Did karaoke versions of Sinatra’s My Way provoke killings in the Philippines?
At least half a dozen have reportedly been killed after renditions of the 1967 song, forcing bars to take it off their song lists
Over the past decade, the Philippines has been stung by a series of killings all reportedly provoked by karaoke versions of Frank Sinatra’s My Way. At least half a dozen people have been murdered after singing the tune at karaoke, according to the New York Times.
Local media call them “My Way killings”, and they are occurring in some of the Philippines’ thousands of karaoke-filled bars, cafés and restaurants. Someone gets up, clears his or her throat, and chooses My Way from a list of songs. The lyrics appear on a screen, the music begins to play – and the trouble begins.
“The trouble with My Way is that everyone knows it and everyone has an opinion,” Rodolfo Gregorio, an amateur singer from General Santos, told the newspaper. Some performers get into fights with their critics. Some are rude, some jump forward in line, and some simply sing out of tune. “I used to like My Way but after all the trouble, I stopped singing it,” Gregorio said. “You can get killed.”
Manila resident Alisa Escanlar recalled an incident where her uncle, a police officer, was listening to a friend sing My Way, apparently the most remade song in history, at a local bar. When someone at another table began to laugh, Escanlar’s uncle drew his revolver. The people fled, she explained – but Escanlar and her relatives have now banned the Sinatra song from their karaoke parties.
Stories like these have helped My Way to gain a sinister, even malevolent reputation. While some say the violence is simply a matter of statistics – the song is one of the favourites in a country prone to violence – others blame its boastful style. Paul Anka wrote the English lyrics with Sinatra in mind, and they reflect Old Blue Eyes’ preeminence. A man, his song explains, must “say the things he truly feels and not the words of one who kneels”.
Unfortunately, several people have “taken the blows” of “doing it my way”. Not that My Way has pride of place. Karaoke-related violence has spanned the globe, from an attack in Seattle after a man sang Coldplay’s Yellow, to a Thai man who killed eight of his harmonising neighbours after their performance of John Denver’s Take Me Home Country Roads. Perhaps the real solution is singing lessons.
• This article was amended on 10 February 2010. The original said that a Malaysian man had killed eight of his harmonising neighbours. This has been corrected.
Hamilton happy with new McLaren
Lewis Hamilton declared himself happy after his first test in McLaren’s new car despite lagging behind Felipe Massa’s Ferrari in Valencia.
“It’s a different feeling compared to the first lap of the first test day of 2009,” said the 2008 champion.
“It’s a positive feeling. I’ve kept a close eye on the development of this car. I’ve seen it evolve and had input into it which is very exciting.
“I got out smiling. The problems I had [last year] I don’t have in this car.”
Problems with Hamilton’s 2009 McLaren left him well off the pace last season, although they were eventually resolved, allowing him to win two races.
He added: “The encouraging thing [about the new car] is the reliability. We’ve not really had many problems so that’s a huge bonus for us.”
Brazil’s Massa topped the times for the second day running at Formula 1′s first major test of 2010 at Valencia’s Ricardo Tormo circuit.
Hamilton was third fastest behind the Sauber of Japanese Kamui Kobayashi and 0.534 seconds adrift of Massa.
Headline lap times from testing are not necessarily an accurate indication of the pace of the cars, as fuel loads, tyres and track condition can have a dramatic effect on performance.
The Ferrari, though, has looked consistently quick throughout the two days of testing in Valencia so far.
Massa recorded a best time of one minute 11.722 seconds, with Kobayashi on 1:12.056 and Hamilton on 1:12.256.
Massa’s new team-mate, the double world champion Fernando Alonso, is due to take over the car for the final day’s running on Wednesday, when Hamilton will be handing the McLaren over to team-mate Jenson Button, the world champion.
This week’s test is the first time the new 2010 F1 cars have run on the track, and all the major teams bar Red Bull are in Valencia.
Red Bull – who ended last season second in both the drivers’ and constructors’ world championships to Button’s former Brawn team, who have been taken over by Mercedes – are waiting until the second test, in Jerez next week, before giving their car its debut.
606: DEBATE“So far the score seems to be 2 for ferrari, and nil for Mclaren“
RogerMellie66
Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg was fourth fastest for much of the day.
The surprise of the test so far has been the pace of the Sauber.
Spanish veteran Pedro de la Rosa was second fastest with it on Monday and his team-mate, the Japanese rookie Kamui Kobayashi, occupied the same position for much of Tuesday.
The team are back under the stewardship of founder Peter Sauber following the decision of former owner BMW to quit F1 at the end of last season.
This article is from the BBC News website.
Off target
The BBC’s Jon Manel, who was the first British broadcast journalist to report from inside the detention centre at Guantanamo Bay, assesses why President Obama failed in his promise to close the centre within 12 months.
To many, 12 months to close a prison probably seemed more than enough time.
In reality it was always going to be an ambitious target.
The Obama team was advised by one expert to set an 18-month deadline. I had personally been expecting it to take at least two years, so I was shocked that the new president thought it could happen so quickly.
Unfortunately for the Obama White House, it was not a simple case of “closing a prison”. You cannot just transfer the inmates to a similar establishment down the road. “Gitmo”, as the US military calls it, is a one-off.
The first problem was which prisoners to release.
Freeing to kill
I know US officials and campaigners for Gitmo’s closure who have wrestled with the concern that some of the detainees who are released could then go on to be involved in acts of violence which cost American lives.
Once decisions had been made about which prisoners were considered safe enough to be freed, the next problem was where to send them.
The Obama administration at least had global goodwill it could exploit, and several countries have re-housed prisoners. But that goodwill was always going to diminish if none of the prisoners were allowed to resettle in America.
“If the Obama Presidency was to have any chance of overcoming these obstacles, it had to hit the ground running, but it was some time before the real work started“
That leads to the problem of US public opinion. A Gallup poll in November 2009 found almost two-thirds of those questioned were opposed to the detention centre closing and to prisoners being brought to America.
Many politicians on Capitol Hill – including Democrats – were not going to risk electoral defeat by being accused of allowing “terrorists onto American soil”.
Public opinion
One of the issues which occupied officials in Washington for months was what to do with prisoners who could not be prosecuted due to insufficient admissible evidence, but who were considered to be too dangerous to be allowed to be freed.
Not only was there the question of the legal basis of how they would be detained but, once again, where would they be held Surely they would have to be brought to America, but Congress prevented that from happening.
Then there were the 98 prisoners from Yemen. The administration was deeply worried about sending them home due to the security situation there. Yemen was a concern long before it hit the headlines in recent weeks.
If the Obama presidency was to have any chance of overcoming these obstacles, it had to hit the ground running. But it was some time before the real work started.
President Obama finally conceded in November that the deadline would be missed, but by then everyone knew it would be.
The question now is will “Gitmo” even close this year In fact, it could possibly even be a question of whether it will close at all.
Closing Guantanamo was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on Tuesday, 12 January 2010 at 2000 GMT, and repeated 17 January at 1700 GMT. You can listen via the BBC iPlayeror download the podcast.
This article is from the BBC News website.
Journalists in danger | Robert Mahoney
With record numbers of journalists dying in war zones, reporters need training, equipment – and the protection of the law
“Never travel without a wire coathanger.” For some reason that’s the one instruction that stayed in my head after a week’s training in how to survive as a reporter in a war zone. You fold the hanger so it fits in a shirt pocket and if ever you stray into a Balkan minefield, you have what it takes to scrape away topsoil and expose landmines so that you can slide out on your stomach.
Since the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan this 1990s piece of advice seems to belong to the era of Scoop. Now not even an MRAP – mine-resistant ambush-protected vehicle – is a guarantee of protection for reporters in Afghanistan. Two western journalists embedded with US forces there have been killed in separate roadside bombings in the past month.
The deaths cap a horrendous year for the media. Seventy journalists were killed around the world in 2009, the highest toll ever recorded by the Committee to Protect Journalists in its nearly 30-year history. That fact alone must send a chill through newsrooms. It was not that long ago that foreign editors and bureau chiefs, including me, would send reporters off to war zones with little more than a press pass and their own wits for protection.
Now, no western news executive would dare dispatch a reporter or TV crew to cover conflict unless they had received “hostile environment” training and been fitted out with high-tech personal protection gear and communications. In the past decade or so, Britain has become a leader in training journalists and humanitarian workers for deployment in conflict zones. Private security companies, many employing former SAS members and Royal Marine commandos, train reporters in the UK and their home countries. The recipients of this lifesaving knowledge tend to be those working for news outlets with deep pockets. A one-week residential course such as the one I took with the coathanger sapper can cost thousands of pounds.
As we saw in Iraq, when western journalists begin to die, news media rely on local journalists. Those who are contracted as fixers (guides, interpreters, field producers etc) by foreign journalists are increasingly receiving safety training. But reporters working for small local outlets are often left to their own devices. For example, Somalia witnessed nine journalists’ deaths last year, among them many from a small band of courageous radio journalists who tried to keep news on the airwaves despite the general mayhem of a civil war and targeted threats from the al-Shabaab Islamist fighters who wanted independent FM stations silenced.
International journalist associations and NGOs also provide free or low-cost training to journalists in developing countries but demand still outstrips supply. Despite all the safety training and heightened awareness, journalists’ deaths are on the rise. Some of the reporters who were among the 57 people mown down in a jungle ambush in the southern Philippines in November had received security training. At least 29 journalists and two media workers were killed that day accompanying a convoy of supporters bound for the provincial capital of Maguindanao to file candidacy papers for a local political leader contesting the provincial governorship. The journalists deliberately travelled in a large group believing it would improve their security. They had also telephoned a senior local military commander ahead of time to request security, which was not provided.
These reporters knew they were working in a dangerous place and tried to mitigate the risk. But the danger for reporters in the Philippines is compounded by the ongoing failure of the state to protect the press by prosecuting those who kill journalists. CPJ ranks the Philippines as the worst peace-time democracy in the world because of its abysmal record of solving journalists’ murders.
When law enforcement turns a blind eye it encourages those who are the subject of investigative reporting to hire an assassin rather than a libel lawyer. It’s often cheaper and more effective. Murder is the surest form of censorship. For all the unfortunate deaths of prominent journalists in war zones, most reporters are not killed covering combat. Some 75% of journalist deaths are targeted murder.
In countries like Mexico, Russia or the Philippines not only are journalists assassinated, their killers are rarely brought to justice. Journalists are intimidated into avoiding certain stories. The public, deprived of vital information, is the loser. In the towns along the US-Mexican border, for example, many media outlets have given up trying to cover organised crime in any depth. Too many reporters have been abducted, tortured and killed, and their bodies dumped in the public square as a warning to others not to write about drug cartels.
So how do we avoid another year in which 70 journalists die? More and better security training is certainly part of the answer. Reporters are not going to stop going to Afghanistan or the Horn of Africa. That’s just what they do. If it gets too dangerous to move among the local population, foreign journalists will embed with the military. Or, as in the case of Iraq at the height of the fighting between 2004 and 2008, they will work from guarded compounds and rely on local reporters as their eyes and ears on the street. It’s essential that the media companies who engage those local journalists provide them with all the training and equipment that they would give to western employees. Body armour is no guarantee of safety and some local journalists may not want to wear it because it identifies them as working for foreigners. But they should have the choice.
It’s also vital that individual freelancers, who may not have the requisite awareness of the local security and political landscape, don’t expose local fixers to danger. Foreign reporters who are detained by militias or security forces for covering conflict are usually released and go home. Their journalist guides, interpreters and drivers sometimes don’t have that luxury.
The other key component in reducing media deaths is the battle to end the culture of impunity. It’s daunting when you look at cynicism that lies behind the assassinations of journalists in Russia or Mexico. But CPJ’s campaign against impunity has begun to notch up a few small successes. Since we took the campaign to the Philippines two years ago, we have helped win changes of venue in the trials of several suspects accused of involvement in journalists’ murders, allowing witnesses to testify without fear of intimidation. We also secured a commitment last September from Russian authorities to see investigations into all 17 journalists murders documented in a special report by CPJ, brought to a successful conclusion. We will be back in Moscow in nine months to hold them to their word.
Waking up to press slaughter | Jim Boumelha
The media ought to demand action over the killings of journalists across the world – regardless of their nationality or fame
It was predictable that the sad death of the Sunday Mirror’s defence correspondent Rupert Hamer would make headline news – he was the first British journalist to die in this Afghanistan conflict and also the first to have died on a foreign assignment since Terry Lloyd was killed in Iraq in March 2003. His editor Tina Weaver wrote a warm eulogy describing him as “fine and fearless”. What was astounding was the reaction of many journalists, who seem to have woken up for the first time to the grim toll of their colleagues dying every year in the cause of the citizens’ right to know.
For many years the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has been publishing on the first of January the list of journalists killed in the past year, but it’s rare for commentators to show the slightest interest. Last year was one of the deadliest years on record, with the IFJ listing 137 journalists and media workers killed across the world. Only a few newspapers, among them the Guardian, bothered to report it. Imagine if these were killed politicians or killed policemen. In almost every corner of the globe, journalists continue to be targeted, brutalised and killed. Some say they may have been in the wrong place at the wrong time. But journalists have a duty to be on the spot when news is in the making.
Why is the British media so uninterested in this slaughter? Is it because the killed journalists are not, in their majority, British, or famous war correspondents? More than 300 journalists perished in the killing fields of Iraq – most of them local journalists. The global media community barely noticed their names, as they have become mere statistics. Another 300 journalists have lost their lives in Russia since 1993. Apart from the murder of Anna Politkovskaya, gunned down in 2006, which made the headlines as she was internationally known for her courageous journalism, the rest of the killed journalists are not even recognised statistics. With a death toll like this, one would expect newspapers to embrace the plight of journalists and publish one of those seminal front pages with mugshots and human stories.
The most authoritative account of killed journalists has been an investigation by the International News Safety Institute (INSI), a body set up jointly by the IFJ and international media organisations, which made a thorough analysis of deaths of journalists going back 10 years in conjunction with Cardiff University. It found that between January 1996 and June 2006 1,000 journalists and support staff have died trying to report the news – an average of two a week. Contrary to common belief, most are not killed in war, and most are not foreign correspondents. Only one in four died in armed conflict and the great majority fell in peace time in their own countries, attempting to cover serious issues such as politics, crime or corruption. Two thirds of the fallen journalists were murdered – silenced because they tried to expose wrongdoings.
On Monday Audrey Gillan wrote a moving comment about the death of Rupert Hamer and her experience of being an embedded journalist. She said “… his loss has sent shudders through the journalistic community and it may indeed provoke a reassessment of what it means to embed”. Her piece may open a debate about the dangers of embedding journalists, something many unions and the IFJ have been warning against. But should not the debate be about the most shocking fact that killers of journalists almost always get away with it? The INSI’s inquiry found that in two-thirds of the cases “killers were not even identified, and probably never will be”, demonstrating that in many countries, murder has become the easiest, cheapest and most effective way to silence troublesome reporting.
Bob Ainsworth, the defence secretary, reacted to Hamer’s death by praising his bravery and professionalism. But has any journalist asked Ainsworth what his government has done to help end this culture of impunity? The UN’s security council itself unanimously passed resolution 1738 emphasising the responsibilities of governments to end impunity and prosecute those responsible. But since that resolution was adopted, it has been gathering dust in the face of total apathy from the council’s members, including the UK. According to INSI, some 347 journalists and support staff have died around the world since the UN landmark call for action.
The slaying of 31 journalists last November in Maguindanao province in the Philippines was well reported. But how many journalists made the connection between those murders and the rampant culture of impunity tolerated by the Filipino government? In all, 106 journalists have met a violent death since President Arroyo was elected in 2001. As journalists, we should all be demanding that the UK government takes what action it can to ensure that UN resolutions forcing governments to hold murderers to account are properly implemented.
No one should any more plead ignorance of the scale and ignorance of this slaughter. Is it too much to ask that British journalists should wake up and champion the cause of their colleagues who are killed in cold blood every year across the world?
Eyewitness: The Black Nazarene procession
Photographs from the Guardian’s Eyewitness series
Read the whole story on:http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/philippines
India students shunning Australia
By Nick Bryant
BBC News, Sydney
The number of Indian students wanting to study in Australia has slumped by almost 50%, according to figures from the Australian government.
The decline follows a year when attacks on Indian students in Melbourne and Sydney made headlines in India.
They also caused diplomatic relations to sour between Canberra and Delhi.
The Indian government issued a travel advisory to students going to Australia, after the Melbourne murder of graduate student Nitin Garg.
The number of Indians applying for student visas to Australia has plummeted by 46% according to the most recent figures from the immigration department.
Reputational damage
The drop-off in applicants follows a spate of attacks on Indian students in Melbourne and Sydney in the first half of last year, and a rash of unfavourable headlines about the unscrupulous practices of some colleges and migration agents.
The figures are from last July to October – and it is feared that the recent murder of Nitin Garg will raise even more concerns about student safety, and lead many more to look at universities and colleges in other countries.
Certainly, that is the view of an education agent in India, who has said this most lucrative of markets was “absolutely doomed.”
International students are worth $13bn (
Mayor denies Philippines massacre charges
Datu Andal Ampatuan Jr in court over charges he led militiamen in shooting dead group including 30 journalists and staff
The prime suspect in one the Philippines’ worst cases of political violence today pleaded not guilty to murder charges over the massacre of 57 people last November.
Datu Andal Ampatuan Jr sat quietly and looked bored as a court employee read 41 murder charges against him at a clubhouse-turned-courtroom inside Manila’s main police camp.
Prosecutors said they had witnesses who would testify that Ampatuan, a mayor in southern Maguindanao province, led more than 100 government-armed militiamen and police as they stopped a group at a security checkpoint outside Ampatuan township, forced them to a hilltop where they were shot and buried in mass graves.
Among the dead were at least 30 journalists and their staff in what is considered the world’s deadliest single attack on journalists. The carnage sparked international outrage, prompting President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to briefly impose martial law in Maguindanao to crack down on the powerful Ampatuan clan and its private army.
Ampatuan’s father, the former provincial governor, and several other close relatives have been accused of involvement in the killings but have yet to be indicted. They too have denied any role in the massacre.
The victims included the family and supporters of the Ampatuans’ election rival, Esmael Mangudadatu, who sent his wife, sisters and other women relatives to file his candidacy papers assuming they would not be harmed. Mangudadatu said Ampatuan threatened to kill him if he ran for governor in national elections in May.
Mangudadatu said he was “still grieving but happy” that the trial had begun more than a month after the killings. “Let us help each other and pray that the victims will get justice and those responsible for this heinous crime be found guilty,” he said.
Handcuffed and flanked by armed guards, Ampatuan yawned and appeared tired during the hearing, said Dante Jimenez, head of the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption, a citizens’ group. “It seems he was very insensitive to the proceedings,” Jimenez said.
Editha Tiamzon, widow of Daniel Tiamzon, a driver for the private UNTV television network, said she felt anger. “It’s my first time to see him … I want justice.”
The Ampatuans helped Arroyo win crucial votes during the 2004 elections, but critics say the group has been allowed to flourish dangerously for years in Maguindanao, a predominantly Muslim province about 560 miles south of Manila.
Arroyo’s aides have acknowledged her close alliance with the Ampatuans but said that did not authorise them to commit crimes. The Ampatuans were expelled from Arroyo’s ruling party after the killings, which have raised fears of violence in the forthcoming national elections, particularly the contest for provincial posts.
Days after the massacre, Arroyo imposed martial law in Maguindanao to disband the Ampatuans’ private army and arrest the clan’s patriarch, his brother and three sons.
Arroyo has appointed a retired judge to head an independent commission tasked to dismantle private armies controlled by dozens of political warlords across the country and reduce election violence.
Arroyo gave the commission authority to use the military, police and other agencies to disarm and disband an estimated 132 private armed groups. Troops have seized more than 1,100 assault rifles, mortars, machine guns, bazookas, armoured vehicles and more than half a million rounds of bullets from the Ampatuan clan in the government crackdown on the family’s private army since last month.
Video: Philippines’ Mayon volcano edges closer to eruption
Tens of thousands of people have been evacuated from the foothills of the most active volcano in the Philippines, as lava spews out and loud rumbling sounds are heard
Read the whole story on:http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/philippines
Philippine villagers flee their homes amid fears of major volcanic eruption
Tens of thousands of villagers have been evacuated from their homes in the Philippines amid growing fears that its most active volcano is about to erupt.
Scientists raised the alert level to four – the second highest – after a huge increase in activity today at the Mayon volcano. The army were drafted in to help the police enforce the ban on villagers entering a five-mile exclusion zone.
Scientists raised the alert level after 453 volcanic earthquakes were detected in a five-hour span today, compared with just over 200 on Saturday, said Renato Solidum, head of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology.
The five-step warning system was raised to level four, meaning a hazardous eruption “is possible within days.” Level five is when a major eruption has begun.
Troops and police will intensify patrols to enforce a ban on villagers moving within a five-mile danger zone around the 2,460-metre mountain, said Joey Salceda, the governor of Albay province, about 210 miles south-east of Manila.
“I have set a very high bar, which is zero casualty,” Salceda said. “If you step into the danger zone, you’ll immediately be escorted out.”
More than 40,000 villagers have been moved to schools and other emergency shelters, but some have still been spotted checking on their farms in the prohibited zone. Salceda said about 5,000 more villagers were being evacuated.
The cone-shaped volcano began emitting red-hot lava and puffing columns of ash last week. It belched a plume of greyish ash half a mile into the sky today, and lava has flowed about 2.8 miles down the mountainside, Salceda said.
A major eruption can trigger pyroclastic flows – superheated gas and volcanic debris that can race down the slopes at very high speed, vaporising everything in their path.
There can be more extensive ejections of ash, which can drift toward nearby townships.
In Mayon’s major eruptions in recent years, such pyroclastic flows have reached up to four miles from the crater on the volcano’s southern flank – a farming region where most residents have been evacuated, Salceda said.
The evacuations were unfortunate, so close before Christmas, but authorities would find ways to bring holiday cheer to displaced villagers in shelters, he said.
In 1991, Mount Pinatubo exploded in the northern Philippines in one of the world’s biggest volcanic eruptions of the 20th century, killing about 800 people.
Mayon last erupted in 2006, when about 30,000 people were evacuated. An eruption in 1993 killed 79 people, but the most destructive eruption came in 1814, killing more than 1,200 people and burying a town in volcanic mud.
Better to have no deal at Copenhagen than one that spells catastrophe | Naomi Klein
The only offer on the table in Copenhagen would condemn the developing world to poverty and suffering in perpetuity
On the ninth day of the Copenhagen climate summit, Africa was sacrificed. The position of the G77 negotiating bloc, including African states, had been clear: a 2C increase in average global temperatures translates into a 3–3.5C increase in Africa. That means, according to the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance, “an additional 55 million people could be at risk from hunger”, and “water stress could affect between 350 and 600 million more people”.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu puts it like this: “We are facing impending disaster on a monstrous scale … A global goal of about 2C is to condemn Africa to incineration and no modern development.”
And yet that is precisely what Ethiopia’s prime minister, Meles Zenawi, proposed to do when he stopped off in Paris on his way to Copenhagen: standing with President Nicolas Sarkozy,
Tiger Woods’s cold embrace | David Zirin
The least attractive part of Tiger Woods – including his recent misdeeds – is his lack of conscience in peddling his brand
Tiger Woods’ self-imposed exile from golf is the most stunning – and stunningly rapid – fall from grace in the history of sport. Not since Shoeless Joe Jackson was banned from baseball after being dubiously blamed for helping throw the 1919 World Series have we seen such a supersonic transition from heroism to heel. And not since Michael Jordan retired from basketball in 1993, following the murder of his father, has a world-class athlete voluntarily taken himself out of his sport in his prime. Woods’ exile may last three months or it may last three years. But one thing is certain: unlike the 24-hour, wall-to-wall sleaze that’s dominated the airwaves since the initial revelations of Woods’ infidelity, this is actual news. After 14 years of being protected by the press, the Tiger has become carrion. And now, the greatest golfer in history is walking away.
The jury is out on whether Tiger’s retreat makes him more sympathetic. But years from now when we look back at this saga, I hope we remember that Woods didn’t choose to leave golf until his sponsors left him. Woods announced his departure on 11 December. He hadn’t been on a primetime commercial since 29 November, three days after the accident, according to the Nielson Company.
The “global consulting company” Accenture dropped him from the homepage of its website. AT&T told him not to call. Gillette said that they could find others to shave for the camera. Every part of Tiger Woods Incorporated sized up his moment of desperate need and, instead of offering solidarity and support, ran for cover.
Only a couple of companies decided to stand by Woods. “Tiger has been part of Nike for more than a decade,” the company said in a statement. “He is the best golfer in the world and one of the greatest athletes of his era. We look forward to his return to golf. He and his family have Nike’s full support.” This is hardly surprising. Tiger has made Nike untold treasure – while resisting pressure to say word one about the labour practices that define the company’s profit margins.
And Mohammad Juma Bu Amin, the chief executive officer of Golf in Dubai said in a direct statement to Tiger: “We are with you in this difficult time and respect your request for family privacy. As and when you decide to return to the circuit, you can always count on us…. We will be more than delighted to welcome you to Dubai. Consider Dubai your second home.”
So here is Tiger Woods in 2010: no tour, a busted marriage, and alone with nothing but his sweatshops to keep him warm.
This is what we call chickens roosting. The least attractive part of Woods’ persona – including all his recent peccadilloes – is his complete absence of conscience when it comes to peddling his billion-dollar brand. Tiger’s partnership with Chevron and the financial bandits in Dubai deserves far more scrutiny from the sports press than it’s received (none).
Then there was the Philippines. As detailed in the documentary The Golf War, the Filipino government, in conjunction with the military and developers, attempted in the late nineties to remove thousands of peasants from their land, known as Hacienda Looc, to build a golf course. They resisted and three of the movement’s leaders ended up dead. Where was Woods? He was brought in by the government to play in an exhibition match and sell golf (not explicitly the course, wink, wink), all for an undisclosed fee. The government called it “The Day of the Tiger” and followed his – assumedly G-rated – actions for 24 hours. The Golf War filmmakers show clips of Woods saying to kids: “I want all of you to learn and grow from this experience. Invariably you’re gonna learn life, gonna learn about life because golf is a microcosm of life.” Meanwhile the developers of the course were thrilled at the PR boost his appearance gave their project. Macky Maceda, a vice-president for Fil-Estate Land, the golf course developer in Hacienda Looc, commented: “Oh, I think it’s going to be a great picker upper for the entire country in general. Everybody’s feeling kind of down with this economic crisis. And Tiger is just, I know it, he’s going to give everybody a good feeling.”
Romy Capulong, legal counsel for the Hacienda Looc farmers, had a different take: “Tiger Woods should be barred from entering this country, I think. If I can do something about it – I’ll certainly do that – to bar him from entering this country and propagating golf.”
Tiger, with his global ethnic appeal, has been the sport’s willing avatar, traveling the global south seeking new acres to conquer. The sports media has for years closed ranks around Tiger, defending his right “to not be political.”
But he has been political. It’s the politics of using golf as a weapon to reap untold riches and all the other attendant privileges of fame. It’s the politics of selling yourself as a trailblazing icon, while rolling your eyes at the struggles that made your ascendance possible. It’s the politics of placing your brand above any and all other concerns. It’s the politics of turning a blind eye to your corporate partners’ actions, when there is a buck to be made. This is the real teachable moment of this whole circus: If you front for the worst of the worst, don’t expect anyone to have your back.
Copyright 2009 The Nation – distributed by Agence Global
Thousands abandon homes as Philippine volcano threatens to erupt
Government begins evacuation of towns and villages near Legazpi as Mount Mayon shows increased activity
Tens of thousands of people were today being moved from towns and villages around a volcano in the Philippines, after it began spewing lava and ash.
Mount Mayon, in Albay province, is one of the most active volcanos in the Philippines. It began releasing lava earlier this week, with volcanologists warning there could be an eruption in the next few days.
Authorities said evacuees were likely to spend Christmas in an evacuation centre, as the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology raised the alert level around Mayon, located around 210 miles south east of Manila, the Philippine capital.
Renato Solidum, the head of the institute, said magma had been rising at the 2,460-metre high volcano for the past two weeks and the situation could worsen over coming days.
“Now lava is trickling down, but if the ascent of magma is sustained there will be lava flows,” he said, adding that lava had flowed half a mile down from the crater. “There is also the possibility of an explosion.”
The institute said it has raised the alert to level three. Level four means an eruption is imminent, while level five means an eruption is occurring.
Nearly 50,000 people live within five miles of the mountain. The Albay provincial governor, Joey Salceda, who cancelled a trip to the Copenhagen climate summit to oversee emergency arrangements, said nearly 20,000 of those had been evacuated to safety by nightfall on Tuesday.
“Whatever the volcano does, our target is zero casualty,” he said, adding that he had placed central Albay under a “state of imminent disaster,” making it easier for him to draw emergency funds.
Authorities in Albay said evacuees would be would be temporarily housed in school buildings and public gymnasiums, but warned provisions could run short.
“We are in the process of evacuating nearly 10,000 families around the 6-8 km danger zone around the volcano,” Cedric Daep, head of the public safety office said, adding: “We have enough food for all these people for only a month.”
Daep said humanitarian and non-government groups have pledged to send food, water, medicines and blankets.
Mayon is considered to be one of the world’s most perfectly formed volcanos because of its near symmetrical cone. There were 30,000 people moved from areas around the volcano in 2006, when it last erupted.
About 20 vehicles were being used to transport residents to schools and other temporary housing, according to an Albay emergency management official, Jukes Nunez.
“It’s 10 days before Christmas,” he said. “Most likely people will be in evacuation centres, and if Mayon’s activity won’t ease down we will not allow them to return to their homes. It’s difficult and sad, especially for children.”
Mayon’s most violent recorded eruption was in 1814, killing more than 1,200 people and burying a town in mud. The Philippines lies along the Pacific “Ring of Fire” – an area prone to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.
Mayon volcano threatens Legazpi residents in Philippines
The Philippines ordered the evacuation of 9,000 families after one of its most active volcanoes showed increased activity
Read the whole story on:http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/philippines
From the archive: Grenades blast US compound
Originally published on 15 December 1989
MANILA
Unidentified men fired rifle grenades at a US embassy compound yesterday, triggering fears that military mutineers are targeting Americans in their efforts to destabilise the government of President Corazon Aquino.
Though no one was hurt and the damage was minimal, the attack heightens the tension in the city that is still reeling from a week-long military rebellion that came very close
Islamist militants escape in Philippines jailbreak
Armed men destroy wall and cut through padlocks to free at least 31 prisoners in Isabela city
Scores of suspected Islamist militants stormed a jail and freed at least 31 prisoners in the volatile southern Philippines today.
Seventy heavily armed men cut through padlocks with boltcutters after destroying a concrete wall at the provincial jail in Isabela city. One attacker and a jail guard died in the raid.
The escaped prisoners included five militants from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, a large rebel group engaged in peace talks with the government, and 12 from the smaller, more violent Abu Sayyaf group, which has been linked to al-Qaida, a military official said.
“All these are high-risk prisoners,” said Al Rasheed Sakalahul, vice-governor of Basilan island. He said troops, backed by air force helicopters, were closing in on some of the escapees. Military checkpoints were set up in Isabela, the provincial capital, and nearby townships.
The rundown prison has a history of jailbreaks. Three Abu Sayyaf militants escaped in December last year after overpowering their guards. At least 16 people, including four Abu Sayyaf members, escaped in 2007.
In the biggest jailbreak, 53 of the prison’s more than 130 inmates overpowered their guards using a smuggled pistol and fled in 2004. Nineteen Abu Sayyaf members were among those who escaped, police said.
Philippines president lifts martial law
State of emergency remains in restive southern province
The president of the Philippines is lifting martial law in a southern province where 57 people were massacred in the country’s worst political violence.
The move comes eight days after President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo signed the controversial proclamation covering Maguindanao province – the first time civil rights have been suspended in the country since the rule of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos almost 30 years ago.
Executive secretary Eduardo Ermita, Arroyo’s aide, said the edict, which allowed police and soldiers to arrest suspects without court warrants, will be lifted at 9pm (1300 GMT) today.
Arroyo imposed martial law to enable security forces to move against the Ampatuan clan blamed for the killings on 23 November of 57 people in a convoy, including 30 journalists, with guns and machetes.
The Ampatuans have ruled Maguindanao for years and are allies of Arroyo, but the ruling party expelled them days after the massacre.
Ermita said a state of emergency declared a day after the massacre, which allows security forces to set up road checkpoints and seize firearms from civilians, will remain in force in Maguindanao and nearby Sultan Kudarat province.
The lifting of martial law followed “accomplishments” by the police, military and the justice department in crippling the Ampatuan clan, he said.
He said 24 people, including clan patriarch Andal Ampatuan Sr, have been charged with rebellion and 638 others have been referred to the justice department for investigation. Three others, including Ampatuan’s son, Andal Jr, have been charged with multiple counts of murder.
The military said hundreds of firearms, including mortars and machine guns, and hundreds of thousands of rounds of ammunition have been seized in and near properties owned by the Ampatuans.
Meanwhile, in southern Agusan del Sur province, 47 hostages remained in the hands of gunmen who abducted them on Thursday.
The 15 gunmen, former government-armed militiamen who police say have turned to banditry, are wanted on murder charges.
Vice governor Santiago Cane, a member of a crisis management committee, said he met with a leader from the same Manobo tribe as the gunmen to help persuade them to free their captives. Chieftain Datu Bagtikan “seems very receptive” to the government’s appeal for help, Cane said.
Provincial police operations chief senior superintendent Nestor Fajura said they were preparing a rescue plan while negotiations were underway.
Cane said he had spoken with the gunmen’s leader, Joebert Perez, today, warning them of the “possible consequences of using force”.
Perez has told reporters that the murder charges against the gunmen were fabricated and originate from a bloody feud with the rival Tubay family that has left about 10 dead since last year.
The crisis committee expects a “peaceful resolution” of the standoff after the head of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples, which handles issues concerning minority tribes in the Philippines, said a law covering indigenous communities could be invoked to suspend the criminal cases and warrants against the Perez group, said committee spokesman Alfredo Plaza.
The Tubay group, also wanted on murder charges, is expected to surrender to provincial authorities to pave the way for Perez and his men to turn themselves in and release the hostages, Plaza said.
Philippine police clash with Ampatuan clan supporters
Dozens of gunmen fire at police patrolling Data Unsay, close to the scene of the massacre of 57 people in November
Gunmen loyal to a powerful clan accused in the Philippines’ worst political massacre have fired at police in the first reported violence since martial law was imposed in the southern region.
No casualties were reported and government negotiators were trying to persuade about 2,400 gunmen to surrender peacefully to avoid bloodshed, the interior secretary, Ronaldo Puno, told reporters in the capital, Manila.
About 20 to 30 armed followers of the Ampatuan clan, suspected of the massacre in November of 57 people, opened fire on police commandos yesterday while they were patrolling Datu Unsay township, near the site of the massacre, said the national police chief, Jesus Verzosa.
The attackers withdrew after two armoured troop carriers were sent to repel them, Verzosa said.
He said the assailants were among more than 2,400 gunmen who had massed in 16 of Maguindanao’s 36 townships to defend the Ampatuan clan, which has ruled the province unopposed for years.
Government negotiators were trying to convince the gunmen to surrender to avoid civilian bloodshed, Verzosa said. “If they don’t, we’ll have to look for them,” he told reporters.
Troops have raided the Ampatuans’ mansions, farms, warehouses and offices and discovered a huge arsenal of weapons, including machineguns, grenade launchers and nearly half a million rounds of ammunition.
An anti-money laundering agency was assessing whether the Ampatuans, who have built sprawling mansions in a region notorious for appalling poverty, have acquired wealth illegally so those assets can be frozen, according to the justice secretary, Agnes Devanadera.
On 23 November a convoy led by a rival politician was stopped by about 100 gunmen allegedly led by Andal Ampatuan Jr, the mayor of Datu Unsay. The 57 people in the convoy, including 30 journalists, were killed with guns and machetes.
Ampatuan, who is being detained in Manila, has been charged with multiple counts of murder, along with other clan members. Prosecutors also plan to file rebellion charges against the clan’s patriarch and more than 20 other people tomorrow, Devanadera said.
The Ampatuan clan has ruled the region for years and has a large private army. They have been regarded by many as untouchable warlords because of their political alliance with President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. The clan helped Arroyo win crucial votes from Maguindanao during 2004 election.
Amid an international outcry over the carnage and reported massing of Ampatuan’s supporters, Arroyo imposed martial law in Maguindanao, the first use of military rule in the Philippines since the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos declared it nationwide more than 30 years ago.
Philippines province under martial law after massacre
Ampatuan clan members arrested after slaying of 57 people
The president of the Philippines has declared martial law in a restive southern province, the first time civil rights have been suspended in the country since the rule of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos almost 30 years ago.
The order came as security forces detained the patriarch of a powerful political clan and three of his sons, who are accused of massacring 57 people – largely political rivals and journalists – and plotting a rebellion.
As critics of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo accused her of overreacting, government forces uncovered tens of thousands of rounds of ammunition and an armoured vehicle stockpiled by the Ampatuan clan.
The head of the clan, Andal Ampatuan Sr, a former governor, and at least six family members who have ruled Maguindanao province unopposed for years, are the main suspects in the 23 November attack on the convoy of a rival for governorship of the province. The family denies involvement.
In the past the Ampatuans were allied with Arroyo, who received crucial votes from the region during the elections in 2004.
Martial law will allow troops to make arrests without court warrants and to restore order, Arroyo’s executive secretary, Eduardo Ermita, said on national television yesterday. The last Philippine leader to impose martial law was Marcos, whose declaration in 1972 paved the way for his dictatorship, which lasted until 1986.
Under the constitution, Arroyo can enforce martial law for up to 60 days, unless the order is revoked or extended by congress.
Military reports revealed that heavily armed supporters of the Ampatuan family had “plans to undertake hostile action” if clan members were arrested.
The military chief of staff, Lieutenant-General Victor Ibrado, said: “We felt this was a very imminent threat, so we recommended this proclamation. By their sheer number, they are a threat to the peace and order of the province.”
Justice secretary Agnes Devanadera said those arrested would be charged with rebellion, which carries a penalty of up to 40 years in prison.
For several days security forces have surrounded the Ampatuan compound in the provincial capital Shariff Aguak. Yesterday soldiers seized weapons and ammunition near one of the homes.
Critic of west dropped before crucial Copenhagen climate summit talks
The US and Europe have been accused of employing underhand diplomatic tactics ahead of the Copenhagen climate change summit after one of their strongest developing country critics was dismissed from a national delegation.
The Philippine government gave no official reason for dropping Bernarditas Muller, a key negotiator on behalf of the 130 G77 developing countries. But non-governmental groups said it was clearly linked to her long-standing opposition to US and European attempts to abandon the Kyoto protocol, the legal agreement that commits rich countries to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
Muller, one of the world’s most experienced climate negotiators, helped draft the Kyoto treaty in the 1990s, but western countries have regularly criticised her unyielding defence of developing countries’ environmental interests. Earlier this year a senior British diplomat accused her of “single-handedly holding up” development in the Philippines and blocking progress in the climate talks.
Since then, the future of the Kyoto treaty has become a major issue at the Copenhagen talks, with developing countries determined to keep it but the US and Europe equally intent on replacing it with a weaker political agreement which they pledge would become legal later.
NGOs linked Muller’s dismissal to Hillary Clinton’s recent visit to the Philippine capital, Manila. Following the US secretary of state’s visit, the Philippine president, Gloria Arroyo, took a noticeably more pro-American line on emission cuts.
In a joint statement, 20 environmental and development groups in Manila, including Oxfam, accused Arroyo of bending to pressure from America.
“The exclusion of Bernarditas Muller, a long-time diplomat, is a cowardly acquiescence to the US, EU, Japan, Canada and Australian pressures to eliminate vocal defenders of developing countries’ interests from the negotiations,” the statement said.
“The developed countries, led by the US, are maliciously neutralising Ms Muller and other outspoken critics from developing countries.”
The statement added: “So-called ‘climate ambassadors’ have been making the rounds in developing countries, pitching promises of financial support for climate change adaptation programmes.”
There is a long history of rich countries exerting strong pressure on developing countries in advance of major negotiations. Last month several negotiators were “recalled” from the climate talks in Barcelona after African countries staged a walkout.
Rich countries regularly use promises of money or influence to buy off countries who are perceived to stand in the way of their interests.