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Culture and History Triumph Over Nationalism in the World Cup Lusosphere · Global Voices
Jose Murilo

As the World Cup heads into its emotion-packed finals, the Lusosphere is still pulsing around the diverse fates of the teams of Portuguese speaking countries. Brazil fell from its high pedestal and the noisy crash of coach Parreira and his fading stars is bouncing through the blogosphere as expected. Portugal's success in advancing to the semi-final, led by the world champion Brazilian coach Luis Felipe (Big Phil) Scolari, has strengthened the connection between the football fans in both countries. This context is bringing up many interesting connections and promoting an otherwise unexpected conversation.
“On Saturday they asked me if I was sad with Brazil's defeat. I will answer here, in a resounding response: NO!!! What I really dislike is Parreira's cowardly and bureaucratic football playing. Parreira has always been this frightened coach. They call this a pragmatic approach. Now I will go for Big Phil. Portugal can even loose, but at least, Scolari will have sweated, shouted, prayed, yelled, spitted, cursed, right there, on the edge of Portugal's glorious field.”
Hey Parreira, call Big Phil! – in a day of jupiter, in mars hour – Brazil
“It took me 24 for hours to recover my strengths to write here. What a game. I was worried about seeing Brazil vs. Portugal in the semi-final. Not because I'm afraid to face them but because I'm am Brazilian and wouldn't be able to cheer for Portugal as I've been doing. I must say that, every Brazilian that I know is now cheering for Portugal for 3 obvious reasons: 1) Our historical connection; 2) Deco and Scolari are Brazilians; 3) France is the devil (at least for us Brazilians)”
A night to remember – WorldCupBlog.org
“In the vast outreach of such a small country as ours, a euphoric and energetic feeling is exalted to display our grandeur. Our flag has become known worldwide and we've awakened the sleeping giant inside us — we who in other times traveled many seas and conquered many lands. There came a man from one of these countries, discovered a little more than 500 years ago, who sailed now to the East as an Admiral and managed to make a huge contribution to us as a nation. He gives interviews, and appears in TV ads… He sells the team's watch!!! All hail to our Big Phil!!!”
Across sailed seas… – Guru Scolari “I Believe”
Brazilians are really passionate about this sport and, after so many years of flying at the top of the rank, losing is always received as an unexpected turn. But this time it seems the defeat came with an extra bitter taste, as if the players had betrayed the national team's tradition in not showing the expected resolve in the quarter-final game with the French. Too bad that it was Zidane and his team mates again, the same ones who managed to paralyze the Brazilians in the 1998 final — Brazil's last defeat in World Cup competition before this one.
“There are many reasons to criticize the Brazilian team defeated by the French and even to crucify some of the players. But the main reason was always present in all the games of this team in the World Cup — the players selected for Brazil played as a soulless team, with no heart. It was a team that never fought for the game, never played collectively, never showed itself capable of surpassing the adversities imposed by the game. It was said that Brazil was a team of stars. Wrong. Brazil had its stars, yes, but they never showed a team.”
Uma equipe sem alma – De primeira
“Brazil lost simply by being Brazil. Because of Parreira's dumb stubbornness clinging to a failed formation and the self-centeredness of the oldies Cafu and Roberto Carlos in demanding a place in the team, and the waste of leaving on the bench much better players than the ‘experienced’ stars. I have never seen a team offering the game to the opponent like that. Of all the eliminated teams of the quarter-finals, none deserved defeat more than Brazil.”
Shameful defeat – Repolhópolis
“The ‘Roberto Carlos adjusting his socks‘ (that's exactly how it is written) community in Orkut had 3,552 members at 1 pm. At 8 pm  it was already 5,204 members and it keeps growing. There are right now 820 communities related to Parreira, and the biggest one is “Parreira Son of a B***!” with 82,106 registered members.”
Meanwhile, in Orkut – El blog de los 3 amigos
While Parreira and some of the Brazilian stars of the game are being chastised by their countrymen, on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean there is one Brazilian who gathers unanimous praise from the Lusophone blogosphere. We are talking about the only coach in FIFA World Cup history to chalk up eight consecutive wins in final rounds — Luis Felipe (Big Phil) Scolari. His strong personality creates an intense and passionate relationship with players, press and audiences, and he became famous for his controversial dismissal of idols like Romario (Brazil, 2002) and Vitor Baia (Portugal , 2006). History has proved him right until now.
“All of you know how I criticized, among others, the two names on the title for this post (Ricardo and Scolari). I still believe that Scolari is not the best coach for Portugal, and I still have no doubt that Ricardo is not the best Portuguese goal keeper. But when facts are stronger than arguments, we have to admit — and that's what I am doing — offer our hand for a spanking because I was wrong. My only salvation is to admit that these two (and another one I also criticized) are the ones responsible for Portugal being in a World Cup semi-final for the second time, and I must confess that I am already suffering for a team about which I was totally indifferent a while ago.”
RICARDO and SCOLARI – AFINS DO CALVÁRIO
“It is time to say: enough of moral victories! However, feeling that I can't ask more from this team, there is a faith that we can demand the Moon and they will bring it on a tray! With Scolari, there are no more failed strategies, calculations or bad luck. Has the man got luck? That's exactly what we needed, as good players were always present. We could use many arguments, but the one that gets my attention is the fact that, when a player is not playing so well, or when we get a red card, the others compensate with 5 or 10% more… and the results are there for all to see! Sacrifice, warrior spirit, limitless courage… behold Scolari's Selection, my selection!”
Scolari, ou the old cotton story… – Footbal's Tribunal
“The ‘Globo Network’ produced an interesting piece where Portugal's coach Luiz Felipe Scolari is the protagonist. The TV network hired a team of [deaf] lip-reading specialists to read Scolari's words during the matches with Holland and England. The result is a report where you hear Scolari's instructions to the Portuguese players during the decisive matches which sent the National team to the World Cup semi-finals. There are also the coach's known pleas for divine help. Watch Scolari in action here (video revealing Scolari comments on the bench)”
Scolari suffers on the bench – Mungu ni Upendo!
Portugal has entered into the acute stage of the World Cup fever. It's a time when all the ordinary matters of life can justifiably be postponed, and nothing is as important as this uplifting sensation of being superior in the football culture. Interestingly, it's also the perfect occasion for politicians to push their not so popular agendas.
“While nothing seems to happen in the country,  an important governmental reform occurred, where the only politically autonomous minister went away; it seems that the Portuguese holiday starts to reveal the crisis (half way for the Revolution); the agro-cultivators will be allowed to build houses in areas classified as National Ecological Reserve (you will see the number of agro-cultivators growing…); in Bolivia the plan inclined to lead Latin America into disgrace is being continued and in Palestine things are as we know, etc. There is truthfully nothing that can divert our attention from what's important.”
Reading, Watching, Listening, Atoms and Bits of 03/07/06 – Abrupto
“If Portugal goes to the World Cup final on Sunday, it will be necessary to follow Prime Minister José Sócrates closely… we can't let him do another political reconstruction. With the football’s drunkenness — here comes the comment to the taxi driver of the day — the government can take advantage and do some wrong. However, if Portugal loose, here we will come back to the crying. Before the hangover, it will be the government and José Sócrates to take the beating… (Second comment to the taxi driver of the day…)”
Política e futebol – comentário “à taxista” – Easy Glory
The quarter-final battle between Portugal  and England was heated enough to generate waves of unfriendly conversation in Portuguese blogs. The sending off of Rooney became a questioned event by English commentators and his tense interaction with his Manchester United teammate Cristiano Ronaldo figured in mainstream media as well. Citizen media is ready to filter the nuanced coverage and paint the picture with passionate national colors.
“The British has created a site (I hate Ronaldo) where they crucify Cristiano Ronaldo. I think there are good conditions for C. Ronaldo to leave for the second best club in the world: Real Madrid. Alternatively, he can join Deco on the third best club in the world, Barcelona. In the best club in the world, the FCP [Futebol Clube do Porto], the place is taken by Quaresma, and it would not make sense to send Ronaldo to the bench.”
Cristiano Ronaldo no Real Madrid? – Letras com Garfos
“The lack of objectivity and balance presented by the British press in relation to the game with Portugal, as had happened with Portuguese press in the game with Holland, is one more proof of an evident conclusion: there is no objective sports journalism. There are cheer leaders who write in newspapers and make comments on TV. A strong hypothesis would be that there are news purveyors who write what readers want to read. If this is not felt clearly in national tournaments, it is because there are audiences with clashing opinions. When it comes to the national teams the partiality, which comes close to the stupidity, seems to be written in the ethical code.”
Sports Journalism? – Arrastão
“It's fundamental for me to do the exercise of comparative journalism. If this is important among a nation's newspapers, when we speak of the news about different countries it becomes even more important. It amplifies and reveals the points of view on an issue, as is the case of the game between England and Portugal  reported by the newspapers yesterday. If ‘O Público’ elects the goal keeper Ricardo who defended the penalties to the position of hero, to ‘The Observer’ Rooney is the villain, because his dismissal reduced the British team to 10 players. In my modest and probably very ignorant perspective, the game was decided on the penalties, truly game of luck. Therefore, I stay in doubt about the true reach of this news reporting that appears in the headlines of the referred newspapers.”
Two angles of view – Cultural Industries
The whole lusophone blogosphere is gathering now around the Portuguese fate in this World Cup. We are all supporting the ‘tugas’ and Big Phil in these final steps towards the great conquest. In revealing the emotions exacerbated by sport-induced nationalism, the cultural bond surfaces as vivid prose details the connections laced with history.
“From the first World Cup in Uruguay, in 1930… Portugal took 36 years to participate for the first time in 1966, managed by the Brazilian coach Otto Gloria… 76 years later — from 1930 to 2006 — and another Brazilian, Big Phil, takes Portugal to another World Cup with their heads held high due to the discipline that these Brazilians had imposed on the Portuguese. But the Brazilian national team did not manage to do it in 2006 with Carlos Parreira and his own superstar players and this is why they were eliminated by France. With more than 50% of African blood in its own team, the same as Brazil… Africa is always winning… Even the best Portuguese player of all times [Eusebio] is… African… [in this case, son of an Angolan — Malangine — with a Mozambiquean — Ronga from Maputo]”
Luso football account – Pululu – Angola
“I was almost fainting of emotion! I was sad about Brazil's defeat! From Timor  I received many messages in my cell phone, and here are two from very special friends: (1) Congratulations, my brother! Congratulations, Portugal! Always Portugal ! (Verdial e Cirilo, Cromos). (2) Congratulations Portugal! Even being here in a difficult situation, we are now chanting Portugal victory on the streets of Dili! (Deny). I am convinced that the Portuguese dedicate this victory also to you!”
We Won! – Pantalassa – East Timor
“The Portuguese and the Brazilians hope that Felipão will be sending the French home, defeating King Zidane as in the sixteenth century, when D. Sebastião the king of Portugal died in Alcacer Quibir battle in 1578 in Africa, and was succeeded by Felipe II, from Spain. Then Sebastianism started. It was a messianic movement later stimulated further by Father Vieira and formed by Portuguese who would deny D. Sebastião's death and would stay waiting for his return to the throne, now occupied by a foreigner. Today, the Brazilian Felipe is accepted by the Portuguese and seen by as the only one who can vindicate them from the three World Cup defeats to the French in 1986, 1998 and 2006. D. Sebastião has not come back until today.”
Felipism – Juca Kfouri's Blog
In Brazil right now, with the World Cup dream ended, the country is heading to important elections in October. But the lessons learned from the defeat in Germany are still reverberating in the networked conversation, and some creative gems of analogy can be seen in the transition of the issues.
“There are clear similarities between Parreira and the government's economic management and also in the tentative theoretical rhetoric about ordinary aspects of life, in order to rationalize its own absence of courage to take stands. The first common denominator between Parreira and successive government economic teams is the inability of adapting tactical principles to reality. The second, closely related to the first, is the predominance of inertia, the fear of taking the risks of change. Amplifying this, we have the third: pressure from sponsors and/or future hirers and the sport artifacts industry and marketers who add an additional dose of inertia to the game. It is not clear what ‘hedge’ is used by a Nike against the risk of some of its sponsored ones not being chosen to play but those who have it — have it. The fourth commonality is to use irrelevant victories to justify the maintenance of the status quo model. A close victory against unimpressive opponents, as much as an irrelevant growth in the GDP are good justifications for non-action. The fifth similarity is the absence of the political agent, capable of stimulating the ‘animal spirit’ — in the economy to inspire the entrepreneurs to invest and, in the case of Parreira, to make the players play. Big Phil for President!”
Os cabeças de chuteira, por Luis Nassif – HyBrasil
Força Portugal!!!

author: Jose Murilo


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Czech Republic: New Driving Laws · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

My Czech Republic Blog reports on the new driving laws, badly needed in the country with “one of the worst accident rates in Europe.”

source: news-globalvoices

license: Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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D.R.Congo: History repeats itself · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Black Looks has a long essay on the history of the Democratic Republic of Congo, on the eve of general elections there, sparking debate in the comments section. The current situation can be traced back to the exploitation of the country's resources–especially mining–by King Leopold of Belgium beginning in 1882.  This, writes Sokari, led to the dispossession of all land by the indigenous people of the Congo. “Two regions, the Katanga and Kivu provinces most affected by the above distribution of land have also been the most affected by war and conflict throughout the history of Congo.”

author: Luisetta Mudie


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Ecuador: Newspapers with Blogs · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Christian Espinosa links to a new blog by the newspaper El Diario (ES) from the province of Manabí. So far the weblog has been embraced mostly by migrants living outside of their home state. El Telégrafo and La Noticia are the two other Ecuadorean papers with official weblogs.

author: David Sasaki


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Fresh Ideas, New Option, Global Vision: The Brunei Times · Global Voices
Maurina H

A second newspaper, called The Brunei Times has finally been launched on Friday, 30th June, 2006, and debuted the next day, with a motto of “Fresh ideas, New options and Global vision”.
The launch marks the end of Borneo Bulletin's long time monopoly being the sole English newspaper and months of vague rumours and speculations in the blogosphere. For example, the following extract is written earlier in May where Naz from Absolute Nothingness had said:
“A new website has popped up from out of nowhere: BruneiTimesOnline. Don’t be fooled by the name, it doesn’t seem to be the official site of the upcoming English-language newspaper..”
Rano had witnessed the official launching of the newspaper and recorded the moment on his blog, RA.com.
The launching happened this morning at The Mall where all the Board of Directors were present as well as invited guests. The Minister of Home Affairs officiated the opening and he gave a brief speech.
He had adopted a heavilly positive attitude towards the newspaper, saying:
Brunei Times is a totally new concept, similar to Strait Times in terms of layout and it looked more professional and lesser of a tabloid. With a strong team and a powerful BODs on board, I can see a good future for Brunei Times.
The paper has been receiving some fairly good reviews from Bruneian Bloggers.
K had said in his/her blog that it, “looks good and hopefully it'll give the Borneo Bulletin a run for its money.”
David Cheok, on the other hand, had said that the newspaper “seems much better than that of Brunei Press with better colours and a finer resolution.” except that it needs “to be streamlined and fine tuned”. He too is very glad that Bruneians have broken away from the monopoly of Brunei Press.
LSM, had two sides to his reviews, the pessimistic:
Big words from (…) The Brunei Times (…), let’s see if they can deliver. With their official launch on Saturday 1 July 2006, I wish them all the best.
And the optimistic, he gave raving reviews for Sunday's editorial:
I read Sunday’s editorial – ‘Novel Approach to Brunei’ – putting forward the notion of translating local literature into English and have to say I was rather impressed. An editorial that’s timely, relevant (to Brunei) and interesting. Nice catch, guys.
The newspaper had gained a lot of trust it seemed, from the Bruneian Bloggers. My hope is that the two medium of sharing information will one day collaborate to facilitate the availability of less censorship, more transparency and more freedom of speech.

author: Maurina H


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India: Crafts · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Paavani on crafts, craftmanship and increasing its relevance in the contemporary world.

author: Neha Viswanathan


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India: South Asian diaspora and speculative fiction · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Samit Basu on South Asian diaspora and speculative fiction. “Many of the world’s most successful writers of Indian origin live outside the subcontinent yet set their books there, and many critics feel this harms the authenticity of their work. A lot of the criticism stems from the fact that a number of serious literary writers from India are also the most commercially successful writers from India, and “


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Indonesia: Defence Minister’s Blog · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Unspun is glad that the Indonesia's defence minister's blog is attracting global attention. The blogger links to couple of international blogs that are talking about the minister's blog. “At any rate I am glad that Juwono, if nothing else, is helping through his blog to help dispel an image that Indonesia is in the backwaters and its ministers are all banana republicans. Perhaps, in time, the World Bank would not be so easily “shocked” by an Indonesian minister taking to blogging.”

author: Preetam Rai


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Indonesia: Indonesian Proverbs · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Jenny's Journies blog introduces couple of popular Indonesian proverbs and links to a page where the reader can get a longer list.


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Iran: New Work Inspectors · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Etesab writes that Ministry of Employment & Social Affairs will hire 1200 Basij members as work inspectors. According to the blogger Ministry of Employment  & Social Affairs pretends that there are not enough employees in its Ministry (Persian).

author: Fred Petrossian


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Iran: Radios · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Omid Habibinia, media researcher & blogger, shares with us his survey about radios in his blog. 300 Iranians (47% from Iran) participated in this survey and answered questions. One of the questions was: If you find yourself all alone on an island and you are given only one radio to listen, what will be your favourite radio (Persian). Radio Farda was chosen by about 37% of people and became the favourite one. BBC  (about 27%) and Islamic Republic radios (about 10%) got second and third places on the list.


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Jamaica: The day Bob died · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Geoffrey Philp remembers the day Bob Marley died.

author: Georgia Popplewell


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Kenya: World Cup chance? · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

What An African Woman Thinks bemoans the disappearance of non-European teams from the World Cup, but calculates that Kenya has a good chance of both hosting and winning the tournament by 2054.


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Kurdistance: · Global Voices
Deborah Ann Dilley

Happy Wednesday Everyone!  Today's post is going to be short for two reasons: one, I am currently taking an intensive Arabic class this summer and transitioning back to English today is proving to be much more difficult than I first imagined and two, I just fell up the concrete steps to my house and the soreness is quite distracting.  So here we go on this week's edition of the Kurdish Blogosphere train-ride o'fun!
Hiwa from Hiwa Hopes wishes South Kurdistan a Happy Birthday this week:
I am not talking about an anniversary, I mean it, happy birthday southern Kurdistan including myself!
Those of us who did not have literate parents and their dad was scared of being sent to military service very soon were not registered when we were born untill we were three or four years old and then registered younger or older and were given 1st of July as the date!
so on 1st of July almost one third of the pre 80s generation celebrate their birthday and I am one of them!
so if you see anyone these days from Iraqi kurdistan (southern Kurdistan) they might be one of us! my readers might have people who have their birthday as today! if so HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
On the subject of birthdays, Mizgin from Rasti has a message to the US in honor of it's birthday:
If, through their foreign policy, the American people stood defiant against other, massive injustices–regardless of special interests–the entire world would be a much better place.
Americans are not a perfect people and America is not a perfect democracy. However, America is far closer to realizing the universal ideals of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, as those ideals are expressed in the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution, than certain other countries, countries that wear a mask of democracy in order to conceal a heart of fascism.
Kurdish Aspect urges you to spend some spare time watching the documentary “Remembering Saddam's Victims” available online.  An Iraqi's Thoughts expresses hope after seeing a Q and A session with some of Iraq's new ministers.  Free Kurdistan talks about the re-occuring cycle of violence in Northern Kurdistan/Southeast Turkey. And Save RojTv is still continuing their fight to save their TV station.
That's all for our coverage this week….as for me, its back to my verb charts. Ma’ salaama!

author: Deborah Ann Dilley


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Kyrgyzstan: Russians Leaving? · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Yulia reports that there are fears in Kyrgyzstan that ethnic Russians may leave for Russia in response to Vladimir Putin's call for Russians living outside of Russia to move back. She also notes that many ethnic Kyrgyz continue to leave for Russia in hopes of finding work and wonders how long it will be before the country's population consists solely of the bureaucrats who seems unable to keep people from leaving.

author: Nathan Hamm


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Lebanon: Palestine & Israel, Values that don’t work & the Sahsouh · Global Voices
Moussa Bashir

The Lebanese blogosphere this week seems to be directly affected by the situation in the occupied territories of Palestine. Anti-Semitism in Lebanon, the besieging of Gaza, Israeli flag in the World Cup and books by Israelis that “distort” facts are some of the topics discussed. In addition to these we find out about a case where the values we are taught when young do not work well when we get older. We also learn about a common Lebanese practice called the Sahsouh.
Sietske in Beiroet, a Dutch blogger in Beirut, posts on the difficult task of writing about anti-Semitism in Lebanon:
“My newspaper asked me to do a story on anti-Semitism in Lebanon. And on how the terms anti-Jewish, anti-Zionistic and anti-Israeli are being used intermittently. I struggle a bit with the subject because I don’t think most Dutch have a clear idea as to how the Lebanese have suffered from Israeli actions over the past, what, say 40 years now? And I am not taking the Palestinian cause into consideration now, just the Lebanese. […]
But this anti-Semitism issue is a bit of a painful subject here in Lebanon. […] Over here there are very strong anti-Israeli sentiments, and understandably so. As there are so very few Jews (left) in Lebanon […]
I live in one of the most mixed neighborhoods in Beirut, and many people I have spoken with say that at one point in time they either had Jewish friends, or went to school with Jewish people. These have all left since the war. And they will tell you very clearly that they have no problems at all with Jews. It’s the Israelis that bug them.”
The Arab – Israeli conflict was also the topic of a post by Anarchistian where she critiques two books “Six Days of War: June 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East” by an Israeli ex-diplomat Michael Oren and The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World” by Avi Shlaim :
“Let me give him the benefit of the doubt (as I usually generously do with Zionist authors, if only to avoid being accused of anti-Semitism – although at the end of the day it won't matter because unless I support the Zionists I will be considered an anti-Semite) for simplifying this issue, and let's say this cause-and-effect analysis is accurate. […]
Detonating bombs in Egyptian cinemas (by no means empty of civilians) is now considered, by this ex-member of the Israeli delegation to the UN, “vandalism”, but detonating bombs in Israeli cinemas and on buses is of course, terrorism, a terrible crime committed by a people (a people? I thought they considered the Palestinians cockroaches and two-legged beasts for the longest time – still do???) […]
The on going Lebanese National Dialogue received a mocking post from Jamal where the Palestinian plight was also noted:
“As I type this Elie Skaff [Leb MP]and friends are once again meeting to discuss a defense strategy against summer season bugs and mosquitoes. Don't you hate it when you're enjoying a day on the beach and a zionist dragonfly dives into your mojito? That won't happen anymore if Elie Skaff gets his way today in session #500 of the national dialogue. […]
500 Palestinians will be crushed under 500 tanks in the next week. 500 people worldwide will notice, the rest are busy watching the World Cup.”
Perpetual refugee, a Lebanese whose work sometimes takes him to Israel, discusses the warmth of human relationship he experienced when he met three rabbis and how this experienced was marred by the news of the seven family members that were killed on the beach of Gaza.
Ahmad writes on the values that we learn as children and the disappointments that we experience when we grow up:
“When we were little children, they kept teaching us that we should “study hard” in order to succeed. Then in our minds, we made a link between working hard and success.
During university, I still believed that hard work breeds success.
Anyway, working hard to get a grade means that the student has to fully grasp the technical literature, then practice by solving problems before going to the exam. The problem is I never had enough time to grasp 9 courses literature and solve problems. Other students concentrated on solving problems instead of trying to fully grasp the course text, some got better grades than I did. Hence, working hard is not a valid solution.
All this reminds me of Disney cartoons and Uncle Scrooge who would repeat, “Don't work hard, work smart.” After all you will not be judged for hard work, you will be judged for the results. Nobody cares how you did what you did as long as you get it done.”
A Ghanaian player raised the Israeli flag when his team won during one of the matches in the world cup. This incident raised some commotion in the Arab world. Mustapha tackles this issue in a post where he states the different views on the event as portrayed in the Arabic media and goes on to analyze and criticize them.
June being the month against torture,  Moussa writes a post in which he concludes that the situation in Gaza amounts to collective torture.
On a lighter note, Jamal writes about the “ritual” of slapping the back of the neck when one gets a new hair cut, a practice called the Sahsouh:
“The Sahsouh is a ritual performed on a male who's showing off a freshly cut head of hair. It aims at restoring a feeling of warmth to a recently-shaved, cold, and naked neck through a severe blow from the palm of a hand. The Sahsouh is always accompanied with the word “Naeeman” which you'd think means “Die motherfucker!” but is actually part of hair cuttery pleasantries.
There are no documented cases of paralysis caused by a Sahsouh, but any look around town shows that brain damage is clearly widespread.”

author: Moussa Bashir


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Malaysia: Questions for the Foreign Minister · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Lucia Lai is taking the Malaysian Foreign Minister to task for not practising domestically the ideas he is preaching internationally. “wah!! can go overseas to have an interfaith dialogue while right here in our own homeland there are so many people objecting to the interfaith commission (IFC). IFC will be a good avenue for interfaith dialogue, so if our minister like syed hamid, can call for interfaith dialogue, then why object to IFC in our country?”


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Mexico: AMLO Takes the Lead · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Incredible, now it is Lopez Obrador who has taken the lead. Michelle Dion, Matthew Shugart, and A.M. Mora y Leon are all updating on the hour in English. With 85% of the votes in, Lopez Obrador has more than a one percent lead over Calderon, but as Dion explains, “Calderon has more support in the North, so the lead Lopez Obrador currently enjoys is likely to shrink even more.” A number of bloggers are chatting about the recount (in Spanish) at Hipertextual.


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Mexico: Voting Irregularities · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Jennifer Woodard Maderazo translated an article by Mexican intellectual Elena Poniatowska who was among the many to observe voting irregularities on election Sunday. Michelle Dion explains that “the real voting begins today.” Goleech describes the situation (ES) as “hardly expected and nothing desired.”


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Mongolia: Press Attack in Parliament · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Tom Terry responds to an attack on him and Eagle TV, the station he manages in Mongolia, made during a session of parliament by the Speaker of the body.


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Nepal: Constitution, India and the way forward · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

The balance of power in Nepal. Nepali Netbook points to the costs of capriciousness. “In any other place, such an act would have been the gravest admission of incompetence by a newly ascendant political class. But, then, few countries have averaged a constitution a decade without figuring out a clear political course.”


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Peru: Protests Against FTA · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Living in Peru has first-hand account of recent protests against the US-Peru free trade agreement in Arequipa and Lima.


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Poland: Play to be Staged in Tehran · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

An Iranian director has finally been allowed to stage a play by “one of Poland’s best contemporary writers,” the beatroot reports: “Now I get why it will be a great play to put on in Tehran. Dictatorship, false idols, weaklings who think they are heroes…”


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Russia: Beslan Question to Putin · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Marina Litvinovich (LJ user abstract2001, founder of the PravdaBeslana.ru site) has posted a link (RUS) to the 28 questions on Beslan, posed to Vladimir Putin by Russian internet users who hope the president will answer them during an online conference Thursday. Here's one question, translated from Russian: “Dear [Vladimir Vladimirovich]. In spring 2004 we decided to return to our Motherland, to Beslan, after living “abroad” for six years. We sent our daughter to school, found a job. Several months later, Beslan happened. Our daughter was in a different school, thank God. We left again. If you were us, would you have stayed?..”


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St. Lucia: Political meeting · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Matthew Hunte attends a meeting launching the campaign of a political candidate in Choiseul in rural St. Lucia.


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Suriname: Photos · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Vanessa Decort publishes a series of recent photos from Suriname on Flickr.


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Tajikstan: Travel Blogs · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Vadim surveys blogs about or posting on travel in Tajikstan.


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Trinidad & Tobago: Greenlight network · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

The Greenlight Network announces its next “simple, symbolic, creative event”, which takes place on the first Saturday in August and involves asking random people in the street to commit to caring for the environment by wearing a green band around their wrists.


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Turkmenistan: Slow Succession · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Will Turkmenistan's next ruler be the current president's son? Peter of neweurasia examines the speculation that this will be the case.


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Uganda: Amnesty for Kony? · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Yebo Gogo is ambivalent about the offer of amnesty being made to Lord's Resistance Army leader Joseph Kony by Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, who has already reported him to the International Criminal Court, which has issued an arrest warrant. But, writes Fontaine, it would be hard to dismiss such an offer if it would end the cycle of violence, mostly against children.


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Uganda: Entebbe jet video · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Video Journalist Africa shoots some video of an ancient-looking jet aircraft at Uganda's Entebbe Airport, which local people say is the Air France jet whose hijacking prompted the Israeli military raid and rescue operation there 30 years ago. But the tailplane appears to bear the faded letters: “Brit…”


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Uzbekistan: Bad & Good · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Registan.net reports bad news from Uzbekistan, while neweurasia reports some good news.


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Venezuela: 6th Annual Gay and Lesbian Pride Parade · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Michael Fox has an informative summary of the 6th Annual Gay and Lesbian Pride Parade in Venezuela.


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Venezuela: Caracas Among World’s Cheapest Cities? · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Neither Afrael nor his readers can understand how El Universal listed Caracas as one of the world's most affordable cities (ES).


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Zimbabwe: Effects of inflation · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Sokwanele analyses the effects of inflation in Zimbabwe, using the example of a schoolteacher with children and a modest salary.


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Afghanistan: Open Letter to Expatriates · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Sanjar has an open letter to expatriates living in Afghanistan, coining the phrase “expatlordism” to describe what he calls a new type of oligarchy that marks the post-Taliban period in the country.


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Argentina: Music: Turista · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Today I'm rocking out to the Argentine band Turista, whose new Creative Commons-licensed Dulce EP can be downloaded for free at Zona Indie.


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Armenia: Constitution Day · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Onnik Krikorian reports on Constitution Day celebrations in Armenia, saying that they showed off every aspect of life in Armenia.


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Bahrain: Minister Salary! · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Bahrainis are being urged to dig deep into their pockets to support cash-strapped ministers. Silly Bahraini Girl says they are taking too big salaries and compensations.

author: Haitham Sabbah


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Balkans: Regional Languages and Wikipedia · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Dictionary of the Serbian Mess points out the similarity between Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian and Serbo-Croation languages and wonders why they should all be represented on Wikipedia.


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Bangladesh: Dhrishtipat in London · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Drishtipat points to the “Launch of Drishtipat London with the theme of highlighing the Garments workers of Bangladesh “.


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Barbados: Celebrating Rihanna · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Titlayo celebrates the success of young Barbadian hip-hop star, Rihanna.


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Brazil: Google News Drops Conservative News Site · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Luís Afonso Assumpção calls Google News’ exclusion of the conservative, Brazilian news site Mídia Sem Máscara “a political measure of censorship.”


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Caribbean: Reimbursing US travellers · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Simone Champagnie reports that, in light of the implementation of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative on January 1, 2007, the Caribbean is “looking at implementing a program by which the destinations will offer to reimburse Americans visiting them for the cost of the passports required to reenter the US.”


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China: Taste in reading · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

jxhill disusses the difference in the taste in reading among mainland Chinese, Honghongese and Taiwanese. Taiwan is most diversified among the three; Hong Kong is too commercialized; while mainland China has a great potential in further development (zh).

author: Oiwan Lam


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China: The death of Gao Yingying · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

ESWN translates an article concerning the mystery of the death of a young girl: “An old cadre in Xiangfan city angrily told the reporter: the many suspicious points about this case have caused strong reactions among the people and the impact on society and the image of the Party was extremely bad. ”


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China: The shuting down Xiangyang Market · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Dan Washburn in Shanghaiist reports that the tourist spot Xiangyang market was closed down on June 30 under the pretext of IPR violation in the Xinhau news.  Was it real or not? The blogger points out “we guess the $450 million land deal had nothing to do with it. Man, it really sucks that we'll never be able to buy counterfeit goods in Shanghai anymore now that they shut down Xiangyang Market.”
While another blogger jxhill puts up an analytical piece on the blooming of property market in China. The post argues that it reflects the fragility of social trust as the banks always prefer real estate mortgage (zh).


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China: Why wait for the media to tell your story when you can blog it yourself? · Global Voices
John Kennedy

In this fourth and final part of Sichuan-based blogger-journalist Ran Yunfei's (冉云飞) speech given at a Chengdu teahouse earlier this year on his decades of research into the victims of the Communist Party of China‘s Cultural Revolution in the 1950s and 60s, Ran continues answering questions from the audience, and expands on his call for people to take on similar historical research which, in Ran's case, has only found exposure through his blog. As with the three previous segments (123) of this transcript, Ran begins this post by mentioning having troubles posting, presumably due to keyword filters built into his blog service provider [zh].
叶涛：
我想请教一下冉云飞先生和远宏老师，想请你们预测一下在我们中国以后还有没有可能再有反右或者类似的运动出现？
冉云飞：
说实话这是一个艰难的预测，这是一个不可能的预测。如果这个制度不变，如果不是民主制度，就象上次我们纪念胡耀邦先生时我说的，我们纪念他而不是来神话他，想要一个好人来把中国都统治好，这是不可能的，这是幼稚的，这是盲目的。同样我说这个制度如果不变革，不变成民主制度，不变成世界的普世价值，我们的价值观，我们公民的改造，我认为我们现在很多人都不是一个独立的人，很多人没有头脑，很多人没有思想，很多人的价值观很紊乱，很多人缺乏道德底线，很多人缺乏信仰依托，这些东西如果不变，加上政治制度不改革，如果不建立改良为民主自由的制度，我说一句老话，发生文革和发生反右这样的运动都是可能的。现在很多维权人士的遭遇正在说明这一点。但我认为如果我们大家都勇敢一点，大家都努力一点，也可能避免象五七年，象六六年那样大规模的灾难的发生。象小规模的灾难我们天天都有，刚才我来之前还收到一个朋友转来的高智晟先生被几个国安的人跟踪，小灵通被抢走的消息。所以我说我们这个社会绝非可以万事大吉，绝非老百姓真正得到了实惠的机会。我在这里借用我三月一日写的二月所读书目的文章，因为我每个月都要公布出我上个月读了些什么书，公布出来后有人说我是炫耀，我就作了个按语，我说这难道是一个自由无边，生活无虞，生存没有恐惧的值得炫耀的时代吗？肯定不是，我说我是为了自省，自我约束，我说我们这个灾难的国家现在坐在火山口上，确实是这样的，我们大家都感觉得到的。
像去年的超女很多人写了很多文章，而我只写了一篇短文章，都是用文言文写的。我说四九年过后五十年来民众缺少余乐。而这个超女就象黄连树下弹琴，火山口旁取暖，灾难声中作乐。后面我接着说这可能是暴风雨要来临前的一场狂欢。我时刻感觉到这个社会处于动荡不安的阶段。但是共产党却一天都在说和谐社会，说老实话我一点都不反感他们的提法，但是他只有封住别人的利益，封住别人的口的这种和谐，是不能成功的。是不能得逞的，是最终会走向反面的。所以我说到这一点，如果制度不变革，发生反右和文革都是可能的。（鼓掌）
杨远宏：
因为刚才叶先生是向我和云飞提的这个问题，所以我不能避而不谈，因此我还是说几句。刚才云飞先生主要是从制度层面上说的，去深层地分析和推见了这种整风反右和文革在这块土地上可能重演的。从社会学的观点我们现在的时代被称之为后极权主义时代，这个后极权时代和前极权时代的分区别就在于前极权时代有更多。很多的事情都是大规模的发动群众去做的，大规模的整肃运动，使用的更多是硬暴力；而后极权时代更多使用的是软暴力，一种潜在的，隐蔽的，而不是显在的小范围内的整肃打压。刚才云飞先生提到的此前出现的超女现象等等，这种时髦的活动，我们从社会学这个层面来看何尝不是一种软暴力。这是把整个民族的兴趣和注意力引向了一个另外的方向，不再关注个人的私有权利，不再关注自己做人的尊严和品格，这是需要我们高度警惕的。我主要想说的第二个层面就是这种文化大革命和反右整风运动还可能在这块土地上卷土重来的群众基础社会基础还依然存在。
此前我曾经说极权专制最可怕的、致命的还不是仅仅是对人的外部行为的控制和打压，最可怕是是对一个民族的人民的灵魂的深度毒害，和这个民族对这种深度毒害的不知。而我们这个民族正是处于这样一个状态。我的意思是说，既是如此，就象冉云飞先生说的制度层面还存在着可能性，而这个制度层面他要想发动运动他要有群众基础。在群众基础社会基础这个层面也存在着可能性，因此刚才在座的朋友提了一个非常尖锐的问题，也是非常好的问题，是值得我们大家好好地反省的问题。因此我个人认为，对整风反右和文化大革命这样的灾难是不是可能再在我们这块土地上发生的问题从这两个层面来看并不是完全不可能。尽管我们说那个时代永远地结束了。从宏观的全球的普世价值而论，从整个世界发生的潮流而论，我们可以这样讲，但是从微观从政治学方面来讲是存在的。因此我很感谢刚才那位朋友提出的这样尖锐的问题。
（冉云飞插话）：
远宏兄的发言非常好，我这里再补充一句，群众基础是相当重要的，群众基础的研究家勒庞写了本书叫《乌合之众》，还有一个德国一个研究法西斯的学者写了本书叫《法西斯的群众基础》这两本书对于我们来说一点也不陌生。我说我们中国的很多人根本不是独立的人，因为他没有思想没有头脑。什么事只知道跟风，只要吃饱了，甚至没吃饱只要饿不死就满足了，这样的人相当相当多，觉得这样就差不多了。所以我写的那篇文章题目是这样写的，《政府越无耻，群众越感动》，这个话也可以反过来说，叫群众越感动，政府越无耻，就是你越善良他就是越欺压你。
杨远宏：
刚才云飞所表达的和我说的，在这里引用中国人民大学的一个学者他在谈到群众运动的时候曾经说过这么一句话，一旦这种群众的情绪，这种完全被洗脑了的，没有自己独立意识的群众，一旦被宗教狂热般地煽动起来，将会形成一场街头的，打摆子似的群众运动。因此我们必须防止这种打摆子似的群众运动在我们中国重演。谢谢大家（鼓掌）
叶涛：
我再说一点，去年欧洲纪念二战六十周年的会议结束后，全国的政要人员都到奥斯维辛集中营去，他们去的目的就是为了防止这种纳粹大屠杀重演，所以他们的纪念意义主要是为了悲剧不再重演。在欧洲现在到处都有很多关于当初二战的雕塑，它们旨在提醒人们当时的残暴不再重演，从道德上进行各种反思。我个人的观点是如果说我们整体的工作不进行一个深刻的反思，那么当初跳忠字舞的现象还会出来。虽然这是很荒唐很滑稽的，但是被当局挑逗和勾引出来的话，这个忠字舞的现象很容易出现。
邱先生：
刚才听了冉云飞先生讲的，说当时中央宣布大概没有平反的是五个人，章伯钧、罗隆基、储安平、陈 、 、冉云飞刚才说的四川省大概五点五万，我不知道这个数字有没有依据。（冉插话：这是官方公布的）当然这如果是官方公布的话有一定可靠性。但当时全国五十五万右派分子，是毛泽东指出来的，因为当时有五亿多人，毛说要划百分这十，就划了五十五万出来。
刚才冉云飞说到右派名录的事情，我倒有个想法，如果真要搞右派名录可不可以到四川组织部去查档案，或者到成都市的组织部去查，这样就可以走个捷径。你如果以个人的力量到社会上去收集的话，成功的可能性可能微乎其微，所以我觉得要找相关部门去查阅资料可能还要快些。
还有个事情我有点想法，刚才冉老师把五七年反右和五八年五九年反右倾运动联在一起了，我觉得好象有点不太合适。我个人认为实际上五七年的反右和五八年以后的反右倾是有区别的。（冉云飞插问，你的根据何在，有没有资料？）这个根据和资料三言两语是说不清楚的，我也看过很多这方面的资料。应该说五七年的反右和五八年五九年的反右倾是两回事。应该说五七年的反右毛泽东是针对党外的知识分子，而五八年五九年是针对党内的持不同政见者，应该说这个是有区别的。一个是党内，一个是党外。一般来说传统说的反右派是从五七年把右派划了以后就结束了，划了以后就搞大跃进，大跃进以后就是搞反右倾，也就是针对彭德怀他们这样的党内的人员。我就说这点看法。
冉云飞：
我觉得你那几点说法都值得商榷，
小蒋：
我只是想问一个问题，我先说我想问这个问题的原因。象我们这一代，我是八七年出生的，照你的说法遭洗脑是从头洗到脚的了，你们至少还知道一些吧，而我们却完全不知道。我可以这样说，高中我的历史学得最好，可是我到目前我都不知道赵紫阳是是谁，就是这样的。（大家笑）那和我同龄的人是这样的比比皆是。如果我不是一个偶然的情况下遇到杨雨，我也不可能到这里来，能了解到这么多真相。所以我想提的一个问题就是：冉云飞刚才所说的关于右派研究的意义无疑是非常重大的，但是你的效果是怎么样的呢？我只是想问一下效果。象我们这样的人对这些事情完全不了解，而完全不了解的情况下你就拿这些给他们，他们只能认为这是你们这些落魄文人发的牢骚而已。所以基于这点我想问这个问题，就是意义重大而效果如何？
冉云飞：
我回答小蒋的问题也包括回答先前那位先生的提的有些看法。是不是五七五八的反右可以按照他刚才说的分类，根据我手上掌握的资料我认为他那种分类是比较粗疏的，五七年我觉得一样有党内的知识分子被斗争，而且相当多，我手上收集的这类资料相当多。主要是我今天讲得比较略，还没来得及说到关于这方面的情况。我接着说小蒋的提问，说句老实话，年轻人都喜欢一蹴而就，年轻人都想做一件事情马上就要有立即的反映，这是很多人都有的通病，都想一蹴而就，都想传檄而定，立竿见影，但这实际上是不可能的。我可以这样说，一个社会，你不说整个社会，就说你小蒋要了解更多真实，今天这一场演讲就够了吗？绝对不够，懂我的意思没有？一百场演讲也许都不够，你读一百本书，读两百本书就够了吗？不一定够。所以我说对于我们来说，就象我对自己一样，我做一件事既不高看自己的功劳，但也决不低看自己的作为。我每天都在进步，每天都在做一点自己该做的事，比如说我的博客，我可以说有一两千人在看，你千万不要小看网络对一个人的影响，现在要获得信息当然要上网络，而有些人上网络就打游戏聊QQ去了。当然这也无可厚非，这是人的生活方式之一。事实上我刚上去的时候也爱聊QQ，但是当我莫明其妙地聊了半年以后，觉得很无聊，我那时候也喜欢打游戏，从RPG、CS、街机等，这些我都全部打，我可以这样说王怡和余杰是没有这样经历的。他们是好青年，真是好青年。我这个人爱好特别多，我会打麻将，斗地主，三缺一，跑得快，还有锄大地。所以说冉云飞和他们是不一样的，我这个人可以找得到乐子，是个喜欢娱乐的人，但我在娱乐够了以后我会认真地思考一些问题。我说这些的目的是你千万不要一蹴而就。第二你也不要低估自己做的事，我可以这样说，杨雨刚才拿的那本《沉疴》，是我八年前写的。从宏观上讲，我很悲哀，这本书从批评中国教育现实，至今无人能比，我曾开玩笑说在中国三十年都没有人超得过。为什么这样讲？截止目前为止，还没有。第二，中国教育的现实它不可能改变得很快，我可以这样说，这本书拿给那些著名的专家学者的书当中一点也不逊色。我不是自夸，我说这个意思是从教育来讲，改革确实没有达到我们希望的效果，但是还是有一些小的变动，比如说教材的变动，基本上是快到五年一变了，现在形成的教材变动方案还是有些变得好的地方。我还看到一个教材当中选有余杰的文章。当然民间的教材选有王怡的文章，摩罗的文章，还有肖雪慧的文章和我的文章。这并不是说选了这些人的文章这个教材就一定好，但是它至少也扩张了很多思想。让学生知道得更多。事实上我上了网以后我发现很多教师都善于思考，很多一线的教师不错。象大家都记得到的比如说李镇西，还有他请来的一个网名叫铁皮鼓的也不错，还有范美忠这是大家都知道的。今天他们教育第一线网就在举行一个讲座，不然范美忠就会到这里来。还有范美忠的好多朋友，杭州的朋友，浙江的朋友，网名叫阿啃1919的，还有个叫周仁爱，这很多的老师都是极爱读书又相当爱思考的。那么这个社会从目前整体上说来教育改革确实没达到我们的期望，比如说义务教育这个事情，我五前年写了篇文章叫《义务教育是中国的最大谎言》，什么叫义务，首先是免费，第二是强制政府，也就是政府拿了纳税人的钱，必须免费。从小学到初中必须免费，而我们现在是花钱越来越多了，所以我说中国的义务教育全它妈是狗屁。一点都不是义务教育，你看现在至少政府他在提要给农村免学杂费了，这种有些微的进步你还是要认可，你不能说它不是进步。那么如果没有我们这样的批评，他不可能改这样快。我可以这样说，你要是不发出声音，他永远都不想改，你相不相信？所以对于效果的看法我认为有两点，第一是显性层面，也就是直接的原来历史还有这些东西？这点对于你来说是很重要的啊，至于你将来做什么并不重要，你将来对任何事情，尤其是对那些大言不惭，大言玄玄的所谓的宣传，你会有一定的免疫力了。你不会轻易相信，你对报纸杂志不会轻易相信，你对电视台不会轻易相信，你对那些看上去很义正辞严的东西，比如说向雷锋同志学习的这种狗屁东西，你不会相信了。今天是三月四日，明天就要向雷锋学习了，报纸上还在提向雷锋同志学习，关于这个茅于轼曾经说到过，这个先生七十几快八十岁了，非常不错，他写了很多文章，他的文章写得很好，还有林达的文章也写得很好，除了余杰王怡，这些人的文章还有王小波等都写得很好。我可以这样说，我今天的演讲不可能一下子就改变你，但是至少让你多了一个观察问题的角度，所以我认为这就是效果之一。所以千万不要想什么事要一蹴而就，特别是在这个灾难的中国，我们要慢慢来，但是我们不能不做，不能不来，好多人不行动，不努力，不去写，不表达，而我们越不表达，越不写作，越不努力，越不行动，就越加会有更多的灾难向你袭来。谢谢大家。（鼓掌）
杨远宏：
还有没有朋友发言的？刚才小蒋提了个非常有意义的问题，冉云飞先生也做了回答，在我看来，在当下这严峻的集权专制体制下，既然我们的人格我们的灵魂受到了摧毁，因此我沿着云飞刚才说的只表达一点，让我们从今天从云飞的演讲开始，让我们从整风反右的这个惨痛记忆当中抬起头来，首先活出我们做人的体面和尊严，然后一点一点的，剥除我们内心的恐惧感，一点一点地重新建构作为人的人格，和灵魂。今天云飞的演讲就到此结束了，现在以我本人的名义，也希望在座的朋友们以热烈的掌声，再一次感谢云飞先生的精彩的演讲。（鼓掌）
Next week: self-criticism letters posted on Ran's blog

author: John Kennedy


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Costa Rica: How Many US Citizens? · Global Voices
David Sasaki

How Many US Citizen Expats are Living in Costa Rica? If you follow the Costa Rican blogosphere, you might assume millions. But the real statistic and its implications are surprising.


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Development: Influx predicted  · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Curious predicts that Western countries will soon greatly increase flows of direct investment to the developing world, as economic opportunities in the developed world run out. “The west will be falling over itself to throw money into developing countries. Why? Not because of benevolence, but because of greed,” the blogger writes. “The desire to make money will take western conglomerates to the doorsteps of the most impoverished in the poor world.”


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DRC: June 30 UDPS March in Belgium · Global Voices
Alice Backer

UDPS Liege offers (Fr) pictures of a June 30 Congolese March in Brussels. Pictured slogans include: ” Louis Michel, the Congo is not for sale” and “All with Etienne Tshisekedi for free, democratic and transparent elections.”

author: Alice Backer


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DRC: Professor Crem’s Revelations · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Le Blog du Congolais posts (Fr) an interview of Belgian Professor Robert Crem and adds: “this university professor does not stop denouncing the systematic looting of  Congolese mines in general and of Gecamines in particular.  Looting orchestrated by the alliance between Congolese leaders, mafia-like business circles,  international bureaucrats and western leaders.”


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East Asia: North Korean missile · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

North Korea missile test causes a number of reactions from the East Asia blogsphere. China Confidential discusses about China's moderator role in the issue: “Beijing either failed to persuade Pyongyang not to launch the missiles or fooled Washington and Tokyo into thinking it was trying.”
Sun Bin discusses about other theories: “this may be a successful collaboration of the Korea's about Dokdo. But definitely not a good move for NK in the long term. It provided Japan with the excuse it needed to re-arm, and it was a major slap on China's face, especially after China openly appealed for NK not to do that.“
JP from Japundit informs others that Japan’s public broadcasting station NHK canceled its normal serial drama yesterday morning in order to provide news coverage of North Korea’s missile launches.
Robert Koehler from Marmot's hole reports that Koreans in Japan fear backlash from N.K. missile launch.
Richardson from Korea Liberator collects some editorial excrepts from South Korea mainstream newspapers.


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Egypt: Censor The Yacoubian Building? · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

The Yacoubian Building, a movie based on Alaa Al-Aswani's bestselling novel, is to be reviewed by the Egyptian parliament after 112 MPs demanded censorship of the homosexual scenes in the movie. They have criticised the movie saying it defames Egypt by portraying homosexuality, terrorism and corruption, MMM said.


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El Salvador: Top 10 Romero Quotes · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Tim Muth has reposted an interesting list of quotes from slain Salvadoran archbishop, Oscar Romero.


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Ethiopia: Various issues · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Andrew Heavens at Meskel Square points to a stunning level of vagueness on the part of the Ethiopian official media when reporting what Prime Minister Meles Zenawi actually did at the African Union leaders’ summit July 1-2. He also links to his journalistic debut for the Ethiopian news agency.


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French Caribbean DOMs: Telecom Advertising · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Of the three telecoms (Orange, Digicel and Only-Outremer Telecom) offering an increasing number of perks to new customers on the Martiniquan market, InternetRapide.com writes (Fr): “the battle between the two challengers of Orange is promising to take place against an unprecedented  inflation  of new subscriber recruitment costs. And of advertising investments … Hundreds of billboards reserved by the telecom operators on the sides of our roads make the roads dangerously monotonous to drivers  (…) The coming months will be fascinating.”


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French DOMs: Petition to Nominate Cesaire for Nobel Prize · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Reunion's Max Belvisee announces (Fr) that a petition is circulating to nominate Martinique's Aime Cesaire for a Nobel Peace Prize. (Aime Cesaire is one of the founders of Negritude, a francophone literary movement and the current mayor of Fort-de-France, Martinique's capital.)


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Government protests Blogger’s Column · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

mr. brown, A popular Singapore blogger had written a column in a newspaper talking about the rising cost of living. A spokesperson from the government responded in the same newspaper
mr brown's views on all these issues distort the truth. They are polemics dressed up as analysis, blaming the Government for all that he is unhappy with. He offers no alternatives or solutions. His piece is calculated to encourage cynicism and despondency, which can only make things worse, not better, for those he professes to sympathise with
Singaporeangle feels that the tone of reply could have been softer
Even if the intention was not, the perception from the reply is that the government is less willing to receive feedback, especially it they are not positive. We should ideally offer constructive criticism and alternatives for issues raised, but it may be challenging for ordinary citizens, even journalist such as Mr. Brown, who often does not have sufficient information to always do so.
The protest letter also stated
If a columnist presents himself as a non-political observer, while exploiting his access to the mass media to undermine the Government's standing with the electorate, then he is no longer a constructive critic, but a partisan player in politics.
Ridzal questions this claim that mr. brown is exploiting his access to the mainstream media
mr brown’s column is published in the Voices section of the newspaper, a section that is dedicated to the expression of the opinions, thoughts and concerns of its columnists, as well as its readers who, should they choose to write in to the newspaper, have as much access to the mass media as mr brown. Therefore, I do not see how mr brown could be seen to have exploited his position as a columnist to sway opinion one way or another towards the Government.
Blogger Heavenly Sword thinks that the officials misunderstood Mr. Brown's column and tries to interpret what mr brown was really talking about.
The response from MICA, nonetheless, did not surprise me. (You mean you're surprised?) :) I can see where it's coming from, and I respectfully acknowledge what it's saying. But the purpose of this short post has been to argue that MICA's interpretation of Mr Brown's original article is wrong, hence triggering an overly harsh reply to an actually-innocent Singaporean.
Singapore's blogosphere exploded with comments and support for the blogger including this tribute video hacked out of a Hong Kong movie.


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Guinea: Rights abuses reported · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

In response to a nationwide strike protesting increases in the prices of rice and fuel, Guinea’s security forces committed murder, rape, assault and theft against demonstrators and bystanders alike, according to the latest news release from Human Rights Watch Africa.


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Guyana: With new eyes · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

A new pair of glasses highlights the interesting domestic dynamic of an Amerindian couple, as witnessed by Guyana-Gyal.


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Haiti: Chinese Policemen to Join UN Mission · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Collectif Haiti de Provence, a France-based Haitian blog, points to a Radio Kiskeya article that writes (Fr): “125 newly-minted Chinese police officers will be sent to Haiti in August in order to join the UN Mission [MINUSTAH] (…) Specialized in anti-riot operations, Chinese policemen were among the UN units that helped prison guards quell a mutiny in Port-au-Prince's main prison a couple of hours after President Rene Preval's inauguration on May 14.”


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Hong Kong: activists gathering in Guangzhou · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Sunfai blogs about an activist gathering in Guangzhou and discusses the differences among foreign, Hong Kong and China activists. He comments that whenever foreigners showed their concerns about China, the nature of the issue was usually shifted or deviated; while Hong Kong activists continued to act like comprador between western foundation on China problem (zh).


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Hong Kong: Choosing leader · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Miss Lee in Summer discusses why one is forced to choose a leader from among Donald Tsang, Anson Chan and Regina Ip, all of them were key official in the government before the handover of Hong Kong to China (zh). ESWN has a partial translation of what she wrote.


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Hong Kong: What will make a newspaper special? · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

“So what will make a newspaper special? The content, the specific content, and the breaking content. That will make people curious to know the “new” thing from the newspaper, not the thing already given in the press release, not the repeating of the stock market annoucement.” Amy in Amy in a crazy Hong Kong discusses about her expectation in her new job.


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Hungary: Taxing System · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Paul of Further Ramblings of a N.Irish Magyar describes how the Hungarian taxing system doesn't really work and thus ensures many people's survival. He also writes about declarations being made to fix the system and the dire consequences this may bring: “Like I said before, in a democracy everyone should be paying their taxes. But in a modern democracy every citizen has a right to expect a certain minimum level of health-care, pensions and unemployment benefit. The Hungarian state simply does not provide this and until it does, any proposed enforcement of employment taxes can only have catastrophic social consequences.”


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Hunger strike & Gaza conflict · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Akbar Ganji, dissident journalist and writer, invited Iranians to join him in a three day hunger strike on 14 – 16 July to attract world-wide attention to political prisoners in Iran. Several bloggers supported his proposition but some expressed their doubt about such an action.
From virtual world to a real hunger strike
Sibitala, a Canada based blogger, says she supports Ganji’s idea for a three day hunger strike (Persian). She wrote in her blog Binesh Hassanpour from Toronto University concerning this protest action:
Following a phone conversation with Mr Ganji, it was specified that the three-day hunger strike (July 14-16) will be held without pause, i.e., we don't go home at night. As for subsistence, it's water, tea and sugar. He also encouraged us to involve our non-Iranian friends and colleagues. Mr Ganji might be writing a statement on the hunger strike that we can utilize for publicity; once we receive this via email, we'll distribute it. Remember that one of the strike's purposes is to demand the release of Ramin Jahanbegloo, Mansour Osanloo and Ali-Akbar Mousavi Khoeni.
Yadshthaye tanhayi invites bloggers and others to participate in this hunger strike. The blogger adds that he wants to support his hunger strike call in the real world and not only in the virtual environment (Persian).
Why only just three names?
Nasle Farda, Iran based blogger, says he has always admired Ganji’s courage even though he does not share most of  Ganji’s opinions such as his liberal approach to economic. The blogger says Ganji is one person, he has no political party and he does not represent any social class or any group. You cannot make a revolution with only one person (Persian). He adds:
I do not expect this kind of hunger strike to make any difference in Iranian political life. I do not understand why Ganji just named three political prisoners.
Iranian affairs are not the only issues that Iranian bloggers talk about. International hot news such as the conflict in Gaza has created a few interesting reflections among Iranian bloggers.
Right to have peace
Fovad Shams says we should look at this conflict beyond Israel-Palestine confrontation (Persian). The blogger says
It is a conflict between an Israel dependent on capitalism, and political Islamism where they kill people for their benefit. A woman said Israel could not force me out of Gaza for the last 50 years but Hamas mismanagement …obliged me to go to join my family in Canada. Look what political Islamism has brought for people in a short period.
Naghde Hal writes Gaza should be a place for people to live, not a battle ground between Hamas & Israel (Persian). People should live there beyond their religion, ethnic or linguistic back grounds. Please bring back life to the children in this bloody Gaza.
Third World disappointed!
Mohammad Ali Abtahi, a reformist politician & blogger, is disappointed by western countries’ reaction regarding Gaza conflict (Persian). The   west has  invited all people to choose democracy and its values on one side but on the other side western countries do not condemn Israel acts against democratically elected Hamas Ministers and elected deputies in Parliament. The blogger adds
The outcome of such events is that Third World countries won’t follow anymore democratic way and more wars will happen.


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India: All that cricket · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Arrey Baba! fresh after the cricket match between West Indies and India in the Caribbean. “We have the world champions Australia and the no. 2 team South Africa coming here for the round robin stage, so that is gonna be a good match. “


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India: Temples and religion · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Temples seem to be going through a controversial time. This time, it's about a non-Hindu entering one. “National award winning actress Meera Jasmine was made to apologize and pay for purification rituals for having entered a temple in Kerala inspite of being born into a Christian family.” Drisyadrisya updates on the petition.


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Iran: To Live or to Survive! · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Iran Emrouz says according to Iranian Central Bank statistics prices of basic products such as bread or sugar go higher and higher. The blogger says the majority of Iranians just cover twenty percent of their needs and they should do second or third jobs to survive. The blogger adds most people in Iran do not live a life ; they just survive (Persian).


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Jamaica: A reggae novel · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

“I would write a reggae novel, and I would call it, Benjamin, My Son,” writes Geoffrey Philp in his two-part account of the genesis of his first novel.


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Jamaica: At the US Embassy · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Scratchie is displeased with the way the US Embassy in Kingston treats those awaiting appointments, but acknowledges “the roaring business opportunities that have been created surrounding the rules that one must abide with when visiting the Embassy. There are cellphone holders and baggage handlers and. . .”


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Kenya: Blog webring birthday · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie


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Lebanon: Maronite church · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Maronite church in Lebanon is under attack, and his church is suddenly facing an existential battle against forces determined to weaken its influence. Mind you, that would be a good thing if the aim was to separate church and state, but that is sadly not the objective, Abu Kais said.


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Mexico: Calderon Win, Obrador Sues · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Are there penalty kicks in presidential elections? Perhaps there should be. With 100% of the ballots counted Felipe Calderon was declared victor by half of a percentage point. Randy Paul, in a comment, observes that Mexico is one of the few Latin American countries which does not require a 50% majority to avoid a runoff election. Publius Pundit is ecstatic and has a typically thorough review of English-language reactions. But don't think it's over yet – as Ana Maria Salazar and Mexico Votes 2006 both make clear, this presidential contest is headed to the courts. In fact, Salazar goes so far to write, “Mark my words.. We will not know who the new President is until August, possibly September. For now, there is a legal battle ahead and a media battle.”


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Nepal: Federalism · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Democracy for Nepal explores federalism as a model of governance. At one end we have people who are opposed to the very concept of federalism, or suggest turning Birendra's arbitrary five development regions into states that are at best crude concepts in administrative decentralization.”


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Palestine: Arab-Asian Culture · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

One of the most interesting part of studying Arab culture are the numerous connections between so many other cultures. The interaction between the modally based traditions of the Arab World, Iran and South Asia has been quite rich. Laith have noticed that a lot of Arab pop music stars have been releasing songs that are half in Arabic and half in an other languages, particularly Hindi/Urdu.


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Palestine: Gaza: Numbers In The Dark · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

21,000 children will lose the chance to enroll in kindergarten and summer camps. Some 80,000 children will suffer psychological problems from fear of darkness and nightmares. 200,000 households lost the source of electricity. Food stuff storage for the basic commodities (wheat, rice, etc) will not last for more than two weeks, and 170,000 households will loose source of cooking energy in one week. 120 tons of food and medication stored by some 7,000 organisation and establishments in Gaza, are dependent on refrigerators and are under risk of damage… more numbers in the dark from Gaza by Naseem.


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Poland: Political Humor · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Our Man in Gdansk quotes a Polish satirist explaining why his job of making politicians appear funny is too easy.


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Poland: Prize for Biased Coverage of Economics · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Our Man in Gdansk wonders whether it's appropriate to award journalists for “defending the principles of market economics independently of political circumstances”: “I disagree with the none-too subtle implication that running an economy is apolitical. If economics is removed from the domain of politics, as GW, Reuters, the Polish National Bank and the Association of Polish Journalists seem to think, it means that the plebs cannot influence it. And they moan about low voter turn-out…”


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Release the divine antichrist! · Global Voices
Rosario Lizana

Photo from Iván Alvarado.
José Pizarro, usually dresses as a woman, is a self-made poet, homeless, and calls himself “the divine antichrist.” He has lived in a very intellectual area since 1985, in the centre of the capital. With time , he has become very popular. Everything was as normal in the neighbourhood until the people start asking, were is he?
The government authorities took him to a mental medical centre, for medical care. All the neighbours started an internet and media campaign to recover his freedom and let him stay as a homeless man on the street. The blog's name is  “Release the antichrist” (ES) and they used the medium to inform, call for meetings and organize a protest in front of the mental medical centre. In the first post,  titled “why did they take him?  (ES)  there are more than 90 comments of support. Cony comments
“ Definitely, he is not crazy, a friend bought his book, he is the most wise person, more than others that say they are because they have a PHD in sociologist or philosophy…but what this guy expresses in his book, no one else can explain. Freedom!!!.”
They also have made available a page with his poems (ES),  photos on a flickr account and a fotoblog (ES).
Two days ago the divine antichrist recovered his freedom. Now neighbours are coordinating a way to help him and they wrote
“we have contacted a psychiatrist to advise and give us more details about the technical situation. Be aware, when we get more information we will post it” (ES).

author: Rosario Lizana


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Reunion: Potential Volcanic Eruption · Global Voices
Alice Backer

According to (Fr) Dijoux.re, Reunion's “volcano has been grumbling lately and local government has decided to put in place a plan of vigilence. An eruption is possible in the days and weeks to come. The last activity dates from December 2005.”


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Russia: Chechnya-Related News · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

David McDuff of A Step At A Time has translated a Prague Watchdog story about a recent special operation conducted by the Russian troops in a Chechen village. He also reports that Tom de Waal, an expert on Chechnya, has been denied a Russian visa.


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Russia: Thoughts on Mikhail Kasyanov · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Edward Lucas, the Economist's Central and East Europe correspondent, writes about a disappointing conversation with former prime minister and opposition politician Mikhail Kasyanov: “That seems very odd to me. Russia is increasingly nasty at home and abroad – and the main pro-western challenger for the presidency says that we shouldn't defend its victims, for fear of making things worse. It's a familiar tune from the past (‘give us what we want or it'll get much nastier’). But here it is again, coming from rulers and opposition alike.”


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Solar i-Pod charger · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Afromusing promises to test out a new gadget: a solar powered i-Pod and mobile phone recharger.


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Somalia: Al-Qaeda links claimed · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Somaliland Diaspora writes that the Union of Islamic Courts (IUC) which took the Somali capital Mogadishu on June 4  is al-Qaeda-linked, and that the country could soon emerge as a worldwide haven for terrorists, along the same lines as the Taliban in Afghanistan.


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South Korea: Sexual slavery · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

James J. Na in Korea Liberator discusses about trafficking of women for sexual service from South Korea to D.C. “South Korea is a source, transit, and destination country for women who are trafficked for the purpose of sexual exploitation…“


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Tajikistan: 20 Dirhams · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

What does 20 Tajik dirhams get you? A whole lot of trouble, says Elizabeth.


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Ukraine: Oleksandr Moroz is Elected the Speaker · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

LEvko of Foreign Notes posts on the latest developments in the parliament shortly before the vote for the speaker. Socialist Oleksandr Moroz wins the position (unexpectedly for many), and LJ user vaxo (journalist Vakhtang Kipiani) sums up the situation (UKR): “The Communists – who belong in the garbage pile of history – and the Regionals [Party of the Regions members] – many of whom belong in jail – have elected O. O. Moroz the speaker. Congratulations to all, and especially to citizen V. A. Yushchenko: the Orange revolution is over!”


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Ukraine: Parliament Not Working Yet · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

LEvko of Foreign Notes continues the saga of the Ukrainian parliamentary confrontation.


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Yerevan: Out With the Old & In With the New · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Lara of Life in Armenia decries the destruction of Yerevan's historic structures.


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Argentina: Music: Soda Stereo · Global Voices
David Sasaki

“Someone has told me that solitude hides behind your eyes” is Kari's favorite line from the Soda Stereo song Tratame suavemente (treat me softly), which you can listen to yourself if you act quickly.


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Argentina: Recommended Works from iSummit · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Couldn't make it to this year's iSummit? Not to worry, Ariel Vercelli has compiled a list of works included in a DVD handed out at the conference (ES).


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Armenia: Artists & Wheelchairs · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Myrthe writes about an article by English artist Mick Oxley's recent trip to Armenia. While there, he worked with a local artist, Arsen Asatryan, who, like him, uses a wheelchair to get around. In her comments on the article, Myrthe discusses attitudes towards disabilities and accesibility issues that unfortunately lead to many disabled people staying out of public.


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Armenia: Change · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Che of ArmYouth Blog says that everyone wants others to change in Armenia, but that the simplest way for change to happen is for people to make changes in their own behavior.


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Blog buzz from India: Religion, politics and Monsoon · Global Voices
Kamla Bhatt

I think providence conspired that I write about the two subjects that really don't mix: politics and religion, but mercifully these two subjects are punctuated by rain and travel posts.  This week we look at a new and changing India, the monsoons in Bombay, the Sabrimala temple controversy, Tibetan monatries and temples of Karnataka and finally celebrate Mahinder Singh Dhoni's birthday. Dhoni is the current poster boy for India's millions of cricket lovers.
The new and changing India has been widely covered these past couple of months by  International Media. Adding his voice to the India changing chorus recently was Pankaj Mishra, who wrote two articles on India: one was published by the Guardian and the other was an op-ed piece in the New York Times. Bloggers had plenty to write about Mishra's articles.
Anthony of Amar Akbar Anthony questions the recent article by Pankaj Mishra in The Guardian and wonder what is Mishra really talking about? He writes:
“As the piece continues I find Mishra to be less persuasive than usual: some of   his interpretations of facts are problematic, and his subject is so large as to   probably defeat comprehensive treatment in a short essay.”
Read and discover for yourself what else he has to say on this subject.Sharath of The Broad Cast writes that Pankaj Mishra's article is “a good reality check but too much venom that puts one off …”Is India a Superstar aks Madhat in his post? Read and discover what he has say about this new and changing India.
It rained cats and dogs (and continues to rain) in Mumbai/Bombay.  Let us start with some before and after pictures of Bombay.  Revenge of Smith writes about his trip to Bombay before the rains, and has some great pictures of South Bombay, also known as “town.” Ryan Estrada writes that during the monsoons Bombay turns into the Venice of India and he shows how the city undergoes this watery transformation in pictures.
GS of Chummachumma has visuals of the heavy rains in Bombay and writes;
“it rains in spain mainly in the plains. but in mumbai it rains and rains….it would pour endlessly.sometimes for days together without stop.life would go   on.children will put on their overcoats and continue going to school,collegians   to their colleges and officegoers would take it in their stride and report for   work.in mumbai,life goes on without stop.”
Like many folks from Bombay Abodh takes the heavy rains in his stride and suggests that one should learn to enjoy and fun during the monsoons. He writes:
“But on the flip side, Mumbai rains do   have its own charm and romance. Here is a list of things to do in the rains but   as a true-blue Mumbaikar don't miss work and indulge in these activities.” Read on to discover his suggestions for having fun during the rains.”
Gagan Kaul writes that heavy rains, and lack of electricity did not put a damper for those determined to enjoy. Gagan watched two movies and uploaded pictures — all thanks to  laptops or “lappies” and their long battery life. I must confess I have never heard laptops referred to as lappies…must be a new word.
We stay on the west coast of India, but travel down south to Kerala and the Sabirmala temple controversy. The temple is accessible mostly to men. Recently the temple was in the center of controversy and Gaurav writes:
“Banning the entry of women into temples, is that the right thing to do. Is that   the right thing to do, when we are living in a so called civilized world. I   would say NO.” Read on to discover what Gaurvav thinks of this recent controversy.
This is what Tanmantram has to write about women going to the Sabrimala temple:
“Should women go to Sabarimala? No! They should not if the rule says so. Who made   the rules? Whoever made the rules, if the rule says so, they should not go.   Should you take the 41 day penance, celibacy before you go to Sabrimala?”
We stay in South India and mosey over to the neighboring state of Karnataka,  best known for Bangalore, the Silicon Valley of India. The state is also home to a large number of Tibetans, who have re-created their own little community in the state, complete with Buddhist monestry, restaurants etc at Bayalakuppe. For some inexplicable reason quite a few people appear to have had Bayalakuppe and Coorg on their minds this monsoon season.  Kulveer Singh Chawla writes about his travels to the monastry and has some great pictures. MS Sriram too writes about his trip to Bayalakuppe (pictures included) enroute to Coorg, a beautiful mountain region of Karnataka. Sriam first heard about Bayalakuppe at Paris airport and writes:
“There are several settlements in this area and each one of them is a small   kingdom in itself. Our first target was to go to settlement No. 4 – this seemed   to have the best monastry [visually] with a golden temple.”
Read on to discover what else Sriram has to say about this region. Elyssian Fields writes:
“I assumed its a Hindu temple may be temple with a famous golden idol of the   goddess etc. This little is an understatement settlement – Tibetan – in a valley amidst in   the hills on the BM highway is something i least expected .”
Finally, we look at cricket, and not at the current world football games underway in Germany. Mahinder Singh Dhoni turned 25 today, and there is no dearth of well-wishers for India's favorite cricket player. Aparna of Vetti Ideas pleads that readers should bear with her while she writes one more post on Dhoni. With that kind of earnest plea you are forced to read the rest of her short post. Shinjan Chakraborty of The Bengal Tiger wishes “the pride of India,” on his birthday.

author: Kamla Bhatt


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Bosnia-Herzegovina: French Officer Helping Karadzic · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Balkan Ghost of Finding Karadzic is looking for more info on a French military intelligence officer who is said to have “regularly informed Liljana Karadzic of pending anti-Karadzic operations and plans by NATO and EUFOR between 2002 and 2004.”

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Bosnia-Herzegovina: Sarajevo-Born Sephardic Musician · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Kirk Johnson of Americans For Bosnia writes about a Sarajevo-born Sephardic Jewish musician Flory Jagoda: “[…] (Jagoda has lived in the US–married to an American–since after World War II) who was born a Bosnian Jew, the descendent of Ladino-speaking Sephardic settlers from Iberia […]. She was a Bosnian by birth, despite being Jewish, despite the fact that her ancestors came from Spain. Now she is an American, even though she treasures her Bosnian and Judaic heritage.”


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Bosnia-Herzegovina: Yet Another Srebrenica Mass Grave · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Srebrenica Genocide Blog re-posts an article on the discovery of yet another mass grave. The massacre's 11th anniversary is in four days, on July 11.


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Brunei: Gender Wars · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Blogger blogger ourlocalstyle looks at the gender wars in Brunei.


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Cambodia: Electricity and Progress · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Joseph au Cambodge wonders if  the price of electricity in Cambodia is holding back industrialisation.


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Cambodia: Pol Pot’s Cremation Site · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Andy Brouwer visits former Cambodian ruler Pol Pot's cremations site. “IA couple of days ago I posted a photo of Pol Pot's birthplace. It seems only right that I should now post a photo of his cremation site, where in April 1998 millions of Cambodian's were denied any real opportunity to seek justice for the crimes committed in his name by his regime, when he died following heart failure.”


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Caribbean: New series of news blogs · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Online newsmagazine Caribbean360.com announces a series of blogs by writers and columnists.


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Colombia: FARC’s Political Will · Global Voices
David Sasaki

As Colombian President Álvaro Uribe begins his second term, Adam Isacson tackles two difficult questions: Has the FARC rediscovered politics? Does it matter?


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FGM: Harmful Culture · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

The Concoction writes about female genital mutilation (FGM), providing a brief history of attitudes among the international community towards the various forms of the practice.

author: Luisetta Mudie


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Ghana: Drug smuggling · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

E.K. Bensah has some thoughts on combating drug smuggling out of Ghana, following the arrest of popular Ghanaian singer Daassebre in the U.K.  with two kilograms of cocaine.


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Guyana: Government ignores Caricom? · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Demeraralighthouse sees the non-attendance of Guyana's President and Security Minister at two key Caricom meetings as a sign that “the Guyana government has apparently embarked on a policy-position to ignore the 15-member Caribbean Community (Caricom), sacrificing the regional organisation for its own partisan domestic political agenda . . . .”


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Guyana: Is the fridge male or female? · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Guyana-gyal's doubts about her refrigerator's gender leads to more general confusion about non-sexist language usage — all in a tongue-in-cheek way, of course.


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India: Arranged marriage and litigation · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Sepia Mutiny on when arranged marriages turn sour at the match-fixing stage, and some parties appear to turn to litigation. “I love how her “complexion” is litigation-worthy and her teeth were examined like she was a horse-for-sale.”


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India: Blank Noise Project · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

The anatomy of a campaign. Kiran on the Blank Noise Project, his perceptions and the larger scheme of things. “As Yashas Chandra put it at the gathering yesterday, they’re hacking society’s attitudes, one little bit at a time. Power to them. As for the revamped website, that must unfortunately wait for funding.”


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Indonesia: Back to 1945 Constitution · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Martin Manurang disagrees with  Indonesian elites who want  to go back to the original 1945 constitution.  “The reality and challenges for Indonesia in 2006 are not the same as they were in 1945. Of course, there are still much to do to make the current amended constitution more perfect, but what we have now, in my opinion, is already much better.”


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Indonesia Double Take to Israel and Looking at the Future · Global Voices
A. Fatih Syuhud

Politics, sport, business towards Israel
Ahmad Qisai at Politics and Society highlights the ever growing tension between Israel and Palestine and Indonesian government decision to boycot the playoff of  the World Group II in Tel Aviv later this month but seems to have a double standard in case of economy. He said,
The unjustified ‘collective punishment’ by Israel to the Palestinian people seems to have evoked contradicting responses in Indonesia. Being a staunch supporter of Palestinian cause and statehood, Indonesian leaders think that Indonesia needs to show her sympathy and solidarity to the Palestinian people. But sport and business in Indonesia seem to have different take on this Israel – Palestine political conflict.
Based on the precedence set by Indonesia Chamber of Commerce (Kadin) who had government nod to go to Israel, the Indonesian Fed team should go ahead as they are invited by an independent institution not by Israeli government:
… Showing sympathy and solidarity to the Palestinian people does not mean that we have to sacrifice our national interests. Kadin has given this example. Being able to play more active role in international forums to pressurize Israel to solve the conflict in the region peacefully is more important for Indonesia than boycotting a tennis tournament.
Charity There, Charity Here too
Yosef Ardi at Indonesia Today, one of the most active Indonesian blogger-journalist discusses a new phenomenon among Indonesian big bosses: setting up a charity foundation. Even though some skeptic see this current trend with cynical view, they got no less appreciation from some other corners. He wrote:
Some praised these foundations for what they have done so far, just like Bill and Melinda Gates or Warren Buffett who decided to give away most of his fortunes to Bill's foundation. These foundations are aggresively announce what they called ‘donations’ or corporate social responsibility (CSR)…give scholarships or professorships to big universities…give billions of rupiah to help the victims of the recent Yogyakarta earthquake or tsunami in Aceh…
But others are cynical, especially certain names with poor track records (still) and considered the criminals to the state as bad debtors or walked away smartly with huge burden to the state and the people..or their current operations of destroying forest for raw materials.
Looking up to the Future
Martin Manurung, in the meantime, disagree with  the current statements made by many national figures like Abdurrahman Wahid, former Indonesian president, who urges the nation to go back to UUD’ 45 philosophical constitution instead of go ahead with the reformasi. He believes that:
Leaders are called on to build their nations by creating the future rather than investing in the past, vision matters more than ever. Vision requires what looks to others like a leap of faith: the ability to go beyond the data and to make a smart guess.

author: A. Fatih Syuhud


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Iran: Jahanbegloo & Prison · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Omid Memarian, journalist & blogger, writes about Ramin Jahanbegloo, jailed intellectual, and his own experience in prison. The blogger writes the Islamic regime is so suspicious about the role of civil society actors such as journalists, intellectuals and academics. According to the blogger, Jahanbegloo was among the optimist scholars who care about the Iranian society by putting all their efforts on changing the social and political life by increasing people’s conciseness by education, dialogue and bringing up questions. He adds when I was in the prison, I was facing with the same story. I couldn’t imagine how their mistrust was deep… I saw things that I thought they are all just stories created by people’s imagination but not real. It was real.


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Kazakhstan: Internet Crackdown · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

With the passage of Kazakhstan's new media law, the government may be preparing to go on the attack against online journalism and other loosely regulated media, reports Leila.


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Kazakhstan: United · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Rico of neweurasia discusses the merger of two political parties in Kazakhstan and its consequences. The first of the two parties is that of President Nursultan Nazarbaev while the other is that of his daughter, Dariga Nazarbaeva.


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Kenya: Rural-urban divide · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Bankelele takes a look at the current Kenyan government–much complained about by urbanites over issues of press freedom and corruption–from the point of view of the country's farmers, and finds a slightly different story.


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Laos: Rugby Tournament · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

The Samakomlao blog covers the Asian Nations Series Division 6 Rugby tournament where Laos lost all the matches that it played.


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Latin America: Poll Numbers · Global Voices
David Sasaki

If polls can be trusted, then it's happy times for Colombian President Alvaro Uribe and quite the opposite for Ecuador's Alfredo Palacio. It's Friday, time for Boz's weekly poll numbers.

author: David Sasaki


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Martinique: First Caribbean Social Forum · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Le Blog de [Moi] is pleased (Fr) to learn that the first  Caribbean Social Forum is happening in Martinique this week (July 5-9) but does not think its timing was particularly smart what with the World Cup's final taking place this weekend as well as an annual cultural fair in Fort-de-France.


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Mexico: Oaxaca’s Popular Parallel Government · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Dave Pentecost mentions and Nancy Davies explains that “the Popular Assembly of the People of Oaxaca (APPO, by its Spanish initials) declared itself the governing body of Oaxaca on the morning of July 5,” just three days after the nation went to the polls.


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Mongolia: Pressure on Eagle · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Tom Terry responds to charges against Eagle TV from officials in Mongolia, saying that the accusations made against him and the television statement are quite serious.


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Nepal: Weddings and the public domain · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

United We Blog! on why the wedding of a public figure is a matter of public concern. “A Nepali Congress leader who was one of the invitees equated the party in terms of lavishness with that of the army chief’s daughter, and said this is a matter of public concern.”

author: Neha Viswanathan


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New Caledonia: Collecting Clothing for Local Tribe · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Sebastien from 5 Minutes en Nouvelle Caledonie  is (fr) officially collecting clothing for the local Koulnoue tribe at the request of one of its members.  Interested potential donors should email him at sebastienmerion@yahoo.fr. He posts pictures of members of the tribe and promises to post regular updates of the tribe's life.


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Nigeria: A PC for all · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Grandiose Parlour writes about a the Computers for All Nigerians Initiatives (CANI), a government-private sector collaboration aimed at increasing PC penetration in Nigeria, which is currently only at seven in 1,000.


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Pakistan: Salman Rushdie · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

The Organic Brew on Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children – “But my own personal perspective is that the book and its characters are really more about the great tragedy of Kashmir and her people than meet the eye at first. This is of necessity placed in the cultural milieu of India, but to confuse the two would be to under appreciate this seminal work.”


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Panama: Database of Trees · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Al Aire Libre! links to a bilingual database of Panamanian flora (ES) from the Institute of Tropical Investigations (STRI).


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Peru: Jimena Sanchez Velarde · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Liz Henry has a great introduction to Peruvian political blogger and lawyer, Jimena Sanchez Velarde.


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Puerto Rico: Cycle of violence · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

For Gil the Jenius, an incident involving the shooting of four young men by the father of a 17-year-old girl underscores the cycle of violence that is becoming more prevalent in Puerto Rico.


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Racism at the World Cup · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Forum Realisance says (Fr) of the World Cup: “What shocked the French is that June 27 at the end of the match against Spain, they were received with primitive ape-like screams by … Spanish spectators! And according to French and Italian papers, the same insulting screams were heard on Plaza Colon in Madrid. (…) It is time that  monetary damages intervene and that Western governments stop hiding behind semblances of efforts that are meant to justify their failures.”


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Russia: G8 Summit Preparations · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Sean Guillory writes about Russia's preparations to the G8 Summit in St. Petersburg next week.


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Russia: Putin’s Controversial Order · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Yuri Mamchur of Russia Blog writes about the controversy surrounding Vladimir Putin's “recent order to ‘find and destroy’ the Islamic terrorists who killed Russian embassy workers in Iraq”: “Human rights groups call [it] illegal; Duma makes it legal.”


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Russia: Putin’s Online Conference · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Snowsquare writes about yesterday's online chat with Vladimir Putin and some of the questions asked and answered during and after it.


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Serbia: Belgrade’s Parking System · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Brooke of Desperate Serbwife writes about Belgrade's unique parking system, a “hidden gem” that other countries seem not to appreciate enough to borrow: “When you park your car downtown, you pay for your parking by texting your license plate number to the parking officials and pay via your cell phone bill at the end of the month. You can buy one hour at a time and it's enforced by a meter maid coming along with a handheld computer and typing in your license number – if your number is not entered, you get a ticket, if it is, then the meter maid just moves along.”


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Serbia: Symbols of the 1990s · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Belgrade Blog begins a series of stories about the 1990s and their symbols in Serbia: “Popular monthypython-like TV shows of the time included jokes about trading a liter of blood for liter of gas and calling it ‘a good deal’.”


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Serbia: Tourism · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Belgrade Blog posts a rough translation of an article on tourism that appeared in a Serbian publication: “Some tourists complain that portions are too large in our restaurants. Often they are double the size of what you receive in Western eateries […]”


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Somalia: Pray or die · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Ethioblog and The Voice of Somaliland Diaspora both react to an edict handed down by a top cleric in the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) regime emerging in Somalia, to the effect that Muslims who don't observe prayers five times daily will be put to death. Ethioblog draws a fair number of comments on the post.


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South Africa: Media strikes back · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

“It's good to see libel lawsuits aren't stopping some South Africa media outlets from continuing to take shots at former deputy president Jacob Zuma,” writes Yebo Gogo.


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Srilanka: Being young, female and a journalist · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Cynically Yours on equality, gender and being a journalist. “The first disadvantage that came to my mind involved age, gender and profession. I'm not yet twenty, I'm a journalist and I'm female. This combination makes it very difficult for me to function to my maximum capacity as a journalist. “


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Tajikistan: Improving Education · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Vadim writes about improving the quality of education in Tajikistan, arguing that the main problem that must be addressed is corruption.


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The State of the Argentinean Blogosphere: Tucuman · Global Voices
Jorge Gobbi

Original post in Spanish here.
Following the notes dedicated to Argentinean provinces, this time we'll talk about Tucuman. In this case, I've had more time to prepare everything and I've also had the invaluable contribution of many bloggers, that have helped me build a wiki of Argentinean blogs, arranged by cities and provinces. In the case of this post, we'll use Tucuman's page. Of course, you can always help add all the blogs made in Argentina; the only important thing is to locate them in its corresponding geographic space defined beforehand.
One of the most common topics when we talk about blogs of a region is to ask if there is a blogging community or if there's a rather dispersed scene. “I fact I don't know if I would talk about a blogosphere in Tucuman, I'd rather talk about bloggers from Tucuman”, says Carlos Ckozusko, from Ckozus. “I guess our Tucuman background might be what we have more in common than any topic in our blogs”. It's ok. Luckily, the Internet allows us to build affinity networks where geographic location is practically irrelevant”. And Gustavo Coronel says: “It's dispersed, but with experiences such as Tucu Blogs -a Yahoo! mailing list- we will start to bond.”
And Gustavo adds: “A few months ago I came up with the idea to meet other bloggers from Tucuman and started to leave in their sites invitations to get together. That's how we coordinated 3 meetings, where I participated in the 2 first ones. The idea is to make a website all together, and we're working on it”.
About the experience of keeping a blog, Carlos says the best thing is “precisely, the people I met, from Tucuman and other places as well. It's not always necessary that things are shared with people located geographically close”. And for Gustavo “it's quite comforting to meet people that I couldn't meet otherwise, my site was created around february, 2005, and nowadays I have many new “friends” that met me through the website”.
We'll start with the portal that is one of the references of Tucuman blogs, Tucumanga. From there, many bloggers meetings are organized, specially from the capital, San Miguel de Tucuman. A summary of some of these meetings can be found in this link. There's also a mail list of Tucuman bloggers, called Tucublogs.
GustavoCoronel.com.ar is a blog from Gustavo Coronel, dedicated mostly to topics related to new technologies and the Internet. Ckozus also works in a similar style, although with predominance of opinion and science notes.
With a style closer to that of personal blogs, we have Marcos de Referencia, from Marcos Bauza, where technology, art and political news live together with lots of opinions. In this style we also find, No lo Sabias, of various topics. The blog de Melina Imhoff, however, gives music a high priority. Killa, from Belen Cabrera, also follows very diverse topics, from politics to technology. To stay on the range of personal blogs of diverse topics, we can also list Introverted, Un poco de tu propia medicina, Ktarsis Ya, and Planeador.
Desvaríos en la Luna is an unconventional blog dedicated to poetry and word games. In a similar style, there's Bet.
Webcreatividad is a blog dedicated to interdisciplinary proposals that link education with technology, and that's coordinated by the teacher and researcher Karina Crespo.
Sobre la tele is a thematic blog about showbusiness and television.
As a unique initiative, we find Usuarios al poder, a blog created to resist the proposal of raising the urban bus fare in the city of San Miguel de Tucuman.
Making this article really took its time, to sort the noticeable number of blogs and the help I got from many bloggers (Belen Cabrera, Gustavo Coronel, Carlos Ckozusko). If I made any mistakes, please point them out in the comments area and I'll fix them. Thank you for your help. By the way, this text is dedicated to Aguilares, my mom's birthplace. Well, I can't help the sentimental note to end this article :)

author: Jorge Gobbi