Explore the top film-producing nations in this interactive feature. Click on a country to learn about its film industry.

Below, read a Q&A on the growth of the Nigerian film industry.

* Data courtesy of the U.N. and UNESCO. Read more.

Jamie Meltzer, director of the documentary “Welcome to Nollywood,” joins Worldfocus to discuss Nigeria’s blooming film industry.

Watch a clip from the film, in which Nigerians discuss the rise of Nollywood:

Worldfocus: Films from so-called “Bollywood” and “Hollywood” often have distinct styles or themes. Is this true of “Nollywood” as well? Are particular styles/themes/genres popular?

Jamie Meltzer: Well, the interesting thing about Nollywood is that the genres and style keep evolving. It’s a very young industry (15 years or so), so there is no prototypical Nollywood film or genre. At first, films depicting cults and occult activity were popular, and an explosion of those kinds of films flooded the market, and then interest died down due to overexposure. Then, “epic” films — period films about tribes and West African history — were popular, and then the market was flooded, then interested waned…then love films, then action films. It is always in flux.

Worldfocus: How do the production and distribution of films in Nigeria differ from the U.S.?

Meltzer: Very different. Nigeria has the first all-digital film industry — all films are shot, edited and distributed through digital means. This is an industry that exists because of the democratizing effects of technology — cheaper and better video cameras and desktop editing systems allowed this industry to start and thrive. The productions are generally done on the cheap ($20,000 - 60,000 U.S.) and put out quite quickly. They are distributed through home video — DVDs and VCDs — through markets throughout Lagos and Nigeria. For a number of reasons, theaters aren’t popular in Nigeria, so people watch these at home mostly.

Worldfocus: Can you describe the culture surrounding movies?

Meltzer: There is a strong celebrity culture — a few stars that are known throughout the country and that are immensely popular and command large salaries. People love to discuss the films, and I found that they provide a real service to those in the diaspora, linking them to their home culture in a profound way. You can find Nigerian films in African and West African markets across the world. They have also spawned a host of imitators in other African countries, which is great because the success of Nollywood is pushing other nations and cultures to get into the act of making films by, for, and about themselves — a real antidote to the monoculture that often results from the disproportionate impact of American pop culture and Hollywood.

Worldfocus: As the U.S. film industry wrestles with the Internet and other changes, what challenges is the Nigerian film industry facing right now and what future do you envision for it?

Meltzer: As an all-digital industry, Nollywood is ahead of the U.S. in many respects, and even though most people in Nigeria have Internet access — though Internet cafes, etc. — there isn’t much of an online viewership for Nollywood, but maybe that will change.

- Katie Combs

In this extended interview — recorded in May, prior to the crackdown following the disputed election — Iranian students discuss how they bypass filters to find music and films, both online and in shops on the streets. They also share their ambivalence about the prevalence of Western popular culture in Iran.

Sporting taboos for women are in fact seen worldwide. Nonetheless, women soccer players have made progress — the first women’s World Cup was held in China in 1991.

Click on flags on different sections of the soccer ball to learn about women’s soccer in various countries around the world. Below, read a Q&A with two sports historians who discuss the successes and challenges experienced by female soccer players around the world.

*Data courtesy of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Photos courtesy of government sources and Flickr users under a Creative Commons license.

Worldfocus spoke with Professor Fan Hong, author of “Women, Soccer, Sexual Liberation: Kicking off A New Era,”  and Jean Williams, author of “A Beautiful Game: International Perspectives on Women’s Football,” about the evolution of women’s soccer worldwide.

Worldfocus: Globally, how long have women been playing soccer? How has these female athletes’ position within the sporting world evolved over the years?

Jean Williams: There is plenty of worldwide evidence of women playing courtly (in China) and folk forms (in the U.K., U.S. and Europe) before the 19th century. Women have been playing modern forms of football — that is, codified forms — since at least the 1880s. Association football has a strong history since this time for women. There is some evidence of soccer in U.S. colleges from the early 20th century — such as handbooks for soccer and hockey for girls and women — but intercollegiate games were thought inappropriate by educators until the mid 1950s. And then, with Title IX, women’s soccer really took off as an unintended benefit of wider equity moves in education.

The evolution has been an overall increase in the numbers of women playing, in spite of bans by national associations until FIFA (the world governing body) suggested national associations should take over the women’s game. Many countries did this reluctantly and slowly…and still do. Nevertheless, there has been a women’s world championship since 1991, and now there are under-20 and under-17 World Cups as well as Olympic competitions since the 1996 games in Atlanta.

Worldfocus: What challenges remain for female athletes worldwide, particularly when it comes to soccer?

Fan Hong: Traditional images of masculinity and femininity still play their part to prevent the development of women’s football. Football by tradition is the man’s game. Gender prejudice and consequent institutionalized discrimination, limited media coverage and resources and recruitment shortage in an increasingly market economy environment have adversely affected the growth of women’s football in general in the world. The UEFA European Championships taking place in Finland at the moment hardly receive any media attention.

Worldfocus: In what countries would it be the most difficult for a woman to play soccer, and why? Would you say the sport is considered more socially acceptable outside official channels — played in the streets, for example?

Jean Williams: The social status depends on regions within countries and on particular situations. Female modesty is an issue, as are issues about women and contact sports — but so are issues of resource, finance and support from male dominated national associations. Teams which have won World Cups have been disbanded due to financial lack of support, for example, so it isn’t a simple case of wealthy and western countries being more well-disposed to women’s soccer.

Worldfocus: Our signature story focuses specifically on soccer in Turkey and women’s attempts to enter the sport. Are there similar attempts elsewhere in the Muslim world?

Fan Hong: Yes, Iranian women have participated in sport actively, so have Indonesian women, e.g. at the Olympics and the Asia Games. In fact, the Iranian women’s national football team recently traveled to Berlin.

Worldfocus: How have men around the world responded to the growing prominence of women’s soccer?

Fan Hong: This differs from region to region. In Europe, North America and East Asia, women’s football has been accepted by the societies. In general, women’s football is regarded as more skilfull than men’s, but less aggressive. The future of women’s football has prospects. However, female footballers should be present in places where decisions are made about their games. In some parts of Asia, Africa and South America, men still maintain a considerable amount of skepticism and resistance towards women’s participation in sport, including football.

Worldfocus: How does soccer compare to other sports when it comes to the strides women have (or have not) made?

Fan Hong: Women’s participation in competitive football, to some extent, has altered gender relations in the world. Stars have certainly improved their personal circumstances and raised expectations of gender equality in the still conservative global society. However, football — which is regarded as the last bastion of masculinity — still resists women’s intrusion and participation. The longevity of traditional values have adversely affected women’s football. In general, some other sports which are traditionally regarded as feminine, such as tennis, gymnastics and synchronized swimming, face less resistance from the society.

Jean Williams: The “most popular sport” or “fastest-growing sport” tag is one that many sports will claim because sports development in the West is about claiming large numbers even if the person has only played once in the previous year, so these claims should be treated with caution.

Sports administration is male-dominated. Male journalists give little space to women’s sport and there are myths about women being less spectacular as athletes compared to males for media audiences. Each of these myths have precise historical constructions that we need to unpick before we can change attitudes to women and sport.

In the meantime, western obsessions with size zero and fashions for thin celebrities mean that women’s bodies have been the subject of public surveillance in gossip magazines in really unhealthy ways. The wider normalization of physically active females in our societies is one goal we should be aiming at, as well as more human attitudes to male sport — which can encourage excess and unhealthy attitudes towards ill health in the name of sporting excellence.

“Jack.” Photo: Karen Zusman

Last week, authorities in Malaysia announced that they arrested five immigration officers for rounding up illegal immigrants from Myanmar and selling them to human traffickers.

Karen Zusman, an independent journalist, recently returned from Malaysia, where she reported on the plight of Burmese refugees.

In Malaysia refuses to recognize Burmese as refugees, she recounted the story of “Jack” — a Burmese refugee in Malaysia whose girlfriend, brother and friend had been rounded up by immigration officials and put in detention camps.

In this audio interview, she catches up with Jack about recent developments in Malaysia. His girlfriend has been deported to Myanmar to marry a soldier, his brother remains in a detention camp and his friend “John” has been released, but faces an uncertain future.

Jack yearns for a brighter future, but has himself lost his job. Though he has a UNHCR refugee card, he still fears the police and has nowhere to turn. Above, listen to Karen Zusman’s interview, edited by Katie Combs.

For more:
- Watch Burmese refugees rounded up and sold in Malaysia
- Listen to Malaysia refuses to recognize Burmese as refugees
- Read Karen Zusman’s blog post, A Burmese family’s story of multiple arrests, weekly bribes
- Find more information on the Please Don’t Say My Name website

Somalia, Zimbabwe and Sudan topped the list of failed states this year — rankings based on human rights, governance, economic activity and other indicators.

Also among the top 10 are Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Poverty is endemic in many failed or failing states; in others, the government has lost legitimacy and control. As economic pressures increase with the global financial crisis, and environmental pressures contribute to water and food shortages, even more countries are at risk of failure.

But these dire conditions have implications far beyond individual borders, as failed states — with their high rates of poverty and violence — may serve as breeding grounds for terrorists with global ambitions.

Displaced persons in Yemen, which may be on the verge of becoming a failed state. Photo: IRIN

Worldfocus.org’s weekly radio show explores what it means for a state to fail, from the impact on daily life to widespread geopolitical ripple effects.

Worldfocus anchor Martin Savidge hosts a panel of guests:

Pauline Baker is the president of The Fund for Peace, a nonprofit organization dedicated to preventing war and alleviating the conditions that cause conflict. She has also served as an adjunct professor in the Graduate School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University and is a professorial lecturer at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.

Christopher Boucek is a research associate in the Middle East Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where he focuses on regional security challenges. Before joining the Carnegie Endowment, he was a postdoctoral researcher at Princeton University and lecturer in Politics at the Woodrow Wilson School. Boucek has written widely on the Middle East, Central Asia, and terrorism.

Georgette Gagnon is the director of the Africa Division at Human Rights Watch and led a research mission to Darfur in 2004. She previously investigated human rights violations in Rwanda and directed the Human Rights Department at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Credits:
Host: Martin Savidge
Producers: Lisa Biagiotti, Katie Combs and Ben Piven

Political upheaval continues in Honduras, after liberal leader Manuel Zelaya was ousted in a military coup in late June. It is a battle that has played out not only in the streets of Honduras, but also on television screens and over radio waves across the world.

Some, including U.S. President Barack Obama and the Organization of American States, have condemned the ouster of the democratically-elected president, saying it was unconstitutional, illegal and a threat to democracy.

Others point out that Zelaya was pushing ahead with a referendum on term limits that Honduras’ Supreme Court had ruled unconstitutional, and consider his removal the result of healthy checks and balances.

The Honduran military has clamped down on pro-Zelaya channels in the country and blocked the signal of Telesur, a left-leaning television network based in Venezuela. Other state-run media across Latin America have broadcast programs in support of Zelaya.

Worldfocus.org’s weekly radio show on explored the coup in Honduras and how Latin America’s media industry — from state-run stations to independent websites — has become a political battleground.

Worldfocus anchor Martin Savidge hosts the following panel of guests:

Competing protests have rocked the capital of Honduras, Tegucigalpa. Photo: Sandra Cuffe

Sandra Cuffe is an independent journalist and photographer from Montréal, Canada­. Sandra has reported from Latin America for several years and is the Honduras correspondent for UpsideDownWorld.org.

Daniel Duquenal is a blogger at “Venezuela News and Views,” which he’s been writing for six years. He hails from small San Felipe in Venezuela and spent 15 years in the US before returning to Venezuela to manage a small family business.

Silvio Waisbord is an associate professor of media and public affairs at George Washington University, and editor of the International Journal of Press/Politics. He is the author of “Watchdog Journalism in South America: News, Accountability and Democracy.”

Credits:
Host: Martin Savidge
Producers: Katie Combs, Ben Piven

One of Allan McDonald’s cartoons, courtesy of the artist.

Political upheaval continues in Honduras, after liberal leader Manuel Zelaya was ousted in a military coup in late June.

The military has clamped down on pro-Zelaya channels in the country and blocked the signal of Telesur, a left-leaning television network based in Venezuela.

Ask your questions on media battles in Honduras for our online radio show on Tuesday, July 14.

Honduran political cartoonist Allan McDonald, who had published several cartoons in support of Zelaya, was arrested and detained by the Honduran Armed Forces, who destroyed his materials and cartoons. He joined Worldfocus to describe his experience, and the interview is translated from Spanish below.

Worldfocus: Why did they arrest you and can you describe what happened?

Allan McDonald: Fui detenido en circunstancias complejas, yo me encontraba en mi casa, había dejado la puerta abierta para que entrara un poco de luz, pues se había cortabo la electricidad, y eran ya altas horas de la noche, casi 2 de la mañana, algo así, no recuerdo la hora exacta, porque no sabia donde verla, entro la policia, y dijo que me detenían por que había violado el estado de sitio, que yo tenia la casa con puertas abiertas, esta bien les dije, pero estaba con una nina pequena, asique no podia dejarla, estaba solo.

Así que ellos me dijeron que la dejara con un vecino pero no quise despertar a nadie, menos a esa hora, así que me llave conmigo, no se a donde me llevaron, todo Honduras no había luz, supongo que por la estructura del edificio era un hotel, y alli permaneci 5 horas, no hubo maltratos a nadie.

I was arrested under complex circumstances. They found me in my house. I had left the door open for a little light, but they had cut the electricity and it was already very late at night, almost 2:00 in the morning, something like that (I do not remember exactly because I couldn’t see). The police entered and said they were going to arrest me because I had violated curfew and had left the doors open. Well, I told them that’s fine, but I was with a small girl, and I could not leave her alone.

They told me to leave her with a neighbor but I did not want to wake anyone, especially at that hour, so I brought her with me. I didn’t know where they were taking me, all of Honduras was dark. I thought from the structure of the building that it might be a hotel. I was there for five hours and they didn’t harm anyone.

Political cartoonist Allan McDonald was detained by Honduran armed forces and told he violated curfew.

Worldfocus: What prompted your release?

Allan McDonald: En la detención, tuvo acceso un diplomático, solo el pudo tener eses acceso porque era extranjero y tenia que avisar a sus embajada, era un Venezolano y el aviso, le pedí un mensaje y me cedió su computadora personal y así pude escribirle a una periodista que de inmediato alerto la comunidad internacional, Amnistia Internacional logro la liberación de todos, casi alas 5 de la mañana, o mas tarde, quizá 6 a.m.

In detention, I had access to a diplomat. I only could have this access because he was a foreigner and had to advise his embassy. He was Venezuelan and he said that I could use his personal computer and I was able to write a journalist and immediately alert the international community. Amnesty International won the freedom of everyone. This was at 5:00 in the morning, or even later, maybe 6:00 a.m.

Worldfocus: Is media free and open in Honduras? How is the current government treating journalists?

Allan McDonald: No existe en este momento ninguna libertad de prensa, también existe la autocensura, y al acomodamiento de la prensa frente a los hechos, antes de este golpre ya la prensa estaba polarizada frente a Zelaya, los medios callaron siempre la verdad en este asunto, hay videos e imágenes manipuladas por los medios.

At this moment, freedom of the press does not exist. There are self-censorship and some inaccuracies when it comes to the facts. Before this coup, the press was already polarized and set against Zelaya. The media always silenced the truth in this matter, and manipulated videos and images.

Worldfocus: Where are people getting their information?

Allan McDonald: Esta batalla contra la censura y contra la dictadura y la desinformación se esta librando desde Google, desde allí la genta se informa, otro media sin censura fueron los mesanjitos vía celular, que acá en Honduras todo el mundo tiene uno, mas no todos tiene acceso al Internet.

This battle against censorship and against dictatorship and disinformation is freed by Google. It is here the people get informed. Other media without censorship were cell phone messages. Here in Honduras, everyone has one, but not everyone has access to the Internet.

A cartoon by Allan McDonald paints a dim picture of Honduran democracy.

Worldfocus: What is your opinion about the situation in Honduras? How should the crisis be resolved?

Allan McDonald: El Departamento de Estado hizo o correcto, aca esta totalmente dividido, entre ricos y pobres, no hay ideologías, es lucha de clases, pero los pactos deben ser en us país neutral tal como U.S. hizo, dándole espacio a Costa Rica, creo que alli esta la luz al final del túnel, sin embargo el propio Micheletti desde ahora se opone al regreso de Zelaya, eso va contra lo manifestado de U.S. y su deseo de arreglar este asunto ya demasiado espinoso. Esta es la primera vez que me alegro que intervenga Estados Unidos a un país.

The State Department did right. Here it is completely divided between rich and poor — not between ideologies. This is a class struggle. But it should be resolved by a neutral country, like the U.S. did by asking Costa Rica to take over negotiations. I believe that there is a light at the end of the tunnel, but Micheletti is going to oppose the return of Zelaya, which goes against the declaration of the U.S. and the desire to fix this already too-thorny matter. This is the first time that I am happy the United States intervened in a country.

Worldfocus: Has public opinion at large swayed in favor of or against Zelaya?

Allan McDonald: Si, y es fácil saberlo, sino fuera asi, no habría tanta censura, hasta las cadenas internacionales como CNN les cortan su senal desde acá, ponen cadenas para que nadie se da cuenta que dice el mundo, ahora la población no esta en las calles por Zelaya, sino por la barbarie que hacen, suprimir garantias individuales, toques de queda, censura, y balas, ya el ejercito abre fuego y ya hay 2 victimas comprobadas y centenares de detenidos y amanazados, la prensa no dice nada.

Yes, and it is easy to know — if there wasn’t so much censorship, since even international stations like CNN are cut off from the public. Now, the population isn’t in the streets for Zelaya, but for the barbarism that they do, to suppress individual rights. The curfews, censorship and bullets…already, they have opened fire and already two have been killed (this has been verified), and hundreds of people have been arrested and threatened, and the press does not say anything.

Translated by Katie Combs and Ivette Feliciano.

As ethnic clashes between the Muslim Uighurs and Han Chinese turn deadly, Worldfocus.org’s weekly radio show explores the recent riots involving China’s Uighur minority. The show also looks at Uighur aspirations of secession, Han Chinese immigration and Chinese nationalism.

The Muslim Uighurs live in the oil-rich Xinjiang region, north of Tibet. The Chinese government has imposed restrictions on the Uighurs’ religious practice in this autonomous region and many Uighurs resent Chinese rule and complain of discrimination.

Worldfocus anchor Martin Savidge hosts the following panel of guests:

Many Uighurs complain of discrimination and higher rates of unemployment.

Enze Han is a PhD candidate in political science at George Washington University. He grew up in Hangzhou, China, and came to the U.S. in 2004. His research focuses on ethnic minorities in China, and he received a fellowship to study the politics of separatism.

Andrew James Nathan is a political science professor at Columbia University. His teaching and research interests include Chinese politics, foreign policy, and human rights. His books include Constructing Human Rights in the Age of Globalization and How East Asians View Democracy. Watch the Worldfocus’ television interview with Prof. Nathan: Scores killed in China in violent ethnic clashes.

Alim Seytoff is spokesperson for the World Uyghur Congress, Vice-President of Uyghur-American Association, and director of the Uyghur Human Rights Project. He came to the U.S. from China in 1996.

The show also includes a statement from Wenqi Gao, the spokesperson for the Consulate General of China in New York, and, as always, questions from our listeners.

Photo courtesy of Flickr user Kaj17 under a Creative Commons license.

Credits:
Host: Martin Savidge
Producers: Lisa Biagiotti, Katie Combs and Ben Piven

Worldfocus.org’s weekly radio show explores tensions in South Sudan, the site of a two-decade civil war between the Muslim north and mostly Christian south that killed more than 1.5 million people. The south is also home to 80 percent of Sudan’s oil.

The war came to an end in 2005 with the signing of a peace agreement that exempted the south from Islamic Sharia law and established a regional southern government as well as a system of shared oil revenues. But with increasingly deadly tribal violence in South Sudan and a humanitarian crisis that could soon eclipse that in Darfur, trouble is brewing once more.

In a conference on Sudan in Washington last week, leaders from the north and south pledged to avoid a return to war.

South Sudan is set for a referendum on independence in 2011 and many in the region hope that the vote will allow a break from Khartoum once and for all, creating a new African nation. Others remain wary, pointing to corruption and incompetence on the part of South Sudan’s government and accusing leaders of squandering oil revenues.

Worldfocus anchor Martin Savidge hosted the following guests:

Jen Marlowe is a filmmaker, writer and human rights activist. She traveled to South Sudan for the forthcoming documentary “Rebuilding Hope,” funded in part by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.

Eric Reeves is a professor at Smith College and has spent the past 10 years researching Sudan. He has testified several times before the Congress and served as a consultant to human rights and humanitarian organizations in Sudan. He is the author of “A Long Day’s Dying,” a book about Darfur. He contributes to the blog Making Sense of Darfur.

Sunday Taabu left South Sudan at the height of the civil war in 1991. She is the founder of the South Sudan Institute for Women’s Education and Leadership and previously worked for the Government of Southern Sudan’s Mission to the U.S.

The show also includes audio clips from:

A Worldfocus interview with Scott Gration, the U.S. envoy to Sudan, on the importance of the region to the United States.

Peter Wankomo, who fled Sudan during the civil war and now lives in Canada. He’s the editor of a website, “South Sudan Nation,” which lobbies for the south’s independence.

A clip from Jen Marlowe’s forthcoming film, “Rebuilding Hope,” featuring a minister in the government of South Sudan and a woman living in the rural village of Akon. Both comment on what’s changed since the peace agreement and the end of the war.

Credits:
Host: Martin Savidge
Producers: Lisa Biagiotti, Katie Combs and Ben Piven

Imagine you have no birth certificate, no passport and no legal rights. You’re trapped in the country where you were born, but no document indicates that you even exist. The state doesn’t recognize you, so you can’t vote, you can’t access education and you can’t obtain formal employment.

This is a worst-case situation, but across the globe, between 12 and 15 million people live in various stages of statelessness, which means they lack citizenship in any country.

Some of the most notably stateless people include the Palestinians of the Middle East, the ethnic Tutsis of Central Africa, some Roma in Europe and Haitian children in the Dominican Republic.

Worldfocus.org’s weekly radio show explored the common themes that surface among stateless people — economic discrimination, social exclusion, identity and the feeling of invisibility.

Read a full transcript.

Martin Savidge hosted the following guests:

Bill Berkeley, previously an investigative reporter and editorial writer at The New York Times, teaches journalism at Columbia University. He is the author of The Graves Are Not Yet Full: Race, Tribe and Power in the Heart of Africa and a forthcoming book on statelessness.

Dawn Calabia is a senior adviser for Refugees International. She has 30 years of experience with foreign policy analysis, human rights issues and public advocacy. She has handled governmental and non-governmental relations in the U.S. and the Caribbean for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and has led numerous fact-finding missions to Central America, Southeast Asia, South Asia and Africa.

The show also includes audio clips from:

Julia Harrington, a senior legal officer at the Open Society Justice Initiative, who explains how her organization uses legal channels to advocate for stateless people. Julia has brought cases before the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the European Court of Human Rights, and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.

Adam Hussein, who was born stateless as a Nubian in Kenya, and is currently the project coordinator of the Open Society East Africa Initiative.

Samira Trad, the director of Beirut-based Frontiers-Ruwad, a human rights NGO.

Credits:
Host: Martin Savidge
Producers: Lisa Biagiotti, Katie Combs and Ben Piven

Gaurav Mishra

The Iranian government has restricted all journalists working for foreign news organizations from reporting on the streets of Tehran, where thousands have been gathering to protest the country’s disputed presidential election. What’s been harder to control is social media tools like Twitter, where thousands of users post and share information worldwide.

Gaurav Mishra is the co-founder of social media research and analytics company 20:20 Web Tech and a 2009 Fellow at the Society for New Communications Research. He previously taught social media at Georgetown University and co-founded Vote Report India. He joined Worldfocus to discuss the role of Twitter in the aftermath of Iran’s election.

Worldfocus: What role has Twitter played in the aftermath of Iran’s election? Has there been a “Twitter Revolution”?

Gaurav Mishra: The story which I’m reading in the media is that of the “Twitter Revolution.” And the story is that Twitter is one of the key things used to organize these protests, and the State Department is contacting Twitter to make sure it doesn’t go down, and so on and so forth. That’s the wrong story — it’s the wrong story in Iran, it was the wrong story in Moldova. There is no “Twitter Revolution.” We haven’t seen a “Twitter Revolution,” and I don’t think we’ll ever see a “Twitter Revolution.”

The revolution in Iran is not about Twitter. It’s about Iranian people protesting against perceived irregularities in the election. It’s a grassroots movement, and we’re abusing it in many ways by calling it a Twitter Revolution. It’s a big country with one of the biggest elections around the world, and clearly Mousavi supporters and Ahmadinejad supporters — all of them — have huge offline networks who are getting people to mobilize, getting support and getting people to come out and protest. We are underestimating the value of that network in a country like Iran or a country like India or China — that is a network which culturally matters. Even in the U.S., that is a network that matters. So we’re really underestimating the value of that network by saying this is a “Twitter Revolution.”

On a scale of one to 10, if 10 means it is a legitimate revolution, I would say Twitter as an organizing tool is at five or six.

Twitter does play a very important role in some other areas. It has played an extremely important role in fixing the world’s attention on the crisis, both in terms of getting individuals like you and me to focus on the crisis, and also in getting the attention of the international media and making sure this crisis gets the amount of coverage it deserves to get. The #cnnfail meme on Saturday, which basically asked why the protests were not on the front page of CNN — that’s a very clear example that the activists know what they’re doing. They’re using Twitter to focus international attention on Iran, and to put this on the media’s agenda.

Twitter users voiced their anger at the lack of media coverage of Iran.

It’s very interesting — I see different stories happening. First is the story of the protest itself, and that’s a very big, legitimate story in itself. Then there’s the story about how Twitter and Facebook are being used to organize the protests. I think that’s a fake story. It distracts from the real issue, from the real story of these protests happening in Iran, which are the biggest protests since the 1970s. And it’s dangerous — we are telling them this is an organizing tool; that you can use this tool to organize protests. That’s not the case, because in countries like India or Iran, only single-digit percentages of people use Twitter. Clearly it’s not an organizing tool.

The mobile phone is an organizing tool and e-mail is an organizing tool, because everybody has mobile phones in these countries. And the first thing you do if you want to organize a protest is send a text message to everybody in your address book. That’s how these protests are being organized in all likelihood, not via Twitter.

Worldfocus: How have traditional blogs fared in Iran compared to micro-blogging tools like Twitter?

The #iranelection feed on Twitter.

Gaurav Mishra: We’ve seen that in all types of crisis situations — whether it’s the terrorist attacks in Mumbai, the China earthquake, or the Moldova protests, or elections in India or Iran — in all these kinds of big events, Twitter is great at giving alerts. You’re seeing a news cycle emerge where at first, stories are reported on Twitter. Then, blogs pick them up, they aggregate these stories and expand on these stories. They’re the first slightly detailed sense of what’s happening. And then the news organizations come in, and they write the 30-second piece on this, or do a deep story on it. And then we go into the context phase, where people add context to it and reference old stories — and this again happens both in the mainstream media and on blogs.

And finally it goes through that news cycle, and after that context and analysis happens, people start reacting to these stories, in mainstream media and blogs — and again, the reaction happens on Twitter. So if you go through the whole news cycle, what’s happening is that in the alert stage, and in the conversation stage, Twitter plays a very important role. But in the stage of developing the story, giving it context, giving it analysis, blogs and mainstream media still play a very important role. Twitter very clearly doesn’t have a role in developing the story, giving it context and analyzing why is it important.

Worldfocus: Why is it seemingly more difficult for the Iranian government to control Twitter compared to blogs and Facebook?

Gaurav Mishra: Here’s the interesting thing about censorship and control. Typically how governments censor Web content is to ban specific URLs or specific IP addresses. So they would ban the Facebook IP address or the Twitter IP address or the blogger.com IP address or the wordpress.com IP address.

In countries where most of the bloggers are on blogger.com, once you’ve blocked blogger.com, you’ve basically blocked all the blogs in that country. However, people like me host blogs on our own URLs and on our own servers. Therefore, unless the government has a database of all the blogs which are self-hosted, they can’t really block all blogs. You can block a blogging platform easily, but it’s very difficult to block individual blogs which are self-hosted. Facebook is fairly easy to block because most people who use Facebook actually go to Facebook and use it there.

Twitter is interesting because most people who use Twitter don’t actually go to the twitter.com Web site. Most people who use Twitter go to something like TweetDeck, which is a desktop application, or one of the thousands of desktop applications to use Twitter. Or they use it via text messages. So even though you can block the twitter.com Web site, you can’t really block Twitter usage, because people can send and receive text messages, people can get tweets and send tweets on applications and it’s very difficult to block.

On all these things, whether it’s blogs, social networking sites, news Web sites, Twitter, of course there are fairly simple ways to go around the censorship. People who are technically sophisticated find it trivial to go around censorship using circumvention tools.

Worldfocus: Some Twitter users outside Iran have begun a campaign to change their profile location to Tehran, in order to shield Iranian Twitterers from government detection. Do Twitter users in Iran need this protection? And has it impeded or confused the flow of information from on the ground?

Twitter users outside Iran have begun a campaign to change their profile location to Tehran.

Gaurav Mishra: I think they do need this protection, because what’s happening in Iran is that a lot of people are joining Twitter, because they’re hearing about this. I saw some stats — a large number of people, some hundred, are joining every hour. The number of Twitter users in Iran is low, less than 10,000. Which means that when Twitter users join from Iran, it’s very easy to track them. Sometimes people don’t understand the complexity of this, and they reveal their location information. Then it becomes easy to profile them. I think it comes from a good place, this movement to change your Twitter location/handle to Iran to confuse Iranian authorities who might be looking to profile people.

I do think the Iranian government has more important things to do. I’m sure they have a very sophisticated database of known dissenters, and they will first go after these people. These people who are joining Twitter — they are pretty low on the list of the Iranian government in terms of cracking down on them.

I think it’s overkill, but comes from a good place. Of course it harms the information flow. The only way you can make sense of the Iran feed right now, the #iranelection feed, is filtering by location. This misguided movement precludes the possibility of making any sense of what is happening now. It also precludes the possibility for academics to go back and make sense of it after it has happened. In the Moldova “Twitter Revolution,” a lot of people went back and saw all the tweets related to Moldova. They found that of the 700 people who were tweeting about Moldova, only 200 people were actually from Moldova. So it becomes very difficult for people to do that kind of analysis when the location information itself is misguiding. It’s harmful to do this in a way, because it breaks the validity of information and introduces more noise. But I think it comes from a good place, so I’m not criticizing the people who are trying to do this. Different people have different perspectives on what is important.

Worldfocus: We’ve seen a lot of mainstream media sources quoting Twitter users in recent days. Are traditional media outlets embracing Twitter more so than in the past?

View an interactive map of the Iranian blogosphere from The Berkman Center for Internet and Society.

Gaurav Mishra: News organizations can’t hope to break stories anymore, in the same way you’re used to breaking stories, because you have limited bureaus outside the U.S., and there are millions of people with mobile phones out there who become accidental reporters, who just happen to be at the right place at the right time and happen to take a photo or a video or send a text message. What news organizations can do is hire people who understand these tools, who actively identify bloggers and Twitter users. The only way news organizations can catch up is by having these curators, who highlight news and the unconfirmed reports, and then who go back and try and verify these reports and add context to them, saying “This news came from somebody on Twitter, but this is what it means, and we verified it.”

What’s happening in Iran is nothing new. We’ve seen this happen before, we’ve seen this happen in multiple locations. We should stop calling these things “Twitter Revolutions.” Again and again we call these things “Twitter Revolutions,” and Twitter is not at the center of revolution.

Now, not only do citizens use [Twitter], but also political parties use it. In a country like India or Iran where most people are not on the Internet, political parties — especially the challengers, the incumbents don’t use it so much. Ahmadinejad did not usually use these tools, the Republicans in the U.S. didn’t really use these tools — but Democrats used it, Mousavi used it. These are great levelers that allow you to level the playing field with people in control of traditional media. I’ve seen this work in election campaigning, I’ve seen this work in protests — it’s the same dynamics happening in different situations, used by different kinds of people. We should start looking at it realistically and stop being surprised every time this happens.

- Katie Combs

The debate over agricultural policy in Argentina could pave the way for political transformation.

The country was once the world’s biggest exporter of beef and was known as the “bread basket” of South America. But Argentina may be forced to import beef next year, and many of the country’s farmers blame government restrictions on exports.

In recent months, President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner has refused to lower hefty export taxes despite continued protests. She and her supporters may struggle to retain power in this month’s Congressional elections, with an approval rating of roughly 30 percent.

Read Worldfocus blogger Peter Eisner’s commentary: Argentina’s president faces uphill battle as economy tightens.

Tensions have been exacerbated by the looming economic crisis and a severe drought, the worst in some 70 years, which has devastated crops.

Watch the Worldfocus signature story “Farmers, drought and taxes cripple Argentina.”

Some farmers are now planning to run for election, hoping to leverage public support and pave the way for a new congressional majority that could lower taxes.

Worldfocus.org’s weekly radio show explored the state of Argentina’s farms and what the future holds for the country’s economy and leadership.

Worldfocus anchor Martin Savidge hosted a panel of guests.

Cristian Harris is an assistant professor at North Georgia College and State University. His research focuses on the impact of international trade on the formation of domestic political divisions, as well as trade policy and development in Argentina and Latin America.

Marcelo Regunaga is a former secretary of agriculture for Argentina and the vice chairman of the International Food & Agricultural Trade Policy Council. Now a professor, Marcelo has consulted for several organizations, such as the United Nations Development Program and the World Bank.

Marie Trigona is a Buenos-Aires based writer, radio producer and filmmaker who reports on labor struggles, social movements and human rights in Latin America. She formerly worked for the Buenos Aires Herald and now contributes to Free Speech Radio News and other independent news sources.

Associated photo courtesy of Flickr user Alicia Nijdam under a Creative Commons license.

Credits:
Host: Martin Savidge
Producers: Lisa Biagiotti, Katie Combs and Ben Piven

More than a decade after the war’s end, Bosnia and Herzegovina may once more be on the brink of conflict.

The 1992-1995 war in Bosnia left approximately 100,000 dead and divided Muslim, Serb and Croat communities.

Though the U.S.-brokered Dayton peace agreement brought an end to the war, the country remains divided, and officials worry that the peace agreement could soon collapse.

In late May, U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden visited Bosnia and voiced concerns, saying “To be very blunt with you, I personally, and the leadership of my country is worried…about the direction of your country and your future.”

Worldfocus.org’s weekly radio show explored the roots of conflict and Bosnia’s fragile peace, looking at life on the ground in the tension-filled country.

Worldfocus anchor Martin Savidge hosted a panel of guests:

Nenad Pejic is the Prague-based associate director of broadcasting for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. He has been the director of the South Slavic and Albanian Language Broadcast Service, and has worked as a Belgrade correspondent for Sarajevo Television.

Sarah Meharg is a senior researcher at the Pearson Peacekeeping Centre in Ottawa City, Canada. She has worked with the Canadian, American, and NATO forces through her research. Her most recent book, “Measuring What Matters in Peace Operations and Crisis Management,” focuses on the effectiveness of the international community’s peace operations.

Srecko Latal currently writes for the Balkan Insight think tank. He worked for the Associated Press as as the bureau chief during the Bosnian war. A multi-ethnic native of Sarajevo, Srecko has also worked for the European Union and the World Bank.

Credits:
Host: Martin Savidge
Producers: Lisa Biagiotti, Katie Combs and Nicole E. Foster

Lebanon will head to the polls on June 7 in an election that could alter the political fabric of the country, with Hezbollah and its allies poised to make significant gains.

Hezbollah is pitted against the current anti-Syria majority. The robust campaign has split Lebanese voters.

Young Lebanese men wave the flag of Hezbollah.

For more on the rise of Hezbollah in Lebanese politics, watch the Worldfocus signature story: Hezbollah heads into mainstream Lebanese life and politics.

On a visit to Lebanon in late May, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden — the highest-level U.S. official to visit Lebanon in over two decades — warned that U.S. aid would be dependent on the outcome of the elections.

Hezbollah is backed by Iran and Syria, while the U.S. and its allies support the current parliamentary majority, who came to power in the previous election after Sunni leader and former prime minister Rafik Hariri was assassinated in 2005.

Worldfocus.org’s weekly radio show examined the issues and implications of Lebanon’s election, looking back to the country’s turbulent history and forward to a potentially new political landscape.

Worldfocus anchor Martin Savidge hosted a panel of guests:

Melani Cammett is an assistant professor of political science at Brown University. She specializes in the political economy of development and the Middle East. She is currently working on a book entitled “Social Welfare in Plural Societies,” a study of healthcare, schooling and short-term loans in Lebanon, where she has conducted extensive field research. She is also the author of “Globalization and Business Politics in North Africa: A Comparative Perspective.”

Ben Gilbert is the Lebanon Correspondent for GlobalPost. He also works as an independent radio, newspaper and magazine reporter covering Middle East news, culture, conflict and economics. His work has aired on National Public Radio, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, BBC and ABC Radio, among others. He has also written for the U.S. News and World Report, The Christian Science Monitor and The San Francisco Chronicle.

Ghassan Schbley is a scholar and project associate with RAND based in Washington. He specializes in Lebanese and Middle East politics and U.S. relations in the region.

View videos and blogs from the Worldfocus series The New Lebanon.

Read what bloggers have to say about the election: Controversy stirs ahead of major election in Lebanon

Associated photo courtesy of Flickr user Paul Keller under a Creative Commons license.

Credits:
Host: Martin Savidge
Producers: Lisa Biagiotti, Katie Combs and Nicole E. Foster

Once considered a frigid wasteland, the Arctic is melting faster than any other region on earth and revealing its hidden treasures in the process, from oil to new shipping routes.

A race for control has broken out as the Arctic emerges as a region of vital economic and military importance. It is estimated that the Arctic holds nearly a quarter of the world’s undiscovered oil and gas reserves.

Nations are furiously mapping seabeds, vying for sections of continental shelf in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, set up to determine offshore boundaries. The U.S. has not ratified the Law of the Sea and therefore cannot file claims.

But in addition to nations’ self-interests, the complex environmental, business and governance questions surrounding the Arctic may also necessitate more international cooperation.

Worldfocus.org’s weekly radio show explored polar politics. Worldfocus anchor Martin Savidge hosted a panel of guests:

McKenzie Funk is a writer for National Geographic and Harper’s Magazine who has reported extensively from the Arctic region. His recent article, “Arctic Landgrab,” reported on an icebreaking mission that mapped a portion of the Arctic Ocean floor. His book about climate change, “Best Laid Plans,” will be published by The Penguin Press.

Jessica Shadian is a senior research fellow at the the High North Center for Business and Governance in Bodo, Norway. Her research includes indigenous autonomy and Arctic governance as manifest in the work of the Inuit Circumpolar Council. She co-edited a forthcoming book entitled “Legacies and Change in Polar Science: Historical, Legal and Political Reflections on the International Polar Year.”

Oran Young is a professor at the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management at the University of California, Santa Barbara and co-directs the Program on Governance for Sustainable Development. He specializes in governance and environmental Institutions. He also chairs the scientific steering committee of the international project on the Institutional Dimensions of Global Environmental Change. He has written more than 20 books, including “Arctic Politics: Conflict and Cooperation in the Circumpolar North.”

Credits:
Host: Martin Savidge
Producers: Katie Combs and Nicole E. Foster

The year 2007 was a turning point for the world, marking the first time when the majority of the global population lived in cities rather than in the country.

The world’s population is expected to surpass 9 billion by 2050, and increasing urbanization will push the urban-rural divide even further.

Do the world’s cities have the jobs, infrastructure and space to support this kind of growth? The answer might be found in the explosion of world slums over the past decade. The United Nations predicts that 2 billion people worldwide will live in slums by 2030.

In his 2006 book “Planet of Slums,” urban historian Mike Davis paints a dark picture of the future to come, writing:

The cities of the future, rather than being made out of glass and steel as envisioned by earlier generations of urbanists, are instead largely constructed out of crude brick, straw, recycled plastic, cement blocks, and scrap wood. Instead of cities of light soaring toward heaven, much of the twenty-first-century urban world squats in squalor, surrounded by pollution, excrement and decay.

Worldfocus.org’s weekly radio show explored urbanization and the rise of slums, examining how such deplorable conditions might be addressed, even as the global economic crisis looms.

Worldfocus anchor Martin Savidge hosted a panel of guests.

Erhard Berner is an associate professor of developmental sociology at the Institute of Social Studies in The Hague. He has done extensive research on urban poverty and community responses in the Philippines and elsewhere and served as a consultant to UN-Habitat, NGOs, and government institutions.

Robert Neuwirth spent two years living in shantytowns across the developing world to write “Shadow Cities: A Billion Squatters, A New Urban World.” He is now at work on a book chronicling the global reach of the informal economy.

Mary Wiltenburg is an independent reporter, now following a year in the life of a refugee family in the U.S. and Tanzania in a series called Little Bill Clinton, a real-time multimedia project with The Christian Science Monitor and the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.

Worldfocus producer Ara Ayer is in Manila and sends in this report of the conditions he’s witnessing:

 

Below, view a slideshow of life in five major world slums.

Credits:
Host: Martin Savidge
Producers: Bijan Rezvani, Nicole E. Foster and Katie Combs

Environmentalists and others may balk at the world’s rapid population growth, as the global population is expected to surpass 9 billion by 2050 — but in Russia, the opposite is true.

Facing dual threats of low birth rates and soaring mortality rates, the Russian population is aging and dying, according to a recent report from the United Nations Development Programme.

Life expectancy in Russia is some 12 years less than life expectancy in the U.S. Russia lost more than 12 million people over the last 16 years, and may lose another 11 million by 2025.

In an effort to combat the trend, the Kremlin has launched a pro-natalist campaign, expanding maternity leave benefits and offering financial incentives to mothers with more than one child.

The population decline has also impacted Russia’s national discussions on reproduction and abortion.

Worldfocus.org’s weekly radio show explored the factors driving Russia’s population decline and its implications for Russian society and public policy.

Worldfocus anchor Martin Savidge hosted a panel of guests:

Paul Goble is a longtime specialist on ethnic and religious questions in Eurasia and blogs at “Window on Eurasia.” Most recently, he was director of research and publications at the Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy. Previously, he worked in various capacities at the U.S. State Department, the Central Intelligence Agency and the International Broadcasting Bureau, as well as at the Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He has been decorated by the governments of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania for his work in promoting Baltic independence.

Vladimir Lenskiy is the New York bureau chief and correspondent for Russia’s Channel One television, the country’s oldest and largest television network with an audience of 100 million viewers throughout Russia and Eastern Europe. He has over a decade of experience as a reporter for Russia’s independent national television networks, including NTV (Nezavisimoye Televideniye), TVS and TV-6, a Moscow-based independent channel.

Louisa Vinton is a senior program manager at the United Nations Development Program’s Regional Bureau for Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States, where she is responsible for UNDP activities in seven countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, the Russian Federation and Ukraine. Previously, Louisa worked for the Economist Intelligence Unit and as a senior research analyst for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in Munich.

Photo courtesy of Flickr user eurutuf under a Creative Commons license.

Credits:
Host: Martin Savidge
Producers: Nicole E. Foster, Katie Combs and Bijan Rezvani

Iraq’s massive oil reserves, the third largest in the world, are well-known. But small businesses represent about 90 percent of the country’s businesses.

More than a quarter of young men in Iraq are jobless, according to the United Nations, and this high rate of unemployment and lack of prospects can often contribute to instability. Some 450,000 people will enter the workforce in Iraq this year — but only a fraction of them will find jobs.

The country is also not immune from the global financial crisis, and dropping oil prices represent a threat in a country where oil accounts for about 95 percent of the government’s revenue.

As the new administration in Washington prepares to scale down the U.S. presence in Iraq and the world’s focus shifts to Afghanistan, Worldfocus.org’s weekly radio show explored the state of the Iraqi economy, from small shoe shops to large oil corporations.

Worldfocus anchor Martin Savidge hosted a panel of guests:

Ali Alnaemi was born in Baghdad, Iraq. He worked as a freelance reporter for the BBC and Voices of America in Iraq, and from 2004-2007 worked as the newsroom manager for The New York Times’ bureau in Baghdad. Ali’s main interests include politics and issues that affect minorities in the U.S.

Eric Davis is a professor of political science at Rutgers University and past director of the University’s Center for Middle Eastern Studies. His research has included the study of the relationship between state power and historical memory in modern Iraq and the impact of oil wealth on the state and culture in Arab oil-producing countries. His publications include “Memories of State: Politics, History and Collective Identity in Modern Iraq,” among others.

Robert Looney is a professor of national security affairs at the Naval Postgraduate School. He has been an adviser to the governments of Iran, Saudi Arabia, Panama, Jamaica and Mexico. Robert’s regional interests are government budgets, defense expenditures and economic planning in the Middle East/South Asian region. He has written twenty books on various aspects of economic development, including “Economic Development in Saudi Arabia: Consequences of the Oil Price Decline.”

Credits:
Host: Martin Savidge
Producers: Lisa Biagiotti, Katie Combs, Nicole E. Foster and Bijan Rezvani

The Red Cross is warning of a catastrophe as the Sri Lankan government launches a “final” assault against the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE ), who ignored the government’s calls for surrender and are now cornered in a small piece of coastal territory

Tens of thousands of civilians are caught in the crossfire, although some 50,000 others escaped to government-controlled areas. Both the Tamil Tigers and the Sri Lankan government have been accused of humanitarian abuses.

The Tamil Tigers have long fought for an independent state for Sri Lanka’s Tamil ethnic minority, which is often at odds with the majority Sinhalese community. Seen by some as a prototype for modern terrorism, the Tamil Tigers pioneered the suicide bomb jacket and the use of women in suicide attacks.

The 25-year civil war is one of Asia’s longest-running conflicts, and was more deadly than the war in Afghanistan last year. Watch a video of Tamils in New York protesting the Sri Lankan offensive: Sri Lanka launches “final” assault against Tamil Tigers.

Worldfocus.org’s weekly radio show explored the root causes of conflict and life in Sri Lanka.

Worldfocus anchor Martin Savidge hosted a panel of guests:

Rohan Gunaratna is the head of Singapore’s International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research. He is a senior fellow at the Fletcher School for Law and Diplomacy’s Jebsen Centre for Counter Terrorism Studies and at the Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism in Oklahoma. He was invited to testify before the 9-11 Commission on the structure of al-Qaeda and is the author and editor of 12 books including “Inside Al Qaeda: Global Network of Terror.”

Ahilan Kadirgamar is a spokesperson for the Sri Lanka Democracy Forum and contributing editor of Himal Southasian magazine. In that capacity he has worked on the peace process in Sri Lanka. His interests include state reform in Sri Lanka and political solutions to the ethnic conflict. He has written about the international dimension of the peace process and worked on human rights concerns related to the conflict.

Jeffrey Lunstead is a former U.S. Ambassador to Sri Lanka and the Maldives. He entered the Foreign Service in 1977 and has also served in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Malaysia. He also served at the State Department as the chief of South Asia analysis, director for Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh and as Afghanistan coordinator. He is the author of “The U.S. in the Sri Lanka Peace Process” and “Big Powers and Small Conflicts: The U.S. and Sri Lanka.”

Credits:
Host: Martin Savidge
Producers: Lisa Biagiotti, Nicole E. Foster and Katie Combs

Violence is heating up in Sri Lanka’s north, in what’s left of a government no-fire zone near the town of Mullativu. Tens of thousands of civilians are caught in the middle of what the Red Cross calls a catastrophe, although some 50,000 others escaped to government-controlled areas.

Both sides have been accused of humanitarian abuses.

For more on the conflict, listen to our online radio show on Sri Lanka’s civil war.

As the government presses forward, protests are rising up around the world from London to Oslo to Ottawa — as Tamils living abroad demonstrate against the Sri Lankan offensive.

Below, watch a video of a protest at New York’s United Nations building in the U.S. Many of the Tamils present at the April 17 rally have family members in Sri Lanka, and often expressed varying opinions of the Tamil Tigers.

Bloggers in Sri Lanka have also reacted to the developments in the north.

On Monday, a blogger at the “Serving Sri Lanka” blog reacted as civilians escaped the conflict zone:

Today, as I watched thousands of helpless civilians flock to leave the no fire zone and enter the government controlled areas, the tragic scenes of the aftermath of the boxing day Tsunami flashed across my mind. Yes I believe that the situation is as grave or even worse now. I was trying to imagine what might be going through the minds of these frightened and weary looking human beings. They have suffered untold miseries during the past several months, their lives are uncertain even at this very moment, may be they have lost a loved one. What do they want? What could they want?

The answer may be as simple as a better tomorrow. The question is can we provide them that. If we are to win anything we must gradually improve their battered lives. Their condition should improve day by day. These are people who have suffered a life time. They have grievances, they have their doubts. We must allay them. We must provide them with a much better alternative and give them hope. We can not afford to wait. We should not think that it is the sole responsibility of the Government, the NGOs, the INGOs and the like.

I feel that it is my responsibility and duty as well. I can not for a second think that I am not responsible for their sad plight. I should take my fare share of blame as a Sri Lankan citizen for all the senseless deaths that have taken place in this bloody war of over thirty years. The military offensive may be nearing an end. The challenges of tomorrow I feel are colossal. At the very same time we are also presented with a tremendous opportunity for making Sri Lanka a better place for every one, irrespective of race, religion, cast or creed. Let us begin by going out of our way to make the lives of these suffering humans a better one. How soon we succeed in doing this will ensure how soon the healing and mending can begin.

Displaced civilians at a makeshift hospital in Sri Lanka.

Sri Lankan blogger Indrajit Samarajiva describes visiting the Vavuniya hospital in northern Sri Lanka to deliver medical supplies and other basic necessities:

Vavuniya town itself is a fully functional town. Big petrol shed, Cargill’s Food City, roads, buses, road construction. The hospital is a big greenish grey building near the center of town. It is one of the better equipped hospitals in the region and not directly in the warzone. However, it’s built for like 500 and there’s currently more than double that, plus their families. Looks like they could use more roll-out mattresses, water mattresses, pillows, sheets, clothes, etc.

A lot of women and children, lot of nursing mothers. Lot of limb wounds, bandaged feet, arms, etc. This is not meant to be political, but I would like to note that these people are Sri Lankan, they’re being treated in government hospitals and protected by our security forces. I’m Sinhalese and I’m not genocidal. I’m trying to live here and I do respect and look out for the Tamil people as my family and neighbors. There are literally millions of Sri Lankans like me. I just wish the LTTE would let its human shields go and accept amnesty. And let our people go.

“Bobby,” a Sri Lankan living in Australia, comments about his own experience with the war:

I am Jaffna (sri lanka) born tamil. Been living in Australia for the last 15 years. I was in the civil war over there for the first 15 years of my life. War is not a nice thing to be in. I know the feeling. When the fighter jets bombing, ships from the ocean bombing and the army on the land bombing, what do you do? I have lost 2 of my cousins, 2 uncles killed by the Sri Lankan army. I can tell you right now they were innocent as you and me. One of my cousin who came from SL to Aust a year ago, brought a grade 3 school photo of me and him in the same class at a school in Jaffna (sri lanka). We looked through the picture and i asked my cousin ‘i remember this guy, i remember this guy’ cousin’s answers were ‘he is dead, he is dead. Finally, i found out that out of 30 boys on the picture 20 of them are dead.

Photo courtesy of Flickr user aquaview under a Creative Commons license.