"Celebrities give push to German tongue"

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11697665

This is a tough one...the German government has now recruited celebrities for an ad campaign to push learning of the German language or German "tongue" (as a followup to the German President's announcement that multiculturalism has been a total failure in that country)...any kind of nationalistic push in is often dangerous, particularly given the historical context of Germany...does wrapping the message in a bit of humor with celebrities make any difference?  And what other kinds of attitudes and actions are being cultivated in Germany along with this nationalistic push by the president?  What's it like today to be non-white and/or not of white German descent in that country?
Any comments?

Top 5 Countries according to the UN

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20101104/hl_afp/unhealthsocial_20101104145621

This article is about which countries have the highest (and lowest) qualities of life based on a UN study of wealth, poverty, health and education. The top five listed are: Norway (also #1 on the Human Development Index), Australia, New Zealand, United States, and Ireland. The lowest listed are: Mozambique, Burundi, Niger, Democratic Republic of Congo, with Zimbabwe coming in dead last with a life expectancy of only 47 years and a per capita income of 176 dollars.

This brings to mind a lot of issues we've been covering in class, especially those brought up by "The End of Poverty." Are these countries in that insurmountable cycle of debt brought on by loans that are impossible to repay? The movie helped give me a new definition and viewpoint of slavery. Who are the slave owners of these nations and individuals and how much are they benefiting from their continual enslavement?

How can these problems be solved? What are some possibilities for the actual end of poverty? Is it realistic to think that things will ever change???

I Waterboarded Myself.

Here's my waterboarding video. After finding the piece on youtube, the Wall Street Journal wrote a front page article about my experience. In it I confirmed that the practice was in fact torture. This goes to show you that anyone with access to a video camera and a free youtube account can make an impact. The video that I made was a form of alternative media. The mainstream media showcased it to take an indirect stance on a controversial subject that, at the time, they themselves could not. The video is an example of advocacy by itself, but I believe that it's best taken within the context of my blog postings where I could further describe my experience and make a judgment on the practice.

Women and Peacekeeping

I was very intrigued when Diane spoke to our class last week about women involved in war. It is a very controversial issue that leads to many debates on what a woman's role is in a time of war. I came across this article the other day that discusses the evolving role of women in peacekeeping. The UN passed a Security Council resolution in 2000 that "demanded a greater role for women in post-conflict peace building." A huge push for this enactment was a result of "one of the problems of responding to rape in the early days of the Darfur crisis was that most of the African Union peacekeepers were men. Women survivors simply couldn't talk to the troops." Resolutions can not occur is women cannot be involved in the healing and upkeep of peace within their own environment. The UN says they are making a stride to keep tabs on every country to track women's involvement in UN peace building. This is a great thing but in order for the act to be carried out the UN need to regulate and increase involvement with countries of concern at a greater level. With an excitement to promote the issue now, involvement will be great but it is the following years after this that will truly measure whether a change has occurred.

http://humanrights.change.org/blog/view/women_take_center_stage_in_peacekeeping

Voting, democracy and complacency

From a foreign relations perspective America is one of the worldwide champions of Democracy and free elections. Anti-communist feelings are mainstream and there seems to be a strong belief that if only developing countries could work out legitimate democracies their problems could be solved.

Why is it then that so many Americans simply don't vote, aren't informed, and don't think that the outcome of elections is a relevant factor in their continuing happiness? It strikes me as a great contradiction.

Today I voted, after which I went to work at my restaurant job. I asked all of the people I work with if they voted, not a single one had. My roommate didn't vote, my boyfriend who lives in New York didn't vote. No one I spoke with today voted. I was a little bit surprised.

Various reasons were given including:

"I didn't have time"

"I'm registered to vote by mail, but I didn't fill it out"

"I'm registered in Fort Collins"

"I didn't feel like walking there"

"7 people control the whole world, so voting doesn't change anything, I just focus on my own things."

And my personal favorite...

"What were they voting for today?"

I am familiar with many articulate arguments that the political parties are essentially the same, and neither supports the real interests of the people, but if this is your point of view it seems as if you have a responsibility to try to change that system, not just throw your hands up. I think it is more often used as an excuse to opt out and not bother than as a legitimate pro active point of departure for activism.

Apart from the great frustration this experience caused me, it made me wonder how this state of affairs came about and why most people in America just don't vote and don't see it as a necessary part of living in a Democracy. What role does the media play in this phenomenon? What about negative political advertising? Not voting reflects either a great trust in the system or a great distrust, depending on who you ask.

This study by the Pew research Center sheds some light on the issue and gives some interesting statistics such as "29% of self-described liberals saying they are not registered to vote compared with 20% of moderates and 17% of conservatives"

"Whites continue to be disproportionally represented in the voting booth: 37% of whites are regular voters, compared with 29% of non-whites, including 31% of blacks and 24% of all Hispanics. Conversely, 40% of Hispanics and considerably smaller proportions of blacks (17%) and whites (20%) say they are not registered to vote."

I don't mean this query as a chastisement to those in the class who did not vote in this election, or who never vote. I can see various points of view that can lead to non-voting behavior, but I would love to hear these ideas articulated by those of you who don't vote, and those who do.

Kidnap Radio

Originally, I heard this story on NPR's This American Life podcast entitled Held Hostage. It is the incredible story of a radio program that opens its microphone to the family members of people who have been taken hostage in Columbia. Kidnappings began in Columbia in the 1970s and since that time thousands of people have been taken hostage by guerrilla groups.

This story is told by a young woman, Annie, whose father was abducted. "My father’s kidnapping began on November 22, 1999 and ended August 13, 2000. He was kidnapped by the FARC and kept in 38 different places, spending the first months of his kidnapping alone, with only his guards and a radio, for company."

Annie's father was extremely lucky to have access to a radio, because his family was able to go to a radio station in Bogota and like so many others "send messages to hostages every Saturday night from midnight to 6 a.m. The (radio) show is called Voces del Secuestro, or Voices of Kidnapping." This media has helped the hostages by giving them hope and encouragement for survival while simultaneously giving their family members a voice.

Enjoy this story of community media.

http://transom.org/?p=6037

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/409/held-hostage

If you would like to hear the complete This American Life podcast, I have it in mp3 format.

Since we often discuss the use of social media and how popular plus 'user-generated' it is, I think this will be a great little article on how wrong we all are (well, in parts, anyway)!
This article talks about how Twitter has failed in China and how local micro-blogging sites are taking over. Interestingly, the local micro-blogging sites are controlled to a large extent but users are finding ways to circumvent that control. Critics of the government use the local micro-blogging websites if they want something to be picked up by the domestic media - even though a lot of critics have their accounts blocked on multiple websites. Ironically, the government also uses the micro-blogging websites - for its own benefit, of course.
I think I posted this because it occured to me that there will always be some form of control exercised - no matter how much governments and political outfits claim otherwise - but people will find alternative routes to get their message across. As will governments. It also appealed to me because I've mentioned this in class several times over, sometimes more vehemently than others, that how much this control disturbs me. It really does play a huge role why people in certain parts of the world have such a narrow world view.
http://www.economist.com/node/17361444?story_id=17361444