Tragedies and hidden scenes in Brazil elections

Brazilian election 2010, Lula Rouseff

In the Brazilian general elections on 3rd of October, the candidate of the PT (Partido de los Trabajadores), Dilma Rousseff, with the backing of outgoing  President Lula, maintained a unswerving escort throughout the first encompassing of the campaign.

The elections in Brazil were discernible by colossal illusions and impending in the economic permanence of the country and the hope that this augments which will carry on the following the crisis in 2008/9. The expansion in Brazilian GDP this year will be more than 7%. 

Together with the growth of consumer spending in the recent period (fuelled by public subsidies and the growth of credit), there is the sensation of a better life for millions of Brazilians.

The misleading consequence flowing from the hammering of the PT as a party that was formally linked to the great effort of the functioning class was most clearly verified in this election. 

The task of building a socialist left alternative, taken on by P-SOL and other smaller forces on the left, despite weaknesses and not adequate   and mistakes, encountered full-size impediment especially the illusions which have came up into highlights  in “Lulismo” and the “left” policies he has followed which has privileged big finance capital

Media's Responsibility to Peace

Media's overflowing  the streets, creating what we call media addiction by Ahmed Tag, Picture from http://www.gurtong.net

The mass media institutions play a great role in formulating the public opinion and in directing the political and media address towards the social objectives, also these institutions participate positively in unifying the nation and realizing the next phase objectives. Roles and responsibilities of the media institutions are integrated and its roles.

Media had proved in labor and ideologies that it can reshape the perception of political policies and it reshape the belief, as in Sudan the tasks and responsibilities of the media are integrated with the requirements of peace in the country one of which is the referendum operation to be held in the south of Sudan.

Though the media with all its powers acquired from the developed technologies and communication as a result of the information revolution will contribute greatly in creating and making policies to direct the decision makers to form their own opinions and help in making the public opinion.

Because of the significant role of the media and its institutions in the Referendum era, Suna has made dialogues and interviews with the media experts and specialists to see the requirements of the media institutions to make Sudan unity an attractive and accepted issue by all the people and to create a public opinion which supports unity .

Chief of Journalists trade union Dr. Mohi Aldien Titawi explained that the great development in the mass media within the modern technological era play a major role in enhancing unity, and that our mass media institutions should enlighten the public and the great flow of information play a significant role in enriching the political , social, and economic arena through the flow of information and renewing the people's concepts which affirms the role of mass media in handling the information and drawing the characteristics of the required political address and that makes the media role during the coming period very great to unify the Sudanese nation's concepts towards the requirements of the attractive unity and the necessities of living in peace.

Dr. Titawoi explained that the task of the Arab and local mass media is to enlighten the people by their rights and how to defend them in the international institutions and to show cooperation and justice in relations between the nations and to direct the political address towards serving the national issues and to play an active role in realizing the targets and objectives specially in the field of social development , the media at different levels from journalism, broadcast, and television have a great impact in formulating and directing the public opinion. 

On his side , Dr. Abdul Rahman Alfadni , member of the National Assembly and a media expert consider the media from his point of view as a sphere which surrounds the individuals through the development process as the media is the same as the family or a group of friends affects the individuals and make him acquire certain system of conduct.

Uz Helen Olair , member of the National Assembly, said, the mass media won't succeed without any cultural knowledge which attract the public to it and allow the transference of its message in the various spheres and the media should help in cultural integration to unify the media address towards the culture of unity and peace. 

The Secretary General of the Sudanese Journalists Union , Al- Fatih Alsayed , said, the media is a reflection of the reality in the Sudanese society , pointing that the Sudanese media continued to meet the demands of the society and contributed by all its forms in creating a Sudanese Unity and in the independence of Sudan and the political transformation and democratic development and still much more is expected from the Sudanese media to enhance the issue of the Sudanese unity and settlement in the Sudan, and that explains the importance of creating media programmers to serve the unity issue and to formulate the public opinion as an important issue of the media and journalistic institutions in Sudan.(RETRIVED,28-8-2010)

 I strongly believe that the mass media can come up with positive ideologies in order to reshape the political system. In the Sudan the ruling party is following a draconian system ,in subordinating the citizen and the media (public communicator) so after the lifting of the censorship, the media started to reinvent and come up with a democratic way of political polices as building a positive belief within  the public

Media and politics in Sudan

a picture of Al-Bashir focusing on a meeting by Ahmed Tag, picture from http://upload.wikimedia.org

Last September, al-Bashir announced the lifting of press censorship, ending a system under which newspapers were screened by censors every night to purge sensitive articles before publication. But newspapers were also informed of red lines that should not be crossed, including matters of national security and articles sensitive to public morality in the conservative Muslim-majority country. During the election period, Sudanese journalists covered the country's first multiparty polls in two decades without having their articles screened by intelligence services beforehand.

The trial of four of the newspaper's journalists, accused of spying and terrorism, began on Wednesday at the North Khartoum criminal court behind closed doors and amid a heavy police presence, an Agence France-Presse journalist said.

Intelligence services visited two evening papers last month to remove several articles deemed hostile before their publication, and last week state censors in Khartoum made the rounds of several opposition and independent papers, while pro-government newspapers were left alone. "This censorship brings fear among the media so the media end up [in] self-censorship," Annur added. "We have decided not to publish the paper this week," said Fayez al-Sillik, editor-in-chief of Ajras al-Hurriya, which is considered close to the ex-rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) and was also targeted by state censors last week.

Sillik believes the new measures are here to stay. "It's a new policy... They want to control everything like at the beginning of Inqaz," the name given to the 1989 coup that brought al-Bashir to power, Sillik said.

Since the elections, "there has been a great setback on liberties and freedoms", said Yasser Arman, al-Bashir's main presidential rival in the April elections.

"There have been arrests of political leaders, medical doctors and journalists," Arman, an SPLM leader, said. On Tuesday, the United States voiced new criticism of Sudan for increased repression and a "deteriorating environment". State Department spokesperson Philip Crowley said a number of incidents in recent weeks have increased US concern, including the arrest of opposition leaders, censoring opposition newspapers and violence against their employees. Nine journalists working for south Sudan radio and television, detained for not having covered the inauguration of south Sudan leader Salva Kiir in May, were released on Monday. 



Generally speaking Sudan's Media code of ethics  is not  practically seen in the ground. It is nothing but a mere wash on the screen. The government controls the media. The state-run newspapers, TV and radio are nothing but the mouthpiece of the government. The opposition political parties' dailies and publications are allowed to run and write but within the framework of the law, which is, by all means , is undemocratic and rather draconian, in a sense that  the government newspaper writes article scathing the opposition parties and underestimate them, If it happens the other way round, the opposition party's daily might be in trouble. Editors and reporters of opposition parties' newspapers are often questioned about the articles they write in the event of criticizing the government policy or plans.

Other controversial issues regarding media coverage in the Sudan by foreign reporters and news agencies is that the government often bars them from travelling to hot spots in the country , say the troubled western region of Dar Fur. The government attitude is an evidence to lack of transparency and democracy. The press is gagged, and in fact there is no freedom of the press in the Sudan, to the very sense of the word.

There is confusion and misunderstanding by the government to the concept of what sovereignty and independence. The government of Sudan is in the belief that it can act without the world and international laws and norms predetermined by UN charter. They think acting as mavericks state means they are free and independent. Challenging the UN actions will lead to imposing sanctions against the country, and those in the helm of power will not be affected, and the victims are the poor citizens.