Working and Practicing

Citizens speak on proposed Vancouver Casino

2011-03-08T15:35:00.001+09:00

(Here is a story I just wrote in 30 minutes in a mock webfile for a class at my college. I am going to invest in a smartphone, as I had to race back home from city hall on the bus to meet my professor's deadline!)

Over 200 people showed up to Vancouver City Hall last night to have their say on the proposed expanded casino next to BC Place, and after hearing from the applicants and staff only a handful of union representatives had the opportunity at press time.

Council voted to extend the hearing an hour, yet after hearing from the applicants — Paragon Gaming, PavCo and the B.C. Lottery Corporation — and city hall staff, there was only enough time to hear from a handful of citizens all union representatives who spoke in favour of the casino proposal.

Outside council chambers a rowdy overflow crowd of over 100 people sat and stood watching the proceedings, Mayor Robertson requested respect for the applicants several times.

"This is an important debate, I respect it," said David Podmore, head of PavCo — the government company that owns the land next to BC Place.

Vocal anti-casino protesters outnumbered two-to-one a group of about 50 Edgewater casino employees all wearing yellow T-shirts with the slogan “Save Our Jobs.”

“In 2013 our lease is up at our current location and if this project does not go through approval by the city that means 600-plus employees are out of work,” said CAW 300 spokeswoman and Edgewater PR representative Lesley Harris.

Many protesters rallied out front of city hall before the hearing under the banner “Vancouver Not Vegas.”

Proposal critic and renowned architect Bing Thom said outside city hall, “The government has become addicted to the gambling revenues, [to them] it's easy money."

Councillors were critical of these projected revenues in their questioning of the applicant’s numbers.

Council also critiqued the lack of weight the applicants put on the social problems the expanded casino might bring and BCLC president Michael Graydon admitted the BCLC has no ability to ascertain spending habits of problem gamblers in casinos.

Obvious News: Vancouver will still have hundreds of homeless people in 2015

2011-02-04T05:38:00.001+09:00


Chris Huggins (Flickr)/photo

Planning department shows city still has considerable challenges if it wants make good on mayor's promise to end homelessness in the next decade.

A new report from city hall says 450 new housing units are needed to end homelessness in Vancouver by 2015.

City Manager Penny Ballem’s report garnered praise from councillors during a festive Lunar New Year session. Only Coun. Suzanne Anton questioned the projected shortfalls and the secrecy of the report.

“To me, my conclusion [from the report] was that 450 units will solve homelessness in Vancouver. Well… no,” Anton said. “450 units will not solve homelessness."

Thomas Quine (Flickr)/photo

The report projects - despite the city’s partnership with BC Housing creating 14 new supportive housing sites by 2012 - the city will still be short hundreds of units by 2015. This shortfall will increase 750 units by 2020 to a total of 1,200 units if additional housing is not provided.

“Elimination of homelessness is quite realistic, it could be rolled back province-wide by an investment equivalent to the new stadium roof — $568 million,” said Coun. Geoff Meggs. “All that's missing is political will.”

Anton, the lone councillor outside of Mayor Gregor Robertson’s ruling coalition, believes these numbers are greatly undervalued.

“There’s about 7,000 built now, so there really needs to be 3,000 more to properly accommodate all the people who are living [downtown],” Anton said. “I think the mayor was looking for a real political solution to his election promise.”

Anton was also disappointed with lack of transparency in the report. “I thought it was a disgrace to democracy that it was brought in that forum so that nobody had any notice of it.

Coun. Suzanne Anton

“It was a PowerPoint [presentation] and council didn't even have it in front of them. There was no opportunity to properly challenge it or question it or prod it or to see what it actually meant,” Anton said. “This mayor is famous for his disinterest in hearing from people. And presenting it in this way so nobody could address the subject was very odd indeed.”

Coun. Tim Stevenson thinks the report — on which the city will hear from the public and report back to council by the end of April — and its compiling of concrete numbers is another step in a larger process of understanding Vancouver’s homeless began by previous administrations.

“I've been awaiting this report for a number of years and it is excellent in my opinion,” Stevenson said. It will certainly lead us into the future.”

The report focused on mapping the city’s total homeless population, supportive housing and rental units. The report claimed only 10 per cent of Vancouver’s homeless — largely single men — come from other provinces, dispelling a popular myth that many migrate to get away from cold winters further East.

The Community Services department will conduct another count of the city’s homeless population Mar. 16, 2011, as part of its annual report card on the issue.

The report stressed the need for 12 to 15 more supportive housing sites to close the eventual 1,200-unit gap by 2020.

“There's no question that the only way to get adequate housing is for senior levels of government to help with the funding,” Anton said. “The best housing is when there's partnerships with the city — which is usually land and facilitation services — BC Housing non-profit groups and the province.

“That's what puts housing together right now.”

The report can be found here : http://vancouver.ca/ctyclerk/cclerk/20110201/documents/HousingandHomelessnessStrategy.pdf

Theatre Review : Studio 58's "The Comedy of Errors"

2011-01-31T06:34:00.001+09:00

Directed by Scott Bellis. A Studio 58 and Langara College production sponsored by the Langara College Theatre Arts Advisory Committee. At Studio 58 on Thursday, Jan. 27. Continues until Feb. 20.

Studio 58’s newest production surprised viewers with its dark update of Shakespeare’s mistaken identity masterpiece.

The play was a manic success in the capable hands of director Scott Bellis, a veteran actor, founding member of Bard on the Beach and grad of the Langara’s vaunted theatre program.

The reimagining of Ephesus as a dark industrial town meshed well with the opening scene’s choreography, which was set to the soundtrack of Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes film. The set channeled the look and feel of that movie and Naomi Sider’s macabre costumes were straight out of a Tim Burton film.

The juxtaposition between the script and setting was a little jarring at the outset of the dialogue. However, Shakespearean soliloquys soon found a comfortable home in this parallel universe where policemen tote revolvers and conjurers dole out electroshock therapy. The giant steam clock and the town’s electrical grid repeatedly blacked out as a hunchbacked repair man precipitated scene changes or freeze frames where one character would step out for a monologue.

With a story revolving around two sets of identical twins and their repeatedly mistaken identities, the four actors created palpable characterizations and you often found yourself forgetting that one Dromio had departed the stage and another had come on.

The identical twin brothers named Antipholus, and their twin servants the Dromios, have been estranged for years until Antipholus of Syracuse, played by the capricious Anton Lipovetsky, arrives in his brother’s town and is promptly caught up in controversy over his twin’s supposed adultery.

One of the most memorable scenes has both sets of twins rebuking each other from a revolving doorway as it spins out of control and the characters fall further into madness. Throughout the production characters banter back and forth rapid fire and there were no signs of opening night jitters.

The script is one of the bard’s dirtiest, and demonstrates that filthy jokes told between buddies are still funny even when referencing geography in old English.

The gigantic Joel Ballard plays the portly cook at the butt end of the jokes and his disturbing take on Nell steals the show. Nell is constantly longing for one of the Dromio twins and punctuates each temporary defeat with an unbridled Chewbacca warble. Bellis admitted in the talkback session this was a clear homage to the beloved Star Wars wookie.

The rest of the cast put in strong performances, with notable contributions by Pandora Morgan as a vampy courtesan and Paula Burrows as the altruistic Luciana.

As good as the ensemble was, it could not save viewers from the drawn out denouement where each character’s problems immediately vanish in an unbelievable scene.

Overall this was an ambitious and dark new take on a classic play with a surprisingly malleable script.

Too (East) Asian?

2010-12-03T11:37:00.001+09:00

photo: insidehighered.com

In Maclean’s 2010 university rankings issue writers Stephanie Findlay and Nicholas Köhler pushed the boundaries of responsible journalism.

In the article ‘Too Asian’? Findlay and Köhler explore the demographics of Canadian universities, yet do so with biased racial overtones cloaked in their presentation of a supposedly widely-held viewpoint.

One of the core tenets of quality journalism is responsibility. Journalists have a responsibility to engage their readers in thoughtful debate and provide necessary context to controversial ideas or events. If the media provides a free marketplace of both good and bad ideas eventually the good ideas will prevail and become common wisdom.

However, fringe or discriminatory ideas need not be given equal weight if they are clearly inaccurate. This is why media outlets like the CBC now refuse to include climate change skeptics as counterweights to scientists in global warming articles.

Maclean’s had no obligation to focus so heavily on this belief that Canadian universities are suffering from increasing ‘Asian’ enrolment. A specific population of foreign citizens becoming a large presence at many of the nation’s top universities might warrant a news feature. Yet, the insidious thing about this article is that both Canadian (Canadians from an East Asian background) students and foreign ‘Asian’ students are lumped together, blurring the line between the two and bringing into question such Canadians place in the national fabric.

“‘Too Asian’ is not about racism, say students like Alexandra : many white students simply believe that competing with Asians—both Asian Canadians and international students—requires a sacrifice of time and freedom they’re not willing to make,” stated the article. After attributing this view to white students, the term ‘Asian’ is used to refer to both Canadian citizens and international ‘Asian’ students.

The article tries to create conflict between two vast and poorly delineated groups of students in an attempt to construct news value. Do the reservations some white Canadians have about working hard to get into a prestigious university warrant a news feature detailing the humanity of their struggle? It may, if students come from disadvantaged backgrounds or are overcoming adversity in some way. But to juxtapose the plight of lazy students against hardworking students from different ethnic backgrounds hardly strives for one of journalism’s crucial goals of informing the citizenry.

The annual university issue is arguably Maclean’s most popular each year, and the editors must have known the ramifications of putting this article in this issue. There are more than two thousand comments in response to the article online and numerous blogs, print and broadcast media have discussed whether or not it crossed the line. Maclean’s was clearly more focused on stirring up controversy – and publicity – than bringing anything constructive to the national conversation on multiculturalism.

The article is premised on the belief that the racist opinions of a select group of students can be extrapolated to represent a larger group of Canadians. Twice the article quotes a professor saying that ‘Asians’ are being treated like Jews were in the early 20th Century. This scary parallel does not prompt the authors to examine this discrimination, but through direct quotes from other sources they give voice to it.

The reporters are uncritical in their use of the term ‘Asian.’ Journalism is supposed to push the public discourse forward through objective and accurate reporting. By using the term Asian prominently, the journalists neglect their duty to provide context and accuracy.

The Asian continent contains more than half of the earth’s population. An ‘Asian’ could come from countries as diverse as Japan, Kazakhstan or Bangladesh. If one of the purposes of the article was to spark debate, then a more constructive one could be initiated by first casting a critical eye on such a problematic word.

The article cites a study commissioned by the Ontario provincial government and released in October. This study is more thoughtful than the Maclean’s article in using the ‘Asian’ tag and instead refers to students “who immigrated from East Asia.” Even a small distinction like this improves public discourse by deconstructing a monolithic term like ‘Asian.’ If journalists around the world stopped reducing diverse places into singular labels like ‘Africa,’ people might be better informed and able to grasp the complexities of the world outside their borders.

Latent prejudice is peppered throughout the article, where the authors alternately praise the Canadian post-secondary education system and then raise open-ended questions about its current state as “too Asian.” The article stated, “Canadian universities, apart from highly competitive professional programs and faculties… rely entirely on transcripts. Likely that is a good thing. And yet, that meritocratic process results, especially in Canada’s elite university programs, in a concentration of Asian students.” The readers are left to decide whether a concentration of ‘Asian’ students is desirable.

By following “Likely that is a good thing,” with “And yet,” casts a negative light on the second sentence. Journalists should not tell readers how to think about a topic, they are only there to provide what to think about. Again the article repeats this “dilemma” facing Canadian institutions: act as meritocracies yet receive too many ‘Asian’ students.

Mike Hager

Shirley we'll miss him...

2010-12-03T11:22:00.002+09:00

photo: grarg.net

(Ed. Note: This piece ran in the Langara Voice on Monday, I have been slow to post it but take some time and let me know what you think. I have been incredibly slow posting since the summertime, I'm going to upload a bunch of pieces that I have completed during my certificate program. I was assigned these stories to cover for the newspaper.)

Canada lost its king of deadpan last Sunday as actor Leslie Nielsen passed away at the age of 84.

The utilitarian actor worked for decades in over 100 movies and numerous TV shows before he redefined himself as a funny man after the 1980 hit, Airplane! He died due to complications with pneumonia.

“Even when he was in the early part of his career, doing the serious movies and TV, he was always very down-to-earth, had a quick wit and a great sense of humour,” said Doug Nielsen, Nielsen’s nephew who lives in Richmond.

“I would see that humour in him all the time when we got together and had a glass of wine,” Doug said.

Nielsen perfected the straight-faced delivery of ridiculous lines now the bread and butter of comedians like Stephen Colbert and George Carlin. Yet many of Langara’s younger students might remember Nielsen as Mr. Magoo.

Nielsen worked as a villain in TV and movies for decades before jumping at the chance to move to comedy.

“After he read the script of Airplane! he actually said to his agent that he’d do the movie for free. He just loved the whole idea,” said Doug.

B. J. Summers, manager at the Videomatica movie rental store, thinks Nielsen’s image as a bad guy added to the effectiveness of his comedic roles.

“That’s who he was for the longest time,” Summers said. “And that’s why it was so funny that people recognized his face and he delivered his lines like he always did, so deadpan and so real.”

Videomatica has a memorial shelf for Nielsen including many comedies like the Naked Gun series and also his lesser-known dramas.

Nielsen was born in Regina and moved around the prairies with his family. He said in previous interviews he started developing acting skills when he used to lie to his strict Mountie father. Nielsen’s brother Erik was deputy prime minister in the 1980s and also died at age 84.

South Korea: Top 5 Ways Seoul's Residents Deal With Population Density

2010-05-05T23:03:00.112+09:00

Seoul and its surrounding conurbation is home to over 24 million people who live packed cheek-to-cheek in an area almost eight times more crowded than New York. How do residents living in the developed world's densest city cope with everyday life in this bustling metropolis and its suburbs? How does everyone refrain from killing each other? Here is a countdown of the five most important ways Seoul and its residents try to make it all work.

5. Urban Oases : People here have various opportunities to escape the crushing weight of humanity found within Greater Seoul. Dark dens of clanking keyboards, PC bangs (PC방) are the top destination for many of Seoul’s younger generations. Teens and young adults immerse themselves in virtual worlds where lonely heroes roam the open plains. Others seek out the multi-tiered bathhouse/lounge called the jim-jil-bang (찜질방 or 사우나), which were aptly described by a friend as "adult day-care". The typical jim-jil-bang contains different saunas, hot and cold tubs, a fitness room, comic book library, sleeping nooks, big screen TVs as well as a cafeteria and their very own PC room. At any hour, people of all ages come and pay the affordable fees in order to relax. The Great Outdoors do exist as most neighbourhoods are close to a mountain where people can get away from the summer heat or omnipresent rumble of traffic. The mountains are covered with trails of varying difficulty, outdoor gyms with interesting machinery (i.e. spinning a big captain's wheel or inverted situps) and picnic areas. Popular ways to kick back away from the masses also include kicking out the jams at private karaoke rooms, hitting the links in virtual golf rooms, and visiting beauty spas or hair salons for a perm beloved by Koreans of all ages.

4. Innovative Space-saving Ideas: Seoul, like many East Asian cities, operates on several vertical planes, and its residents are creative in their use of cramped quarters. Hectares of retail space fill the subterranean walkways that perforate the city like an anthill. With urban fairways few and far between, driving ranges dot the golf-crazed cityscape. These green mesh monsters sit overtop crowded parking lots everywhere. Underneath the nylon netting and booming drivers, Hyundai drivers play an oversize game of Tetris. Cars in packed parking lots are left double-parked in neutral with their owner's phone number in the windshield. One can push the neutral cars out of the way or call the owner to come and move them.This trust in the benevolence of strangers also comes to fore in the final tactic.

3. Mixed-use Residential and Commercial Space:
Though waning in popularity with developers, Greater Seoul has an abundance of mixed use properties when compared to most North American cities. In and around Seoul you can find restaurants, bars, karaoke rooms, hair salons, grocery stores and boutiques all under stories of single family apartments. You could live your life almost exclusively within a four block radius of your apartment and never have to brave the snaking kilometres of congested highways or teeming subway cars. Judging by certain people's winter footwear, they do just that.

2. Dominating New Space: When existing space is getting too crowded vast tracts of peripheral land are bulldozed to create New Towns out of thin air. Through public-private partnerships the federal government plans to construct 300,000 homes in and around Seoul by 2017. Dominance over nature is a common theme of modern South Korean development and it remains to be seen how the government's recent "green policy paradigm shift" will change things. Still, these New Towns are more livable, vastly safer and less environmentally damaging than North American suburbia's thousands of hectares of single family dwellings. Whether reunification will one day open up prime suburban real estate to the north before spatial limits are reached south of the DMZ is another matter all together.

1. The Acceptance of Zero Personal Space: You are not unique or special, and unless you are very old you do not warrant any extra space. In this homogeneous society friends are referred to as siblings and the physical discomfort caused by compatriots is written off as unintentional. Use the city's public transport and you will witness this unwritten code that excuses even the most vicious of elbows or blatant line-cutting. No need for an "I'm sorry," or "Hey pal, watch it," shake it off and keep going. Yet, the majority of commuters are quiet and conscientious and this translates to the roadways as well. The absence of road rage is incredible considering the snaking kilometers of daily traffic found within Greater Seoul. Drivers wait patiently for long periods. With their hands off their horns, they remain calmly in their lanes and let merging traffic in graciously. This zen-like acceptance is something that can be hard for foreign residents to get used to, but once they adopt this code everyday life here is much less stressful.

Do you have any methods of coping? Feel free to share them below...

Honduras: Justice Rolls to Poor Hondurans

2010-02-12T12:56:00.005+09:00

Users awaiting trial outside the "Bus of Justice"

Thanks to two innovative courts on wheels some Hondurans are getting a concrete taste of justice, even if higher levels of their judiciary subverted it by facilitating and legitimizing last year's coup. In January, the Mobile Peace Courts working in the bankrupt burbs of Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula celebrated their second anniversary resolving the legal conflicts of more than 5,000 citizens without the resources to seek justice.

The "Buses of Justice," as they are known by many residents, opened Jan. 18, 2008 to try civil and criminal cases dealing with family, labor and domestic violence charges. The courts also offer free mediation services whereby many family disputes - like child support or access to minors- are resolved before going to trial. If mediation does not resolve the issues then involved parties head to the court at the other end of the bus. "Mediation gives people voluntary solutions that empower them to resolve conflicts peacefully," said San Pedro Sula Mobile Peace Court Judge Edgar Leonardy Duarte.

For many Hondurans access to legal aid requires non-existent free time and an expensive trip into the city. The "Buses of Justice" are a pilot program sponsored by the World Bank aimed at giving marginalized women, indigenous and poor people the tools to demand justice. The majority of claimants are women seeking child custody, lost wages or work benefits as well as safety from domestic violence. The courts' professionals use an accelerated process in order to satisfy the rapidly expanding caseload and ensure some poor Hondurans enjoy equal access to justice.

Judge Edgar Leonardy Duarte holds court

"The project is successful because everyday it travels the neighborhoods and communities helping people obtain access to justice that is quick, free and transparent, all without even having to hire a lawyer," offered Judge Duarte. In April 2008 the World Bank recognized the "Buses of Justice" as its top Latin American project for promoting access to justice. Despite the coup and ensuing political crisis, funding remained intact and the possible expansion of the Mobile Peace Courts project is now under review.

"This project is so good that it should be implemented not only in the Honduran municipalities but in those poor countries that need to build trust in their justice systems," said Judge Duarte. With the cost of litigation becoming increasingly prohibitive in North America, average citizens there might also want their justice on-the-go.

Getting Back on the Horse

2010-01-14T17:13:00.000+09:00

Hello everyone,

I am sorry for the lack of recent posts, the holiday season coupled with preparing grad applications for next year has negatively affected content production. However, things are moving along and I start posting again real soon. And as always feel free to email me with any questions or interesting story ideas.

안녕 하새요!

Honduran President Zelaya's Letter to the Presidents of the Hemisphere

2009-11-26T21:36:00.000+09:00

(Ed. Note: With Honduras' "elections" coming up this Sunday President Mel Zelaya, still cornered in the Tegucigalpa's Brazilian Embassy by the troops of the de facto regime, wrote an open letter to the Presidents of the Hemisphere and CCed it to the heads of the UN, Organization of American States (OAS) and the EU. Although somewhat verbose Zelaya spells out the illegality of the coup regimes actions as well as what he hopes for from leaders in the region. Here is the translation courtesy of NarcoNews, one of the last bastions of true authentic journalism left in the hemisphere.)

PRESIDENT ZELAYA's Letter to the Presidents of the Hemisphere
http://www.narconews.com/Issue62/article3950.html

The Narco News Bulletin
Reporting on the War on Drugs and Democracy from Latin America
November 24, 2009 | Issue #62

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Legalizing Coups d’Etat by Means of Spurious Electoral Processes Divides the Unity of the Nations of América”
A Letter to the Presidents of the Hemisphere

By Manuel Zelaya Rosales
President of Honduras
November 22, 2009

Honorable Presidents
Nations of América

Dear Presidents,

I write you in my role as President of Honduras, valuing the excellent relations between our countries and in defense of the democracy violated in Honduras as consequence of the Military Coup d’Etat perpetrated June 28 of this year, when soldiers invaded my home and at gunpoint kidnapped and took me to Costa Rica.

The National Congress forged my resignation letter and, abusing its power, emitted an illegal decree which “separated me from the charge of Constitutional President” without Constitutional backing to do so. The same was the case for the arrest order that the Court had emitted without having received any legal complain and without my having been cited to appear before any tribunal or trial. It has been condemned and described by all the countries of the world as a violent and surprising rupture of democratic order, a Military Coup d’Etat.

At this moment in Honduras we are in a de facto State. There is no Constitution. Nor are there Constitutional powers because they have been destroyed by force by the military Coup d’Etat on that ominous day of June 28, 2009.

The Constitution of the Republic establishes in Article 3: “No one owes obedience to an usurper government, nor to those who occupy public positions or jobs by the force of weapons or using means or procedures that bankrupt or fail to recognize what the Constitution and the law establishes. Those actions by so-called authorities are null and void. The people have the right to insurrection to defend the Constitutional order.”

In reading that article, you can understand that the Honduran people are legally empowered to act using all means, styles and forms that they consider necessary to restore democracy. We have consciously taken the path of peaceful resistance, with the goal of establishing noncooperation and nonviolence like methods of civil disobedience and twenty-first century popular struggle against the rise of military force.

We thank the entire international community for your support for our labor to reconstruct the State of Law, that being the last effort of the poorly reached Tegucigalpa-San José Accord, backed by the OAS and the US Department of State. Its letter and spirit has as its proposal the “return of the title the executive branch to what it was prior to June 28.” And it was openly violated by the de facto regime which in which Mr. Micheletti pretends to head a government of reconciliation, refusing to convene the National Congress, in definitive noncompliance of the timeline and text.

Now, unilaterally, he seeks to utilize the aborted accord by convening the National Congress on December 2, a date upon which the political actors of the accord will have been substantially modified, in the sense that by then they will have already been submitted to the opinion ofthe voters without having restored Constitutional order.

The elections of November 29 and their use of public funds under a de facto regime, without having previously restored democracy and the State of Law as OAS and UN resolutions demand, without even having installed the government of unity and reconciliation, are illegal, illegitimate, and constitute a criminal act.

At the moment that the de facto regime with its soldiers convenes a spurious electoral process under repression, without legal guarantees, and without a political agreement, in which the military dictatorship is the guarantor of the law, it only strengthens its actions of force and impunity.

Precisely today, Channel 36, property of journalist Esdras Amado López, the only television chain that has opposed the regime, has had its signal blocked and taken off the air by the dictatorship.

The de facto regime has frontally disregarded the resolutions of the OAS, the UN and the European Union. It has also violated the Democratic Charter of the OAS and its resolutions while some of Honduras’ friends among countries demonstrate ambiguity and support for the electoral process without having restored democratic order and without political dialogue. That permits the de facto regime to impose its will by force.

As President of Honduras, I communicate with you to say that below these conditions I will not back the electoral process and will proceed to challenge it legally in the name of the men and women of my country and of hundreds of community leaders that suffer the loss of democracy, the repression, the unfair circumstances and the suppression of freedom.

These elections have to be annulled and rescheduled to when the sovereign will of the people is respected.

In these difficult moments for our brother countries of América, we ask for your solidarity with Honduras.

* That you accompany us based on the facts that you know, reiterating the position of not supporting a unilateral intent to give validity to an accord that was quickly rescinded by the violations consummated by the dictatorship.
* Reaffirming the condemnation of the coup d’etat of the military State and not supporting a de facto regime whose existence today shames all the peoples of Latin América Latina, that after all the attempts by the international community to reverse the coup d’etat have ended in a total failure for everyone.
* Appealing to maintain your firmness in the execution of the resolutions passed by the OAS and the UN and not adopting ambiguous and imprecise positions like those displayed today by the government of the United States of America, with whose final posture has weakened the process of reversing the coup d’etat, demonstrating division in the international community. By feeding this coup d’etat the democratic security in the hemisphere and the stability of the Presidents of América is put at risk, with the resurgence of military castes over civil authority. Legitimizing coups d’etat by means of spurious electoral processes divides and does not contribute to the unity of the nations of América.
* I ask for your cooperation so that this Military Coup d’Etat its bloody violations of human rights do not go unpunished. Already, the International Criminal Court has received complaints and allowed them to proceed to trial to obtain justice for our people and apply the corresponding sanctions to those who committed treason to the Nation and crimes against humanity in Honduras.
* We voice our energetic rejection of those who support the maneuvers to launder the coup d’etat, covering up for the golpistas to leave their crimes protected.
* With our full attention, we invite all the nations to recognize our government and that they abstain from supporting the actions of the illegal regime that usurped power by force of weapons.
* We cordially demand and exhort your representatives to the OAS and the UN to continue defending and supporting the rights of the people and of the legitimately elected governments, since when one of our nations suffers an assault it is an affront to all América; and, each time a government elected by the peoples of América is toppled, violence and terrorism win and Democracy suffers a defeat.

In wait of your response, I appreciate the invaluable support demonstrated until now for these principles and I send you greetings reiterating my esteem and my highest consideration.

JOSE MANUEL ZELAYA ROSALES
President of the Republic of Honduras

cc: Sr. José Miguel Insulza, Secretario General de la OEA
Sr. Ban Ki Moon, Secretario General de la ONU
Sr. José Barroso, Comisión Unión Europea
Archive

Lea Ud. el Artículo en Español - http://www.narconews.com/Issue62/articulo3950.html
Discussion of this article from The Narcosphere

Narco News is funded by your contributions to The Fund for Authentic Journalism. Please make journalism like this possible by going to The Fund's web site and making a contribution today.
The Narco News Bulletin: Reporting on the Drug War and Democracy from Latin America

Great Blight North #3

2009-11-25T17:41:00.001+09:00

I recently asked well-known blogger The Korean from askakorean.net fame for his thoughts on North Korea. At 16 he left Korea with his family to live in California, and he now lives in New York City. Although off the peninsula for quite some time, his views on the DPRK are similar to many of the South Koreans I have interviewed.

WAP: What was your earliest memory of North Korea or its people?
TK: When I was in the first grade, we learned about the story about this brave boy about our age. (Don't remember if it was in the textbook or if the teacher was free-styling.) The boy lived in a northern part of Gangwon-do near the Armistice Line with his parents, and some armed communist spies broke into his house, demanding food. The boy exclaimed, "I hate communists!" and one of the spies killed the boy by ripping his mouth open with a bayonet.
Apparently this is a true story, but what a thing to teach to 6 year old kids!

WAP: Do you want reunification?
TK: Yes.

Seoul's War Memorial of Korea

WAP: Do you want comprehensive and immediate reunification, similar to East and West Germany -though the DPRK's economy is much worse shape than the GDR's ever was- or do you want a more gradual process of reintegration?
TK: Gradual process, by a small margin. But I think realistically, the only possible way in which reunification would happen is the comprehensive and immediate version.

WAP: Is the reunification of the two Koreas paramount, or does the continued success of the South Korean economy trump sweeping change?
TK: I don't think it's an either-or proposition, because I don't think reunification will doom South Korean economy (although it will likely depress South Korean economy for a little while.) Eventually, reunification will be a boost toward Korean economy, for example, by providing cheap labor and cheaper access to China.

WAP:How do you feel about the presence of American troops on the peninsula?

TK: I think American troops are indispensable for maintaining peace in the Korean peninsula.

Here is a paper that brings up some interesting points regarding reunification vis-a-vis the German example.

Honduran Supreme Court Drags Its Feet, Lawyers Fight Back

2009-11-10T23:30:00.003+09:00

Mere weeks before the highly controversial national elections slated for November 29, the Supreme Court of Justice is in no rush to rule on the restoration of overthrown President of Honduras Manuel Zelaya.

With a muzzled press towing the Micheletti regime's party line and little connection to the outside world - less than 10% of Hondurans are internet users- many Hondurans are looking towards the Supreme Court for an impartial solution to the crisis that has plagued the country fore more than four months. Yet many Zelaya supporters think they are seeing their worst fears confirmed that the court which backed the coup will prolong any decision on Zelaya's return to power until after elections.

After the recent attempt at a unity government failed - Zelaya refused to join the team made up entirely of Micheletti nominees- the reinstatement of Zelaya is the coup regime's only chance of the elections gaining a shred of legitimacy.

Amidst the backdrop of the cooperation between supposedly separate organs of the state, partiality lawyers in the industrial center of San Pedro Sula have set their sights on the Supreme Court with a pronouncement made public yesterday. Here is the full text of from The Resistance Lawyers Front's (RLF) :

WE URGE THE SUPREME COURT OF JUSTICE TO BE INDEPENDENT AND IMPARTIAL

The Resistance Lawyers Front in the North Zone, due to the actions of the Supreme Court of Justice since the 28th of June, appeal to the Honduran people and the international community:

FIRST, during recent years we bore witness to the deterioration and politicization of the institutions of Justice. We thought the new appointments in Supreme Court of Justice this past January would make important changes possible in the areas of strengthening the independence and impartiality of that branch of the State. Sadly, this did not happen in the following six months, as the 15 Supreme Court Judges made it clear that justice would continue to serve the powerful political and economic groups of our country. In doing so they deeply defrauded the aspirations of the Honduran people who genuinely thought that by electing these judges they could make a difference.

SECOND: With the awful coup d'état of June 28th, the Supreme Court of Justice -forgetting its role as an impartial organ- has publicly put forward supposed legal arguments in an attempt to legitimize the illegal and unconstitutional actions taken by this de facto regime. Likewise, it has fully neglected their duty to protect the people. It is complicit in all the violations suffered by the Honduran people and has postponed or blocked the processing of constitutional claims presented by the citizenry.

THIRD: In addition to all its actions mentioned above, the Supreme Court of Justice has unleashed a campaign of persecution against those judges and their employees that -valiantly and lawfully- stood against the coup d'état and for the reestablishment of the constitutional order.

IN VIEW OF THE AFOREMENTIONED, WE URGE:

That the Supreme Court of Justice rectify its partiality, which only searches to legally justify the completion of the coup and the continuation of a de facto regime, and honor their obligation to protect fundamental rights.
That the Supreme Court of Justice immediately cease its persecution of judges and employees that, exercising their civil rights, have demonstrated against the coup d'état.
That the Honduran Bar Association affirm their support for the Constitution and its legality, preventing legal judgments that only look to legitimize the coup, and that they request the Supreme Court of Justice to correct all its biased claims.
WE STAND IN SOLIDARITY WITH THE JUDGES WHO ARE VICTIMS OF PERSECUTION AND WE SUPPORT THE NECESSARY ACTIONS TO GUARANTEE THE STABILITY AND INDEPENDENCE OF THEIR ACTIONS.

San Pedro Sula, Cortes, November 9th of 2009

(Photo courtesy of the RLF)

November 11th

2009-11-08T21:34:00.001+09:00

This Wednesday, while many people back home in Canada will observe a moment of silence to honour the many people who sacrificed their lives in the wars of the past century, the consumers of South Korea will be munching down on little chocolate sticks. As a result of marketing genius - and the fact that South Koreans commemorate their fallen in June- every November 11th on the peninsula is a frenzy of candy consumption known as Pepero Day.

Why is it Pepero day? Numerically, November the 11th looks just like 4 Peperos in a row. Korea's answer to Japan's Pocky candy, these thin cookie sticks dipped in chocolate and sprinkled with assorted accompaniments are given to loved ones, friends and classmates.

On a side note, Pocky is definitely better than Pepero and also has many more flavours. Below are a couple more ridiculous ones:

The Great Blight North #2

2009-10-31T18:04:00.001+09:00

Saemi H. is an English teacher in her twenties who has traveled outside of Korea and lives in Central Seoul. I sat down with her this past week to pick her brain about the her brethren to the North.

WorkingAndPracticing: What's your earliest memory of North Korea (DPRK)?
Saemi H.: I was really young, I was just plain scared. I thought the North was a different world and they still wanted war. I remember images of soldiers marching in Pyongyang and especially the Mass Games being held in a big theatre.

WAP: Are you still scared the North will attack?
SH: No, not really, but I think us South Koreans have the lowest level of fear regarding the DPRK. We should be more aware because nowadays they have new weapons and I am especially scared about the West Sea where they continually test their weapons and cross over national boundaries.

WAP: Do you wish for reunification?
SH: Do I want reunification? Honestly, I haven't thought a lot about it. I think it will take time, but in the end we must. We are all taught growing up that one day we will eventually reunite.

WAP: Are you in favour of the American Forces' (USF) presence here on the Korean Peninsula?
SH: I have complex feelings about this. I don't think that the ROK's army is is strong enough on its own if something happens, but the USF have a very bad image in my mind. We know how they treat us Koreans and what they think about us. They are up there looking down on us. They create a lot of problems like pollution. After the USF leave a location they leave behind hazardous chemicals and our government has to spend thousands of dollars cleaning up the mess! Add to that problems of off-base sexual crimes and the USF seem to get off Scot-free. Rarely do any of their people face prosecution for crimes committed on Korean soil as they can just escape to the US. Despite all this, I think we still need them.

WAP: Are you in favour of Lee Myung Bak and his new hardline policy towards the DPRK?
SH: That's a really hard question. The DPRK politicians are very clever and no matter what, they gain the upper hand in their dealings with us. Whatever we do it seems they are able to take advantage of it, but I think we still think we need to soften our approach and keep with the "Sunshine Policy."

The Great Blight North #1

2009-10-18T17:14:00.001+09:00

Activists frequently set up shop in the center of Seoul's main shopping district to decry the horrible human rights abuses perpetrated by a repressive regime against its seemingly peaceful citizens. Extrajudicial killings and wanton torture are all palpable in graphic colour photographs posted next to petitions urging help. Yet the call to action is not to fight Kim Jong-il and his henchmen, but the Chinese authorities for their persecution of Falun Gong practitioners!

Living here in the wealthy suburb of a relatively rich country - surrounded by the apex of consumer goods consumption - it is easy to lose sight of the fact that mere kilometers away lies one of the worst totalitarian dictatorships left on the planet. Movies like Children of the Secret State offer truly depressing portraits of what life is like for rural North Koreans not lucky enough to be part of the military cadre, yet the mainstream media in the South seem uninterested in publishing much more than the most recent diplomatic brinkmanship in the cat-and-mouse nuclear talks. Understandably, South Korean news agencies do not want to inflame tensions on the peninsula by sending in undercover reporters.

However, the media's lens is tightly focused above the 38th parallel and as a result a clear lack of open dialogue and reflection exists in this country with regards to the North Korean question. How does President Lee Myung Bak's hardline policy of engagement resonate with his compatriots? How do people here feel about reunification?

Funny you should ask, because this and many more questions will be answered in a new weekly post called "The Great Blight North." These posts will aim to tell interesting stories and gauge the everyday citizen's opinions on the North.

This week starts off with an short interview of Ginger, a thirty-something English recruiter who lives in Busan.

WaP: What is your earliest memory of North Korea or its people?

G: We were taught in elementary school that the communists are bad and I didn't realize that it wasn't a fair education for a long time.

WaP: Do you live in fear of the North attacking?
G: No, I don't live in fear. But there were times that I got nervous but I don't think they will attack without any warning.

WaP: Do you want re-unification?

G: Re-unification is ideal thing to happen but it's not as ideal as it sounds I think. I'm hoping that we can go there just like we travel to other countries and all the divided families can meet their families in North freely.

WaP: How do you feel about the presence of American troops on the peninsula?
G: Well, I think it's a necessary evil because we don't spend as much money for military.

WaP: Is the "Sunshine Policy" the right way to engage North Korea?

G: I can't say it's right way but I like it better than Lee Myung Bak's way.

South Korea: Exploring Suburban Seoul's Latest Blitzstadt

2009-09-05T14:03:00.012+09:00

(Ed. Note: feel free to check out an interestingly edited version of this story that ran in the October issue of Groove Korea.)

Because I believe a lot of people share my feelings about the tragic landscape of highway strips, parking lots, housing tracts, mega-malls, junked cities, and ravaged countryside that makes up makes up the everyday environment where most Americans live and work. A land full of places that are not worth caring about will soon be a nation and a way of life that is not worth defending.

- James Howard Kunstler The Geography of Nowhere

Cars and trucks were parked haphazardly on half-finished sidewalks and streets that broke down into trampled pits of muddy rainwater. Rows of identical buildings stood gutted, half-painted and devoid of plumbing and electricity. If it weren't for the handful of tradesmen working their way through a Sunday afternoon, Pangyo New Town would have felt like post-apocalyptic old town.

Developers hope come January these boulevards will house thousands of families. Pangyo – South of the capital's city limits- will be the newest in a series of blitzstadts growing out of the greater Seoul conurbation.

As a former high-rise construction worker in Vancouver I'm always amazed at the incredible pace of South Korea's residential development. As a resident of an overpopulated planet showing irrefutable signs of stress, this development fills me with dread.

In cities and towns across this peninsula wet concrete formed by metal frames vaults the vertebrae of identical apartments into the smog-filled atmosphere. South Korea is roughly the size of Kentucky, but with 49 million residents it is the third most densely populated country in the world. Many Koreans live cheek-to-jowl in homes that would make the average North American claustrophobic.

These suburbs may not be as environmentally devastating as the acres of detached single-family dwellings that scar the North American landscape, still such density developing so rapidly cannot be ecologically sound, as Seoul’s constantly clogged commuter arteries can attest.

Neighbouring residents have also complained about putrid runoff water from the construction site fouling their area further downstream one of Pangyo’s four waterways. Like many suburban frontiers, the border where Pangyo meets the natural world is a distinct and disturbing landscape.

Upon first entering one of the main boulevards from the Seoul Ring Expressway, the sheer scale of the development shocked me. Fields of dirt destined to become parks, plazas, and river-side “greenspace” were strewn with heavy machinery and waste from construction.

The subdivision I walked around included 25 towers with 4,000 units, however, Pangyo’s entire population could be close to 80,000 people by next year. It is part of the federal government's wider plan to construct 300,000 homes in and around Seoul by 2017. Despite this ecologically devastating and seemingly archaic form of development people need to live somewhere. And even though South Korea’s population is projected to decrease 13% by 2050, thousands will continue to stream into urban areas in search of an better life.

That afternoon, walking through Pangyo I wondered: if this is the development model for a country with a decreasing population, then what does it look like in a place where the population is booming?

By Mike Hager

Losing your Gringocity

2009-08-27T17:19:00.003+09:00

(Ed. Note: This article appeared in the October 20th issue of The Santiago Times.)

El Camino Cierto Para los Gringos Viajando en Latinoamérica.

grin-go-cit-y [grin-gaw-sit-ee]
-noun.

(in Latin America) the often ignorant way foreigners, esp. of North American or European descent, act towards the peoples and cultures of Latin America : his gringocity stopped him from enjoying the local delicacies.
can describe the amount of foreigners present somewhere in Latin America: the were high levels of gringocity during the week of the festival.

If English is your native language, or you are light-skinned, to most Latin Americans you are a gringo.

Despite all that history has taught us, there are more positive ways a gringo can engage Latin America than supporting dictators, buying drugs or visiting your own little all-inclusive slice of paradise. This article will give you definite ways to lower your gringocity, enjoy yourself and have a positive impact on the people and places you visit.

Before leaving, people may warn you about the many dangers in these far-off lands where the rule of law is non-existent and people will shoot you for a couple hundred pesos. These same xenophobic people live in constant fear of the “bad guys” fed to them during the nightly news. Do not accept this derivative “us verses them” worldview. To quiet these fear-mongers, reassure them that there are no terrorists who hate our freedom in Latin America (Chavez and friends merely want an end to Western economic imperialism) and that you'll stay far enough away from the bad barrios.

Author in fake horse tourist trap by Pio Nono bridge in Santiago de Chile.
In terms of crime, there is not much to worry about; in most places, you can just as easily get shot or stabbed in your home countries. I got robbed once on my last trip, during an impromptu late-night bodysurfing session on Rio's Copacabana beach. It happened after I blurted in my best portuñol (a mish-mash of Spanish and Portuguese) at a kid to guard our clothes, "Clothes! You! Money!" He then did what anyone in his position would have: waited till we swam far enough out, rifled through our clothes, took the few crumpled cachaça-soaked bills and sprinted off. Crime should not be a big problem to anyone relatively intelligent, however, things like hour-long taxi rides at Moscovian rates and costly visa runs are inevitable.

It is useful to learn self-deprecating phrases like, "Sorry, I am just a huge gringo*." as well as, "I love your country and if you rob me, then I can't get back to my home and spread the word to my fellow countrymen about you and the brutal situation here*!" These sentences should help negate any perceived air of cultural superiority that is the impetus for many conflicts.

Still, these sentences are not fail-safe and if you are serious about going, the most important thing you can do before leaving is to actually learn the lingo. Meet with a friend who speaks, download some lessons, join Livemocha, take a night class or do some self-study more demanding than watching Dora the Explorer. Be it español, Quechua (an indigenous language of the Andean people), português or Chile's slang-laden version of Spanish, you're not going to get far without some basic understanding of the language. Nobody likes a boludo who assumes their imperial tongue is understood, and in this digital day and age there is no excuse for a total lack of knowledge of either the countries or their languages.

No matter how cunning the linguist, the best way for anyone to kick-start their trip is to spend a week, or several, living with a local family. This usually costs a little more than staying at a hostel or budget hotel, but brings boundless benefits. A home-stay almost guarantees that you will be fattened up with delicious meals and get to do things like beat the crap out of your little sister's birthday piñata or play dominoes with dad. These gracious hosts can be hooked up through language schools which offer customized lessons for several hours a day; in most cases they are one-on-one which forces you to do some serious book learning. Schools are offered in virtually every country and are the finest and fastest way to get the hang of the language. Book a few weeks before and a great welcome will await you.

Most language schools also have options or contacts for you to help out some people in the city or town where you are studying. Assist in building a house (a two room pre-fabricated operation) for a needy family one weekend, or teach local kids English - even just a few phrases to help them sell goods to tourists. To truly engage highly polarized Latin American cultures is to identify with the struggle that so many have faced and still continue to face as they try to better themselves and their communities. Google the School of the Americas (SOA), Oliver North or browse through Mike Davis' Planet of Slums and you will know that your efforts are appropriate. A reputable resource for finding a profound project is the Directory of Development Organization’s Latin American and the Caribbean online portal.

Playing "keep the box up" with kids of San Rafael, Copan Ruinas, Honduras.

Do not over plan your trip; no guidebook will prep you for falling out of one of Maradona's favorite clubs and helping a Peruvian dude haul a new front door 20 blocks to his family's tiny apartment in Buenos Aires' morning heat. Take a good hard look at the photos and blurbs of the travel writers inside the cover of your guidebook and ask yourself. “Are these the type of people I’d want to sit next to on a two day bus trip?” A lot of things in Central America and the Southern Cone (Chile, Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil) can be booked beforehand online or once you are on the ground. That guidebook is of use if you get to places like Venezuela or Suriname. A gringo trying to get a bus out of Caracas involves driving around for three hours in one of the world's most congested cities, the whole time trying to figure out how bad your driver is cheating you.

If you treat people and their cultures with respect and dignity you should encounter few problems, but be aware that, though cognisant of your gringocity, you are bound to garner resentment in some places. It is a common Argentinian joke that prior to the collapse of their economy at the start of the decade you could walk down the street in Buenos Aires’ swanky Recoleta neighborhood and actually see a real Argentinian. Gringos spending like they would never be able to back in their homeland can stir up animosity anywhere in Latin America. However, most places need your tourist pesos and you will find people friendly as hell and very happy to show gringos around their jungle, concrete or natural.

Whether an ice cold açaí na tigela(delicious Amazonian fruitshake) at a juice stand in Ipanema, anticucho (grilled cow heart-kabob) on a dusty Lima street, pastel del choclo (corn and meat pie) in a hip Santiago eatery, tacos al pastor at Cuernavaca’s homegrown taco chain or aguardiente at an afterparty in Medellin - never shy away from the special local food and drink. Even though many down there love "MacDonal", a surefire way to get to know the average person is to share with them a bit of their native food or drink. And let's be honest, there will be times you just have to embrace your gringocity and ditch the salsa/samba/cumbia/merengue/tango to cut rug the only way you know how: ridiculously.

Useful Phrases-
* Sorry, I’m just a huge gringo. - Perdonamé, soy un gringo gigante.

* I love your country and if you rob me, then I can't get back to my home and tell my fellow countrymen about you and the brutal situation here! - ¡Amo tu país, y si me robas, no podr regresar a mi estado y contar todos de tu brutal ésituación socioeconómico!

By Mike Hager

Triumphant Return?

2009-07-24T17:06:00.000+09:00

As President Mel Zelaya waits in the small Nicaraguan town of Esteli, just 175 kilometers away, Honduran armed forces are massing along the border in what may be a dramatic conclusion to a tense standoff between a de facto government of the military-industrial elite and the impoverished Honduran majority.

"I know that they are suppressing people, but this is the big test, as they impose more obstacles to freedom the people will become more enraged (...) A curfew has been imposed on the border area with Nicaragua, but (...) they cannot rule the people by the barrel of a gun," said Zelaya at a press conference Thursday.

Despite nation-wide curfews and restriction of movement hundreds of supporters are expected to greet their president when, accompanied by Venezuela's foreign minister, he attempts once again to take back his seat as democratic leader of Honduras this Friday...

Hondurans Play the Waiting Game

2009-07-06T17:20:00.000+09:00

Barging through the front door failed to bring a triumphant homecoming, so, for now, Manuel Zelaya has opted to try diplomatic channels in order to return to his post as the democratically-elected leader of his nation.

Zelaya claimed Wednesday that the de facto regime has sabotaged mediation before it began by restricting the movement of Zelaya's ministers, some of whom are still in hiding. However he has reiterated, "We are not holding a negotiation. There are things that are non-negotiable—the restitution of constitutional order in Honduras." On top of that mediator Oscar Arias expressed personal doubt with regards to his mediation, "The situation has to be solved from inside Honduras." Amid such speculation what talks will accomplish remains to be seen.

At a press conference on Monday, Zelaya gave the de facto government mere hours before its collapse and defended his actions before the coup, "All I did was to propose a fourth ballot. I have never talked about re-election because it does not exist in Honduras. I ask them to respect the voice of the people because it is this voice that will save us."

Despite the coup, Zelaya has not ruled out the possibility of moving forward with general elections originally slated for November 29, "They [those in the de facto regime] have nullified all the work that the government has accomplished. Those candidates should be very worried because they are isolated. The world is not with them."

The deposed Honduran leader promised that he could return at any moment. However, this time will be more inconspicuous, possibly ruling out another flight on the private CITGO jet that was diverted to Nicaragua last Sunday after military personnel barricaded the blacktop at Tegucigalpa's international airport.

After letting Zelaya supporters ring the airport compound the military expelled them by force, with snipers from the terminal leaving one dead and at least seven hit by gunfire.

The de facto government detained more than 800 demonstrators Sunday for breaking an imposed curfew. Hector*, a human rights lawyer from San Pedro Sula captured the mood of Zelaya's supporters, who are exhausted after marching daily for more than a week and a half and are frustrated with the current impasse:

"The Honduran people are outraged at the constant violation of their human rights. Yesterday [Sunday], at 6pm, after we had showed up expecting to welcome our president, we were informed by the traitors who stole power that there would be a 6:30 pm curfew. They captured at least 800 compañeros who weren't able to return to their homes during that short time period. Today [Monday] they extended the curfew for another 48 hours, once again cutting off our rights to free association, free movement etc. "

Meanwhile, differing viewpoints on the conflict continue to represent themselves in the language used by the international media. The major Spanish-language media label Roberto Michelleti's government de facto, with the lone exception being CNN en Espanol; whilst English media outlets on the whole refer it as an "interim government."

Within Honduras, pro-coup dailies are finding it increasingly harder to justify the actions of Michelleti's government to citizens. As Al Giordano of NarcoNews broke in the English media, Honduran newspaper La Prensa airbrushed out the blood in a picture of the dying demonstrator Isis Obed Murillo being carried out of Tegucigalpa airport Sunday. Giordano also points out the crackdown on independent and international media by the coup regime silences critisicm of these egregious journalistic sins being committed by the pro-coup media.

*Name changed.

A "Free, Sovereign and Independent" Honduras?

2009-07-01T16:16:00.000+09:00

No it was not floods, earthquakes or hurricanes that devastated Honduras last Sunday, but a coup where democratically-elected President Manuel Zelaya Rosales was abducted by the military at the behest of a Congress ruled by his own party. News reports either justify the coup painting Zelaya as an aspiring dictator or support him as the latest populist Latino leader bringing reform too fast for the national elites of his country to accept. Neighbouring leaders have all condemned the coup in Central America's second biggest and second poorest nation.

In a historically anomalous move the US has declared that the CIA has absolutely no involvement in the coup. However, the plotters needed no external help in abducting and exiling Zelaya to Costa Rica after he planned to go ahead with a non-binding national referendum on extending his mandate. "...President Mel Zelaya miscalculated when he tried to emulate the success of his good friend Hugo in reshaping the Honduran Constitution to his liking," is how Wall Street Journal editor Mary Anastasia O'Grady put it. Commentators like O'Grady agree with the new Honduran "government" that the autocrat Zelaya was subverting democracy and cementing his grip on power.

It seems a bit odd to me that such a powerful autocrat can't control his own military or party while late last week saw his party sponsor a congressional resolution to investigate his mental aptitude for the job. Upon his inauguration Zelaya, once a prominent businessman, angered the establishment by introducing social reforms like raising the minimum wage and by signing up for Bolivarian Alternative for Latin America and the Caribbean(ALBA), Chavez's diplomatic pet project.

Currently, a large number of disenfranchised Hondurans are rising up and demanding that Zelaya be re-instated as President. With little to no contact with the outside world due to government censorship of international media, the average Honduran only receives the new establishment's party line. Human rights lawyer Hector* is living in San Pedro Sula, Honduras' second largest city and industrial center, and described the current situation to me in a seething email:

Today, while the rich force their employees into the streets in support of the de facto government, while the media supports and spreads their message, we the poor that are out in the streets on a national level are asking for the respect of our national democracy. We elected MANUEL ZELAYA ROSALES. We are repressed by beatings and weapons; and our rights to move from place to place, engage in free thought or association etc. are being ignored. It is the strangest thing that the biased media, controlled by the traitors, omits this piece of news to the benefit of the USURPERS appointed by the circus we call Congress.

Translated from:

Mientras los ricos hoy desfilan y obligan a sus empleados salir a las calles para apoyar un gobierno de facto y que los medios de comunicacion apoyan y difunden sus actividades usurpadoras, nosotros los pobres que estamos en las calles a nivel nacional pidiendo el respeto a nuestra democracia, epues legimos a MANUEL ZELAYA ROSALES, somos reprimidos por la fuerza y las armas, violentando el derecho a locomocion, libre pensamiento, asociacion, etc, y lo mas curioso es que los medios de comunicación parcialisados, manipulados por los golpistas no cubren esta noticia porque estan a favor de los USURPADORES de funciones que impuso el circo que llamamos Congreso.

Amidst a growing general strike Zelaya plans to return on Thursday to "take back the country". Hector later wrote throughout San Pedro Sula there has been greater freedom as the military is less a force there than the capital and that a reliable source said numerous military battalion chiefs will not support the new government.

What remains to be seen is how long a coup opposed by almost every major player in the region will survive. Hopefully the people of Honduras can resolve this crisis so that it may one day merit its national motto of "Free, Sovereign and Independent."

*Name has been changed.

Thoughts on the "Somali Coast Guard" from the Korean sauna

2009-02-25T00:10:00.000+09:00

Recently my friend Ian's buddy from Canada finished up a two week visit here to Busan. He is a Canadian naval officer and had just completed six months on the seas in a NATO posting. His ship was diverted from the Mediterranean to the Somali coast in order to shield World Food Program (WFP) vessels from pirates. A Greek cargo ship was hijacked on Sunday and the International Maritime Bureau issued a notice from their head office in Kuala Lumpur (close to the Strait of Malacca - formerly the world's most dangerous shipping lane) that attacks are again on the rise after a cool down at the end of 2008.

With these pirates getting worldwide attention I was eager to break out my rusty interviewing skills and sit down with him to discuss his time off the Somali coast. Thankfully, he was real accommodating. On a lazy Sunday after a serious late-night session of karaoke the night before we met up at our local jim-jil-ban. We kept alternating from sauna to ice room and here's the interview. His name and the name of his ship are omitted.

Mike Hager (MH): So you were stationed in the Mediterranean with NATO, what were you doing there?
Ian's Friend (IF): Yes I was part of Standing NATO Maritime Group 1(SNMG1), the NATO contribution to the overall collective security in the Mediterranean.

MH: And you guys were just the closest to Somali when the pirate attacks increased?
IF: We were originally tasked to send a Canadian ship with the SNMG1 to the Mediterranean, which at the time was concerned with supporting Operation Active Endeavour , in response to the terrorist attacks of 9/11 in 2001. This was basically a security force meant to stop the illicit trade of people and arms that could be used for terrorist operations... What ended up happening that led to the subsequent redeployment of [my ship] to Somalia to support WFP escorts of food aid into Mogadishu in response to numerous pirate attacks against WFP vessels... We weren't actually tasked with combating piracy but we would have gotten involved if they attacked us.

[We switch from the ice room to a sauna, this one was a bad choice as there were a trio of ajummas having a hen party at the entrance and the dome-shaped ceiling served to amplify their nattering]

MH: So you were in Somali waters for six months?
IF: What ended up happening was we started on our original mission with NATO but we got re-tasked and went to Somalia for roughly three months. Then we had a bit of an engineering failure so we ended up coming back to Europe in order to repair in France and finished our NATO commitment there.

MH: During that time did you engage any pirates?
IF: We didn't engage any pirates, but there were quite a few sightings of vessels that had already been taken by pirates. The thing was we weren't going to risk the crew's lives by antagonizing these guys or maybe going through a rescue mission because we didn't have the resources that some of the other countries in the area have. We don't carry commandos or have marines on board.

MH: You wouldn't have put on the war paint?
IF: Haha not me, no.

MH: I heard a Dong Won boat, a huge Korean company, recently got captured- it was a tuna fishing boat- and it made me think about the vast overfishing of the area because the lack of protection from the Somali state [sic]. Was that a visible issue? Did you see foreign fishing boats everyday?
IF: Well, that's basically the crux of the whole piracy issue. You have to understand that these guys, the modern-day Somali pirates, went through in a series of generations they developed from the normal fishermen in the area who started defending their own fishing spots and graduated into actually attacking other fishing boats... and then taking the fishing boats and the crews and ransoming them off. As the situation ashore got worse and worse they realized it was one way to have a lucrative lifestyle for themselves and their families. The modern pirates today call themselves the "Somali Coast Guard," and the support the receive from shore is just extravagant.

MH: I guess they were fighting when no one else would.
IF: They're heroes in their communities. They're building things with the money they ransom off - which is in the millions- all that money goes to themselves, their families and supporting the local economy. The whole community basically benefits from these guys.

[We have switched back into an ice room where two giggling teenage girls ask if they can take cellphone pictures with us. "REAL LIVE FOREIGNERS HOLY SHIT!"
Coming from such a multicultural place as Vancouver it never ceases to amaze me how blown away some Koreans are by a visible foreigner.]

MH: Have they now moved on from attacking fishing boats to targeting the easiest vessels?
IF: Well the most money is being made in shipping, so they go for the largest commercial cargo ships that they can. Typically what happens is they'll take a vessel and they'll tow it back into a town that's friendly to them. They'll start the negotiation process with a company and after what is usually a long negotiation process they come out with a deal.

[Switch back to the sauna]

MH: Did you see the MV Faina go by and was it business as usual?
IF: Yeah, we saw it pass but we pretty much knew it had already been taken. So we were powerless to do anything... we didn't have the resources to actually deal with an actual hostage situation. It was better to let another country in the area who had troops on board - trained for that kind of thing- deal with it.

MH: And those countries are France and the US?
IF: Yes, largely, France and the United States have the personnel on board. It depends on what ship is in the area, but at the time [when the MV Faina was first hi-jacked] there were two American destroyers and a French destroyer.

MH: Your escort ran from Mombasa, Kenya to Mogadishu?
IF: Yes, we were based primarily out of Mombasa and we would make the two-day trip to Mogadishu with our charge. Just make sure that they got in [unloaded their food aid] safely.

MH: You never deviated and went further North?
IF: No, there were occasions where we were prepared, if necessary, to go to other locations. That never ended up coming up, but the contingency plan was there.

MH: Thanks a lot, let's get out of this sauna!