Podcasting since 2004; Conversations, conflicts, adventures and monologues from around the world.
Especially pre-occupied with non citizenreporter work this week, which means not much time to put anything big together. But in about 2 weeks there will be a referendum in and about Greenland, and I’m interested in the outcome of that.? Here are a few notes about it, using wikipedia.
(woops, technical issue fixed. enclosure problem)
The US government answered back to the Bolivian government’s charge that they have actively encouraged drug trafficing. The answer, as you would expect, was a denial.
It was earlier this week that Evo Morales announced that Bolivia was ending its cooperation with the so-called US war on drugs due to certian US agencies’ activities in the country.? He told reporters that his country would handle its own problems and policies when it came to drug trafficing.
Interestingly it was investigative journalist Jeremy Bigwood who uncovered alot of the details on the US government acitivities in Bolivia, specifically evidence about the attempt to buy political and policy influence. There’s a good video of Bigwood’s presentation of this evidence, I recommend you check it out.
Bolivia is certainly not along in its frustration with US agencies and the drug war, and with a new more open-minded administration soon to take power in the US, the question is – will the US finally withdraw from the problem-plagued drug war?
You don’t really need me to explain or describe the reaction to yesterday’s election here in Europa… so I’ll skip right past it.
Looking to the future yesterday, I was picturing how strange it will be for the world, after so many years of a US administration and an overall image of the United States government as this plotting, bumbling, profit greedy entity.? What I mean is, having the Bush administration was like having this internernational measurement standard; if you wanted to know what was a bad idea or some indicator of a poor government, you would look to the actions of the Bush administration.? Based on this, alot of people created careers and followings for themselves.. entire systems of meaning, I would venture to say.
Take Latin America, presidents of nations such as Venezuela, Bolivia, and Equador, who have long said to their people – we do things contrary to that disfunctional US administration. They’ve experienced wide spread support using such rhetoric, and it is quite understandable that so many citizens looked at these leaders, and comparing them to the Bush group, said – Yes, we choose this guy.
Now with Bush leaving, and what seems like it will be a new kind of government, one more open to international cooperation, sustainable development, and rational thought, aren’t such leaders losing their number one reference point.. their rally cry?
Other comparisons can of course be made, looking at regions like the Middle East and of course the Africa, where it would seem people are, for the first time perhaps ever, excited and eager to work with this new president.. with the US.? Again, pulling the rug out from under a system that over the last decade, had become quite standard.
Still it isn’t only other nations that are entering a strange moment in history, many of us critics and concerned citizens, we’re losing the best evil emperor many of us have ever known. After so many years of not having to think hard about what is a good policy or a bad policy, suddenly we are now put in a position where we will have to look closer and work harder, as a new and potentially better functioning administration takes over power, no more reliably awful president.
This line of reasoning all started while listened to the most recent edition of On the Media, as they interviewed an author about the work of the great Hunter S. Thompson in the book that shaped alot of my journalistic thinking, Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail. The author, at one point, explains that when Nixon finally died, Thompson went into a strange kind of celebration, fearing the great task of having to put this president whom he so hated, to sleep once and for all.? For me it seemed he had lost his nemesis, which is not always the bliss you might expect.
I must admit I didn’t know Hungary was until recently considered an economic powerhouse of Eastern Europe. My limited time there last week left me with neither the impression that it was an extremely well off country, nor the opposite.? At the same time I did notice plenty of construction projects seemingly left unfinished, and infrastructure (like public transport) that looked like it hadn’t received new investment since the 1980’s.
There was talk among Hungarians and expats that I met about the terrible economy, with many expressing that it hadn’t been that bad in a long time.? But even then it wasn’t obvious to me how bad it really was.
Today I read about the rise and fall of the Hungarian economy, and immediately following that, the plan to pump money into that economy.? Among the reasons for its fall? A government burning through alot of money and taking on alot of debt.? One of the lowest employment rates in Europe.
With the IMF’s 25.1 billion dollar bailout of the Hungarian economy, it isn’t clear – as is so often true with bailouts, if this will turn things around.? The term “tighten their belts” is thrown around alot.? Which begs the question, at a time when so many people are in need of help, where can the government afford to make deep cuts without doing harm to an already wounded citizenry.? Then again, I noticed Hungarians are tough, maybe tightening of the belt is precisely something they would be up for.
Ever since the 2000 election in the United States, the fact that in many states ex-convicts are barred from voting, has become somewhat more known.? Rarely covered in the mainstream media, the few investigative reports done on the topic of voter fraud in places like Florida in 2000 and Ohio in 2004, revealed that in several cases, people were taken off of voter rolls and labeled as former convicts.
One related issue that even fewer reports or public figures are brave enough to bring forward is the policies in various US states that keep prisoners, parolees, those on probation and those once convicted of the most minor of offenses, from voting.? In 10 US states people who have served their sentences and are now out of prison, not on parole or probation, are kept from voting for life.? As incarcerated citizens are often stigmatized regardless of their crime or if they’ve already completed their sentence, it would seem the average citizen doesn’t care or see them as deserving of equal rights once they’re back in society.? Which translates to very little political pressure to change this policy that so many states have.
On a recent edition of The State We’re In, this was exactly the topic that was explored. Specifically the program looked into how ex-cons feel about not having that right. And, for those who do, what importance they give to having that right. What interested me most was when they briefly touched on studies that have shown that when ex-cons return to society and have their right to vote restored, this can have the effect of making them feel more part of society and responsible for what happens in their community.? Click the link above and listen to the segment, a very important question that hardly any people in positions of power are willing to ask.
Hard to believe another year has gone by and it is time once again for the Reporters Without Borders PRess Freedom Index.
The list itself doesn’t contain anything too shocking compared to last year, but I went looking for countries that had experienced the most change in ranking. Lebanon, having had a relatively less violent year than last, jumped several spots to 67, which it shares with nations like East Timor which has also experienced slightly more stability this year. Meanwhile nations like Ivory Coast and Indonesia dropped down several spots to around 110, reasons for which I can only speculate stem from internal strife along political and ethnic lines.
RSF points out that economic prosperity does not equal a freer press, with the United States coming in at 36th tied with nations like South Africa and Bosnia. Or everyone’s favorite economic powerhouse, China, which comes in at 167.. a number one can only hope will be influenced somewhat this coming year as the government is said to be implementing more press freedom in the wake of the Olympics. Venezuela also continues to have a poor showing towards the bottom of the list, though its no surprise as the president there often gets involved in media politics.
The index features, with the exceptions of New Zealand and Canada, only European nations in the top 20. Immediately following in 21 and 22 there are the Caribbean/Central American nations of Jamaica and Costa Rica.
One final point on this year’s press freedom rankings, the list separates some nations by within territory and extra-territory or beyond its borders. This is very interesting to observe, for example Israel itself comes in at 46, whereas extra-terroritorial Israel, which includes Palestine where indeed a journalist was killed in the last year, they rank 149th. Along the same lines, the extra-territorial US is ranked 119. Which reminds me, Iraq is once again almost at the bottom of the list as, despite claims by many US politicians that things are going great, it is still extremely difficult to be a journalist in that country.
Those are my observations regarding the report, read the rest for yourself.