For over 27 years President Mubarak has ruled with an iron fist. With protests and strikes forbidden, activists are finding new ways to fight for democracy. Through Facebook, protestors can now find a voice.
“They are terrified of Facebook because it is new to them. It is something they can’t control.” Says democracy activist Nadia who was arrested at the recent April 6 strike. A recent campaign organised via Facebook, saw thousands refusing to work and several hundred campaigning on the streets. Ahmad Mehr, the creator of the Facebook-led strike was eventually arrested. “Just for the password they took my trousers off, he said “We can rape you, we can put a stick in.’ They wanted to close the Facebook group, they wanted control over it.” He was released after providing a false password and now lives in hiding, “Everyone should be interested in politics. I think it is worth the trouble and being in prison for a month or two.” Filming their protests using mobile phones, then uploading them to the internet has inspired bolder political attacks from Egypt’s youth. Footage of Belal Diab heckling the Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif was uploaded onto You Tube. “I told him Egypt was sad, the flower of Egyptian youth was in detention, we want you to release the detainees of 6 April.”
SBS
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Afghanistan - The New Great Game
- 5 min 22 sec [7 July 2008]
The war for Afghanistan is increasingly being staged from across the Pakistani border. Although Pakistan’s government claims to support the US, it is reluctant to take on the Taliban in tribal areas.
Rockets are regularly fired, the US military says, from inside Pakistan. Coming across the border, the Taliban carry out daily attacks on US troops. The US accuses Pakistan of failing to react. Furious Americans say they know that Taliban fighters and their leaders are lurking beyond the mountains. According to one Afghan governor, they are protected by Pakistan: ‘I have the names of 50 Taliban fighters who are all from the same district. All of them are Pakistani (…) The Pakistan Government is supporting the Taliban’. Eleven Pakistani soldiers were recently killed on the border; it is rumoured that a US biplane had targeted them. Are Americans losing patience?
www.guardian.co.uk/business/2003/oct/20/oil Guardian Films
Cases of deformities in children are escalating at an alarming rate in Fallujah. Could these birth defects have occurred as a result of White-Phosphorous gas used by US troops in 2004?
Tiba, aged 1, has a large and terrible eye defect. Dejected, her mother declares: ‘I am having a nervous breakdown. She is suffering. I even wish that she died from the beginning so that we both would feel better.’ The evidence for US troops contributing to the rise in children’s deformities is conflicting: ‘troops admitted using White-Phosphorous for lighting purposes… However they confirmed using it to kill …in a statement to ABC news.’ Families search for answers amongst contradictory information. And inadequate medical facilities and the lack of skilled professionals cause the children to suffer miserably for what the adults have done.
ZZ Productions
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Papua New Guinea - Bougainville: Killer Deal
- 20 min 45 sec [7 July 2008]
After Bougainville’s President died suddenly in June, the future of the island’s huge mineral reserves is in doubt. A secret deal gives an Australian business a 70% share of the resources but does the deal still stand?
The deal between Joseph Kabui and Lindsay Semple’s company, Invincible Resources, is causing confusion over the rights to un-mined copper and gold. Meanwhile, Bougainvilleans are outraged over the pact and are becoming angy. Locals claim Semple ripped them off, whilst contractors say they haven’t been paid. One contractor said “it cost us a lot of money and also made us look stupid, which in this country is a big issue.”
ABC Australia
(Ref: 4071)
Zimbabwe - Undercover in Zimbabwe Prison
- 10 min [5 July 2008]
The unbelievable story of the Zimbabwe prison officer who after 13 years in the prisons decided to turn a video camera on his work and captured prison staff forced to vote for Mugabe.
You could see them all looking at how you were voting and then I put my x on the ballot card’. Shephard Yuda, a former prison guard, decided to secretly film his prison before leaving Zimbabwe. People share their worries about the growing terror while high-profile inmates like MDC official Tendai Biti linger in their cells. Yuda’s film captures the terrifying underbelly of a one-party African state in action.
www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jul/05/zimbabwe Guardian Films
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