First Stream from Baghdad
Radio on Internet from Baghdad has begun.
International crew of media activists create new outlet for people in Iraq.
On Wednesday 14th. of July, between 11 a.m. and 1.30 p.m (CET) the first live streaming radio transmission has been realized by Streamtime from Baghdad. Continue..
July 10 2004
Try Saddam
(from Streamtime in Kurdistan)
June 28th, Suleimaniya, Kurdistan.
In the premises of Radio Azadi (meaning freedom), the TV plays BBC World. The news: The transfer of power from the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) to the new Interim Government of Iraq has already taken place, two days earlier than planned. Continue..
June 30 2004
First stream from Halabja
Today, the 30th of June between 8 and 10 pm Baghdad time (6-8 Amsterdam time, 12 - 2 pm New York time) an audio stream with a direct documentation has been produced from Halabja in the Kurdish region of Iraq. Continue..
Finding facts in Iraq
April 20 2004
welcome to Iraq
The purpose of my fact finding mission to Iraq (from March 30 until April 15th) was to map the possibilities for creating independent radio production, broadcasting and streaming over the internet. Also a workshop was planned to create a basis for concrete programing in the context of the Tigris Woods project. And thirdly this would be to see if a live broadcast in Baghdad plus audio stream on the internet FROM Baghdad would be possible. Continue..
First Stream from Baghdad
cecile | 14 July, 2004 20:38Radio on Internet from Baghdad has begun.
International crew of media activists create new outlet for people in Iraq.
On Wednesday 14th. of July, between 11 a.m. and 1.30 p.m (CET) the first live streaming radio transmission has been realized by Streamtime from Baghdad.
Radio on Internet from Baghdad has begun.
International crew of media activists create new outlet for people in Iraq.
On Wednesday 14th. of July, between 11 a.m. and 1.30 p.m (CET) the first live streaming radio transmission has been realized by Streamtime from Baghdad. Streamtime is a loose network of media activists dedicated to assist local media to get connected. Two weeks before, the first ever internet radio program came from the village of Halabja, which suffered a poison gas attack by order of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein. Streamtime will produce further programs from Baghdad on Sundays and Wednesdays, starting between 11 and 12 a.m. Central European Time.
Salam Khedher, who returned from Switzerland to start an independent and alternative radio station called Radio Nas, presented the program from a private house with internet connection in Baghdad. In the 2 hour program, interrupted for 20 minutes by a power cut, children, a businessman, a man who makes a living installing sattellite dishes were speaking to the world through a hand held microphone, connected with a computer.
Radio activist Michel, from Radio Lora in Zuerich, operated free broadcasting software from the GNU/Linux distribution called Dynebolic, to make the sound heard on the internet. Servers in Europe were used to distribute the stream. The stream was picked up by various radio stations in Europe: Naples (It), Zuerich (CH), Munich (DE), Sheffield (UK), Bern (CH) and Amsterdam (NL) and broadcast either directly, or in an edited version later on. Ironically, when in Baghdad electric power returned after the cut, the radio in Sheffield couldn't transmit the program due to ... a power cut in Sheffield.
In Arabic, English, German and Spanish, the people in the studio talked first of all about their security problems. A big explosion killing 10 people had occurred a few hours before. The significance of the 14th of July for Iraq -and France- and children's dreams of electricity, running water and a swimming pool.
Salam Khedher informed listeners about Radio Nas, which is about to start regular broadcasting soon. Michel explained the essence of the www.streamtime.org project: solidarity between free media makers around the globe.
In a chat parallel to the transmission the people involved from the various locations followed interactively the how's and why's of hick-ups, bugs, buffering problems, up-and-down connections, and of course the program itself.
The program can be listened to or downloaded from http://www.streamtime.org
Try Saddam --- Streamtime in Kurdistan
10 July, 2004 15:20Try Saddam
(from Streamtime in Kurdistan)
June 28th, Suleimaniya, Kurdistan.
In the premises of Radio Azadi (meaning freedom), the TV plays BBC World. The news:
The transfer of power from the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) to the new Interim Government of Iraq has already taken place, two days earlier than planned.
It was announced by Iraqs Minister of Foreign Affairs at the NATO summit in Istanbul.
"Let Freedom Reign" wrote Bush on a napkin to Rice. Sacred words usually come in threes.
The breaking news is duly processed and broadcast to the listeners in Suli, one of the two capitals of Iraqi Kurdistan, in a valley in the south east. Is this a tactic to prevent further insurgent action to destabilize the new government? Will they now start a campaign to round up the usual suspects? Are we supposed to celebrate this moment of "Freedom"?
Mariwan Kanie, a prominent (Kurdish) analyst, doesnt think so. He believes the transfer will not make his people any happier. Editor-in-chief Asos Hardi of independent weekly Hawlati even fears that a more sovereign Iraq may abuse their liberty to turn against the autonomy of Kurdistan, as Arabs and others have tended to do for ages in this region.
Yet I do notice some excitement among the staff in the Radio station. Some of the young women actually declare that they are happy. More free.
In the heat-stricken streets I don't see any waving of flags, singing of national anthems or even lively discussions. To the average citizen in this crowded city of one million, Baghdad is far away. Just like Damascus, Teheran and Istanbul.
Washington is closer actually. I guess they prefer to keep these metropoles of evil at a distance. Whether American, Arab, Turkish or Iranian, for Kurds any superior power is suspect. For tactical purposes, the US soldiers are still welcome in this part of Iraq, but only as some warranty against their more aggressive neighbours. Here the Americans don't show themselves on the streets like in Baghdad.
"They don't have to", explains Mariwan. They are not being attacked, and the Peshmergas and local police are perfectly capable of maintaining public order.
Two days later, June 30th. Saddam Hussein is on all TVs, again. But now he is facing his judges in Baghdad -- Iraqi judges to be precise. He is defiant, but some see fear and deference in his way of speaking, in his eyes. This is sensational! Never did they see their former dictator in this position, and only now it seems are people sure that Saddam has lost his power.
A power that was their fear, a face that was their curse, a voice that was their silence. Not only Kurds are excited, Salam Khedder, editor-in-chief of Radio Nas in Baghad is beaming with delight: "He will be executed! And I will be in Baghdad to witness it."
Saddam is the reason he lived outside of Iraq for more than 25 years. The reason also he had been fighting Peshmergas around here, when doing military service more than thirty years ago. This is the real moment of glory and relief it seems for the left-oriented Iraqis around me, Kurds and Arabs alike.
Poster at entrance of the Kurdistan Communist Party in Halabja
In the afternoon a bus with three armed Peshmergas brings a delegation of members of the Kurdistan Communist Party through the valley to Halabja, the martyr town that was the target of Ali Chemikali's poison gas attack back in March 1988.
We are going to commemorate this crime of genocidal proportions, together with the celebration of the Party's 11th Anniversary. Some three hundred comrades assemble in the village hall, while at a distance the Halabja Museum lends its internet connection to the team of Streamtime broadcast a live radio program on the story of Halabja.
Singer
Survivors who work in this Museum are eager to use this opportunity to make themselves heard worldwide. "We want Saddam and Ali to be tried right here in Halabja!" A man recounts his experience and the after effects: his eyes cannot stand the sunlight, there is no TV for him. But after speaking out, when we relax after the end of the program he surprises us with his voice, singing a song, accompanied by our clapping hands and smiles.
Streaming from Halabja
We hear of international doctors that came to do research on the survivors, promising assistance and support for healing this little Hiroshima. They never came back with the results. Why don't we google them? Research the researchers.
Forgetting is a luxury that the people in this part of the world cannot afford. Halabja feels forgotten by the world community, they are determined to remind us of their continued existence. An existence that is one of loss, poverty and disease and continued terror by Mullah Krekars Al Ansar Al islam, the branch of Al Qaeda, that has chosen this region close to the Iranian border to create a base by assassinating one member of each family within their reach. On the way back in the dark, we pass a number of check points manned by Peshmerga's. Al Ansar now has been dispersed by the united efforts of Kurdish Peshmerga fighters and some US air support.
The next day, we say goodbye to Abu Tara, the chief of the KCP in Suleimaniya. We show him pictures of us borderless reporters interviewing old Farhad at the bridge that Saddam bombed to prevent the citizens of Halabja to flee from the gas assault.
Farhad at the bridge that Saddam bombed
Abu Tara is sitting at his computer, a heavy calibre gun next to him on his desk. "I was in jail with this man", he recalls. Some 40 years ago they were pasting posters on the walls and got busted. Abu Tara is himself from Halabja, He lived for years in Sweden and campaigned at left wing conferences in Madrid and with Dutch parliamentarians in Amsterdam to support regime change, be it by American invasion or not. But his message did not seem to get across to the global anti-war movement. So what does he expect from the comrades in the West? Political support, solidarity and finally, understanding. Let them do their conferencing with Iraqis here in Iraq, in Kurdistan, in Halabja!For Abu Tara, Saddam is fascism and he must be executed. Saddam is the exception to the general rule that civilized people don't do death penalties. Asos hardi wants to question Saddam himself, as a journalist. I suggest that every Iraqi should get a chance to face the ex-dictator somehow.
Jo van der Spek, Streamtime
Amsterdam, July 2004
Suleimanyia June 2004June 30 2004
First stream from Halabja
Today, the 30th of June between 8 and 10 pm Baghdad time (6-8 Amsterdam time, 12 - 2 pm New York time) an audio stream with a direct documentation has been produced from Halabja in the Kurdish region of Iraq.Halabja was the scene of chemical genocide on the 16th of March 1988, causing 5.000 dead and 10.000 injured, and the rest of the 36.000 inhabitants fleeing from their homes.
This program has been produced by the Streamtime Foundation in collaboration with the Kurdish Communist Party.
It has probably been the first time that an audio program on the internet did come out of Iraq.
The 30th of june is the 11th anniversary of the KCP and also the original day of the transfer of power to the Iraqi interim Governemnt. Today Saddam Hussein and 9 of his close collaborators will be handed over to the Iraqi legal authorities.
The commemoration of Halabja's victims took place at 6 pm Baghdad time in the Ahmed Mukhtar Al Jaf Hall.
The attendants did visit the cemetary of the martyrs and the memorial statue of Halabja.
There have been speeches and a cultural program.
Finding facts in Iraq
Jo van der Spek
Amsterdam April 20 2004
welcome to Iraq
The purpose of my fact finding mission to Iraq (from March 30 until April 15th) was to map the possibilities for creating independent radio production, broadcasting and streaming over the internet. Also a workshop was planned to create a basis for concrete programing in the context of the Tigris Woods project. And thirdly this would be to see if a live broadcast in Baghdad plus audio stream on the internet FROM Baghdad would be possible.I arrived in Baghdad from Amman on Tuesday 30th of March, on April 1st I moved to Basrah for the first free poetry festival Merbed after Saddam, together with some 150 writers and other artists and cultural activists. This was a wonderful opportunity to meet many people, get insights into private histories and general cultural and political attitudes prevailing among this group of progressive, liberal artists. Some 15 Iraqi's had come over from exile for the occasion, among them poet Salah Hasan from Den Haag (to whom I would like to express my gratitude for introducing me to the event) and theatre director Hazim Kamaledin from Antwerpen, who welcomed me warmly in his beautiful little theatre Montada al Mesreh in old Rashid street.
During my stay the political and military situation worsened by the day, and at the end all foreigners were practically ordered to leave under pressure from kidnappings and US command. I managed to get out on the scheduled date of Thursday 15, but was forced to take a plane to Amman instead of a car to either Amman or the Turkish border (US$ 550, one way!).
On the one hand the security problems were a hindrance to the freedom of movement, on the other hand it provided me with the opportunity to realize how alive and complicated fears are today in Iraq. It has also convinced me of the importance that tactical radio has to play in crisis situations: one day Baghdad occupiers may easily divide the city into separate quarters that are isolated from each other by checkpoints and barricades. The city was planned for that by Saddams urbanists and architects under military command. When this happens, and sometimes it was close to this, small radio kits and internet (which is functioning surprisingly well already, better than GSM) can be an important tool for communication and communities' (neighbourhoods) ability to cope with the crisis. Local community radio is perfect for spreading and exchanging information on essential services and self-organizing. Where is medical assistance, where is my daughter, we need a generator now!
poetry
In Basrah, during the poetry festival Merbed, I had the opportunity to meet informally with many key personalities in the cultural and political life of Iraq. Several Iraqi exiles attended. I established a close working relation with Salam Khedher, a prominent artist living in Zuerich (CH) and planning to return to Baghdad soon. He has been producing radio programs in Arabic on radio Lora for several years. And he is the architect of a solid web site of Iraq Art: Iraqiartist.com. Me and Salam joined forces to work out the concept of the Tigris Woods project, and to design the concept of Radio Nas (the People's Voice) in Baghdad (see below).Surrounded by wonderful and emotional and festive people, one man made the biggest impression on my searching soul: Muafak Mohamed from Babylon. At first he shocked me with his thundering voice, opening the festival with a poem I call Eleiletu, or Thunder.
Back in Baghdad, a deep investigation into the situation of the biggest news paper Al Sabah (of Ismael Zayer) attests that IMN is struggling to maintain its grip on the media that are friendly to the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA, Paul Bremer), but Al Sabah is struggling to become completely independent of CPA, stepping out of financial support provisions and restarting in a new building, possibly under a new name. On he 20th of March Decree 66 on the media was declared by Paul Bremer, which shows some improvement ref. previous decree 65. The main remaining flaw, as compared to internationally accepted standards, is that all power remains in the hands of one single body (from engineering, licensing, to ethical codes and sanctions). In the current volatile situation, after the serious fighting on several fronts, the pull out of most internationals and the up-coming date for the hand over of power on the 30th of June, anything may happen. Al Sabah (Ana Zayer) has been the only medium that has presented a written comment on the above mentioned decrees. Al-Sabah is an interesting test case for the limits of US respect for freedom of the media. On the 4th of May Al-Sabah went out: out of IMN, out of their building and out of the name too: it is now called AL-SABAH AL-JEDID, new morning!
radio
Civil Pillar, the agency to support Civil Society and NGO-initiatives, led by Anneke Zayer-van Ammelrooy, is developping plans for a Media Training Center due to open in October this year. Training radio production is on the agenda, besides general training of reporters.It was a pleasure to meet Minister Mufid M. Jawad al-Jazaír. The Minstry of Culture is promoting a cultural radio station that is to be open, democratic and encompassing modern formats of programming and outreach, including community radio, decentralized studio's en community radio. Experimental broadcasts are under way, Mufid told me.
Another party owns a radio station is in the process of transferring equiment and personnel to Baghdad. They have rehabilitated a building for the purpose of studio and media centre and I was invited to have a look. We shared ideas on the concept of open broadcasting (no single party but accessible to all), a network of studio's, democratic ownership, modern formatting, mobile studios, integrating new media (like internet and wireless networking). The target audience will be the youth (and everybody who feels somehow young:). The man who starts the radio analysed that Saddam's regime made people stop thinking, and used the term "resetting" to indicate the pupose of Radio Nas: working on mentality, behaviour and knowledge of the listeners.
I did a quick scan of the building, which is located in the center of Baghdad and is well protected 24 hours a day. The building itself used to be a prison of Saddam, but the only trace left is a space of one square meter where up to 8 prisoners were kept...
Do I have to explain why it is important to start transmitting and streaming before the 30th of June? Okay: a well equipped studio where Baghdadi's can produce and spread their observations, opinions and experiences in a fear free environment is the best thing I can think of, during the time of transition of power in Iraq!
internet
Iraqi's have generated 7 million free E-mail accounts on yahoo and hotmail in 3 months (source Ana zayer). The newspaper Al-Sabah website has registered 55 million hits within one year of its establishment. This is a clear indication of the rapid introduction of the internet in Iraq, where had it been practically non-existent until 2003 (only a rudimentary academic network and a military infrastructure of course existed under Saddam). Interenet cafes are to be found in abundance in Baghdad and Basrah. Most big hotels provide internet access for customers and their invitees, without limitation other that the tarif of between 1500 and 2000 dinar per hour in Internet cafees and up to 2$ or 3.300 IDinar in Hotel Al Safeer).E-mailing and chatting are popular among younsters, web logs are many and some are of high quality (Salam Pax is not the only!), surfing for porn sites is a favourite toy for many and child porn is said to become a problem, web sites are being discovered as a platform for publishing and advertising, but most of the design is simply copy and paste style there are streets full of hard ware shops that offer practically anything needed in terms of PC, laptops, wireless, digital camera's, hubs, routers, etc. external sound card, blank MiniDisks and generally sound related stuff is hard to get by though, but everyting can be imported from Lebabon or Dubai.
I even found an artcile about a linux users group (LUG) in Baghdad, but did not yet establish contact. So far Iraq is Microsoft empire. And Sony.
GSM net is monopoly of Iraqna, Egyptian owned, and one hears many complaints about tariffs and intransparency. The network is very unstable, Apparently more providers are upcoming, but the local infrastructure will remain a problem for some time. Public transport in baghdad has been reduced to collective and private taxi's. Bus stops are merely shelters and graffitti galeries...
One amazing example of popular radio cannot be left unmentioned: young boys on (mountain)bykes, equipped with basic sound system roam around their neighbourhood to brink some funk to streetlife. Would they not be ideal street reporters?
work shopping
The meeting that was planned by Anna Zayer on Sunday 10th fell through due to the security problems in the country.One workshop was held though on Monday 12 with six participants. Furthermore I have been coaching my translator to use the recorder, first to interview people in Ssadr City (the translator and muy driver both live in the area), then to do a written questionnary on radio listening (some 50 persons interviewed), and finally reporting on a clown walking around with a bird whistle, approaching an occupied destroyed ministry complex with a criminal repute. This taught me something about training Iraqi's.
Another workshop involved demonstrating and testing the dyne:bolic GNU/linux software for streaming at radio 2 rivers in Basra dynebolic.org, developed by Jaromil (rasta software). I also handed over some 5 copies of the same software on CD to individuals working in journalism, computer training and web editing.
Evidently this was not the best time to organize big meetings and plans since people were only going out when absolutely necessary. So I did my workshops as the occasion arose: in the private houses where I stayed , in the taxi, offering the driver to send greetings to relatives abroad, handing over open software and public recording on the street, during Merbed and on the banks of the Tigris.
conclusion
The mission can be considered as more than succesful, considering the crisis that developed from the day I arrived. The workshop process had to be improvised, but appears to have gotten well under way. The Tigris Project has landed very well, through the meetings during Merbed, the publication of an article in Al Sabah and the partnership with Salam Khedher. A lot of audio and visual footage was collected to feed the production of a dedicated web site and CD Rom docuemting the poetry movement of Iraq.new developments
The situation in Iraq is still growing worse, still we hope to start broadcasting and streaming before the 30th of June. I believe it is imprtant to do what we can to support and assist our Iraqi friends, before it is too late...The production of the web site and CD Rom is under way. The process of organizing a conference on media and culture in Iraq is starting up.
First contacts between architects from Iraq and Lebbeus Woods have been made.