Ethan Zuckerman, has been on holiday to Zimbabwe and has a series of really insightful posts.

My Holiday in Harare :

"I spent less than three days in Zimbabwe, never left Harare and spent almost all my time in the company of different flavors of civil society activists. So I got a very brief and one-sided picture of the country. Still, I learned a lot - most centrally, I learned a little about why people who have the option to leave continue to live in Zimbabwe: itís one of the most beautiful countries Iíve ever been to, and the Zimbabwean people I interacted with are some of the smartest, bravest and friendliest folks Iíve ever met.

Which doesnít mean that Iíll be hurrying back. The ways in which Zimbabwe is broken are deep, profound and would be intolerable to most people around the world. The fact that Zimbabwe continues to exist - that people go to work, to the market, to the bars and cafes - is a tribute to the resilience and flexibility of the Zimbabwean people. Iíd snap, within days or weeks."

You Might Be Having a Currency Crisis IfÖ

"Iíve never seen currency with an expiration date on it before. The bills I carry are, technically, ìBearer Chequesî. They read:ìPay the bearer on demand Twenty Dollars on or before 31st July 2007 for the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, Issue date 1st August 2006.î In other words, good luck getting my $20 - (about two and a half US cents at todayís black market rate) after August 2007 - the currency is technically worthless at that point. (Friends tell me that previous currency marked like this has been ìextendedî by legislative act to maintain its worth.)

This currency looks temporary, too. Itís got one ink color (as opposed to the multicolored fantasy of earlier bills) and no security thread. Given how much it costs to print money, how little the bills are worth, and how fast theyíll become worthless, it seems no surprise that a government scrambling to make ends meet might cut some corners in the national mint."

Photos from Zimbabwe - with pictures on Flickr

Reading Between the Lines:

His last post talks of how the internet is under threat there.  Here's an excerpt: 

"I find it hard to believe that a government which can't pay its bandwidth bill is systematically monitoring the internet communications of half a million people. But threatening to monitor those communications creates a panopticon effect - by telling people they're under observation, many (most?) will behave as if the government's watching. And in a country where transgression can mean indefinite detention and abuse while in custody, it's hard to blame people for wanting no remain firmly on the right side of authority"

Fantastic blogging really as he shares what he loves about the country and his frustrations with the complexities and the unknowns.

9:46:54 AM    comment []  trackback []

"I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by Google" - New Scientist - Bruce Sterling. [link via Ethan]

An almost-real, funny-scary take on the internet from the eyes of a "miserably-happy" teenager. Here's an excerpt:

Okay, I admit it: Debbie is insane. The fact that Debbie really likes me, that just proves it. Debbie ACCEPTS this sick state of reality. She EMBRACES it. We are doomed.

Imagine that Debbie and me somehow go out together. We want to network with our peer group, teenager-wise. I need to figure out what's hip and with-it and rebellious, and Debbie needs to know what the other cyber-Goth chicks are wearing. Is that okay? No!

It's not that we can't do it: it's that all our social relations have been reified with a clunky intensity. They're digitized! And the networking hardware and software that pervasively surround us are built and owned by evil, old, rich corporate people! Social-networking systems aren't teenagers! These machines are METHODICALLY KILLING OUR SOULS! If you don't count wall-graffiti (good old spray paint), we have no means to spontaneously express ourselves. We can't "find ourselves" - the market's already found us and filled us with map pins."

Also read Men standing around broken machines by Paul Ford, a short but well-written essay where he goes back to a much-older future:

"I think about the men because there are two futures: the near and wild futureóthe future of Web 2.0, the war on terror, and midterm electionsóthrashing and blind like a baby mouse in the grass. And there is the other, much older future, which is basically an enormous, ever-widening archaeological dig. They're digging up old Roman bones, pilgrim gristle, and mysterious chunks of iron that may have been astrolabes. Shovels in hand, people fall over dead onto the piles of ancient coffeehouse newspapers and loose pioneer trash that they have themselves exhumed. Time passes; it could be a few days or a millennium. Someone digs them up and holds their skull in hand and wonders: what was the dig like then? There is nothing wrong with the newer future. Those who make it work for them will be powerful and rich. But that older future seems to have more room in it for those quiet, dry-eyed men. And I know I want, someday, to join their group as it stands frowning around a steaming car engine, each trying to figure out what went wrong."

7:29:10 AM    comment []  trackback []