Handbook for Bloggers and Cyber- Dissidents

I have been meaning to upload this great report for a while now but since Turkey banned blogger.com and you can only access it through bypass proxies and changing your DNS servers, its been rather frustrating keeping my blog updated recently. 

This "Handbook for Bloggers and Cyber Activists" is a useful guide book for all those who want to make sure that they are safe and secured from a number of different actors and most importantly their authoritarian governments (yes, there are still many countries in the world that are authoritarian, and Azerbaijan is just one of them). Prepared by the Reporters Without Borders, this handbook looks at terminology of today's online community and its residents, guidelines for how to set up and run blogs, ethics especially for those bloggers who write of news in their countries and become sources of valuable information for external actors, and much more. 

Handbook for Bloggers and Cyber- Dissidents

Fighting corruption

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Transparency International defines corruption as:

abuse of entrusted power for private gain. It hurts everyone whose life, livelihood or happiness depends on the integrity of people in a position of authority.

Watching the founder of Transparency International, Peter Eigen speak at TED (see the video below) on ways to fight corruption, reminded me once again of brutal reality of Azerbaijan- corruption- that is everywhere and has taken over. And it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that is everywhere- kindergartens, schools, universities, hospitals, including on government level. 

In Azerbaijan, people like to talk about its rich history, its honest people, the dignity and ethics of its people. I don't refute as there are still many honest people in this country. And yet, there are children of school age who are taught from a young age, dishonesty when their teachers demand money for grades or when a doctor won't see a patient until money is slipped "under the table". Where is dignity and honesty in this? Corruption has been institutionalized in this country to an extent that when you don't have to bribe your way, it is shocking. 

Corruption exists in legislation too. According to a report released by the Council of Europe's Group of States against Corruption (GRECO):

there are major shortcomings concerning legislation on corruption and transparency in party funding [...] 

the concept of "official" used by the relevant bribery provisions does not cover all civil servants ad public employees. The offer and the promise of a bribe as well as the acceptance of an offer or a promise do not constitute completed crimes [...]

Corruption should not be seen as part of the country's culture or custom nowhere and by no one. Its another disease infecting governments that are already authoritarian and dictate the rules of the game. In Azerbaijan it has taken over and will continue its existence as long as parents of those children stop giving, patients stop slipping, teachers stop demanding, students stop giving. The change lies in the people themselves not in someone else. People should stand up for their rights and though its hard and complicated and lengthy, it is a step that should be taken at some point if of course those very people want an end to this.