Natasha Ezrow: Dissecting Dictators

2011 is the year where many observers and so called experts around the world scramble to understand how it is that so many dictatorships suddenly arrived at a crisis. As people take to the streets and battles take place in city squares throughout the middle east, we discover that in fact many of the dictators of these regions have not been well studied or understood.

Natasha Ezrow, Director of the International Development Studies Program at the University of Essex and author of Dictators & Dictatorships: Understanding Authoritarian Regimes and Their Leaders, has written about the important differences between dictators which we now see being played out by how they handle calls for reform.  She also lays out criteria for why types of leaders might flee a country before anyone is harmed, while others would stay til their last breath.

Space For Those Who Don’t Agree

Lisbon, March 2011Through the numerous jobs I do as both a journalist and an editor to help fund my own work here on this site, I end up editing many documents relating to new media and its significance.  Among the terms and theories that are frequently kicked around is the one about how through today’s social media applications and collective spaces on the web, like minded people can find each other and further develop their projects or networks. No doubt, this is happening and will continue to happen; yet while many celebrate this development, I’m left concerned and wondering about the flip side of this coin.

What will a world be like where for the most part like minded people find each other and communicate amongst themselves? Where you unfriend or ignore any person with an opinion that doesn’t match your own. How will future compromises and cooperation occur among people who have very different points of view about how the world works or should work?

In many ways this question has begun to be answered with every passing election in this decade.  In Europe for example, increasingly you hear about increase in votes for parties on the fringe or on extreme opposite opinions from each other.  The middle ground or voices that express something less pronounced or less strict positions are losing ground (of course in many cases they might also deserve it for a poor track record).

Despite the power of the internet to educate and connect people, and the tools that have made this all possible, the answer to the aforementioned question has not emerged.  You can surely follow people on twitter that you agree with just as well as you can follow people you disagree with, but do we really do both? Or do we unfollow the person who’s opinion we can’t stand.  After that, we may never have to hear from them and can proceed with communicating with the more pleasant people we tend to agree with.

Of course this is not the same story throughout the internet. There are plenty of people, who disagree on things, listening and communicating with each other.  But as systems of social networking become more refined, catering to what you like and who you like, how do we keep the things we don’t like -but might need to live alongside, from being ignored. Are all the great developments for sharing information making sure that NON likeminded people are encouraged (or required!) to keep listening to each other? Perhaps they should, since we do still live on this earth together, and ignoring each other continues to have terrible side effects.

bmtv123 Demonstration in Lisbon

Avenida da LiberdadeOne Saturday in March some 200,000 people took to the streets of Lisbon to express their frustration and desperation with the government’s performance, corruption and its economic/social policies. It was in fact a beautiful day filled with creative and humorous approaches to protesting from a city (and a country) that knows a bit about taking to the streets to demand a better future.

Matthew Dons in Japan: The Survival Plan

Photo by An HONORABLE GERMAN on flickrYou may think the media and the social networks have told you all that needs to be known about conditions on the ground in Japan, but hearing it first hand gives you a far greater understanding.  In the days following the massive earthquake and tsunami, Karamoon contacted me from his home in Tokyo. He wasn’t sure how much longer he could remain in his home, or on the other hand, if he wouldn’t have to stay in doors for two weeks to avoid radioactive winds.

In the following podcast he describes his experience and the concerns going forward.  He also goes into details about his survival preparations and options on an island where many people face difficult choices in the aftermath.

Follow Karamoon on twitter

Listen to the Learn Japanese Pod

And just now I received an update, Tokyo Hacker Space is taking action for quake relief in Northern Japan but they need your help. (link has been down occasionally today)

Solidarity with Immigrants in Portugal

“The other organizations throughout Europe that work to help immigrants are in awe of what we do here, something they have been unable to do,” Timóteo explains with ethusiastic hand gestures in the air, “to run an organization for immigrants that is completely autonomous and not dependent on government or international funds.” He repeats this point to make sure everyone in the room has understood, this place and the people in it, are one of a kind in Europe and perhaps even the world. When you, as an immigrant, come to the cramped but welcoming offices of Solidariedade Imigrante in downtown Lisbon seeking help with a problem, this organization with over 19,000 members does not just feel sorry for you and start on the problem, first they explain who they are and what their mission is. They also invite that person to become a member of this multi-faceted organization, which involves getting a membership card for a 2 euro a month fee.

Timóteo Macedo, President of Solidariedade Imigrant looks me square in the eye to make sure I’m listening, “Help is a reciprocal process. We must help each other. Your problem is not unique to you, many others have gone through it, and they can now help you. Just as you can help someone else one day, or right now, you can help us pay the electric bill, for example.” He also goes over the growing force within Portugal that this organization has become, “In the late 90’s when we started, an immigrant could be stopped by the police and arrested on the spot like a criminal. That is not true anymore, now you cannot be arrested. Because we fought this policy, in the halls of government and on the streets. And the government had to take notice.”

Walking from room to room it is hard to ignore the number of people and the diversity of the faces and accents all around. Many seem to be waiting to speak with someone, perhaps about their own issues with legal documents and paperwork. Others are sitting in two’s around a table in the middle of the room, busy explaining what specific pages mean. Their Portuguese is accented and their patience and expertise indicates they themselves have been through this process at one time not so long ago.  The walls have inspirational quotes in Portuguese, along with hand drawn flags; the red crescent, the globe from the Brazilian flag, the spinning wheel from the Indian flag.  Every now and then a wall has an invitation to an upcoming event; debates, dinners, rallies, etc. I notice there has recently been a Hungarian night consisting of traditional music and food, a local volunteer by the name of Christof explains that members themselves take the lead for such events, “Sometimes members might decide to do their own events about their own culture, and so we might have Russian lessons or a Russian night, for example.” He goes on to explain a long list of services the organization provides, including: job training, youth counseling, housing assistance, and language instruction.  As he gets into very involved and impressive details, I’m distracted by another office we’ve walked into with a bank of computers and tall book shelves adorned with signs that read “Please respect the order the books are in, they belong to all of us.”

As our meeting draws to an end Timóteo turns the conversation towards my own work and asks what I’ve been working on during this visit to Portugal. I explain my visit to the home of Aristides de Sousa Mendes and my interest in spreading the word about his story and his legacy.  Timóteo nods like my words make perfect sense. “In this place we are Aristides de Sousa Mendes… we save lives everyday.  First and foremost we value human lives… -The law comes second,” he smiles.

ctrp370 Drugs and Treatment in Europe Today

The EMCDDA is the agency that monitors drugs and drug treatment on the European scale which happens to be based right here in Lisbon, Portugal.  Each year they gather information and statistics from all members states and advise the European Union about drug policy in terms of what works, what doesn’t and more.

While here in town I went over to their offices and sat down with Danilo Ballotta, Principal Policy Officer – Epidemiology, Crime, and Markets Unit, to ask him about what the agency does, what the biggest problem areas are for Europe, and what we know works when it comes to drug treatment.  We also get into Portugal and how this country has managed to become a world leader in the area of drug treatment.