestinian people.
Ibrahim Omar, an Al Jazeera Talk correspondent in the Gaza Strip, introduced Al Jazeera Talk and its contribution to the blogging world, praising its role in establishing the Blogging without Borders Federation and acquiring the title of the first Arab blog among five other pioneering blogs in the world. Omar said that the number of Palestinian visitors to the Al Jazeera Talk blog comes in second place after Egypt. And he added that blog correspondents wrote coverages for few events and excellent reports that became a major source for newspapers and internet websites in the Arab world.
However, some of the participants downplayed the role blogging plays.
في حين قال خالد صافي مذيع باذاعة صوت الأقصى ان المدونيين يهدفون من وراء انشاء مدوناتهم الى الربح المادي والشهرة لا أكثر. مضيفا, بأن المحتوى والمضمون في المدونات لا يرتقى بأن يطالعه زائر الانترنت . من ناحيته اعتبر بهائي شراب, ان المدونات حاجة ملحة للشعب الفلسطيني في ظل ما يعيشه ,داعيا الى تطوير اداء المدونيين وجمعهم تحت مظلة واحدة ,كإنشاء اتحاد المدونيين الفلسطينيين. وفي ختام الندوة , اكد المحاضرون على أهمية التدوين في ظل الواقع الفلسطيني , ودعوة الصحفيين الى انشاء مدونات ومواكبة التطور في تقنية المعلومات وعالم التكنولوجيا.
Meanwhile, Khaled Safi, a broadcaster in Voice of El Aqsa, said that for bloggers, the main aim behind the creation of blogs is no more than material profit and fame, adding that the content and subjects dealt with in blogs do not rise up to the standard to be read by Internet users. For his part, Baha’y Sharab said there is a pressing need for blogs for Palestinians in the light of what they experience daily, and he called for developing the performance of bloggers and to promote their work under a common umbrella, such as creating a Palestinian Bloggers' Union.
At the end of the seminar, the speakers stressed the importance of blogging for the Palestinian people, under their current circumstances, and invited journalists to create their own blogs and to keep abreast of developments in information technology and world of technology.
Cambodia: Sex workers, 100% condom use and human rights
Cambodian sex workers have taken to the internet to make their plight and fight for human rights better known. In Cambodia, a 100% condom use law which states that sexual exchanges with clients have to take place with condoms on sounds like a good idea, but it has been turned against those it is supposed to protect, by being used as a means to imprison sex workers, using the fact that they carry condoms with them as evidence for them doing sex work.
Sex workers arrested are sent to “rehabilitation” centers that are basically prisons, where women are held in communal cells with no bathrooms or running water, hardly receive food or water, some are beaten and raped, and are denied Anti-retroviral drug treatment for HIV positive women.
The Asia Pacific Network of Sex Workers has a series of studies of the perceived results and effects of the 100% Condom Use Program according to sex workers in different countries, such as Cambodia, Thailand and Myanmar. You can also see the video the have uploaded on their Blip.tv channel Sex Workers Present, where a comprehensive video with explanations of the implications of the 100% condom use program, interviews with women who have been arrested or sent to “rehabilitation” facilities where no type of education or training is received, and how these programs that connect condom use exclusively with sex workers are not going to be able to impact HIV and STI propagation among the rest of the population. The Asia pacific Network of Sex Workers recently won the 2008 international Award for Action on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights at the International AIDS conference in Mexico City the first week of August. The organization was founded in 1994 and has been working with sex workers on health and human rights along with other organizations and groups such as Empower Thailand, Sweetly Japan, Pink Triangle Malaysia, the Scarlet Alliance Australia and Sonagachi.
The following video is named Caught between the Tiger and the Crocodile:
Brazil: An Olympic balance
For a country whose best record was its medal table 15th place in Athens last time, Brazil's 23th position in the Beijing Olympics, with only 3 gold medals (2 less than 4 years ago) but over all 15 medals, this was not an extraordinary defeat. However, from newspapers to blogs, the general feeling is that of disappointment. Ana Diniz [pt] claims it needn't be like that:
A medalha olímpica é, no fundo, uma afirmação nacional, e é nisso que se fundamenta a frustração brasileira. Mas somos mais que os vigésimos do mundo? Apesar da propaganda ufanista oficial (meu Deus, como eu me lembro da ditadura, com o “eu te amo, meu Brasil, eu te amo”) não somos mais que isso, mesmo. Não é pouco – afinal, há entre duzentos e trezentos países no mundo todo. Estar no primeiro pelotão deve significar alguma coisa, não sei bem o que, se não temos pretensões a hegemonias ou novos impérios. Ou temos?
An Olympic medal is, in essence, a national affirmation, and that is where the Brazilian frustration is based. But are we more than twentieth in the world? Despite the official pride propaganda (my God, how I remember the dictatorship with its “I love you, my Brazil, I love you”) we are not more than that, not really. And it is not bad - after all, there are around two, three hundred countries worldwide. Being in the first brigade in the world league must mean something, I do not exactly know what, considering we don't have pretensions to hegemony or new empires. Or have we?
Dom [pt] balances the good moments against the pitfalls of Brazilian participation and concludes that there is more than hosting the Olympic games to being champions:
Para se aproximar do brilhantismo de delegações, como a americana, em eventos internacionais, é necessário investir nas escolas brasileiras. O sucesso no esporte passa pela valorização da educação física e a consciência de que atividades esportivas são excelentes instrumentos de inclusão social. Não podemos formar grandes atletas se não temos a base para que eles nasçam.
To get close to brilliant delegations, such as the one of the U.S. in international events, it is necessary to invest in the Brazilian schools. Success in sport involves valorizing physical education and raising awareness of sports as an excellent tool for social inclusion. We can not make great athletes if we do not have the basis for them to be born.
The gold medal in volleyball was taken as a sure bet and it didn't come. However, the worst moment for the Brazilian spectators was, indeed, the defeat, in football, to their nemesis Argentina. According to Ricardo Jurczyk Pinheiro [pt], this doesn't come as a surprise:
A seleção masculina de futebol continua sendo uma piada, de novo perderam, e de 3 a 0 para a Argentina! Nada mais humilhante, essa é a desforra pela última Copa América. No dia seguinte, Ronaldinho Gaúcho se divertindo, tocando pagode… E todo mundo aqui, de cabeça inchada.
The masculine football team remains a joke, it lost again and three nil to Argentina! Nothing could be more humiliating, that's revenge for the last American Cup. The next day, Ronaldinho Gaucho was having fun, playing pagode… while everyone here was having a headache.
- Marta.
- Dead nice to meet you.
A word play with words Marta, name one of the stars of the feminine football team, and Morto, word for Dead in Portuguese, which for most people defines well Ronaldinho's situation in this moment in his career. A cartoon by By Quinho
Angelo da Cia [pt] is happy that it has all finished and he no longer needs to:
- Ouvir a história triste do(a) brasileiro(a) que superou um passado de miséria e fugiu da criminalidade graças ao esporte;
- Ouvir a história triste do(a) brasileiro(a) que superou a falta de patrocínio e apoio para chegar às Olimpíadas;
- Ouvir a história triste do(a) brasileiro(a) que superou os preconceitos e venceu no esporte;
- Ouvir a ladainha de que o Brasil não dá apoio a seus atletas;
- Ser humilhados no quadro de medalhas pela Geórgia e a Jamaica;
- Apesar de todas as Odes ao nosso povo humilde, ver que a maioria de nossas medalhas nos Jogos vieram de nossa elite ( Hipismo, Iatismo ) ou da classe média abastada ( judô e natação );
- Ver brasileiros chorando ao ganhar medalhas;
- Ver brasileiros chorando ao perder medalhas;
- Ouvir narradores brasileiros se dizendo emocionados com a conquista de medalhas;
- Ouvir narradores brasileiros se dizendo emocionados com a perda de medalhas;
- Ver o falso público dos jogos. Entendam: Quando mostram uma mancha amarela na platéia em participações brasileiras, geralmente há uma dúzia de nativos que são parentes ou participantes dos jogos. O resto é de chineses “fantasiados” de verde-amarelo, para fazer volume e dar a impressão de que estes Jogos são normais, ou seja, atrairam torcedores do mundo todo.
– Listen to the sad history of the Brazilian who overcame a past of misery and fled crime thanks to sport;
– Listen to the sad history of the Brazilian who overcame a lack of sponsorship and support to compete in the Olympics;
– Listen to the sad history of the Brazilian who overcame prejudice and won in sport;
– Listen to the litany that Brazil does not support its athletes;
– Be humiliated on medals table by Georgia and Jamaica;
– Despite all the odes to our humble people, see that most of our medals in the games came from our elite (Riding, Sailing) or the wealthy middle class (judo and swimming);
– See Brazilians crying when winning medals;
– See Brazilian crying when missing out on medals;
– Hear commentators saying that Brazilians were moved by the winning of medals;
– Hear commentators saying Brazilians were moved by the missing out on medals;
– See the “fake” audience at the games. Don't get me wrong: when a yellow spot is shown in the audience there is normally a dozen Brazilians who are relatives or participants at the games. The rest are Chinese “dressed up” in green-and-yellow, to make up the numbers and give the impression that these are normal games, that have attracted fans from around the world.
Now it is time to come back to real life and remember that the local elections lie ahead. As with the Olympics, Brazilians only choose their local representatives every four years and it is now time to vote. Nicholas Fernandes Gimenes [pt] asks people not to forget that:
Gostaria também que todos os brasileiros, patriotas.. que choraram pelo futebol feminino, pelo vôlei masculino.. e etc… sejam patriotas nas eleições desse ano, no trabalho, no meio-ambiente… o Brasil seria digno de medalha com certeza!
I also wish that all Brazilians, the patriots who wept at the women's football, men's volleyball and so on become patriots in this year's elections, at their work, on the environment … Brazil would be worthy of medals for sure!
“Missing an opportunity may make you lose a lot of time. And four years is a very long time”, a parody of the Superior Electoral Court (the acronym TSE in Portuguese) campaign to raise awareness about the importance of voting, taken from Caixa Pretta.
Southeast Asia’s Olympic performance
Southeast Asian countries garnered 12 medals in the recently concluded 2008 Beijing Olympics. Indonesia leads the pack with 5 medals: 1 gold, 1 silver and 3 bronze medals.
Thailand bagged 4 medals. The most memorable victory was delivered by 33 year old boxer Somjit Jongjohor.
“The former world champion knew this would be his last Olympics and was determined to bring home the gold for his country. In Athens four years ago he lost in early rounds to Cuba’s Yuriorkis Gamboa which led him to believe his time as a competitive boxer was over.”
A controversy erupted when some Thai officials were accused of game-fixing:
“However, the Thai story at the Games is, as ever, about far more than the medals won – it is instead about the stories of Thai officials allegedly ‘trying to sell the country’ by lobbying officials to make sure Thai boxers lose their fights, endless controversies concerning whether the right results were determined in points-scoring events, stories of nuns, monks, orphans and changes of name to change luck and destiny.”
After 12 years, Malaysia won a medal in the Olympics. Student Ai Ling Tan is happy for Malaysia’s silver medalist:
“Anyway, despite Malaysia ranked 75 on the medal tally, I am still happy and proud that at least we won something! At least our country can now be seen on the medal tally! For such a long time, locals have been asking me, “How's Malaysia faring in the games?” And I can only shake in dismay, but now, my friends, now, we've won silver! Oh, so happy! :) Because we couldn't watch the badminton tournament (in which Lee Chong Wei won silver), dad messaged me the results and sarcastically said, “Gold is expensive. So China can only afford to give us silver.” Haha. That's my dad. :)”
Singapore also won a silver medal for table tennis. Some bloggers are not celebrating since the victorious players are not originally from Singapore. But others think this is a non-issue. They are Singaporeans, and their victory in the Olympics should be a cause for celebration:
“I will not go into debate about the degree of ‘Singaporean-ness' these table tennis athletes are. As far as I am concerned and in the eyes of the Olympic competition, they are Singaporeans. This mighty Olympic medal-winning achievement is a Singaporean record worth celebrating.”
Beside, Indonesian blogger Bleu notes that many table tennis players from other countries like France, Italy, Canada, and Poland have Chinese roots as well.
Swimmer Tao Li was praised for being the first Singaporean to reach the swimming finals. She finished fifth.
East Timor sent a single athlete to the Olympics. Lao Voices is satisfied with the performance of Lao athletes, considering the lack of proper sports facilities in Laos.
“Limited resources, such as Lao training facilities in a pool half the size of a standard Olympic size swimming pool, influence her results. Within those limits her achievements are great.”
Absolute Me cites a news report which reveals the pitiful allowance received by Cambodian athletes.
“The Cambodian team candidates were receiving only 30 USD per month from our National Olympic Committee of Cambodia (NOCC) while training for the competition. I wonder how can they survive with such a little stipend if they really invest their heart and soul into the game and I wonder how much will NOCC has been putting to support our Cambodian team.”
Meanwhile, Singapore has promised to give $800,000 to athletes who will bring home a gold medal, and Thailand’s gold winners will receive $550,000.
Brunei was excluded from participating in the Olympics. The Brooding Lizard is disappointed:
“I say that the thing about Brunei not being able to compete is a funny thing. They really take last minute planning to the real last minute. For those of you who don’t know what happened - Brunei was excluded from the games because they failed to register their athletes on time. It was only on opening day itself, they decided to try hard to submit their registry.”
The Philippines did not win a single medal. Filipino Twitter users are not amused. Jose Paris twits:
“After the Beijing Olympics, the Philippines now holds the all-time record for the most number of medals in the Games without a gold”
kurenaiseiba adds:
“Philippines, you disappoint me on Beijing Olympics and thanks for wasting my day and time”
Wushu was not officially included in the Olympics but it was part of the Special Olympics Event. Southeast Asian countries received 14 medals for Wushu including a gold medal for the Philippines.
Warlock’s World writes:
“This morning, I saw the awarding ceremony for Wushu and the Philippine national anthem being played for the first time in the Beijing Olympics. I was emotional and proud of Willy Wang, our only gold medalist in this year’s Olympics.
“I do hope that Wushu becomes an official Olympic sport because Pinoy athletes are one of the best in that sport. I guess, we just have to wait for the 2016 Olympics because I just read online that the 2012 London Games didn’t consider Wushu. It even scrapped baseball and softball.
“I do wish that our Philippine sports officials will set their priorities. Funds should be given to sports associations that would enable Pinoys to get gold medals in the Olympics.”
Indonesian composer Ananda Sukarlan played a key role in the Olympics. His recent work was the official hymn for Olympic Sportsmen to celebrate the Beijing Olympic Games 2008 and was broadcasted in 200 TV channels throughout Asia.
Lengua et Pluma salutes the Olympic athletes:
“Athletes have been smashing records at Beijing Olympics much to our awe and amusement. Whether they are beating the world or Olympic records set in the recent Olympic Games or World Championships, or a world record unbeaten for more than decade already, they are sure pumping more energy in this Olympiad. Sports science is definitely far more developed this century, and new techniques have been applied in the athletes’ training programs. The world’s athletes simply performed very well in Beijing. The idea of the Olympic Games anyway is all about conquering human ability. The evolution of men has simply not yet stopped.”
C.V. Tyler has an interesting proposal: A unified ASEAN Olympic Team.
“Having a single, ASEAN team at the Olympics would go some ways toward forming a single ASEAN ethnicity. The advantage of a unified, ASEAN Olympic team is that it would also allow for Southeast Asian athletes who show potential to train in the most advanced athletics facilities in Southeast Asia, alongside the top athletes in Southeast Asia, and be coached by the top coaches in Southeast Asia. The talent from across the region can be consolidated into a few sports centers.”
Iran: Scandal over Minister's Forged Oxford University Degree
Ali Kordan, Iran's new Minister of the Interior, has recently been under fire for presenting a “fake” Ph.D. degree from the prestigious Oxford University in the United Kingdom. Several websites, including the conservative Alef have published a scan of Kordan's “Oxford Honorary Doctorate of Law Degree”.
Alef points out that there are several grammatical errors in the so called Oxford certificate, such as: “to be benefitted from its scientific privileges”. Also, “entitled” was spelled “intitled”.
Alef has also uploaded several faxes that this site exchanged with Oxford University on the issue. The website was then filtered in Iran.
While Iranian authorities are investigating this case, Oxford University announced that they have no record of Mr. Kordan graduating from there.
Iranian blogger, Mr. Behi, writes:
President Ahmadinejad performed yet another miracle: He selected someone as interior minister who claimed to have a Ph.D. degree in law from The University of Oxford! When questions rose on the authenticity of the degree, the guy outraged, threatened the media and produced this to shut them up. A degree so suspicious that is feared to be faked, with grammar mistakes and with names signing it who are not even members of the Faculty of Law! If Ahmadinejad wants to fake the next election, he'd better employ someone who does it less obviously. What a shame!
Mohmmad Ali Abtahi, former reformist vice president and blogger, writes that when he was the deputy of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, he met an Iranian official who had “bought” his Ph.D. According to Abtahi, it seems the price was around US$1000.
According to another blogger, Shirzad [Fa] it seems that Ali Kordan does not even hold an undergraduate degree. The blogger adds:
It means he cheated all these years and got paid as a Ph.D. holder… One of deputies in the Iranian Parliament asked Kordan: “How did you get your Ph.D. in Law, when you say you wrote your thesis in Islamic Education?” “How did you defend it when you cannot speak English. Kordan replied, “I had a translator.”
Blogger Jomhour says [Fa] Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad defended his Minister and asked, “Who needs these torn papers!”
The blogger asks:
if the certificates are useless, torn, paper why did Ahmadinejad's Minister pretend to have one… It is not the first time that Ahmadinejad calls official documents torn papers. Previously he has also called United Nations resolutions against an Iranian nuclear program just useless torn papers.
Ali Akbar Javanfekr, Ahmadinejad's media adviser, says [Fa] the Ministry of Sciences should take a decision about Kordan's Ph.D. and suggests it would be better we not to involve personal political opinions on the issue.
Blogger of the Week: Janine Mendes-Franco
Today's installment of the Blogger of the Week series takes us to the beautiful island of Trinidad and Tobago, home to Global Voices regional editor for the Caribbean Janine Mendes-Franco. I had the opportunity to meet her for the first time at the Citizen Media Summit in Budapest last June, where she left a very good impression on many fellow bloggers. Recently I had the opportunity to get to know her a little better and to catch up with her on how she became hooked on GV, Caribbean identity issues and her gardening talents, among other things.
- How did you first hear about Global Voices and when did you start writing there?
Global Voices showed up on my radar towards the end of 2005, which was when Georgia Popplewell (GAP) first began covering the Caribbean for GV. I started following her posts and soon became hooked on the site. I was recruited by GAP to cover for her while she attended the 2006 GV Summit in India and the rest, as they say, is history! I was officially a GV-er from then on…
- What was your main motivation in getting involved with Global Voices?
It sounds really magnanimous to say I was helping out a friend – and while I was genuinely happy to do that and eager to keep up the standard that Georgia had set, the truth is that I really enjoyed the work! I would look forward to going through my blogroll every morning to see what Caribbean voices were saying. I really wanted to be part of the conversation.
- Now about your personal blog: When did you start blogging and what was your main motivation to start a blog?
(Bows head in shame). My personal blog has been like what Trinidadians call an “outside child” ever since GV came on the scene, honestly. I started it in April 2005 after much coercing by Georgia (do you see a theme emerging here?) because she kept going on about how it was such a great outlet with which to hone your writing skills (writing is a key part of what I do in my job as a TV producer). But looking back now, I think she had a dastardly plan all along – I was just a helpless pawn in the whole scheme! Joking aside though, she was right.
Blogging has done so much more for me than simply providing an outlet for exercising my writing muscles – it’s opened up the entire world! That said, my blog should be undergoing a major overhaul very soon. It started as an eclectic “here’s what I have to say about anything that strikes my fancy” kind of forum and now it needs to determine what it wants to be. It also wouldn’t hurt if I posted more regularly…
-What do you blog about? How would you describe it to someone that has never read it?
I called the blog Francomenz to play off both the pronunciation of my surname and a colloquial term called “franko-men”, which basically means “to be frank; to tell it like it is.” Because I haven’t blogged regularly in so long, I’ve been able to take a step back and assess what the site’s challenges are. I’ve written posts about everything from art to politics, and I haven’t always kept a regional focus, which I think is one of the issues. It’s like a smorgasbord of opinion; me weighing in on whatever gets me passionate or riled up or amused. But I’ve realised this isn’t the best approach for encouraging site traffic, because, to quote Forrest Gump, “you never know what you’re gonna get.”
- What is your most memorable blogging experience?
Devastating effects of natural disasters aside, I really enjoyed blogging about the earthquake that hit the Caribbean region last November. There’s something invigorating about blogging breaking news, especially when the entire region has something to say about it. The Caribbean is generally viewed as a monolith by the international community, but anyone who has been here knows that there are tangible differences from territory to territory. This was one event that made me understand how interconnected we actually are.
- How many languages do you speak? In what language do you blog and why?
(Bows head in shame once again) My mother tongue is English. I used to be able to speak both French and Spanish quite fluently; even studied French up to university level in Canada. And then, sadly, through lack of practice, I’m tremendously out of touch. It’s not like riding a bike. If you don’t keep speaking the language, you forget vocabulary, grammar, etc. So while I’m usually able to pick up the gist of what someone is saying when they speak either of those languages, I seriously need some refresher courses – podcasts, here I come! Hey, it worked for Hungarian!
Photo of Janine at the Global Voices Summit 2008 by Neha Viswanathan
- What do you do for a living - when you're not blogging or writing at GV?
I have my own communications firm called The New Cheeze.
- Describe the blogging scene in your country. What are the main issues affecting your blogosphere?
Trinidad and Tobago has a fairly active blogosphere, but it really should be more crowded given the fact we have – according to the Telecommunications Authority of Trinidad and Tobago – 27.3% Internet penetration in homes. This figure does not specify household size, nor does it take into consideration how many more people access the Internet at work or in Internet cafes, so I would guesstimate that in reality, penetration is probably well above 30%.
One government ministry, as part of their ICT mandate, has actually established Internet cafes in several rural communities where people are taught computer skills and are provided with free Internet access, so the fact that the local blogosphere still appears to be inundated with middle-class voices is mind-boggling to me. It’s either that the penetration is lower than estimated, or people are not being taught about citizen media and its tools.
I suspect it’s the latter; I once visited one of the rural Internet cafes and noticed that patrons were basically checking email, logging into social networking sites or downloading music. YouTube was also popular, but it didn’t seem to occur to them that they could participate by uploading videos, rather than just watching what other people posted. There were also a few folks trying to get into porn sites, so clearly more education needs to happen to make people understand how the power of the Internet can be used constructively – blogging and citizen media, self-publishing, marketing, etc.
- What are your interests and hobbies?
I enjoy reading, although, as my GoodReads network will tell you, I haven’t picked up a book in a while. I started one on the way to the summit in Budapest and well… let’s just say I have to start over :O) An offshoot of my interest in books is that I also love to write. I have two personal projects in progress, which I hope to finish soon.
I sing and play guitar, so that’s always a great way to relieve some stress, as is working out, which I do regularly – whether it’s in the gym or taking the two dogs for a run. And I love gardening! Our kitchen garden is just about ready for another planting of short-crops, and I’m happy to report that the rest of the garden is thriving thanks in no small part to the rainy season.
I love to dance (started ballet at the age of three) and now thanks to Neha, I have a version of Bollywood dancing under my belt! :O) And oh yes… I play a decent game of table tennis and kick butt at iPool!
- And last but not least, what are the things which concern you most in life and your profession?
Wow! What a big question. The state of my country concerns me. I believe we’re focusing on the superficial rather than the necessary. It’s a very shortsighted approach to development and a dangerously shaky foundation on which to build. Erecting generic-looking skyscrapers makes no sense when your health care system is in shambles; when crime is out of control; when there is no environmental awareness. I do not accept that the changes happening in Trinidad and Tobago (and indeed much of the region) are solely as a result of the effects of globalization. We need to stand up and be masters of our own destiny.
This, I suppose, is also what concerns me about my profession, both in terms of television production and what I do at GV. Call it a result of colonialism; call it what you will, but I’ve noticed that the Caribbean has, in varying degrees, been afraid of seeing itself. This is why Trinidad and Tobago is, in the 21st century, just attempting to build a serious cinema industry, when the stories and talent and tools have been there for almost four decades (proof of the pudding is in films like The Right and the Wrong [1970] and Bim [1974]). It is why Jamaica is still seeing the phenomenon of skin bleaching. It is part of the reason so many regional territories are struggling with spiraling crime rates.
Self-examination is critical to any sort of progress and I’m afraid we’re not being honest with ourselves. If we don’t have constructive conversations about what we’ve been through and where we’ve come from, then we’re going forward in the dark. When you don’t know yourself and what you stand for, then you’re likely to listen to the chatter; you begin to believe that your identity is what other people tell you it is.
Photo of Janine's earring by Razan Ghazzawi, at the Global Voices Summit 2008.
Links for Mon, 2008-08
According to Iranian.com, the winner of the San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival, “A Cry from Iran” is a film about Haik Hovespian, the Christian bishop who was murdered in Iran.
Petro of Petro's Jotter was watching live coverage of the Independence Day parade in Kyiv: “[Yulia Tymoshenko] was not shown in any of the coverage. I wonder where she is celebrating?”
Australian Blogger Ange, from Hegab-Rehab, wrote about a collection of few dolls gathered from all around the world, some are Muslim dolls and others are just ethnic-based.
“The pictures of the Jamaican track teams facilities haunt me. But what they prove, perhaps is that all the high tech this, that and the other can’t take the place of the sheer power of the human spirit”: Trinidadian blogger Attillah Springer wonders “if we have what it takes to produce a Usain Bolt and a Richard Thompson, how come so many of our people are being left behind in the dust?”
Caribbean Beat Blog congratulates Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago on their gold and silver medals in the Men's 4 x 100 Relay, while Child of the Revolution thinks that “Fidel Castro won’t be happy” with the Cuban Olympic medal count.
Annie Paul gives a rundown of Jamaica's outstanding Olympic achievements, making the point that “the phenomenal performance of the Jamaican athletes is also due to the cultural self-confidence they feel…this is not a confidence manufactured by the abjectly self-conscious, respectability-seeking, hymn-singing English-speaking middle classes but one bred out of the flamboyant, boisterous, in-your-face Patwa-speaking population.”
The Bermudian government has plans to introduce a SWAT team to tackle the war on drugs, but 21 Square thinks that “cracking down on supply without solving the problem of demand creates a vicious cycle that will only make crime in Bermuda more violent than it already is.” Vexed Bermoothes adds: “We need a more effective Police force much more than we need a specialist unit scrambling for precious budget dollars.”
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