Se equivocaron estos empresarios

[Source]

I wrote last week about my firm belief that the movements for social justice in Latin America have turned the tide, and that even where the Right appears to be holding strong or advancing, their gains will be short-lived. This doesn’t mean that they’ll give up. In fact, as they come to realize their power is eroding and feel threatened, they’ll fight even harder to preserve their illegitimate privilege.

Berta Cáceres, leader of COPINH, the Consejo Cívico de Organizaciones Populares e Indígenas de Honduras (Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras), has been ordered to prison for her role in mobilizations against the Agua Zarca hydroelectric project.

"Me mantengo con la frente en alto y con toda dignidad: les digo que se equivocaron estos empresarios al pensar que el pueblo Lenca frenara su lucha histórica en defensa de los bienes comunes,” Cáceres told Radio Globo.

Ham on the lam

Last month, I happened to catch a segment of Today in which Jenna Wolfe and the other hosts laughed it up over some video of policemen in China trying to capture several pigs who were trying to get away after the truck they were in overturned on a highway. They seemed to find the video and Wolfe’s “this little piggy” remarks highly entertaining. I haven’t been able to find the Today segment online, but I did find this ITN report



and another post about it that captures the same tone.

Ham went on the lam in China when a truck carrying piglets overturned on a motorway.

Hilarious cellphone footage shows traffic cops struggling to contain the stampeding hogs as they desperately made a break for freedom.

The pigs are clearly terrified. The one the video shows being pulled from under the truck is literally screaming in fear and pain. They’re being captured to eventually be killed. And the response the policemen, the reporters, and the people commenting on the story think is most appropriate is laughter.

Chinese government afraid of artist Ai Weiwei

Last week I watched the Frontline story “Who’s Afraid of Ai Weiwei?”* about the outspoken artist whose blog was taken down by the Chinese government and who bravely captured his arrest and beating on his cell phone.

[Source] © 2009 Ai Weiwei

Earlier this week, Ai was arrested again and continues to be held incommunicado, his whereabouts unknown.

On April 6, in what can be read as the first official acknowledgment of Ai's arrest, a newspaper article in the state-run Global Times announced that Ai would "pay a price" for being an activist and that "the law would not concede" to his criticisms of the government.

The artist currently has a show at the Tate Modern in London. Ai Weiwei’s Blog: Writings, Interviews, and Digital Rants, 2006-2009, a book based on his blog posts (seems hard to resist a book with “digital rants” in the title), has just come out.



*I can’t embed it, but you can watch the entire program at that link.