Una delle cose piu’ in voga di questi tempi e’ interpellarsi su cosa siano i blog, la loro utilita’ e la loro funzione sociale. Alessandro Gilioli ci segnala come, attraverso i blog, sia possibile seguire quello che sta succedendo a Rangoon e dintorni, dove a quanto pare, essere giornalisti in questo momento e’ un po’ pericoloso.
Poi, leggendo Dellaplane, sono venuto a conoscenza di un’altra iniziativa (un meme, in gergo), forse inutile. Ma in questo momento mi pare che ci sia bisogno di fare un po’ di casino e quindi copio e incollo (e visto che oggi va cosi’ lo metto in rosso):
Post this Meme on Your Blog! Note: This is a new kind of online protest that uses blogs to spread a petition globally. To participate, just add your blog by following the instructions in this blog post.This not an issue of partisan politics, this is an issue of basic human rights and democracy. Please help to prevent a human tragedy in Burma by adding your blog and asking others to do the same.
By passing this meme on through the blogosphere hopefully we can generate more awareness and avert a serious tragedy. As concerned world-citizens this something we bloggers can do to help.
How to participate:
1. Copy this entire post to your blog, including this special number: 1081081081234
2. After a few days, you can search Google for the number 1081081081234 to find all blogs that are participating in this protest and petition. Note: Google indexes blogs at different rates, so it could take longer for your blog to show up in the results.
THE SITUATION IN BURMA AND WHY IT MATTERS TO ALL OF US
There is no press freedom in Burma and the government has started turning off the Internet and other means of communication, so it is difficult to get news out. Individuals on the ground have been sending their day-by-day reports to the BBC, and they are heartbreaking. I encourage you to read these accounts to see for yourself what is really going on in Burma. Please include this link in your own blog post.
The situation in Burma is increasingly dangerous. Hundreds of thousands of unarmed peaceful protesters, including monks and nuns, are risking their lives to march for democracy against an unpopular but well-armed military dictatorship that will stop at nothing to continue its repressive rule. While the generals in power and their families are literally dripping in gold and diamonds, the people of Burma are impoverished, deprived of basic human rights, cut off from the rest of the world, and increasingly under threat of violence.
This week the people of Burma have risen up collectively in the largest public demonstrations against the ruling Junta in decades. It’s an amazing show of bravery, decency, and democracy in action. But although these protests are peaceful, the military rulers are starting to crack down with violence. Already there have been at least several reported deaths, and hundreds of critical injuries from soldiers beating unarmed civilians to the point of death.
The actual fatalities and injuries are probably far worse, but the only news we have is coming from individuals who are sneaking reports past the authorities. Unfortunately it looks like a large-scale blood-bath may ensue — and the victims will be mostly women, children, the elderly and unarmed monks and nuns.
Contrary to what the Burmese, Chinese and Russian governments have stated, this is not merely a local internal political issue, it is an issue of global importance and it affects the global community. As concerned citizens, we cannot allow any government anywhere in the world to use its military to attack and kill peacefully demonstrating, unarmed citizens.
In this modern day and age violence against unarmed civilians is unacceptable and if it is allowed to happen, without serious consequences for the perpetrators, it creates a precedent for it to happen again somewhere else. If we want a more peaceful world, it is up to each of us to make a personal stand on these fundamental issues whenever they arise.
Please join me in calling on the Burmese government to negotiate peacefully with its citizens, and on China to intervene to prevent further violence. And please help to raise awareness of the developing situation in Burma so that hopefully we can avert a large-scale human disaster there.
Sono al lavoro, non ho esitato un attimo a pubblicare il meme e mi ripromettevo di tornarci su appena ne avessi avuto il tempo, ma su almeno un paio di cose rispondo subito.
Sarà inutile, ma va fatto; una catena di sant’Antonio senza i problemi, i pericoli e le ambiguità di tante iniziative del genere.
Alcuni miei colleghi hanno addosso qualcosa di rosso per solidarietà; ho solo una felpa di quel colore ma doveva andare in lavatrice da un po’, e mi sono limitato all’arancione.
A Caterpillar si stanno collegando, in questi ultimi due giorni, con un nostro compatriota in Birmania: ascoltatelo in podcast, se non lo avete fatto dal vivo: sta raccontando quel che accade come meglio non si potrebbe, e quel che si sente tra le parole non può non far venir voglia di fare qualcosa.
Poi del ruolo dei blog ne riparliamo
Dellaplane: come vedi anche io l’ho fatto. Penso che cose del genere non cambino le sorti di un paese (in questo senso dico “inutile”), ma se servono a far aumentare di visibilita’ un problema che spesso da noi e’ sorpassato nelle cronache dai pruriti di Mastella, e’ un fatto ben positivo.
Stamattina mentre venivo qui al lavoro tremavo un po’ dal freddo, ma ostentavo la mia felpa rossa (appena un po’ scolorita) con tanto orgoglio. E se l’ho fatto e’ anche perche’ ho sentito, come te, il nostro compatriota di Caterpillar.
Sul ruolo dei blog, temo che non smetteremo proprio mai di parlarne. Forse e’ per questo che i blog esistono.
(mamma mia, ho fatto un autocommento piu’ lungo di un post)
Ehi, non so neanch’io se serve… Ma a mettergli un po’ di fiato sul collo più siamo e meglio è!