Internet Lights Out in Myanmar

The repressive regime in Myanmar has a lock on the country's media outlets, and when columns of monks led massive street protests last week, traditional media outlets were stifled. Photo credits from inside the South Asian nation in the New York Times, for instance, lack names, presumably to protect the identity of any staff inside. Few, if any, Western journalists are reporting from Yangon.

Instead, news filtered out through nontraditional channels like YouTube. The Journal put it this way, "Citizen witnesses are using cellphones and the Internet to beam out images of bloodied monks and street fires, subverting the Myanmar government's effort to control media coverage and present a sanitized version of the uprising."

Now, the government has reportedly turned off the Internet. (What, exactly, are the logistics of a feat like that?) At first, Internet cafes were shuttered, but apparently for the last three days the e-mail service has been down, and now the Times is reporting that faking "technical problems" has become a widespread tactic of silencing flows of information.

The brief disruptions are known as “just in time” filtering, said Ronald J. Deibert of OpenNet. They are designed to quiet opponents while maintaining an appearance of technical difficulties, thus avoiding criticism from abroad.

Journalists inside the country have been transmitting information out of the country via text message; they have communicated developments by updating Wikipedia pages. Curiously, the "Burma" page (the former name of the country), has been closed to editing by unregistered users due to vandalism. See the page here.

In old-fashioned styles of repression, a Japanese photographer was shot dead in the street. Japan is threatening to withhold aid.

Diplomacy has proved so difficult that it took days for a special UN envoy to even gain access to the country's leadership, and just tonight UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has said, "You cannot call it a success."

(Satellite image of Myanmar from Google Earth.)

From European Supranational Unions to Asian Food Sovereignty

To elucidate the network of interdependence that governs today's globalized planet, once a week the Inquirer highlights three international organizations, usually one quite popular, one unsurprising, and one obscure.

European Union |The European Union (EU) is a sui generis supranational union, made up of twenty-seven member states. It was established as the European Economic Community in 1957 by the Treaty of Rome and has undergone many changes since, most notably in 1992 by the Maastricht Treaty. Since 1957 new accessions have raised the number of member states, and powers have expanded. As a result, the EU can be described as both a supranational and an intergovernmental body.

The combined economy of the EU is the largest in the world with a nominal GDP of €11.6 (US$15.7) trillion in 2007. The EU has a single market between member states with a common trade policy, a Common Agricultural/Fisheries Policy, and a regional development policy. It introduced a common currency, the euro, which has been adopted by thirteen member states. Since 1993, the EU has developed a limited Common Foreign and Security Policy, and co-operation in police and judicial matters. (Wikipedia)

World Organization Against Torture | The World Organization Against Torture (Organisation Mondiale Contre la Torture, OMCT) is the world’s largest coalition of non-governmental organizations fighting against arbitrary detention, torture, summary and extrajudicial executions, forced disappearances and other forms of violence. The global network consists of almost 300 local, national and regional organizations, all of which share a common goal of eradicating torture and fostering respect of human rights for all. (Wikipedia)

Asia Pacific Network on Food Sovereignty | APNFS is a regional network of social movements, farmers' organizations, women's organizations and NGOs established to address the issues of increasing trade liberalization in agriculture, worsening food insecurity, massive dislocation of peasants, landlessness, erosion of agricultural biodiversity, and the suppression of peasants' democratic rights common to many countries in the region. (Oxfam America)