Archive for
September 15th, 2008
Stories
Kuwait: Special Girgian Celebration
People in the Gulf region mark the middle of the Holy Month of Ramadan with a celebration, where children dress up and go door to door, wishing neighbours and collecting treats and sometimes money.
From Kuwait, intlxpatr was in for a treat when an unexpected knock on her door:
The doorbell rang.
No one rings my doorbell. The doorman always calls to let me know if a visitor has arrived.
“Who’s there?” I called out.
“It’s GIRGIAN!” a chorus of voices rang out.
Girgian is a children’s holiday, a little like Hallowe’en, about half way through the month of Ramadan, when costumed children come and ring your bell and are given sweets, sometimes money. If you are really lucky, they sing a song. My understanding is that normally the children go around to their families, like aunts and uncles and cousins, and to close neighbors.
Needless to say, intlxpatr was delighted with the surprise:
In come eight gorgeous little Kuwaitis, all English speaking, all dressed top to bottom in gorgeous finery, bright thobes and prayer caps, beautifully hand woven bisht with gilt trim, dresses with embroidery and lace and gilt skirts, golden headdresses - oh! They were gorgeous!
No one has ever come for Gergian before. I didn’t have anything prepared. Thank God AdventureMan has a sweet tooth, and thank God, they were polite and appeared delighted with handsfull of Oreo cookies and marshmallows, which were all I had.
Some days, you just never know when a blessing will appear. Those darling children made my day.
She even shares a video uploaded on YouTube of the celebration by Kuwaiti blogger Chikapappi:
India: Delhi serial blasts and after thoughts
On September 13th the capital of India was rocked and terrorized by serial blasts. This is the fourth bombing incident targeting innocent people this year after Jaipur, Bangalore, and Ahmedabad.
Aaman Lamba reports in Desicritics:
Five bombs went off in succession in Karol Bagh, Connaught Place, and Greater Kailash I, killing at least 18 people and injuring over 90. Two live bombs have also been reportedly defused…. .
The relatively new Indian Mujahideen claimed responsibility for these blasts….sending an e-mail to media channels minutes before the first blast.
The Wikipedia entry on this tragedy provides more links and updates. Mayank Austen Soofi has uploaded some pictures of the blasts in Flickr.
Now we will highlight some of the reactions of Indian bloggers :
Ahmed Hussain stated in a twitter message:
The turn of events @ Delhi has left me saddened. The perpetrators hiding behind the cloak of religion are doing themselves no good nor Islam.
Interim Thoughts sneered at the Government's usual statement in response to this bombing:
The statement consisting of 135
nuclear armed army divisionswords rained on the attackers yesterday late in the evening. Future terror attacks have been averted thanks to the statement which is astrongmix of old words and a terror template. The government was able to ready the statement at short notice after changing dates, place and number of victims. Terrorists have had sleepless nights based on the strong words used in the template.
Cutting the Chai contemplates on how the general citizens are reacting to these blasts after blasts:
What is worrying me now is that I don't understand the emotions that I'm feeling while watching the visuals on live television and reporters and anchors repeating the same thing over and over again.
Perhaps I've become comfortably numb. And that's a dangerous thing.
The Great Bong slams at the numbness of the society against these barbaric terrorist acts:
Do we, as a nation, understand that the whole “spirit of the city” feel-good is nothing but an euphemism for people becoming so inured to flying ball-bearings and bloody corpses that they accept terrorist violence as a fact of life, like traffic jams and power cuts?
So how can India diffuse these threats? DeeptiA has some suggestions how to tackle this problem. The Acorn has a seven point manifesto towards a national anti-terrorism policy.
But more than these the general citizens need to be more conscious of the situation and keep vigil against all threats including exposing those who anyway support these terrorists and their cause.
Africa: Citizen Journalism, Journalism for Citizens
Last week, 700 journalists, bloggers, researchers, students and policymakers from more than 40 African countries took part in three days of discussions, debates and training at the 12th edition of Highway Africa conference in Grahamstown, South Africa. Highway Africa is the largest annual gathering of journalists and other media practitioners on the continent. This year's themes was Citizen Journalism, Journalism for Citizens.
The conference is organised by the School of Journalism at Rhodes University with the the support of Absa, Telkom, the Media Development and Diversity Agency, the South African Broadcasting Corporation, the Department of Communications and MTN. New and well-known bloggers attended the conference. Below are some of the posts written by the participants:
SNP English River discusses the theme of the conference in the context of media environment in Seychelles:
This year’s theme had ample importance for Seychelles: citizen journalism, journalism for citizen.
To what extent is journalism in our country serving the Seychellois public? Is every local journalist conscious of the classical liberal role we have to inform, educate and speak truth to the powers in our society?As we celebrate the year of our constitution, the theme has helped me to reflect more deeply about citizenship and belonging. Being a journalist for well over 15 years, I’m well aware how the media can be a vital force in the democratisation of Seychelles. We tend to think that the government has monopoly of common sense in this country.
Dan Gilmor was keynote speaker at Highway Africa. He writes on his blog about the conference:
I’m at Highway Africa, an annual journalism conference that brings together some of the continent’s most Internet-savvy folks to discuss ways to boost African journalism. It’s my third visit to the gathering, held in Grahamstown, South Africa, and sponsored by the journalism school at Rhodes University and SABC, the country’s biggest broadcaster.
The theme this year is citizen journalism, which has taken root more slowly in Africa than in some other places — in part due to the slower pace of Internet adoption — but which is now generating significant interest from constituencies of all kinds. Those include the traditional media, of course, representatives of which have pointedly asked about issues of trust and credibility; some have hinted broadly, in a place where government intervention in media has been endemic, that regulation may be needed. To the latter I respectfully disagree, naturally.
Nick Haralambous gave a presentation on Digital Media Business. He posted the presentation on his blog:
This is the presentation I just gave at Highway Africa 2008.
Sim writes some basic facts about Highway Africa:
Highway Africa means a big deal to me; as it does to others around the continent involved in education, research and the practice of journalism. Let’s get some of the facts out of the way: • This year’s conference runs between September 8 and 12 (inclusive). • This is the 12th time HA has been held • Every HA Conference has been held in September • The 2010 HA Conference will be held anywhere between June 10 and July 12, 2010, to benefit from the World Cup Soccer tournament. • Highway Africa is the largest collection of African journalists in the world! This year, an estimated 800 people have are attending, a big jump from the 65 who attended the very first conference in 1996.
Enoch Darfah-Frimpong attended the opening ceremony:
Opening the conference, the South African Deputy Minister of Communications, Mr Radhakrishna Padayachie, said the media had a responsibility to help Africa keep up with the current surge of digital advancement.
He said while the government was responsible for helping the ordinary citizens gain access to digital media by creating the right policy frameworks, regulations and legal functions, the media must educate the masses about ICTs.
Mr Padayachie said the biggest restriction to the digital revolution in Africa was poor infrastructure and cited the prohibitive cost of importing broadband to most African countries as an example.
In relation to mobile phones, he said a recent report from Nokia showed that while South Africa for instance boasted the highest concentrations of mobile technology available in the world, the cost of handsets was high and the sophisticated generation and development of software was still unavoidable in the country.
The Deputy Minister of Communications therefore challenged African governments to engage the private sector, civil society and media workers to actively involve the local people in the development of ICTs and the digital revolution.
He held the view that technology had transformed the traditional media landscape, as well as newsrooms.
Jean-Louis Kayitenkore posts a link to a Mail & Guardian story about South Africa's cult status vlogger, Khaya Dlanga. Khaya was named the winner of the Innovative use of the Internet award.
Khaya Dlanga, one of Thought Leader's most popular bloggers and a cult-status “vlogger” on YouTube, has been named winner of the Innovative use of the Internet award at the 12th annual Highway Africa conference in Grahamstown.
The 30-year old copywriter is a global phenomenon on YouTube, where his 117 videos ranging from “crazy to stupid” (in his words) have attracted more than three million hits.
Other Dlanga videos attracting huge hits on YouTube include “I quit smoking pot and cigarettes when I was 10 years old” and “I'm going to commit suicide”.
Blogging at Highway Africa 2008, Aasra Bramdeo asks, “Can anyone be a journalist?”:
Trying to get a perspective from delegates at highwayAFRICA, the media rendezvous in Grahamstown which ended on September 10th, is no easy feat. With the theme of this year’s conference being: Citizen Journalism, Journalism for citizens. Journalists and academics all have an opinion on the phenomenon that is changing the face of the international media landscape.
The argument is essentially this: if journalists practice their profession according to a certain code of conduct, and if they are given certain legal protections, would the same codes and protections apply to citizen journalists.
Cisse Hamaye, the editor of the African Editors Forum (TAEF) in Mali says: “A journalist is a professional who should give factual, verified information therefore there must be protection. There is greater responsibility for a journalist.” But that isn’t always the case in Africa…
South Africa's Deputy Minister of Communications, Radhakrishna Roy Padayachie, attended the conference and talked about the importance of journalists to Africa's digital revolution:
Speaking at the three-day 12th Highway Africa Conference, which started on Monday at Rhodes University in Grahamstown, Padayachie said: “Media workers had an excellent opportunity to mobilise, educate and bring mass of awareness of Digital Migration to ordinary people.”
South Africa has already begun implementing the changeover phase from analogue broadcasting to digital broadcasting.
This was one of the FIFA requirements South Africa agreed to when bidding to host the 2010 FIFA World Cup, apart from other technology infrastructure.
Department of Education Director General, Lyndall Shope-Mafole said part of the success of hosting the world cup, would some as a result of the technology infrastructure that the continent was currently putting in place.
In addition to debates and discussions about media and technology, participants were entertained by a live Congolese music from the band, Afro Fiesta:
Participants at the 12th Highway Africa conference in South Africa were mesmerized as Afro Fiesta musical group from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) took the stage at the Associated Bank of South Africa (ABSA) dinner night on Monday.Led by Mermans Mosengo Kenkosenki, the group played out their songs which portrayed the beauty of the African continent. Kenkosenki said he was happy to be part of the Highway Africa conference – an annual gathering of journalists, media and information experts from Africa. “I would like to thank ABSA bank for sponsoring us to come to South Africa and perform at this Africa night,” he said.The group played music of Africa touch from rhumba to kwasakwasa before they bowed out. Some of the delegates at this year’s conference have come from countries like Kenya, Namibia, Malawi, Uganda, Nigeria, Senegal, DRC, Rwanda, Zimbabwe, Ghana and Zambia.ABSA bank Chief Executive, Happy Nchingira said the bank was excited to be a friend of Highway Africa and an enabler of the growth and development of the Africa media.
There are videos of the conference on Zoopy, Africa's leading video-sharing site.
World Bank Film Competition - Social Dimensions of Climate Change
The world bank has a call for submissions of short 2-5 minute documentaries that show the social effects or aspects of climate change. The deadline for the competition is October 24th 2008. They would like submissions from developing countries (particularly from the youth), covering any of the following categories.
- Conflict: As climate change results in scarcity of resources and economic and, in many cases, political instability, how may it lead to social unrest and armed conflict?
- Migration: Are there any links between climate change and population migration?
- Social Policy: How do governments prepare effective social policy to meet climate change challenges?
- Drylands: What is the social response in drylands related to climate change?
- Urban Space: How do climate change adaptation measures take into account the needs of the poor in the urban environment?
- Rural Institutions: How do local level institutions in agrarian societies build capacity to handle risks associated to climate change and deliver solutions?
- Indigenous Peoples: How are Indigenous Peoples responding and adapting to the impacts of climate change?
- Gender: Are there different implications of climate change for men and women, boys and girls? How or where can instances of this be seen?
- Governance: How can social accountability be promoted in climate action?
- Forests: What are the threats and opportunities for local communities in efforts to reduce emissions from deforestation and degradation?
- Human Rights: What are the human rights implications of climate change?
More information about the competition is available here.
Below is the call for submissions video.
Guatemala: Celebrating Photography Throughout September
Photo by Andrés Asturias, courtesy of Foto30.
“A photograph is a secret about a secret. The more it tells you the less you know,” once said photographer Diane Arbus and that a photograph captures emotions, places, situations, reality, fiction, the visible and the invisible. During the month of September throughout many galleries in Guatemala City, Antigua and Quetzaltenango will celebrate “Foto30, a month of exhibitions, workshops and activities to celebrate photography.
I will like to share the impressions of bloggers, who are attending and participating in Foto30 Guatemala 2008, but first I will like to highlight how galleries and cultural organizations are using blogs to display information about the event, show the reader a preview of their exhibition, and provide more information about the artist, first impressions, critics and suggestions:
- Casa del Mango [es] (Mango House) , a tiny, yet specialized art gallery and cultural center located in a hidden corner of Antigua. They are hosting a black and white exhibition "Una de Cal, una de Arena" (loosely translated to mean ‘you win some, you lose some'). They recently invited their guests through their blog and kindly requested them to bring some drinks to celebrate with them.
- The blog of Luna Park Online Magazine [es] invited all the people in Quetzaltenango, where large Independence Day Celebrations are taking place, to attend the opening of Foto30, where a brilliant photographer from Xela, Luis Estacuy will showcase his work. The exhibit is hosted by the Casa Noj` Xela Cultural Center, who also describes the event on its blog, El Azar Cultural [es]. It includes a printed cultural agenda, and also constantly updates its blog to tell people about the variety of exhibitions taking place.
- In addition, virtual galleries are moving to real spaces for Foto30. Antigua Daily Photo blog presented a Black and White exhibition (promoted and attended by many bloggers) at CafeNose, an open bar that deserves a visit.
- The organizers created a vivid, colorful, and up to date blog Foto302008 [es], where everyone can find the daily agenda, leave comments, check links to some artists portfolios and start the conversations, which is something that the blog CCE/G [es], did when describing the exhibitions and conferences they will be hosting. Their partner center, EspacioCe! will also be hosting one of the most beautiful exhibition, Laberinto de Miradas, with works from all Iberoamerica.
September is also a good excuse to check out amazing pictures in many Guatemalan blogs, like Paracaidas [es], on her recent post Ceremonial (capturing a Mayan ceremony), or cool shots by Pictoricas blogger [es] Paula Morales, while Jose Manuel Mayorga captured the Foto 30 gigantographics in Guatemalan urban streets. Luis Villacinda´s blog Ex Acto Non Once [es] displays sweet images of kids who took one of the photo workshops .
And there are also photojournalism blogs, like Mi Mundo [es] by photographer James Rodríguez, where you can always find an images of those without a voice calling for our attention.
Taiwan and China: Fury over poisoned powdered milk made in China
The powdered milk products, produced by the Sanlu （三鹿） Group in China, were found to be contaminated by melamine after hundreds of babies in China got sick with kidney stones. One baby in the Gansu province, China, died because of that.
25 tons of powered milk products manufactured by the Sanlu Group were exported to Taiwan this August, and this news caused extensive panic in Taiwan.
Sinhong talked about how late people were informed by the China government about the powdered milk contamination.
今年三月，中國境內即傳出有嬰兒喝出問題，六月中傳出病例報告，奶粉出口到台灣即在此時，八月初中國三鹿公司驗出奶粉含有毒的三聚氰胺，卻九月十一日才封存回收，十二日傍晚才通知台灣。
Eric further criticized how Taiwan government ignored the warning and acted slowly.
人命關天的大事，十二日接到電話的海基會竟感覺「善意」，而後府院噤不做聲，見事態愈演愈烈後，到昨日才由劉兆玄召開跨部會議下令展開交涉，這種末梢神經近乎麻痺的狀態，最可能的病因只有一個，就是唯恐破壞馬英九上台後一路「呵護」的兩岸氣氛…影響所及，連人民最基 本的生命健康都無能保障。
Sinhong also talked about the possibility that the China government covered this scandal because of the Olympic Games this August.
中國隱瞞毒奶粉事件與北京奧運脫不了關係，京奧在八月八日到二十四日舉辦，之前，中國政府就下令全面掩蓋有損國家形象事件，毒奶粉驗出含毒正在奧運舉辦前夕，顯示中國當局為了面子，草菅人命，還禍延他國，專制顢頇，罔顧人命，令人髮指！
The Sanlu Group claimed that the melamine found in their powdered milk was added by the dairy farmers and milk dealers to meet the nitrogen standard after they added water to dilute the milk. However, not everyone believes their claim.
Eric reasoned based on the milk powder production process.
添加三聚氰胺以提高含氮量的原理，必須具有一定專業知識，因此所謂獨由酪農下手的可信度實在不高。
Williamlong also reasoned based on the chemical property of melamine.
三聚氰胺是不溶于水的白色粉末，怎么可能掺入牛奶中呢？即使掺入也无法溶解，产生沉淀。因此三聚氰胺应该是后期直接掺入奶粉之中的。
Lianyue, who is a Chinese, appealed to China government for taking this scandal seriously, finding the real problems, and solving the problems.
若不彻查所有涉及人员…中国乳制品业一同崩溃。三鹿这样的企业都下毒，人们有理由相信，其他企业也有嫌疑。三鹿为了自保，可能放风它的做法是行业“公开的秘密”，拉着整个行业一同陷入信任危机。…中国的食品业接着垮台。连自己的孩子都可以毒，那么，还有什么底线？毒毒宠物，毒毒青少年、成年人，不更是毫无顾忌吗？中国制造由于连连涉毒，在国际上已经恶名远扬，三鹿这次安然过关，就等于让三鹿为大家敲下最后一根棺材钉。
There was also rumor saying that Baidu took money from the Sanlu Group and helped them filter opinions harmful to the company when people search on Baidu. t4822k11b said,
三鹿的危机公关解决方案被内部员工曝光，其中内容显示三鹿如给百度支付300万公关保护费，百度就通过搜索技术屏蔽三鹿负面新闻。…百度的这位公关经理还解释说：“在百度上搜一下，之前的负面新闻都在，这就是最好的证据。”…通过搜索发现，百度上所有的三鹿负面新闻，都是在9月12日后开始出现的。用网上广为流传的热帖标题“三鹿，在小朋友的生命健康面前请不要表演”作为关键词搜索，9 月12日下午，google显示11400篇，而百度在9仅能显示11条；9月13日上午，google显示11800篇，百度却一下子上升到54条。
Links for Mon, 2008-09
The Teeth Maestro comments on the recent firing of Pakistani troops on US troops: “…on a critical evaluation in light of the BBC report I suspect its all an orchestrated drama to salvage the cordial ties between the US and Pakistan“.
Hala outlines her position on male guardianship over women: “I’m just a simple person who believes that although education about rights and wrong is important yet it’s not worthy without laws that protect the rights, since we can lead a horse to the water but we can’t make it drink… If we gave the men the power over women lives, then how can we make sure they’ll not abuse it?”
Kim writes in Desicritics on the recent communal violence in Mangalore and argues that the incident was not given proper coverage.
The fourth Global Chinese Blog Award-the biggest blog award in Chinese blogosphere-hosted by Taiwan's Chinatimes.com just finished sign-up stage this evening with a result of more than 10,000 blogs signing in 16 categories. The most competitive category is Art and Culture which has 3,015 contesting blogs while the least is Political Parties and Central Government with only four runners. I was one of the judges in last year contest and I managed to read over 7,500 blogs at that time as if I was mad.
Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh comes with the usual facets of a megacity; it is congested, polluted and with a lot of traffic jams. Dhaka Dweller reminds that it also has its “cultural diversity, the sheer warmth of the people and the magic of the old town”.
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