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May 16th, 2009
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India Votes for No Change: Indian Bloggers & Twitter Users React to #IndiaVotes09 Results
Introduction: India Votes for No Change in the 2009 Lok Sabha Elections
Photo courtesy Al Jazeera under a Creative Commons License
The results for the month long Indian Lok Sabha elections are out and India has voted back the incumbent Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) into power with a decisive verdict, surprising many observers.
As I write this post, the results for 480 out of the 543 seats have been declared. The Congress is leading in more than 200 seats and UPA is less than 20 seats away from reaching the magic figure of 273.
The verdict is a reminder of the Indian electorate's love affair with the Nehru-Gandhi family and a coming of age of sorts for Rahul Gandhi, the young scion of the family. A jubilant Sonia Gandhi reiterated that Manmohan Singh will be Congress Party's choice for the prime minister. Manmohan Singh will be the first Prime Minister after Jawaharlal Nehru to return to power after a full five-year term.
The verdict has also led to some serious soul-searching within BJP. It seems that Lal Krishna Advani's political career is all but over. It will be interesting to see if BJP moves away from its Hindutva roots and repositions itself as a Right of Center party or becomes even more hardcore Hindu Right under the leadership of someone like Narendra Modi.
Some of the biggest upsets so far: Ram Vilas Paswan, Ram Naik, Renuka Choudhry, Vinod Khanna, Meera Sanyal and Captain Gopnath lost the election while Shashi Tharoor won by a record margin.
Summary of Reactions from Indian Bloggers and Twitter Users
The Congress supporters are jubilant, and the BJP die-hards are understandably glum, but most neutral Indian bloggers and Twitter users are happy with the verdict, for more reason than one.
The two national parties — Congress and BJP — have increased their tally by 40-50 seats. Both Congress and BJP have a more-or-less similar forward-looking national agenda (apart from BJP's obsession with Hindutva), unlike the regional parties who are focused on caste, language and state affiliations. The consolidation of the national vote is a sigh of relief for the urban Indian “elite”, who were worried about the increasing fragmentation in Indian politics.
The UPA is 15-20 seats short of the 273 seats it needs to form the government. This precludes the possibility of the opportunistic horse-trading many observers were expecting in the aftermath of the elections. The (almost) clear verdict for UPA is likely to result in a stable government that lasts for five years and isn't held hostage by the narrow agendas of the regional coalition partners.
The decisive Congress victory has also surprised most observers. Most predictions and opinion polls had predicted an indecisive verdict with a close finish between BJP and Congress and a rise in the power of the regional parties.
Some observers will see the verdict as a validation of the tried-and-tested methods of political campaigning in India. The BJP ran an aggressive 360 degree campaign on mass media and digital media, but it didn't work, like its 2004 India Shining campaign. The Congress ran a traditional campaign, focused on movie songs, local rallies and the charisma of the Nehru-Gandhi family, and succeeded. I would caution you against reading too much into this coincidence and mistaking it for causality. It's not BJP's campaign, but BJP's Hindutva ideology, that has failed the party. BJP has lost in spite of its brilliant campaign, not because of it.
#IndiaVotes09: Reactions from Indian Twitter Users
Twitter conversations related to the Indian elections fell into a few distinct categories, including retweets of news reports on the elections results, exuberance over the Congress win, some soul-searching over BJP's loss (from a very strong BJP support base on Twitter), and opinions on what the election results mean for India.
Apart from the themes I have talked about above, the #indiavotes09 hastag on Twitter had its own unique memes.
The first such meme was predictably self referential. After a handful of tweets on the #indiavotes09 hastag throughout the month long elections, the Indian Twitter community spent the day obsessing about election results, making #indiavotes the number one trending topic on Twitter. This led to the usual recurcive navel gazing about how an India-related hashtag is trending on Twitter and Economic Times even did a story on it.
@Hiway: Indian Twitter community too big and united to be ignored: #indiavotes09 is trending. (we've made many topics ‘trend' recently)
(Aside from the Economic Times story: As per ViziSense, which analyses web visitor statistics, there are about 533,000 India-based users of Twitter. Tweeple.in follows 31,000 Twitter users in India.)
Dina just pointed to an interesting graphic on the irrelevance of trending topics on Twitter, which should dampen the exuberance over #indiavotes09 trending on Twitter.
The second #indiavotes09 meme was about the failure of BJP's aggressive digital campaign.
@MaheshMurthy, the CEO and founder of digital agency Pinstorm, offered some interesting analysis on why the BJP campaign didn't work –
@MaheshMurthy: #indiavotes09 Don't think BJP campaign was brilliant. Strategy to project LKA as a strong leader was clearly wrong.
@MaheshMurthy: #indiavotes09 I dont think most of us thought we had weak leadership, or even if we did, that it was a big problem.
@MaheshMurthy: #indiavotes09 BJP would have had a better chance if it focused on the difference they would make that was relevant to us.
@MaheshMurthy: #indiavotes09 BJP campaign used the right medium: social/digital - but offered no relevant message. They were tuned out.
@MaheshMurthy: #indiavotes09 Googler to me: Advani using them as he wants to connect with young. For that you need medium AND message.
Other Twitter users also had interesting comments on BJP's campaign –
@Dina: I don't buy that BJP tactics were brilliant. To add to @maheshmurthy 's response, there were no conversations. It was classic push advertising.
@NikhilNarayanan: The Bloggers for BJP has just 120 bloggers as per lkadvani.in (count taken 2 days back). 120 is a very small number.
@Danishk: The issue with BJP campaign as I see it was they forgot that most people looking at those ads are learned people unlike masses.
@Amit3D: 30 million people access internet daily in India. Approx 10 mil voted and saw BJP's digimedia campaign. Don't think that was enough.
@Amit3D: So I guess BJPs digimedia campaign was big #FAIL. india is not US in numbers when it comes to internet.
@Sanjukta: Exactly what I just said. No body likes spamming. All those over the top in your face campaign backfired.
@mohyt: BJP poll results make me wonder if they'd lost by bigger margin had they not done their huge Social Media Marketing campaign #indiavotes09
@GasperDesouza: Advani tried an ‘Obama' in India, online campaign, et al. Now his head is on the BJP chopping block #indiavotes09
@b50: wishes the BJP well. They fought a hard, aggressive campaign. Best of luck for 2014. Be an Opposition we can be proud of. #IndiaVotes09
@mudittuli: BJP campaign managers are always disconnected with reality, they tried to do a Obama but got slapped in the face #indiavotes09
@NairArun: BJP's online campaign was desperate and tacky. The intent was to replicate Obama's success, but the execution was poor. #indiavotes09
@DeadPresident: Advani honours BJP youth campaign team http://bit.ly/gmuWI - congrats folks! @bjp_ and @missionbjp and the people behind those
I tried to argue on behalf of BJP's strategist Sudheendra Kulkarni, but I'm clearly in a minority today –
@Gauravonomics: BJP has lost in spite of its brilliant campaign, not because of it. #indiavotes09
@Gauravonomics: I agree that the BJP/ LKA strategy backfired. I meant that the campaign was brilliant at a tactical level. #indiavotes09
@Gauravonomics: The BJP campaign did have grassroots online support. Friends of BJP. Bloggers for Advani. Too many BJP supporters on #indiavotes09
@Gauravonomics: The fact that it didn't work (due to message etc.) doesn't mean that BJP's (digital) campaign was flawed #indiavotes09
@Gauravonomics: In fact, I feel a little sad for Sudheendra Kulkarni. Given what he had to work with, he did a really good job. #indiavotes09
The other big meme on Twitter today was writer and Congress candidate Shashi Tharoor live-tweeting the election results –
@ShashiTharoor: I have won with a majority greater than any Congress candidate in Tvm in 30 years… Truly humbling. Now the real work begins.
@navinpai: Wow….just found out @ShashiTharoor tweets!! I wonder if he does it or gets a crack team of writers to pen down 140 characters!!
@ArunRam: @ShashiTharoor Congrats! Hope the Congress party gives you a key cabinet post. India needs more professionals like you in politics.
@SheetalDube: I am wondering if the Indian cabinet might witness the highest % increase in literacy level with the inclusion of @ShashiTharoor.
@manishd: @shashitharoor, I think you would be the first MP to be on twitter. Great way to keep in touch with the electorate. We need more like you.
@SepiaMutiny: Congratulate Shashi Tharoor directly: @shashitharoor (see his live tweets as the results came in!) #IndiaVotes09 (via @sajahq)
@viveksingh: Looks like @ShashiTharoor is the most popular politician amongst the twitteratti #indiavotes09
@GauravKanoongo: How many Indian politicians are here on Twitter? I know about only @shashitharoor #indiavotes09
@acmhatre: @ShashiTharoor in all honesty, I didn't think you would win but congratulations. No the real test begins.
So, the top May 16 memes on #indiavotes09 were: 1. #indiavotes09 trending on Twitter, 2. BJP's aggressive digital campaign failing, and 3. @ShashiTharoor live-tweeting the election results. What else did I miss?
#IndiaVotes09: Reactions from Indian Bloggers
The same themes have also been dominant in the Indian blogosphere reactions to the election results.
Rajiv Dingra at WATBlog and Ashish Sinha at Pluggd.in wonder if BJP's “flawed” campaign strategy was responsible for its defeat. Bhatnaturally argues that BJP's campaign was too negative.
Veteran film director and independent candidate Prakash Jha reflects on his loss in Champaran.
Dina Mehta thinks that the Mumbai terrorist attack did not affect the elections because people do not want more fear and hatred and negativity being imposed on us by our politicians. In another post, Dina argues that Indian voters have voted for good governance and progress rather than good politicians.
Industrialist and independent member of parliament Rajeev Chandrashekhar compares his election predictions with the results and finds that, like most other pundits, he was way off the mark. The Overlord points out that both the Indian online community and the poll pundits were wrong in their election predictions.
BJP supporter Yossarin Offstumped says that the Indian electorate has voted for stability but chosen the wrong national party. Atanu Dey believes that the election results are a setback for India's development. BJP supporter Brajesh Mishra says that, instead of grieving, BJP should introspect and start preparing for the next elections. Friends of BJP co-founder Rajesh Jain says that BJP needs to decide if it wants to be Right of Center or the Hindu Right. Sush Jaitley analyzes what went wrong with BJP and says that BJP needs to apologize to the country. Jai Mrug at DNA says that BJP is back where it was a decade ago. B Raman at Rediff does a good roundup of the post-election conversations on pro-BJP websites.
Mehul Srivastava at BusinessWeek does an analysis on what the results mean for Indian politics. Zoya Hasan at DNA says that the verdict is a reaffirmation of the Indian electorate's faith in the Nehru-Gandhi family. Sidharth Bhatia at DNA believes that the vote for Congress is a vote for an inclusive India. An Indian Muslim says that the results are a verdict against divisive politics. S. Mitra Kalita at WSJ calls the verdict a victory for the global Indian.
The BBC India team did a great live coverage of the election results, so did the NDTV team, Indipepal, Sundeep Dougal at Outlook and a group of Indian political bloggers, including Offstumped.
I'll be updating this post with reactions to the Lok Sabha results from Indian bloggers and Twitter users. Please leave tips to interesting posts and your own reactions in the comments section.
Cross-posted at Gauravonomics Blog, my blog on social media and social change.
India Elections 2009: Tapping Into The Twitter
This post is part of the Global Voices special coverage on the Indian Elections 2009
As the results of the Indian Parliamentary Elections 2009 came trickling in since today morning, Indians from all around the world were glued on to their TV or PC screens to see the updates. Besides the official site of the Election Commission of India a number of citizen media initiatives have been taken to disseminate the results as they come in. Offstumped is live blogging the election results and the comments reached 880 at the time of writing this report. Using Cover It Live Offstumped has also a separate live analysis and debate page. MSM like NDTV is also using Cover It Live.
But the real buzz is happening in Twitter. The Economic Times reported:
The excitement of the Indian elections has transferred online to one of its most popular social messaging sites - Twitter - where it emerged as the top topic posted Saturday.
The Twitter tag “#indiavotes09″ was the number one topic on the trends list of Twitter search, demonstrating once again the strength of Indians using these new technology tools.
Here we look at what people are saying in Twitter.
People are being updated with results as they comes in via various news sources:
Naveenks is proud:
Aerabati writes that some Media sites were inaccessible due to high traffic:
Anita Lobo says:
Calamur informs:
Jayapradeep requests the CPM to concede defeat:
Vimoh has this message for BJP:
Pradeep Mahaur lists in his blog ten reasons why BJP lost.
Testertested is in celebration mood:
The most encouraging of all are some Indian politicians using Twitter. The most popular among Twitterati Shashi Tharoor informed people of his status as he raced towards a massive victory in the election:
If more politicians could be so visible.
Follow the buzz on Indian elections 2009 via Twitter:
India Elections 09: India votes decisively, decides to strengthen the hand of stability
This post is part of the Global Voices special coverage on the Indian Elections 2009
Election results are pouring in from all across the country and it is now clear that India has voted decisively for a stable government at the center, under the leadership of the Congress-led UPA. Dr. Manmohan Singh is going to be the Prime Minister for a second consecutive term. Even before all the results are in, just going by the trends, the BJP-led NDA alliance has publicly conceded defeat.
The UPA Chairperson, Mrs. Sonia Gandhi congratulated the electorate on this mandate. At a press conference at her residence at 4.00pm IST, she said, “The people of India know what is good for them and they have made the right choice.”
As of now (5.40pm IST) the national tally (results) is as follows:
Total no. of seats = 543
No. of seats needed to stake claim to power (majority) = 272
————————————————————–
UPA alliance - leads+wins = 258
NDA alliance - leads+wins = 162
3rd Front - leads+wins = 68
Others (including the 4th Front) - leads+wins = 55
——————————————————————————————-
Indian elections (#indiavotes09) is a top trending topic on twitter today. A few reactions from tweeters:
@jraghu - Indian citizens give verdict. Congress led UPA wins safe, free elections in largest free democracy. Thank you, all #India #Indiavotes09
@dina - this mandate seems to be for good governance - stability & progress & optimism as opposed to fear. governance not politicians. #indiavotes09
@calamur - #indiavotes09 - Singh is King - Advani v/s PM. whining v/s strength. bitterness v/s vision.powerlust v/s duty. India chose well
While there is jubilation in many quarters, there is gloom among the supporters of the BJP. Blogger Chakresh Mishra writes on his blog:
[…]my biggest sympathy is with BJP, which is the party I voted for. A nationalist party. It is a loss of face for BJP. But friends, There are times in history of a nation when all seem lost and looks like wrong forces have won the final battle. But dear friends, it is just a process, which goes on and on. 5 years may be significant time period in life of a man, but in life of a nation (that too a nation like India) is just a flickr of eye.
The time after defeat is not for grief and blame-game. It is the time to introspect and start preparing to come out as winner in next battle.
Though hopes are shattered and nightmares are prevailing, the dawn will surely come. It is not the first black day of Indian history, we survived and fought back. Let us do that again.
Update:
Tally as of 1pm IST, 17/05/09:
Total no. of seats = 543
No. of seats needed to stake claim to power (majority) = 272
————————————————————–
UPA alliance - leads+wins = 262
NDA alliance - leads+wins = 157
3rd Front - leads+wins = 67
Others (including the 4th Front) - leads+wins = 57
——————————————————————————————-
The UPA alliance now needs to garner support for only about 10 seats. Whom will they invite to be a part of their coalition? Watch this space.
Bloggers raise funds for Brunei Special Olympics Team
In providing support to the Brunei Special Olympics team, local bloggers are creating awareness on the team’s forthcoming participation in the World Special Olympics in Athens in 2011. Major fundraising activities were held last May 3: a walkathon and bazaar. The intention is to help raise enough funds to sustain annual programs such as the regular training of special athletes for various sporting events. The Walkathon hopefully will also generate enough funds in preparation for the event in Athens.
Photo courtesy of Hard Break kid
AnakBrunei wrote a heart warming post on ensuring that these special citizens are given opportunity to participate in sport activities and to compete in global events. The intention is not only to ensure participation but to be part of a global community.
People with an intellectual disability are often misunderstood or ignored, yet when they are given a fair chance they can, and do, participate as valuable members of the community. For this belief, Special Olympics Brunei Darussalam endeavors to provide sport for all people with an intellectual disability, regardless of their skill level. Through sport, Special Olympics Brunei Darussalam (SOBD) aims to give our special athletes the opportunity to get fit, develop skills, make friends and be part of a community.
Let us be together and united in supporting our nation’s special athletes. Let us be together and united in helping them to be part of the community, to achieve their potentials and most importantly, to fulfill their dreams. Let us be together and united in supporting their mission:
Let me win, But if I cannot win, Let me be brave at the attempt…”
Ultimate Foodie Bloggers' Challenge
It was a coincidence that some bloggers got together over dinner and decided to do a charity event to raise funds for SOBD. Within a few days after discussions over emails, invitations were made to to get bloggers and non-bloggers alike for the first Ultimate Foodie Bloggers’ Challenge, held on 26th April 2009. Support was also provided by Blogging Nation. As reported in one of the local papers:
“In an interview with Senor Pablo, a representative from the organising committee, he said, “The competition is one of the meaningful ways to contribute to the society. As part of bloggers community, food is a common theme that binds people, so I thought why not organise a foodie challenge, which invites not only food bloggers but also food enthusiasts.
“The event was organised by well-known local bloggers in Brunei with support from food contributors. Bloggers and contributors had contributed 49 good recipes and the recipes will be collected and compiled into a book made available for everyone. The recipe book will be sold during the Special Olympic Brunei on May 3, and all the proceeds will go to charity. — Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin”
One of the dishes from the recipe book
Much work took place within a week to get the book ready for the Special Olympics Bazaar on 3rd May 2009. Efforts in producing the recipe book were made through recipe contributions from local bloggers and others, with editing, lay-out design and cover design done by local bloggers. Since we didn’t have any funds to pay for the printing cost, we managed to get a local printer to sponsor the cost of producing the book.
The bazaar was the event to start the sales of the Recipe book. For the whole day, we managed to sell 100 copies of the book. With the price of $10 per book and all 100 percent sales donated, we raised B$1,000, which was handed over to the SOBD Committee on the same day.
Turquoise and Roses got a booth set up at the bazaar with special emphasis on selling the recipe book.
“We sold exactly 100 copies of the Foodie Bloggers’ Recipe Book with the help of Pablo, Muaz, and our wonderful volunteers!!! Thanks boys and girls!…I am very glad that the spirit of voluntarism and activism is alive in our youth. They make volunteering seem cool! Keep it up!”
AnakBrunei reported on the bazaar, whereby a special copy of the My favourite Recipe book, signed by Her Royal Highness Princess Azemah was auctioned, to raise more funds for the SOBD.
Ranoadidas organised a first local blog auction.
“There’s one limited edition “My Recipe Book” which was personally signed by Her Royal Highness ‘Azemah Ni’matul Bolkiah during the Charity Bazaar and this signed recipe book will be going for auction and the starting bid will be BND50.00. Oh yeah, the special book will be framed with the picture of HRH signing the book. So that’s a pretty good buy indeed. The deadline will be on Saturday midnight.
A special thanks to Her Royal Highness Princess ‘Azemah Ni’matul Bolkiah for signing the Recipe Book as well as giving the consent for the Recipe Book to be auction for the Special Olympics Brunei Fundraiser campaign. A big thanks also to those involved in the making the auction possible and Mr. Reeds has kindly sponsored the frame for the limited edition book. A shout also for Pilihan FM and Kristal FM for plugging the auction.
As of now, the 500 copies of the books have been sold out with less than a week. Now that I have say is a great achievement and it’s comparable to achieving a platinum status on CD sales. So what’s next? Bloggers’ Singles compilation album? *lol* Well, you’ll never know but there are just thousand of ideas that we can come up with. All I can say is if we bloggers do something, it always start with a BANG.”
The progress of the auction
$100 –> $200 –> $250 –> $300 —–> $386 —-> $400 —-> $486 —-> $500 —> $1,000 —-> $1,086 —-> $2,000 —-> $2,086 —–> $3,000 —–> $3,386 —-> $4,000 —> $4,186 —-> $5,000 —-> $5,586 as of press time (11:20pm 9th May). Bid ends at BND 5,586.00. Thank you to the two bidders who made the bid very, very interesting and your kind gestures are very much appreciated.
Emmagoodegg bought the book and in her post, listed out the recipe contributors and wrote:
“I feel most guilty at not being able to partake, but hopefully there'll be a next time. I've read that the recipe book gathered some vitriolic discussion over on RA's tagboard over some missing ingredients in some recipes, well-intentioned people simply using the book for fame and glory, the usual defeatist comments that seems all too common in our country. All I can say is My Favourite Recipes is a commendable and worthwhile effort and that at least these folks stepped up to the plate and gave their time for charity.”
Brunei Lifestyle reported on the outcome of the auction bid:
“The successful bidder of the My favourite recipe limited edition signed by HRH Princess ‘Azemah Ni’matul Bolkiah is Sheikh Khalid of the Arab families. Sheikh Khalid placed the highest bid of $5,586 almost 40 minutes before the stroke of midnight last Saturday night, the deadline to bid, to get a copy of the edition.
What I can say about the whole project is that the book has managed to collect $10,586 with all of its 500 copies sold in two weeks time. Thats an amazing feat. Bravo! Bravo! bravo! and take a bow Pablo! Also Rano…oh they both end with an ‘o’. Whats next Senor? To Alin, the Kurapak man for designing the front cover . Thank you too to the Arab families for your kind gesture. May God repay you and family for your kindness. Amin. I myself, look forward to contribute in the near future.”
The recipe book project earned $10,586. The funds collected will be passed to the Brunei Special Olympic Team. The project has a quick turn-over: from conceptualizing the project, to the production and selling of all 500 copies within a month. As part of the organising team, I feel honored to be part of this charity drive, an effort organised by local bloggers with no fund to start with. This also shows that bloggers can contribute and support local causes. I also hope that this will be a start of various initiatives organised by bloggers to support local charity and to contribute their spare time on good causes. On behalf of the event organisers, we now wish the Brunei Special Olympic Team much success in their training and participation in the 2011 World Event.
Angola: “Every city has its history, and ours is no different”
Since January this year several blogs have been announcing a petition in defence of what remains of Luanda’s [en] historical architecture. Sponsored by the Architects Association of Angola, and mainly addressed to the President of the country, José Eduardo dos Santos [en], it aims to protect Luanda’s heritage and monuments.
In defence of the idea that “every city has its history, and ours is no different”, the petition starts as follows:
ACREDITANDO que o que torna uma cidade singular é o seu património histórico e cultural, traduzido pelos hábitos das suas gentes, mas igualmente pelas pedras, construções, espaços e edifícios que foram sendo introduzidos ao longo dos séculos da sua génese.
Photo by Flickr user mp3ief published under a Creative Commons license
It is well known that the number of modern buildings taking over the landscape of Luanda is increasing. In a post titled Luanda: a metamorfose [pt] (Luanda: the metamorphosis), (R)evolução em Angola [pt] ((R)evolution in Angola) author, N’manga, shares an extensive photo collection of the new and rising architecture projects. Back in September 2008, Global Voices Online posted on bloggers questioning who these buildings are addressed at. However, the online conversation is now a different one, as Kukiela comments in this Luanda: the metamorphosis post:
A questão de uma identidade arquitectónica, um património que está a ser destruído na nossa baixa para se construir esse conjunto insípido de edifícios sem qualquer perspectiva cultural de identidade. Sei que isso leva à discussão de “identidade angolana”, que é uma longa discussão mas que é também importante pensar na vertente “evolução urbanística” da cidade de Luanda.
The most polemic and striking case discussed online concerning the protection of Angola’s architecture happened back in August 2008, when the historical Kinaxixi Market was demolished to make space for the construction of a new shopping centre.
Exclusive photo taken on the day the Kinaxixi Market was being knocked down, kindly provided by José Manuel Lima da Silva, Flickr user Kool2bBop
This episode was not forgotten in the petition message:
TENDO tomado conhecimento que se continua a autorizar a destruição de património público, entre prédios classificados como foi o Palácio de Dona Ana Joaquina, ou por classificar, como o Mercado do Kinaxixe, este último considerado internacionalmente uma das obras arquitectónicas mais importantes do Movimento Moderno, e proposta por Óscar Niemeyer para ser considerado Património da Humanidade pela UNESCO.
However, reportedly the practice of destroying cultural heritage does not only happen in Luanda. Nuno Silva Leal, a Portuguese architect based in Lobito, Benguela, praises the petition initiative and posts about a case that has happened in that province:
Fiquei feliz em deparar há pouco na net com esta petição em defesa do património construído de Luanda. Sinal de que há ainda uma franja da população consciente do fabuloso património arquitectónico que têm em mãos e que não podem desbaratar, sob pena das gerações futuras virem a lembrar-se desta apenas pela ganância do lucro.
Aliás, este problema estende-se a todo o país. Aqui na província há bem pouco tempo atrás demoliram, tijolo a tijolo, a estação de comboios da Catumbela para, provavelmente, construírem um mamaracho chinês no seu lugar. Foi mais um pouco da história de Angola que morreu com a destruição deste edifício…
Moreover, this problem spreads all over the country. Here in the countryside, not so long ago, Catumbela train station was demolished, brick by brick, probably giving place to a Chinese construction. It is just one step forward for the death of Angola’s history with the destruction of this building.
"New bridge, Catumbela" photo by Flickr user jlrsousa published under a Creative Commons license
Either Luanda or somewhere else, for Koluki, it is all about memories and what future generations will make of them. In a comprehensive post [pt] titled A(s) Memória(s) e o(s) Património(s) – Passado(s) e Futuro(s) (playing with the plurality of Memory and Heritage – Past and Future):
Memórias… são elas que dão sentido à palavra “histórico” ao lado da designação “património arquitectónico”. Resta-nos sempre a consolação de que, pelo menos enquanto somos vivos, elas sobrevivem à morte dos edifícios. O problema é a preservação dessas memorias, individuais e colectivas, para as gerações futuras, não perdendo de vista, contudo, que estas não só têm direito ao conhecimento da história, como também […] têm o direito a e a capacidade para criarem a sua própria história e construírem as suas próprias memórias para o seu próprio futuro - que será, afinal, o futuro da Nação, portanto de todos nós.
The whole petition, which, besides addressing the President, will also inform the Governor, the Minister of Culture, the Assembly Culture Committee and the UNESCO representative in Luanda, can be found at this web address [pt] and on many blogs (such as this one). Although it is available online, it can only be signed locally by residents and native Luandans at UNAP, Chá de Caxinde Association, Architects Association and Sérgio Piçarra's office.
Blogger of the week: Mong Palatino
Meet Mong Palatino. To Global Voices readers, he is the Regional Editor for Southeast Asia and Oceania. In his native Philippines, however, he is known by his full name, Raymond Palatino, President of the Kabataan (Youth) Party and a new member of the House of Representatives in the Philippines.
Photo from www.arkibongbayan.org
This fact makes Raymond “Mong” Palatino the first blogging politician in the Philippines and one of Global Voices’ first contributors to be elected to public office.
Although only 29 years old, Raymond “Mong” Palatino’s CV already runs pages long. He writes a column for an international press syndicate; he’s served as president of the National Union of Students of the Philippines; he’s been a major player in groups like Filipino Youth for Peace, the Estrada Resign Youth Movement and Kabataan Kontra-Kartel, known as Youth Against the Oil Cartel.
Mong began with Global Voices halfway through 2006, covering his home country. By that time he had already been blogging at Mongster’s Nest for more than a year. He moved up to Regional Editor at Global Voices in April 2008.
An office of the UN has compared him to Edgar Jopson, the most famous student leader in Filipino history. He helped usher in TXTPower, a national consumer rights advocacy group. He has long been at the forefront of marrying new technologies to help foster political change.
In a profile in the Washington Post on the use of social media in Filipino politics, Mong admitted that during his work mobilizing students in opposition to President Joseph Estrada in 2001 taught him the importance of tools like texting. But one could argue it’s the plight of the Filipino youth who fuel the many aspects of his work. In 2005, Mong wrote these words:
“The debilitating effects of the labor and education policies of the government account for the cynicism and hopelessness which many young Filipinos feel today. They leave the country in droves because they sense no bright future for them in the Philippines. Those who remain are resigned to the destituteness of the country. “
Two years later, he ran his second national election campaign. His Kabataan Party garnered 225,000 votes on a platform of youth empowerment and the fight against corruption, inequality and promoting social justice. This showing pushed Kabataan past the threshold of two percent of total national votes, making it eligible to sit in the House of Representatives under Philippine’s sectoral allocation law, which provides seats to parties representing minority voices. A recent Supreme Court ruling increased the number of these “sectoral” seats in the House of Representatives from 22 to 55, paving the way for the Kabataan Party to join the House of Representatives.
As Partylist leader, Raymond was sworn in and immediately began work. (A recent tweet has him testing the wi-fi at the House of Representatives. He reported it “seems ok.”)
And a blog post from those first hours in office portrays him tackling the nuts-and-bolts of Filipino politics.
I attended a higher education committee hearing in the afternoon. The committee tackled HB 2380 - Protecting the rights of students requiring professional licensing examinations to enroll in review centers of their choice and providing penalties thereof - which is principally authored by Rep. Teddy Casiño of Bayan Muna. I’m supporting this measure. Most likely this bill will be passed by the committee. During the hearing, Rep. Teves of Negros revealed that there is a school in his province requiring students to live in the school dormitory for two months in order to attend review classes.
Schools should not require students to attend review classes. Enrolling in review schools should not be made as a graduation requirement. Review classes are acceptable if they are part of the curriculum. But the popular practice today involves schools which force students to join expensive review classes.
I had a conversation with Mong regarding the power of the youth and social media in the Philippines.
With all you have happening in your life, why work for Global Voices?
I was invited by Preetam Rai (former Global Voices Southeast Asia editor) to join GV in 2006. I immediately agreed to write for GV. During that time, I was already a fan of GV. I was impressed with its mission to highlight the views of bloggers in different parts of the world. By joining GV, I could more effectively articulate the issues espoused by Filipino bloggers. My initial articles were about reproductive health, nurse migration, election reform and illegal deployment of Filipinos in Iraq. For two years, I contributed 2-3 GV articles per month.
I attended the GV summit in New Delhi in 2006. The summit was influential in broadening my appreciation for the potential of blogging to raise political awareness and improve human interactions in the world. Before the GV summit, my knowledge about the persuasive power of online media was very limited.
It was April 2008 when Preetam asked me to replace him as GV editor in the region. I thoroughly enjoyed my new task for GV. It gave me the opportunity to interact with various bloggers in the region. It allowed me to remain regularly informed about the political developments in East Asia and the rest of the world. I realized too the importance of broadening my perspectives on social and political matters. I noticed that I was satisfied being a Filipino blogger; while I am almost ignorant on what is happening in our neighboring countries. My GV work improved my outlook and my reading habits. Through GV, I learned to appreciate better the need to look for alternative voices which are not usually reported by mainstream media. These blogs, these voices exist. They are out there, waiting to be quoted.
You’ve blogged eloquently about your parents and siblings moving away when you were just an adolescent to live and work abroad. How has this distance from your family shaped your life?
I’ve learned to become more independent. At the same time, it influenced me (during my university days) to ask questions about the social order. For example: Why is labor export a permanent economic policy of the government? Why is migration deemed by many Filipinos as the ultimate solution to poverty? In retrospect I became an activist by starting to ask about the Filipino diaspora.
Social media has been used heavily in Filipino politics. How have these media organized different segments of the youth in the country? (For his answer, Mong sent me to his website, where I found this)
Texting is already the standard mode of communication among Filipinos. It is widely used even in the remote countryside to connect and reconnect with family and friends. Overseas Filipino workers, now numbering more than 8 million, use texting to maintain close relationships with their loved ones back home…
Political forces seek to mobilize millions of subscribers through virtual campaigns which could range from the sending of text messages, downloading of political ringtones, and forwarding of subversive text quotes. It may be impossible to gather more than 50 million cell phone users in the streets but it is easy to persuade ordinary citizens to send political text messages to their friends.
The great number of anonymous prepaid cell phone users is emboldening citizens to express their true political sentiments. A majority of cell phone owners in the country are availing themselves of the prepaid service since this is cheaper. This also allows political groups and disgruntled citizens, fearful of government reprisals, to send daring political messages through texting, without the risk of revealing their identities.
Another important factor which contributes to the popularity of texting is the relative absence of censorship governing Internet usage and mobile communications in the Philippines. The cheap mobile technology and the freedom enjoyed by Filipino cell phone users enhance the opportunities to use the phones for political activities.
Taking a look at the words (quoted above) you wrote of the cynicism and hopelessness of the youth in 2005, What is the difference between the economic situation back then and today?
I see no difference in the situation in 2005 and today. In fact I believe the situation has gone worse. The Philippines is suffering from the global economic crisis because it is too much dependent on remittances sent by overseas workers who are being laid-off in developed countries. Our youth continue to dream of leaving the country to fulfill their simple dream of acquiring a decent job that will uplift the conditions of their families. I have little respect for a government which treats its citizens as commodities to be exported.
Your party, Kabataan, has had more than its share of run ins with authorities. Its members have been threatened by elected officials and even hit by a mayor; a coordinator was arrested and beaten by armed police; during the 2007 elections, two poll watchers were abducted and killed. And yet you continue…
You are correct: our members were harassed; a few were killed in the last elections
The least we can do to honor their bravery and sacrifice is to continue with our advocacy. Our platform for a progressive form of politics is resisted by supporters of the status quo. We will persevere….
You’ve been profiled inside and outside the Philippines as an astute organizer using different forms of social media. Now that you are an elected official, how will you continue?
I will consistently blog my activities in the Parliament. I will use different social media applications like Twitter, Plurk (plurk is more popular among Filipino bloggers) and Facebook to report about my activities. Among our initial activities is to teach some of my colleagues in the Parliament about the potential of using social media in improving transparency and governance in the country.
You spoke these words after learning of the Supreme Court decision to grant your party a seat in the House of Representatives.
“… The Filipino youth have always played a pivotal role in ushering in significant changes in history. We have always been at the forefront of uprisings and revolutions every time the social, political and economic conditions in society became too intolerable for Filipinos to endure.”
Where do you see Filipino youth in the next five years?
I believe the Filipino youth will fulfill an active role in the 2010 presidential elections. They will demand democratic reforms in governance, they will push for a genuine social reform agenda, they will effectively influence the results of the elections.
However, the youth may become more cynical if administration politicians succeed in their plan to postpone the holding of the elections. The challenge is to prevent the spread of cynicism among the youth and transform the mood of hopelessness into a constructive force for change.
Where do you see Raymond “Mong” Palatino in five years?
In five years I still see myself as an activist (this time in the labor sector and human rights advocacy), a public servant, and a blogger; still a member of the GV community and helping with the web translation project involving the several major languages in the Philippines.
You Tube video of a Kabataan Party ad
Links for Sat, 2009-05
As voting for the Eurovision Song Contest gets underway in Moscow, bartlemot tweets that the telephone number to vote for the Armenian entry in Azerbaijan was censored. In a second tweet, the same user says that instead of displaying a telephone number in the lower section of the screen it was instead left blank. Armenia also staged its own action with Twitter reporting that its host purposely showed a photograph of a statue in the disputed territory of Nagorno Karabakh three times intended to agitate viewers in Azerbaijan. Eurovision is notorious for its political undertones, but with the two countries deadlocked in efforts to resolve the long-standing conflict over Nagorno Karabakh since the May 1994 ceasefire, some feared the worse when both countries today showed up trending on Twitter.
Volan presents a photo and video story about the French Military Cemetery in Skopje that houses the remains of 2,930 soldiers from France and its colonies, including Morocco and Senegal, who have fallen during World War I on the Macedonian Front, aka Salonika front (1915-1918). The site presents a historical and architectural landmark, with а commanding view of the old part of the town.
Bahraini blogger flymenian wonders why Bahrain has experienced so many sandstorms in recent years - and asks, “Could it just be the God Almighty is mad with us?”
AnIndianMuslim.com writes about the Lok Sabha election results 2009 published today: ” ‘The Congress' victory and its revival has surprised even the most optimistic party workers who till recently appeared unsure that they would be able to reach close to 190 seats. [..] Nobody had anticipated that the UPA would get the mandate once again, despite the anti-incumbency.
My Pen and Paper's opinion following the execution of a Nigerian citizen Chibuzor Vitus Ezekwem in China after a Chinese court found him guilty of trafficking in banned substances.
Malawi Electoral Commission has hired 8000 officers from the Malawi Police and Malawi Army to ensure security of voters, ballot papers and the voters roll in all the polling stations, Tiwonge reports.
White African writes about the Grid, a mobile social network in Tanzania and Hello Africa, a documentary about mobile phone culture in Africa.
You can sponsor Maker Faire Africa, “We’ve been asked by a number of people if they could sponsor Maker Faire Africa as individuals. Amounts that range from $25 to $100. This is a good idea, and in line with the type of event that this is.”
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