Support needed!

As I posted a while back Ashin Mettacara's blog is up at the Chapeau Blog Awards for Most Brilliant Blog. This award would give him 2000$ which in his case would be very much needed, first off, his computer is broken, second as a monk he cannot work or have wages and while his housing is provided he must pay for his food and lastly the bulk of this money would go to maintaining his sites including his news site Ashin-Mettacara.com and smilesclub.org (a social networking site that I'd also encourage all of you to join) please help Ashin defend Human Rights and freedom of expression throughout the world.

Voting Instructions:
1- Visit: http://www.chapeaublogawards.com/finalists.php
2- Click on BECOME A VOTER
3- Fill out the form with your desired name and VALID email address
4- You must refer at least two other people in order to validate your registration.
5- Chapeau will contact you once voting begins.

Again, I encourage all of you who read and enjoy this site, that believe in freedom of press, thought, belief and expression to vote and tell others about this vote. Your voice can help thousands worldwide please show your support by signing up.

Muchacho Enfermo

Burma: A blog award for Ashin Mettacara

From Ashin-Mettacara.com
By Muchacho Enfermo (muchachoenfermo@gmail.com)

Ashinmettacara.org the blog of Burmese Buddhist monk in exile Ashin Mettacara has been nominated for yet another international award. The Chapeau Blog Awards for most brilliant blog. The grand prize is $2000 (US) for the blog voted by the people as being the most brilliant.

Ashin’s network of sites started from his blog and now extends to his news site Ashin-Mettacara.com with contributors and editors from the four corners of the globe and to a social networking site called smilesclub.org. His message of peace and justice, his relentless fight for human rights and his quest to give a voice to the voiceless is being recognized by organizations such as Chapeau and in the past he has won other international prizes such as the Weblog Award for Best Asian Blog.

These awards are evidence that the social conscience of many people is being touched by the work of Ashin and his supporters. They are also a great way to raise awareness about Burma and other places on earth that may not enjoy the same rights and freedoms as the rest of us. I encourage all of you to follow the simple instructions below to vote in the Chapeau Blog Awards and with your vote help Ashin bring a voice to the millions who currently don’t have one.

Voting Instructions:
1- Visit: http://www.chapeaublogawards.com/finalists.php
2- Click on BECOME A VOTER
3- Fill out the form with your desired name and VALID email address
4- You must refer at least two other people in order to validate your registration.
5- Chapeau will contact you once voting begins.

Again, I encourage all of you who read and enjoy this site, that believe in freedom of press, thought, belief and expression to vote and tell others about this vote. Your voice can help thousands worldwide please show your support by signing up.

Muchacho Enfermo

Burmese Monk has website hacked.

As I just reported on Ashin-Mettacra.com:

The news site Ashin-Mettacara.com, of Burmese monk in exile Ashin Mettacara, was attacked twice in the past week with DDoS attacks. The first attack came on March 11th and the second on March 15th. A distributed denial of service attack (DDoS) usually aims at flooding a web server with so many queries to requests as to render it unable to process further requests. The query limit on Ashin-Mettacara.com, which is designed to accept huge volumes of traffic, was exceeded within the span of an hour on both of these dates.

This is not the first time a Burmese news site in exile has been hacked using this method; last fall the news sites Mizzima and Irrawaddy were both victim of DDoS attacks. The perpetrators of these attacks are still unknown and have yet to be brought to justice. The attacks of March 11th and March 15th were the second attacks on Ashin-Mettacra.com, the first wave of them occurred January 20th and 21st 2009 shortly after the launch of the website.

The attacks on Ashin-Mettacara.com took place at a time when Ashin was lecturing on web programming to over 50 monks and could not monitor his site. The site, which gathers news from all over the world and is crawled by Google News, has the slogan “Free Press for Freedom of Thought, Belief and Expression”. It is clear that whoever is behind these attacks does not share the values of the writers that publish their news on the site daily or those of their readers. It is unclear whether the Burma’s military junta is responsible for the attacks.

Muchacho Enfermo

Chapeau Blog Award for Burma

Ashinmettacara.org, the blog of Buddhist monk Ashin Mettacara has reached the finalists of the Chapeau Blog Awards (http://www.chapeaublogawards.com/finalists.php) in the News category. Ashin’s blog has already won many awards including the Weblog award for Best Asian Blog in 2008.

Ashin’s blog and his website Ashin-Mettacara.com strive to bring to light the struggles of the Burmese and the cause of those around the world who seek freedom of thought, speech and expression. It comes as no surprise that his blog is up as a finalist for yet another prestigious award.

The support that was shown for Ashin and his blog in the 2008 Weblog awards was overwhelming and helped propel the visibility of his blog, his site and his struggle for the rights of his people. I have no doubt that once again his countrymen and supporters around the world will once again help his blog and the cause of the Burmese remain at the forefront.

In order to vote you simply need to hit the “Become a Voter” link on top of any category. Voting for the Chapeau Blog Awards will begin on April 14th 2008.

(original entry can be found here on ashin-mettacara.com)

Muchacho Enfermo

Interview with Claudia Cadelo (part 2)

After my first interview with Cuban blogger Claudia Cadelo was published on Ashin-Mettacara.com she was gracious enough to grant me a follow up interview.

I like this one even better than the first one, with much help from two very good friends, I feel that we have captured her exact words even better than the first one. I also feel that this interview, while containing only 7 questions, really hits home and really shows us what these bloggers go through on a daily basis.

***envíeme por correo electrónico si usted quiere la versión española original: muchachoenfermo (at) gmail (dot) com***

Click Here for the full interview.

Here's the first question in the interview.... just to give you all a little taste and hopefully encourage you to read the rest of it:

Muchacho Enfermo: Your first post was written on Yoani Sanchez’s blog (Generacion Y) it was called From Paranoia to a Scream), can you describe what you felt that day, when you made your decision to publish your name, your picture and your opinions?

Claudia Cadelo: The night before Gorki’s trial we decided to go to ask for support at the Tribuna Antimperialista where Pablo Milanés and a few guest musicians were holding a concert. We had a banner that simply read GORKI, so that the paranoids wouldn’t alert security. But they are paranoid by nature so they simply started to hit us and abducted Ciro (Guitar player of Porno Para Ricardo and La Babosa Azul) and a friend of mine.

The following day Gorki’s trial was to take place and we were all very tired and surrounded by security agents at the entrance of the court house; we had barely slept, Ciro was exhausted. At six o'clock in the afternoon they began the trial; it was supposed to be at 9 on the dot that morning but instead we spent the whole day there, outside the court house.

But the support that I felt around us was bigger than our exhaustion, after four days of sending emails and running around Havana there were, along with us, a few lads from the university, many friends, a lot of foreign press and even diplomats, so we were excited.

When they set Gorki free, I felt something so big that I could no longer stay quiet, I wanted to share my happiness and I asked Yoani Sánchez to publish a text of mine on her blog. She accepted; and this is the way it all happened.

Muchacho Enfermo

Interview with Claudia Cadelo

As some of you know, I try to contribute regularly to Ashin-Mettacara.com, a news website operated by Ashin Mettacara, a burmese monk whose blog I am a big fan of. Ashin is an advocate for freedom of thought, belief and expression so I thought it appropriate to post a couple of interviews with another person who fights for her freedom of thought and expression and whose blog I greatly enjoy, Claudia Cadelo.

This interview is the first in a series I called "The True Democracy of the Voteless" and I think it's a great read for anyone wanting to know a little bit more about Cuban bloggers or for anyone who already reads her and other blogs that originate from behind enemy lines.

I'd like to encourage all of you to read the interview by clicking HERE and since you can't comment on the other site feel free to comment here. For those of you who won't I'll post a very small portion of it here.


Muchacho Enfermo: In a recent blog post you spoke of the harassment of the State towards those they perceive as dissidents. Is that something that worries you?
Claudia Cadelo: It worries me, I worry about a lot of things, my family, my friends, myself. I know perfectly well that I upset the government, like all those who are different upset them and everyone who, in one way or another, denounces or simply abstain from participating in the political circus that Cuba has become. But that doesn’t mean that I will stop writing, or that I will stop offering my support to those they try to silence.

Muchacho Enfermo: Why do you think what you do is important?
Claudia Cadelo: The truth is that I don’t know if it is important or not, I don’t like thinking of my blog as important. It is simply something that I do because I want to and because it seems right to me. If it is important for someone, that is very good, but that’s not what compels me to write; the fact that some people like reading it is, for me, already slightly wonderful and unexpected, that is more then I hoped for. I don’t try to change anybody’s mentality, I only want to say what I have a right to say in a world where freedom of expression is an abstract concept, one might say that it’s a luxury that I afford myself: I have decided to be a free being.

Muchacho Enfermo: What would you like to say to those outside Cuba who agree with the system and that criticize your blog and other blogs from VocesCubanas.com?
Claudia Cadelo: I have nothing to say to people that use their freedom of expression, their civil rights, their economic freedoms and their political freedoms to defend this totalitarian system. I don’t believe that any system is perfect, but what I am sure of is that this system is not the right one: a better society cannot be constructed if the basis of it is oppression, fear, militarism, the absence of civil rights and the supreme unlimited power in the hands of only two or three people; and we can add to that that the social ills, the corruption and the poverty which are also a part of the status quo, which remains.

Muchacho Enfermo

Recycled blog post...

I'm not usually one to recycle blog posts... but I'm doing it with this one. I wrote this last week for Ashin-Mettacara.com and it was also published on Ashin's blog.
Thanks Ashin for giving me the opportunity to reach more people than this little blog ever will!!!

Here it is:

Making Them Accountable

A few months ago I came across a blog by a young man named Ashin Mettacara. The man whose website you are reading this text is published. Back then I was a complacent observer, a bystander, a man horrified at the atrocities of the world from the confines of his basement living room. Now I’m angry man with a keyboard who has finally discovered citizen journalism and his highly acute sense of right and wrong. I am no in way shape or form a writer, or a journalist, or a philosopher. What I am is someone who up until very recently had lost faith in the world; I say recently because a few short months ago I discovered that there were people in the world that are worth defending and others that are worthy of opposition.

Through the website of Ashin I discovered the plight of the Burmese. Like most other Canadians who rely on mainstream media for news and information about the world, I thought the Saffron Revolution was over. I thought that the monks and the people who joined them to protest the junta had been at least semi-successful because the news no longer reported about them being beaten and arrested. Like most people, I put it out of my head and I almost completely forgot about it. Thinking about it only if someone ever brought it up and then I’d say something along the lines of “I hope they do something about that... it’s just so wrong.”

Then one day I figured out that there was no “they” and that some people, not so unlike me, were doing something about it. They were writing, blogging, reporting, at the risk of their own safety and at the risk of their families’ freedom. They were sitting in temples, in cafes and in writing from their cellular phones. The way the images of the protests in Burma over a year ago had been shot from cellular phone cameras. They were the very definition of citizen journalists. These were the people who had become the mythical “they”... They were the ones trying to help themselves, trying to broadcast their message to a world that didn’t listen or didn’t care. They were the people that I wanted to help.

Any of us can give money to amnesty international and feel great, anyone of us can have a “free Tibet” bumper sticker and think that we’re creatures of the world that care about our fellow man. Up until a few months ago I was one of those people (minus the bumper sticker). Now I know what I’m doing... I am writing almost everyday about things that happen all over the world that no moral person should rightly be able to accept. I sit at my laptop and read emails from around the world, read news and enter discussions and then I blog about it. It’s not enough though. It’s not exactly what the world needs. But at least everyday I am donating my time, I am receiving messages from those trapped behind enemy lines and I make sure that their words escape into the vast global community that is the internet.

Imagine a world where everyone living in privilege (i.e. living in the free world) donated 15 minutes per day or even per week to a cause like Burma, or any other cause. Imagine a world where every government was held accountable by everyone? Can you imagine the fear that would be driven in the heart of the corrupt, the cruel, the vile and the unjust if the billions of citizen with access to a computer suddenly stood together and called them out? As the old song says "If the kids are united they can never be divided." Ladies and gentlemen... this is the time; this is the moment to take up your keyboards and make the world accountable!

Muchacho Enfermo

Petition to help jailed bloggers

As written on Ashin Mettacara's blog Reporters without Borders has launched an online petition to help free two bloggers that have been imprisoned by Burma's evil and violent military government.

"Reporters Without Borders urges the international community not to forget Nay Phone Latt (http://www.nayphonelatt.net/), a Burmese blogger who was arrested exactly one year ago today and was sentenced on 10 November to 20 years and six months in prison, or Zarganar, one of Burma's best known comedians, who is serving a 59-year jail sentence in appalling conditions for criticising the military government online."

Can any of us even begin to imagine what it's like to be jailed for having opinions or for making fun of our governments? It would be like jailing Rick Mercer (in Canada) or John Stewart (in the US) and jailing me for having this blog...

It's just wrong people!!!
Please join me in signing the petition even just as a show of support for our fellow bloggers.

CLICK HERE FOR THE PETITION!!!

Muchacho Enfermo

75th post...

This is my 75th post. I didn't realize it until this morning.
I had a pretty cool post all worked out in my head this morning but then I noticed that it was my 75th post and it felt like a bit of a milestone day. I know it's silly, but whatever.

There's so many things out there today that I could talk about, so many issues concerning me and my fellow citizens of the world that need to be written about, but I can't find anything that motivates me enough to do it today.

I realize, looking back on my posts, that most of them are dry and feel a little bit like recycled news, it's been a few weeks since Reuters or the Chicago Sun-Times has ran any of my posts on their websites... So I'm going to do my best to steer clear of that "news recycling business" in the future and do what I do best: bitch and moan. Hopefully my 4 readers will stick around during this little transition period into something hopefully more interesting and a little bit more me.

On a side note:
-Thanks to everyone who voted for Ashin Mettacara at the 2008 Weblog awards, his blog won in the best Asian blog category! Hopefully this will help bring a little more visibility to Burma's cause.
-Thanks to Cubaweblogs.com for having added me to their links page. It means a lot.

Muchacho Enfermo

One last push for Yoani and Ahsin!

There is still time to get in two votes for each of them before polls close tomorrow night!

Why you shold vote for Ashin Mettacara

The website Mizzima which specialize in news from Burma has published an article today on Ashin Mettacara the young monk that I ask you all to support at the 2009 Weblog awards. In this short text that is worth reading you'll find a lot more information about him and what it is he is standing up against.

For those of you who don't feel like reading the whole article here's a quote from it:

"...Burma's military rulers have hunted down bloggers and others involved in the dissemination of information and sentenced them to long prison terms. Popular comedian and film director Zargarnar was last year arrested and sentenced to 59 years of imprisonment for providing information and giving interviews to media groups.

Similarly, a young blogger, Nay Phone Latt, who is also a youth member of detained Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Nyi's National League for Democracy party, was also arrested and sentenced to more than 20 years of imprisonment for posting writings of Burmese youth on his Weblog.

Ashin Mettacara, who has completed his B.A and M.A studies in Sri Lanka's Buddhist and Pali University, said he would face a similar threat from Burma's military rulers if he should return to his homeland."

If that isn't enough to make you all vote or at least check out his website I don't know what is!

Muchacho Enfermo

Please vote for Ashin and for Yoani

Voting update!

You can vote every 24 hours!
There's 6 days left! that means 6 votes per reader!

Vote for Yoani!

Yesterday I asked you all to support Ashin Mettacara for the Weblog log awards as he was nominated in the "Best Asian Blog" category. Today I am asking you to show your support for Yoani Sanchez as her blog Generation Y has been nominated in the "Best Latino, Caribbean or South American Blog" category.

Yoani is Cuba's most famous blogger, her blog has been blocked from within the island, she has gone head to head with Mariela Castro, she has been interviewed by countless TV stations and was voted by Time magazine as one of the world's most influential people.

Yet, her government still finds ways to harass her and the handful of blogger that blog in Cuba about Cuba. In December both her and her husband, along with another blogger Claudia Cadelo, were summoned by the Ministry of the Interior and were told in no uncertain terms that they should cancel a meeting of Cuban bloggers that was planned for the following weekend. These awards help raise awareness about her cause and help keep her out of jail.

Just as you did yesterday by voting for Ashin Mettacara, please take 30 seconds out of your day and show your support for Yoani and all of the other Cuban bloggers who risk their freedom to fight for freedom speech and freedom of opinion.

Muchacho Enfermo

Vote for Ahsin Mettacara

Ashin Mettacara, who's blog can be found in my blogroll and is someone I've had the privilege to chat with in the past, is a 27 year old Buddhist monk from Burma that is doing his best to spread the word about the injustices suffered in his country. For all of you who like reading Generation Y and about Cuba's struggles, Ashin's website is very much along the same lines, blogging under less than favorable conditions in a country where monks are sentenced to 68 years in prison for marching peacefully in the street and comedians are jailed for making a joke about the "government".

Yesterday was the 61st anniversary of Burma's independence from British rule. How much longer will it have to wait for independence from ruthless dictators?

Ashin Mettacara is one of Burma's best known bloggers and is nominated for best Asian Blog at the weblog awards.

vote here

Muchacho Enfermo

New years eve reflections and wishes for the new year

I'm sitting in my kitchen sipping on a beer and reflecting back on 2008. The whole tumultuous year that has seen Canada through another election, one in Quebec, the financial meltdown, renewed violence in Gaza, the whole business with Irak, my travels throughout the Americas and Canada. Looking back on the amazing people I've met (you all know who you are, despite the fact that some of you can't even view my blog), the things I've seen and done. Looking back on all this... I'm happy. I'm happy I went where I went, I'm in some strange way glad for the meltdown that forced me into a new life. All in all, 2008 was a huge success for me and I'm sad to see it go.

For 2009, despite the fact I'm sad to see 2008 finish, I'm looking forward to 2009, if only for my friends my Cuba. One more year forward is one year closer to change. I keep this little island country in my heart everyday and everyday I knock on wood for change.

For 2009 here are my wishes:
-For my blog: I want to increase my traffic, figuring this out is tough for me but I hope I can get more people here and spark some meaningful debates.
-For Canada: I wish that our politicians grow up and step up and figure out what we need in this time of crisis.
-For Gaza: I wish that there is a compromise that will finally end decades of bloodshed.
-For Africa: I wish an end to corruption of government, for the world to finally realize that Africa needs us.
-For South America: To realize that they are all sovereign nations without the need for radical views or extremist governments (ie Bolivia, Venezuela).
-For Russia: For Putin not to pass the laws he plans on passing.
-For Hoder: Freedom from Iranian jail and for the spotlight to be brought to Human Rights in that country.
-For Burma: For the struggle for human rights come to an end. For my friend and fellow blogger Ashin Mettacara not go to prison.
-For the US: That Obama really is change for the better.
-For Cuba: I wish for Cuba freedom, all sorts of freedoms. I wish for free elections, for reforms and for freedom of thought and expression. For Yoani Sanchez to continue paving the way for other revolutionaries.
-For my fellow bloggers: I wish the strength to carry on the good fight in the face of adversity or low readership. You are all making a difference no matter how small, you change the world one person at a time. Never give up.

In conclusion that's my motto for 2009: Never give up.

Muchacho Enfermo

Celebrating the Saffron Revolution

For all of you who wondered what happened to all those monks in Burma we saw on the news last year peacefully protesting against the Junta, sitting peacefully while being beaten and arrested? Here it is... the Saffron Revolution is still going on.

Ashin Mettacara, a Burmese monk, gives us a ton of insight on this on his website, please go read his article on the anniversary of these events that forever changed the face of Burma.

Let these monks and these people know they are not alone! Comment on his site, post about it on yours, worldwide solidarity will change everything!

Muchacho Enfermo

Nobel laureates demand release of Burmese opposition leader

As reported by the AFP, Nobel peace laureates have strongly urged the European Union and the United Nations to increase pressure on Myanmar to begin to move towards democracy and respect human rights. The opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, was a Nobel peace prize winner in 1991 and has been imprisoned for the better part of the last 20 years. To read the full story and more on the subject please visit Ashin Mettacara's website.

Muchacho Enfermo