The Right to Blog

"Many of the bloggers who gathered on 27-28 June 2008 in Budapest, Hungary for a Citizen Media Summit organised by Global Voices Online had at first glance an unlikely appearance. These representatives of a growing worldwide network of citizen journalists and digital activists looked rather studious, a touch morose, even - to many bloggers themselves a key marker of social distinction - uncool.

Moreover, these idealistic people did not talk much about gadgets, fashion, or campaign-financing; nor rush to praise or scorn Barack Obama or John McCain; nor fret over the latest celebrity-hunt or political trick in the style of Gawker or the Huffington Post. Instead, they got into heated discussions (often in heavily accented English) over a different set of topics: internet filtering, human-rights violations, and the future of freedom of expression."

Read the rest of "The Right to Blog: Freedom's Next Frontier" by Evgeny Morozov, a technology and new-media expert and independent consultant.

Perspectives on World Refugee Day

"Over the past five years, the US has resettled just 5,000 Iraqis. Compare that to Sweden, a country of only nine million people, which resettled 18,000 Iraqis last year alone. And among the most desperate seeking asylum are those Iraqis who have been forced from their homes because they helped the US government in Iraq, serving as interpreters and civil society experts for the military, State Department and federal agencies such as USAID."
-DemocracyNOW!-

Read Amy Goodman's interview with Kirk Johnson, former USAID worker in Iraq and founder of the List Project, Haydar Saeed Assad, a translator with the US Army in Najaf, Iraq for four years, and Maura Stephens, journalist, educator and peace activist who co-authored the book Collateral Damage.

Reporting from Zimbabwe

"The announcement by opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai that he will not contest the second round of the presidential election scheduled for 27 June 2008 comes amid increasing violence in urban areas of Zimbabwe - and signals of concern among Robert Mugabe's erstwhile African allies at events in the country."

Jabu Shoko reports from Harare on the latest political developments in Zimbabwe. Read more here. Check out the African Commission on Human and People's Rights for more information.

American Radical

"I think it's the duty of the comedian to find out where the line is drawn and cross it deliberately."
-George Carlin-

Read "George Carlin: American Radical" here.

A quote from Carlin:
"Everybody complains about politicians. Everybody says they suck. Well, where do people think these politicians come from? They don't fall out of the sky. They don't pass through a membrane from another reality. They come from American parents and American families, American homes, American schools, American churches, American businesses and American universities, and they are elected by American citizens. This is the best we can do folks. This is what we have to offer. It's what our system produces: Garbage in, garbage out. If you have selfish, ignorant citizens, you're going to get selfish, ignorant leaders. Term limits ain't going to do any good; you're just going to end up with a brand new bunch of selfish, ignorant Americans. So, maybe, maybe, maybe, it's not the politicians who suck. Maybe something else sucks around here...like, the public. Yeah, the public sucks. There's a nice campaign slogan for somebody: 'The Public Sucks. Fuck Hope.'"

The Weapon of Rape

"World leaders fight terrorism all the time, with summit meetings and sound bites and security initiatives. But they have studiously ignored one of the most common and brutal varieties of terrorism in the world today."
-Nicholas Kristof, Common Dreams-

Read the rest of Kristof's article "The Weapon of Rape," which explores how rape has been used as a weapon in Serbia, Darfur, and the Congo and the international community's lack of response thus far.

An excerpt:

"The rape capital of the world is eastern Congo, where in some areas three-quarters of women have been raped. Sometimes the rapes are conducted with pointed sticks that leave the victims incontinent from internal injuries. A former UN force commander there, Patrick Cammaert, says it is 'more dangerous to be a woman than to be a soldier.'

The international community's response so far? Approximately: 'Not our problem.'

Yet such rapes also complicate post-conflict recovery, with sexual violence lingering even after peace has been restored. In Liberia, the civil war is over but rape is still epidemic.

Painfully slowly, the United Nations and its member states seem to be recognizing the fact that systematic mass rape is at least as much an international outrage as, say, pirated DVDs. Yet China and Russia are resisting any new reporting mechanism for sexual violence, seeing such rapes as tragic but simply a criminal matter."

Broken Laws, Broken Lives

"After years of disclosures by government investigations, media accounts, and reports from human rights organizations, there is no longer any doubt as to whether the current administration has committed war crimes. The only question that remains to be answered is whether those who ordered the use of torture will be held to account."
-Maj. General Antonio Taguba (Ret.), who led the Army's 2004 investigation into the prison abuse scandal at Abu Ghraib (from the foreword of "Broken Laws, Broken Lives")-

Read more here about the just-released "Broken Laws, Broken Lives: Medical Evidence of Torture," published by Physicians for Human Rights, which documents the criminal acts of guards and interrogators at U.S.-run prisons in Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo Bay, and Afghanistan.

What Are You Doing June 23rd?

You should check out the 2008 Personal Democracy Forum at Lincoln Center! It starts June 23 and wraps up on June 24.

As PDF says:

"Technology and the Internet are changing politics - now more than ever. Over the last five years, Personal Democracy Forum (PdF) has become the seminal gathering place for the growing community of people who understand the effects underway, and want to make sure they stay on top of what's coming next."

Speakers and presenters will include Elizabeth Edwards, Vint Cerf, Craig Newmark, Arianna Huffington, Lawrence Lessig, Mayhill Fowler, Ana Marie Cox, Robert Scoble, Josh Marshall, Douglas Rushkoff, Joe Trippi, and Gilberto Gil among others.

Find out more here.

"All Technology is Politics"

"Chris Csikszentmihalyi is an artist and provocateur as well as a programmer, inventor and professor. The projects he's most excited about within MIT's Center for Future Civic Media focus on the interface between political action, art, journalism and technology. He offers the observation that 'all technology is politics,' and suggests that one of the best ways to do art, as in journalism, is to follow the money."
-Ethan Zuckerman, Worldchanging.com-

Read more of "Activism, Art and Future Civic Media."

The Problem with Infotainment Media

"Ater airing a five-minute segment on the recent controversy surrounding racy photos of a teenage Disney star, longtime Nightline anchor Cynthia McFadden left the viewing audience with these words to ponder: 'Just another distraction to keep our minds away from the things that really matter.' With grim resignation, McFadden did her best to project the image of a grizzled industry vet, powerless to stem the tide of increasingly trivial programming at a time when serious journalism is paramount."
-Sarah Nardi, Adbusters-

Read more of Nardi's article "America's Slippery Slope," which explores Susan Jacoby' book The Age of American Unreason, and argues that such media is a "vague and ill-defined threat to our Democratic ideals."

Media That Matters

"We no longer have to rely on major corporations for things to be seen -- we have Media that Matters to distribute new material and new voices and new points of view."
-Tim Robbins, Actor-

Sick of mainstream media? Check out Media That Matters, a premier showcase for short films on the most important topics of the day. "Local and global, online and in communities around the world, Media That Matters engages diverse audiences and inspires them to take action." Documentaries, music videos, animations and more -- you can look through an archive of films, segmented by topic. For example, films about media itself include explorations of media messages, post-Katrina New Orleans, the African Underground among others.

Here's what Chris Rock had to say about the organization: "Being raised in Brooklyn means you know something about social issues. For me, Media That Matters is one of the festivals that keeps our focus on how to make our communities better and stronger and smarter."

"The Good Life" At Design 21

On a recent trip to New York City, I serendipitously stumbled upon the Design 21 gallery space (I'll admit I was on my way to Fifth Avenue to check my email at the Apple store!), an organization I recently posted about.

To escape the pouring rain, I entered the gallery and walked through the current exhibit: "The Good Life," a series of thesis projects by seniors in the Product Design Department at the Parsons School of Design that blended artistry, social justice and product design/development. The objective: create solutions to social and environmental challenges. Projects ranged from raising awareness about global warming, enabling children's imaginations to stimulate early learning, encouraging urban curbside gardens, and exploring sound technology and conviviality.

Here is a sampling of what I saw.

"Loti is an effort to sustain and revive the traditional craft of the Darrai Noor region of Afghanistan and dispose of its toxic processes...This venture ensures that the processes that have led us to where we are today will be sustained before they skip a generation and are forever lost or mass imitated."
-Christen Maxwell-



"My approach is to encourage children's body movement through music (sound). Combining music and physical activity can become an effective tool for children since music provides opportunities to create, perform, and communicate."
-Jee Hye Yang-



"People run out of satisfaction very quickly and easily. Once they feel a certain product no longer serves its purpose or fit into their likings, it is discarded quickly and easily, before they soon buy a new one. This explains why most of the furniture that I found on the street are actually very repairable and transformable, however not enough people know how to do it, let alone are compelled to do it."
-Amelia Lnu-



"Because of the refugee crisis in Iraq, millions of children lack the tools to elevate their educational experience. There is also a need to remedy the effects of trauma and regain a sense of identity and belonging. This project focuses on the Iraqi refugee community in Jordan. Tessera is a puzzle/game designed to stimulate problem solving skills, encourage dialogue/communication and reestablish a sense of identity and place."
-Christian John-