Dunia Duara

Update: #Zanzibar riots over unity issue. (When tear bombs are falling)

Reports of riots, tear gas, and citizens clashing with police in Stone Town in Zanzibar began circulating yesterday evening via social media (May 26 2012), and continue today.

The events in brief:

Mussa Juma, imam and one of the leaders of UAMSHO (Kiswahili for ‘revival’), an Islamic association for separation of Zanzibar from mainland Tanzania, was arrested at his mosque on Saturday.

This led to protests demanding his release.

Presumably, what triggered the violence was when police waved a flag to stop the protesters from advancing. Protesters ignored the flag, police responded.

Earlier marches and prayers yesterday and the day before, for the advance to end unity government (between mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar (Pemba and Ungula), were reportedly peaceful, i.e. there was a peaceful prayer vigil on Friday at Maisara Fields, where Mussa Juma spoke. And there were peaceful talks with all leaders of the universities and leaders of UAMSHO to have dialogue on the issue of muuangano (Kiswahili for unity).

People were hence surprised when Mussa Juma was arrested at his mosque - around or - during prayer hours (which is technically considered highly unacceptable according to Islamic understanding, which I suppose it also would have been had someone arrested a Christian priest performing a Sunday service in a church).

I can so far only find one English media update here, which seems to be replicated on other media channels. 

Besides from that, nothing so far on international main stream media, Global Voices, or the English Tanzanian media like IPP media or The Citizen, though this article from today's The Guardian does have some relevance in regard of understanding the broader context.

As usual Tanzanian media takes 2-3 days to pick up and publish, and up till now reporting is carried out by social media. Hence, the importance to underline responsibility when passing on information and commenting. I.e. it appears that photos from previous demonstrations (dating further back) are now being posted on social media.

The Zanzibar Twitter hash tag here sources updates, photos and opinions in abundance. Do approach critically. Passing on incorrect information does not promote peace or understanding of what is really going on. (In spite of the seriousness of events, I fell in immediate love with the concept of 'tear bombs' as put in this tweet: 'RT @Anditi3 Someone tell me what's going on in Zanzibar Zanzibar is full of chaos bro......tear bombs errrwherrr')

Obviously, a riot does not spark without a reason. Tear gas lead to crying tear bombs, so to speak.

Also, the root causes of what led to the demonstrations and the riots are also not standing on their own but may also be seen as part of a bigger Tanzanian context. For one, connecting to the present process of the constitution review for the United Republic of Tanzania (see link to article above), but possibly the riots may also feed into another pattern of the series of riots which have occurred on mainland Tanzania within the past year? What trigger riots may differ from Mwanza, Arusha, Arumeru to the University of Dar es Salaam, but root causes may resemble?

I do not know, but I think it is relevant to look at what is going on right now in Zanzibar within a broader context.

I have put this update together based on correspondence with Amanda Lichtenstein, who has been following the events from central Stone Town, and updates via Twitter. She emphasises that 'she hasn't left the house (yet), all tweets gathered from what she hears outside her window, and what she gathers on 1/news radio 2/news barazani 3/phone calls to friends/colleagues.

 

Keep yourself updated:

Amanda Lichtenstein: https://twitter.com/#!/@travelfarnow

Rachel Hamada: https://twitter.com/#!/rachelhamada

#zanzibar (note, tweets not only about the above mentioned topic): https://twitter.com/#!/search/zanzibar

 

@UhuruBlogTZ: WHY not say who you are, and contribute to #ChangeTanzania by setting a new trend?!

New blog up. Following a popular Tanzanian social media trend:

No information of who is behind, blogger writes 'I (well, sometimes as 'we the people'), and clearly aims at becoming a 'community effort'.

A lot of correspondence on Twitter arguing why not so.

I say: 'Why not say clearly WHO you are when you promote others to take action?

Present yourself. Be proud and open of who you are and what you represent.'

Ironic indeed, if you blog about transparency and accountability. Practice yourself what you ask of your government.

I do not buy the argument that 'people won't join if they know who are behind'.

That's is in fact the best argument for not.

Oh, please turn me on. And take me all the way to Tabora. Kigoma! Or Mpanda? Hard work, I know, yes, (if it's gonna last all the way)

The future is in the drawer. Will you open it? #TZ #Infrastructure

After the rain: Outstanding moment of citizen activism.

This photo is circulating on Facebook right now in Tanzania.

It is taken by an employee at Clouds FM, Said Mohamed, when he was passing through by Mwananyamala Hospital in Dar es Salaam today.

A person is planting a banana plant in a pot hole in the tarmac caused by the heavy rains.

Outstanding moment of citizen activism.

Love it!

Kerosene Free Constituency

Makes me think of Nuclear Free Zones in Europe.

Interesting how the debate flows in this stream, how people explain to each other what this may all be about.

Copy-pasted (roughly) from here.

KT Shop: Base of the united mix of everyday Kisutu

KT shop is a place where you go to quench your thirst, and fill your stomach.

To chat, rest your legs, meet your friends, and also the ones you don't like so much. But what can you do?!

Fastafasta.

Because you are doing businesses, and you're usually in a hurry.

Unless you are too old for this and only come there to hook up with what is now and new.

You place yourself in an empty seat. Worn out by many others before you.

Greased by the oil cooking in the kitchen next door, turning ingredients into samosa, Ghandi’s Balls and the kachori served with the coconut relish.

It’s free seating, and you wait for your turn if full. One day you sit next to a Sunni Muslim, the next an Ismaili or a Catholic.

On this day next to an mzungu who cannot hide her curious looks detecting how you manage to eat only with your right hand, leaving a clean plate.

You stare back shamelessly. Why should it even be considered a shame to have eye contact in a room so crammed with things going on? You have no time to wonder why.

Or of what stressed those many ones who sat in your seat many other days while they took a break off the noisy street life: Money, love, rain, the inflation, the particularly smoky taste of the tea, or the fact that the samosa contains something which doesn't belong in a samosa as far as most mamas wopld be concerned.

You move forward. You can’t sit here all day, and you will come back tomorrow or next week anyway.

You munch. You make chewing sounds. You sip your tea loudly. You wipe your mouth with the back of your palm. The heavy smell from your armpits and the sweat running down your spine make the required infusion to the united mix of everyday Kisutu. Which on some days in fact also does carry a dash of aftershave when someone makes a contrasting entrance in a crisp, white kanzu or a newly ironed shirt.

You look up at the walls impregnated with grease and dust turned into a stale coat on top of what once was bright green.

Your eye catches the framed, selected statements from the Holy Quran, placed next to the menu which capital letters are even readable from the entrance.

You come here to make time stand still when things are crazy.

And it’s the perfect place, nothing changed much since KT Shop was established in 1968. Several wars in surrounding countries later, and a couple of presidents, some of them you did not like so much because they made business hard. You wonder for a split second that the president's portrait will be exchanged in 2015, but with what?

Otherwise, things are still pretty much kama kawa.

Dress Code: Green. Kama Kawa.

Continuing my touring of the Tanzanian social media landscape - CCM has just launched a blog.

Check it out here.

Last week during the IST Africa 2012 conference in Dar es Salaam a Finnish ICT expert came up to me and said:

'Social media will win the next elections in Tanzania'.

I replied back that I very much doubt so, considering that you for starters need 1) electricity, 2) network, 3) physcial access to Internet (i.e. a smartphone or a computer) - and 5) decent content, 4) ethics and 6) skills in regard of creativity applied competently - though I do agree social media will play an increasingly bigger role than it did in 2010'. See example here.

All of the 1 to 3 points can be fixed. In theory and practically, so to speak. Surely not before 2015 if we think Tanzania as a nation of 45 million, but graduallygradually.

The 4 to 6 are actually the most challenging in my opinion, and will determine a lot in regard of Tanzanian social media and politics the coming years.

It's the graphic that says the most... #BoT going Internet retro

Yesterday, a blog post here generated another one here.

Both dealing with the fact that Bank of Tanzania (BoT) hasn't made information regularly accessible for a good while on their website, which has lead to serious suspicions, amongst others that the bank's international reserves are drying up.

In short.

The two blog posts lead to a debate on Twitter (partly to be found under the hashtag #BOT, which is partly mixed with other agendas unfortunately), which again lead to a reaction from CCM (from Nape Nauye, posted on Facebook), and from BoT which actually then made someone upload the Monthly Economic Reviews for January and February 2012, which however presently appears impossible to download due to size.

On Twitter Mbwana tags it the 'incident' #ClosedGovtPartnership with a hint to Tanzania's engagement in the Open Government Partnership, which may be open in theory but offering little updated data to share practically.

The social media driven debate also lead to (at least) two newspaper articles, one in The Citizen and one in The Guardian. In less than what - 24 hours?

In The Citizen (on-line) the governor of the BoT is quoted for saying: “The Monetary Policy Committee used to meet monthly, however, since January it has been meeting once in two months. The change has led to delays in publishing the reports''. He adds: 'BoT would stop issuing such documents monthly and instead they would be made available once in two months. “But the reports will contain details of the two months.”

Economy isn't my strong side, I leave that to the blog posts by Zitto Kabwe and Swahili Street. However, the communication of facts, of what is being said, but also of what isn't being said, is terrifyingly interesting.

Facts are, it is a rare thing seeing something go this fast in Bongo.

However, do note the yellow/red flashing icon on the screen dump above. That's also becoming a rare thing these days. Sort of Internet retro. Graphically it is supposed to indicate change, I believe. News.

The whole thing took me to the English version of my own National Bank of Denmark. They actually have a site saying how they communicate. The Central Bank of Ireland opens up like this, and the Central Bank of Iceland, which - if any - have had a rough time, provides publications like this (in English which is a second language in Iceland).

I suppose it isn't after all that much about the graphic style or the exact way you communicate, whether you go retro or not, it may be so much more about what isn't being said and what cannot be downloaded easily.

Turkish Delights! Thanks to @TurkishAirlines

I owe a big thanks to Turkish Airlines.

On Thursday I was travelling from Copenhagen to Dar es Salaam via Istanbul.

Now my favourite capital in Europe.

I didn't know so on Thursday, but thanks to my own hakuna matata travelling mode, I missed the plane from Istanbul to Dar es Salaam. I simply did not adjust the one hour time difference from Copenhagen to Istanbul, and didn't realise till I came to a gate which had boarded all other passengers, and closed.

What do you do?

At the transit desk quarrels could be heard from afar, seems like Istanbul is a hub for people with warmblooded temper.

I kept mine cool.

Admitted my mistake to the woman at the help desk, who returned 20 minutes later with a new boarding pass for the next day, and an excuse 'that I'd have to sort out my own hotel'.

I thanked her with all my best words.

Her helpfulness did not just save my budget and plans, it also gave me 24 hours to explore Istanbul. I saw mosques, outstanding architecture, craft work, modern design, had delicious food, and drove a lot in taxi.

The latter made me wonder if there's any truth to the myth that you can tell how a man operate in bed by how he navigates through traffic. If so, in Turkey's case there's serious reason to be compassionate with the wives of the taxi drivers who can't seem to go fast enough to reach their destination.

Opposite me.

But, hey, Istanbul - I am coming back.