Solana Larsen

Today in my inbox, I have an email from Color of Change asking me to sign an open letter to the McCain/Palin campaign asking them to stop being racially divisive. They've teamed up with Brave New Films in distributing this video collage of racial attacks and media hype.

If we are to believe the media right now, Gov. Palin and Senator McCain are getting the extremists to creep out of the shadows to hurl racial epiphets at Senator Obama.

Am I the only one who can't help noticing it's the same examples being used over and over?

Solana Larsen

A quick aside: I wonder if a presidential candidate has ever graced so many t-shirts as Obama has.

Certainly in New York City, his face is on shirts at street stalls and wholesale retailers everywhere. Yesterday, on Union Square in Manhattan, I saw a shirt for sale that said "Obama is the New Black" ($20). More than a political figure, he seems to have become a fashion statement. John McCain? Not so much.

Palin, on the other hand, was pictured on a t-shirt at a stall near the Obama one, wearing a bathing suit and a sash. The words beneath her torso: "mysongynist". After 5 weeks in the media spotlight, I'm surprised not to have seen more Palin shirts. They must still be saving the best ones for Halloween.

Photo by Ed Yourdon on Flickr, Creative Commons license.

Solana Larsen

I know most people have moved on from the silly claim that Sarah Palin can see Russia from her backyard - but in case you're wondering 'wait, can she really?' (the U.S. media still seem to be wondering) - check out this amusing post from American expat Erik Rassmussen who has used a distance calculator and a google map to estimate just how physically impossible it would be:

"To see Russia from Juneau, you’d have to go up 330,715.1 meters. That’s
almost the 350 km altitude of the International Space Station."

Thanks to the blogger volunteers at Voices without Votes for aggregating this blog post, along with hundreds of other's from around the world. The US elections really do look different through the eyes of outsiders.

Solana Larsen

The international press may be on the fence when it comes to calling last night's winner in the vice presidential debate, but the New York right-wing tabloids have an unsurprisingly clear favorite.

I just spent the morning reading the New York Sun's total endorsement and celebration of Sarah Palin's performance ("Pitbull Sarah Shows her Bite") with the exception of a couple of less fortunate statements, including "How long have I been at this? Like, 5 weeks?" A group of hockey moms the newspaper had assembled to watch the debate, also saw Palin as the winner, although at least one of them still planned to vote for Obama.

New York's Daily News also cheered ("Pitt bull Sarah battles Biden and even takes a few chomps out of him") to an extent that made you wonder if they would have run the same headline no matter how the candidates had actually fared. Even their own online poll of readers is suggesting that Biden, not Palin, won. To their credit, the Daily News, as so many other newspaper and websites also ran a story pointing out which candidates lied about what.

It's pretty tragic that the first thing everyone looks for at the end of each debate is a list of lies and inanccuracies by candidates. Even if a candidate were trying to tell the truth it must be challenging considering the degree to which their own opinions veer on different issues, depending on the public climate. New York Times lists "check points" in the debate (in their awesome interactive video service), FactCheck.org crunch some numbers, and the Democratic Party's McCain "Lie Counter is is currently at "103".

Solana Larsen

Getting anywhere near The Big Tent is a hectic experience. There are several degrees of credentials, bracelets for backstage, dozens of smiling volunteers, free massages by Google, and free burritos and beer. This isn't where the politicians are speaking (although many visit). This is where the bloggers are convened with their power plugs, wifi, and laptops galore, writing I'm-not-sure-what yet, because I haven't had a chance to read it.

The Big Tent is ordinarily a parking lot, but now has an enormous two-story tent erected on it. The panel I spoke on was upstairs from the bloggers. The panels are back to back. Mine was organized by the Better World Campaign of the UN Foundation, and was primarily about a new poll they have published that says Americans care about foreign policy. The fact that this would be news, is sort of astonishing to me. But there is some scientific method to help establish the fact that this has changed in the past year. I always wonder whether people just respond according to what they happened to see on the news the night before.

I spoke about the work my colleagues Amira, John, Jillian and many others from Global Voices are doing on Voices without Votes, a website sponsored by Reuters where we are tracking non-American responses to the US presidential election and foreign policy. I personally, think Americans tend to focus too much on what foreign policy means for themselves (and how people perceive them), and not enough on what it means for citizens in other countries. The questions I got during the panel reinforced my sense of this.

Let me paraphrase: Do non-American bloggers say that America doesn't accomplish it's foreign policy goals? What do bloggers in the Middle East say about American women?

In other words, what does the rest of the world think about America. Well, I don't know. I think most of the time they too, are thinking more about themselves, and interpreting world events according to what makes sense in their own hemispheres and blogospheres. Please visit Voices without Votes to see the many, many different things bloggers around the world are saying. Unlike pollsters, we don't pretend to speak on behalf of entire populations or the world - but we do hope to give a taste of what foreign opinion and reasoning looks like.

Solana Larsen

I spent most of the afternoon wandering around looking at people who came here for different reasons. There are a lot of strange people here, including a whole delegation of people carrying "9/11 was an inside job" banners demanding "the truth". There are merchandise dealers everywhere, including some who managed to quickly print enough Obama/Biden shirts ($15) to put the plain Obama ones on sale ($10). The anti-abortion activists are probably the most vocal, drawing slogans with chalk on sidewalks, holding banners on sidewalks, and driving around town in a van with a blown up image of a mutilated dead baby on it.

Solana Larsen

I've arrived in Denver and slowly finding my way around the city. Tomorrow, I am speaking at a UN Foundation event in "The Big Tent" about Americans, foreign policy and international perceptions. Come say hello!

“New American Consensus on International Cooperation”
Location: Big Tent:DIGG Stage
Time: 3:00 PM - 3:50 PM (MST)
Scheduled to Appear:

- Geoff Garin, President, Peter D. Hart Research Associates
- Steve Clemons, Senior Fellow and Director, American Strategy Program, New America Foundation
- Rep. Bill Delahunt (invited)
- Solana Larsen, Global Voices Online

Geoff Garin will present findings from the Better World Campaign’s 2008 polling and Steve Clemons will lead the panel in a discussion of the findings and the role of foreign policy in the campaign. The UN Foundation's blog, UN Dispatch is also featuring daily posts and tweets from the convention.

 

Solana Larsen

The Nation magazine is doing excellent "unconventional" coverage of the Convention on their website including blog posts, videos, and articles. On this video, festivitas-expert and Nation writer, Ari Berman, explains that lots of the action outside the convention happens outside the main events, and that lobbyists and big companies abound. In this regard, a political Convention in the United States is not dissimilar to the Olympics, as somthing with a higher purpose that is irrisistably good for business.

In the clip, Ari introduces The Most Powerful Man in Denver (You've Never Heard Of), a man named Steve Farber who is a lobbyist and chief fundraiser for the Democratic Convention. Obama says he is opposed to special interest funding, but he obviously hasn't been able to change how the entire political machine works overnight. The total budget of the Convention must be astronomical.

 

The Convention itself is totally scripted, and the predictability is partly what makes it more of a ceremony than a real political conversation. I met one of the speech writers, who says they have a team of writers who will be sitting behind the stage in "the pit" editing and writing politicians' submitted speeches before they go on stage. There are strict time limits they must adhere to, and they must submit their speeches in writing for editing first. I imagine it will be somewhat like the Oscar's except the people coming up to give the speeches won't be as drunk.

However, the Convention is making strong 'gestures' towards democracy and inclusion of the American people, which is nice. Unfortunately it seems less a matter of principal, than something that seems good for publicity, given how Obama is currently on the up and up. House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, says in one of the introductory webcasts, that this year's convention is "almost without walls" given how much they will be interacting with the public in Denver and on the internet.

I hope once I'm there, my faith in the US political process may be restored, but national politics here generally seem to be more about saying the right thing than doing it. With 5000 delegates and 15,000 members of the press, clearly this whole show is about publicity more than anything. There are so many gross imperfections in the political system that voters simply seem to have come to terms with and lost hope of changing. It's doesn't make it easier that those who could change it, stand to gain by allowing the status quo to persist.

But I suppose that is the case mostly everywhere, in all countries.

Solana Larsen

At times it feels the Democratic Convention operates a little bit like a big events company. Witness for instance, the press release they sent out on August 14, announcing the fact that Coca-Cola has been "Named Official Recycling Provider of the 2008 Convention" and will even be donating some recycling bins, energy-efficient coolers, and hybrid electric trucks to the city of Denver.

Cynics will wonder whether Coca-Cola's eagerness to be involved in the greening of the Convention has anything to do with the fact that Obama will be accepting the official nomination at the Pepsi Center.

From the release:

"As Official Recycling Provider, Coca-Cola Recycling, a wholly owned subsidiary of Coca-Cola Enterprises, will help develop, support and manage a system to support recycling efforts at all official Convention venues, including the Pepsi Center, INVESCO Field at Mile High and the Colorado Convention Center."

The release goes on to describe what a wonderful product Coca-Cola is and how much in love the company is with the environment. It is then signed and endorsed by the Democratic National Convention Committee. A platform for change for some, a money-making opportunity for others. American democracy seems boastful of the fact that it does both simultaenously.

Solana Larsen

Democratic inboxes have been bombarded for days with emails from the Obama campaign and the Democratic Convention. Today, came the latest installment of the elegant communications operation - a video of Obama and Biden making a joint appeal for funding on the first day of the Democratic Convention. Aren't they cute together?

I'm headed to Denver for the convention tomorrow, and am looking forward to experiencing what promises to be a pretty massive and exciting event. I did apply for press/blogging credentials, but only 120 bloggers were selected to join. So I don't know how much of the official show I'll be able to catch (FYI - there's going to be a live webcast). The real reason I am going, is for the activities surrounding the Convention. Activists from across the country (and around the world) are making their way to Denver, to host and participate in dozens of events, parties, dinners, fundraisers, and at least two film festivals.

Personally, I'm also interested in studying how the use of internet and email for this Convention, which they themselves are calling "the most technologically savvy of its kind". For instance, they've set up a website called America's Town Hall where anyone can submit text or video questions for the Convention. They have apparently also scattered YouTube video recording kiosks around the Denver venue so people can record comments on the spot. Is it democracy in action, or just clever marketing? I think it depends how they use it.

The mood promises to be quite different from the Democratic Convention in 2004 where Boston police struggled to get anti-war protestors to remain inside a fenced area during daily protests. I still remember meeting 4 College Republicans who took turns wearing a giant foam flip flop (remember Kerry the "flip-flopper") who couldn't understand why people were being so mean to them. Of course, the left is still mad about the war and Bush, but Obama's dreamy message of hope and change and Bush's guaranteed exit, has got people thinking more positively.

Solana Larsen

On the South Asian group blog, Sepia Mutiny, blogger and Duke University professor, Amardeep Singh, wonders whether Republican presidential candidate John McCain might seriously be considering Indian-American Louisiana governor, Bobby Jindal as his running mate.

"I know it's crazy, but maybe it isn't as crazy as it sounds," wrote the blogger when he first suggested the idea in February. The New York Times now seems to think it's a possibility in an article this week, and American radio host Rush Limbaugh has also echoed the idea.

Jindal was born in Lousiana to Punjabi Indian parents. He used to be a Hindu, but converted to Catholicism after high school.

In his post, Singh argues that if Barack Obama wins the nomination of the Democratic Party, John McCain will end up looking "very old and very white".

Solana Larsen

Today, I spoke to Desmond Tutu, Mary Robinson, and Graca Machel on the phone. I wish I could say that happened often! Global Voices Online was asked to invite only six bloggers to participate in a conference call to help spread the word about their new alliance of 13 world leaders, The Elders, and the campaign they are launching tomrorrow called Every Human has Rights. I joined from Berlin. The Elders were in Cape Town, taking a break from talking to UNICEF youth leaders on CNN.

Tomorrow is Human Rights Day and the beginning of the 60th anniversary for the UN Declaration of Human Rights. These world leaders of activists are marking it with an effort to "reclaim human rights for individuals". Inspired by the possibilities of new technology, they are reaching out to world citizens and asking them to tell their own stories of resistance and survival, and broadcast them through blogs and citizen video networks like The Hub.

The Elders have also launched an online petition in support of the Declaration of Human Rights. Desmond Tutu said he would like to see “a billion” signatures on it. I wonder how many have even read it? Considering the enormous mailing lists of organizations like Amnesty International, UNICEF, Action Aid, and other who are partnering in the effort, it shouldn’t take too long to reach the first million signatures. But 1 billion signatures? Has that even been done before?

Solana Larsen

My old friend Peter Kimani in Nairobi has just added a comment to Anthony Barnett's article on the World Social Forum. The local perspective is harsh. He says the entry fees were too high for the poor; the meeting failed "pitifully" to raise awarness about Kenyan issues; and calls it "a veritable market for Capitalists".

I don't think anyone's every said that about the World Social Forum before...

The sounds of music echo downtown Nairobi, as agile dancers in bright red shukas (loin clothes) make gentle gyrations to the reverberations of the drums.

The dancers are not here to announce the onset of a great arts festival but to lure customers to the Kenyan affiliate of Barclays Bank with unsecured loans of up to Sh1 million (9,000 pounds).

01 - 02 - 07

Comment...

Solana Larsen

For the past week I've sat in on a civil court case so boring you will never read about it in a newspaper.

The attorneys were shoddy, the witnesses were all lying, and even the court reporter looked like she was ready to explode. The defendant no longer owns the property. The alleged accident took place six years ago.
 
This is jury duty.
 
I received a summons in the mail over a month ago.
 
Dozens of us were shuffled into empty courtrooms. The lights were switched off. Three TVs began to broadcast the history of trials in the "old times" of England.
 
"These were the days before juries were invented…"
 
A group of actors dressed in sacks, threw a man into the water. His arms and legs were bound. If he floated, he was obviously guilty. If he sank he was innocent.
 
He sank. Then his friends pulled him out of the water and everyone started dancing.
 
Ed Bradley from 60 Minutes appeared on camera and began to explain what jury duty is, and how it's a privilege for citizens of a democracy to participate in the justice system.
 
It is also their duty, and they are fined up to $1000 if they don't.
 
Lights were switched on, and a sorting process began.
 
Convicted felons do not have to serve. Mothers with small children do not have to serve. A Chinese translator stepped up and said people who don’t speak English do not have to serve.
 
Everyone else was sent to the juror's lounge, where there were computers, wireless internet, TVs hanging from the walls, and at least three vending machines.
 
More than a hundred people sat and waited for their names to be called out.
 
Mine was called quickly, and I was herded with 20 other people over to another building where two fidgety attorneys met us. They wanted to know if we were renters or homeowners, and whether there was any reason we couldn't serve.
 
One guy had "deep philosophical differences". Another said he would always find the tenant guilty.
 
Eight of us were selected. They chose everyone young and everyone Hispanic. And they got rid of all the homeowners.
 
Juries in Brooklyn must be a lot more interesting than in a lot of other places. A random sample of the population is so diverse that conversation in the jury room is never boring.
 
In our little group we had a housewife who owns a cat named Lollipop, a Puerto Rican-Guyanese doorman, a Puerto Rican subway conductor, a Dominican sales representative, an engineer with the Federal Aviation Administration, an African American doctor, and a waiter from Massachusetts who studied international relations in Amsterdam. And me.
 
OK, maybe it was a little boring.
 
The days kept getting longer, and the case dragged on over a week. The attorneys seemed to be making things up as they went along, and the witnesses were so incoherent and self-contradicting, that even they themselves didn't know what they were saying.
 
"Please remember this case is important to Mr. Rodriguez," said his attorney. And we did feel sorry for him. He was 60 but looked 80 and claimed that his living room ceiling had fallen on his head in 2001. "I turned around, and it fell on my head," he said.
 
But even the ambulance report said he wasn't seriously hurt.
 
Pictures were submitted in evidence, but no one could agree on what date they were taken or even what rooms they depicted. All we could see was an apartment in need of repair.
 
The landlord and her handyman Steve disagreed on the size of the hole that was left in the ceiling. "It was much smaller", they said. "He must have poked it with a broom".
 
Testimony indicated holes in the ceiling, rats in the kitchen, and plumbing that was allowed to deteriorate until it brought down the bathroom ceiling (and maybe others).
 
Rent was $500 a month for a two-bedroom apartment in Brooklyn – about one third of the going rate, but that’s no excuse to have tenants living in squalor.
 
We found the landlord guilty, although from what she told us, she seemed to be living under exactly the same conditions in a building across the street.
 
The whole experience was surreal. We were complete strangers with no legal expertise, torn from our everyday lives to consider the situation of some very unfortunate people.
 
If we had thrown the landlady in the water, she would definitely have sunk. But the law says landlords must keep apartments habitable if they are renting them out.

Solana Larsen

This Saturday thousands of protesters are jumping on buses to Washington DC to protest the war in Iraq. The behemoth coalition United for Peace and Justice is organising. Over a thousand organisations are represented.

I spoke to an organiser from the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) today and she said their buses from all boroughs of New York will be packed. Indeed, some are saying this will be the biggest march since the war began.

Solana Larsen

Brave New Films (the folks who brought you the Walmart and Fox News movies) have launched a new project to create an online video memorial for the more than 3000 American soldiers that have died in the war so far. People who have experienced a lost can upload a testimonial to the Iraq Veterans Memorial.

Seen in the context of the US media landscape, this is important because there has been virtually no coverage of their deaths or funerals in the media here. At least nothing in comparison to what we see in other European countries or even Puerto Rico. It's like it never happened.

Solana Larsen

On World Aids Day, a campaign to get development guru and Columbia University professor Jeffey Sachs to run for the US presidency in 2008. I think his chances are probably slimmer than even Hillary or Barak Obama. Or even Bono. But ain't it true? The world would be a different place.

If Scotland really does become an independent republic, I think openDemocracy's editor Isabel Hilton would make a great president.

Solana Larsen

You may be one of those readers who's never managed to find openDemocracy's discussion forums. For others, like insomniac Matt Murrell, it's a testing ground for all sorts of political opinions, "a God-send" (says the atheist). Too bad, he complains, the discussion is a "tad barren at the moment". Suggestions for how spice it up anyone?

Solana Larsen

Some people (James Crabtree) call it loony, but a group of Democrats are now stepping up their campaign to get Bush impeached. In tune with the Democratic Party's current catch phrase about "American voters calling for change" they've named their campaign Impeach for Change. I wonder if they really think they can do it, or are just itching for a chance to make Bush look bad (correction: really bad). They're hosting an event in Philadelphia on Saturday to kick it all off and they've got Cindy Sheehan as one of many headliners. Tickets and details here. All we have to do now, is catch Bush getting jiggy with an intern.

Solana Larsen

Bolstered by US election results The Ceasefire Campaign strikes again (peacefully). Last time it was Lebanon, now they appeal for signatures of support to call for a whithdrawal of troops in Iraq. They are publishing the final amount of signatures in newspaper ads in the US and UK. You can sign here.

Solana Larsen

They threw the most popular liberal and conservative bloggers a liveblogging party. "Are you influential?" the CNN reporter asked Americablog author John Aravosis. If they weren't before, they certainly are now. Check out their blogroll.

Solana Larsen

 

Volunteers across America have been uploading videos of their local voting stations to videothevote.org. I think this is a pretty creative and constructive way to talk about voter supression.

 

Solana Larsen

Danish newspaper, Information, profiled openDemocracy and its Danish representative (me) the other day. I would have linked to it earlier, except it was locked behind an archive barrier. This in itself was slightly ironic, seeing that I was talking about the importance of opening things up in the online news world, linking generously to other websites, and entering into dialogue with others. The title of the piece was "Set global news free".

One of Information's own bloggers, Henrik Føhns, picked up on the irony and the article has duly been set free. Hurray! One small battle won, now how do we get them to set all the others free too?!

Solana Larsen

So, I'm in Denmark representing openDemocracy at the New Media Days conference in Copenhagen. Doc Searls gave the opening session today, and I joined him and three others for the closing. If anyone wants to know what I sound like in Danish, click here. It's mainly media industry professionals, and I think some might have been puzzled about what they might learn from a non-profit like openDemocracy.

I like to think we are on to something which will help old media survive in the future: quality analysis, local perspectives, immediacy and global awareness. Really, who wants to read the same news story 6000 times?

Solana Larsen

Here is an awesome round-up from Global Voices of what bloggers are saying on all continents to mark the fifth anniversary of 9/11.
 
Hello from NY where 9/11 passed quite uneventfully. The NY Post had a big picture of Bush holding hands with a mother who lost two sons - a fireman and a police officer - at a memorial service. The funny thing was the woman said she and her husband had decided they couldn't be bothered to go to the event, but then Bush's people called and asked her to go. What an honour. So much toying with the media on these occasions. You can just imagine it: "Hey get me that 9/11 widow on the horn, we need photo opps for tommorow."

Solana Larsen

If you ask me, Forbe's ranking system is a little ridiculous (Angela Merkel beats Oprah Winfrey!) but here's their take on who the world's most powerful women are. Perhaps we might find more Bad Democracy candidates here. I'm happy to see Tom Burgis addressing the gender imbalance this month!

Solana Larsen

The UN has created its first ever women-only peacekeeping force, which will be deployed in Liberia. The women are all Indian police officers, and are expected to be "tough" but "more approachable" than men.
 

Solana Larsen

Times are a-changing in China. From Shanghaiist: 

In Bejing, a gay website has recently been started by the Chinese government. The site promotes HIV/AIDS awareness and has a chatroom for homosexuals to talk about their feelings. Shanghaiist is not sure how many gay men want to share their deepest, darkest thoughts on a website where the government is the webmaster, but if you are interested, you can check out this article to learn more.

22 - 08 - 06

Comment...

Solana Larsen

In the media biz it's often considered a mark of success to get criticism from both left and right - as if that in itself were an expression of balance. At openDemocracy we don't strive for balance or even pretend to. Our goal is to present readers with a range of views and create an environment where people feel welcomed and challenged no matter what they opine. We still get our fair share of hate mail and negative blog posts from people who are ready to judge on individual articles, funders, or contributors.

Solana Larsen

About 100 student journalists will be attending a summit on international news this weekend organised by Americans for Informed Democracy and supported by openDemocracy. It's not too late to join the free one-day event if you happen to be in the region of New Haven, Connecticut on Saturday.