saidia.org

Obama Wins.

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December 2, 2008 in Africa, Web 2.0, Blogging, Politics, Create Peace, Democracy, Kenya and youtube. 0 Comments

Ok, yes we all know this by now but I wanted to take this opportunity to take down the campaign banner from my blog as I also peel off the bumper stickers and throw out the yard signs. It’s a great pleasure and source of pride to me that Obama is president-elect, no denying that, but it’s now time to move on. Part of that will be joining MoveOn, Avaaz, SaveDarfur and others to help Obama move this lumbering country to a human rights based relationship with the world.

But first, let me also share my Obama theme song, available through YouTube. This song gave me encouragement throughout the year and helped me to keep going.

I first learned about Coco Tea’s Obama song in a post on the overthinkingit.com blog, which made me nostalgic about Kenya and brought home to me the significance of Obama’s candidacy for Africa and the world:

Last week, I was sitting in a bar in the village of Ngare Ndare in northern Kenya, nursing a Krest Bitter Lemon, and listening to the radio. The radio was tuned to Metro FM, “Kenya’s House of Reggae.” Amidst the chain of nondescript contemporary reggae hits, the refrain of one song in particular caught my attention: “Barack Obama, Barack Obama, Barack Obama, woi wooooi” As soon as I got back to my computer, I learned that the song is by Jamaican reggae artist Cocoa Tea, whose substantial back catalogue is only probably familiar to reggae and dancehall enthusiasts. Despite Cocoa Tea’s relative obscurity in the US, the song is already becoming massively popular in Kenya, even though it was only released sometime last week.

The lyrics are so great, I looked them up and found them in full at Cocoa Tea - Barack Obama Reggae Song, Video, Lyrics. Reposted below for your pleasure:

Barack Obama Lyrics, Music by Cocoa Tea

Woy woy why why why woy why whyyyy lord
Be bungi yungi dengi yungi denga denga denga deng
diggadiggadiggadiggadeng

Well, this is not about class,
nor color, race, nor creed.
Make no mistake it’s the changes
whey all the people dem need
Dem a shout out…

Barack Obama, Barack Obama, Barack Obama
Woyy woyy
Dem say
Barack Obama, Barack Obama, Barack Obama
Woyy woyy

Now you can hear it in the morning (Obama!),
And you can hear it inna the evening (Obama!),
Black man and white ‘oman shouting (Obama!),
Dem inna the groove and dem is moving (Obama!).
And you can hear them saying…

Barack Obama, Barack Obama, Barack Obama
Woyy woyy
Dem say
Barack Obama, Barack Obama, Barack Obama
Woyy woyy

The momentum is hot (hot)
And no one can’t stop that (that)
Well some of dem a dress back
And some ah take back dem chat
All some of dem who was racist
jumping and dancing in the street
and a shout out…

Barack Obama, Barack Obama, Barack Obama
Woyy woyy
Dem say
Barack Obama, Barack Obama, Barack Obama
Woyy woyy

It is not Hillary Clinton (Obama!)
and it is not John McCain (Obama!)
It is not Chuck Norris (Obama!),
And I know it’s not John Wayne (Obama!),
It is not the one Rambo (Obama!),
And it is not the Terminator (Obama!),
But a new trendsetter (Obama!),
Him hottin’ up the whole America
and dem a shout out…

Barack Obama, Barack Obama, Barack Obama
Woyy woyy
Dem say
Barack Obama, Barack Obama, Barack Obama
Woyy woyy

African-American rise…
and keep your eyes on the prize (Obama!),
Cause now nuff of dem a realize,
the black man is in their eyes. (Obama!)

Well it’s no joke it’s a fact,
we’re gonna paint all the white house black (Obama!),
And nuff cyan believe a true
black house fe run the red, white and blue…
Dem a shout out…

Barack Obama, Barack Obama, Barack Obama
Woyy woyy
Dem say
Barack Obama, Barack Obama, Barack Obama
Woyy woyy

Me callin’ all liberal Indians (Obama!),
whey live up on the reservation (Obama!),
the Japanese and all the Chinee-man (Obama!),
the Indian and all the Mexicans (Obama!),
Arabs and Jews and Palestinians (Obama!),
all time fe we join up as one,
and a shout out…

Barack Obama, Barack Obama, Barack Obama
Woyy woyy
Dem say
Barack Obama, Barack Obama, Barack Obama
Woyy woyy

Cause this is not about class (Obama!),
nor color, race, nor creed (Obama!),
but it’s about the changes (Obama!),
what the Americans need (Obama!).

So, whether you come from California (Obama!),
Or you live in Nort’ Dakota (Obama!)
You could have come from Texas (Obama!),
Or you’re living inna Florida
I want ya join disya line ya (Obama!)
And let me hear you start shout,
Just shout out…

Barack Obama, Barack Obama, Barack Obama
Woyy woyy
Dem say
Barack Obama, Barack Obama, Barack Obama
Woyy woyy

Avaaz asks Americans to reenter global community for unity, harmony and change in pre-election ad

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October 30, 2008 in Civil Society, Politics, Create Peace and Democracy. 0 Comments

Dear friends across America,

As the barrage of negative ads intensifies, watch this new US election ad from Avaaz members calling for hope, tolerance and change.

Watch the Ad now

Amidst the non-stop barrage of negative and divisive advertisements that have defined this election campaign, Avaaz members from the US and across the world have produced a positive and respectful ad before Americans head to the polls next Tuesday.

The advertisement doesn’t tell people who to vote for, but its overriding global message of unity, harmony and change is unmistakable — an antidote to the divisive ads and fear-mongering that will leave a lasting effects among Americans.

Watch the ad, and if you like it, send this email to friends or put the clip on your blog. Watch it here:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/all_of_us

As we head to the election, the world’s people are watching intensely, looking forward to the day we can turn the page on eight years of damaging Bush foreign policy — from Iraq, to climate change to the ‘war on terror’.

With almost 90% of Americans believing it is important for the world to have a positive opinion of the US, this personal and respectful advertisement should resonate — sending a message that the world shares real respect for the American people, and that the desire for change is about the US government’s foreign policy.

Acknowledging our interconnected future and common ground are part of the legacy we hope a new era will herald — and why this advertisement is so timely as the nation heads to the polls. Enjoy the ad by clicking here:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/all_of_us

With so much on the line, including climate change, Iraq, human rights and the ‘war on terror’, next Tuesday’s election is an opportunity for all Americans to set things right.

The aim of the ad is not to tell Americans how to vote, or whitewash America’s foreign policy record prior to the Bush administration, but to send out an alternative message of global unity and hope in a election advertising campaign so dominated by negativity and mud-slinging.

Watch the ad, and then send to people you think will appreciate is message before next Tuesday:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/all_of_us

Don’t forget to vote!

Brett, Ricken, Graziela, Iain, Paula, Alice, Paul, Pascal, Milena, Veronique — the entire Avaaz team

PS: To learn more about previous Avaaz campaigns follow this link:
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/report_back_2/

——————————

—-

ABOUT AVAAZ
Avaaz.org is an independent, not-for-profit global campaigning organization that works to ensure that the views and values of the world’s people inform global decision-making. (Avaaz means “voice” in many languages.) Avaaz receives no money from governments or corporations, and is staffed by a global team based in Ottawa, London, Rio de Janeiro, New York, Paris, Sydney and Geneva.

Click here to learn more about our largest campaigns.

Don’t forget to check out our Facebook and Myspace and Bebo pages!

MoveOn.org brings on the Web 2.0 fun and games to encourage Tobias Eigen to vote

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October 23, 2008 in Web 2.0, Politics and Democracy. 0 Comments

I thought this was an enjoyable Web 2.0 gimmick from MoveOn.org to motivate me (and presumably thousands of others) to vote. In it, a fake news program shows talking heads explaining that Tobias Eigen is the single voter responsible for Obama’s defeat in the upcoming election.

This reminded me of an excellent spoof on The Onion about the guy who took down the Internet by doing too much stuff at the same time - but this time it was ME the spoof is targeting!

Good thing I already voted by mail in ballot!

Dear MoveOn member,

Oversleeping. Getting the car fixed. Having to pick up the second-cousin’s stepkids on the other side of town. These are just a few of the reasons millions of Americans won’t vote on November 4th.

It’s not like they hate voting. They want to do it. They know they should. And mostly, they intend to. But some of your friends won’t get around to actually voting because they haven’t been reminded vividly enough.

That’s why we developed this funny, scary video. It shows people what it might look like if we lose the election by a single vote: theirs.

Here’s a version we prepared for you. You’re in it—seriously, you. Check it out—and if you like it, send it to your friends:

Watch it: http://www.moveon.org/r?r=31274&nid=RBtIiRY7BXiD6LQJVhUW4zc0MjM5OA–&id=14592-1111187-GhNqfqx&t=3

Thanks for all you do.

–Peter, Joan, Carrie, Daniel and the rest of the team

A landslide victory for Barack Obama?

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October 21, 2008 in Bainbridge Island, Politics, Create Peace, Democracy and Seattle. 0 Comments

I would love to assume that Obama will win this election in a landslide - but I am uncertain enough of our political system to fear the worst. The MoveOn.org campaign has been pinging me daily to ask for volunteer support for Obama in Seattle and on the peninsula, and they are planning a massive get out the vote effort here. Click here to sign up - or read on for some compelling reasons to do so!

TOP 5 REASONS OBAMA SUPPORTERS SHOULDN’T REST EASY

1. The polls may be wrong. This is an unprecedented election. No one knows how racism may affect what voters tell pollsters—or what they do in the voting booth. And the polls are narrowing anyway. In the last few days, John McCain has gained ground in most national polls, as his campaign has gone even more negative.

2. Dirty tricks. Republicans are already illegally purging voters from the rolls in some states. They’re whipping up hysteria over ACORN to justify more challenges to new voters. Misleading flyers about the voting process have started appearing in black neighborhoods. And of course, many counties still use unsecure voting machines.

3. October surprise. In politics, 15 days is a long time. The next McCain smear could dominate the news for a week. There could be a crisis with Iran, or Bin Laden could release another tape, or worse.

4. Those who forget history… In 2000, Al Gore won the popular vote after trailing by seven points in the final days of the race. In 1980, Reagan was eight points down in the polls in late October and came back to win. Races can shift—fast!

5. Landslide. Even with Barack Obama in the White House, passing universal health care and a new clean-energy policy is going to be hard. Insurance, drug and oil companies will fight us every step of the way. We need the kind of landslide that will give Barack a huge mandate.

If you agree that we shouldn’t rest easy, please sign up to volunteer at your local Obama office by clicking here.

OLPC Update - new upgrade makes computers work better! XOs available on Amazon in Nov!

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October 20, 2008 in Bainbridge Island, Free/Libre Open Source Software, OLPC and Education. 0 Comments

It’s been a while since I’ve written about OLPC computers. There is some news now though - which I thought was well worth sharing. See below and click the links to read the two articles from olpcnews.com about the new XO upgrade that makes the computers actually work properly and the fine news that Amazon is going to be selling OLPC computers starting sometime in November 2008.

One reason for sharing the news is that, as our lives settle down this fall, I’d like OLPC friends on Bainbridge island to start organising ‘OLPC play dates’ - we just need to get them in the calendar and perhaps rotate through homes so we can spread the joy of hosting them. Please ping me if you’d be interested in hosting the first one.

Down the pipe, if enough people on Bainbridge have them and want to enable their children to play with them together, I’d like to explore possibilities for working with the schools to organise more formal sessions… like chess camp. We could combine upgrading, playing and learning about how these machines are used by poor children in the third world. Let me know if you have ideas or willingness to help out in this area.

Now on to the great OLPC news -

XO Laptop Software Release 8.2.0 Review: Sugar Works Now!

It is remarkably easy to install the upgrade, and well worth it. You should carry out this upgrade immediately - I’ll gladly help.. let me know if you need it.The procedure is basically this: download two files from the OLPC Wiki at http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Release_notes/8.2.0 to an empty USB key, press all four game keys on the XO and plug it in, then turn your computer on. Within 5 minutes you’ll have the upgrade completed (warning: your old setup will be completely wiped).

Poking around the OLPC wiki, I also found a number of very nice puzzles, games and interactive activities that my children have been getting alot out of since I upgraded their laptops a few days ago.

Amazon to run G1G1 starting in November

So it begins again! There is an opportunity approaching fast to expand our network of friends with these wonderful machines. Tell your friends that it will indeed be possible to get these in time for Christmas, and we can expand our circle of friends that are playing with them. The http://olpcnews.com website is a good place to monitor for news.

Also please be sure to participate in the xobi@googlegroups.com / http://groups.google.com/group/xobi mailing list so we can keep in touch and help each other with our XOs. If you know of others on the island or vicinity that you think would be interested in joining, please feel free to forward this on to them.

I, Tobias Eigen, am blogging about Africa at Kabissa.org

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August 20, 2008 in Africa, Civil Society, Kabissa, Bainbridge Island, Web 2.0, Social Networking, WordPress, Blogging, Free/Libre Open Source Software, ICT4D, Drupal, web2fordev and freecycle. 0 Comments

Visitors to saidia.org may be wondering what is happening here - not much it seems. I set up this blog some time ago as an experiment, to learn about the ins and outs of blogging and to learn about the free and open source WordPress blogging tool that makes this particular blog possible. My reasons for carrying out the experiment were personal but also related to Kabissa, the organization I started 9 years ago to enable me to be a reliable technology partner for African civil society. The Kabissa team was exploring the participatory web, also known as Web 2.0, and the blogosphere was - and remains - an important part of that, so having some of us blogging was an important part of our research. Outcomes from that along the way have been a research paper available on the Kabissa wiki, a “wikified” version of Kabissa’s Time To Get Online training manual in English, French and Arabic, and of course various articles, interviews and presentations we gave at Netsquared and Web2fordev. These are floating in the blogosphere and hopefully useful to folks seeking to explore the power of Web 2.0 in civil society no matter where in the world.

In February 2008, Kabissa watchers will have noted the launch of our new online community website at http://www.kabissa.org including blogs for staff of all 1200+ member organizations. This includes me! I am now blogging there very regularly, along with Sokari Ekine, Kabissa’s in-house blogger and community coordinator, and a range of very idealistic and courageous people working in African civil society. Check out the blog at http://www.kabissa.org/blog

Thanks to the Drupal open source content management system we are using, the site has some very powerful functionality we are exploring that is relevant and useful for African organizations. This includes a granular notification system allowing registered site users to subscribe to posts by specific bloggers or containing specific tags or a range of other combinable filtering methods. We also are able to do special mailings containing opportunities and timely announcements addressed to a subset of our membership (eg in a specific city or region, or working in a specific thematic area) and then to generate reports on the effectiveness of the mailings. Our monthly member newsletter contains a selection of our best content from the past month along with a member spotlight and “Dear Mimi” Internet advice column. One of the niftiest new tools we are playing with is a blog-by-email gizmo, allowing our members to send email to a specific email address to be posted (by them) on the blog, or to reply to notifications to add comments to blog posts.

So this is the long way for me to tell you quite simply - looking for posts by Tobias Eigen about tech in Africa? Go to http://www.kabissa.org/blog/1 to see them! While you are there, please go ahead and sign up and join the Kabissa community, and if you have something to say please start blogging yourself and participate in blog discussions with others that share your passion about African civil society and the role technology can play.

And as for saidia.org - I like having my own personal blog where I can speak out on my own recognizance without concern for the bylaws of Kabissa or any other organization, and also talk about any topic that spurs me to post.

For example, I have been mulling over a decision to leave freecycle Bainbridge Island, a really neat Yahoo group community I have been part of for three years now. This would be a big decision for me but if I take it I don’t want to do so alone - thanks to my blog I wouldn’t have to. If I do leave, then I would post my explanation on the blog to try to start a discussion in my community about it so I can understand better how best I personally and we as an island community can keep items out of the landfill that others might still be able to use.

Keeping Obama on our side: contribute to MoveOn.org

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February 20, 2008 in Politics, Create Peace and Democracy. 1 Comment

We donated to Obama today, but we also donated to MoveOn.org, which provides excellent leadership in keeping Obama on our side. By our side I mean on the side of progressives who really do want to see real change in America, as promised by Obama himself.

February 20, 2008

Dear Tobias Eigen,

Thank you so much for your contribution of $5.00 to MoveOn.org Political Action.

Your contribution will help us make a big difference in this campaign.

Your agreement to support MoveOn.org Political Action on an ongoing basis is greatly appreciated.

You have authorized MoveOn.org Political Action to make 9 more payments of $5.00, once every month from your credit card account.

…MoveOn.org Political Action is entirely funded by hundreds of thousands of our members - we don’t take big checks from corporations. The average contribution is around $50 and we don’t take any contributions larger than $5000. That is why your contribution is even more special. Thank you so much.

–Eli Pariser
Executive Director
MoveOn.org Political Action

Contributions are not tax deductible for federal income tax purposes.
PAID FOR BY MoveOn.org Political Action

Yes we can…

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February 20, 2008 in Politics, Create Peace and Democracy. 0 Comments

Emily and I made our donation to Barack Obama today. Like the Obama endorsement I made a few weeks back, making political donations is not entirely our cup of tea but this year we feel strongly that it’s important to jump on this particular poltical bandwagon - and the time to do it is now.

It is indeed exciting to have done it and to learn that we are joining nearly a million other Americans who have so far been inspired enough by Barack Obama to join up. Check out the email I got from the Obama campaign this afternoon and go make your donation if you can!

Tobias –

Make a matching donation We learned something extraordinary since I wrote to you last night.

We’ve crunched all the numbers and discovered that we are within striking distance of something historic: one million people donating to this campaign.

Think about that … nearly one million people taking ownership of this movement, five dollars or twenty-five dollars at a time.

We’re already more than 900,000 strong, including over half-a-million donating so far this year. This unprecedented foundation of support has built a campaign that has shaken the status quo and proven that ordinary people can compete in a political process too often dominated by special interests.

Unlike Senator Clinton or Senator McCain, we haven’t taken a dime from Washington lobbyists or special interest PACs. Our campaign is responsible to no one but the people.

One million donors would be a remarkable feat — something that’s never been done before in a presidential primary and something no one ever thought would be possible for us. And you still have the opportunity to be a part of it.

If you make a donation right now, one of those 900,000 donors has promised to give again in order to match your first gift. You can double the impact of your first donation — and you can even choose to exchange a note about why you are part of this movement.

Be one of the million who will own a piece of this campaign before the potentially decisive March 4th contests:

https://donate.barackobama.com/match

We started this improbable journey a little over a year ago in Springfield, Illinois.

And because you’ve joined together to make your voices heard, this journey isn’t looking as improbable anymore.

Since our victory on February 5th, we’ve won ten straight contests.

But on March 4th, we face a huge challenge in Texas and Ohio, who will vote along with Rhode Island and Vermont. We are behind in the big states and need as many people involved as possible if we’re going to win.

If we can reach our goal of one million donors by March 4th, we can send a powerful message that the Washington establishment and big-money interests cannot ignore.

As one million people with one voice, we can tell them that their days of dominating Washington are coming to an end — the old politics are crumbling and a new voice is breaking through. Our voice.

Will you make a matching donation now to make it happen?

https://donate.barackobama.com/match

I learned the power of ordinary people coming together as a community organizer on the South Side of Chicago.

I worked side-by-side with people who had been laid off from steel plants that were moved overseas. These were people who needed new jobs to rebuild their lives, and their political leaders were ignoring them.

But even though the odds were stacked against them, they discovered that by coming together with one voice, they could no longer be ignored.

When we launched this campaign, we knew we were up against similar odds. We knew we’d be running against a massive political machine with deep ties to the Washington establishment.

We knew it wouldn’t be easy.

But if we can do this, we’re not just going to win an election. We’re going to change our country.

Thank you so much,

Barack

Projects in Kenya and Uganda among winners of nGOmobile competition!

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February 13, 2008 in Africa, nptech, Uganda, SMS, MobileActive and Kenya. 0 Comments

In September last year, I blogged about the very innovative nGOmobile competition - well, it seems it was a resounding success! I received an email today from Ken announcing that the winners have been chosen and profiled yesterday at the Mobile World Congress 2008 in Barcelona. (Sokari blogged earlier about Ken’s encounter threre with a $20 screenless mobile phone!).

More info, links and photos to come soon on the nGOmobile website, but in the meantime - congratulations to the winners! According to the website, there were over 70 applications, from which the following four winners were selected by a panel of judges:

Participatory rapid response forest management system (Kenya)
This project is working with local communities to promote the protection and sustainable use of environmental resources. They plan to implement messaging services to help with reporting, field communications and to provide an early warning system to help combat poaching and illegal logging

Ask NETWAS a water, sanitation and hygiene question and get an answer (Uganda)
This NGO plans to launch an SMS-based service for rural communities allowing them to ask a range of water-based questions on topics such as sanitation, hygiene, water harvesting, and water technologies

Continue reading ‘Projects in Kenya and Uganda among winners of nGOmobile competition!’

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Tobias Eigen endorses Barack Obama

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February 8, 2008 in Create Peace and Democracy. 0 Comments

Dear friends and family,

This isn’t usually my thing, but I wanted to reach out to my friends and family to make sure you know that I think it’s important that Obama be our next president. I want to see a new name and a new face representing the United States in the world, and while I have my issues with all politicians I think Obama can provide that better than Clinton and McCain.

I hope you agree with me. If you are in the US, please take the time to join the process and go to caucuses - they are fun and meaningful, and in many cases actually count more than the primary elections (this is certainly the case in Washington state - on Saturday I will be going to the caucus). Outside the US? Call and email you friends and tell them to take this process seriously. It’s the least we can all do after seven years of horror.

Let’s not be complacent and assume a Democrat will even win in November so let’s start the fight for change now.

Cheers,

Tobias

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