Hblog

Tajikistan... again

My friends will know that Tajikistan is still with me. Literally! I've had a stomach bug on and off since I got back. I just looked at my friend, Ali's website. He has a beautiful set of photograph collages and some great memories from the event that I've borrowed. Thanks, Ali. Go check it out on his beautiful blog :)

Four characters from Tunis

Salaam. Hello. My name is Moustafa. My job at this great global event is to check to see that everyone entering this entrance here has an orange tag that says that they are an official participant. If they don’t have an orange tag, then there is trouble and they will be sent to the registration desk to get one. “You can’t get into any events of the World Summit without your orange tag,” we must say to people. Orange tags are very, very important because troublemakers can’t get them. We don’t want troublemakers here. We want to show the world how we can hold a wonderful, world-class event. We are showing them real good.

Salaam. My name is Anat. I sit in the toilet at this great global event. If there is no toilet paper, I send my colleague (each toilet has two of us) to find more. I spray the toilet with toilet spray every now and then, and fill it up with water after someone has been inside because some of the toilets are broken. There isn’t enough toilet paper for all these people! There are so many! I work in the women’s toilet next to the massive stand that says “Citizens networking for all!” I don’t know what that means but the President says that this event is about brining progress to Tunisia. This is good news.

Salaam. My name is Eshe. I am sitting at the Alcatel stand. I must look pretty so that people will think good things when they come to the company’s stand. I must smile at everyone who passes. This is very hard work. There are many people. I was told that I had to look pretty “24/7”. This means that I have to go to the bathroom to powder my nose every hour or so. I alternate with my colleague who is dressed in exactly the same purple outfit as I am. The company had them made for us. They made them to fit a perfect “10”size and so we all had to be a size “10” to apply. We kind of look like sisters, actually! I like this company. And we didn’t even have to know about computers to apply!

Salaam. My name is Ali. My job at this great global event is to hold a large gun, look around for troublemakers and look like I’m taking my job very, very seriously. Yesterday we had to stop these civil society troublemakers who were trying to hold a meeting at the Goethe Institute. We don’t want trouble and these people want to make trouble for us. I spit on these people who talk back to me. They are arrogant Westerners who don’t respect our culture. We respect the law in this country. These people must obey us. This is our place.

WSIS, Tunis

I'm at the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS, pronounced "wissis") in Tunis this week. The Summit is basically a process where countries around the world get together to develop a global vision of what the Information Society of the future should look like. As you can imagine, this "vision" differs dramatically from one country and region to the next. There have been great fights - especially in allowing civil society to contribute to proceedings. Intellectual property rights have been one of the major areas of contention and the results have been disappointing, with publishing and software lobbyists have maintained the status quo. Larry Lessig said that when he spoke at one of the preparatory meetings in Geneva the ITU forbade him for speaking about intellectual property. Obviously that just made Larry even more contraversial in his speech. I was invited by the IDRC (our funders) to speak about Commons-sense at one of the parallel events going on here. You can find some of the "real stories" here at the APC's blogging portal and at some of these sites.

The bazaar can be fun

The Bazaar can be fun
But get ready to run
When Tajiki bees come out from the sun.

But was it a bee?
Or was it Ali?
Who gave that sting - look at it, see!

Caledon, Simos and Peter were there,
Enjoying the sunny, Dushanbe air,
And laughing at my poor bee-stung bum
As it started to go more and more numb

It was the men who shopped up a storm that day
Shopaholic Omar had the most to pay
Dresses and gowns and hats and socks
Nuts and halva and those famous ‘rocks’.

But what would I buy my boyfriend back home?
Would he believe that Tajiki hills I did roam?
If all I brought back were some black cotton socks?
Or stories of bonfires and showers with shocks?

And then I saw it on one of the lines,
Some patterned long pants with black and grey signs,
‘It could look Tajiki!’ I desperately said
Although it’s from India with ‘Boston’ in red.

But time, as usual, was running quite short,
And brave Parvina looked terribly wrought,
Missions accomplished, sock industry shares
Back to camp, to show off our wares.

On the road

The past two days on the FOSS Road in Tajikistan have been incredible. Everything about this event is innovative - but the most important thing is that its 'real' in every sense. Everyone is included and encouraged to share and communicate meaningfully with others - it is this atmostphere that builds such a strong learning culture among participants.

This morning, Marek asked me to lead the morning circle where we asked participants to describe their "favorite place". We tried asking who their favorite dancer was from the bonfire last night, but there was such a resounding cry of 'Aso! Aso! Aso' that we had to go back to plan A. Everyone was in such high spirits - despite the rain that forced us indoors - especially when latecomers each had to sing a song. We heard a great rendition of a Hindi song from Omar (Afganistan) and a Russian song from Ravshan, an e-rider from Tajikistan. Everyone was so supportive with clapping and singing along that I fear tomorrow the wanna-be-rock-stars will be late on purpose!

Ali, Talat and I are facilitating the 'publishing' track. We were relegated to the kitchen today because the billiard room where we were yesterday doesn't have any windows and its really cold and rainy today. I'm a very sad gal because I mistakenly packed loads of summer gear and my jeans are starting to grow things I've worn them so often.

Our group is great, although the translation can be really frustrating. One thing it is teaching me is how to be more clear and more brief: clear because the translator will ask if they don't understand you (something most people don't do in the middle of you speaking), and brief because it takes so bloody long for the sessions that we're having to summarise really well!

The evening's entertainment started with a wonderful local musician who sang the most beautiful, haunting songs (especially when I heard a translation of the poetic lyrics from Ali). The bonfire was festive and led to much rocking from traditional local songs to rap and hiphop. I drank too much (very good) vodka and said all the wrong things as usual - which prompted me to say for about the third time in 2 weeks that I will never drink again.

After the 'speed geeking' session (7x4 minute explanations of our 'Living Archive' project) I'm starting to feel my energy lagging. Usually the camp is 7 days (this one is 5) and I can't imagine how the facilitators keep it together.

On the way to FOSS Road

"Now that we're in Moscow, about to board the plane, I can tell you: this is a very interesting airline."

If I hadn't been exhausted from lack of sleep, I probably would have run screaming after hearing Dirk tell me exactly how interesting the airline was that I was about to board. 'Tajik Air' is an ode to the 1960s. But Tajik Air didn't have to pay the latest interior designer and architect to replicate its retro "design"; Tajik Air's "furnishings" are genuine - from the mechnical bells to the rope-style baskets in front of the seats and to the little transparent curtains in between sections.

Later, I heard that Tajik Air went through a spate of crashes a while back - mostly because of overloaded planes and people sitting in the aisles. Perhaps it had something to do with 1960s equipment, but hey, you never know. Marek says that they are much better now and that there hasn't been a crash in ages. I live in hope since we have to make our way back and there is only one way ;)

Apparently the airline's monopoly ends next year. This will be a very, very good thing: this place is amazing - the scenery is incredible and the people are warm and so welcoming.

At the beginning of the FOSS Road, Dushanbe, Tajikistan

This week I'm going to be blogging from just outside Dushanbe, Tajikistan where I'm helping facilitate a FOSS camp for central Asian organisations. I'm really excited about the camp - have heard so many great things about previous events in Croatia, Namibia and India, and since we're partners with Tacticaltech in the upcoming 'Africa Source II', this will be great practice! It's also great to see old friends who I spent time with in Namibia last year - I had no idea that when they gave me a book on visiting Tajikistan last year that I would get a chance to use it. So here I am.