PR Week in Review 09-30-07

You say you want a revolution.

The uprising in Burma-Myanmar reached a fevered pitch this week and reminded us of how important blogging can be. Citizen journalists on the ground reported on skirmishes and posted graphic pictures of death and bloodshed as photographers were cut down by gunfire and monks were killed, beaten, corralled and confined. We may choose not to react, or we may find ourselves impotent against a far off military regime, but we cannot claim ignorance. When the junta cut Internet access I really felt their pain. I am tethered to the Internet at least six hours a day and life without it seems inconceivable. When Myanmar blogs went black it was a cruel reminder that there are still places in the world that can enslave its people and prevent the rest of humanity from peering in. See the rest of the story on Strumpette.

Eye into Burma-Myanmar

The uprising in Burma-Myanamar has legs, as they say. It could well prove a turning point in the sad history of that country, or it may preclude another 1988-style mass killing.  Like many previous disasters, the best raw news and pctures, and some videos, are coming from citizen journalists and bloggers. Many Myanmar bloggers are well established sources, others are proving to be adept aggregators. One thing they have in common, they all depend on the Internet. There are many reports that the government has cut phone and Internet access. Some report that there is strife within the junta and the military is split into factions fighting itself.

Great central source for news within the country: burmamayanmargenocide.

Last dispatches:

BREAKING NEWS

28 Sep 07, 17:38 Niknayman: Still shooting at Kyauk Myaung, Thida Road. They are catching even the people who fled away by climbing up trees.

28 Sep 07 - Myo Thant: AMERICAN JOURNALIST DEAD? Several internet sources says An American news reporter (in green shirt and blue jeans) [Click to see photo.] was also shot. His dead/wounded body was taken away by the Burmese soldiers. An analyst says all traces of this tragic man could be eliminated. We’re seeking hotels and travel agencies if they knew this man.

Vice Premier of Bronx Fetes Uncle Hugo

Fordham Road, The Bronx — Today, the recently elected Vice Premier of the Peoples Republic of the Bronx declared Hugo Chavez Day on February 15, 2008, which is expected to be the coldest day of the winter season in the fledgling republic. To celebrate the tethering of Venezuela with its semi-autonomous New York borough, Venezuelan officials took out a full page ad yesterday in The New York Times (left).

“Uncle Hugo has bestowed upon our brethen the divine love of the martyrs through this benevolent gift that heats our hearts as well as our homes,” said Sub Commadante Ferdinand Pacheco from his headquarters in the shadow of Yanqui Stadium. In Tampa Bay, Bobby Abreau, otherwise known as the Venezuelan Viper, was one for four as the Yanquis crushed the Devil Rays on their way to clinching a playoff berth for the 13th consecutive season. ”Yes, Hugo will be here for the celebration. And he has promised to kiss a black baby and wear his red shirt!”

For the first time in years, residents of Spofford Hills, a housing cooperative in the South Bronx, won’t feel the winter chill inside their building. “This year, there is heat. In years past, forget about it. This building was frozen!” said Celia Martinez, a 74-year-old grandmother who lives in the housing cooperative. Martinez’s good fortune is a gift from Hugo Chavez, Venezuela’s leftist president. See story in the INDYPENDENT, a free paper for free people

Taser this: F**k Bush. News or Opinion?

Those four words in the opinion page of The Rocky Mountain Collegian have lead to a call for the editor to resign. A lot of pissed off alumni and students with no sense of minimalist topical poetry are saying that this is worse, or at least on the same scale, as inviting the nuke-crazed Iranian Hitler to Columbia.

To tase, the taser, and now, taser this: suddenly became part of the popular vernacular through the “Don’t tase me bro” ravings of a very publicly tased student at a John Kerry speaking event. This became a high point of 2007 college folklore with skits and videos, and T shirts and even reactionary movements - “Tase more bros,” by Taser Productions, was one offering.

College campuses are rising up once again - confronting authority, demanding answers, and always, always at the forefront of testing the limits of free speech. There are 185 comments on this incident so far on the Rocky Mountain Collegian.

The story published on CNNU is written by a “campus correspondent” and is delivered as CNN web content. Brilliant. On site reporting by students who are given an opportunity for a global audience with an established world-class news organization.

From CNN web site: CNNU campus correspondent Brett Okamoto is a senior at Colorado State University. CNNU is a feature that provides student perspectives on news and trends from colleges across the United States. The views expressed in this article are not necessarily those of CNN, its affiliates or the schools where the campus correspondents are based.

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Evil Departs Columbia Bruised but Intact

Above - motorcade of Iranian President Ahmadinejad speeding out of Columbia
to the westside highway, 3:05 PM, 9/24/07. Photos by Mark Rose.

The Iranian leader is a ”pettty, cruel dictator” according to Columbia University President Lee Bollinger who humiliated his guest with blistering opening remarks to the point that Ahmadinejad claimed to be the victim of cheap insults. If Ahmadinejad expected an easy PR op at Columbia he got a rude surprise with Bollinger relentlessly on the attack, dismissive, incredulous, and accusatory.

Bollinger was under intense pressure to justify the invitation to the Terror of Tehran (I do not think Ahmadinejad craves a repeat performance) and he earned his stripes as a ruthless interrogator while still upholding the core tenets of free speech in a democracy. Even Bush grudgingly approved of the visit. (Media descends on Columbia, 9/24/07, below)

Security was tight all around the campus, side streets were blocked off but the heated discussions and interviews could not be stopped. Nothing like a murderous Iranian madman to stir up the passions of a college campus and force enemies to face each other.

It is the U.N. that brings this particular terrorist thug to New York, and we should be thankful for all the terrorist thugs we have drawn to our great city over the years because of the U.N.  They force us to confront our fears, measure ourselves against our enemies, question our values.  And they offer unbeatable international life-or-death theatre that is tinged with a New York flavor. Idi Amin, Hugo Chavez, Nikita Kruschev, Yasser Arafat have all performed here on the Great White Way of Sabre Rattling Propaganda.

One day in the 80’s I was walking down Broadway, midtown, when traffic was stopped by a phalanx of police to allow a caravan of limos and security vehicles to drive down the center lane,  lights flashing.  Suddenly the whole procession stopped and out popped this bald guy with a red splotch on his head. It was Mikhail Gorbachev, flush with detente, wanting to press the flesh of theatergoers. 

In 1960 Fidel Castro, in the U.S. to give one of his classic four hour speeches at the U.N., met with Malcolm X at the Hotel Theresa in Harlem.  Castro was in Harlem because he was thrown out of his midtown hotel for rowdy behavior. “We’ll sleep in the U.N. garden or in Central Park!” Fidel threatened but then he was enticed uptown by people who embraced him. There was no accounting for the “bosomy blondes” who visited Castro at 2:00 AM and 3:30 AM, the rum runs for his entourage of 85, or the live chickens the Cubans supposedly killed in their rooms for dinner.

And these dictator/performers say the darndest things.

“The press plays a connecting role. It provides information and can serve as a channel for promoting current thinking,” he said. “The role of the press is to disseminate moral behavior … The press can be the voices of the divine prophets.” - Ahmadinejad to the National Press Club 9/24/07

Related PRBlogNews story: Holy War at Columbia

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See this and many other PR Jobs at the PRBlogNews Job Board

NY Video 2.0 Sept. Meetup Cancelled

Due to all the video events and conferences this week, the Sept. NY Video 2.0 Meetup has been cancelled. October is already packed with a great lineup of presenters and a new sponsor. More on that later. RSVP is now open.

Location is Set
By popular vote, NY Video 2.0 will be staying at the For Your Imagination Studio on 27th St.

NewTeeVee Pier Screening Tonight
Want to watch online movies, eat popcorn and drink beer with the NY Video 2.0 community? The good people at NewTeeVee are bringing their popular Pier Screenings event from San Francisco to NYC, tonight. Event details here: http://newteevee.eventbrite.com

www.nyvideo.org NY Video 2.0 — Now 1,200 Members Strong

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