FRANCE - 23/10/08: 'Police blunder' in Paris suburbs: an officer's perspective

In October we published video footage of police brutality against a youth in the northern Paris suburb of Montfermeil. A police unit chief, who worked in the suburbs for ten years, told us how his colleagues were "scared to death".

Mohamed Douhane is a chief constable and member of the national police union Synergie Officiers. He grew up in a tough Grenoble neighbourhood and worked in the Parisian suburbs for ten years.

I'll start by saying clearly what our position is on this story: obviously we condemn any act of illegitimate violence. An investigation by the independent police commission is underway, and depending on the results, the prosecutor will decide whether to take the officers to court or not. If he does, then the consequences for the officer in question span from a written warning to a dismissal.

We don't know yet under what circumstances this intervention came about. I'm dubious about what the media are calling a "police blunder" seeing as the young man was only officially bedridden for two days, while one of the police officers involved spent 30 days in that state.

The use of force by a police officer must be proportional and dependent on the situation. But you have to understand that in a situation like that one, you have to catch and remove the suspect as quickly as possible - if not, the situation gets worse. I've done it myself. If you stay too long, the yobs regroup and come back to get you. One of the policemen in the video is using a Tonfa [a baton with a handle]. To use that you have to have special training. That kind of bludgeon is not handed out lightly - so it must have been considered necessary in this case. The press have also been talking about the use of a flash-ball [a rubber bullet gun]. That, on the other hand, is not normal procedure.

But remember that these places are like warzones. The youths around there don't only see us as agents of the state; but also like a rival gang that disturbs their underground trafficking, in particular drug dealing. They feel untouchable, because they know that the law, especially for minors, is not too repressive. They don't think twice about taking on a police officer physically anymore. Sometimes they even plan out attacks. They line up shopping trolleys, crockery - anything that can kill - on the roofs of buildings. Then, they set a bin on fire and wait for the police to come. And we come.

The system's failures have ghettoised these people, and the police are the biggest victims. The officers that we see in the video are simple junior officers from a nearby police station. Most of the time, they're young and not trained for that kind of intervention. They're constantly confronted with hostile behaviour and when they have to approach a situation, they're scared to death. I'm not justifying the things we see in the video; I'm just trying to explain why sometimes, people slip up.

Anyhow, I've already seen videos published by Kourtrajmé [a group of directors of which the neighbour that filmed the incident is a member], like that of Justice. That clip was a pure and simple incitement to violence. It trivialises violence and that has an impact on young, weak characters who are easily influenced. Police are thought of as robots, like in this video, not as human beings. It would be nice if Kourtrajmé sent out a positive message once in a while.

The chief of police said that we'd start having cameramen following the police during interventions. My union is all for it, as of any other way of getting the truth out. In the case of this video, we would have been able to see what happened at the beginning of the intervention upstairs, and not only what happened in the hall."

Torrential monsoon rains in Bihar, north-east India, caused several hundred deaths when they began in mid-August. A YouTuber in the area tried to raise the alarm.

The condition of people struck by the flood has worsened. They're saying that 15,000 to 20,000 people have died and many more are near death due to lack of food and water and from disease. Only a few hundred have been able to reach the relief camps or dry areas. Until now there is negligible help from the government. Even the food supplied in the relief camps is by the local people of Forbesganj and the outskirts, whose support has been praiseworthy.

We went to the relief camp with food and medicine and could not withstand the heat of the sun and the horrible smell. Think about those people who are on their roofs for six days without food and without sanitary water. They are forced to drink flood water. We found that a few men who could swim were coming to the relief camp to fetch food and drugs for their children and swimming back. Thousands of people who're taking shelter on tilla (land surrounded by floods) are losing their lives in groups of hundreds when water currents cause land-slides on the sides [of the tillas, submerging them under water]. This information comes from those people who could swim to the relief camps.

Whoever's reading this, please convey the message to the government, who are busy drinking mineral water in their air-conditioned rooms."

Ernesto Haibi, who served in the Iraq war, reacted to this video, filmed from the inside of an American tank, that found itself in the middle of a rocket attack in Adhamiyah, Baghdad.

The guys in the tank are pissed off with their commanding officer; they didn't want to get involved. But they should listen to him. He might have seen something they didn't. Soldiers are always complaining about something. It looks like they've reached a point where they don't know where to go - escape, or help the locals? They're absolutely scared. And I don't blame them! It's not always a Black Hawk Down scenario!

This kind of thing is quite common. The problem is you don't know if the insurgents are baiting you into going to the place where the action's happening. These people's asset is their knowledge of the local terrain.

Nobody wants to go back to Iraq. They've given up. You hear "fuck Iraq" all the time. It's just not the kind of mission we signed up for. I was all for it in the beginning. But we made a galactic mistake. Now we're paying the price. Some guys are getting ready to go out there for a fifth time. They're started to wonder whether they'll come back next time. It's like "mission Russian roulette". I've reached a point where I'm scared to go back. Iraq is just not a job that reflects my morals. Guys are getting tired of killing innocent civilians. Regardless of who the next president is, this war will come to an end before the end of the next term."

In April the French parliament was debating a law banning all blogs and websites that encourage or defend anorexia. The white paper referred specifically to "pro-ana" blogs, where the illness is considered extremely fashionable.

Sarah, 23, an anorexia sufferer for five years, talked to the Observers.

I'm 1 metre 66 and I weigh 35 kilos [she's lost ten kilos since her profile page photo was taken]. You could say that I'm almost dead. But I love my body as it is. I find the extreme thinness beautiful. And I'm proud of what I've achieved. I don't eat for 75 days. Afterwards I eat for two days and then I start again. I know it might seem impossible, but it's not. And it's something not many people are capable of.

Justine doesn't understand the blog phenomenon because she got out [see her account below]. Me, I understand that anorexic people need to find each other, on blogs. I use them regularly. Both to see photos of super skinny stars, because I find them beautiful, but also to swap slimming tips. You have to remember that people can be really mean to girls like us. I get loads of insulting comments on my Facebook page.

However, I'd have to say I don't think I'm part of the majority of these girls. They ask questions like "How do you become anorexic?" That doesn't make sense. It's not something you choose, it just happens to you.

I'm well aware that my situation is ironic. I like thinness and I'd like to stay at my current weight. But at the same time, I'm aware that anorexia is an illness and that I have to suffer for it. I'm losing my nails and my hair just like the others. But the worst thing is, I feel completely cut off from the world. My friends have given up on me, I don't have any kind of real relationship and I can't even work anymore (I worked in a nightclub but they don't want me anymore).

Banning these pro-ana blogs doesn't worry me. I was anorexic before they existed and I won't stop because they disappear. Plus, I think they encourage girls to get ill. Just because they want to be as thin as the stars.

As for me, I know what I say doesn't fit - I do want to get out of this. I'm going to try to see a psychiatrist. But not yet. I don't feel ready to leave the house."

CUBA - 19/02/08: Castro retires: Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez "relieved"

When Ganma, Cuba's official news site, announced that Fidel Castro has given up his presidency of the country, we immediately called our Observer in Havana, blogger Yoani Sanchez, to get her reaction. It was three in the morning in Cuba.

I didn't know. They announced it on the internet first to let the foreign media know. Few Cubans have online access, so they don't know about it yet. I'm listening to the radio now, which programmes all though the night, and they're still talking about the Ghanaian president's visit to the island, not Castro.

The Cubans have been waiting for this news to come any day now. At over 80-years-old and in bad health, it was unlikely that Fidel Castro would carry on governing the country. But honestly, the question of a new head of state is not people's greatest concern right now. We're too preoccupied with the problems of daily life.

The transition has been gradually going on since the announcement that Raul Castro would act as interim president in July 2006. Fidel's brother has made plenty of speeches about much-needed reforms for the country, but nothing's really changed. Raul's only made cosmetic changes, notably economic ones, which don't help the population at all.

Maybe things will change now. For me and the young generation, this news comes as a great relief. We've never known another president, and we saw him as an obstruction to our country's development. I'm not saying that's what everyone thinks; for some this will be a huge shock.

Fidel is a symbol. We hope that his departure will close a chapter of history for the country and help the Cuban government to aim for more political and economic liberty. I do think the country will force its leaders to move on, because we've really had enough, we need a change. But I'd say that the most likely scenario is that we see a Chinese-style regime imposed in Cuba: the development of economic productivity while political liberty is kept to a minimum. And, remember, Castro's announced that he'll no longer be head of state, but not that he'll resign as first secretary of the communist party. So it's possible that he'll still have a strong influence in the government."

Millions of young men live their lives entirely on the Internet, unable to leave the house, in fear of human contact. In response to this troubled niche, an entertainment company has come up with a possible cure. Videos of girls that stare into the camera.... and occasionally say good morning... We spoke to a potential client. Tom Jacobsen is an American who identifies himself as a former "Hikikomori".

I was in my room for three years, so it took a long time to regain even quite basic social skills. In my case, choosing to get back into society was personal - one day I decided I wanted to make some changes in my life. It was very difficult. One thing I did to help was to improve my appearance. I bought some nice clothes and got into shape. That helped a lot. Then I started doing temporary work. You don't need to interview for that. After a few of those kinds of jobs, I had enough confidence to go for jobs with interviews.

As for the video, I expect they use girls specifically for the sex appeal - the promise of a relationship. Hikikomori have a lot of difficulty with things they don't understand - and one of those things is girls. The video shows that social experiences don't have to be scary and tense. Much of the time, Hikikomori kids' first impressions of social contact have to do with angry, demanding parents and playground bullies, so these videos show that there are other people out there who they might get along with better. Also, the fact that these videos were made (...) will probably have a positive effect in itself. The recluses will think that people really do care about them and want to help them, which should be encouraging to them.

Also, people tend to emulate what they see, so if the Hikikomori see videos of people talking to them, they might want to go out and talk to people themselves, I guess. Something similar happened to me; I spent a lot of my time as a Hikikomori in my room looking at camwhores and their sites, and now I've got a webcam site of my own like the ones they have. But I don't get naked or anything.

I wouldn't worry too much about the Hikikomori. They are usually quite intelligent, and eventually find a way to integrate into the dominant society, despite their reservations. (...) we will just wait around and hope that nothing bad happens."

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