Archive for
April 13th, 2009
Stories
Bangkok protests: Black Songkran
Songkran, the Thai New Year celebrated from April 13 – 15, is supposed to be a joyous event in Thailand. But this year’s Songkran has been described as the “Black Songkran” in reference to the chaotic and violent confrontation between soldiers and anti-government protesters. Two protesters were killed and more than one hundred were injured during the clash in the streets of Bangkok.
Richard Barrow observes:
This has indeed been a black day for the people of Thailand. Literally, as the black smoke from burning tyres made it look like that the city was on fire. Today should have been a day of joy as people celebrated the start of the traditional Thai new year.
Who started the violence? There are videos, pictures, and anecdotes showing that both sides started the mayhem. For complete listing of pictures and videos of the Red Shirt protesters, check out The Red Shirt Report. Journalist Nirmal Ghosh provides a timeline of the turmoil in Bangkok over the past two days.
The Red Shirts want Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to resign because they believe he acquired power through illegal means. Many of them are supporters of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
The Red Shirts were accused of using urban-style terrorism tactics to control the streets of Bangkok. They burned buses and threw Molotov cocktails against soldiers. On the other hand, soldiers were criticized for open firing against protesters who were unarmed.
Watch these three videos from YouTube showing how protesters took control of tanks which were deployed when a State of Emergency was declared by the government
Meanwhile, the video below is cited by the critics of the Red Shirts as proof that the latter were the first to instigate violence
Exiled scholar Ji Giles Ungpakorn emphasizes that “no government anywhere in the world has the right to use troops to gun down protestors in the streets.” He also adds that the crisis in Thailand is a reflection of the “growing class war” in Thai society:
…for the fourth time in forty years, troops have opened fire on pro-democracy demonstrators in bangkok. each time the aim has been the same: to protect the interests of the conservative elites who have run thailand for the past 70 years.
what we have been seeing in thailand since late 2005, is a growing class war between the poor and the old elites
As expected, the Yellow Shirts interprets the actions of their rivals, the Red Shirts, as part of a sinister plot:
After torpedoing the Asean Summit in Pattaya, the red-shirt anti-government protesters stage urban-style terrorism around key points in Bangkok so that Abhisit is forced to declare a state of emergency. Then the military has to be brought in to quash the red-shirt protesters. When the military suppresses the protests, there will be bloodshed and the situation will spill out of control, creating a state of anarchy.
The group was referring to the Asian Summit which was cancelled after the Red Shirts were able to forcibly enter the summit venue.
Nganadeeleg criticizes both sides: the government and the Red Shirts:
Neither side seems to be able to admit any wrong doing by participants on their own side, and always blame the other side.
To date I have seen no real sign of reasonableness or compromise from either side, both still going for winner take all after more than 3 years of conflict.
It's very frustrating to this observer (who can sympathize with the genuine grievances of both sides).
Despite the deadly clash between the rallyists and soldiers, many parts of Bangkok remained peaceful. Bangkok Pastor observes:
I'm not saying there aren't a lot of “red shirts” and I'm not saying they aren't causing huge disruptions and won't ultimately cause a change of government. But I am saying that there aren't any “red shirts”, soldiers or tanks in my neighborhood. If I wasn't watching the news - I wouldn't know what was going on.
Twitter is a good and reliable source of information about the ongoing protests in Thailand. Via Twitter, the reactions of Bangkok residents on the political crisis.
DanDepew: Red Shirt camps being guarded by “security” w/lead pipes. Burnt buses still blocking intersections. New group “Black Shirts” siding w/troops
pongsathorn: Very sad, Red Shirts shot one local people death a hour ago.
tuangd: damn the protesters ‘red shirts' you are destroying our country
iamopen: A car is burning in Victory Monument, I see the smoke from my window. The red shirts are moving towards Phya Thai
JediPimmy: Red shirts are Barbarous and disgusting. Such a humiliation of Thailand !!
Thumbnail image used from the Flickr account of candice and jarrett
Indian Elections 2009: Allegations and Concerns of The Common People
The run up to Indian general elections sure looks like a spicy Bollywood movie. Big actors from major political parties and their activists are busy hurling allegations at each other while the common people stand befuddled, waiting for someone to listen to their concerns.
Indian politicians are at the receiving end not only from their opponents but also from the public-online and on the streets.
Sameer Shaikh, is concerned about the way main opposition party-Bharatiya Janta Party(BJP) operates during elections. In his blog he writes about the three “nitis” or principles of the Hindu nationalist party, saying they use religion to divide people, push cash to win support and use racism to foment suspicion.
“Raam = When elections come they talk about Raam, the God who spread love. And Here under the name of the GOD several politicians are using it to get in power…. this has being BJP's triumph card to gain votes…. Be it LK Advani saying that Ram Mandir is what they wanted to always do or be it Varun Gandhi whose controversial speech has put him in jail and he is now held under the NSA (Threat to nation act).”
Congress, the party in Government, is also being criticized, especially the Gandhi family scion-Rahul Gandhi. Offstumped, which describes itself as focused on bringing a right of center reality check to Indian Politics, news media reporting and opinion through Blogs in English and Hindi writes about Gandhi’s “phony love for the poor.”
“The reality for these mostly poor and largely Muslim victims of the CPI-Mafioso’s tyranny of Nandigram was that Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi let them down when they needed them the most by looking the other away at Buddhadeb’s Taliban Act.
As Rahul Gandhi goes about tom-tomming his phony love of the poor it is imperative to refresh everyone’s memory of those poor he let down badly in Nandigram by never fighting for their dignity.”
Communalism is in minds of many Indian voters. The issue highlighted by November 2008 attacks in Mumbai and violence against Christian tribals in state of Orissa.
Charakan, a doctor, writes about how communalism is being exploited to reach political goals:
“Religion, region and to some extent caste come to the rescue of the rich. So the Ram mandir, Maratha pride and Islamism are invented to prevent unity of the poor. The poor Muslim laborer is lynched by a mob for ‘preventing' the building of Ram Mandir. The poor train passengers are killed by Islamist bombs as a revenge. The Bihari coolie is be-headed by poor and unemployed Marathi youth for Maratha pride. The rich laugh all the way to the bank.”
Caste politics, a mainstay of Indian elections, has troubled the people for long. Many blame political parties-from right, center, left and even those who claim to exclusively champion the lower caste population for abusing the heinous practice for political mileage.
Vikram Garg, a PhD student from Mumbai delves into the caste politics in India from an academic standpoint. In his post titled “Is Mayawati bringing the change India’s Dalits (people of lower caste) need?”, he discusses research carried out by University of Washington and Edinburgh in village of Nangal in state of Uttar Pradesh with 48% dalit population.
He says that despite all efforts made to empower the dalits, their situation still remains dire.
“Simply claiming Dalit self-respect is a legitimate but incomplete goal. In fact for most of the Dalits in Nangal the notion of respect and improving access to resources are deeply linked. Without the right access, anger is brewing in a cynical and increasingly desperate peasantry. This anger could explode anytime and India could be in for a few very bloody decades.”
This post is part of the Global Voices special coverage on the Indian Elections 2009.
Fiji: ‘The Media has been Muzzled'
“The stories on this page could not be published because of Government restrictions,” read page two of the Fiji Times Sunday, April 12.
The Fiji Sun reports it will not “publish political reports- either from the interim Government or their critics - until it can do so with accuracy, balance and fairness.”
Fiji Television viewers turning into the Sunday, April 12 received this notice over a black screen: “Viewers Please Be Advised There Will Be No 6PM News Bulletin Tonight.”
This reporting by omission is in response to new government “public emergency regulations,” (opens .doc file) which will be in place for 30 days, prohibiting the broadcast or publishing or any material that “may give rise to disorder” or could create “a breach of the peace, or promote disaffection or public alarm, or undermine the Government and the State of Fiji.”
Since April 8, Fiji has been ruled by three different governments. Thursday, April 9 a court of appeals declared that military ruler Commodore Voreqe Frank Bainimarama came to power illegally in December 2006 when he dissolved Parliament and deposed the government of Laisenia Qarase. As directed, Bainimarama stepped down, and the court instructed the country’s President to appoint a caretaker government to lead the country to elections. President Ratu Josefa Iloilo said he had no constitutional authority to install a new leader, so he nullified the country’s constitution, fired the judiciary and appointed himself head of state and the military. The following day he re-appointed Bainimarama and gave him a five-year mandate to complete carrying out his stated reforms of ending corruption and communal, provincial and religious politics.
The new government will rule by decree. Under the “public emergency regulations” it has the power to curtail assembly, expanded search and seizure powers and gives police and military the power to detain “suspected persons” for up to seven days without charges.
In relation to the press, Bainimarama's government installed “information officers” at newspapers, television and radio stations to enforce the regulations against publishing any story “negative in nature” regarding the extraordinary recent constitutional events. In a letter to media organizations, the government pointed out they should broadcast “news that is pro-Fij.”
Thus, the newspapers and television programs have decided to ignore all political events.
In other news,
The government has asked one Australian and one New Zealand journalist to leave the country because of their negative reporting;
One local internet forum has closed until further notice;
The Fiji Times editor, Netani Rika, was arrested Sunday after the government asked him to refrain from publishing blank pages blaming government restrictions.
Writing about Fiji TV's canceled news bulletin, the pro-government blog IG-Fiji explains the new media regulations.
The govt. will not tolerate any forms of sedition, treason or civil disobedience from any quarter. We have stated that all media outlets need to exercise a high degree of caution before publishing any article which may cause riots or civil unrest of any sort.
For the government, this means, publishing stories “by contacting parties such as [opposition political parties] NFP, SDL and other NGO’s who all chose to use the limelight as an opportunity to voice their personal opinions and attempt to cause an uprising against the govt. of the day.”
Back to IG-Fiji:
If the Fiji TV management team chooses not to run their news bulletin as normal, but under the Emergency Decree, then the govt. will not interfere with the decision taken by the management. This also applies to the Fiji Times who were cordial enough to agree that specific news articles would not be run but the requirement was that the company be allowed to publish a censorship message in its stead. This was readily agreed to and it was further agreed that no news that had been censored would be published on any of the media outlets websites. We are of the belief that the media council will be working closely with us in a professional manner in order to ensure the 30 day transition passes smoothly. The Emergency Regulations will be reviewed after this period and renewed IF necessary.
We ask that all the people of this country come together in a patriotic harmony and work with the govt. to help build a better Fiji which is free of corruption and racial politics.
The journalists and media watchdogs at Café Pacific explain how Fiji’s media has its work cut out for them.
[E]ditors, journalism and the news media have an unenviable job ahead of them – trying to pick their way through the Fiji minefield and maintain some level of media freedom and independence in the current climate of censorship and self-censorship. Expulsion of expatriate Australian publishers under the glare of immediate glare of international media publicity over the past year was one thing, the day-to-day unsung hard graft and risks now facing courageous local journos is quite another. Café Pacific believes Fiji is now entering a sinister era where journalists are stepping out of the regional rhetoric of media freedom and may face real dangers as suffered in many other developing nations.
From Intelligentsiya.
It is appropriate therefore that we try to assess why there are such intense attempts to censor the media.
To do that we begin by going back to the Rabuka Chronicles or his “No Other Way” steps to dealing with the media.
Our view is that this time around Bainimarama is aware that the mood of the people in this country will not be as acquiescent in comparison to 6/12. So in their true hearts and minds fashion, they will label every piece of news that does not support them as inciteful (big word there Leweni, sure you know what it means?).
But the real intent is to clamp down and ensure that small pockets of opposition do not become public information in case other people in the country decide to support it and hey presto we have a big protest against being robbed of the right to live in a free and democratic society en masse.
Unfortunately by picking up Rabuka’s tips from ’87 and trying to control the media, the media houses defiance today will instead inspire many others to also stand up and oppose the military junta.
Yes they’re still amateurs. That is why they will continue to be out-done, out-gunned, out-flanked, out-maneuvered and out-numbered.
Note: Sitiveni Rabuka, a once low-ranking officer in Fiji’s military, carried out the country’s first two coups, both in 1987, that overthrow a government headed by an Indo-Fijian political party.
According to most counts, Fiji has endured four military coups since 1987. A new blog calculates the weekend’s actions amounted to half-a-coup. With that in mind, coup four and a half has been covering the media. The blogsters at Coup Four and A Half ran this report.
Sources say Fiji TV reporter, Edwind Nand, was questioned this afternoon because of his interview with ABC journalist, Sean Dorney.
Nand is understood to be still at the Central Police Station in Suva.
Fiji TV have been told it's not allowed to air the Dorney interview.
The internal censorship has given rise to the importance of the foreign press and blogs who are taking comments.
The media has been muzzled, says Soli Vakasama.
REMEMBER, PEACEFUL RESISTANCE IS THE WAY AS THERE IS NO LAW IN FIJI TODAY.
It’s hard to do but try to carry on as normally as you can. There are many supporters who have to work in areas that the ig contro,l to keep the wheels turning, we need to stop vilifying them otherwise we’d all be in the shitpit.
Do not vent in public, come in here and vent your frustrations. We all feel your pain.Use other sites like You Tube, Twitter and Anti Fiji Coup sites to add your resistance to the illegal stance in Fiji.
From Talking Fiji a few days back:
Other media outlets are exercising caution less they too be censored by the militarised Police.
The only source of uncensored news and commentary in Fiji now come from blogs.
It is an undeniable truth that media censorship is the first step towards creating a police state…
In times of darkness and despair, a free and balanced media is a beacon of hope for a people supressed.
If you take away that hope, then all that is left is misery.
And misery, if left to fester, can turn into resentment and then to anger.
Put another way, State censorship of the media is the first slippery step toward anarchy because the people of Fiji will not remain supressed for very much longer.
Not everyone in Fiji is critical of the recent government moves. A commenter at Fiji Live, Kumar, argues:
Media should work with the government of the day. They have responsibility to use their freedom for the benefit of the country. The media in Fiji is known to incite racial tension and portray one sided information. It has been constantly trying to portray a negative image of the current government which is trying hard to build a better Fiji. Let Fiji move forward … don't kill her!
International citizen journalists have also chimed in. From Kiwi Blog, David Farrar reports:
In the NZ blogosphere there has been a diversity of opinion on Fiji. Most have been highly critical of Bainimarama, but several (mainly on the right) have supported him, as they admired him standing up for the minority Indians and wanting to abolish the race based constitution.
To be honest over the last year I had been creeping more towards the camp that if he does get rid of the race based constitution, and hands over power to a truly democratic Government, then he may be seen one day on the side of the good guys.
But no-one should be defending his regime’s attack on media freedom. Supressing criticism at he point of a gun is what the Stalinist bloc used to do, and what Castro and Kim do.
Australian blogger Andrew Bartlett writing in Crikey Blogs.
Kevin Rudd has said that Fiji is now “virtually a military dictatorship”. I’m not sure what else needs to happen before the word “virtually” gets dropped, but whatever term you want to use, it sure isn’t democracy – especially with the latest censorship crackdown. The dictatorship’s Secretary for Information, Major Neumi Leweni, is kindly providing ‘information officers’ and police to assist every media newsroom in Fiji with deciding what is and isn’t newsworthy. Some more details are on the Talking Fiji blog.
The renewed censorship will mean blogs and other sources of online information will probably become the main way to access uncensored information out of Fiji.
Not long after this current coup first occurred, the military attempted to shut down access to anti-government blogs. No doubt similar efforts will be made now, but at present there is a wide range of blogs providing some information and some vibrant rallying calls.
On Bartlett’s personal site, a commenter, TRS, argues you have to take what you read online with a grain of salt.
The blogs have never really had to try to counter censorship as it’s very nature has allowed bloggers to post without any degree of external influence. Most blog sites contain posts written by anonymouse bloggers.
What is important to note are the truth claims of many bloggers. Whilst the blog posts at the moment seem to carry a lot more information then what is available from traditional media outlets, we have to very careful in absorbing what it’s contents are.
Unlike tradtional media, the stories contained in the blog posts have not been subjected to normal journalistic standards nor have they been vetted properly.
In any case, the only option for any coup related news for many Fijians right now are the blogs sites. Some news is better then nothing.
Egypt: Should rapists be hanged on TV?
Between examining the profile of a sexual offender in Egypt and rallying against sexual predators, an Egyptian member of parliament proposed a law that allows broadcasting the hanging of rapists live on television.
Nawara Negm of Tahyyes found the idea appalling:
انا اقصد لما الجرنال يكتب، انشالله كل يوم، عن حداثة اغتصاب في بلد تعدادها تمانين مليون نسمة، دي ما اسمهاش ظاهرة
كل شيء نسبة وتناسب، فيه احصائية بتقول عشرين الف حالة اغتصاب سنويا في مصر معظمهم مش بيرضوا يبلغوا
طب احنا تمانين مليون، اقسم عشرين الف على تمانين مليون يطلع النسبة: 0.025 في المية
كده مش اسمها ظاهرة ناهيك عن انها تكون ظاهرة مرضية
واستكمالا لحالة الترويع عايزين يروعوا الناس مش بس بالايحاء ان اي واحدة ح تمشي في الشارع ح تغتصب، دول كمان عايزين يروعوهم في تنفيذ العقوبة على الجاني
مين من مصلحته يروع الناس بالطريقة المزدوجة دي؟ وايه الهدف؟
Nawara makes another point saying:
لا مش الفكرة انه يصعب عليهم وبس
الفكرة انه ممكن يخلق حالة غضب داخل شباب كتير، وفجأة تحصل ثورة المغتصبين، يطلع عشرتلاف واحد، وللا ميت الف عيل يقولوا طب احنا بقى ح نغتصب كل الستات، ورونا بقى ح تموتونا كلنا ازاي
اه
ماهم ح يعملوا كده عشان هم بني ادمين مش كلاب، ماهي دي بقى صفات البني ادمين، البني ادم لما تنتهك انسانيته وتذله وتقهره بالشكل ده بيعمل ردود افعال كده عشان هو بني ادم، مش كلب
ثم ايه حكاية: ردع الناس ردع الناس
كأن الناس، اللي هم تمانين مليون دول، شوية بهايم لا تشتريهم الا والعصا معهم، ان المصريين لانجاس مناكيد
فين حل مشاكل الناس؟
فين تقويم المجرمين؟
Currently many girls in Egypt would rather get married to the rapist than live in shame; Hayat wrote:
هذا الخبر نشر باحد الجرائد وان كانت هذه الفتاة تنازلت عن حقها فى القصاص من هولاء الذئاب بالموافقة على الزواج من احدهما مع الملاحظة انهم عاطلين فكيف لعاطل ان يتزوج الا للهروب من العقاب !!
وهل لو تم الطلاق بعد ذلك هل هناك عقوبة على الشخص؟؟
واين حق المجتمع من هولاء المنحرفين فكل شخص يغتصب انثى يتزوجها للهروب من الاعدام ويصبح شعار اغتصبنى واتزوجنى !!!!
[Hayat wonders] how could this girl do such a thing and how would an unemployed rapist be fit for a husband? What if he divorced her later? And where is the public's right to a safe and secure society with rapists getting married to their victims to dodge punishment? Is that a “Rape me and marry me” Campaign?
Iran: Environmentalists Campaign to Save Isfahan
Iranian environmentalists are using online media tools to save different cultural monuments such as The Si-o-se Pol or “33 Pol” (bridge of 33 arches) an architectural masterpiece in the heart of the Iranian historic city of Isfahan (Esfahan). A battle is ongoing between authorities that want to develop a new metro project and concerned citizens from across Iran who fear the damage it might cause.
Shahin Sepanta writes [fa] an open letter to the international community to save Isfahan, a former capital of Persian empire, from destruction. The blogger writes that the the city council of Isfahan has decided, without sufficient preparatory studies, to construct a metro tunnel in the vicinity of this unique complex of architectural masterpieces.
People of Isfahan, as well as many non-governmental organizations have protested against such an unwise project and have demanded that authorities to dig the tunnel farther from the historical parts of the city, and employ precautionary actions to reduce the traffic burden. Nevertheless, the city council has continued its operation without paying any attention to such protests.
Bearing in mind that Isfahan, as a cosmopolitan entity, comprises of many historical and valuable sites that belong not only to the Iranian people but are considered as the common heritage of the mankind, it is the right of everyone in the world to enjoy its marvels and, at the same time, take the responsibility of guarding it against all destructive threats.
In GreenNews we read [fa] that the increasing number or protest against the metro project has forced authorities to declare controversy statements about the development of project. GreenNews has published photos (like the one above) showing construction machines in close proximity of ‘33 Pol (bridge of 33 arches).
There is also a petition is launched to stop metro project that got around 1000 signatures so far.
Egypt: April 18 Declared Anti-Harassment Day
A Facebook campaign calling for a silent demonstration on April 18 against the harassment of women and girls in Egypt is slowly gathering momentum. The call for allowing Egyptian women to move around in safety in their country, was sparked after blogger Asser Yasser's harassers were acquitted.
In her own blog, Asser [Ar] describes what happened to her as follows:
Asser Yasser is an Egyptian female blogger who recently moved to Mokattam area with her family. On her way home, some teenagers in parked cars that reeked of hash used cuss words, followed her, tried to grab her, encircled her with their vehicles, and the poor woman and her niece felt trapped. People looked from their balconies and no one lifted a finger to help her. She called the police from her mobile phone as she stood there in utter terror and shortly after officer Mohab came to her rescue. He was almost run down by the fleeing cars. One guy stayed behind and said that he was not involved and that he was only watching from his car. Asser identified him as one of the harassers and they all went to the station to file a formal report.
In court, the 19-year old harasser was acquitted and Asser decided not to give up; Mohamed Hamdy wrote:
The proposed slogans for the campaign include:
أنا ضحية مش جانى
Bloggers were quick to lend their voices to the campaign:
River Nael suggested ink stamps to shame and name harassers:
Having said that, and in light of the growing rates of sexual harassment in Egyptian society, one can devise a remedy that takes advantage of that preoccupation with one's image in the eyes of the community. […] That could be effectively done by stamping sexual harassers on their face with an ink that leaves no permanent marks, quite similar to the blue ink in which voters dip their fingers to avoid double voting. The effect of that ink could last for days or weeks, depending on technical feasibility and the judgment of legislators. It is reasonable to believe that, technically speaking, the mass production of that ink at low costs is not impossible.
To avoid defamation in the eyes of neighbors, work colleagues, relatives and the society at large, stamped harassers may well choose to stay at home until the effect of the ink withers away. This could be a very powerful deterrent.
The Facebook group has so far attracted 573 members.
Links for Mon, 2009-04
Five “good things” and three “bad things” about Belgrade - at Balkan File.
“The Rise and Fall of Ferenc Gyurcsány, Part II” - at Hungarian Spectrum.
More on Twitter and last week's events in Moldova - at Ethan Zuckerman's My Heart's in Accra and Evgeny Morozov's Net Effect.
Svetlana Gladkova of Profy reports on the intention of the Russian Anti-Monopoly Service “to officially include Microsoft in the register of monopolies doing business in the country” and on president Medvedev's announcement that “the government of the country would be watching foreign investors coming to the internet market closer - and would also be investing in the industry itself.” Also, Svetlana writes about Google's arrival in Belarus (as well as about various Google impostors in the region), and about “the war LiveJournal bloggers virtually declared to Mail.ru” in Russia.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton delivered a video message in recognition of the International Roma Day: video and text - at U.S. Department of State Blog.
The Opportunity Agenda is holding an open online seminar (webinar) on April 16, 2009 (3pm EST) to advise activists on how to develop social media strategies for supporting pro-immigration reform in the United States.
Sleeping With Pengovsky writes about Ljubljana mayor's initiative to name a street after Josip Broz Tito, who, in Slovenia, “is remembered for things both excellent and terrible.”
Thai 101 translates a fake Red Shirt membership application which was probably made by critics of the red-shirted protesters. The Red Shirts are demanding the resignation of Thailand's Prime Minister.
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