Archive for
October 31st, 2008
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Pakistan: Baluchistan Quake
On Wednesday morning an earthquake shook the eastern section of Pakistan tipping the Richter Scale at a massive 6.5. The most devastated region was Ziarat, a remote location in Baluchistan. It resulted in more than 300 deaths, hundreds were injured and thousands were left homeless out in the open in the freezing winter cold.
Baithak notes that:
Pishin, Ziarat, Qila Abdullah, Chaman, Loralai, Sibbi, Mastung are badly hit areas. According to the geological survey of Pakistan, the epicenter of the quake was in Chiltan mountains. Ziarat is the worst hit area.
As soon as the quake shook the region, a Wiki page on the quake was up and running, which is managed by a renowned blogger iFaqeer at Wiki Pakistan. The map of the affected region can be found at the CARE website.
Here is a video of the quake uploaded in YouTube by pakirajput:
Pakistaniat started with a chilling post sharing the facts of the incident:
Officials are saying there were two tremors, striking at about 0409 and then 0510 PST followed by at least three aftershocks.
Adnan shares his concern:
Things are not as good financially as they were in Oct 2005 but hopes are high and Insha Allah with help of (fellow) Pakistanis this disaster would be overcome. I can just hope all political parties, Lawyers, Army quit their personal differences for a moment and get ready to help victims. May Allah help us all and make us able to help others.
Changing up Pakistan shares a comment:
Today, yet another tragedy has occurred, this time on the brink of a harsh winter. Mohammed Hashim, a resident in Wam, one of the hardest hit villages, told the AFP, “We are doomed…We have nothing left to save our families from the cold in the night.” [..] Many of the residents had spent “the day in a desperate search for loved ones or burying the dead in mass graves, as aftershocks nearly as big as the initial quake pounded the landscape, sending rocks spewing from nearby peaks and sparking fresh panic.”
Lahore Metblogs tells about aftershocks in the post titled nature’s wrath taints an October in blood again:
Rescue efforts have been initiated to save as many people trapped under the debris and landslides as possible with Pakistan Army taking the lead. Powerful aftershocks are being felt around Quetta, and the epicentre in Ziarat Valley, which also happens to be the most picturesque of all places in the province.
Islamabad Metblogs narrates Ziarat's Mayor's plea:
“There is great destruction. Not a single house is intact.”
Our duty to our brothers and sisters in Balochistan calls us. We did whatever we could for the victims of October 08, 2005 Earthquake and our efforts didn’t go in waste. We make an appeal to unite again and show a greater level of unity, enthusiasm and love for our Muslim brothers and sisters in pain.
While in my own blog I highlighted two relief efforts trying to help the devastated region: an appeal by the IDSP director and another relief effort by an educational institute FAST whose students stepped up with a FAST-Relief collection drive to immediately deliver relief goods into the region.
More efforts can be located at Wiki Pakistan Earthquake Page which has been set up for the cause.
Corporations Agree to Standards for Internet Freedom
The Global Network Initiative has been launched. The Initiative is a code of conduct for corporations on privacy and free speech created by a coalition of human rights, media development and research organizations, and Internet and communications companies such as Yahoo, Google, and Microsoft. Its goal: to ensure that ICT companies acknowledge their “responsibility to respect and protect the freedom of expression and privacy rights of their users.”
The Initiative was launched as a response to corporate participation in online censorship, especially in China. It took more than two years to craft, and much of that time was spent articulating a set of principles and devising mechanisms to encourage compliance acceptable both to human rights groups and to businesses.
Rebecca MacKinnon, one of Global Voices’ founders, participated in the working group, and writes in RConversation:
A few people have called me asking “does this thing have any teeth” or “is this thing more than just a figleaf for companies to get congress off their backs?
Organizations like Human Rights Watch, Human Rights in China, Human Rights First, and the Committee to Protect Journalists would not be putting their reputations behind this thing if they didn't think it was meaningful.
That said, the initiative must prove its value in the next couple of years by implementing a meaningful and sufficiently tough process by which companies' adherence to the principles will be evaluated and benchmarked.
Leslie Harris of the Center for Democracy and Technology, one of the initiative’s conveners, writes on her blog PolicyBeta:
Not merely aspirational, the Initiative requires concrete commitments from participating companies to engage in a high level of corporate due diligence and risk management with respect to the demands they receive from government, and greater user transparency about the impact of those demands on freedom of expression and privacy, in all markets where they operate. Company fulfillment of these commitments will be evaluated through an independent and credible process for accountability.
The Chinese/English anti-censorship blog, GFW Blog provides a succinct summary, a list of quotes and from participants, and their contact information.
Not every organization involved ultimately signed on to the principles. Amnesty International and Reporters sans frontieres both stepped away from the process. RSF believes that the Initiative is a “step in the right direction” but lacks enforcement capacity, and lists their main concerns here. Amnesty UK's Internet repression page doesn't discuss their position, but it does have a video of Global Voices co-founder Ethan Zuckerman explaining online censorship.
Fundamentally, it seems that some organizations feel they can be better advocates if they don’t have to compromise on principles, while others believe that engagement and the creation of a process for dialogue leading to incremental change is more important.
Frightful Facts or Fantastical Fictions?
This third part of the “Lore, ghosts, demons and frights” series has arrived, and we are looking this time a bit beyond the Latin American borders. With this last installment, we seek out the Chupacabras, stick our heads into Vodou rites, observe examples of exorcism and inquire after a cannibal murderer who has become a Venezuelan legend. Some images may be shocking, if you think you might object to their content or believe you may be disturbed by them, please don't click to view them.
The Chupacabras has been making its rounds for the past 15 years in Latin America. The Spanish word translates into “goat sucker” and this modern cryptid is believed to be part bat, part human, part kangaroo and a greater part of scary. A quick search for “chupacabras” on YouTube will take you to dozens of videos allegedly featuring the chimeric beast: however, when the likeliest video proves to be a viral campaign for blue-jeans, according to Little Green Martian's blog [es], not much credibility can be given to this creature which has appeared not only throughout America, but has also jumped over to Russia and the African continent.
Voodoo (or Vodou) is the official religion in Benin, Africa, and is one of the most important religions in the Caribbean Island of Haiti as well. And when you speak of Voodoo, most people will immediately think of Zombies. Zombies are argued to be people drugged with a special powder which stops their vital organs and brings them into a comatose state unrecognizable from death, however, when the voodoo priest or priestess digs them up and rescues them from their grave, they are able to bring them back to life and have them do their bidding as mindless slaves. On this partial video by the Greek Exandas production group, the lore around zombies is disclosed by voodoo priests and the common folk. This other video is composed of photographs of voodoo rites that take place in Brooklyn, New York with members from the community who get possessed by the different spirits. The images were taken by photographer Stephanie Keith during 10 different ceremonies and is narrated by her as well.
Exorcism is another one of those topics that some people consider fantasy while others defend as fact. A recent movie on exorcism was based on the life of Anneliese Michel in Germany, who died by what were considered side effects from demonic possession. The following video features the audio from what is supposed to be the exorcism sessions she was submitted to and has images of how she looked during the period it is stated that she was possessed.
Exorcism exists in many different religions, although the one mostly featured in Hollywood movies is the Catholic rites of exorcism. In the following video, we see what YouTube user Dimag3 considers to be an Islamic exorcism rite taking place in Brunei.
And now, from the creepiest more physical realm, a serial murderer who ate the corpses of his victims in Venezuela has become a pop-culture phenomenon, inciting the creation of a song, in the traditional Venezuelan rhythm joropo tuyero with Electronic beats mixed into it, which you can hear on this page , fake myspace profile with forty-nine friends as well as a youtube video [es] with interviews and clips from other media sources where he appears pronouncing his most infamous quote “I am not crazy, I just want to eat people”.
For more Ghosts, ghouls, myths and legends from all over the world, please visit our Special Coverage page.
China: Blog is Outdated?
The 4th Chinese Blogger Conference will be held November 15-16th, 2008, in Guangzhou, China.
However, in the past year, there is a continuing discussion in the Chinese blogosphere on whether blog culture is dying down. Moreover, recently bokee.com and blogchina.com, the two earliest BSPs founded by Fang dong-xing (nickname blogfather) in China, are at business crisis. Fang is looking for investing to transform the websites into multi-media community platform.
Back in July, Maitian, a rather active blogger declared that blogging is out-dated and he decided to shift to Social networking site for interacting with friends.
作为一个活跃的博客（Blog）作者，三年多以来，我一直坚持更新一个专业博客《麦田的读书生活》。在这份基本上保持每周更新的博客上，我一直以“自媒体”的模式，几乎全部文章都围绕互联网网站运营，尤其是社区和电子商务方面内容。这份博客给我带来了一些所谓“名声”和快乐，带来了非常高的访问量——但现在，我却在认真思考一个问题：是不是应该关了这个博客。
因为，博客（Blog）已经过时了。
Because blog is getting outdated.
Apart from the fact that most of the independent blogging platforms have been defeated by big internet company, like SINA, the blogger finds the interactive aspect of blogging cannot be competed with other tools, such as QQ. However the greatest challenge is the emerging of SNS.
但我现在认为，以Facebook为代表的SNS的真正力量，是“博客终结者”——SNS应用在“自媒体”和“交互”两方面，都比博客应用更具有效率。博客完成了网民的“主体性”，SNS将完成网民的“主体间性”。
Apart writing this post, the blogger has stopped writing in his blog and moved to three other SNS. However, his article has been frequently quoted for explaining the recent business crisis for BSPs in China.
William long, another famous tech blogger, also refers back to the article to comment on the recent disappearing of many blog related services, such as BSP and RSS aggregation in China:
我们看到的现象是，BSP以及和博客相关的第三方服务正在一个接一个的消失，博客已经度过了其最辉煌的日子，正慢慢走向一个黑暗的未来，其最主要的原因，我看是因为这些博客第三方服务无法从中盈利。
为什么无法盈利呢？以内容建设的观点看，博客自身的内容质量应该比SNS、Twitter、DIGG等要高，流量也不算少，借助广告实现规模收入也是有 可能的，但是目前博客广告盈利的方式非常单一，基本上集中在Google AdSense上，这也导致了博客的盈利预期受到了Google的控制和影响。
Why can't they make a profit? The content quality of blog is better than SNS, Twitter and Digg, their traffics are high. They should be able to get income from Ads. However, at present, blogger's income is too narrowed. Basically, they depends on Google AdSense. Which means their profit is affected by Google.
Google一上来就收购或者开发了一大堆免费的博客工具如Google Reader、FeedBurner、Blogsearch等等，将这些第三方博客服务的盈利梦想彻底打破，使得类似FeedDemon的服务只好免费， 但市场份额依旧被Google Reader占领，从而导致第三方博客服务无法实现盈利，最终转向Google一家独大的局面。
However, he is more optimistic about the future of blog and disagreed that blog woud be replaced by SNS:
博客的特点就是个性化和开放性，其内容质量相对较高，而SNS相对来说较为封闭，特别是对搜索引擎封闭，这和博客的开放形成鲜明对比，SNS的封闭 性不利于信息的传播，一篇好文章难以在SNS中广泛传播，而目前国内SNS普遍都是复制美国Facebook的模式，这条路非死不可。依我看来，国内 SNS做的最好的是腾讯QQ，但你几乎找不到QQ和Facebook的任何一个相同点，更绝的是腾讯从来不说自己搞得是SNS。
The blogger concludes that the failure of BSP and other blog related services is not an end to blog, on the other hand, bloggers can build their own independent blogs.
Let's wait and see what the Chinese bloggers will say about this in the upcoming Chinese blogger conference.
D.R. of Congo: Blogging From the War Zone
The following are eye-witness accounts of bloggers based in the Eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo about the situation in the area following fresh clashes between rebels, government and UN forces.
The situation is degrading fast. There has been a lot of shooting in town until about 40 minutes ago. Since then, there is silence. You could hear a pin drop. Rumours are rife, but there are some confirmed reports of CNDP rebels on the outskirts of town. MONUC is evacuating their staff to Rwanda.
The Congolese army has totally given up:
It’s total chaos in Goma. I am being told, through various phone calls and text messages, that the army have now laid down their weapons at Kibumba, 12 miles north of Goma, and are fleeing the rebels. In other words they have totally given up.
Some of the soldiers are running/driving/zooming on motorbikes through town towards the west, Sake, and they are going past my house.
The governor of North Kivu has apparently also left town.
Now there is only the UN peacekeeping forces stopping Nkunda’s rebels from taking Goma.
There is lots and lots of speculation right now - and panic. I will keep you posted.
I just got back from the Ranger camp and was about to work with Innocent to report that we have found 3 more Rangers - which of course is fantastic news. One was severely beaten by the military and getting medical treatment, and the other 2 are exhausted - but at least we found them.
Jean Claude and his colleagues in Mount Thsiaberimu:
Hello this is Jean Claude. At the moment we are safe at Mount Thsiaberimu but we are very concerned about the security situation at Goma.
I am at Kyondo at the moment and rebels have started to walk around. I have asked all staff to be very careful.
This morning I spoke to my colleague Henry who is in Goma. He had an ok night but there is fighting between the rebels and the Congolese army at Kibumba, just 30km from Goma. Gorilla Organization staff are staying in their homes for now but are keeping a very close eye on situation and an evacuation plan is in place should they need it.
Some Gorilla Organization partners are based in Rutshuru (between Goma and Mt Tshiaberimu) which is now under control of the Nkunda’s rebels. We had contact with staff there yesterday but today we have lost contact. We think they may have fled towards Uganda for safety.
Readers reactions to Jean's post:
Christine C., on 29 Oct 2008
Jean Claude — my thoughts and prayers are with all of you…I know it is not much, but I suppose it is the best any of us can do from so far away. I hope to God that those who have the power, come to Congo’s aid very soon…It is horrifying to think about what the rebels have managed so far.
Virginia, on 29 Oct 2008
Jean Claude, I am very sorry to hear about this horrendous news. Please stay safe. I will be in Bukavu in 2 weeks time. Are you coming south?
Peter, on 29 Oct 2008
I have worked in Goma and East Kivu from 1994-1999 and know the region and its people well.
I am sorry you all had to go through this pain of civil war and unrest once again…!
Stay safe!
Annie, on 29 Oct 2008
Yes…..please stay safe……this is just terrible for all of you! I don’t want anything happening to any of you! You have all worked so hard!
The fighting in Rumangabo, a military base north of Goma:
“Fighting at Rumangabo started at 0400 today between the rebels of Laurent Nkunda and the army. It has now totally engulfed the park station and our Rangers have been forced to flee into the forests for their lives. The rebels now are the only occupants of the park station at Rumangabo. This has never happened before. This is a serious time. We need to get our 50+ Rangers back to safety in Goma, 45km south of Rumangabo. The main road is blocked because of the fighting so they are walking through the forests of the park south, to Kibumba, about 20km away, where we aim to pick them up in trucks. We are trying to maintain phone contact but they don’t have much battery life in their phones”.
Emmanuel has made an appeal on Gorilla.cd and any donations made here will go directly to support these rangers during these difficult times. I’ve spoken to some friends on the ground who say that the situation is extremely bad.
Here is a video account of the situation in Rumangabo:
I am back in Goma and to be honest too tired to explain our day in Rumangabo.
So I will let Balemba do the talking, in this video I filmed this morning
Viewers are reacting to the video:
lisah Says: 9 Oct 2008 I am speechless as well. Lisa
jean-claude S (France) Says: 9 Oct 2008 Balemba. I come to greet your courage and that which filmed these images. You make us live the war directly … and we are, even by far, very close with all these poor people frightened… without being able to act. I hope for only one thing for all, finally the peace… but it seems well far still. Thanks for your news. I hope to have good news of your sector quickly. My friendships with to all.
jessiewiseman Says: 9 Oct 2008 please go safely.
Balemba Says: 10 Oct 2008 Thanks Jean Claude. Actually,this is the unique way to break the silence.
Says: 10 Oct 2008 I’m on a computer with a very slow speed connection and was able to see your video, Pierre, but hear no sound - but who needs sound with images like these? They say it all… It is a great shame that your powerful images are not being shown all over the world. I know that I am far from impartial, but right now I can only ask: who cares about vice-presidential candidate Palin’s being the mother of five if all over Kivu women are mothers of five and they are running away from gunfire on dirt roads? Who deserves the headlines? The world’s attention? Who has a good plan on how to save Kivu’s children and will implement it? Bon courage to all and take care. Iris
“Insecurity, uncertainty and violence,” Samantha Newport reports:
I am in a different part of town to Emmanuel and I can hear the same shooting and the same silences. I am holed up at a UN compound with about 200 local and international staff.
Innocent is with his family in an area of town where the military are shooting and looting. Balemba is hiding under a bed in his house in Goma and Diddy is safe although I am not sure where he is.
It is impossible to know how the rangers at the camp are getting on as they are very exposed to pillaging and violence.
We continue to wait and see what is going to happen. But for now there is absolutely no way that anybody is exiting this compound. We need to remain together and stay safe.
Finally, read Elia's post, “Confusion Reigns in Goma.”
BOBs: Global Videobloggers Compete for Award Part 2
Earlier this week we visited the videoblogs of some of the nominees for the BOBs, Deutsche Welle's Best of Blogs awards. On this second part, we'll see which other videobloggers from all over the globe are nominated and what your choices will be when you decide to vote for your favorite one!
Gina Tost is Ginantonic, a Spanish videoblogger, blogger and podcaster. She posts about her travels, life, has interviews with celebrities, and has been posting since 2004, when she started her blog in Catalan, a dialect spoken in Barcelona. On “Mi Primer Bicing” she records her first experience being part of the Barcelona Bicycle Network.
Videoblog do Trajano is a soccer blog by sports journalist José Trajano from Brazil, where he makes his personal opinions better known.
From France, we have a poetic and artsy videoblog by Loiez Deniel, Poésie des désirs en désordre. C'est la cri$e has an unnerving effect, showing dogs reacting to the filming visitor at the other side of the cage's bars, some cheerfully barking and wagging their tails, others pacing and growling inside small kennel cages at what could possibly be an animal shelter.
Also from France, Films 7 curates online video according to specific topics. For example, they currently have a section on Actresses Facing the Camera, where they have requested for other vloggers to send in their videos of women reading classic texts in front of a camera. In the following example, olivia_gotanegre reads a text:
The final nominee in the VideoBlog category for the BOBs is Marlene Duffy from Germany for Bottleplot, a website where she uploads her wine tasting videos and teaches a bit about the wine culture.
To vote for your favorite video blog, please head over to the BOB website.
By the way, we are happy to announce that Rising Voices, one of the spinnoff projects at Global Voices has also been nominated for the BOB in Best Weblog category. Please check it out and we hope you give us your vote!
Links for Fri, 2008-10
Russia Blog shares a joke about “a lawyer and a Ukrainian.”
Window on Eurasia writes that “ethnic Chinese working and living in the Russian Far East find their surrounding social and political scene far more congenial than do their co-ethnics living in Moscow or other cities in European Russia but are far less interested in remaining there permanently than the latter group.”
Leopolis explains in detail the current economic and political situation in Ukraine: “The stakes are high: Ukraine's economic health, its image for international investors, and a risk of default. Just as the Ukrainian stock market has seen 75% of its value wiped away, the current political crisis may undo every gain made by the ‘orange revolution'.”
“[…] In a dingy underground passage that connects two sides of one of Belgrade's main streets,” A Yankee-in-Belgrade discovers someone who could possibly become a promising fashion designer and posts a picture of this person's work: “Whoever created them should consider a career in fashion and literally move up, I think.”
Balkan File links to a BBC story on “Albanian women who became men, not as transsexuals, but because the man of the house had died, leaving a mother alone with her daughters.”
Belgraded contributes an article on what it's like to be a mother in Serbia to the Women's International Perspective, becoming “one of the rare men blogging there.” Showcased in the article is a Serbian blog called Majka Hrabrost (”Mother Courage”), whose author, Krugolina, blogs (SRP) about childbirth issues and has recently been “invited to have a chat with the Serbian Health Minister”: “It is a case of a simple citizen action that could actually help change the current poor state in Serbian maternity wards.”
Baithak reports that the Indian master chess player Viswanathan Anand retained his FIDE World Chess Championship title in 2008.
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