Out from behind the screen.. and back again.

After a week on the road and offline, I'm immersed in the media: newspaper, NPR, mailing lists, streaming audio reports, web discussions, and phone calls. It's all related to the war in the Balkans and to events in Paraguay, not to the Dow hitting 10,000.

The Peoples Communication Charter - www.waag.org/pcc . Includes articles on Respect, Freedom, Access, Independence, Literacy, Protection of journalists, Right of reply and redress, Cultural identity, Diversity of languages, Participation in policy making, Children's rights, Cyberspace access, Privacy, Harm, Justice, Consumption, and Implementation.

Media Institute of Southern Africa - Community Voices Conference & Annual Congress Resolutions, includes positions on: Definition of Community Media, Call for the Establishment of Community Media Centers, Promotion of Community Media, Sustainability and Funding of Community Media, Media Development Fund (MDF), the Development of New Communications Technologies and Community Media, Commercial Media's Role in Promoting/Supporting Community Media, Building The Capacity of Community Media Operations, and Independent/Community Audio Visual sector development. For more information, contact John Barker, Coordinator (Broadcasting), MISA, Private Bag 13386, Windhoek, Namibia, johnb@ingrid.misa.org.na

March 23 was to be the day for the opening of a fourth center, but Mayor Burt had to go out of the country on a trip and so they moved it up a few days. Luckily, the ceremony was a big success because on the 23 of March the Vice President of Paraguay was assassinated. Peaceful protests followed where a huge crowd of young people gathered in front of government buildings. Police attacked the students, and then a group of snipers on the buildings above opened fire on the crowd. The police stood by! The Mayor, however, had anticipated a military attack on the student protest and he had all the big garbage trucks come out and block the streets. Tanks approached but could not get around the trucks or municipal bulldozers. Then the people began throwing things at the tanks: stones and even radios! and the armor returned to the barracks. The snipers were on the roof of the ISP that provides service to the telecenters (Amic@s), and they totally messed up the antenna arrays that got a high speed wireless feed. So my friend and his centers were off the air until the crisis passed. Now he is worried that he won't be able to open the other centers.

Using the Asset-based community development techniques he had groups of local people to participate for the first time in a planning committee for these centers which are on hold. His goal is to keep the groups together until the technology can be deployed again after things settle down. That may be starting to happen. There's a new president today, and the old one resigned and got asylum in Brazil. His ally, a former general named Oviedo, fled to Argentia and was also given asylum. There is a lot of corruption in Paraguay, and some thought Oviedo had illegal financial dealings with top Argentine officials.

My friend was supposed to present his project at the Internet Society conference in June, but he probably won't be able to attend. I will take his place if he is unable to leave Paraguay. It won't be the same.

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