If you've been in the Ukraine thread, you've probably seen the Vice News dispatches being posted. I wanted to start this thread for two reasons.
1) Discuss the relatively new web based reporting coming out compared to traditional journalism
2) Use this thread to post many of the ongoing conflicts that these alternative news sources are reporting on
Prior to the reporting done on the Ukrainian conflict, I always felt Vice reports had little substance. It was more about flash and style, and I think many of their videos still are. They have an agenda, and it is to sell sex and violence so I don't know if this form of journalism can necessarily be identified as impartial, but their reports are certainly different from the standard fare reporting.
I think most of us would agree that CNN and other cable news networks are a circus and are increasingly becoming irrelevant in the age of Twitter, live blogs and other forms of online information. The 6 O'clock news is completely irrelevant now as they are a day behind if you follow current events on Twitter.
But one thing Twitter can not do is put you into the situation. The dispatches that we have been watching from Vice really do a wonderful job of doing this. They are generally less polished and more rushed than traditional news, but they contain a sentiment of what is actually taking place on the ground that is easy for the viewer to relate to.
I've tried to compile some of the ongoing conflicts and give some background, as well as post the dispatches. I figure it may generate some discussion on topics that are important but don't get a lot of air time.
In early 2014, a series of protests, political demonstrations, and civil unrest occurred throughout Venezuela. The protests erupted largely as a result of the high levels of criminal violence, inflation, and chronic scarcity of basic goods. These are caused by the economic policies of Venezuela's government, including strict price controls, which have led to one of the highest inflation rates in the world. President Maduro instead blamed an "economic war" being waged against his government, specifically blaming capitalism and speculation. As a result, protests opposing the current government have taken place in cities around the country; clashes that have resulted from these protests have led to arrests, injuries, and deaths.
Early protests against crime began in January 2014, after actress and former Miss Venezuela Monica Spear and her husband were killed on 6 January 2014 during a roadside robbery, while their five-year-old daughter was in the car. Another act of crime occurred in February, where the attempted rape of a young student on a university campus in San Cristobal led to protests from students over crime; these protests expanded to other cities, where opposition leaders quickly became involved. Student protests coincided with the commemoration of the Battle of La Victoria on 12 February 1814, during the Venezuelan War of Independence, when the independence forces armed thousands of college and seminary students at the shortage of troops. This date is also known as National Youth Day. The protests have been called a "Venezuelan Spring", in reference to the ongoing Arab Spring.
On 3 March 2014, a meeting took place in Geneva between United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Venezuelan Foreign Minister Elias Jaua. Afterwards, the United Nations issued a statement saying that Ban had "reiterated his hope to see reduced tensions and the necessary conditions to engage in meaningful dialogue."
The Central African Republic conflict started on 10 December 2012, between the Government of the Central African Republic (CAR) and Séléka, a coalition of rebel groups, many of whom were previously involved in the Central African Republic Bush War. The rebels accused the government of president François Bozizé of failing to abide by peace agreements signed in 2007 and 2011.
Rebel forces known as Séléka (meaning "union" in the Sango language) captured many major towns in the central and eastern regions of the country in the end of 2012. Séléka comprises two major groups based in north-eastern CAR: the Union of Democratic Forces for Unity (UFDR) and the Convention of Patriots for Justice and Peace (CPJP), but also includes the lesser known Patriotic Convention for Saving the Country (CPSK). Two other groups based in northern CAR, the Democratic Front of the Central African People (FDPC) and the Chadian group Popular Front for Recovery (FPR), also announced their allegiance to the Séléka coalition.
Chad, Gabon, Cameroon, Angola, South Africa and Republic of Congo sent troops as part of the Economic Community of Central African States' FOMAC force to help the Bozizé government hold back a potential rebel advance on the capital, Bangui. However the capital was seized by the rebels on 24 March 2013 at which time François Bozizé fled the country and the rebel leader Michel Djotodia declared himself president.
On 18 April 2013 Michel Djotodia was recognised as the transitional head of government at a regional summit in N'Djamena. On 14 May CAR's PM Nicolas Tiangaye requested a UN peacekeeping force from the UN Security Council and on May 31 former President Bozizé was indicted for crimes against humanity and incitement of genocide.
The security situation remained poor during June–August 2013 with reports of over 200,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) as well as human rights abuses including the use of child soldiers, rape, torture, extrajudicial killings and forced disappearances as well as renewed fighting between Séléka and Bozizé supporters in August with French President François Hollande calling on the UN Security Council and AU to increase their efforts to stabilize the country. By August the Séléka-run government under Djotodia was said to be increasingly divided. The conflict worsened towards the end of the year with international warnings of a "genocide." The fighting was between the government of the Central African Republic's former Séléka coalition of rebel groups, who are mainly from the Muslim minority (as is President Michel Djotodia), and the mainly Christian anti-balaka coalition. In January 2014 President Djotodia resigned and was replaced by Catherine Samba-Panza, but the conflict remained ongoing.
In 2014, Amnesty International reported several massacres committed by the Christian group called Anti-balaka against Muslim civilians, forcing thousands of Muslims to flee the country. Several reports warned that what is going on is a genocide and a wide ethnic-cleansing against muslims in the Central African Republic.
A conflict (which has also been called a civil war) in South Sudan began on the evening of 15 December 2013, at the meeting of the National Liberation Council meeting at Nyakuron, when Opposition leaders Dr. Riek Machar, Pagan Amum and Rebecca Nyandeng voted to boycott the Sunday December 15, 2013 meeting of the NLC. President Salva Kiir ordered SPLM Major General Marial Ciennoung, commander of the Presidential Guard (The Tiger Battalion) to leave the meeting venue and return to the barracks to disarm the troops. After disarming all ethnicities within the guard, Marial ordered that the Dinka members be re-armed. His deputy, from the Nuer ethnicity, began to question this order and a fight ensured when surrounding officers saw the commotion. The Nuer soldiers also re-armed themselves. Fighting erupted between the Dinka elements of the Presidential Guard and the Nuer elements. This lasted from Sunday night until Monday afternoon. Civilian casualties began when the Dinka elements of the SPLM began targeting Nuer civilians in the capital city of Juba.
President Salva Kiir has called it a coup attempt and announced that it had been put down the next day, but fighting again erupted on 16 December and spread beyond the capital, Juba, to the region around Jonglei which is prone to ethnic conflict. Early estimates stated that at least 1,000 people were reported to have been killed and over 800 other people were injured in Juba but this number has now been cited to be much higher than initially thought as Human Rights Watch article cites eye witness accounts of large numbers of bodies in Juba on December 17, and their removal in trucks to an undisclosed location December 18. Eye witness accounts also cite SPLM Dinka troops assisted by guides in house to house searches to Nuer homes and killing civilians in Juba. Similar door to door searches of members of the Nuer ethnicity have been reported in the government held Capital city Upper Nile State, Malakal. A final death toll of civilian casualties in government held cities of Juba, Malakal, and Bentiu has not been released.
Kiir blamed former Vice President Riek Machar for instigating the "coup" but no evidence of a coup attempt has been found. Former Vice President Riek Machar has denied a coup attempt instead blamed Kiir for playing power politics. Bor was seized by the South Sudan Liberation Army on 19 December. On the same day, a UN compound was stormed in Akobo, Jonglei, resulting in the deaths of two Indian UNMISS peacekeepers. UN Secretary General has also issued deep concern as UN staff have received threats from the body guards of Senior government Information Minister that demanded armed access to UN Mission Camps where civilians are sheltering. Following this incident President Salva Kiir accused the UN of sheltering armed opposition forces in their UN Mission, which the UN has staunchly denied. Salva Kiir also accused the UN of an attempted take over of his leadership. February 10, 2014, UN base in Juba surrounded by armed government troops and policemen demanded the UN surrender Nuer civilians sheltering there. SPLA spokesman Phillip Aguer has not commented on the situation February 18, 2014, fighting between members of various ethnicities broke out within the UN Mission in the capital city of Upper Nile State, Malakal. Ten people have died. It is not reported who is responsible for the deaths.
The 2013 protests in Turkey started on 28 May 2013, initially to contest the urban development plan for Istanbul's Taksim Gezi Park. The protests were sparked by outrage at the violent eviction of a sit-in at the park protesting the plan. Subsequently, supporting protests and strikes took place across Turkey protesting a wide range of concerns, at the core of which were issues of freedom of the press, of expression, assembly, and the government's encroachment on Turkey's secularism. With no centralised leadership beyond the small assembly that organized the original environmental protest, the protests have been compared to the Occupy movement and the May 1968 events. Social media played a key part in the protests, not least because much of the Turkish media downplayed the protests, particularly in the early stages. 3.5 million of Turkey's 80 million people are estimated to have taken an active part in almost 5,000 demonstrations across Turkey connected with the original Gezi Park protest. 11 people were killed and more than 8,000 were injured, many critically.
The sit-in at Taksim Gezi Park was restored after police withdrew from Taksim Square on 1 June, and developed into an Occupy-like camp with thousands of protesters in tents, organising a library, medical center, food distribution, and their own media. After the Gezi Park camp was cleared by riot police on 15 June, protesters began to meet in other parks all around Turkey and organised public forums to discuss ways forward for the protests. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan dismissed the protesters as "a few looters" on 2 June. Police suppressed the protests with tear gas and water cannons. In addition to the 11 deaths and over 8,000 injuries, more than 3,000 arrests were made. Excessive use of force by police and the overall absence of government dialogue with the protesters was criticized by some foreign countries and international organisations.
The range of the protesters was described as being broad, encompassing both right- and left-wing individuals. Their complaints ranged from the original local environmental concerns to such issues as the authoritarianism of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, curbs on alcohol, a recent row about kissing in public, and the war in Syria. Protesters called themselves çapulcu (looters), reappropriating Erdoğan's insult for themselves (and coined the derivative "chapulling", given the meaning of "fighting for your rights"). According to various analysts, the protests are the most challenging events for Erdoğan's ten-year term and the most significant nationwide disquiet in decades.
NSFW!
The Following 8 Users Say Thank You to worth For This Useful Post:
Thanks for this post...does it seem like global unrest is higher lately? Or is just me watching more new media like VICE?
And in the case of Venezuela...how much US foreign policy is directed at undermining the current regime? How many Americans know what is being done in their name?
__________________
"WHAT HAVE WE EVER DONE TO DESERVE THIS??? WHAT IS WRONG WITH US????" -Oiler Fan
"It was a debacle of monumental proportions." -MacT
Global unrest isn't higher, it's just reported more because sex and violence sells ads and other crap
__________________
Thank you for everything CP. Good memories and thankful for everything that has been done to help me out. I will no longer take part on these boards. Take care, Go Flames Go.
Turkey is a mess now. After many leaked voice recordings of their Pm Erdoğan in a number of corrupt dealings, including discussions about moving his assets overseas with his family and corruption over a number of government contracts, he has now declared a war against slanderers and terrorists by shutting down twitter and Facebook. Don't corrupt leaders like this realize this will only piss the public off more and not help their situation?
I personally don't buy that traditional news outlets (CBC/BBC) are dead or irrelevant at all - i for one will never get my news from vice or twitter....but as an alternative look at a situation you have followed its interesting.
I think twitter makes it easier/quicker for proper journalists to do their job but real journalism/news reporting will never die.
Ongoing World Conflicts
