A graphic tale of child labour

A comic book has been created to educate farmers and parents in El Salvador about child labour and the benefits of becoming Rainforest Alliance Certified.

Titled Good Work: a Guide to Best Practices Regarding Child Labour and Coffee Cultivation, the book illustrates a conversation between the owner of a Rainforest Alliance Certified coffee farm and an uncertified farmer about child labour and local laws prohibiting the use of child workers.

The comic book was created by SalvaNATURA, El Salvador’s main environmental group and a member of the Sustainable Agriculture Network.

Farmers who are Rainforest Alliance certified comply with a standard that does not allow them to hire children younger than 15.

Workers aged 15-18 need to have written permission from their parents and can work only when school is not in session, and then no more than six hours per day, according to Guillermo Belloso, one of the comic book's authors.

The standard also prohibits teenage workers from carrying heavy loads, handling pesticides, or performing other jobs that could endanger them.

178,855 children were working in El Salvador in 2008, when the ministry conducted its last survey.

Ada Lazo, who heads the Labour Ministry’s office for the elimination of child labour, said the number has steadily decreased from 220,000 in 2001, when El Salvador became a signatory of the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) Convention 138, which establishes a minimum working age of 14 and restricts the jobs that workers aged 14-18 can undertake.

SalvaNATURA agronomists have distributed the comic booklets in one of the country’s main coffee growing areas and have also given presentations with the same information to about 500 coffee farmers at training workshops.

Lazo commented: "I believe that the comic book is spearheading efforts to reach people in rural areas...It raises awareness, it opens their eyes, and it will help us to eliminate child labour on the farms."

You can download a copy of the comic book at the ISEAL Alliance online community.

The ISEAL Alliance aims to create a world where ecological sustainability and social justice are the normal conditions of business.

Read more about the comic book here.

Public meeting regarding Walthamstow's EMD cinema

If you, like me, are a supporter of saving the EMD cinema in Walthamstow and reopening a much needed amenity, come to the public meeting this Sunday.

The meeting will take place from 5pm at Walthamstow School for Girls, Church Hill, E17 9RZ.

The school is a short walk from Walthamstow Central station.

All the area’s parliamentary and council candidates have been invited by the McGuffin Film Society to attend and make their views on the Grade 2* listed EMD cinema known.

You can find out more about the EMD cinema, which has a long and exciting history, here.

Google releases government requests map

Tonight, Google has released information about content removal or private user data requests from governments around the world.

The company claims that this has been done in order to achieve greater transparency, highlighting its commitment to the Global Network Initiative.

Using a Googlemap, the company is able to show the number of each type of request each country has made, and, in the case of removal requests, what Google product the request relates to.

Data shown is between July and December 2009, and the information displayed will be updated in six month increments.

Brazil leads on government requests to Google:

Brazil is in the lead so far with 291 content removal requests and a stunning 3663 private user data requests.

32 of the Brazil removal requests related to Youtube, 26 related to Blogger and 4 to Gmail. 82.5% of the removal requests were fully or partially complied with, and many involved a court order.

The United Kingdom made 59 content removal requests and 1166 private user data requests.

43 of the UK removal requests related to Youtube videos, and 76.3% of the removal requests were fully or partially complied with.

China, which considers removal requests state secrets, is not included on the Googlemap.

It should be noted, as Google's chief legal officer David Drummond highlights, that a government may request data to be removed for a number of reasons.

Of course many of these requests are entirely legitimate, such as requests for the removal of child pornography. We also regularly receive requests from law enforcement agencies to hand over private user data.

Again, the vast majority of these requests are valid and the information needed is for legitimate criminal investigations. However, data about these activities historically has not been broadly available. We believe that greater transparency will lead to less censorship.

As the Guardian highlights, Google has not been immune from criticism regarding data protection.

The company insists that the timing of the release of this information, which closely follows a letter to CEO Eric Schmidt from data protection authorities across the globe regarding Google Buzz and Google Streetview, is a coincidence.

So farewell Bebo?

I was not surprised to read that social networking site Bebo may either be sold or closed down by its owner America Online (AOL), having lost almost three quarters of its users.

As someone who uses a multitude of social networks on a daily basis, I've tried using Bebo on occasion and haven't been impressed.

The site made me feel like someone had scattered a basketful of purposely misspelt words onto their profile, many of which came complete with a collection of moronic videos showing such jolly fun as two teenagers pouring beer all over themselves in their car.

I've clicked on links to Bebo profiles since my short membership of the site, and few of the four dozen or so I have seen have been used since 2008.

Hitwise's rating of Bebo as the fourth most popular social networking site in the UK (after Facebook, YouTube and Twitter) is surprising, especially when you consider how popular Myspace has been in the past.

What does Bebo do that Facebook or Myspace do not? Any new buyer for the site needs to consider how it can offer unique features.

This does not have to mean a totally new direction for the site, but simply a reason to use Bebo over other social networking sites.

Design issues with Bebo:

One mistake Bebo has made is to place some of the most interesting content on a person's profile, messages from other Bebo users, below tedious applications such as "Which Hollywood celebrity are you". This is the downside of having all most of the information on a single page.

Alongside Facebook's way of neatly presenting information, Bebo's current profiles look like a confused mess. Some of the text/background choices are also hard to read.

I think whoever buys Bebo needs to brainstorm what the site's unique selling point could be as well as how information could be better presented.

Other questions include how the new Bebo could make money without charging for people to sign up (why would people pay when they can sign up to Facebook or Myspace for free?) and how a new Bebo could use Twitter compatibility to draw people to the site.

Financial issues with Bebo:

As well as the design issues I have identified, a number of financial issues have been suggested. David Prosser claims: "One cannot think of a single example where a young business in a new market has prospered after being bought up by a large old-world parent company. These acquisitions never work." while lack of funding by AOL is also cited by a source for the Guardian's coverage of Bebo.

If no buyer can be found for Bebo, or if AOL decides simply to close Bebo anyway, the site will close and forty people will be unemployed. According to Reuters' MediaFile, both selling Bebo and simply closing the social networking site have financial benefits for AOL. In fact, closing Bebo may have the best financial benefit for AOL, even if it annoys some current or potential AOL customers.

I suggest that all Bebo users plan for the site closing.

Join Facebook or Myspace and look for your Bebo friends there. You might be surprised how many you find. Make sure that you copy any interesting comments into a text document and that you have copies of any photos you have uploaded to Bebo.

No social networking site is perfect, but I feel that Facebook suits my needs. We will see if Bebo 2.0 (if such a thing happens) could compete with Facebook.

Incidentally, Bebo stands for "Blog early, blog often".

In London? Walk London!

Last weekend was a lovely sunny day for Londoners, and I decided to make the most of the weather with a long walk.

I decided to once again use the excellent Walk London site to choose a route.

If you are looking to get some exercise, get away from city streets or simply fill a few hours on a weekend or holiday, I strongly recommend Walk London.

They have selected a number of exciting routes across the capital, cut them into sections and provided detailed information about each section, including break points and transport links.

Saturday's walk was from Woolwich Arsenal station to Mottingham station, and involved walking part of Section Five and almost all of Section Six of the Green Chain walk, which covers South East London.

The walk took me through miles of peaceful woodland, where squirrels scampered across the earth and birds tweeted (not that kind of tweet, although getting animals to use social media would be interesting!)

Walk London is a fantastic resource for the Londoner who needs a break from bustle.

Polish president Lech Kaczynski one of 96 people killed in a plane crash

Lech Kaczynski, the President of Poland, was killed in an aeroplane crash yesterday near Smolensk airport, Russia, while part of a delegation comprising political, economic and cultural figures from Poland.

A further 96 people died in the crash, including Aleksander Szczyglo, chief of the National Security Office, former Deputy Prime Minister Izabela Jaruga-Nowacka, an advocate for gay rights in Poland,and Anna Walentynowicz, whose dismissal in 1980 from shipyards in Gdansk ignited the strike that led to the formation of the Solidarity movement.

The delegation was travelling to Russia to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Katyn massacre, where Soviet secret police executed 15,000 Polish officers during the Second World War.

Among the passengers, according to the Guardian, were relatives of victims of the massacre.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk told the BBC that the crash was the most tragic event of Poland's post-World War II history.

Today, President Kaczynski's body has returned to Poland, where a two-minute silence was held to mark the deaths.

Meanwhile, Russian and Polish investigators have begun to analyze evidence from the plane's flight recorders, according to the New York Times. Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin says he will oversee the investigation.

The neglected jewel in Walthamstow's crown: Part One

Waltham Forest, the London Borough where I live, isn't one of the most well known.

When you mention London to someone living outside the M25, I would imagine the boroughs they would mention would be Westminster, Kensington and Chelsea, Lambeth and Hackney.

This is a shame, as Waltham Forest has a sprinkling of places that are well worth a visit.

The William Morris Gallery, Queen Elizabeth's Hunting Lodge, Vestry House Museum and 491 Gallery are all highly recommended.

However, the most fascinating building in Waltham Forest, the EMD Cinema on Hoe Street, Walthamstow, is currently not open to the public. A gallery of tedious flyposters are stuck across the boards over the entrance, several of the small windows are broken and there are graffiti swirls on the dark blue fire exit doors.

It's a sorry state for a building steeped in history. Thankfully, the McGuffin Society, which is campaigning for the cinema to be reopened, is determined that history will not be forgotten.

The cinema was opened as Victoria Hall, a venue for dancing and concerts in 1887, during Victorian times.

It made history as early as 1896 when it was the first cinema to broadcast a film in London, hosted by Edward George Turner, co-founder of the first film company in Britain, which he aptly named The Walthamstow Company.

Between 1904 and 1926, Walthamstow became a centre for film production, according to local blogger Archipelago of Truth:

By 1904, Turner's company, The Walthamstow Company was developing the UK's film rental market. Production facilities burgeoned with the success of the business model. 'Precision' studios opening at 280 Wood Street, joined in 1913 by the 'British and Colonial Kinematograph Company', which relocated to the junction of Grove Road and Hoe Street to be close to where the action was. 'I.B. Davison Film Company' set up a modern dark stage at 588 Lea Bridge Road the following year. At about the same time, 'Cunard Film Limited' opened at 245 Wood Street.

The studios had various processing laboratories and there were all sorts of ancillary support industries, including, not least, the many live theatres, where the talent could be spotted and enticed to perform in the films between acts, though Walthamstow was close enough to the West End for the stars to find it easy enough to pop up for the day and knock off a few feet of film. Extras were sent over by the labour exchange, and were paid 6 shillings a day in 1924 (30p) for a crowd scene and 10 shillings (50p) extra for a speaking part according to A S Jaspar's book "Looking Back, Not in Anger" (1969). Boom times? Not exactly. They were over by 1926, when the last local studio shut.

Film production in Walthamstow may have been short lived, but the cinema was still going strong. In 1907, Victoria Hall was converted into a cinema, and was purchased in 1930 by Cecil Bernstein of Granada Theatres. It was remodelled as a "Cine-Variety" theatre, seeing almost 3,000 and offering a mixture of live entertainment and films.

The remodelling also saw a beautiful Spanish theme created inside. Pictures can be seen at the McGuffin website.

During this period, Walthamstow played host to some of the biggest names in Britain at the time.

If you thought that the 02 (the rebranded Millenium Dome) attracted some big names, a Granada visitor would have been able to enjoy The Beatles, Jerry Lee Lewis, The Kinks, The Rolling Stones, Little Richard, Gene Vincent, The Who, Chuck Berry,Scott Walker, Buddy Holly, Roy Orbison, to name but some of the celebrities who starred there.

The cinema was again remodelled, this time as a three screen cinema, in October 1973, with two new screening rooms built.

In 1989 the venue was purchased by the Cannon group of cinemas and was then absorbed into the Odeon chain after the Cannon Group became defunct in 1993.

In 2000, Odeon management decided to sell off with many of its older style cinemas, in favour of the hideous modern block buildings scattered across Britain that present a bland and uniformly unpleasant cinematic experience.

Because they were so concerned about customers not visiting their bland cinemas, Odeon sold the cinema to Mohan Sharma and EMD Cinemas with a restrictive covenant preventing the screening of English Language films, which led directly to the formation of the McGuffin Film Society to help restore the venue as a community cinema.

In April 2001, Odeon management finally removed the covenant. Up until then, only Bollywood films had been shown.

Mohan Sharma sold the Grade Two* listed cinema to the Universal Church Of The Kingdom of God (UCKG) for use as a new church.

The UCKG already have East London based churches in Hackney, Ilford, Plaidstow and Stratford (the latter two a bus ride away from Walthamstow Central bus station).

Other UCKG churches near Walthamstow include Edmonton (45 minutes by bus)and Finsbury Park (the UCKG headquarters, four stops on the tube from Walthamstow Central).

By contrast, Waltham Forest, a borough of 250,000 people, has no cinema. It has no theatre.

It has a handful of libraries that do their best to promote community events (Wood Street and Leytonstone are particularly good at this), as well as a handful of community-focused pubs such as the excellent Rose and Crown on Hoe Street. However, much more is needed to keep people occupied.

Waltham Forest does not have areas as dangerous as Tottenham or Wood Green, but there is a youth gang problem in several areas across the borough.

Meanwhile, the former EMD Cinema remains unused, despite its potential.

UCKG submitted plans to convert the cinema into a church, which were ruled against in 2003, and the residents of Waltham Forest are awaiting the results of the current planning application submitted by UCKG, which will be decided upon after the next election.

I'll explain more about UCKG's plans for the former cinema, a Grade Two* listed building,the Arcade development, and the opposition of local residents in another post.

I think you'd agree with me that the cinema is worth saving.