Another incredible tweet I find contained actual footage of a young boy who had been used by the media in exploitative fashion. The tweet linked to a video of a reporter interviewing the boy who had been pulled into a hospital when the attack was alleged to have occurred, and had water poured all over him. The resulting footage of dozens of children, confused, scared, and having water poured over them is extremely easy to misconstrue and mislead and evoke pathos in audiences. The interview included the boy and his father, who was notified that his family had been caught in the attack and had rushed to the hospital to find the bizarre scene. He was confused and angry. The tweet present this story in a surprisingly non partisan manner, without making any assumptions or claims as the the reality or fiction of the chemical attack in Syria. However, it is a powerful thought evoker, clearly witnessed by the thousand or so favorites and retweets. Again, self reporting or social media witness provides a valuable check and balance to what in the past was just the loud shouting of conventional news. As the public taps into twitter accounts which provide more detail and description of events as they unfold, opinion shifts in potential more rational directions. Instead of the mob crying for ‘bomb this, bomb that’, we see a shift towards skepticism; the Buddha was once famously quoted as saying “question everything”, social media’s independent reporting can make for more rational public opinion which in turn will keep nation’s (hopefully) out of many conflicts they would have rushed blindly into in the past.

Boy ‘victim’ in video of alleged chemical attack in Douma says he was asked to go to the hospital, where people “grabbed” him and started “pouring water” over his head.#Syria pic.twitter.com/5sMreg2CFZ

— In the NOW (@IntheNow_tweet) April 19, 2018

The tweet I found was at the top of when I searched #Syria on twitter. The twitter user, Sarah Abdallah, is listed in her bio as an “independent Lebanese geopolitical commentator”. Her tweets covering Syria had discussed the lack of clear evidence of the recent chemical attack. What was interesting to me was how quickly the BBC picked up her speculative tweets, and tried to start a smear campaign against her. Her tweets were starkly realistic, in comparison to what a comment called the BBC’s “parrots terrorist and interventionist narratives in Syria”. Tweets like Abdallah’s have popped up all over the web, questioning how verifiable the so called chemical attack was. This is of course significant, because if these tweets questioning said attack have any merit, than they call into question what grounds the U.S., French, and British launched air strikes against Syria. Abdallah’s last tweet “they call us conspiracy theorists because we pose questions that most western journalists fail to ask and refuse to investigate #Syria” highlights one of the great strengths which social media provides: a different medium of truth seeking, potentially unsullied by the partisan biases of conventional new networks, like the aforementioned BBC. The tweet proceeding that discusses how reports by conventional big media networks are putting forth a “shoddy and deceptive narratives of mainstream platform”, which social media gurus like herself have set out to expose, again highlighting the positive aspect of the checks and balances effect that social media can

They call us “conspiracy theorists” because we pose the questions that most Western journalists fail to ask and refuse to investigate. #Syria

— Sarah Abdallah (@sahouraxo) April 19, 2018

This tweet was written by a Myanmar Government official who is clearly defending the government when it comes to the Rohingya crisis. There have been many genocides in Rohingya prominent areas in Myanmar, as well as other violent crimes. The Myanmar has made efforts to detach themselves from the attacks, however many activists are pointing fingers. The tweet was written by Zaw Htay, a member of the State Counsellor Officer in the Myanmar government. He wrote “Myanmar strongly objects use of such words as “ethnic cleansing” or “genocide” in reference to the situation in Rakhine State”. In the wake of pointing fingers, Zaw Htay is attempting to easy activists.

However, considering his affiliation with the government, and the mistrust with the government, can it be trusted that the Myanmar government does not support violence against Rohingya people?

Myanmar strongly objects use of such words as “ethnic cleansing” or “genocide” in reference to the situation in Rakhine State: Permanent Representative to UN https://t.co/pjQzu9MsIV

— Zaw Htay (@ZawHtayMyanmar) April 18, 2018

This tweet was written by an activist in Myanmar who strongly advocates for the Rohingya people. The Rohingya population is incredibly impoverished in Myanmar, and to the government, are unrecognized as a part of Myanmar. There have been a number of violent war crimes against the Rohingya people, including genocide. The majority of the Rohingya people are Muslim, therefore it can be argued that there is a racial/ religious dispute between the two populations. The activist’s name on Twitter is: MrMaung KoThet. They wrote “The government in mostly-Buddhist Myanmar regards the Rohingya as illegal migrants from Bangladesh and does not recognise the term”. This tweet relates to the fact that the Myanmar government does not recognize the Rohingya people, even though they live in Myanmar.

What majority of the population agrees with MrMaung KoThet? Is it just the government and their supporters who believe they are illegal immigrants? or is it a select few activists?

 

The government in mostly-Buddhist Myanmar regards the Rohingya as illegal migrants from Bangladesh and does not recognise the term https://t.co/OTWie5agkq

— MrMaung KoThet (@MrMaungKoThet) November 14, 2017

Narendra Modi is the world’s most-followed politician on Twitter. As India’s Prime Minister, he is very active on the social media network, and posts tweets in both English and Hindi. Modi frequents twitter about as much as President Trump but from what I have analyzed, Modi’s tweets seem to be more uplifting, optimistic, and proud overall.

In a tweet from March 28, Modi exclaimed:

“Warmest congratulations and good wishes to His Excellency U Win Myint on his election as President of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar. Look forward to working with him on strengthening India-Myanmar relations”

Shortly after independence, Indo-Burmese relations were strong due to cultural ties and regional interests. After the military of Burma succeeded in overthrowing the democratic government, there began to be a rift in the relationship. India had to deal with the Burmese drug trafficking issues and lack of a democratic government. In the last two decades, Indian leaders have sought to regain a positive relationship with Myanmar and they have had some success. With U Win Myint’s election as the next President of Myanmar, he seeks to restore strong democracy in Myanmar. As India’s one of India’s largest trading partners, and as its next door neighbor, a renewed positive relationship between the two nations would be beneficial for the entire region of South Asia. The genocides that are continuing to take place in Myanmar are a serious issue that Win Myint will have to face, especially because many migrants are heading into India and other neighboring countries. With this tweet, Modi seems optimistic with the hope that the new leadership will be open to strengthening the relationship between India and Myanmar.

In this blog, written by Ashan Warsi, the potential influence for the upcoming political party PTI and its leader, Imran Khan, is discussed in regards to the struggling city of Karachi. Karachi is the capital of the Sindh, a province in Pakistan, which has undergone political corruption and turmoil in the last few decades. Warsi deliberates the notion of Khan’s potential chances of gaining substantial voter support from the region. It is an uphill battle, as the stubborn and relatively rural region still supports what they know- which is a previously disqualified, corrupt candidate named Nawaz Sharif.

Khan has not been able to break into the depths of public support, but Warsi offers some insight as to how he can do so. He says that this is a good move by Khan to officially start to move his campaign efforts to this city, but it will be without success if he doesn’t put legitimate action behind it. A way to gain support and trust from the people of Karachi would be to get powerful leaders familiar to the citizens to endorse him. Khan will also likely need to give this region some of his valuable face time, where he can truly understand the cultural dynamic (ie Urdu speakers) and pressing community issues (ie water crisis), in order to give the people hope of positively impacting their lives immediately. This, paired with a promised protection of the trading community against “bhatta” (extortion) would give Imran Khan and PTI at least a fighting chance to sway the voters in his direction, aiming to revive the once thriving city of Karachi.

 

I think it is interesting to see that people of this area seem to view Khan with positive potential of becoming a ethical leader of Pakistan. I am glad to have found this article, because it ties in nicely with the analysis of this party, adding another dimension to the overall understanding of the political dynamic of the country. It does raise concern that the people may think Khan is simply handing out empty promises. This, matched with his relatively broad and unspecific platform are probably what is causing the voters to be hesitant and remain loyal to the existing parties, even if they are corrupt and unhelpful. If there are a lot of cities like Karachi that would require extensive campaigning and face to face interaction with the population, you wonder how much ground Khan can cover effectively in time for the elections.

 

https://blogs.tribune.com.pk/story/64777/does-karachi-belong-to-imran-khan/

 

Help Received: link above

https://www.labnol.org/internet/secure-your-wireless-wifi-network/10549/

Amit Agarwal was a successful professional from India before he left that life to become one of India’s most prominent bloggers. He is even more interesting to me due to the title of this course, and started a ‘digital inspiration’ blog where he aims to educate Indian’s on the ever-growing facets of the internet. The blog of Agarwal’s that I chose is one from August 2014 titled “How to Secure Your Wireless (WiFi) Home Network”. I remember Cadet Conrad discussing in one of our classes that she used a public WiFi network when she visited China the first time before she was told that she should use a secured network. With so many people in India, the WiFi complex is an interesting one to me.

Agarwal starts out the blog by giving a little bit of background about how wireless signals can easily be used by others. A few of the downsides of others using your wifi network include an increase in your internet bill, a decrease in the internet speed, and the ability for others to hack sensitive information on your connected devices. Agarwal goes on to provide a very simple and easy-to-follow guide on how to secure a wireless network. This step by step information seems very easy to follow and is not a very long article. It is noteworthy to say that his blogs are all in English. I am not sure if this is because I am accessing it from the US, but if not, it is a universal language that most Indian people know rather than the regional tongue that many speak in the different Indian regions.

This 7-step blog was interesting to me because in Indian cities with millions of people, there have to be hundreds of thousands of WiFi networks. Along with normal crimes, I feel like cyber-crimes are too easy to pull off in these Indian cities. While securing a WiFi network can provide security from others, is it still able to protect one from the overwatch of the government? Securing the WiFi network prevents hackers from accessing the information, but can the government still access sensitive information? Agarwal’s blog post seem to be more informational than controversial which is probably different than some of the bloggers from the other countries that my classmates will be discussing. I surely could have chosen an Indian activist who blogs about issues that they have with the government, but this Agarwal blog is very informative and I think he is doing good for digital India.

https://fngnews.co/

The above link is as major Burmese political and entertainment blog called “Freedom News Group”. The blog originated during the 2007 Saffron Revolution and largely was a means of expressing dissent against government measures taken during that period. Now, the blog remains as a means of political commentary and dissent however, articles covering elements of pop culture in Myanmar also hold a large percentage of the published posts.

The structure of the blog consists of posts by both individuals associated with the blog itself (I cannot determine who these posters are; there are no English translations of the author’s bios), a second source of posts originates with Op Ed posting, this can be anyone, I assume that these posts must be approved by a moderator.

In my assessment, there are two interesting features of this blog. First, is the inclusion of both political posts as well as commentary on popular culture and social issues. I wonder if this is an effort by the blog curators at attempting to avoid or circumvent existing measures against online political posting, by preventing exclusive political commentary and providing an another purpose for the website. Secondly, I find it interesting that anyone can post, and that there is no central individual responsible for the political content of the blog. Again, I wonder if this is an intentional effort at diffusion of responsibility, in order to prevent prosecution/identification of major players in the anti-government commentary that the blog is known for.

Help received: FNG website, I googled political blogs in Burma and found a Wikipedia page with a link to the FNG website, Microsoft Word Grammar and spelling check.

Levi C. Harmon

Htet Aung Kyaw is a freelance journalist in Myanmar who developed this blog as a valuable resource tool for Burmese people.  The blog offers guidance on travel, books, culture, and news, but also attempts to educate the population on what media is and how it is used. Although most of the blog is written in Burmese, much of the website can be translated into English. The post I would like to focus on specifically is not translated perfectly, but is titled “Modestly from the Media should be the New Government should be Divided Largely” .

This blog post was very interesting because it began with very factual reporting of traditional and new forms of media and the participation each form garnered. It ended, however, with the writer’s personal stance on how social media should be used. At first, they explained how the right to freedom of expression is granted through this type of medium and how accessible it is for every day citizens to use. Kyaw then moved, however, to discuss how its use can weaken the regime and government stability. He states that governments should not weaken themselves by allowing for such criticism to occur and claims it undermines the system. He draws and interesting contrast to media’s use in democratic regimes such as the US and England and says media criticism there, but overall writes on this clear distinction that should be made.

Kyaw references the most popular forms of social media such as Facebook, Google, Twitter, and Youtube, and considers their influence and use international. It is interesting however, if thinking in the similar mindset to Kyaw, that not all of these sites may be used in the same way or have the same impact (good or bad) in these different countries. It reinforces that there is not a ‘one size fits all’ approach to solving domestic issues or using new forms of online media.

Blog Post: http://www.htetaungkyaw.net/2016/06/blog-post_14.html

Quinn Conrad

31 March 2018

 

Journeys to Democracy, a blog by Pakistani journalist Beena Sarwar, provides stories about current political and social happenings in Pakistan. Beena Sarwar has had experience in journalism, writing, teaching, media consulting, and documentary filmmaking. Currently, her Journeys to Democracy blog has over 500,000 hits and it provides links to tweets regarding stories similar to those provided on her blog.

Recently, Beena Sarwar has posted about the disappearances of political activists in Pakistan. Journalists and activists have faced considerable scrutiny from the Pakistani government for writing about or promoting disapproval for government actions. In extreme cases, journalists and activists have been abducted which is a major cause for concern in Beena Sarwar’s line of work. One specific case highlighted by Beena Sarwar is the disappearance of political activist Raza Khan, who was illegally abducted in Lahore after coordinating public events that promote peace and cooperation with India. She highlights how journalists covering this case have even faced the threat of abduction and beating at the hands of government agents. It is interesting to see how Beena Sarwar, a journalist herself, covers the repression that other activists and journalists face in Pakistan. I am also interested to see just how many other journalists and activists in Pakistan draw attention to such events and other government actions against Pakistani citizens.

Link: https://beenasarwar.com/2018/01/24/raza-khan-still-missing-why-does-it-matter/#more-11602

Campbell Wood. March 31 2018.