We are not all naked under our clothes: On Wikileaks, governments, and our delusion of a neutral and free internet.

This article’s title comes from a Simpson’s chapter, but it's applicable –and oh so well- to basically any subject in which the Big Brother appears. The State, that fictional character that we, the society, needed to create in order to protect us from ourselves, from the social chaos and the anarchy, seems to be having a lot of preponderancy over the citizen’s rights these days.
Last couple of weeks, Wikileaks’ case, and specially, Julian Assange’s bizarre persecution for a felony involving the misuse of a condom (which now, apparently, is called violation in some countries), have taken over all social networks and media.
What is really interesting is that this entire story already happened. A lot of us aren’t old enough to remember –I wasn’t even born-, but in 1971, Daniel Ellsberg gave to The New York Times a group of documents, and they, after verifying their accuracy and authenticity, started publishing them. The USA government filed a petition against them: those documents contained secrets of State, and they asked the Supreme Court to stop and forbid the publication of those documents. But the Supreme Court decided that foreseen censorship was against constitutional rights. The judge couldn’t assure that the revelation of the Pentagon Papers was going to cause a direct, immediate damage to the country or its citizens, and therefore, the government couldn’t stop The NY Times from making public those documents.

However, as Lawrence Lessig affirms, the need for constitutional protection of secrets of State would disappear as soon as those secrets are revealed. Information that has been leaked cannot be hidden anymore: moreover, Internet will exhaustively replicate any information that has become of interest, even if only for the mere curiosity that censorship itself can lift.
What is really worrying governments all over the world is Wikileaks’ credibility. Not even one of those governments involved has denied the veracity of those documents, and the reason is the one that should really be worrying them: Wikileaks has way more credibility than any of them, and it is not only that governments have lost almost all trustworthiness before their citizens, but also that Internet seems to be now just as reliable, if not more, as any traditional media.
Some people is comparing this revelation of secrets of State, with the possible revelation of a person’s private life, trying to make assumptions over its illegitimacy. Quite the opposite, individual rights are not alike the rights of a State for its own preservation, because its mere existence only should depend on its capacity of fulfilling its people’s rights and aspirations. But it doesn’t: actually, the preservation of a State depends on its capacity of keeping information repressed, and it doesn’t have anything to do with the interests of its nationals.
In this same regard, I've heard some people saying that the Internet, as every possible human behavior, is in the need for legal regulation. However, I dissent: Internet already regulated itself, and legislators are late for the party. Netizens, after decades of online activity, have already come to agreement concerning which behavior is acceptable and which is unacceptable, and trying to impose civil laws to the web would be as useless as trying to impose occidental institutions in an ancient tribal society. An indigenous group, for instance, is not unregulated but self-regulated, and so is the Internet, and the misinterpretation between these two ideas is only in the eye of the beholder.
However, discussion seems to be taking a different direction; it is not about the content of what has been “leaked”, but about the alleged violation of secrets of State, that apparently, in the American way of doing things, is above any civil right, not only those concerning freedom of press, speech and information, but also upon human rights and other States’ sovereignty. Apparently, the way of elude responsibility on any event, even if it’s illegal, is declare it Secret of State, of course, if one has the option of doing so.

What we seem to be forgetting is that governments only exist because we, as a collective, transfer (trough the vote) our sovereignty to a higher and fictional entity, which is supposed to answer before us when we hold them accountable. However, in a world where most traditional media is sold to the system, our “right to know” seems to be dissolved, appearing less and less important while they try to convince us that our Father State is going to take our decisions, for us, better than us. They say they don’t have anything to hide, but still they want to rule us without telling us how or why.
A new model of consumption of information, a new paradigm of expression and exchange, this is what is driving governments crazy in all places. Internet, and not internet itself but its users, citizens everywhere, have come to break the pact of silence. Old school politicians who belong in paralyzed structures of power don’t understand the web. They still don’t get how information flows, they have no idea of how to contain the public opinion, and this is just freaking them out. Therefore, what we can’t forget is that the very thing we are trying to preserve is the use of the Internet as a tool for free speech, as a real tool for democratization of media, for public access of information and for government’s accountability all over the world.

On how to foster unrest in a whole country through only one tweet

It seems like a very ambitious goal, but apparently, it is dreadfully possible indeed. The venezuelan government, for what one can assume from its recent policies regarding the use of internet, believes that a single twitter user, with a hundred followers or less, can destabilize an entire political system.
In the last year, citizens have been detained for tweeting about the banking system, for going around saying they want to see the president dead, and for taking pictures of the deterioration of the capitol’s subway system. Their very brief detentions haven’t reached international media, and in appearance, have had only the intention to weaken public opinion and promote self-censorship. In the meantime, Venezuelan President, Hugo Chávez, opened a twitter account and promoted an image of openness and accessibility, a very incongruous one in fact.
However, last week things seem to have gotten darker: The Venezuelan vice-president has filed before the National Assembly a bill that proposes a wide reform, under which an administrative organ, Conatel, would have competences over the Internet. Conatel, dependent to the Ministry of Communications, is a bureau created in order to regulate all content transmitted in national television and radio. Among all rumors flying over the net and traditional media this last days, it has been said that the law would make extensive the so-called “time slots” to the Internet, regulating which content is accessible according to the new regulations regarding matter of language, sex and violence.
As if that’s not enough, the law contemplates the creation of a national Network Access Point, being controlled by Cantv, the government owned ISP. Cantv has a long story as an untrustworthy service provider, being blamed for diverse website blockages through the last years; the most recent one, a Wordpress “blackout” that lasted two days, coinciding with the elections performed last September 26th.
If we compare the actual influence of a twitter user like @leaoxford, who was detained last July because of a tweet that “caused destabilization of the national banking system” –and is now under probation-, a very simple procedure that can be done using Twinfluence or something similar, we can easily establish that in real world, Leo Acosta Oxford could have mobilized, in best case scenario, a manifestation of 50 people or so. Or, what is the same, none of us even knew who @leaoxford was before he was imprisoned. A person, in order to cause public distress through a web service like twitter, would need to have a lot of personal influence (which means, to be someone like @NelsonBocaranda or @AlbertoRavell), and even in that case, s/he might as well use any other way of communication, like newspapers or television: it’s not about the media, but about the message and the person, and still, the government wants to avoid that ordinary people goes around saying stuff online. And this is the government that, allegedly, wanted to give a voice to people who hadn’t been heard before. This, people, is what Internet does: that every person –with internet access, and that’s a horse of a different color- can speak out their mind, not only those with certain privileges, social position or political affiliation.
As I’ve said before, power is not frightened by people but ideas. I can only wonder how unstable is actually a government that gives that kind of importance to 140 characters or less.

The Story of Bottled Water

Annie Leonard is an expert in international trade and sustainable development, who is more known for her documentary The Story of Stuff (The Story of Stuff), where she talks about the life cycle of goods and services in a very didactic and fun way. However, I just stumbled upon this other documentary of hers, called The Story of Bottled Water, where she basically explains the cycle of bottled water and the unnecesary pollution and waste of money and resources that the industry of bottled water means. I really think you should see both.



The Story of Bottled Water with Annie Leonard from kompozit on Vimeo.

“Where do you want me to shoot you?” : Interpersonal violence is a matter of health

This article was originally written for Th!nk about it: Developing world.

- Francisco was driving from work that night, at 7:00 p.m., and he was waiting for the red light to turn green, when a man pointed at him with a weapon from outside the window. Francisco got off the car and handed him the keys, and the man took the car and leaved. Ten seconds later, he came back, in reverse, and he told Francisco: "You almost left with nothing. Where do you want me to shoot you?".

A few things I didn't know about Malaria

(This article was originally written for Th!nk About It: Developing World).

So, I was researching around the web for my trip next week to the Global Voices Summit in Chile, and suddenly I found myself reading the guide on Lonely Planet about my country. I was a bit of a stroke to see all the listed diseases they prevent travelers from while visiting Venezuela. Alphabetically, they list the following: Brucellosis, Cholera, Dengue (breakbone fever), Hepatitis a, Hepatitis b, Hiv/aids (of course), Leishmaniasis, Measles, Rabies, Schistosomiasis, Tick-borne relapsing fever, Typhoid fever, equine encephalitis, and Yellow fever.

Tap water doesn't mean drinking water: Interview with the Movement for Water Quality

(This article was originally written for Th!nk about it: Developing world)

Venezuelan government states that 92% of the population has access to drinking water. Meanwhile, the consequences of a long drought strike Venezuela and the inhabitants of Valencia are affected by polluted water coming from their taps.

A history of music, poverty and hope

 (This article was originally written for Th!nk about it: Developing world)

I feel the urge to confess, before I say anything, that I’m prouder than pride itself to share my nationality with Gustavo Dudamel. I have yet to meet a venezuelan who doesn’t get goosebumps when s/he hears that Dudamel is conducting the Gothenburg Symphony, or the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

Aid for development with respect: The Wayuu Taya Foundation

(This post was originally written for Think3: Developing World, and can be found here).

To complement my previous post, I interviewed Maria L. Betancur, who serves as Assistant Director of Development and Operations for The Wayuu Taya Foundation, who so kindly obtained some time in her busy schedule to answer my questions. (Also, they have a brand new and beautiful website, wich you can visit here).

President Chávez and his "communicational guerrilla"

This post was written for Global Voices Advocacy.

On last sunday, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez launched the program named “Communicational Thunder”, in order to  "face the lies and misinformation spread by private media". "Media battle has to be fought everyday", he said. That day, in his weekly sunday TV program, seventy-five young students between ages 13 and 17, were sworn in his "Communicational Guerrilla", wearing khaki jackets and red bandanas tied around their necks. They had been trained to "fight against imperialist messages", either on social networks online, on walls and pamphlets or "through direct intervention".

Oil, coal, development and indigenous people: In the search for a peaceful settlement

 According to UNICEF, the Guajira ranks second among the poorest places in Latin America after Haiti. Wayuus, who represent around 54% of all indigenous population of Venezuela, doesn't have stable access to potable water, suffer of an overly high rate of children mortality (two to three children die everyday of malnutrition), and lack of well-supplied schools, health facilities and hospitals.

Why a day for women

During yesterday I had no opportunity to write, but I received many messages and comments from close people, from the typical greeting by text message to people who said that the very existence of the International Women’s Day was, in short, a ridiculous: women, they said, are not disabled by our gender, why not a day for men, too?
Well, first of all, as my mother says, every day is Men’s Day. Secondly, the International Women’s Day is not another Hallmark celebration: Each March 8th we commemorate the death of 140 brave, young, working women who died in a fire in a textile factory in NY, within which were locked demanding better working conditions and decent wages. This date is devoted to the struggle of thousands of women throughout the world to achieve equal working conditions, civil rights, access to productive resources and recognition of their fundamental rights. This struggle was not easy, nor peaceful, but especially it isn’t over.
In Venezuela, from where I write these lines, 50% of women of working age are regarded as economically inactive, compared to 21% of men in the same situation. Of those, 2,988,161 women are dedicated exclusively to housework, while only 53,678 men take care of it. (Official 2009 data)
Coupled with this, the job discrimination is still considered a normal circumstance: of all economically active women, about 35% are engaged in paid domestic services, a work whose almost complete lack of legal protection, makes it a minefield for sexual harassment and exploitation. Approximately 60% of all economically active women are working in the tertiary sector, in activities related directly or indirectly with the “feminine”, such as education and public attention.
As if that were not enough, in Venezuela there is no specific legislation on workplace bullying: the criminal offense of harassment is intended to cover generic various forms of violence against women, and in it, different circumstances are mixed and typically, are not punished. Women are not only placed in low-income works, and their wages are still lower than those of men, but remain subject to reprisals and harassment by circumstances inherent in their status as women, as motherhood.
From the Ministry of Labor, where I work, each week I attend at least three women who have been downgraded in their work because of their pregnancies, or who are harassed with the aim of make them resign during the period of gestation.
In fact, if you analyze the INE data on income levels of employed population, by gender, there is clearly a variation in income levels by educational level. In this sense, in their 2004 report, the ILO said:

“Women earn on average 64% of what men earn. The income gap is more pronounced among the employed in the informal sector (who receive the equivalent of 52% of male earnings) and those with high levels of schooling “(…)” Women need education levels significantly higher than of men in order to have the same access to employment opportunities: four more years to get the same income and two years on average to have similar opportunities to access a formal occupation “(ILO, 2004).

To analyze the real impact of these figures, we must take into account that over 60% of poor households in Venezuela are headed by women. The feminization of poverty is a global phenomenon: women represent two thirds of the world’s poor population, and we can’t close our eyes to the reality that this is a consequence of unequal access to productive resources, in terms of fair employment and effective protection of their fundamental rights.
Act now: Women’s Human Rights and poverty. (ES) (AI)
The feminization of poverty (UN-Es)
The feminization of poverty (PyFG-Es)