Hey everybody! I hope you had a good weekend. Last week was interesting because it was the first week with my new supervisor (who I am training!) but aside from that it was fairly administrative and quiet because several people from the DC and NY office went on vacation following the Annual General Meeting.
I heard that the AGM was really fun, with guests ranging from Christy Turlington to former political prisoners to musical artist Jahi. These meetings typically appeal to a broad spectrum of different ages and types of people, so it is important to make the appearances diverse.
My new supervisor previously worked at the Feminist Majority Foundation, so obviously she is very interested in women's rights. She decided to work for Amnesty because she is wanted a job in communication for a non-profit. She started on Monday, and I was asked to explain how to issue press releases, compile media reports, take calls from the press, and the day-to-day workings of the media office at Amnesty. Amnesty is very welcoming toward new employees, so I think she felt at home.
The biggest issue with Amnesty in the news this week was our release of the yearly death penalty report. The report surveys the status of the death penalty around the world, and contains detailed comparisons and updates about different countries. Amnesty is a very reliable source on many international human rights issues (for information as well as advocacy), and the death penalty is one that Amnesty has worked with diligently for years.
According to the report, a total of 31 countries abolished the death penalty in law or in practice during the last 10 years, but China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the United States and Yemen carried out the most executions—in direct contradiction of international human rights law. Many of countries that are currently undergoing political upheavals carried out executions in 2010, Iran (252), Libya (18), Saudi Arabia (27), Syria (17), Yemen (53) [numbers in parenthesis are minimal numbers of execution AI verified]. In these countries, the death penalty was frequently imposed after unfair trials and for offenses, such as drug-trafficking or adultery, that are not recognized as the "most serious crimes" and therefore in violation of international law.
In my opinion, the factual (and practical) argument against the death penalty is strong: "The facts are making an impact in a very emotional debate: the death penalty does not deter murder, it costs millions and the system is riddled with bias and error. More and more Americans are wondering if we can afford the financial and moral costs of the death penalty," Amnesty's death penalty abolition campaign director said.
Here is some specific information about the death penalty in the US:
"In the United States at least 110 death sentences were imposed during 2010. This represents only one-third of the number of death sentences imposed in the mid-1990s and is lower than in any year since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. In March 2011, Illinois became the 16th state to abolish the death penalty."
This report was important in the media office because it was distributed widely throughout the American press, so I received several calls with questions and interview requests. The phone number distributed on the press releases is my office phone, so I am the first person to field these calls. It is interesting to talk to journalists and help deliver information, but since they are often on deadlines, it is at times frenetic to get them the interview that they need.
Also prominent in the news were some of the human rights violations that are now becoming widespread in post-revolution Egypt. Amnesty is concerned that female protestors have been treated especially harshly. Amnesty also issued a statement about the brutal treatment of protesters in Syria. Unfortunately, it seems that the human rights violations rampant in countries in North Africa and the Middle East have not ended with the onset of revolution.
I hope everyone has a good week. I am going back to Chicago for the weekend and I will be back next week! Have a great day.
Monday, March 28, 2011
Patrick: Week 7 (February 28-March 4)
If I did not have an obligation to blog about each week at my internship site, I likely would have omitted this week from my collection of postings. This week wasn't a bad one by any means, but it was devoted primarily to me updating our expense records via labelling and scanning receipts. Once all of the receipts were "digitized" as PDFs, I created spreadsheets of expenditures that serve as our monthly expense reports. Beyond this, I could continue by providing you with more details about the mundane processes that make up the broader process of "record keeping" in our office. However, I am going to kind of mix things up a bit this week--to avoid putting you to sleep--and talk about an event I attended on Tuesday (the 1st) that was political but non work-related. This event was a speech by Meghan McCain, daughter of U.S. Senator John McCain.
- The speech wasn't intended to be academic per se, nor was it intended to be all that politically charged. Instead, it was simply a collection of Meghan's own views on how the Republican Party must "widen its tent" by moving away from some of its more restrictive stances on social issues (i.e. abortion and gay marriage) and focus its efforts on preserving free markets, individual rights and freedoms, as well as the ideals of a small, limited government.
- I know the speech resonated with me. And, judging by the number of identifiably "left-leaning" audience members present, Meghan certainly attracted a crowd that was indicative of her distaste for polarizing partisanship. This year especially, I have begun to consider myself more of a libertarian than a "cookie cutter" Republican. To be clear, I'm not a staunch libertarian in the sense of being opposed to all forms of government infrastructure and intervention. However, I do think that our current government is crippling our economy via its excessive spending demands and the ridiculous tax burdens it places on its tax-paying citizens. In addition, I believe the private sector is able to handle even our society's more "altruistic" dilemmas more efficiently and effectively than government is able to do so. Not surprisingly then, I hope to actively work toward limiting the scope government in this country throughout my lifetime. Not to be forgotten, however, is the idea that part of this work will involve embracing the broad-based tenets of individuality and individual choice surrounding a woman's right to an abortion and an individual's right to enter into a same-sex relationship.
- But enough about my beliefs and hopes for society's future. The point is that Meghan McCain delivered an inspiring "call to action" that successfully apologized for Republican missteps on social issues in one breath while reaffirming all of the things that make me proud to be a "Republican" in the next breath. In short, many thanks to Meghan for inspiring me and others like me who are tired of the Republican Party actively stifling diversity in its ranks. The Republican Party can indeed be great again. Let's steer it away from its current path of polarized obscurity and toward a more inclusive future!
Michael: Week 5 (Feb 28th to March 4th)
In addition to the Early Alert, this week I finally had a chance to visit NATO, saw the Ambassador again at an intern brown bag lunch meeting, and met Alec Ross, Secretary Clinton’s Senior Adviser for Innovation.
Monday’s Early Alert focused solely on Libya. Topics covered were: reaction to the UN’s decision to impose sanctions Qaddafi (El Mundo headlines “Qaddafi becomes a pariah”), commentary on Qaddafi’s future as ruler of Libya (Polska: “Qaddafi’s days are numbered”), the calls by some for the West to “do everything to protect the people in Libya” (Blid), and the general perception that “the United States, after some initial hesitation, seems determined to take the lead” (El Pais). In the afternoon, I sat in on a series of interviews of current or past participants in the Fulbright scholarship.
Tuesday’s Early Alert also centered on Libya, and coverage concentrated on the debate over whether the West should intervene militarily in Libya. For instance, a commentary in the Daily Telegraph argues that “The Libyans cannot be left to a terrible fate,” and adds “An array of voices are arguing that if Gaddafi begins to exterminate Libyan citizens… then the world will have a duty to intervene.”Others, however, urge caution. For instance, Süddeutsche editorializes: “Europe and the US are only calming their conscience by discussing imposing a no-fly zone over Libya. This will not decide the power struggle between Qaddafi and his opponents… If the international community wanted to interfere militarily, it would have to send ground troops, which it will not do. First, the interim government in Bengasi does not want foreign troops in the country.... Secondly, the West could not justify the mission to its people.” We also wrote a section on speculation about “What comes after Qaddafi?” (El Mundo).
We also wrote on Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan’s highly controversial speech in Düsseldorf, Germany. There are several million people of Turkish background in Germany, many of whom are guestworkers who started to Germany in the 1960s or their children or grandchildren, and questions over integration, culture, etc have long simmered. On Monday, during a visit to Germany, PM Erdogan gave a speech to an assembly of over 10,000 Turks in Germany, mentioning his “growing unease” about the way immigrants are treated in Germany. Tuesday’s edition of The Guardian headlined “Erodgan tells Turks to resist assimilation into German society,” and La Croix noted that Erdogan was “fuel[ing] the German debate over immigration.” The popular German tabloid Bild Zeitung judged “Erdogan's sermon to be a provocation…With these remarks he is torpedoing… the difficult attempt to integrate the more than three million people with Turkish roots into Germany's society… This is shabby and irresponsible." Others, like Süddeutsche Zeitung, weren’t as outraged at Erdogan’s speech, though the paper pointed out that “If someone really should feel provoked by Erdogan's criticism of assimilation, then this should be the Kurds in Turkey. It would have been nice if all the critics grabbed Erdogan by the scuff of his neck and used his words at home in Diyarbakir or Ankara.” This is in reference to the long-standing dispute in Turkey over the status of the country’s large indigenous Kurdish minority - from 1984 to 1999 there was open warfare within Turkey between the military and the separatist, Kurdish PKK insurgents that devastated much of the predominantly Kurdish south-eastern provinces, killing many Turks and Kurds. Only in 2002 (under Erdogan's government) did Turkey pass laws allowing Kurdish-language radio and television broadcasts, though many points of contention remain (hence Süddeutsche Zeitung’s reference to Erdogan’s apparent hypocrisy in decrying assimilationist policies in Germany).
Tuesday afternoon Alec Ross, Secretary Clinton’s Senior Adviser for Innovation, visited the Media Hub for a video interview and then conference with staff from the Tri-mission embassies. In light of the Arab revolutions, in both the interview and conference Ross primarily talked about social media. In particular, I liked that Ross pointed out that while they played a role, social media tools like Facebook and Twitter did not cause the revolutions. I completely agree: while social media played a role, it’s definitely not the point of making these “Twitter Revolutions,” as some have sensationally called them. He also compared these tools to metal: just as metal can be fashioned into a hospital or a machete, the internet can be used for both peaceful and violent pursuits, as seen in how the internet both brings many people together around the world but also facilities global terrorist networks.
Wednesday’s Early Alert focused on Libya and also saw the return of the regional domino effect section. Libya angles included: reactions to Qaddafi’s bloody counterattack amidst what the UN warned was a refugee crisis as thousands attempted to flee to neighboring Tunisia, the question of whether a no-fly zone would be instituted, and speculation on how events in Libya would evolve. On the domino effect, we focused on revolts and sometimes violent reactions in Iran, Yemen, and, interestingly, Iraq.
In the middle of working on the Early Alert, I left to attend a ‘brown bag’ lunch with Ambassador Kennard and interns from the three embassies. The Ambassador talked on a number of issues. He mentioned that in his view there are three components to success: that you should always have a vision of where you are going, that you have to execute (or else it’s just a dream), and that you have to have some passion about what you want to do. The Ambassador also commented on attempts to fashion a common EU foreign policy, most notably the recently-created European External Action Service (EAS), which in some sense serves (or might one day serve) as the foreign ministry of the EU.
Wednesday afternoon I attended an interview strategies presentation by one of the other interns at the Media Hub. I’m of course not a journalism student, but several things stood out to me. One is that it often helps to ask an interviewee to repeat their answer to a question, as the second time through their answers are usually more concise with less “ums” or pauses, as they are no longer making up their answer as they go. Another tip is to keep natural sounds in videos. That’s hard to explain without an example… in the presentation that intern showed a clip from a story about a woman in America who creates paintings that memorialize fallen US soldiers. She (the intern) pointed out all the sounds in the segment that I normally would not pay much attention to, and as we paid close attention it was clear that the clip would have been a lot less effective had the only sound been people talking.
Thursday’s Early Alert covered three topics: Libya, Pakistan, and attacks on US soldiers in Germany. On Libya, we focused on the debate in the European press between those who warned against military intervention and those who say “A foreign intervention may become inevitable” (Slate.fr). For instance, Poland’s Gazeta Wyborcza writes, “The military in Washington are dampening the enthusiasm of some experts and politicians who want to carry out a military action against the Qaddafi regime…. It seems, then, that strong statements from Hillary Clinton are rather psychological warfare aimed at encouraging the Libyan military to quit the dictator and join the revolution.” By contrast, the German Tagesspiegel comments: “The situation would change if Qaddafi was attempting to re-conquer the east, threatening bloodshed of revenge. Requests for help would follow and the world could no longer stand by and watch. It should be prepared for this.”
Our angle on Pakistan was the assassination of the country’s only Christian minister by Islamists. Something we also look for is whether right- and left-wing papers disagree or agree on an issue; the former isn’t exactly surprising, but the latter is notable. So I thought it significant that, for instance, Britain’s center-right Daily Telegraph and center-left Guardian both strongly condemned what they called the Pakistani government’s “appeasement” of extremists.
Our third topic was the killing of two US soldiers at Frankfurt Airport in Germany. Tagesspiegel reported that this was a “targeted attack on Americans” by a “suspect who has links to Islamists,” and Rzeczpospolita wonders whether it was a “terrorist attack” or an “act by a madman.” Our counterparts in Berlin reported that that morning the German N-TV mentioned that “Federal Prosecutors take over investigations” as “the German-Kosovo suspect has been unmasked as an Islamist,” who was fighting a “Holy War against infidels.”
Friday morning I did not do much on the Early Alert since I had the opportunity that day to go to NATO Headquarters for a tour by the Information Officer (IO) at the U.S. Mission to NATO. Since NATO is located far from the center of Brussels (not even reachable by metro), I took a taxi there and back. Coming from the Media Hub and it’s less-than-10 employees, NATO was huge – there are over 20 meeting rooms for Ambassadors, government officials, and journalists, and the last NATO Summit, held in Lisbon last November, featured heads of state and delegations from more than 50 countries and over 1,800 journalists! Since official business was taking place I unfortunately did not get the see NATO’s main summit room, though I did get to see parts of US Mission and had coffee and juice with the IO at NATO’s cafeteria.
Once I got back to the Media Hub the Early Alert had already been mostly completed, but in the afternoon I discussed with my supervisor the new style we will use from here on at the request of Washington. The main difference is that we will now include one sentence summaries either in the headline of each section or as their first sentence that give an overview of the press. For instance, for our section on the reaction to continued violence in Libya we wrote “Events in Libya remain on front pages, but below the fold, of most European newspapers.” Also, on my suggestion, we might get rid of the usual section headers listing the country or topic (i.e. we no longer have a separate line just saying “LIBYA” before all the sections on Libya).
Monday’s Early Alert focused solely on Libya. Topics covered were: reaction to the UN’s decision to impose sanctions Qaddafi (El Mundo headlines “Qaddafi becomes a pariah”), commentary on Qaddafi’s future as ruler of Libya (Polska: “Qaddafi’s days are numbered”), the calls by some for the West to “do everything to protect the people in Libya” (Blid), and the general perception that “the United States, after some initial hesitation, seems determined to take the lead” (El Pais). In the afternoon, I sat in on a series of interviews of current or past participants in the Fulbright scholarship.
Tuesday’s Early Alert also centered on Libya, and coverage concentrated on the debate over whether the West should intervene militarily in Libya. For instance, a commentary in the Daily Telegraph argues that “The Libyans cannot be left to a terrible fate,” and adds “An array of voices are arguing that if Gaddafi begins to exterminate Libyan citizens… then the world will have a duty to intervene.”Others, however, urge caution. For instance, Süddeutsche editorializes: “Europe and the US are only calming their conscience by discussing imposing a no-fly zone over Libya. This will not decide the power struggle between Qaddafi and his opponents… If the international community wanted to interfere militarily, it would have to send ground troops, which it will not do. First, the interim government in Bengasi does not want foreign troops in the country.... Secondly, the West could not justify the mission to its people.” We also wrote a section on speculation about “What comes after Qaddafi?” (El Mundo).
We also wrote on Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan’s highly controversial speech in Düsseldorf, Germany. There are several million people of Turkish background in Germany, many of whom are guestworkers who started to Germany in the 1960s or their children or grandchildren, and questions over integration, culture, etc have long simmered. On Monday, during a visit to Germany, PM Erdogan gave a speech to an assembly of over 10,000 Turks in Germany, mentioning his “growing unease” about the way immigrants are treated in Germany. Tuesday’s edition of The Guardian headlined “Erodgan tells Turks to resist assimilation into German society,” and La Croix noted that Erdogan was “fuel[ing] the German debate over immigration.” The popular German tabloid Bild Zeitung judged “Erdogan's sermon to be a provocation…With these remarks he is torpedoing… the difficult attempt to integrate the more than three million people with Turkish roots into Germany's society… This is shabby and irresponsible." Others, like Süddeutsche Zeitung, weren’t as outraged at Erdogan’s speech, though the paper pointed out that “If someone really should feel provoked by Erdogan's criticism of assimilation, then this should be the Kurds in Turkey. It would have been nice if all the critics grabbed Erdogan by the scuff of his neck and used his words at home in Diyarbakir or Ankara.” This is in reference to the long-standing dispute in Turkey over the status of the country’s large indigenous Kurdish minority - from 1984 to 1999 there was open warfare within Turkey between the military and the separatist, Kurdish PKK insurgents that devastated much of the predominantly Kurdish south-eastern provinces, killing many Turks and Kurds. Only in 2002 (under Erdogan's government) did Turkey pass laws allowing Kurdish-language radio and television broadcasts, though many points of contention remain (hence Süddeutsche Zeitung’s reference to Erdogan’s apparent hypocrisy in decrying assimilationist policies in Germany).
Tuesday afternoon Alec Ross, Secretary Clinton’s Senior Adviser for Innovation, visited the Media Hub for a video interview and then conference with staff from the Tri-mission embassies. In light of the Arab revolutions, in both the interview and conference Ross primarily talked about social media. In particular, I liked that Ross pointed out that while they played a role, social media tools like Facebook and Twitter did not cause the revolutions. I completely agree: while social media played a role, it’s definitely not the point of making these “Twitter Revolutions,” as some have sensationally called them. He also compared these tools to metal: just as metal can be fashioned into a hospital or a machete, the internet can be used for both peaceful and violent pursuits, as seen in how the internet both brings many people together around the world but also facilities global terrorist networks.
Wednesday’s Early Alert focused on Libya and also saw the return of the regional domino effect section. Libya angles included: reactions to Qaddafi’s bloody counterattack amidst what the UN warned was a refugee crisis as thousands attempted to flee to neighboring Tunisia, the question of whether a no-fly zone would be instituted, and speculation on how events in Libya would evolve. On the domino effect, we focused on revolts and sometimes violent reactions in Iran, Yemen, and, interestingly, Iraq.
In the middle of working on the Early Alert, I left to attend a ‘brown bag’ lunch with Ambassador Kennard and interns from the three embassies. The Ambassador talked on a number of issues. He mentioned that in his view there are three components to success: that you should always have a vision of where you are going, that you have to execute (or else it’s just a dream), and that you have to have some passion about what you want to do. The Ambassador also commented on attempts to fashion a common EU foreign policy, most notably the recently-created European External Action Service (EAS), which in some sense serves (or might one day serve) as the foreign ministry of the EU.
Wednesday afternoon I attended an interview strategies presentation by one of the other interns at the Media Hub. I’m of course not a journalism student, but several things stood out to me. One is that it often helps to ask an interviewee to repeat their answer to a question, as the second time through their answers are usually more concise with less “ums” or pauses, as they are no longer making up their answer as they go. Another tip is to keep natural sounds in videos. That’s hard to explain without an example… in the presentation that intern showed a clip from a story about a woman in America who creates paintings that memorialize fallen US soldiers. She (the intern) pointed out all the sounds in the segment that I normally would not pay much attention to, and as we paid close attention it was clear that the clip would have been a lot less effective had the only sound been people talking.
Thursday’s Early Alert covered three topics: Libya, Pakistan, and attacks on US soldiers in Germany. On Libya, we focused on the debate in the European press between those who warned against military intervention and those who say “A foreign intervention may become inevitable” (Slate.fr). For instance, Poland’s Gazeta Wyborcza writes, “The military in Washington are dampening the enthusiasm of some experts and politicians who want to carry out a military action against the Qaddafi regime…. It seems, then, that strong statements from Hillary Clinton are rather psychological warfare aimed at encouraging the Libyan military to quit the dictator and join the revolution.” By contrast, the German Tagesspiegel comments: “The situation would change if Qaddafi was attempting to re-conquer the east, threatening bloodshed of revenge. Requests for help would follow and the world could no longer stand by and watch. It should be prepared for this.”
Our angle on Pakistan was the assassination of the country’s only Christian minister by Islamists. Something we also look for is whether right- and left-wing papers disagree or agree on an issue; the former isn’t exactly surprising, but the latter is notable. So I thought it significant that, for instance, Britain’s center-right Daily Telegraph and center-left Guardian both strongly condemned what they called the Pakistani government’s “appeasement” of extremists.
Our third topic was the killing of two US soldiers at Frankfurt Airport in Germany. Tagesspiegel reported that this was a “targeted attack on Americans” by a “suspect who has links to Islamists,” and Rzeczpospolita wonders whether it was a “terrorist attack” or an “act by a madman.” Our counterparts in Berlin reported that that morning the German N-TV mentioned that “Federal Prosecutors take over investigations” as “the German-Kosovo suspect has been unmasked as an Islamist,” who was fighting a “Holy War against infidels.”
Friday morning I did not do much on the Early Alert since I had the opportunity that day to go to NATO Headquarters for a tour by the Information Officer (IO) at the U.S. Mission to NATO. Since NATO is located far from the center of Brussels (not even reachable by metro), I took a taxi there and back. Coming from the Media Hub and it’s less-than-10 employees, NATO was huge – there are over 20 meeting rooms for Ambassadors, government officials, and journalists, and the last NATO Summit, held in Lisbon last November, featured heads of state and delegations from more than 50 countries and over 1,800 journalists! Since official business was taking place I unfortunately did not get the see NATO’s main summit room, though I did get to see parts of US Mission and had coffee and juice with the IO at NATO’s cafeteria.
A few of the topics we discussed…
- Something I was not aware of is that the Public Affairs Office at the U.S. Mission helps organize and coordinate week-long tours for journalists from NATO-member states and other countries to travel to Afghanistan. The office also brings international journalists to NATO so they can gain a better understanding of it operates, as well as learn about key U.S. foreign policy goals. Meanwhile, the Press Office within the U.S. Mission Public Affairs Office sets up meetings for journalists to interview the U.S. Ambassador and other officials at the Mission.
- At the last NATO Summit, the 28 NATO members agreed on a new Strategic Concept that will guide NATO operations over the next 10 years and which includes a crisis management role. Obviously that’s now a major issue with regard to Libya because if it isn’t a crisis, then what is?
- Another topic we discussed is a concern the IO deals with regularly: the question of what the U.S. Ambassador to NATO can and should say to the press. The Ambassador, of course, doesn’t want to get ahead of what the President, Secretary of State or Secretary of Defense are saying. Thus, one of the functions of the Mission’s Press Office is to produce regular summaries of speeches by and articles about top U.S. officials, which are shared with the Ambassador and other officials at the Mission. Perhaps in lieu of the Early Alerts I would have been analyzing official statements if I had interned at the Mission to NATO…
Once I got back to the Media Hub the Early Alert had already been mostly completed, but in the afternoon I discussed with my supervisor the new style we will use from here on at the request of Washington. The main difference is that we will now include one sentence summaries either in the headline of each section or as their first sentence that give an overview of the press. For instance, for our section on the reaction to continued violence in Libya we wrote “Events in Libya remain on front pages, but below the fold, of most European newspapers.” Also, on my suggestion, we might get rid of the usual section headers listing the country or topic (i.e. we no longer have a separate line just saying “LIBYA” before all the sections on Libya).
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Patrick: Week 6 (February 21-25)
This week, my boss approached me about putting together a newsletter for the Academy that will appear once each semester. The newsletter will provide those interested in our work with a summation of everything in which we have been involved throughout the semester. It will also keep these individuals informed of any future endeavors for which we may be looking to drum up donor interest and/or support. Finally, a steady newsletter will go a long way in convincing both current and potential donors that the Academy is an "up and coming" organization with an important mission worthy of their continued financial support.
Apart from learning the fundamental importance of producing a viable organizational news bulletin, I learned the importance of building an appropriate brand and image for our organization. For example, as an organization situated in the realm of higher education philanthropy, we exist to provide free-market minded opportunities and programs to university students and faculty. So, in order to illustrate our progress in the form of a donor newsletter, we must be mindful of what our newsletter audience will perceive as acceptable progress. I say this because we may make a considerable amount of internal organizational progress from one given year to the next; however, unless we can provide tangible evidence of students and faculty benefiting from our work, the year will likely be considered a "so-so" one at best. With this in mind, it is easy to see why collecting interviews, testimonials, and pictures from each event or activity we sponsor is a vitally important endeavor. As part of a newsletter, these items will illustrate to donors that their contributions to our organization are going toward productive ends!
Unfortunately for us, the academy's previous director--who oversaw things before my boss arrived--did not quite recognize the true importance of documenting student and faculty involvement with the academy for future use. As a result, one of my main tasks for the week has involved sifting through pictures taken at previous events to see if any of them could be used in our newsletter. This task was frustrating because all of the photos through which I looked proved to be unusable. Humorously enough, the photos were not unusable because they were of bad quality; they were unusable because they were not of students and faculty. As my boss put it, "Donors want to see students and faculty looking engaged; they don't want to see pictures of older men and women like themselves."
Putting my search for suitable newsletter graphics on hold, I transitioned later in the week to drafting and sending out questions for students and faculty to answer about recent Academy programming. I would use information and direct quotes from the responses I received to prepare "write-ups" for the newsletter. Finally, I ended the week by traveling to Kinkos to get an estimate on printing 1,000 to 2,000 copies of the newsletter on high-quality gloss paper. I was excited to get the "green light" on taking an active step toward production.
I hope everyone had a good week!
Friday, March 25, 2011
March 25th Blog Posting
Happy Friday,
For work this week we were going over the applications for the summer internship program at Patton Boggs. The applications were narrowed down to 17 applications and those 17 received interviews. It was a four hour long process that was draining. It was cool to be on the other side of the interview but it can be just as hard for the questioner if the applicant is hard to talk to.
This has been an interesting week policy wise. The airport traffic controller at Ronald Regan National Airport fell asleep and planes were forced to land on their own. Now they want to put two air traffic controllers in each tower to make sure this never happens again. it would probably be more cost effective if they hired dogs to help keep the people awake. But then of course, dogs cannot be unionized so who knows.
Everything happening in Libya is all over the news. The ambassador to Libya was actually here talking with some management about strategies.
What is nice about work is that it can be extended to other groups and practices based on your interests. I have done work in Health Care Department for a client called Welsh Allyn, a medical device company that wanted to expand its business to Australia and the UK. I researched grant opportunities and potential areas where they could develop. Information on health care reform repeal was also needed and I supplied some reports on that as well. I have done work with the Corporate Governance and Public Finance groups primarily for a company called Bright Automotive. The base of my work with the Finance group has been reading non-disclosure agreements and finding the terms of confidentiality and use associated with each company that works with Bright Automotive. They want to apply for a grant from the federal government to make hybrid engines for their cars and need to draft a proposal. I have done a little work in this area as well. Finally, (I will skip transportation for now), I have done work with intellectual property rights specifically for Internet usage. Basically, the balance between privacy rights of individuals versus the free content from the Internet is the debate. I have attend Federal Trade Commission hearings about Internet privacy rights and advertising company limitations. I could explain further but I dont really want to.
Reading non disclosure agreements is incredibily tedious by the way. I am working through 90 of them right now and cannot wait to be done with them. I am getting very good at reading them though.
I hope everyone has a good weekend!
For work this week we were going over the applications for the summer internship program at Patton Boggs. The applications were narrowed down to 17 applications and those 17 received interviews. It was a four hour long process that was draining. It was cool to be on the other side of the interview but it can be just as hard for the questioner if the applicant is hard to talk to.
This has been an interesting week policy wise. The airport traffic controller at Ronald Regan National Airport fell asleep and planes were forced to land on their own. Now they want to put two air traffic controllers in each tower to make sure this never happens again. it would probably be more cost effective if they hired dogs to help keep the people awake. But then of course, dogs cannot be unionized so who knows.
Everything happening in Libya is all over the news. The ambassador to Libya was actually here talking with some management about strategies.
What is nice about work is that it can be extended to other groups and practices based on your interests. I have done work in Health Care Department for a client called Welsh Allyn, a medical device company that wanted to expand its business to Australia and the UK. I researched grant opportunities and potential areas where they could develop. Information on health care reform repeal was also needed and I supplied some reports on that as well. I have done work with the Corporate Governance and Public Finance groups primarily for a company called Bright Automotive. The base of my work with the Finance group has been reading non-disclosure agreements and finding the terms of confidentiality and use associated with each company that works with Bright Automotive. They want to apply for a grant from the federal government to make hybrid engines for their cars and need to draft a proposal. I have done a little work in this area as well. Finally, (I will skip transportation for now), I have done work with intellectual property rights specifically for Internet usage. Basically, the balance between privacy rights of individuals versus the free content from the Internet is the debate. I have attend Federal Trade Commission hearings about Internet privacy rights and advertising company limitations. I could explain further but I dont really want to.
Reading non disclosure agreements is incredibily tedious by the way. I am working through 90 of them right now and cannot wait to be done with them. I am getting very good at reading them though.
I hope everyone has a good weekend!
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Patrick: Week 5 (February 14-18)
This week, I got to try my hand at donor outreach. Coming into the week, I was not aware that such outreach would be my primary focus. I happened to be talking casually with my boss about some "big name" donors he was thinking of reaching out to. Knowing that a particularly influential family from my town had an established track record of donating large sums of money to free-market organizations, I asked if he had heard of the family. He said that he had indeed heard of the family through his work at a previous job but that he was not connected to it via personal or business relations so as to justify attempting to reach out to any of its members. He asked if I knew anyone to whom we could reach out in hopes of then having that person reach out to the "target family" on the pretext of that person being one of the "target family's" personal acquaintances. He explained that if we could encourage one of the "target family's" acquaintances to support our work we could then hopefully encourage the "target family" to support our work via a donation as well. This was the "person-to-person" contact strategy with which our organization operated regarding potential donors. Although I was aware of some mutual friends who might be able to put us in in touch with the "target family" in question, I was uncomfortable reaching out to them because reaching out to them meant that I would need to approach them about becoming monetary donors to our organization. To me, there is nothing more uncomfortable in business than asking a friend or family member for money! So, not wanting to jeopardize any of my personal relationships as a result of having to distastefully ask them for money, I averted any potential conflict by offering to author a letter to the "target family" myself. While I was not acquainted with the family personally, I did work as a volunteer on the campaign of one of the family members when he chose to run for political office. Using this distant connection as my angle, I drafted a letter informing the gentleman of our organization's existence as well as my thoughts on why our organization's goals aligned with his personal philanthropic mission. Before writing officially, however, I spent a few days researching the ins and outs of drafting donation letters to potential donors. This experience--as well as the actual writing of the letter itself--proved to be an enlightening one. Overall, while I remain squeamish about asking friends and family for money, I learned that individuals and organizations who possess an established history of philanthropic activity are going to give money regardless of whether it is given to you or not. As such, in attempting to secure a donation for one's cause, one must not view the process as simply "asking for money." Rather, one must act as if he or she is simply a "broker" helping to direct a donor's money to a cause in which the donor might be interested. This piece of wisdom has helped to calm my nerves continually in soliciting donations. I will continue to use it if I end up making a career out of this early experience in non-profit organizational management. Who knows? Using the above "brokerage" line of thinking, I may even be able to one day shake my distaste for asking friends and/or family to monetarily support a cause for which I am working.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Carolyn March 14-18
I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the spring. The cherry blossoms are just starting to bloom in some places in DC, and the weather is beautiful. I've started exploring the city more during the sunny afternoons, and last week I started going to film screenings for the Environmental Film Festival. I am really interested in the environment and conservation, so I loved seeing the documentaries about topics ranging from deep-sea fish to Native American rights. It is also interesting to go to different venues, including art galleries and embassies.
Last week at work started off well. On Tuesday I went to a Maryland House of Representatives meeting in Annapolis to hear the testimonies against the death penalty, which Amnesty has been working to abolish in the state of Maryland. Before the bill to repeal capital was heard, there were hours of other bills that we listened to. It was a really interesting. The main bills that were discussed included 287(g), which works as a partnership between U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and local law enforcement agencies. It seeks to expand ICE's capacity to arrest, jail and remove illegal immigrants from the country. I am not versed on this legislation, but there were really impassioned testimonies both for and against it.
After the discussion of the immigration bill, there was a hearing on HB724, which would increase the period of time within which a prosecution for fourth degree sexual assaults must be instituted after the offense was committed. It proposes extending the amount of time the victim has to come forward from 1 to 3 years. The testimony on this issue was polarized, and there was a large disconnect in the examples that were being used by each side. The representatives who were in favor of extending the amount of time a victim had were continually citing examples of heinous offenses, while those who were not in favor kept making the point that this bill would allow for smaller infractions to be brought to court years after they happened, when too much time will have passed to legitimately question witnesses.
The bill that we were there to hear about was HB1075, which would repeal the death penalty and procedures and requirements related to the death penalty in Maryland. The hearing was really interesting and at times moving. All of the testimonies I heard before we had to leave at 4.30 were in favor of repeal, and the people who were speaking included a person wrongfully put on death row for a crime he didn't commit and the family of a murder victim. There were a few criticisms from some of the representatives, including a man that kept reiterating that there have been so few executions in Maryland in past years that the bill is basically irrelevant and a waste of time to discuss. Those in favor felt that the law itself is wrong and that it still needs to be repealed. There were a few comments on the idea of taking a life to show that murder is wrong being inherently flawed, but most of the arguments centered around the practical issues that surface when a person is put on trial for capital punishment, including years of waiting, exorbitant amounts of money, and the impossibility of eliminating human error. Hearing the family of the murder victim explain how the death penalty for the perpetrator will not give them closure or begin to help them in any way was powerful. The death penalty expert at Amnesty explained that the main obstacle to the bill being passed lies not in the House but in the Senate, and that she expects the bill to be passed within 4 years. Four years seemed like a long time to me, but she said that for the amount of time that they have been working on the project, it isn't.
For the rest of the week I worked on the final push for our Annual General Meeting in San Francisco, which took place over the weekend. I am glad that all the preparation for it is over! For the rest of the week I issued press releases and wrote media reports. Now there is a new person that has taken over as my supervisor, so I am helping to train her. It will be much easier having another person around when the other intern isn't here. I am currently working on some development for Amnesty's website, including making a press section with links to the most memorable articles Amnesty has appeared in in the past few weeks. I hope everyone has a great week!
Last week at work started off well. On Tuesday I went to a Maryland House of Representatives meeting in Annapolis to hear the testimonies against the death penalty, which Amnesty has been working to abolish in the state of Maryland. Before the bill to repeal capital was heard, there were hours of other bills that we listened to. It was a really interesting. The main bills that were discussed included 287(g), which works as a partnership between U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and local law enforcement agencies. It seeks to expand ICE's capacity to arrest, jail and remove illegal immigrants from the country. I am not versed on this legislation, but there were really impassioned testimonies both for and against it.
After the discussion of the immigration bill, there was a hearing on HB724, which would increase the period of time within which a prosecution for fourth degree sexual assaults must be instituted after the offense was committed. It proposes extending the amount of time the victim has to come forward from 1 to 3 years. The testimony on this issue was polarized, and there was a large disconnect in the examples that were being used by each side. The representatives who were in favor of extending the amount of time a victim had were continually citing examples of heinous offenses, while those who were not in favor kept making the point that this bill would allow for smaller infractions to be brought to court years after they happened, when too much time will have passed to legitimately question witnesses.
The bill that we were there to hear about was HB1075, which would repeal the death penalty and procedures and requirements related to the death penalty in Maryland. The hearing was really interesting and at times moving. All of the testimonies I heard before we had to leave at 4.30 were in favor of repeal, and the people who were speaking included a person wrongfully put on death row for a crime he didn't commit and the family of a murder victim. There were a few criticisms from some of the representatives, including a man that kept reiterating that there have been so few executions in Maryland in past years that the bill is basically irrelevant and a waste of time to discuss. Those in favor felt that the law itself is wrong and that it still needs to be repealed. There were a few comments on the idea of taking a life to show that murder is wrong being inherently flawed, but most of the arguments centered around the practical issues that surface when a person is put on trial for capital punishment, including years of waiting, exorbitant amounts of money, and the impossibility of eliminating human error. Hearing the family of the murder victim explain how the death penalty for the perpetrator will not give them closure or begin to help them in any way was powerful. The death penalty expert at Amnesty explained that the main obstacle to the bill being passed lies not in the House but in the Senate, and that she expects the bill to be passed within 4 years. Four years seemed like a long time to me, but she said that for the amount of time that they have been working on the project, it isn't.
For the rest of the week I worked on the final push for our Annual General Meeting in San Francisco, which took place over the weekend. I am glad that all the preparation for it is over! For the rest of the week I issued press releases and wrote media reports. Now there is a new person that has taken over as my supervisor, so I am helping to train her. It will be much easier having another person around when the other intern isn't here. I am currently working on some development for Amnesty's website, including making a press section with links to the most memorable articles Amnesty has appeared in in the past few weeks. I hope everyone has a great week!
Monday, March 21, 2011
Michael: Week 4 (Feb 21st to Feb 25th)
As several staff members were out for several days, I completed this week's Early Alerts largely on my own. Being Washington's Birthday, all non-essential employees had Monday off at the Mission to the EU. As a result Tuesday's Early Alert was particularly complicated, as I had to take into account the weekend and two week-days worth of news. I focused on the various aspects of the growing crisis in Libya, and secondarily on the US-Pakistan diplomatic dispute over the jailing of an American official with diplomatic immunity after he shot two armed men in what the US says was self-defense.
Libya I divided into four sections. The first was a brief summary of reaction to Qaddafi's escalation of strikes against the rebels – Spain's El Pais headlined “Qaddafi bombs the revolt” and Italy’s Il Messaggero quite aptly headlined “Forty years of arrogant and absolute power were bound to end like this.” Next, I covered speculation as to the fate of the Libyan government. Polska argued that “Qaddafi has ruled Libya for forty years and he will not yield to protests,” and the British Telegraph judged “Qaddafi defiant as [his] regime collapses.”
Beyond those, this time I split the usual 'Role of the West' section into two paragraphs dealing with commentary on US and EU policy separately. On the former, Spain’s El Pais reports that, “In the case of Libya, where U.S. influence is very limited, the priority for Washington is to avoid a bloodbath that could create the need for a complex and unpredictable international intervention.” Interestingly, the Spanish SER radio reported that “some [in the] media say that the anti-American feeling in the Arab countries is disappearing… because of Obama´s commitment…to support the uprisings...” On the EU, the German Tagesthemen is strongly critical, commenting that: “Qaddafi is crazy and the world has been aware of this for a long time…. It is unbelievable that the EU has not yet imposed sanctions against the regime. Europeans allowed Libya and Qaddafi to buy them with oil and promises to keep away African refugees…” While the German Deutschlandfunk comments “If the dictator is ousted, the EU loses its partner and its reputation. This is the threat the EU faces in Libya…,” the Polish Rzeczpospolita judges that “No one in the West will risk the rage of the Arab street by trying to protect [Qaddafi]. Either way, the Spanish Abc warns that “The EU needs to make efforts to accelerate an outcome because a civil war could put Europe at the door of a case of self-destruction similar to that of Somalia.”
On the US-Pakistan dispute, I did not have much material to work with, so much of what I included was more straight reporting than commentary. Frankfurter Allgemeine reported that: “For the people on the streets this is just another evidence of how America is sabotaging Pakistan's activities behind the scenes. Against this background, it is not surprising that the billions of dollars for aid packages to Pakistan meet with growing skepticism."
On Wednesday, I once again devoted most attention to European press coverage of the events unfolding in Libya, and secondarily to ongoing concerns about Somali pirates:
Thursday’s Early Alert again featured Libya, though this time I wrote on two other topics: protests in Greece and concerns over oil prices. On Libya, I again wrote a section on reaction’s to violence the previous evening and on commentary on the role of the West. On the former, the perception in most of the European press seemed to be that Qaddafi’s regime was losing control: indeed, the British Daily Telegraph headlined that “Civil war breaks out as Qaddafi begins his fight to the death.” The German Tagesspiegel cautioned that an “alarming power vacuum” is emerging in Libya, and warned that “The threat is great that Libya ends as a failed state.” With regard to the role of the West, the Italian Corriere della Sera reported that “after many doubtful days, the US and Europe are moving in the same direction, i.e. against Qaddafi and his government... They have only one weapon to try to stop this slaughter: i.e. economic and commercial sanctions...” However, the German Die Welt lamented that while America as “the lead power has too much to do on other fronts,” Europe only offers a lot of “warm words and hot air.” The Polish Gazeta Wyborcza noted that, “A wave of freedom uprisings engulf the Arab countries but the European leaders are much more concerned with another wave, i.e. the illegal immigrants who may flow to Europe, with EU governments disputing who is to deal with future refugees.” In a rather strongly worded editorial, the German Frankfurter Rundschau condemned Europe’s “egoistic pussyfooting” and warns that “Europe is damaging itself systematically. It is time that it realizes this.”
Outside of those sections, I also wrote a paragraph on press reaction to Obama’s most recent speech and his administration’s policy. The Turkish Hurriyet headlined: “The President finally spoke: This violence must stop.” A commentator in the Italian La Stampa notes: “Obama breaks his silence over… Libya, revealing two priorities: To avoid a hostage crisis in Tripoli and to reach a multilateral response...” But a commentator in the Italian Il Tempo lamented that “Nobody is stopping this slaughter. The US Secretary of Defense [says]: ‘It’s France and Italy’s task,” and likewise, a commentary in the Spanish Abc declared “beyond the rhetoric, the fine speeches of Obama and uncommitted and abstract good vibes from the European Union, one perceives a resounding confusion compounded by a very clear lack of leadership.”
On Greece, I focused on ““the first general strike of this year… to protest against the rigid methods of tax savings by the Greek government,” which the Spanish La Razon noted “resulted in a confrontation between demonstrators and police agents.” Interestingly, the Italian Corriere della Sera pointed out that protesters shouted “like Tahrir square….After Ben Ali and Mubarak, now it is Papandreou’s turn,” though the German Süddeutsche editorializes that "Athens is not Cairo, even though some opposition forces would like this. But even though the protests in Greece are nothing new, they are bad news for the government….” On petrol price concerns, the Polish Rzeczpospolita warned that “Growing tensions in Libya have become the biggest threat to global oil supply since the invasion of Iraq eight years ago.” The German Die Welt reassured that "there is no reason to panic because Libya's significance for the oil markets is limited.” But while Frankfurter Allgemeine agreed that "there is no severe oil shortage in the world,” it cautioned that “uncertainty will result in an increase in the price of oil and gas.”
Later on Thursday, I began a special project with the Media Hub director: to set up a meet-up in Brussels with editors of women’s media outlets across Europe for networking and to consider the possibility of joint collaborations on campaigns important for female audiences. The actual get together won’t happen until I’m long gone, but I was tasked with contacting all the US embassies in Europe to ask for information top three print and online women’s outlets in each country. Slowly but surely I have been building up a database on the names, editors, and circulation figures for women’s media outlets across Europe.
Friday’s Early Alert once again centered on events in Libya, and I also reported again on petrol price concerns:
Libya I divided into four sections. The first was a brief summary of reaction to Qaddafi's escalation of strikes against the rebels – Spain's El Pais headlined “Qaddafi bombs the revolt” and Italy’s Il Messaggero quite aptly headlined “Forty years of arrogant and absolute power were bound to end like this.” Next, I covered speculation as to the fate of the Libyan government. Polska argued that “Qaddafi has ruled Libya for forty years and he will not yield to protests,” and the British Telegraph judged “Qaddafi defiant as [his] regime collapses.”
Beyond those, this time I split the usual 'Role of the West' section into two paragraphs dealing with commentary on US and EU policy separately. On the former, Spain’s El Pais reports that, “In the case of Libya, where U.S. influence is very limited, the priority for Washington is to avoid a bloodbath that could create the need for a complex and unpredictable international intervention.” Interestingly, the Spanish SER radio reported that “some [in the] media say that the anti-American feeling in the Arab countries is disappearing… because of Obama´s commitment…to support the uprisings...” On the EU, the German Tagesthemen is strongly critical, commenting that: “Qaddafi is crazy and the world has been aware of this for a long time…. It is unbelievable that the EU has not yet imposed sanctions against the regime. Europeans allowed Libya and Qaddafi to buy them with oil and promises to keep away African refugees…” While the German Deutschlandfunk comments “If the dictator is ousted, the EU loses its partner and its reputation. This is the threat the EU faces in Libya…,” the Polish Rzeczpospolita judges that “No one in the West will risk the rage of the Arab street by trying to protect [Qaddafi]. Either way, the Spanish Abc warns that “The EU needs to make efforts to accelerate an outcome because a civil war could put Europe at the door of a case of self-destruction similar to that of Somalia.”
On the US-Pakistan dispute, I did not have much material to work with, so much of what I included was more straight reporting than commentary. Frankfurter Allgemeine reported that: “For the people on the streets this is just another evidence of how America is sabotaging Pakistan's activities behind the scenes. Against this background, it is not surprising that the billions of dollars for aid packages to Pakistan meet with growing skepticism."
On Wednesday, I once again devoted most attention to European press coverage of the events unfolding in Libya, and secondarily to ongoing concerns about Somali pirates:
- My section on press reaction to the continuing and escalating violence began with a stark headline in the Italian Corriere della Sera: “Qaddafi’s scream: Here until death.” The German Süddeutsche highlights that Qaddafi “takes a different approach than his former neighbors, the dictators of Tunisia and Egypt, who threw the towels after a few days of unrest. Qaddafi is… resisting with a kind of brutality that can only surprise those who did not want to see the darkness of the regime for four decades.”
- Next, I wrote about speculation in the European press on what the future holds for Libya. The French La Croix notes that “Qaddafi seems to be in great trouble…many high-ranking Libyan officials have resigned,” though Le Parisien cautions that “Qaddafi thinks he is not dead yet… he seems to be out of breath, but he is still in action.” Under the headline “A destiny of destruction,” the Italian Quotidiano Nazionale stresses that “in Libya there are no political parties able to organize a transition towards a new government, like in Tunisia... In Libya there are only alliances among tribes, paramilitary groups, armed bands that follow single leaders. The situation is closer to the one in Yugoslavia in 1991.”
- In the ‘Role of the West’ section I mainly looked at the role of the EU. Some continue to criticize the EU’s response. The German Südwestrundfunk radio comments: “What a cynical division of labor: for years, Qaddafi spared Europeans refugees, and in return, they showered him with money and recognition.” Frankfurter Allgemeine agrees: “The approach to [Qaddafi] is not a glorious chapter of the EU." Frankfurter Rundschau, however, notices a change in the EU’s approach, saying: “Brussels and EU capitals obviously realized that the Arab spring is more than a mild breeze.” But it warns that “The wind of change blowing through the Arab world could turn into a storm if the Europeans do not respond quickly.”
- Like the US-Pakistan dispute section Tuesday, my paragraph on the Somali pirates was short. The main impetus for reporting on the topic was because the previous day “Somali pirates kill[ed] four Americans in cold blood,” as Spain’s El Mundo headlined. The UK’s The Times noted that the hostages were “killed amid confusion as pirates negotiate[d] with [an American] warship fleet.” The Italian Corriere della Sera pointed out that “The US military maintains that the pirates killed the hostages before launching a grenade at the cruiser. This version leaves room for several questions.”
Thursday’s Early Alert again featured Libya, though this time I wrote on two other topics: protests in Greece and concerns over oil prices. On Libya, I again wrote a section on reaction’s to violence the previous evening and on commentary on the role of the West. On the former, the perception in most of the European press seemed to be that Qaddafi’s regime was losing control: indeed, the British Daily Telegraph headlined that “Civil war breaks out as Qaddafi begins his fight to the death.” The German Tagesspiegel cautioned that an “alarming power vacuum” is emerging in Libya, and warned that “The threat is great that Libya ends as a failed state.” With regard to the role of the West, the Italian Corriere della Sera reported that “after many doubtful days, the US and Europe are moving in the same direction, i.e. against Qaddafi and his government... They have only one weapon to try to stop this slaughter: i.e. economic and commercial sanctions...” However, the German Die Welt lamented that while America as “the lead power has too much to do on other fronts,” Europe only offers a lot of “warm words and hot air.” The Polish Gazeta Wyborcza noted that, “A wave of freedom uprisings engulf the Arab countries but the European leaders are much more concerned with another wave, i.e. the illegal immigrants who may flow to Europe, with EU governments disputing who is to deal with future refugees.” In a rather strongly worded editorial, the German Frankfurter Rundschau condemned Europe’s “egoistic pussyfooting” and warns that “Europe is damaging itself systematically. It is time that it realizes this.”
Outside of those sections, I also wrote a paragraph on press reaction to Obama’s most recent speech and his administration’s policy. The Turkish Hurriyet headlined: “The President finally spoke: This violence must stop.” A commentator in the Italian La Stampa notes: “Obama breaks his silence over… Libya, revealing two priorities: To avoid a hostage crisis in Tripoli and to reach a multilateral response...” But a commentator in the Italian Il Tempo lamented that “Nobody is stopping this slaughter. The US Secretary of Defense [says]: ‘It’s France and Italy’s task,” and likewise, a commentary in the Spanish Abc declared “beyond the rhetoric, the fine speeches of Obama and uncommitted and abstract good vibes from the European Union, one perceives a resounding confusion compounded by a very clear lack of leadership.”
On Greece, I focused on ““the first general strike of this year… to protest against the rigid methods of tax savings by the Greek government,” which the Spanish La Razon noted “resulted in a confrontation between demonstrators and police agents.” Interestingly, the Italian Corriere della Sera pointed out that protesters shouted “like Tahrir square….After Ben Ali and Mubarak, now it is Papandreou’s turn,” though the German Süddeutsche editorializes that "Athens is not Cairo, even though some opposition forces would like this. But even though the protests in Greece are nothing new, they are bad news for the government….” On petrol price concerns, the Polish Rzeczpospolita warned that “Growing tensions in Libya have become the biggest threat to global oil supply since the invasion of Iraq eight years ago.” The German Die Welt reassured that "there is no reason to panic because Libya's significance for the oil markets is limited.” But while Frankfurter Allgemeine agreed that "there is no severe oil shortage in the world,” it cautioned that “uncertainty will result in an increase in the price of oil and gas.”
Later on Thursday, I began a special project with the Media Hub director: to set up a meet-up in Brussels with editors of women’s media outlets across Europe for networking and to consider the possibility of joint collaborations on campaigns important for female audiences. The actual get together won’t happen until I’m long gone, but I was tasked with contacting all the US embassies in Europe to ask for information top three print and online women’s outlets in each country. Slowly but surely I have been building up a database on the names, editors, and circulation figures for women’s media outlets across Europe.
Friday’s Early Alert once again centered on events in Libya, and I also reported again on petrol price concerns:
- Regarding reactions to further violence, Italy’s Coriere della Sera headlined “Tripoli in its final battle.” Polska noted that, “Hidden in a military bunker on the outskirts of Tripoli, Colonel Qaddafi carries out his last insane plan which is to hold power at any cost.” Spain’s La Vanguardia points out that “The Libyans probably already know, through Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya, that Muammar Qaddafi has once again become an international pariah, and this time permanently. Too many have died in a week of popular uprisings and slaughter. It's now or never. So they keep coming to the streets, to die.”
- The European press continued to speculate on Libya’s future, with Italy’s Il Messaggero terming the country “The world’s biggest risk.” The French Les Echos warned that “no peaceful transition seems possible in Libya, which lacks political parties…who knows what sort of regime will replace Qaddafi’s?” and Spain’s La Razon headlined, “Europe fears a new Somalia,” adding that “the ghost of radical Islamism hovers over the future of Libya.”
- On the role of the West, a commentator in Spain’s El Mundo argued that “In the event that UN procedures do not work for domestic political reasons, NATO must take responsibility and think about an intervention, without UN authorization, if necessary.” The German Frankfurter Allgemeine editorialized: “It has taken the U.S. President a week to respond to the situation in Libya and the regime’s killing orders. Eight days!” though the Berliner Zeitung was more sympatric to the President’s approach, saying : “Obama knows that any regime in a crisis is waiting to be able to interpret a revolution as a coup staged from outside. Would he have spoken out in favor of the protesters, he would not have helped the protests.” On the EU, France’s Libération lamented that “a new world is being born on Europe’s southern frontier… and what do Europe or France have to say to this development, which is as big as the fall of the USSR? Little or nothing. They are only worried about immigrants and oil prices.” On migration concerns, Publico headlined “Immigration crisis divides Europe.” Indeed, while France’s Les Echos warns that “Europe is not prepared for an influx of Libyan immigrants,” the German ARD-Tagesthemen commented that: “Ruthless politicians in Berlin and Brussels are adding fuel to the fear of an influx of refugees… There is no such exodus…”
- With regard to continuing concerns over petrol prices, the French Le Figaro Economie reported that “after the interruption of oil exports from Libya, Saudi Arabia has been in discussions with European refineries to prevent an oil shortage, but the risk remains.” El Pais cautioned that while “the Saudi supply can cover the shortage of Libyan oil output, what they cannot do is cover the shortfall that would result from a similar crisis in Algeria or Iran… The fear that the revolt will spread to other major oil export countries is what is stirring up the oil market.” France’s Les Echos took a different position, commenting that “the Arab revolutions are tacking a few cents onto the price of gasoline, which is an absurdly low amount compared to the value of the blood being shed in Libya, Egypt and Tunisia…and in the long run, higher gas prices will be good news for alternative energy.”
Friday, March 18, 2011
March 11th-March 18th
•
Good Morning and I hope everyone had fun on St. Patrick's Day. I thought that I would write this week about something that everyone can understand (unlike Carolyn's postings about AGM....). SOCIAL MEDIA. I will first explain its importance (which everyone probably knows), demonstrate current legislation effected by it (which nobody probably knows), and then talk a little about the ACLU's take on it (which nobody probably cares).
Importance! The growth of the social network is astounding in comparison to other technologies of the past. Typically, this is measured by the amount of time it takes different media networks to reach 50 million users. For the radio it took 38 years, TV 13 years, internet 4 years, ipod 3 years, and for Facebook 8 months to reach 100 million users. If Facebook were a country it would be the 3rd largest, and the fastest growing segment are women between the ages of 55-65. 1 in 8 couples that are married have met through a social network. More then 1.5 million pieces of content are shared on Facebook daily. Facebook and Twitter have a combined annual income of $950 million and over 800 million users worldwide.
By 2012 our generation Y will finally out number the Baby Boomers and 96% of us belong to a social network.
By 2012 our generation Y will finally out number the Baby Boomers and 96% of us belong to a social network.
Current policy issues! As you might imagine, with movement comes controversy and with constroversy comes policy. The growth of social media has raised all sorts of concerns, but the one I will cover here is online tracking. In case you do not already know, when you go on the internet the sights you visit are monitored by companies. Based on the sites you visit, you will receive certain advertisements. This is the simple definition of "targeted advertising". The battle is between personal privacy rights versus free content.
Chairman Rockefeller of the Committee on Commerce Science and Transportation understands the need to balance free content with concerns of privacy collection. How information is collected, who is collecting this information, and how the information is used is unknown to many consumers. There are no laws to commerical privacy and the need to exchange information on fair terms and conditions with legitimate companies is the Chairman's primary goal.
Senator John Kerry was also at the hearing and stated that he does not want to discourage the sharing of information (targeted advertising), he wants to encourage it with legitimate companies. Unethical collection of data, personal information that is given to the wrong people, and identity theft can all be eliminated ny targeting the "bad guys". His goal is to reach a consensus on people's privacy on the internet, sort of a common code of conduct for consumers that is flexible and will not curtail innovation. By the way, John Kerry is a fantastic public speaker.
The FTC is pretty good at punishing companies for unethical privacy practices. Last 15 years they have brought 32 data security cases, 64 cases against companies for improperly calling customers, 97 spam cases, and 15 spyware cases. Last week commission alleged Chitika (company that works between website and advertisers) violated consumers ability to opted out of the collection of information by not informing them that the opted out only lasted ten days.
Finally, in comes the American Civil Leadership Union also known as the ACLU. Chris Calabrese the spokes person for the ACLU strongly asserted his position that advertising companies are created profiles of people with unprecented breadth and depth. According to Calabrese, reading habits, relgious affliation, sexual orietnation can all be shared legally with employers, schools and the government.
He provided an example of the distress caused by targeted advertising to a young overweight girl named Kate Reed. She is concered about her weight. All she wants to do is go online and stop thinking about it. All she sees is weight loss advertisments.
Without legal process that protects personal information, Calabrese says that identity theft, SSN, location of homes are all up for sale.
Senator Kerry disputed much of what Calabrese said as overreaching and Calabrese was unable to answer questions regarding the economic impact removing targeted advertisign would have on the internet.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Carolyn March 7-11
This week was almost completely focused on promoting the AGM. It was very busy with compiling media lists, continuing to contact the press about coverage, and reporting the interviews that our representatives were doing with different news outlets. It involved some innovation on my part when we had to have 40 press kits mailed within an afternoon to San Francisco and still did not have the schedule of events or the biographies that we needed. There was a last-minute rush to finish before the mailman came but the press kits got out in time! I also wrote a template for a "letter to the editor" that will be distributed at the AGM Youth Summit for young people to personalize and send in to their local news outlets. It is exciting to think that something that I helped to write could appear in print.
As the Middle East continued to permeate the news, the tragedy in Japan made headlines with its scope of destruction. While Amnesty is definitely on the lookout for human rights violations, at this point Japan is still in crisis mode dealing with the catastrophic results of the disaster. I just edited a statement from Amnesty expressing condolences to those impacted in Japan and urging the Japanese government to ensure that information about risks to health and the environment is made public, as well as measures that can be taken to protect health and safety.
Most of Amnesty's statements regarding the Middle East currently are related to the treatment of protestors by armed forces. Saudi Arabia was present in the news for putting a ban on protesting and beating those who disobeyed it, which Amnesty urged them to overturn. Yemen continues to be in the news for harsh treatment of protestors.
Another huge development for Amnesty was the abolition of the death penalty in Illinois. Amnesty condemns the death penalty as ineffective, inhumane and counterproductive. The fact that Governor Quinn signed for its abolition was a huge and long-awaited victory for Amnesty and many others.
One of my favorite parts of the week was my orientation for 826 DC, Dave Eggers' national literacy nonprofit organization. I decided to start volunteering here because of my interest in reading and desire to continue speaking Spanish, and I am excited to start. The nonprofit focuses on education enrichment for students, and I think it is going to be a very rewarding experience. I am excited to be involved in new things during my time in DC. I am enthusiastic about the projects that the organization works on and the fact that they are in line with my interests and abilities. Have a great week!
As the Middle East continued to permeate the news, the tragedy in Japan made headlines with its scope of destruction. While Amnesty is definitely on the lookout for human rights violations, at this point Japan is still in crisis mode dealing with the catastrophic results of the disaster. I just edited a statement from Amnesty expressing condolences to those impacted in Japan and urging the Japanese government to ensure that information about risks to health and the environment is made public, as well as measures that can be taken to protect health and safety.
Most of Amnesty's statements regarding the Middle East currently are related to the treatment of protestors by armed forces. Saudi Arabia was present in the news for putting a ban on protesting and beating those who disobeyed it, which Amnesty urged them to overturn. Yemen continues to be in the news for harsh treatment of protestors.
Another huge development for Amnesty was the abolition of the death penalty in Illinois. Amnesty condemns the death penalty as ineffective, inhumane and counterproductive. The fact that Governor Quinn signed for its abolition was a huge and long-awaited victory for Amnesty and many others.
One of my favorite parts of the week was my orientation for 826 DC, Dave Eggers' national literacy nonprofit organization. I decided to start volunteering here because of my interest in reading and desire to continue speaking Spanish, and I am excited to start. The nonprofit focuses on education enrichment for students, and I think it is going to be a very rewarding experience. I am excited to be involved in new things during my time in DC. I am enthusiastic about the projects that the organization works on and the fact that they are in line with my interests and abilities. Have a great week!
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Carolyn February 28- March 4
I hope everybody is having a great week! I just left an interview between Amnesty's expert for our Counter Terror Justice with Campaign and a reporter from Al Arabyia News. The interview was about Obama's recent announcement that trials will continue at Guantanamo Bay, a facility that he promised to close when he was elected in 2008. Amnesty feels very strongly about the need to close Guantanamo, because of both the torture tactics that have been employed there and the lack of legitimacy and transparency in the trials that do not conform to U.S. standards. The interview was interesting and our representative did a fantastic job of putting the issue into both a constitutional and human rights perspective- that fair and open trials are part of America's democratic system and that the savagery that is employed at Guantanamo has proven to only beget more savagery from terrorist organizations. He also acknowledged the concern that many people bring up- that the people being tried at Guantanamo are high-risk for terrorist activity and that indefinite detention is the safest choice for them. He said that the U.S. trial system is more effective than the clandestine operations that go on at Guantanamo, and as always, Amnesty values the transparency that results from an open court.
Aside from the new emphasis on Guantanamo, there have been multiple other issues that Amnesty has been active in lately.
Last week I issued country-specific releases, including: calling for protection and assistance for civilians fleeing violence in the Ivory Coast, condemning further reckless disregard by security forces in Tunisia, and urging Pakistan to bring Minister Bhatti’s killers to justice. Also issued releases calling for help for refugees fleeing Libya and condemning indiscriminate force by Gaddafi supporters. There were also releases demanding the freedom of a protestor in Egypt, urging China to stop crackdown on foreign reporters, and calling on Viet Nam to release Dr. Nguyen Dan Que.
Of all these issues, the news development that interested and saddened me the most during the week was the discovery of the bodies of two more of the Reyes family of Juarez, Mexico. The bodies were found on Friday and are the next chapter in a long saga of drug violence in northern Mexico. According to the LA Times, the first one of the family killed was activist Josefina Reyes. Then her brother. Then they burned her mother's house. About three weeks ago, gunmen dressed in black kidnapped Reyes' sister, sister-in-law and another brother. They were found dead on a street in Chihuaha.
I have never been to Mexico, but I am very interested in Latin and South America. My time in Bolivia showed me how amazing South American people are and developed my interest in the Spanish-speaking world. The drug violence that is currently ravaging Mexico is devastating the country and innocent civilians. Along with the Middle East I will be keeping Mexico in my thoughts and prayers.
Also, today is International Women's Day- a global day celebrating the economic, political and social achievements of women past, present and future. Amnesty has done several interviews about the event, especially regarding to promoting the rights of women in cases of maternal mortality and sexual violence.
The other taks I completed last week included making a calendar, finishing a financial expenditures report, and writing a summary of both the press releases released by Amnesty International and the times that our press releases were mentioned in the U.S.-based media. I also did several calls to promote our AGM (Annual General Meeting) to the San Francisco media.
Over the weekend I went to New York City with my roommate, a friend from work, and a friend from Brown U that I taught English with in Bolivia. It was my first time in NYC and it was a really fast-paced weekend. I didn't see many touristy things because everyone I went with had been there several times before. I did see the Statue of Liberty, though, and all 5 burroughs! That took a LONG time! Most of the time we were in Brooklyn, because we stayed with friends near there Friday night. I really liked Brooklyn a lot- a very creative and interesting community. Brooklyn alone is bigger than DC. Saturday night we got a hotel in UN Plaza and ended up on the top floor with an amazing view of the city. I could not have imagined how enormous and busy NYC really is. There is so much to do there, and I am going to try to go back before I leave. I can't believe I've already been here 2 months! Have a great week everyone.
Aside from the new emphasis on Guantanamo, there have been multiple other issues that Amnesty has been active in lately.
Last week I issued country-specific releases, including: calling for protection and assistance for civilians fleeing violence in the Ivory Coast, condemning further reckless disregard by security forces in Tunisia, and urging Pakistan to bring Minister Bhatti’s killers to justice. Also issued releases calling for help for refugees fleeing Libya and condemning indiscriminate force by Gaddafi supporters. There were also releases demanding the freedom of a protestor in Egypt, urging China to stop crackdown on foreign reporters, and calling on Viet Nam to release Dr. Nguyen Dan Que.
Of all these issues, the news development that interested and saddened me the most during the week was the discovery of the bodies of two more of the Reyes family of Juarez, Mexico. The bodies were found on Friday and are the next chapter in a long saga of drug violence in northern Mexico. According to the LA Times, the first one of the family killed was activist Josefina Reyes. Then her brother. Then they burned her mother's house. About three weeks ago, gunmen dressed in black kidnapped Reyes' sister, sister-in-law and another brother. They were found dead on a street in Chihuaha.
I have never been to Mexico, but I am very interested in Latin and South America. My time in Bolivia showed me how amazing South American people are and developed my interest in the Spanish-speaking world. The drug violence that is currently ravaging Mexico is devastating the country and innocent civilians. Along with the Middle East I will be keeping Mexico in my thoughts and prayers.
Also, today is International Women's Day- a global day celebrating the economic, political and social achievements of women past, present and future. Amnesty has done several interviews about the event, especially regarding to promoting the rights of women in cases of maternal mortality and sexual violence.
The other taks I completed last week included making a calendar, finishing a financial expenditures report, and writing a summary of both the press releases released by Amnesty International and the times that our press releases were mentioned in the U.S.-based media. I also did several calls to promote our AGM (Annual General Meeting) to the San Francisco media.
Over the weekend I went to New York City with my roommate, a friend from work, and a friend from Brown U that I taught English with in Bolivia. It was my first time in NYC and it was a really fast-paced weekend. I didn't see many touristy things because everyone I went with had been there several times before. I did see the Statue of Liberty, though, and all 5 burroughs! That took a LONG time! Most of the time we were in Brooklyn, because we stayed with friends near there Friday night. I really liked Brooklyn a lot- a very creative and interesting community. Brooklyn alone is bigger than DC. Saturday night we got a hotel in UN Plaza and ended up on the top floor with an amazing view of the city. I could not have imagined how enormous and busy NYC really is. There is so much to do there, and I am going to try to go back before I leave. I can't believe I've already been here 2 months! Have a great week everyone.
Monday, March 7, 2011
Michael: Week 3 (Feb 14th to Feb 18th)
As always, Monday Feb 14th at the US-European Media Hub began with the Early Alert tasker. After getting that out, however, I took a break from reading the news to accompany the director of the Media Hub to a meeting of all the heads of departments within the Mission to the European Union. I was surprised to discover that that entailed a meeting of at least 25 people. The meeting primarily consisted of each of the section heads updating Ambassador Kennard on what their departments are currently working on, and of significant upcoming events.
An hour or two later I was back at the office catching up on the Early Alert. Egypt, of course, was our focus. In the afternoon last Friday (the 11th) Mubarak finally resigned, and so the European press focused on what would come next. As France's Le Figaro pointed out, “the Egyptians today are oscillating between confidence and concern,” given the protestors' success in ousting Mubarak but the reality that the regime that supported him largely remains in place. Thus, the bulk of the European media was speculating on what the Egyptian military's next move might be. As the UK's The Independent headlined “The fate of the revolution lies in the hands of the generals.” Our third section on Egypt focused on commentaries regarding the role of the West, and particularly of Obama's administration. Italy's La Stampa judged that “President Obama won his bet and US pressures were likely decisive in provoking Mubarak’s resignation.” Conversely, a commentary in Russia's Slovo declared that “What is going on in Egypt is a serious lesson for all who consider the Americans a reliable ‘partner.’ The feeling of gratitude is unknown to the Americans.” As regards the EU, a commentator in Spain's El Pais bemoaned “the miserable role of the European Union in its relations with the southern and eastern shores of the Mediterranean.”
Outside of Egypt, we covered an emerging crisis: "Thousands of Tunisians flee to Italy," headlined Germany's Süddeutsche. As Spain's Cadena Ser radio reported, “The Government of Italy believes that the ever-expanding shock wave in the Arab world is making its way to Europe via illegal immigrants,” which some Italian ministers feared would become a “biblical exodus” from Tunisia.
On Tuesday the 15th this influx of migrants from Tunisia into the Italian island of Lampedusa made it to the top of the Early Alert. Some in the European press took the opportunity to argue that rather than “set up an anti-poverty wall at Europe's southern and eastern borders… Europe must help improve the perspectives of the people in their home countries” (Germany's Die Welt), others argued that “The North Africans that are exploiting the power vacuum in Tunisia right now to flee the country must be sent back. The EU's asylum system is in need for improvement but we would overstretch it if Italy and other EU members would idly watch the arrival of young people who would leave the country despite the successful revolution,” and a few pointed out that at the EU level, “there has never been a real and effective involvement of Europe to stop an invasion that began years ago and that sometimes, like now, becomes dramatic” (Italy's Quotidiano Nazionale).
Other stories on Tuesday included renewed protests in Iran, spurred on by the example of Egypt. Spain's Cuatro TV pointed out the hypocrisy that “ The regime of the ayatollahs, which publically supported the uprisings in North Africa, is suppressing any attempt at protest within its own border.” We also focused on the new wave of strikes in Egypt for better wages and jobs, and on the continued spread of protests across the Middle East and North Africa.
We were fortunate to have gotten all the information we did on Tuesday for the Early Alert, as the tasker was sent out a half hour or more late. Why? Well, there was a major metro strike in Brussels that day, that left me with an hour long hike to work that morning. According to other staff members, normally strikes in Brussels are announced in advance, but there had been an assault on one of the metro operators Monday night and as a result of that and past incidents of violence against metro personnel the workers went on strike. Unfortunately the strike was not resolved before I left work, so I hiked back as well. But it was kind of nice to have a chance to see above-ground the route I take to work each day, so it was by no means a ruined birthday.
Wednesday I left for work extra early to ensure that if the metro strike continued someone would be in the Media Hub prior to Ambassador Kennard's arrival for an interview. Luckily the strike ended either Tuesday night or early Wednesday. Unfortunately I did not get a chance to meet with the Ambassador, as I was distracted with the Early Alert, but from what I heard he gave a great followup to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's speech earlier that week on internet freedom. Later that day the State Department's Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism, Hannah Rosenthal, and the Special Representative to Muslim Communities, Farah Anwar Pandith, came in for a joint interview on their '2011 Hours Against Hate' initiative.
For Wednesday's Early Alert, I chose to focus on four separate topics:
Thursday's Early Alert featured further reactions to Secretary Clinton's speech on internet freedom, and also on protests across the Middle East. On the speech, France's Le Monde reads “Criticized for having sided with stability rather than revolution in Egypt, Hillary Clinton took back the initiative,” while Spain's Cadena Ser comments “Can we take seriously the words of the Secretary of State, a woman who is part of a government that has done everything possible to block Wikileaks?” On Iran, Britain’s The Independent judges that “Iran’s tyranny will pass, but not peacefully,” arguing that “the Egyptian model is not easy to transpose to Iran…. In some ways, everyone in Iran, and not just the rulers, has an aversion to risking the status quo. Perhaps the biggest factor is the military… The idea that they would stand aside for a peaceful transition to democracy is fanciful.” Additionally, I wrote a section on the first Libya, which began to receive significant coverage. A commentator in Britain’s The Times wrote in reference to the country's ruler of 42 years, Colonel Qaddafi, that “The mad dog won’t go without a fight” and that “the odds remain stacked in Colonel Qaddafi's favor.”
Besides the Early Alert, on Thursday the Media Hub hosted a delegation of about 15 press officials from various parts of the Bahraini government, which was particularly interesting given the state of their country right now. They were given a presentation by the director of the Media Hub on how the State Department and especially the Hub operates. Interestingly, in Bahrain it seems that people can be both journalists and members of the government simultaneously; something that of course is not the case in the US. Later that day we hosted a meeting of journalism students from the US and Europe in which they discussed Secretary Clinton's speech on internet freedom. I also briefly looked into the feasibility of the Hub hosting a training session for PAOs from US embassies in the Balkan countries.
The Early Alert on Friday focused on:
Later on Friday I helped the Media Hub director brainstorm questions to ask Alec Ross, Sectary Clinton's Senior Adviser for Innovation. Ross will be coming in a few weeks for an interview at the Hub and then a discussion with personnel from the embassies on using new social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc) to advance US foreign policy and outreach.
An hour or two later I was back at the office catching up on the Early Alert. Egypt, of course, was our focus. In the afternoon last Friday (the 11th) Mubarak finally resigned, and so the European press focused on what would come next. As France's Le Figaro pointed out, “the Egyptians today are oscillating between confidence and concern,” given the protestors' success in ousting Mubarak but the reality that the regime that supported him largely remains in place. Thus, the bulk of the European media was speculating on what the Egyptian military's next move might be. As the UK's The Independent headlined “The fate of the revolution lies in the hands of the generals.” Our third section on Egypt focused on commentaries regarding the role of the West, and particularly of Obama's administration. Italy's La Stampa judged that “President Obama won his bet and US pressures were likely decisive in provoking Mubarak’s resignation.” Conversely, a commentary in Russia's Slovo declared that “What is going on in Egypt is a serious lesson for all who consider the Americans a reliable ‘partner.’ The feeling of gratitude is unknown to the Americans.” As regards the EU, a commentator in Spain's El Pais bemoaned “the miserable role of the European Union in its relations with the southern and eastern shores of the Mediterranean.”
Outside of Egypt, we covered an emerging crisis: "Thousands of Tunisians flee to Italy," headlined Germany's Süddeutsche. As Spain's Cadena Ser radio reported, “The Government of Italy believes that the ever-expanding shock wave in the Arab world is making its way to Europe via illegal immigrants,” which some Italian ministers feared would become a “biblical exodus” from Tunisia.
On Tuesday the 15th this influx of migrants from Tunisia into the Italian island of Lampedusa made it to the top of the Early Alert. Some in the European press took the opportunity to argue that rather than “set up an anti-poverty wall at Europe's southern and eastern borders… Europe must help improve the perspectives of the people in their home countries” (Germany's Die Welt), others argued that “The North Africans that are exploiting the power vacuum in Tunisia right now to flee the country must be sent back. The EU's asylum system is in need for improvement but we would overstretch it if Italy and other EU members would idly watch the arrival of young people who would leave the country despite the successful revolution,” and a few pointed out that at the EU level, “there has never been a real and effective involvement of Europe to stop an invasion that began years ago and that sometimes, like now, becomes dramatic” (Italy's Quotidiano Nazionale).
Other stories on Tuesday included renewed protests in Iran, spurred on by the example of Egypt. Spain's Cuatro TV pointed out the hypocrisy that “ The regime of the ayatollahs, which publically supported the uprisings in North Africa, is suppressing any attempt at protest within its own border.” We also focused on the new wave of strikes in Egypt for better wages and jobs, and on the continued spread of protests across the Middle East and North Africa.
We were fortunate to have gotten all the information we did on Tuesday for the Early Alert, as the tasker was sent out a half hour or more late. Why? Well, there was a major metro strike in Brussels that day, that left me with an hour long hike to work that morning. According to other staff members, normally strikes in Brussels are announced in advance, but there had been an assault on one of the metro operators Monday night and as a result of that and past incidents of violence against metro personnel the workers went on strike. Unfortunately the strike was not resolved before I left work, so I hiked back as well. But it was kind of nice to have a chance to see above-ground the route I take to work each day, so it was by no means a ruined birthday.
Wednesday I left for work extra early to ensure that if the metro strike continued someone would be in the Media Hub prior to Ambassador Kennard's arrival for an interview. Luckily the strike ended either Tuesday night or early Wednesday. Unfortunately I did not get a chance to meet with the Ambassador, as I was distracted with the Early Alert, but from what I heard he gave a great followup to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's speech earlier that week on internet freedom. Later that day the State Department's Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism, Hannah Rosenthal, and the Special Representative to Muslim Communities, Farah Anwar Pandith, came in for a joint interview on their '2011 Hours Against Hate' initiative.
For Wednesday's Early Alert, I chose to focus on four separate topics:
- Reaction to Secretary Clinton's internet freedom speech. These varied from positive appraisals – for instance, a commentary in Italy's La Stampa headlined “The Internet is Hillary's Ally,” the State Department's use of the internet as a diplomatic tool to that of the radio-based Voice of America during the Cold War – to criticisms, such as criticism in a commentary in the UK's The Guardian that Clinton's “argument is tarnished by WikiLeaks, for it is too easy to say that the US failed to maintain the principles of internet freedom at a moment when its own structure of secrecy was threatened.”
- Strengthening protests in Bahrain, a small island country in the Persian Gulf. Instability in Barhain is of particular concern for the United States for two main reasons. First, the United States Naval Forces Central Command is headquartered and based in Bahrain. Secondly, while the elite of Bahrain are predominately Sunni Muslims, like neighboring Saudi Arabia, the majority of the island's population are Shiite Muslims, like the bulk of nearby Iran. Thus, there is a fear that if Bahrain's government is toppled, than a Shiite regime presumably sympathetic to Iran would come to power. While most of the European press coverage on Bahrain focuses on, as The Guardian describes it, “sectarian fault lines,” some others, like the German Berliner Zeitung, feel that “The people have no time to think about such petty things during the spring of Arab revolutions…” Either way, the Frankfurter Rundschau warns that “If Bahrain falls as the next domino, the potentates of other oil states in the region could get into trouble.”
- On the continuing protests in Iran, most of the European press seemed to favor President Obama's speech, with La Stampa opining that “ After having almost lost his balance in Egypt, Obama has thrown himself on the wave of revolt which is crossing the Middle East.” The Polish Rzeczpospolita notes the irony that “America supports the rebellion of the opposition in Iran while Iran supports the revolt in the pro-American Bahrain.”
- Further speculation on Egypt's future, with Financial Times Deutschland headlining “ Military preparing for its own deprivation of power.” That quite aptly sums up how uncertain the situation remains, particularly the question of how much the government will change.
Thursday's Early Alert featured further reactions to Secretary Clinton's speech on internet freedom, and also on protests across the Middle East. On the speech, France's Le Monde reads “Criticized for having sided with stability rather than revolution in Egypt, Hillary Clinton took back the initiative,” while Spain's Cadena Ser comments “Can we take seriously the words of the Secretary of State, a woman who is part of a government that has done everything possible to block Wikileaks?” On Iran, Britain’s The Independent judges that “Iran’s tyranny will pass, but not peacefully,” arguing that “the Egyptian model is not easy to transpose to Iran…. In some ways, everyone in Iran, and not just the rulers, has an aversion to risking the status quo. Perhaps the biggest factor is the military… The idea that they would stand aside for a peaceful transition to democracy is fanciful.” Additionally, I wrote a section on the first Libya, which began to receive significant coverage. A commentator in Britain’s The Times wrote in reference to the country's ruler of 42 years, Colonel Qaddafi, that “The mad dog won’t go without a fight” and that “the odds remain stacked in Colonel Qaddafi's favor.”
Besides the Early Alert, on Thursday the Media Hub hosted a delegation of about 15 press officials from various parts of the Bahraini government, which was particularly interesting given the state of their country right now. They were given a presentation by the director of the Media Hub on how the State Department and especially the Hub operates. Interestingly, in Bahrain it seems that people can be both journalists and members of the government simultaneously; something that of course is not the case in the US. Later that day we hosted a meeting of journalism students from the US and Europe in which they discussed Secretary Clinton's speech on internet freedom. I also briefly looked into the feasibility of the Hub hosting a training session for PAOs from US embassies in the Balkan countries.
The Early Alert on Friday focused on:
- The overall regional character of the Arab unrest. France's Le Parisien reported on the “wind of revolution blowing across Libya, Bahrain and Yemen… to which security forces are responding with bloody repression.” The German Tagesspiegel emphasized the reality that “ the US influence on the regimes is not so great” and also that “ There is no panacea that can be applied to all the countries of the region.” For instance, “In Egypt, Obama's caution seems to be successful, while in Bahrain, he was unable to prevent the crushing of protests.”
- Reaction to the crackdown on protests in Bahrain. Spain's La Razon headlined “Bahrain crushes the revolt with blood and fire,” and Britain’s The Times comments that “anger at the King and his regime has now boiled over.” Poland's Gazeta Wyborcza, however, contends that “Protests in Bahrain will continue but we will not see a repetition of the Egyptian scenario. Saudi Arabia will not allow it, given that the tiny archipelago in the Gulf is the arena of struggle for influence between the Sunni Saudi Arabia and the Shiite Iran.”
- The dilemma Bahrain presents to the West. The British Daily Telegraph notes that: “There has been no hint of support for the protesters – in striking contrast to Mr. Obama’s overt encouragement to demonstrators in Iran,” but the paper also cautions that “Those urging America to offer moral support to the pro-democracy demonstrators must ponder the consequences of destabilizing a country that is part of the West’s bulwark against Iran.” The Financial Times editorializes that “Bahrain’s western friends should not lose their nerve now” and “should push for change before the time for reform runs out.”
- Continuing protests in Libya also were a major concern in the European press. Italy's La Repubblica headlines “Gaddafi’s iron fist: Revolt spreads, 20 dead.” Most of the European press seemed doubtful as to the likelihood that Libya would see the same sort of revolution as Egypt and Tunisia. For instance, Berliner Zeitung opines that "the situation in Libya is different. Social pressure is not as great as in Egypt, and it is easier to control six million Libyans than 80 million Egyptians."
Later on Friday I helped the Media Hub director brainstorm questions to ask Alec Ross, Sectary Clinton's Senior Adviser for Innovation. Ross will be coming in a few weeks for an interview at the Hub and then a discussion with personnel from the embassies on using new social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc) to advance US foreign policy and outreach.
Friday, March 4, 2011
March 4th (AKA Unofficial)
Let me say that I am deeply saddened to be missing Unofficial for the second straight year.
As many of you know, the House and Senate passed a two week stop gap for the FY11 fiscal year that cut $4 billion dollars from the budget. Republicans and Democrats are both saying that they benefit from the two-week stop gap. The Republicans consider this a stepping stone into more cuts specifically progress towards their proposed $61 Billion cuts made through November. The Democrats say that they only allowed the Republicans to cut the programs they were going to anyways and nothing really significant was lost. Meaning, in two weeks government has to fight the same battle again.
In regards to Health Care, the issue has been put on the back burner with more exciting news including Wisconsin's and Ohio's union battles, Middle East uprising, Supreme Court Rulings on Privacy at military funerals, and maybe even Charlie Sheen. One significant change in Health Care has to do with Health IT. Right now hospitals are given incentives for switching to electronic medical records. Many hospitals have followed the procedure and reach "phase 1" but still have not received the promised money from the government. Until, payments are made for "phase 1" incentives, hospitals have declared they will not move to "phase 2".
Trade relations with Mexico have improved!! The White House has agreed to allow Mexican Truck Drivers the opportunity to come through the United States in exchange for lower trade tariffs. What effect this will have on illegal immigration is however unknown.....
Supreme Court has ruled in favor of Westboro Baptist Church reaffirming freedom of speech. Westboro Baptist Church is known for their protests of military funerals to communicate their opposition to "Don't Ask, Don't Tell". After Marine Matthew Snyder was killed in Iraq, his funeral in Maryland drew members of Westboro Baptist Church. Synder's father sued the Church for inflicting emotional distress on the family. Eight Justices (one dissenting) stated "Speech is powerful. It can stir people to action, move them to tears of both joy and sorrow, and ... inflict great pain. On the facts before us, we cannot react to that pain by punishing the speaker".- Chief Justice John Roberts, in the majority opinion. One dissenting Justice, Samuel Alito, was the only Justice to have military background and felt very strongly about the case.
The ruling is important because of the precedent it sets: Free Speech trumping Private Life. This can have implications on lobbying restrictions, political speech, and congressional activity in privacy area.
Recently, I have entered into work with intellectual property specifically Internet rights and regulations. I will attempt to explain some of the work, but at times it can be very confusing. I will not pretend to be an expert on broadband, cookies, transmissions, wave lengths, or what ever else is defined in Internet jargon. Anyways, apparently in the US the Federal Trade Commission allows 500 MHz of spectrum for Broadcasters to use. The Broadcasters only use about 120 MHz of the spectrum leaving, 380MHz that are left untouched. The FTC wants to turn the extra spectrum into wireless broadband. When government attempts to due something like this, they are met by ACLU with Public Safety Network violations, D-BLOCK restrictions, and Broadcasters wanting a percentage of this 380 MHz. Members of Congress have drafted legislation trying to comprise and is expected to be voted on next session.
That was my week.
As many of you know, the House and Senate passed a two week stop gap for the FY11 fiscal year that cut $4 billion dollars from the budget. Republicans and Democrats are both saying that they benefit from the two-week stop gap. The Republicans consider this a stepping stone into more cuts specifically progress towards their proposed $61 Billion cuts made through November. The Democrats say that they only allowed the Republicans to cut the programs they were going to anyways and nothing really significant was lost. Meaning, in two weeks government has to fight the same battle again.
In regards to Health Care, the issue has been put on the back burner with more exciting news including Wisconsin's and Ohio's union battles, Middle East uprising, Supreme Court Rulings on Privacy at military funerals, and maybe even Charlie Sheen. One significant change in Health Care has to do with Health IT. Right now hospitals are given incentives for switching to electronic medical records. Many hospitals have followed the procedure and reach "phase 1" but still have not received the promised money from the government. Until, payments are made for "phase 1" incentives, hospitals have declared they will not move to "phase 2".
Trade relations with Mexico have improved!! The White House has agreed to allow Mexican Truck Drivers the opportunity to come through the United States in exchange for lower trade tariffs. What effect this will have on illegal immigration is however unknown.....
Supreme Court has ruled in favor of Westboro Baptist Church reaffirming freedom of speech. Westboro Baptist Church is known for their protests of military funerals to communicate their opposition to "Don't Ask, Don't Tell". After Marine Matthew Snyder was killed in Iraq, his funeral in Maryland drew members of Westboro Baptist Church. Synder's father sued the Church for inflicting emotional distress on the family. Eight Justices (one dissenting) stated "Speech is powerful. It can stir people to action, move them to tears of both joy and sorrow, and ... inflict great pain. On the facts before us, we cannot react to that pain by punishing the speaker".- Chief Justice John Roberts, in the majority opinion. One dissenting Justice, Samuel Alito, was the only Justice to have military background and felt very strongly about the case.
The ruling is important because of the precedent it sets: Free Speech trumping Private Life. This can have implications on lobbying restrictions, political speech, and congressional activity in privacy area.
Recently, I have entered into work with intellectual property specifically Internet rights and regulations. I will attempt to explain some of the work, but at times it can be very confusing. I will not pretend to be an expert on broadband, cookies, transmissions, wave lengths, or what ever else is defined in Internet jargon. Anyways, apparently in the US the Federal Trade Commission allows 500 MHz of spectrum for Broadcasters to use. The Broadcasters only use about 120 MHz of the spectrum leaving, 380MHz that are left untouched. The FTC wants to turn the extra spectrum into wireless broadband. When government attempts to due something like this, they are met by ACLU with Public Safety Network violations, D-BLOCK restrictions, and Broadcasters wanting a percentage of this 380 MHz. Members of Congress have drafted legislation trying to comprise and is expected to be voted on next session.
That was my week.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Carolyn February 22-25
Last week was a short but intense week at Amnesty. It started on Tuesday with my supervisor's farewell party and lunch, which was bittersweet. The whole day he was wrapping up administrative tasks and giving me last minute instructions on the kind of things I am going to take over when he leaves. I am not necessarily intimidated by any of my new jobs, however multitasking is sometimes difficult for me. Throughout the day I respond to emails, format press releases, compile a daily report, and work on researching and developing media lists, and do designated projects as they come up. I now have several more responsibilities and the days are going to be filled!
In the news this week were continued reports of unrest in the Middle East. Different countries are dealing with varying levels of unrest and response from dictators, Colonel Gaddafi being perhaps the most brutal and provoking the higest amount of unrest. At this point, Gaddafi has pledged that he will not give up his control on Libya no matter what the protestors say. It is hard to believe that Gaddafi is taking such an unreasonable approach and will continue to contribute to the unrest within Libya. The president of Yemen, Ali Abdullah Saleh, recently announced that he will not seek reelection in 2013 as a response to protestors. Protestors were not satisfied with this concession and said they would only accept an immediate relinquishing of power. As of now there has been no negotiation on the issue, and Saleh expressed his opinion that America has been fueling the unrest in the Middle East and involving itself in matters that are not related to it. I sincerely hope that countries in the Middle East will be able to stabilize and stop the deaths of innocent civilians, which seems to be one of the most tragic byproducts of the protests.
Last week essentially was my first week in the position of Media Relations Assistant/Intern, and for the most part I think it went well. On Friday I was the only one on the media team in the office, and I did not have any major problems. It was interesting being able to make decisions while on the phone with the press, and I got everything done that I needed to do- compiling a report, a digest, doing some mailings, and writing a synposis of the events of the week. It is hard to believe I have been working here for nearly 2 months. I have learned so much about the workings of the media and the reality of a job working with the press. I'm sure as I spend more time in this new position I will continue to become more acclimated. I am going to New York City this weekend and I can't wait!!
In the news this week were continued reports of unrest in the Middle East. Different countries are dealing with varying levels of unrest and response from dictators, Colonel Gaddafi being perhaps the most brutal and provoking the higest amount of unrest. At this point, Gaddafi has pledged that he will not give up his control on Libya no matter what the protestors say. It is hard to believe that Gaddafi is taking such an unreasonable approach and will continue to contribute to the unrest within Libya. The president of Yemen, Ali Abdullah Saleh, recently announced that he will not seek reelection in 2013 as a response to protestors. Protestors were not satisfied with this concession and said they would only accept an immediate relinquishing of power. As of now there has been no negotiation on the issue, and Saleh expressed his opinion that America has been fueling the unrest in the Middle East and involving itself in matters that are not related to it. I sincerely hope that countries in the Middle East will be able to stabilize and stop the deaths of innocent civilians, which seems to be one of the most tragic byproducts of the protests.
Last week essentially was my first week in the position of Media Relations Assistant/Intern, and for the most part I think it went well. On Friday I was the only one on the media team in the office, and I did not have any major problems. It was interesting being able to make decisions while on the phone with the press, and I got everything done that I needed to do- compiling a report, a digest, doing some mailings, and writing a synposis of the events of the week. It is hard to believe I have been working here for nearly 2 months. I have learned so much about the workings of the media and the reality of a job working with the press. I'm sure as I spend more time in this new position I will continue to become more acclimated. I am going to New York City this weekend and I can't wait!!
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Patrick: Week 4 ( February 7-11)
This week, I gained a new appreciation for the process of "student outreach" as an interesting conundrum in non-profit management. I refer to "student outreach" as a conundrum here because I can see both sides of the puzzle. I remember attending Quad Day Freshman year. I was almost overwhelmed by all of the great opportunities for involvement that appealed to me. Not surprisingly, I added my name and email address to multiple organizational contact sheets. Initially, I was excited to receive the weekly mass e-mails from these groups telling me about all the exciting events and opportunities of which I could be a part. As that first semester progressed, however, these e-mails more frequently occupied my Trash Folder than my To-Do List. I wanted to be involved in so much and yet had time for so little.
Fast forward to this week as I prepared to delve into the organizational side of "student outreach." I started by identifying Registered Student Organizations (RSOs) that seemed to align with our organizational interests and mission. I then composed an e-mail introducing these groups to ACLGF and the funding opportunities we have made available to students currently and in the past. I was quickly able to discern the importance of my outreach efforts given that our organization has existed since about 2006 in one capacity or another but remains relatively unknown among students. In one way, this made my job exciting because I not only got to write to these students to offer them a chance at either event or project funding, but I also got the privilege of informing them about our new office location on Green St.
My excitement proved to be a bit unwarranted, however, given that I have only received one response to my e-mail thus far. Like I said before, I understand. I've been on the other side of the dilemma as well. However, because I feel student outreach is an area where I can really prove my worth to the organization if I am successful, I continue to hope for some additional productive responses. Now I know how the organizational "waiting game" feels. It feels even stranger given that we are still in our developing stages. In closing, to borrow from the classic movie Field of Dreams. I hope that if I continue to build it, interested students and faculty will come!
Fast forward to this week as I prepared to delve into the organizational side of "student outreach." I started by identifying Registered Student Organizations (RSOs) that seemed to align with our organizational interests and mission. I then composed an e-mail introducing these groups to ACLGF and the funding opportunities we have made available to students currently and in the past. I was quickly able to discern the importance of my outreach efforts given that our organization has existed since about 2006 in one capacity or another but remains relatively unknown among students. In one way, this made my job exciting because I not only got to write to these students to offer them a chance at either event or project funding, but I also got the privilege of informing them about our new office location on Green St.
My excitement proved to be a bit unwarranted, however, given that I have only received one response to my e-mail thus far. Like I said before, I understand. I've been on the other side of the dilemma as well. However, because I feel student outreach is an area where I can really prove my worth to the organization if I am successful, I continue to hope for some additional productive responses. Now I know how the organizational "waiting game" feels. It feels even stranger given that we are still in our developing stages. In closing, to borrow from the classic movie Field of Dreams. I hope that if I continue to build it, interested students and faculty will come!
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