Archive for
June 17th, 2009
Stories
Iran: Islamist bloggers react to protest movement
As protests grow in Iran against the June 12 presidential election results that declare Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the winner, some Islamist bloggers explain why they believe Ahmadinejad won, and the opposition leader, Mir Hussein Mousavi lost.
While international media is awash with news about how Mousavi supporters are using the internet to make their views known, several bloggers are using the same tools to make a case against the opposition candidate.
Before the election, more than 100 bloggers publicly declared their support for Ahmedinejad on a campaign website created by his followers that made use of both YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter.
Hamed Talebi, writes [fa] that we should consider several issues about the current situation such as:
اقلیتی وقیح می خواهند تصمیم خود را بر اکثریت تحمیل کنند و در این مسیر از ساده دلی مردمی که به میرحسین موسوی رای داده اند سوء استفاده می کنند.
He adds:
جنگ، جنگ احمدی نژاد و میرحسین نیست. و نباید گذاشت به جنگ رای دهندگان به این دو منتهی شود. این، جنگ بین اکثریت مردم بی زبان و بی رسانه است با جریان تندرویی که پیش تر هم در حرکت هایی همچون تحصن نمایندگان مجلس ششم و غائله 18 تیر نشان داد ابایی از به آتش کشیدن مملکت و قربانی کردن مردم و منافع عمومی ندارد. میرحسین نیز در خوشبینانه ترین حالت، قربانی این جریان فریبکار است.
The blogger questions how can we bring people's confidence back.
Ahestan says [fa] Mousavi tries to blame Ahmadinejad's supporters for burning public bulidings? Based on what evidence does he make such claims? It is just like his claim about his victory in the presidential election?
The blogger wonders if Mousavi claims all his supporters protest peacefully, why some of them tried to storm a Basij [para military] base.
Khakrism writes [fa] that several Hezbollah and Basij members were murdered during this crisis time, and that American and British media manipulated Mousavi's supporters to believe that the [Ahmadinejad] government is a liar.
Nasleh Khomeyni says [fa] that Mousavi's western style campaign made him lose credibility among voters and that the demonstrations after the election show his supporters are coming from one class of society, and that he does not have majority support.
Costa Rica: Chairs, Posters, and Lamps on Exhibit
A curious collection of chairs, posters, and lamps are currently on display at the Museum of Contemporary Art and Design [es] in San José, Costa Rica. The 300 pieces of Spanish artwork are distributed equally in quantity, and contains works from some of the biggest names in European Art History with pieces of some of the most distinguished Spanish artists and designers such as Picasso, Gaudí, Miró, Dalí, Tusquets, Mariscal, Moneo and Hayón among others. This traveling exhibit called “300% Spanish Design” has caught the attention of Costa Rican bloggers.
Dario Alvarez delivers a description of the exhibit in his blog Arquitecturas [es]:
España exporta su valor artístico en decoración. Las piezas más selectas y representativas del diseño español de los últimos 100 años se exhiben en Costa Rica cuando la muestra ‘300% Spanish Design’ abra sus puertas en el Museo de Arte y Diseño Contemporáneo (MADC) de este país.
On the other hand, Jose Pablo and Manuel of Sorry Zorrito [es] are more inquisitive about the exhibition:
¿Por qué sillas, lámparas y carteles?
Debe de ser muy difícil exponer el arte y el diseño de un país tan rico en ambos campos utilizando solo 3 objetos, es por eso que esta exposición decide tratar con elementos cotidianos y humildes que ayudan a las personas día a día con sus quehaceres. Según Juli Capella son objetos que logran reivindicarse con un uso humanista y social del diseño al servicio de la persona.
Why chairs, lamps and posters?
It must be really difficult to present the art and design of such a rich country in both fields by only using those 3 objects, the exposition decided to deal with the common items that help people to cope with their daily routine. According to Juli Capella (the curator), these objects manage to achieve reinvindication with its humanistic and social use of design in service to the individual.
The exhibition had previously visited Saitama, Lisbon, Athens, Shanghai, Beijing, Fortaleza, Sao Paulo and Bogotá. Its next destination will be Mexico in August.
In Costa Rica, the exhibits will be presented in all of the rooms of the museum and will last until July 12. One of the sponsors, The State Society for Action in External Culture (SEACEX for its initials in Spanish) offers a virtual tour with pictures and description of all items. In addition, the Museum can be followed on Twitter.
Bermuda: Guantanamo Protest
“Brown Protest”, photo by Max Kehrli.
As Bermudians continue to react - unfavourably for the most part - to their government's acceptance of former Guantanamo Bay detainees as full citizens of the tiny island, bloggers comment on yesterday's protest and what the public outcry could mean for the nation's Premier.
The Devil Island, known for being a cartoon blog, says:
Didn’t have anything written, but I wanted to doodle SO bad. There’s tonnes of blogs talking about it. I’ve spent the afternoon and evening bitching about it and talking about it and reading about it. I’m going to wait for the next step.
I HOPE that he [the Premier] doesn’t wriggle out of this, but I’m not holding my breath. I can’t find it in myself to put anything past him. One of his “supporters” actually compared this to Dr. King. Sickening.
I WOULD however like to welcome these Uighur gentlemen to my home. If the vetting turns out copacetic and you guys are cool, we’re cool.
Breezeblog actually posts a video of the protest, which features “the moment Janice Battersbee told Premier Dr. Ewart Brown what many Bermudians think of him.” While the racial divide in the island's politics was evident, the blogger writes:
It took great courage as a PLP supporter to stand in front of her country’s leader and deliver that – and credit to Brown, he stood there and took it with dignity, even if he must have been seething and humiliated inside.
There’s been a lot of internet and radio chatter about how the crowd was overwhelmingly and depressingly white – no surprise there – and sadly Hott 107 almost seemed to dismiss the protest because of the racial imbalance. But the pro-Brown support was noticeable by its absence.
It was encouraging to see Bermudians willing to stand up and be counted and as such it was a good day for democracy. The people told their elected Premier in no uncertain terms what they thought of him without fear of arrest or police brutality. If nothing else, it will have impressed the four Uighurs who can only dream of such freedoms back home.
Photo courtesy Max Kehrli.
Catch a fire takes notice of “a counter-demonstration” that was carded for the same time of the original protest action:
This demonstration is being billed as supporting the decision to bring the Uighurs here.
This blog takes the position that it encourages active and critical participation in Bermuda’s politics, and to that degree I hope that there is a good turn-out for today’s demonstrations, as such activity is to the credit of our democracy.
This blog is, without hesitation, in the support of those who are critical of how this decision was made. I feel that the decision was made not on humanitarian grounds and that describing it as such is a red herring and emotionally manipulative deflection. I believe that the way this was done was contrary to the Constitution, and unnecessarily so.
Now that the Uighurs are here they should stay, but the way the decision was done needs protested. Either way, everyone have fun, be careful, confront ignorance and generally exercise your democratic rights, either for or against the decision.
Meanwhile, the Premier's reaction to the protest does not sit well with Vexed Bermoothes:
Don’t expect much from Dr. Brown. His comment on the protest: ‘As some of you might know, I grew up in the protest era. This is nothing new to me. I have seen them larger and longer.' Be careful what you ask for Dr. Brown.
Know we know why the Sally Bassett statue was placed in front of the Cabinet building: so the Premier can stand in front of it whenever he is in hot water to try and shift the dialogue to one of racial martyrdom. Nice try.
“Between the Signs”, photo by Max Kehrli.
Vexed Bermoothes is also focused on the irony of the entire deal…
On the day that the PLP seeks to wrap itself in laurels of humanitarianism, their Government admits that there are still no funds to replace the decrepit and wholly inadequate homeless shelter in Bermuda.
I encourage all those international groups who are puffing up Dr. Brown for solving their problem, to feel free to encourage and assist the Bermuda Government in finally fulfilling its obligations to its own people.
…not to mention the safety issue:
Premier Ewart Brown stated in the House of Assembly on Friday that Police Commissioner Jackson had done a thorough security check on the Uighurs.
Well, maybe not. As it turns out – like everyone else in Bermuda, the Police only learned about the uighurs on the radio news on Thursday morning.
Is it not a crime to ‘bend the truth' in a statement to the House of Assembly?
The crowds at Parliament at lunch today – which spilled onto the surrounding streets – were noisy and fed up particularly compared to the meagre team of Brown supporters that gathered in his stage-managed appearance. It will be untenable for the PLP to retain support for the Premier in the face of such public displeasure. The constant circus surrounding him has become a debilitating distraction for Bermuda.
This leads the blogger to turn his attention to the opposition party's call for a vote of “No Confidence” in Premier Brown:
Typically a motion such as this would be voted upon two weeks after being tabled. Understandably, the Premier’s team are pursuing all options to keep that from happening.
It is clear that there is considerable public discontent regarding the leadership of Dr. Ewart Brown. The Speaker (although currently drawn from the PLP ranks) has a strong responsibility to be impartial in conducting the affairs of the House. He must facilitate the debate of this motion as soon as possible, so that Bermuda can clear the air and get our Government back to work.
Photo by Max Kehrli.
Finally, he has a few words of wisdom for “international groups like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch [that] are freely tossing around humanitarian plaudits driven by their deep concerns about Guantanamo Bay and everything that it represents”:
They are incorrect if they assume that the backlash towards Dr. Brown is based on the Uighurs alone. It is not. The backlash is based on the accumulation of ‘unethical but not necessarily illegal' acts under his tenure. If there is no respect amongst our top leadership for the Constitution, then there is no Rule of Law. And if there is no consistent rule of law, then there are degrading and unreliable human rights for Bermudians.
In short, it is fundamentally wrong to undermine the Bermudian Constitution so that the American Constitution can retain its lustre.
Macau: An unpopular Chief Executive coming to town
Yesterday Fernando Chui Sai On, Macau's former secretary for social and cultural affairs, announced that he had obtained 286 nominations from the territory's 300-member election committee which implies that he will automatically become the next chief executive of Macau.
Different from Hong Kong, Macau has been a very apolitical city and its citizens are not very critical of the government even though they are aware of the corruption among top ranked government officials. The most notorious case is the Ao Man Long's billion dollars corruption scandal. However, this time some citizens have decided to speak up and self-organize against Fernando Chui.
In a major forum in Macau, cyberctm, a poll (dated June 17) shows that around 80% netizens have voted against Fernando Chui for being the next chief executive. Here are some of the comments explaining why:
LST0011 (2009-5-12)
無用架!你老豆有無水呀?你老豆有無佢老豆咁有面呀?你有無佢咁無齒呀?你有無佢咁中意帶住屋企人去行街同做人呀? 無呀嘛,咁咪抵佢做咯…就係咁簡單!
2014 (2009-5-12)
應該係研究某人係唔係要坐牢, 而非係唔係做特首
亞嬸 (2009-5-13)
上世紀勁大貪官和珅係皇帝面前都係一隻討皇帝歡心的狗奴才…..只有狗奴才先會懂得主子的喜惡……..競選澳門的特狗的致勝之道—首要都係要取得亞爺歡心…
icezero1001 (2009-5-14)
明知自己冇民望都出來參選,睇來佢背後勢力都幾大
ohmybuddy (2009-5-15)
反對貪官奸商做特首!!澳門前途一片黑暗!!!
愛瞞停轉日 (2009-6-11)
中央已放棄澳門
A majority of the netizens who voted against Fernando Chui believed that he is another corrupted businessman who had given and will continue to give favor to his family business with his political power. For example, this forum post (zh) pointed out that he had given a health reform consultant contract to his own circle.
Moreover, when he acted as the secretary for social and cultural affairs, he was responsible for the East Asian Game, and it turned out that the government had exceed the budget for more than 2 billions. The following youtube video challenges Fernando Chui's integrity and ability to be Macau's CE:
The video also pointed out that as the secretary for social and cultural affair, he approved the construction of Macau-China Liaison Office building which destroyed Macau's historical and cultural heritage.
Last month (around mid May), some citizens wanted to publish an advertisement in major newspapers to voice out against Chui but their bank account was suspended by the Macau Commercial Bank. Mainstream media had censored away all the negative public opinions and Internet forum becomes the only channel for the public to discuss the CE election.
In spite of all the public discontent, Chui gained more than 90% vote in the small circle CE election committee. It is likely that the latent political tension within the community will probably increase in coming years.
Mexico: Water Shortages Affecting Nearly 2 Million Residents
Nearly two million citizens have been affected by the recent reduction of water services in the Valley of Mexico. According to Mexican Newspaper El Universal [es], the Cutzamala System, which manages 20% of the drinking water for the valley, is not working at full capacity and cannot supply its own region: 10 districts from the Federal District and 13 municipalities from State of Mexico.
To prevent drought and more severe problems, the first action of reduction was taken during Holy Week and affected more than 700 thousand people. Those suffering from shortages have used the water for domestic use from tanker trucks that visit each neighborhood regularly, says blog Vivir México [es]. In May, the reduction extended to 25% of the water supply throughout the weekends [es], and will prevail that way until further notice.
However, with the aggravating circumstance of the rupture of a water pipe in the State of Mexico [es] the water service was reduced by 50% in several blocks for 48 hours during the last days of May.
Photo by Flickr user Wonderlane. Used following Creative Commons license from http://www.flickr.com/photos/wonderlane/3388022312/
Jessica Uribe, from the blog Vivir México [es], writes about the uncertainty of the government's actions regarding the water problem:
A pesar de todas estas afectaciones y de que es obvio que se necesita el gobierno federal no ha podido dar una respuesta al gobierno capitalino sobre la inversión que necesita el Sistema Cutzamala para ser rehabilitado y modernizado en su totalidad, esperemos que sea pronto cuando decidan el futuro del más importante sistema de abastecimiento de agua de la Ciudad de México, pues cada vez son más los problemas que tiene y más tiempo el que se tardan en solucionarlos.
Despite all of the impacts and that it is obvious that the federal government has not been able to respond to the capital's municipal governemnt about the economic investment to completely repair the Cutzamala System, let’s hope they will soon decide the future for the most important water system in Mexico City, because there are more and more problems and it takes more time to solve them.
Blogger Lesley Tellez of The Mija Chronicles shares her experience in her first day without water in April:
Then today, we woke up to find we had no water. It’s a problem throughout our neighborhood. Undeterred in my quest to become the cleanest woman in Mexico, I ended up taking a medieval-type shower, heating up water on the stove and then carrying it into the shower in my largest mixing bowls. It actually worked pretty well, to be honest. Something tells me tomorrow it won’t be as fun.
Despite the delicate situation of the neighborhoods with short water supply, some citizens question whether this is the best way to solve the problem. Blogger Daniel Hernández in his blog Intersections reviews some inequalities in the water shortage:
That's 12 days of sporadic, low-pressure water at the tap for who knows how many millions of people. And no water — none — for perhaps millions more. That means dead toilets, no showers, panting plants. Some boroughs and specific neighborhoods have not been affected much (you can guess which), and others have been so severely (guess which again).
(…) Time to make some serious offerings to [prehispanic god] Tlaloc?
Jesús Chaírez comments on his personal blog the contradiction of the water shortage and urban sanitation methods from the government:
Then, like every morning, I looked out my window – this time in amazement: With all the talk of there being a water shortage here in Mexico City I look out my window to see a city crew cleaning the sidewalks of the park across the street, Alameda Santa Maria la Ribera, not with brooms but WATER! The Mexico City government at work using precious water to hose down and clean sidewalks. This is insane, but this is Mexico.
In the blog The Mex Files, the authors mention that the massive reduction of water supply in Mexico City should be considered a warning to cities growing rapidly without taking care of the most basic services:
Of course, “¡Como México no hay dos!” when it comes to geographic and geological challenges, and the strain on a water system in a city that’s grown exponentially over the last half century, coupled with what was considered good engineering practices for the last 500 years (draining Lake Tezcoco) made Mexico City’s water system more vulnerable to dramatic problems than others.
(…)
This should be a wake-up call to start paying attention to the basics, but I expect we’ll wake up one morning in Chicago, or New York or London shocked, shocked that OUR systems have just stopped working and we won’t have a clue how it happened. Same way it’s happening in Mexico City. Just not paying attention to the basics of life.
Workers from the Comisión Nacional del Agua (Conagua, Water National Comission) declared to newspaper El Universal [es] that the stability of the Cutzamala System should be regained partially with the repair to several dams that started in April.
Arab World: Let the Iranians do Whatever they Want
Iran's presidential election and its aftermath have grabbed the headlines of blogs across the Arab world this week as bloggers from all walks to life react to the latest developments in the region.
Jordanian blogger Hareega asks the rest of the world to stand aside as Iranians sort out their internal affairs on their own:
They had elections, whether or not they were fair is something we don't know and I don't think anyone will have the ability to tell. I hate Ahmadinajhad but I like democracy and when people vote, their opinion needs to be respected. I hate it how the US's attitude towards every other country where if “our guy” wins the elections would have been fair and the people spoke up their mind, but when the “bad guy” wins the elections are unjust.
Let Iranians vote for whoever they want to, and if they're taking the streets and are going bring down Ahmadinajhad let them do it themselves. The last time the bad guy was brought down by a criminal military invasion things did not go very well and it was a country a little bit close to Iran both geographically and alphabetically.
At Arab-American joint blog KABOBfest, Kalash discusses the role the US plays in Iranian elections and sentiments on the street:
Whether or not Mousavi had the election stolen from him, it seems clear the ruling class has made a calculating move. Anti-American sentiment is one of the strongest cards those wretched clerics hold. By merely softening the tone Tehran hears from Washington, Obama has weakened their hand considerably. But re-instating Ahmadinejad ensures that US-Iranian relations will continue down a rocky road. What happens next is crucial. If Obama takes a firm position as a result of what’s happening, the mullahs may emerge victorious.
That would be a real shame. The system of governance in Iran is terrible. There is no democracy to speak of. The people are ruled by despotic men of ‘faith’ who do nothing to advance their country’s interests. Aside from keeping Iran in the headlines, Ahmadinejad has done nothing to improve his country’s standing in the international community. It should come as no surprise that so many Iranians are opposed to him. It’s tempting to say that US officials have learned from past mistakes, but they could be helping to incite protests now just as they did back in 1953.
Hopefully what is happening right now is a homegrown phenomenon. Iran needs another revolution if it is to rid itself of the backwards theology pulling the strings. Mousavi is hardly the right person to lead such a movement, but what’s important is that the people rise up. The process won’t be easy. We may be witnessing the beginning of something huge… It won’t happen overnight, but the “Islamic Republic” is bound to fall one day or another.
Pro-Palestinian Jews Sans Frontieres writes:
I don't know what is going on in Iran. The liberal bull#*it about the supposedly pro-Western reformist Moussavi supposedly pulling an upset victory over the supposedly retrograde Ahmedinejad doesn't make much sense.
On the people of Iran, the blogger says:
These people show courage facing an armed and willing to kill repressive state apparatus and they are making history. They are blessed.
From Egypt, Wael Nawara [Ar] at Weekite comments on US President Barack Obama's reaction to the Iranian elections saying:
And finally Irish for Palestine notes:
The Western media is pushing this idea that all the unrest we are seeing in Iran is because people want to overthrow the Islamic Republic, which I think is a dangerous thing to be pushing, but hey, the media have an agenda. [British journalist Robert] Fisk agrees and says this is not about overthrowing an Islamic state, they just want get rid of Ahmadinejad and have faith in the voting process.
Links for Wed, 2009-06
Egyptian Leftist [Ar] introduces us to two of his friends, who live in Jerusalem.
Paraglider, at the UAE Community Blog, reports: “The Qatar Tourism and Exhibition Authority and Ministry of the Interior (!) requires that access to any bar shall be on production of a valid ID or Passport. Originals only, no copies. But it is not enough just to flash the card. The details, name, ID number, date and time, are to be manually entered into a log-book…Because there was no explanation accompanying the ruling, rumours are rife.”
Writing at the Maghreb Politics Review, Alle updates us on the results of the Moroccan local council elections.
Collective blog The View from Fez reports on the dramatic decrease in the number of movie theatres in Morocco and their shrinking audiences. “In a country of more than 30 million people, there are currently only 50 cinemas, down from 70 just last year. They were 250 in 1995,” notes Abdallah Mchanna.
The Taiwan Link looks at China's Anti-ship Ballistic Missiles and the threat they pose to Taiwan. The Far-Eastern Sweet Potato looks at the missiles and China's second-generation nuclear-powered submarines. Both consider that the weapons systems pose threats to targets beyond Taiwan.
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