Police Brutatlity, Abuse, and Hatred of Asylum Seekers and Refugees in Belgium

INTRODUCTION

This article is a hint about some of the past stories of abuses on asylum seekers by the Belgian police and high level of hatred exercised by the Belgian political party (Vlaams Belang) meaning Flemish Interest) against asylum seekers and foreigners in general. On several occasions Amnesty International (AI) has called on the Belgian Government to respect the human rights of asylum seekers and to put an end to the brutality and abuses faced by asylum seekers from the police force in “close center” (a detention center where rejected asylum seekers are kept for deportation) near airport. When these complaints were launched by Amnesty International, the Belgian Government always pledged to stop further police brutality and abuse of asylum seekers but nothing has been done about it. Until now the Belgian Government still forcefully deport asylum seekers coming to them for protection, back to their country of origin, which does not comply with the 1951 Geneva Convention.

Most people who seek asylum in industrialized countries are considered as economic migrants, someone who voluntarily leaves their own country of origin aiming for a better life another country (definition by Wigan Council, UK). Perhaps they are fleeing from dictatorial and corrupt regimes such as that of my country, Cameroon, which tends to affect the citizens of that country economically. In my own words I call it “economic persecution”. Fleeing from other types of persecution in my opinion must not be in conformity with the definitions of the United Nations pertaining to refugees and asylum seekers. These people should be accepted and protected in any country they seek for asylum and find refuge than to be brutalized and abused in any form. In this article, citations are given to prove the police brutality, hatred and abuse of asylum seekers and refugees as stated in the above heading.

WHO IS A REFUGEE?

Under International Law, a refugee is a person who is outside his/her country of nationality or habitual resident; has a well founded fear of persecution(s) of his/her race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group of political opinion; and is unable to return or unwilling to avail himself of the protection of the country, or to return there, for the fear of persecution (Wikipedia-open content encyclopedia).

WHO IS AN ASYLUM SEEKER?

In 2004 the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) defines an asylum seeker is a person who flees his own country and seek sanctuary in another state, he applies for ‘asylum’-the right to be recognized as a bona fide refugee and receive legal protection and material assistance.

For many asylum seekers, for example, the Government or institutions in the country of origin do not necessarily impose persecution. Some may face violence at the hands of mafia networks, armed or dominant majority groups in connection with factors that are not directly political, such as ethnicity. Others may be threatened for having a lifestyle that involves a socially unacceptable choice of spouse, sexual orientation etc. Some people are threatened and persecuted without fully meeting the demands of the 1951 United Nations Convention relating to the status of refugees. Poverty, while a commonly factor “pushing” migration is difficult to define. Many undocumented aliens and unauthorized residents identify varying thresholds of hardship at which they where motivated to migrate. This generic term therefore covers a wider range of facts (Martiniello, 2004).

Martiniello’s point should be fast taken into consideration because, normally where there is poverty and famine, people as well as livestock are forced to leave their niche for survival, which sometimes triggers exodus. I hold his arguments because they may help to redefine the concept of refugee better than as stated by International Law. Failure to revisit these concepts under the principles and guidelines provided by Martiniello, many people will face double persecutions both in their countries of origin and in the host countries. There are many other types of persecutions that can qualify a person as a refugee, which is not mentioned in the definition of refugee itself and I think this should be addressed by the United Nations for a broader definition. For example, imagine someone in a less developed country losses his business ventures accidentally by fire, and in a highly corrupted country with poor insurance policies and slow judiciary procedures, it takes several years to get compensation from the insurance company. Meanwhile this person and the entire family depend solely on this business. In a country with a poor economic system and little or no hope of finding another job, given the opportunity to leave his country to another country for a better life, he will not hesitate.

POLICE BRUTALITIES AND ABUSES OF REFUGEES AND ASYLUM SEEKERS

Amnesty International 1999 report criticized Belgium for its maltreatment of asylum seekers inside the “close centers”. For example, for a second time, Belgium was included among the states named in Amnesty’s report. Of major concern in Belgium, the document exposes police brutality and restrictive asylum policies. One of the cases highlighted as stated by Tyler in 1999 was that of Hovhannes Karapetyan, an American refugee. After an unsuccessful attempt to deport him, he was return to Steenokkerzeel “close center” where guards assaulted him, breaking his arm causing him to lose consciousness. He was then put into solitary confinement in this condition. When he asked to see a doctor, the guards assaulted him once more. He was only taken to the hospital the next day.

On September 22, 11 gendarmes took a young Nigerian woman called Semira Adamu bound in handcuffs, to a plane at Brussels National airport to be deported. When she started shouting and trying to resist deportation, two of the officers pressed a cushion over her face. She fell unconscious and died later that evening. According to doctors, she succumbed to brain hemorrhage resulting from a contusion. The tragic fate of Semira Adamu shook the Belgian population. More than 5,000 people gathered on September 28 outside the cathedral of St. Michael in Brussels during the memorial service for the young woman. This led to the resignation of the socialist party interior minister Louis Tobbak the next day, admitting political responsibility for the violent death of the 20 year old asylum seeker (Nees, 1998).

According to the Concluding Observation Report No. 6, of the Human Rights Committee in Belgium, the committee takes note of new instructions relating to the methods and techniques under which deportations are carried out. As a follow up in Report No. 13, the committee expressed grave concern over the widespread police brutality against suspects in custody. The committee regrets the lack of transparency in conducting investigations on the part of the police authorities and difficulty in obtaining access to information.

Concordant to the Institute of Racial Relations in London, Amnesty International has expressed dismay over reports of police brutality in Belgium, often accompanied by acts of racial discrimination. Amnesty International calls for people in custody to have access to a lawyer and a medical doctor. Excessive force has been used during deportation and rejected asylum seekers have been confined for too long in transit sections of the Brussels National airport. These continuous allegations made by Amnesty International about the Belgian police brutality to refugees and asylum seekers, now qualifies the international community to openly criticize the Belgian government for doing too little in stopping these abuses, which still goes on in detention centers. One is forced to ponder for how long shall we wait for another Semira Adamu to happen before something needs be done to put an end to these brutality, hatred and prejudice?

HATRED FOR REFUGEES AND ASYLUM SEEKERS

The hatred of the radical Flemish political party (Vlaams Belang) is now noticeable to every foreigner in Belgium. This very political party was formally known as Vlaams Blok, and after a controversial racist statement made by the former president, Filip Dewinter, the party was banned and fined by the Supreme Court to pay 36,000 euros. To save its finance, they then emerged with another name Vlaams Belang. They don’t like the presence of asylum seekers and refugees in their country.

In Belgium, the issue of political parties, which resort to racist or xenophobic propaganda, is of special concern to European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI). Much remains to be done to ensure that foreigners and persons of immigrant backgrounds enjoy genuinely equal opportunities in employment. The increase in manifestation of anti-Semitism and Islamophobia calls for concerted efforts of Belgian society as a whole against these phenomena (Council of Europe, 2004).

The president of Human Right and Peace Campaign (HURPEC) wrote that the 1951 Geneva Convention clearly opposes the return and forced deportation of any refugee to that country where he/she fears persecution either he/she is living legally or illegally. But the Belgian Government is forcefully deporting refugees, giving them extreme torture and punishment, which is a violation to the Geneva Convention (Karki, 2002).

In my view, the torture given to asylum seekers in detention by the police is not only an abuse of human right, but hatred against human race no matter which race it might be. The deportation of refugees and asylum seekers is not an idea but upholding the 1951 Geneva Convention by regularizing all rejected asylum seekers, refugees and enabling them to work and pay their taxes without any discrimination. This can be supported by the statement made by the British Home Secretary, Charles Clark saying that saying that there may be a case permitting some failed asylum seekers to work in the UK, during a debate with BBC Two’s Newsnight on April 26, 2005. He was responding to a suggestion from the audience that immigrants will better integrate into the British society if they paid tax and National Insurance. In 2003, Belgium was one of the selected industrialized counties with the lowest number of asylum applications received (16,900). The applicants came from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Russian Federation, Serbia-Montenegro, Iran and Cameroon (UNHCR, 2004). Believing this low asylum application figures, there is just no need for anti asylum policies to be introduced in the parliament as wanted by Vlaams Belang in order to push all asylum seekers and refugees to limbo.

It is hard to imagine that a councilor of Vlaams Belang Sint Gilles–Waas near the city of Antwerp was arrested in connection with the shooting of two men in a café in Sint Gilles Pauwels. One of the victims died and the other was seriously wounded. (IRR News, 2004). This shows how barbaric some of their members can be. The European Roma Rights Center (ERRC) sent a letter to the Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt to express concerns at reports that Belgium plans to expels Slovak Romani asylum seekers. The ERRC called Prime Minister Verhofstadt’s attention to the fact that the collective expulsion of aliens is in contravention of Article 4, protocol 4 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ERRC, 2000).

We can see that sometimes even the government can organize widespread expulsion of refugees in a systematic order without the knowledge of NGOs who fight for the rights and protection of these refugees and asylum seekers. This is just an aide memoire of what refugees and asylum seekers are going through in Belgium today. Deporting a person, who has successfully fled persecution from his or her country, back to the country of origin, is like burying that person alive who is, to my view, tantamount to crime against humanity or whatever crime you might link it to.

CONCLUSION

There is still racism, discrimination and hatred of asylum seekers, refugees and foreigners in Belgium. The Belgian people and politicians should recall that their former king Badouin, son of Leopold III, joined his father in exile in 1945 in Switzerland as a refugee, while others where also refugees and internally displaced in their own country during the Second World War German (Nazi) invasion of Belgium. The military was not able to liberate their country from the German occupation. All thanks to the British and U.S soldiers for shedding their blood for the Belgian people. I urge the Vlaams Belang chairman, Frank Vanhecke with his radical views on refugees and asylum seekers to reflect history, modernize their ways of thinking, and accept the facts that things and time has changed. Belgium needs refugees and asylum seekers not only to work in their apple farms, but to be fully integrated in the society and given the permission to work if qualified for the job such as doctors, engineers, soldiers etc, as they will all abide to the laws that governs the Belgian soil. Refugees and asylum seekers can be of great importance to the state and it’s economy. Fighting against police brutality and protecting all refugees, asylum seekers and other foreigners from abuses and racism is yet to be seen in Belgian institutions before there can be equal opportunities for everyone.

It is important to note that the policies of Vlaams Belang (Flemish Interest) that preach hatred against refugees and asylum seekers, also frighten other foreigners who live and work legally in Belgium and worse of all tarnish the reputation of the state as racist. In my opinion, if Vlaams Belang doesn’t stop their discriminative and hatred policies on asylum seekers, refugees and foreigners, the international community should consider them as a political and terrorist organization for example Irish Republican Army (IRA) of Northern Ireland, ETA of Spain and, Hizbolla of Syria etc. Because they are trying to use democracy to kill human rights that has long been established and achieved under hard struggle.

REFERENCES

Charles Clark (statement), BBC Newsnight special debate on home affairs. April 26, 2005. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/vote_2005/frontpage/4488153.stm

Council of Europe, 2004 Five New Reports on Racism, Human Rights, European Commission Against Racism And Intolerance, 27 January 2004

European Roma Rights Centre, 2004. Planned Expulsion of Roma from Belgium (ERRC press Release 2004). Publication-Advocacy Letters and Press Releases http://www.errc.org/cikk.php?cikk=223&archiv=1

Karki, Milan, 2002. Appeal: Belgian Government’s Brutality Over Nepalese Refugees, 16th December 2002. http://www.hrea.org/lists/refugee-rights/markup/msg00222.html

Martiniello Marco, 2004 Belgium undocumented held lesson for EU, Migration Information Source, 1st February 2004. http://migrationinformation.org/feature/display.cfm?ID=95

Nees, Verena, 1998: The death of Semira Adamu and Deportation Policy in Europe. Published by (ICFI) 6th October 1998. [http://www.wsws.org/news/1998/oct1998/blg-o06.shtml]

Race and Immigration Issues in Belgium, 2004.

[http://www.goacom.com/overseas-digest/ImAsy&Race] (Main source, Institute of Race Relations, London)

Refugees by Numbers, 2004 Edition. United Nation Refugee Agency (UNHCR) Page 10-11.

Some Stories. 2004 Independent Race And Refugee News Network. May 2004 http://www.irr.org.uk/2004/may

Tyler, Richard, 1999 Refugee Protest Condition in Belgium “close centers” for asylum seekers. Published by International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI), 1st September 1999. http://www.wsws.org/articles/1999/sep1999/belg-s01.shtml

University Of Minnesota, 1998 Concluding Observation of the Human Right Committee, Belgium, Human Right Library, 19 November 1998.

Wigan Council, UK, Asylum....Questions & Answers [http://www.wiganmbc.gov.uk/pub/council/asylum/asylumseekers.htm]

Wikipedia, Bamboo Web Dictionary, Open Content Encyclopedia http://www.bambooweb.com/article/r/e/refugee.html

Name: Rickcord Nakake Ngambi

Place of birth: Bota-Limbe

South West Province

Cameroon.

Resident: Rue de l'Egalité 16

1040 Etterbeek

Bruxelles-Belgique.

E-mail: rickcordngambi@yahoo.com Tel: +32484964487

3 Steps to the Best Web Conferencing Solution - They Are Not One-Size-Fits-All

Being charged with evaluating web conferencing solutions for your corporation, small business, or family can be quite a challenge. Sure, you could just go out and find the most popular solution or choose the first one that comes up in a Google search. But, in doing so you may be doing yourself a disservice.

There are actually a host of related - but in many significant ways very distinct - web conferencing solutions on the market today. They go by various product descriptions, such as online meeting, web meeting, webinar and web conference call software. And indeed, their features and functions differ not only due to price, but to the fact they each system was designed with a different purpose in mind.

If you are looking for the best web conferencing solution for your enterprise or small business, here are 3 steps to getting you going in the right direction:

1. Understand the web conferencing landscape:

Like any journey, you should start this one by getting a lay of the land. Each solution was made for a different purpose. Here the main categories of available conferencing solutions:

* Simple online meetings: to share voice, video and desktop views among a small group of people

* Webinars: for large, one-to-many broadcasts of words and video

* Online & IT support: designed to allow someone to remotely take control of another person's computer for troubleshooting or support purposes

* Enterprise work collaboration: enables people who are located remotely from each other to get work done via web applications, CAD, or other software

* Training & education: designed for the purposes of e-learning and at-a-distance training

2. Know the signs of the right provider for you:

Once you have decided which general area of application for which you will be using your new conferencing system, the next step is to create a shortlist of 2-3 solution providers. Each provider should satisfy these conditions:

* right price range for your budget

* has a good industry reputation

* is backed by a large company or holding corporation (to ensure product support longevity)

* has the features you need

3. Compare feature lists:

Now, for each of the 2-3 provides on your list, conduct a feature-by-feature comparison of each one. Keep track of your research in a spreadsheet. Hint: mark each feature in one of 3 ways: needed, nice-to-have, and not needed.

Take these 3 steps to find the right web conferencing solution for you or your company.

Compare top conferencing solutions at: Compare Top Web Conferencing Solutions.

Unknown Writer Gets Net Profits!

Can't get published? I have found a clever way to jump over the publishing and marketing hurdles. What do I mean by clever? How about immensely more effective, efficient, and gratifying, for starters?

A Shocking Situation

You love to write. Over the years, you have acquired a fair amount of knowledge and know-how.

One day, you get this uncontrollable urge to write a book about the subject of your passion. You want to get published. You want the world to know. And, of course, you want to get paid for the privilege, right?

Boy! Are you in for a shock!

The Publishing Wall

Writing a book is only a matter of time, discipline and, above all, passion. Oh! Of course, you do have to love to write! No problem, or so you thought!

Your problems begin when you submit your manuscript to publishers. That's when you hit a solid brick wall!

Publishers typically receive hundreds, if not thousands of manuscript every year. Most are unsolicited. Most are from unknown, never published writers.

All publishers have very good reasons for turning down your "offer". Some do not even acknowledge receipt, let alone give any explanation.

You are an unknown writer. When publishers are confronted with an unknown risk, they typically do not take it ... unless your manuscript is of such compelling quality that they are forced to accept to publish it ... because, you see, they do not consider a " sure winner" to be a commercial risk anymore! They like safe bets ... most of the time.

A known and successful writer gets published. How does one become a known and successful writer ... without getting published? How in the world are you expected to get out of this vicious circle?

The Self-Publishing Siren

You set out to search for an alternate way of publishing your book. Self-publishing suddenly looks like a way out ... or, rather, a way in.

Instead of the book publisher taking all the risks, you discover that you can take charge of them! Ah, Ha! That's it! Now you can bypass the editor. You won't have to wait (beg) for his stamp of approval.

You decide to put up the money to publish your book. Upon further research, you find that some self-publishing firms will ask for several thousand dollars, up front, and impose a first printing run of two to five hundred books.

Others will ask you to fork over $700 to over $2000, depending on the "package deal" you chose. They will supply you with a dozen books or so, and publish the rest on demand, as orders come in.

Either way, that's where you get into trouble ... again.

You are still an unknown writer, remember!

How do you get the orders to come in? How do you generate the necessary interest? How do you get people to know about the very existence, if not the value of your book? How do you prove your competence to the world? How do you acquire a reputation as a writer?

The best self-publishing firms will offer to market your book ... for an extra fee, of course. But, even then, you will only get a "burst" of marketing (press releases, magazine reviews, international catalogs, book fairs, etc.).

What happens after the few weeks that the average marketing campaign lasts? Yup! You guessed it again. You can either wait for these efforts (over which you have no control) to bear fruit. Or you can cough up some more money for yet another marketing campaign!

Some self publishing firms will be "honest" enough to (strongly) hint that you will have to devote a fair amount of your time to self-promoting activities, such as organizing signature sessions at local libraries and book stores, participating in book publishing events and shows, etc. All at your own expense, of course.

Not exactly what you had in mind, is it? You shudder at the thought of all that time you could put to better use ... such as writing. Besides you could not afford to take the time away from your day job, anyway.

Fortunately, you are a determined person. You keep searching for a solution. You are saying to yourself: "There must be a way out of this marketing dead end!"

So, you decide to put off self-publishing your book until you find a suitable solution. You resume your search.

Trouble On Marketing Hill

You have the firm intention of promoting your book yourself. You have heard that it is "possible" to do it with a Web site.

So, you forge ahead and thoroughly research this solution. You eventually find that having a Web site does not necessarily mean that it will be found by roaming Web surfers! It takes a lot of Web marketing savvy to achieve that.

Here we go again! Another dead end! You discover that you cannot count on an automatic flow of visitors just because you put up a Web site.

As it happens, you know nothing about how to build a Web site to be an effective marketing vehicle. You do not feel "comfortable" with the idea of learning all the technicalities either. And you do not have the thousands of dollars to hire specialized Webmasters to do it for you.

You are back to square one. There is more to Web site building and Web marketing than you thought. Much more.

You know next to nothing about marketing in general. Now you also know that, even if you did know a lot about traditional offline marketing, you would still be no further ahead.

Marketing within the Web environment is a different beast.

Just what you needed!

One Page At A Time

You can't believe that it can't be done. As you surf the Web, it becomes obvious to you that quite a number of people have a successful Web site. But, is it possible to do it on your own, without lots of expensive help? So, you keep roaming the Web for the solution to your Web marketing problem.

One day, you get lucky.

You stumble upon an article. It talks about writing on the "Net". In it, the author mentions that you can build a Web site for effective marketing purposes ... without any technical knowledge! Ooooh!

According to this article, there is a Web hosting firm out there that "holds your hand" throughout the Web site building process. They supply the templates, the user friendly tools, and the comprehensive user guides to go with it. They even have a large community of users that are very active and always eager to help "newbies"!

Could this be it?

The article goes on to explain that you get help in choosing a suitable theme for your site, one that has a fighting chance of attracting visitors, taking the competition into account. Then you are led through a step by step process. The Web site you build is automatically optimized for Web marketing efficiency!

Finally! You have hit pay dirt!

As you read on, you discover how you can market your knowledge and know-how without ever publishing a book ... at least not in the traditional way, yet. The author suggests that you are better off publishing ... one page at a time!

The author of the article goes on to outline how publishing on a Web site works.

1. Each article you write on a given topic becomes a page on your Web site.

2. Each page of your Web site attracts it's own visitors, because they are found through the use of keywords. Marketing is indeed different on the Web!

3. Each page becomes a revenue generator on it's own. For example, you can become a member of the Google Adsense program, and display context relevant adds on your Web site pages. You can also offer links to (topic related) suppliers, as an affiliate. You can even promote and sell your own books ... that's, if you ever feel the need to!

4. And because your Web site is automatically built to be "visible" on the Net, it attracts an increasing number of visitors every day.

Published At Last!

You finally decide to subscribe to this Web site building service. They seem to offer the just the kind of "hand holding" help you needed to pierce the marketing wall that is standing in your way.

After a few months of writing and learning, you are on your way, at last!

You are getting published, "Web style", right the on your own Web site! As a bonus, you are starting to get feedback from your Web site visitors, even as you write interesting content. You discover the intense pleasure of having people express their gratefulness for the helpful information you give them through your Web pages.

You are instructed not sell the information that you publish on each page of your Web site. You are told to give it away, most of it anyway!

Yes, you have read correctly. You learn that publishing yourself on the "Net" is a business, and that helping people solve their problems is part of the friendly give and take behind successful businesses. When you are being helpful to your visitors, they eventually reward you with their patronage (through adds placed on your pages by Google, affiliations with suppliers, your own ebooks, etc.).

You learn to publish in marketable installments ... one Web page at a time!

The author of the article goes on to tell that this works extremely well for most genres, even novels, short stories! Why not poetry? Who is going to stop you?

As a novelist, just give your readers a taste of what you have to offer. You can publish a representative chapter, or a part of it, as a teaser. If you write short stories, you can publish one or two on your Web site, as a sample of what your readers can expect if they buy your books.

You soon find that you can market yourself better than anyone else ever could!

But Is It Worth It?

With the income from your Web site, you can even afford to self-publish your books in hardcopy. You now have the marketing power your Web site is giving you. You do not need a traditional book publisher to "market" your books anymore. You do not have to settle for a meager few percent in royalties!

As your Web site gets increasingly known and traveled, a number of your visitors become customers, one way or the other. You have the physical means to diversify your offer, and, by the same token, your sources of revenue, which serves to stabilize your income.

That is a very enviable situation many writers do not generally enjoy!

Your Web site has turned the situation around in your favor. Notoriety, income, and the immense satisfaction of having beaten the system ... are your rewards.

All that, because you believed in yourself and decided to get out of a paralyzing anonymity.

You can now write to your hearts content on your Web site ... and grab your fair share of "Net profits"!

Claude Jollet is a former planning advisor to major industrial and commercial clients. He specialized in weather related operational planning issues. He holds a bachelor?s degree in applied computer science, specializing in business process analysis and automation. Mr. Jollet now devotes all his free time to the promotion of entrepreneurship on the Web. He reaches his following with his Web site http://www.top-web-entrepreneurs-plan-it.com

More on this topic here.

The Best Simple Software For The Busy Webmaster

Here are a few programs I can't do without. They're free, and make being a webmaster much easier.

CGI-Telnet http://www.rohitab.com/cgiscripts/cgitelnet.html

A cgi script that allows you to run commands on your server, even if your web host won't give you telnet access. Also good for getting at files generated by other scripts that are owned by user 'nobody', instead of your username. Ever tried deleting them? Well, now you can.

AXS Visitor Tracking System http://www.xav.com/

A very fine hit counter. Fairly simple to set up, if you use footer files on your site. Gives detailed information. Much better than the stats software that came with your web-hosting account.

Swap.pl

A Perl text replacer script. Handy if you're not familiar with Unix commands. Make sitewide changes in seconds. The original author's site doesn't list it any more. Can still be found via a search engine (hint, hint).

FTP Explorer http://www.ftpx.com

The charm of this software is that it looks a lot like the Windows shell, and thus makes FTP'ing a little less intimidating for the novice webmaster.

Putty Telnet/SSH Client http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/

A simple-looking, but sophisticated, freeware telnet and SSH client. Can be run from a floppy disk. Useful for the mobile webmaster.

Email Remover 2.4

Not currently available from the author's website, but can be found by Googling for a file named 'eremov24.zip'. This is an email account checker. It can be run from a floppy disk and can check multiple email accounts. Allows you to highlight spam and delete it, and download emails if need be. WARNING: It has a bug. Do not change the order of the emails in the software window before deleting; you'll end up deleting the wrong ones.

RFTP 32 Version 0.99

Again, not currently available from the author's website. This is a self-contained FTP client that can be, you guessed it, run from a floppy disk. Search around for a file named 'rftp.exe'.

If you don't see a pattern emerging, then let me elucidate: the last three programs can all be run from the same floppy disk. You can leave your laptop at home, and work on your your site from internet cafes.

The only thing left would be a WYSIWYG HTML editor that you can run from a floppy disk; that would be asking for a lot. However, the Mambo content management system http://mamboserver.com comes with one pre-installed. There's also a WYSIWYG plugin for the blog software WordPress http://wordpress.org/.

Either is a useful addition to any website. You can keep it updated while on the road.

T. O' Donnell ( http://www.tigertom.com ) is an ecommerce consultant and curmudgeon living in London, UK. His latest project is an ebook on conservatories, available at http://www.ttconservatories.co.uk. T. O' Donnell freeware may be downloaded at http://www.ttfreeware.co.uk.

FatCow Vs WebFusion

FatCow & WebFusion are cardinal of the stages in the website hosting business enterprise, both acquiring their begin in the former 1990s. Central office and information center for year, WebFusion built up its success in the UK and is a comparative starter to the nations. So, how do this 2 suppliers match-up? Proceed on with our compare to check.

Pricing

Apart from the user cozy tool & authentic platforms, an surprisingly low cost has always constituted the major trading guide for FatCow. Nothing has altered now as its totally in one hosting design is accessible from $58 each year. WebFusion is not to be unnoticed in the inexpensive net hosting marketplace as it provides an basic software package from $2.99 per calendar month. However, their program that is corresponding to FatCow is substantially greater at $6.99 per calendar month. If you do not prefer to dish out big bucks for a pro web hosting services, some of these companies are worth checking over.

Products & Services

WebFusion has 3 different hosting designs on Windows servers or Linux to adapt own users, small-scale business proprietors, and clients with a lot of complex demands. It is also a very booming recorder with a few of the best costs on DNSs. Apart from its amply charged web hosting design, FatCow provides URL enrollment, e-commerce and electronic mail services, selling services and web site additions. The company has a characteristic rich hosting design in micro- Moo for clients who prefer to comfort way their internet.

Web Hosting characteristics

If you are looking for high quality characteristics, rest ascertained because WebFusion & FatCow have much to provide in this section. You are able to estimate all the basic such as multiple electronic mail account, webmail and junk e-mail dribbling, as well as more innovative characteristics like Perl, Python,& PHP programing language. When both offer you with application for seeing and analyzing your internet stats, FatCow accepts its offers one snick further with the common Google Webmaster Tool. Unless your web site demands specifics, you can not loose with either companies when it concerns characteristics.

Customer Service

Service & support should not arrest later contracting for your website hosting packages. All,the time where troubles might happen and you are probably to require the assist. A 100% trouble less hosting answer is never warranted, but you are never alone when acting business with WebFusion or FatCow. Both offer you with fabulous after gross sales support by telephone, electronic mail and support tickets. You can sieve through gentle search-able internet software documentation to get hints on characteristics such as electronic mail, database and domain. It does not thing which company you select, some are there to step-up and offer with support 24/7.

Recommendations

When it goes down to it, there is no incorrect option in the subject of WebFusion vs FatCow. This societies some have the experience required to deliver authentic web hosting solution and assist you constitute your online. Possibly the best way to make a conclusion is to check up on both servers and matter their offers against your specific needs.

If you enjoy reading this, you may enjoy reading on Fatcow vs Webfusion and Fatcow Reviews.

Things to Be Considered While Selecting Email Hosting Services

Whatever view you may have, we have advice, pointers, helpful hints for you to get there. It will be incredibly easier to achieve your goal when you know what to do and what things to avoid. There are three essential tips to help you offer here. Using these guidelines your prospects much better results will probably be radically improved.

While thinking seriously about paid email hosting services to your specifications for communication through emails, it is important that you do things efficiently. If you are not, the effects tend to be contrite. You may eventually find yourself to spending more than you need, and even in fact, do not receive the services you want. So lets discuss several special ways to achieve the progress.

Purchase an e-mail hosting service from skilled hosting provider. You should receive an email hosting service provider as flexible, which helps to prevent you against the strength of your inflexible preset e-mail address contact information. The ability of this may well take control of your company brand name, because while contacting with your business partners or any correspondence using this kinds e-mail service will establish your company brand name in good manner. So do not make the mistake of neglecting this necessary hosting service.

Almost as important as finding a hosting provider, the web host who provides this service should be flexible when examining mail handling for your communication needs, e-mail hosting is balancing service which should be the value to the cost of subscription. I shall let you know, this is not something to ignore.

Finally, when considering paid hosting services for email communication you should be select safe and secure hosting provider for email hosting which is certainly worthy of trust. This can helps those organizations whose businesses correspondence required email hosting services. If they do not purchase this service, they could probably lose their confidential files and experience repeated unavailability of emails and I do not think we are able to reach an agreement that would probably not ideal.

As I mentioned at the beginning, regarding the consideration paid email hosting for your communication needs electronic mail, you desperately want to make sure you never commit blunders that finally ended pay more than what you actually need, and not even having the features you want. What you need is a little smart shopping and evaluating the various e-mail hosting providers, and you make this happen by giving attention to the strategies mentioned above.

Nathan Woods is the author of this article and writes articles on various topics that includes Email Hosting and Find out more information about UK Web Hosting here.

5 Tactics Affiliate Marketers Use to Be Successful Online

Affiliate marketers all have one goal in common: find the most successful formula that will earn them the most money online. Unfortunately there isn't a magic formula or "get rich quick" scheme that really works. Don't let anyone fool you into thinking you can be successful without any work involved.

There are tactics that have worked over the years and continue to work in the online affiliate marketing world of today. It does help to study what has made other entrepreneurs successful. Here are three top marketing tips you can use to increase your sales and reach your goals in the affiliate marketing field.

What are these five tactics?

1. Each product that you want to market should have it's own unique web page. This is not the time to try and save a few dollars by not having to pay for web hosting. It's a worthwhile investment to have a site that will focus and really be geared toward selling one individual product.

2.Always include product reviews on the website to give visitors will have an understanding on what the product can do for those who buy them. Also include testimonials from users who have already tried the product. Look for affiliate programs that offer testimonials with names and photos(to add validity).

3.Have an opt-in box on your site. You can offer a free report,newsletter, etc. Most visitors to your site won't buy on the first go round. If you use your autoresponder and capture their email addresses, you can send them a series of offers. Just be sure to include some valuable information to make it worthwhile for your customer. Remember, it takes about 7 contacts with someone before they are ready to purchase something.

If you don't have a way to capture email addresses then you can expect one of two things:closed sale or the prospect leaving the page most likely never to return again. Be sending regular emails, you will remind them of the product they thought they wanted. Be sure that the content is directed toward specific reasons to buy the product. Making your email informational will convert much better than using a blatant sales pitch.

4.Writing articles detailing the uses or advantages of your product can be used to drive traffic to your site. Spending a bit of time researching will help make you sound like an expert on the subject! Give some thought to your headlines. Use your keywords in your title and throughout your article. You might ask a question or provide "tips" on your product.If you make your article interesting enough and hint at even more useful information in the bio box at the end of your article (with your website link in it,of course)people will want to come and check out your site.

Writing articles regularly will send targeted visitors your way. After a bit of practice, article writing does get easier.

5.Do your research on the affiliate program (and product). For example, does their sales page make you want to buy the product? If the answer is no, you may want to reconsider promoting it and look for a product with a better presentation. Try to find a way to check out the reputation of the company or product. A high return rate would not be a good thing to deal with. You might send them an email with some questions and see how quickly they respond to and how well they answer you questions.

And, of course, last but not least, ask yourself if the potential profit is worth putting your time and energy into promoting a particular product?

The tactics given above can get you started down the right track to success as an affiliate marketer.

A variety of proven tips and advice on being successful in the online world are available here:http://dollarsforblogging.blogspot.com