March 2008
Monthly Archive
March 31, 2008
Posted by sandrabanjac under
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And here is Australia’s reaction to the the release of Geert Wilders’ film Fitna.
Australia being as multicultural as it is and with a large Muslim community, it comes as no surprise that the Foreign Minister Stephen Smith has expressed outrage and disagreement with the film.
In the below article Mr. Smith has been quoted saying that the film is an “obvious attempt to generate discord between faith communities”. He also added that “in Australia we believe in the right to freedom of expression but we don’t believe in abusing that right to incite racial hatred.”
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23455556-12377,00.html
Having discussed the numerous definitions of the “freedom of speech” and likewise the abuse of it when it is used to insult, where does Fitna fit into all this?
March 27, 2008
Posted by daniellebatist under
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Hi All,
Just to inform you the long-debated Wilders movie has been released tonight. “Fitna” can be found here:
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=ee4_1206625795
March 26, 2008
Posted by ricardovalp under
Uncategorized | Tags:
Blumler,
Brants,
Chavez,
El Salvador,
Erasmus Mundus,
Funes,
Hugo,
infortainment,
Latin America,
Latinoamérica,
Mauricio,
media,
Venezuela |
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I have to admit that, sometimes, I do my best to fit Western media theories into the Latin American puzzle. But I, also, confess that I fail once in a while. Well crafted European concepts seem to vanish against turbulent, cruel, polarized and ultra-politicized Latin American public spheres.
I wonder how discussions about “infotainment” – a genre that mixes information and entertainment – would adapt to the reality of Venezuela and El Salvador, where mainstream media and leftist politics are constantly struggling with each other and dreaming to have complete dominance of public spheres? In what extent, Jary G. Blumler’s theory about the transformation of politics into a world of “slogans, images and racy soundbites” would be valid in countries where some people still attend elections with the only intention of receiving a free lunch? Would Kees Brants‘ remark that politics “also cast terrain of domestic life” still be relevant in media landscapes where populism is a historic disease in politics?
A war approach seems a better way to understand some Latin American countries, instead of using stable and European patterns. The history of European state-controlled media contrasts with the regions turbulent past in which public spheres were seen as cruel battlefields, and media merely as soldiers in a conflict. For example, in Venezuela, president Hugo Chavez challenges the trend of the retreat of governments from media business. Chavez assures the future belongs to Telesur (www.telesurtv.net), a transnational television network in which left-wing Latin American governments are share holders. Within the boundaries of the South American country, Chavez strengthens the importance of state owned and alternative radio and television stations in a clear challenge to the traditional mainstream media.
In El Salvador, the next presidential election will be played, also, on a polarized chessboard. Left and right-wing Salvadorean parties are recruiting media persons to influence the tailoring of the news. While ARENA, the right wing party, pulls the thread of the complaisent mainstream media, Mauricio Funes, a former journalist and current FMLN´s leftist presidential candidate, impulses a new concept of journalism with closer ties to the left wing.
Once in a while, I believe European theoretical tools can be insufficient to portray media realities in Third World countries. Brants´ and Blumler’s debate about if “infotainment” is an unavoidable reality or a dangerous menace for liberal democracy can be seen merely as a peaceful interpretation for, more or less, peaceful public spheres. Not for Latin America which needs different tools to examine its media anathomy.
March 26, 2008
Posted by daniellebatist under
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March 26, 2008
In a foreign city the best refuge is the book. Between its pages not only can one find a calm from the pressures of living in an alien land but also entertainment or knowledge and, if lucky, both.
On the first day in Amsterdam even as one dodged cycles and just about managed not to fall in one of the canals on way to the university one managed to note the location of a second-hand book. A hesitant entry the next day proved propitious — a whole range of books, in English and long coveted. The copious supply of English books was a pleasant surprise. For, at the last halt in another European city, there had been plenty of books, but mostly in Danish.
And Amsterdam had unending supplies of book, practically at every corner and in every market. Since then it has been a series of discovery of books — in proper bookshops, impromptu stalls, flea-markets and even second-hand clothes shops. One only wishes one had the money to buy many, if not all, of them. This and the problem of storing and carting have curbed one from losing control.
Just as one was thinking of looking up the book culture of Amsterdam, came some illumination from Amsterdam Weekly’s March 11-13 issue. A special on books, it reported the Dutch Book Foundation as revealing that in 2007 more than 45 million book copies were sold in the Netherlands. It had more: The historically renowned centre of the printed word, Amsterdam would become the UNESCO World Book Capital in April and then in May host the world’s biggest book market.
It may be easy to sell books in Amsterdam but attracting the buyer to your store may not be easy. This is where window-dressing comes in. As with many other things, the Dutch seem to take this seriously enough to have thematic competitions and award prizes. This week, Bookblad, the trade magazine for publishers, is to have its nationwide window-dressing competition with Old Age as the theme.
In this milieu, curiously anachronistic sounds an international symposium that the Amsterdam Public Library is hosting on “The Book in the Internet Era: Copyright and the Future for Authors, Publishers and Libraries’. However much the computer may have become the arbiter of our lives it cannot hope to match the magic of the book — its reality, its peculiar smell, its feel, the rustling of the pages….
js
March 20, 2008
Posted by neeltjebollen under
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Saturday at 13.00, a demonstration will be held at the Dam in Amsterdam, against Wilders.
http://www.nederlandbekentkleur.nl/
Although it is the international day against racism, this demonstration will mainly focus on Wilders. The organizers say they want to give voice to the people who are ‘ done’ with Wilders.
Also, a company called Mediamatic initiated a project in which Dutch people dressed up as Wilders say ‘ sorry’ for his movie Fitna.
http://www.vk.tv/video/19814
A lot of Dutch people are embarrased for Wilders and by shooting these ‘ sorry’ videos and them posting them on youtube under the names: Fitna and Geert Wilders, Mediamatic hopes that when Fitna is finally spread through internet, people searching for this movie also see all Dutch people saying sorry.
What do youi guys think of this? Will this change people’s perspective on the Netherlands? I thought the ‘ sorry’ video was quite a funny idea, but was wondering whether Osama will be impressed by all these drunken Dutch, dressing up as Wilders, using their funny voices to say sorry……
Shoot!
March 11, 2008
Posted by neeltjebollen under
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I was wondering what my very multicultural classmates think of the following tv-fragment:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knRLJp-nqSg&feature=related
It has been chosen TV-moment of the year. You see very famous comedian Hans Teeuwen who defends himself for insulting the three muslim-showhosts in a song.
Shoot!