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Zambia: Mwanawasa – King or President? · Global Voices
Brenda Zulu

2008 starts with bloggers in Zambia reading local newspapers and making a few comments on the stories. Mwankole asks is
Mwanawasa – King or President?:
Mwanawasa’s recent statement regarding Prof Clive Chirwa’s intention, to contest the MMD presidency are a sad reflection of the infancy of democratic governance in Zambia. “Now, let me give a timely warning to people who have been outside. They have been outside living in a foreign environment. They come back to the country and think that we are all foolish; we are all incapable of providing leadership and now they are God sent people,” Mwanawasa.
Does a Zambian citizen lose the rights and privileges of the constitution just because one lives abroad for a period of time?
Might this, also be a symptom of a culture or perhaps politicians, still evolving from the traditional administrative structure of chiefs to the constitutional structure of political leadership elected by universal suffrage.
Of course, there is nothing wrong with an incumbent President endorsing a preferred successor, however in the Zambian scenario, it is the personal ownership of the Presidency that Mwanawasa and Chiluba before seem to claim and enforce that sparks grave concern.
This suck up to me, kneel before me, acknowledge my slightest gesture or movement and by all means ask my permission mentality, is what I as Prof Chirwa find unpalatable.
This mindset sadly, also underscores the reason Mwanawasa and others before him seem to play games with the constitution review process.
Zambia Gamefields Investment Journal also observes that Zambia Wildlife Authority official, Andrew Nkhoma, continues to sabotage community development:
A report just received from the Chairman of the Luembe Community Resource Board in the Luangwa Valley, is that the Nyimba ZAWA Community Liaison Officer, Andrew Nkhoma – who recently was party to the illegal arrest and abuse of a foreign hunting client – see http://zambiasafarihunting.blogspot.com and his seriously ill professional hunter, used undue pressure on Board members at a meeting on 28 December (convened to workshop finance management) and obtained a statement of condemnation of Mbeza Safaris operations and its delivery of community assistance. The Chairman has written a letter of objection to ZAWA.
Mbeza, which is funded by its holding company, Gamefields, the latter investing to the tune of $1.6 million in Mbeza and in the Luembe Conservancy Trust since 2003, was bought to assist in the development of the area. However, officials such as Nkhoma, doubtless upset by our revelations on the Nyimba ZAWA office's operation of a bushmeat and ivory poaching operation, would wish to have us removed, joining those with similar sentiments at ZAWA HQ and in some political circles. The only reason that Gamefields and Mbeza continue investing in Zambia is precisely because we have overwhelming community support. Should that not be forthcoming, we would be the first to accept that we were not wanted, and pack our bags. Mr Nkhoma has not heard the last of this.
ICT Journalist writes, “Wi-Fi – Today’s Pioneering Broadband Wireless Technology“:
All broadband technologies can lead to enormous economic and social benefits for peoples of every development level. The key to success is a combination of favorable regulatory, economic and development strategies that support broadband deployment.
Zambia now offers the ubiquitous ability of a wireless communications network that has been always been thought to be the main advantage of a mobile communications network. Sub-Saharan mobile communications networks have lately grown in capacity, robustness and coverage. What determines the choice of a network now is the value added services and applications that it is able to offer. Most networks have attained their optimum speed in the provision of data services and in GSM, which most, if not all sub-Saharan networks are offering – the maximum data rates can only get up to 9600 kbps. This has to be in a good coverage area.
Issues of matters also adds his voice on trouble torn Kenya in the post elections. He observes:
Today Kenya is facing two distinct destinies. One is the possibility of someone with Kenyan blood in his veins on the brink of becoming president of the world’s only super power, the US. The other real possibility is that the country of Barack Obama’s paternal ancestors is on the brink of breaking up.
The reason why today Obama faces the possibility of making history as the first black American president is because of the democracy that has evolved over the last 300 years in that country. On the contrary, Kenya risks breaking up because of the failure of democracy in that country in the less than 50 years it has been independent.
On at least two occasions Obama has been to Kenya to visit his paternal grandmother who is still alive, on one occasion he was an anonymous traveller whose suitcases even ended up in South Africa, but on the other occasion as a US senator, everything went like clock-work. Even trees in the village he went to were given a coat of paint.
There is a possibility still that when he will be travelling on Airforce One as the most powerful man in the world, Obama may want to go back to that Kenyan village to eat nyamachoma and kachumbari prepared not by White House chefs, but by his grandmother, drink not triple filtered water from White House, but water from the stream near his grandmother’s village.

author: Brenda Zulu


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Pakistan: On Provocation · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

The Pakistani Spectator on a radical right-wing politician in Holland who is planning on broadcasting a provocative anti-Muslim film.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Neha Viswanathan


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Pakistan: Wheat and Inflation · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Metroblogging Islamabad on how the price of wheat shot up – thanks to the government's premature calculations and policies.


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Palestine: Gaza Under Seige  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Bloggers around the region are adding their voices to an international outcry as the Gaza Strip falls into darkness. A four-day Israeli blockade on the strip has led to the closure of the territory's only power station because of the lack of fuel.
Jordan:
From Jordan, Khalida explains the situation on the ground:
Sometimes there aren’t enough words to describe what we are witnessing and what the news keep shoving down our throats every morning till we reached a point that nothing surprises us anymore, but what is happening in Gaza comes as a shock that leaves the majority of us speechless and helpless …
In a time and life that human rights are becoming a major factor in how societies are governed … in a world that the international community is judging the backward Middle East because of honor crimes, poverty, violence against women and primitive culture … the same community is standing still to watch as Gaza is being crucified and executed … it is cold and they don’t have heat … they are cut out from the rest of the world … and as well as they are dying by bullets and military attacks; they are also being killed by hunger and cold …
I choose to raise my voice to say STOP … ENOUGH … Life is not a game and just because they reside in Gaza … it does not make their lives of any less value than any other human in any part of the world …
Palestine:
Umm Khalil, from Palestine, posts links to news coverage about the crisis here. She also posts photos of the Israeli bombing of the Palestinian Interior Ministry, where a woman was killed and 46 people, who were attending a nearby wedding, were injured.
Egypt:
Hossam Al Hamalawy, from Egypt, posts an email he received from Mohammad Omar, in Palestine.
The message says:
Where to start…, what to talk about…? The crippling electricity shortages, affecting hospitals as well as civilians? The air strikes & on-going, daily bombings by the Israeli army, their indiscriminate targeting of civilians and police stations…? Israel ’s non-accidental, enforced starvation of 1.5 million people by closing off ALL borders and not allowing in even UN aid, let alone basic medicinal, food, and construction needs…?
Shortages of fuel have re-surfaced in Gaza : most of Gaza has no electricity and even more importantly, the shortage of medicine in Palestinian hospitals continues to increase, with the Ministry of Health reporting a looming humanitarian catastrophe.
Or should I begin with the bomb which just hit a wedding close to the Ministry of Interior building in Gaza City , with 15 apartment buildings within the bomb’s target range? One woman was killed and 47 others were injured –mostly children and women who had been inside their homes or playing on the street!!
Still in Egypt, Zeinobia laments Egypt's role (or lack of) in dealing with the crisis. She complains:
I will start with the bitter fact that the Egyptian role as leading country in the Arab world , as if Egypt does not care I found today that Saudi Arabia is calling for immediate urgent Arab summit in Cairo to discuss what is going in Gaza for Siege , the Saudi Arabia is the one that is calling for immediate summit , not Egypt , Egypt is the one that should call for this summit immediately , with my all respect to Saudi Arabia.
On Gaza, the blogger writes:
Now let's go to Gaza , one of the worst things ever in the problem is that Egypt is exporting natural gas to Israel for the cheapest price ever that created a loss to us where the people in Gaza are in terrible siege
Already the least thing Egypt can do is to open the borders and send immediate medical aids to the Great people of Gaza who hided our soldiers and officers in 1967 ..
People shame on the world and shame on us .
Gaza has no light or power in the middle of terrible winter. This is a conspiracy to get rid not only from Hamas but from the people of Gaza ,these people are suffering in the worst way ever.
Lebanon:
From Lebanon, Green Resistance, calls for just that.
Resistance.  What does that mean? “the act or power of resisting, opposing, or withstanding” … and “the capacity of an organism to defend itself against harmful environmental agents”
Gaza is in darkness.  Where is our cry? Where is our resistance?
Still in Lebanon, Ibn Bint Jbeil posts a number of paintings and cartoons to drive home the suffering in Gaza. He also writes:
Gaza, Palestine, the largest concentration camp on Earth, is today under the most brutal, inhumane, genocidal siege. May God protect and bless them.

author: Amira Al Hussaini


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Peru: Thoughts on Options for US Elections · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Peruvian blogger Nómad Andrea provides her thoughts on a recent Washington Post article about voting for a minority or woman candidate in the upcoming US elections.  She writes, “being a woman or a member of a minority group guarantees a fair government?  I think not and Condozleezza Rice is a good example of that.”

author: Eduardo Avila


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Philippines: Early campaigning for 2010 polls · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Philippine political parties and politicians are already preparing for the 2010 presidential elections. This is disappointing since important social reform measures are sidestepped as politicians begin to concentrate on their presidential ambitions.
Philippine Politics and Elections provides a shortlist of possible presidential candidates. Journalist RG Cruz mentions the potential tandems in the 2010 polls. JP Mercado, who will be a first time voter in 2010, is already researching the background of some rumored candidates. Smoke suggests ten platforms for the top ten potential presidential candidates.
The Mt. Balatucan Monitor thinks the main choices appear to be “unpalatable.” Peter Laviña New Blog quotes a legislator who believes “the long period between now and 2010 should serve as a winnowing process to level the playing field.”
Pedestrian Observer is frustrated over the early campaigning of politicians:
“So many presidential wannabe’s jockeying or rather scrambling to position themselves this early is just pathetic…this would be another comical if not tragic chapter in the annals of dirty politics of the nation.”
Daily Musings reminds candidates over the disadvantages of early campaigning:
“While starting early may give us an idea of the candidates’ plans, it may also work against them in the sense that by the time the actual campaign period starts, their resources may already be depleted.”
Nomadicasian’s Weblog has a bleak prospect for the 2010 polls:
“It will be bloody because killings and election fraud will dominate the drama and the Philippines, as this third world country will remain in the doldrums of hunger, poverty and restlessness.”
Glenrose is wondering why no candidate has spoken of the need to modernize the election process:
“Strangely enough, out of so many aspirants who had spread open their presidential ambitions in the table like a deck of cards, not one of them — repeat, not a single soul among them as of this writing — has professed to help ensure that the next elections should be as professional as the candidates themselves, technology-driven, and consign to museum the manual counting of old (as old as the 2007 elections, though). Unless an automated presidential derby two years hence is secured, would-be candidates better drop their dizzying obsession for now and buckle down to work, to contribute even an iota of an effort to make the modern, computerized elections a reality in Philippine politics.”
Only in the Philippines explains why an endorsement from the incumbent president is a kiss of death:
“The problem with the administration is that they weren’t able to develop a strong candidate because of President Arroyo’s negative ratings. The constant issues on corruption, political killings, and bombings keep on coming with every day that passes. It’s reached a point wherein people think that being endorsed by the President is like a kiss of death.”
Schumey has a similar analysis:
“With Gloria Arroyo's popularity in the gutters and her trust rating in the sewer, she is the last person any aspirant would want to be their endorser. Her virus is far-reaching and everything or anyone she touches disintegrates into immorality.”
Uniffors has an advice for Vice President Noli de Castro. Cheftonio’s B log is supporting the chairman of the Metro Manila Development Authority. The Equalizer highlights the seven keys of leading candidate Senator Mar Roxas. Two politicians known for exemplary leadership at the local level is contemplated as a possible tandem too.
Iniibig ko ang Pilipinas appeals to overseas Filipinos:
“We need to form a party whose candidates will all be coming from the overseas Filipinos. Idealistic, vibrant, educated, technologically-savvy, full of good ideas, noble, morally upright and most of all, free from the deadly virus of graft and corruption. I'm sure we can find among the eight million Filipinos in diaspora, one thousand five hundred good men and women to run as Mayors in their respective towns, two hundred forty good men and women to run for Congress in their respective districts, Twelve good men and women to run for Senate, and one good man/woman that we can rally behind to run for President.”
Babbleboyquito criticizes the political system of the country:
“The headline of yesterday's paper was about how the political parties are already planning who they will field as presidential candidates for the 2010 elections. 2008 just started and now they're already thinking about 2010. I think that's the problem with our political system. We are perennially in election season. As soon as one election ends, politicians already start campaigning for the next one albeit discreetly. They forget about the task at hand of trying to improve the quality of living of their constituents.”
Pinoyblogero on blogging and the 2010 polls:
“Candidates for the 2010 presidential elections would start their own blogs. Campaign managers would advise presidential candidates to have their own blogs as a promotional tool for their campaigns. Candidates don’t really need to write on the blogs, they would just hire someone to do it for them.”
Hurting’s Weblog will vote for a candidate with these qualities:
“I will stick to the candidate who is young, intelligent, and highly moral. That is what we actually need. Someone who is straight and strong!”
Perspectives of a bum describes the road each candidate will pass during the campaign period:
“The road to Malacañang is a dangerous one, albeit very exciting so to speak. One might do everything to arrive there first. One might fall back along the path and never recover. One might become impoverished of wealth or of friends. It is a road surely only one wins, but a road a lot dreams of. It is the seat of power after all and power, as history tells us, can breed greed.”
Candidates should answer the questions posed by Zeamae28:
Are you willing to serve the people and our country? Or will you just run as president for your own undying political ambition?
Mayan tells voters to be more intelligent in 2010:
“When 2010 presidential election comes, let us not all be blinded by the glitz, glamour and phony advertisements and press releases of these politicians.”
Thoughts Asylum believes it is not too early for politicians to confess their political plans for 2010:
“How could a supposedly responsible senator, whom we voted to supposedly think about the nation’s future, be saying it’s too freaking early to talk about something happening in the next two years?”
Related articles: Election season begins, Interesting election results, Violence and Philippine elections

author: Mong Palatino


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Puerto Rico: Banking on Talent · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Gil the Jenius is all for creating a National Talent Bank.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Russia, Moldova: More on Natalia Morar’s Case · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

More on journalist Natalia Morar's case – at Sean's Russia Blog (plus an interesting discussion in the comments section).

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Russia: Nashi’s EU Visa Problems · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Sean's Russia Blog writes: “Natalia Morar is persona non grata in Russia. More and more Nashi activists are becoming persona non grata in the European Union.”


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Russia: Rating Western Democracies? · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

“Stung by Western assessments that Russia is becoming less free, Moscow officials say they will create a new organization of their own to ‘rate’ democracy in the U.S. and other Western countries,” Window on Eurasia reports.


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Serbia: “Endorsed by… Bill Gates?” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Belgrade 2.0 writes about a Serbian “presidential candidate using Windows desktop wallpaper in his official campaign as well as something at the end of the video which reminds pretty much of some Windows sound.”


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Serbia: Presidential Election · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Reluctant Dragon casts his vote in New York and writes somewhat pessimistically about the results of the presidential election in Serbia.


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Sierra Leone: Six months in Sierra Leone · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

A Sierra Leonean blogger writes about her experience after moving back to Sierra Leone from USA: “I’ve been in Sierra Leone for 6 months now and I must say…its been hard, frustrating, humbling, and lonely. When I first got here my sense of purpose was strong and comforting. I knew I was here to make a difference and a difference I would make indeed.”

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Slovakia: Facebook Community · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Deleted by Tomorrow writes about the Slovak presence on Facebook.


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South Africa: Cape Town food blog · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Andrew invites readers to his Cape Town food blog: “As a child sitting at my mother's feet as she baked pies for the tuisbedryfe of the Peninsula (the first word out of my flour dusted head was ‘pie’), I learnt to be an unashamed foodie, and this blog is going to explore some of the fantastic places and personalities that have made up the Cape Town catering and restaurant scene.”


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Taiwan and China: Prisoners in Freedom City · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Hsiang-Tai posted the documentary about the life of Hu Jia and Zheng Jinyan under the monitor of national security police. The Taiwan blogger pointed out that: If China really wants Taiwan back, please change yourself first! If not, sorry I would not agree Taiwan is a part of China.

author: Oiwan Lam


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Tajikistan: Children and Energy Crisis · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Vadim translates an excerpt from a news report about a baby who died in a hospital because of electricity cut-off in Tajikistan amidst continuing energy defivit in the country.

author: Adil Nurmakov


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Thailand: Blog Censorship · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

iTeau's Dirt looks at a Thai blog portal censoring its members blog.

author: Preetam Rai


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Trinidad & Tobago: ‘Mas in April?   · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“They should save their symposium-organising money and use it for something else, because the idea is just plain absurd”: Caribbean Free Radio responds to news that a group of “Carnival stakeholders” is proposing “that Trinidad and Tobago’s age-old pre-lenten Carnival be moved to a more ‘convenient’ date”; while Nicholas Laughlin writes: “These are the same people who have cut Carnival off from its community roots in the name of corporate sponsorship.”


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Turkey: Crocodile Tears? · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Erkan's Field Diary posts an account of attending Saturday's memorial to slain Turkish-Armenian newspaper editor Hrant Dink in Istanbul on the first anniversary of his murder by an ultra-nationalist youth. The blogger says that while he is pleased to see some consensus in Turkish society about the tragedy of Dink's death, he also has to wonder how much is actually genuine.

author: Onnik Krikorian


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Turkmenistan: President Legitimizes Opera · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Steve LeVine reports that President of Turkmenistan Berdymukhamedov is finally starting to disassemble the weirdest decisions of his predecessor. Today he legalized libraries, the circus, cinema and the opera.


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Turkmenistan: Russia Wins Gas War · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Steve LeVine opines that Russia seems to have put the last piece in place for a triumph in the epic war to control the natural gas supply between Turkmenistan and Europe.


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Ukraine: Book List · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

A hyperlinked list of English-language books on Ukraine – at Orange Ukraine.


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Ukraine: Lutsenko, Chernovetsky, Illegal Land Deals · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Ukrainiana offers extensive coverage and analysis of the recent fight between Ukraine's interior minister and Kyiv mayor, and the issue of illegal land deals – here and here.


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Albania: BBC Journalist’s Blog · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

BBC's Mark Mardell blogs about his trip to Albania.


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Algeria: Wrong Description · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

From Algeria, Nouri the Moor objects to an LA Times article which describes slain former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto as the “first elected leader of a Muslim state.” ‘What about this guy, this guy, this guy, and this guy? Maybe they meant “the first elected female leader of a Muslim state”?’ he writes.


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Argentina: Hip-Hop and Cumbia Mashups · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Argentina Travel Guide introduces Zizek, a Wednesday night feature at the Niceto Club in Buenos Aires.  Guest DJs, including Diplo from the US, spin hip-hop and cumbia mashups.


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Argentina: Patagonian Lamb · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Juan Pablo Meneses of Cronicas Argentinas [es] is now in the Patagonia region of Argentina looking for a good place to try the famous Patagonian lamb, cooked as “a rustic, delicious alternative, over an open fire.”


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Bahamas, Bermuda: Law Enforcement  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“If they can minimize these minor crimes that would be a good start”: Sidney Sweeting at WeblogBahamas.com attends the induction ceremony of the Bahamas’ new Police Commissioner.


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Bahrain: Ashoora Reading · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Bint Battuta attends Ashoora events in Bahrain, and shares some reading material about the rituals here.


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Belize: Mourning Palacio  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

As Belize continues to mourn the death of Andy Palacio, Belizean posts a short bio of the country's most iconic musician.


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Brazil: Blame the Oscar rules · Global Voices
Paula Góes

“The exclusion of The Year My Parents Went on Vacation from the nominations for the foreign-language  Oscar should not be blamed on the quality of the film itself or the timid campaign to promote the film in the United States, but on the stupid rules for this category”. Chico Fireman [pt] says it all.

author: Paula Góes


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Brazil: Global anti-Chavez propaganda or coincidence? · Global Voices
Paula Góes

Luiz Azenha [pt] on anti-Chavez propaganda: “I am interested in investigating whether there is a connection between the campaigns that run in the United States with what happens in other parts of the world – in Brazil and in Europe, for example. I mean physical or financial connection”. See also one of our posts about a Brazilian TV show accused of being anti-Chavez propaganda.


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Cambodia: National Symbol On Sandal · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Cambodian netizens are angry with the Vietnamese who are selling sandals that have Angkor Wat printed on them. The temples at Angkor appear on Cambodian flag and currency notes.


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China and Hong Kong: Citizen Reporter Exchange · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

I have written a post on the weekend exchange between Hong Kong and China internet citizen reporters at interlocals.


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China: Erasing Zhao Ziyang  · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Chris O'Brien from Beijing Newspeak puts together official state media's report on premier Zhao Ziyang from 1989 to 2005, when he passed away.


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China: Flowers in the Press Conference · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Imagethief notices the flower addiction in Chinese Press Conference.


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China: Netizen Growth · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

China Network Information Center has it latest report on the development of Internet released last week. The number of netizens has reached 210 millions in 2007 and the center explain the rapid growth by the increase of rural netizens. Keso finds the 127% growth incredible (zh) and if China keeps up the growth rate, by end of 2008, Chinese netizens would constitute half of the world's netizen population.


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Cuba, UK: Visual Expressions · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Child of the Revolution‘s interest is piqued by a new London art gallery's exhibition of the work of Cuban visual artists to show how they “discuss contradictions, ambiguities and social negotiations in Cuban life”.


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Egypt: Gaza In the Headlines · Global Voices
Eman AbdElRahman

Here are the latest headlines from the Egyptian blogosphere decrying the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza. An Israeli blockade has plunged Gaza in darkness, sparking international calls and anger on the Arab street to stop the carnage.
Since words are lost and bloggers from around the region have already had their say, I will be brief and bring you headlines from Egypt's Arabic blogosphere.
Watany, writes an article entitled: “Fasting until they end the Gaza siege.”
صائم حتى يرفع الحصار عن غزة
Lesani moltofy, talks about a girl who sent her an email from Gaza and writes:
“Wait for us will until we die.”
إنتظرونا حتى نموت
And Mowaten mat-hoon asks -after posting horrible pictures of the massacres: “Where are the national movements, after the death of the official one.”
اين التحرك الشعبي بعدما مات التحرك الرسمي
Meanwhile, Zeinobia writes in her blog post “To light a candle for Gaza”: “Shame on Egypt that the borders are still closed. No. Shame not on Egypt, but on the Egyptian President.”
و عيب على مصر ان تكون الحدود مغلقة
هو العيب مش على مصر و لكن على حاكم مصر
While Bent Masrya in her post, entitled Take me with you to Gaza, is lost for words but posts a few links stating her opinion.
إلى غزة خذوني معكم
Ana Ikhwan writes an article entitled: “The darkness of murderers and no excuse for anyone.”
ظلام القتلة…ولا عذر لأحد
And Morakeb Masry makes his point with the headline “Gaza burns in the darkness..You Infidels.”
غزة تحترق في جنح الظلام يا كفرة
Last but not least, Erham Demaghak writes, in a very short but to the point post: “Eight o'clock in El Shifa Hospital, the emergency generators will be switched on, to delay the death of those in intensive care for a few more hours ..”
الساعة الثامنة ستعمل المولدات البديلة في مستشفى الشفاء، لتؤخر موت من هم بالعناية المركزة لساعات أخرى..

author: Eman AbdElRahman


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Hong Kong: Strawberry Kids · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Duimanpark comments on a recent suicide committed by a nine-year old kid because he only has 80 mark in school test. The blogger is worried about the emerge of strawberry kid phenomena. It refers to too protective and fragile kids who are not able to withstand any pressure (zh).


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Iraq: Flag Change · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

“The Kurds did it, the Iraqi parliament today approved a new interim design to be approved for one year with a majority of 110 out of 275, 100 MPs were absent from the session. The new flag drops out the stars only,” writes Iraqi Konfused Kid.


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Israel: Being Taken for a Ride · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Being taken for a ride? Yael from Israel shares her story with a taxi driver here.


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Israel: Israeli Bloggers Respond to Crisis in Palestine · Global Voices
Maya Norton

Overview of the Situation–
On Thursday, January 17th, the Israeli government shut the border crossing between Israel and Gaza, stopping the flow of all goods between the two countries, including food and fuel. On Sunday, Gaza's power plant announced major cutbacks, and by Monday, an estimated 40 per cent of Gaza's population was experiencing blackouts.
With food supplies running low and hospital generators rapidly losing power, international relief groups, including the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, Oxfam, and the World Health Organization declared a looming humanitarian crisis.
In response to mounting international pressure, including a personal phone call from Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak to Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, the blockage was partially lifted and 13 aid trucks entered Gaza today with supplies from Jordan.
Gaza's border with Israel was closed down in response to an especially high number of rockets launched last week. Elder of Ziyon's January Qassam Calendar counted the combined number of rockets at 138 on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Since the border closing, the number fell to a total of 50 on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, increasing again to 18 today as the border was partially opened.
Over the last seven years, over 6,300 rockets have been fired by Gazan militants on Israel's civilian population.
Israeli Bloggers Ask: What Would You Do?
Israeli bloggers ask, “What would you do? How would your country react?
Rachel, a rabbinical student living in Jerusalem and the author of the Rachel Chronicles, is critical of the media's condemnation of Israel, asking them to think about Israel's options in the face of ongoing rocket fire on civilian populations.
“What I am not impressed with is the quickness with which people, the media, organizations, etc. are ready to abandon Israel and paint the Israeli government as either an evil empire that submits an entire population to collective punishment, or a weak government that  can't keep its’ own residents safe. When the Gaza power plant decided to shut down, did it also turn off the lights to the world's critical eye?…
The spin that all the major newspapers in the States is that big bad Israel is cutting off Gaza. And while it is true that the border crossings have been closed, Israel is being very careful not allow a humanitarian crisis to emerge – at least outside of the city of S'derot, which is the one that they are trying to prevent…
S'derot has lived under a barrage of rocket attacks for the past seven years, or so. Israel has been very very patient and blatantly turned a blind eye to the daily torture that Gaza militants have poured on them. It is time for that bullying and harassment to stop. And while I respect the right of the Gaza civilians to live in peace, until the people that they fund, support, house, and hide stop trying to murder the people of S'derot, I will support the Israeli government's attempts to stop that murder.”
Yael of Oleh Girl adds to Rachel's criticism of what she perceives as the media's slanted reporting.
“A lot of newspapers carried as headlines, Abbas’ claim that Israel was conducting a ‘massacre.’
Nowhere did you read during the three days that such headlines listed above were appearing that, during those same three days more than 130 Qassam rockets hit the Israeli city of Sderot. Also during those same three days, more than 80 mortars were fired from Gaza into Israeli civilian communities along the Gaza border. Nowhere did you read that… snipers fired repeatedly at civilian targets or that Hamas issued a statement calling for constant sniper attacks against Israeli farmers and farm workers. Nowhere did you read that, in just the past year alone, Palestinian militants have launched considerably more than 1,000 rockets targeting the civilian population of Sderot.”
The Gentile Warrior questions why Israel is seen as the aggressor when its civilian population is also under attack, and asks how Gaza can simultaneously attack and demand services from Israel.
“Israel didn't do this just for the heck of it. Why doesn't this group accost Hamas, Fatah, and Al Aqsa to stop launching rockets into Israel? Why is the respondent considered the guilty party? If the “palestinians” would stop launching rockets they would have food and fuel. Instead, they allow their elected and unelected leaders to continue with attacks on Israel and expect Israel to keep feeding them. This is beyond insane…
This is a self imposer humanitarian crisis. The “palestinians” brought this retribution down on themselves. This same civilian population put Hamas, a [known] terrorist organization, in charge. This is the repercussions of that ignorant act. Besides, isn't it quite embarrassing to rely on Israel for your basic needs? The same nation the “palestinians” want to erase from the map is the one that can shut off fuel supplies as well as food? It is suicidal to want to destroy the only supplier of daily necessities…
Have them come to us unarmed. Have them come to us after they have overthrown the murderous regime they have put in charge. Until then let them have their self-induced humanitarian crisis. The longer the world caters to these murderers the long they will commit murder.”
David Bogner of Treppenwitz echoes Gentile Warrior's concerns and asks why humanitarian aid is not being channeled through Egypt's border with Gaza.
“Gazastan cannot continue to be both an openly hostile entity, committed to Israel's destruction… and at the same time a fully dependant beggar-state that relies on Israel for all of its basic needs. This kind of dysfunctional relationship has never existed before in the world, and I dare say no other nation would tolerate such a parasitic situation to continue.
The Gazan border with Egypt is, for all intents and purposes, open. Weapons, money and people pour across from Egypt unchecked every single day. There is no reason why the world can't channel it's sympathy for the Gazan population into humanitarian aid supplied via Egypt. Except, of course, that this would remove the albatross from around Israel's neck… something that nobody really wants to do.
The world seems to enjoy the delicious irony of Israel being forced to keep the lights and heat on in the kassam workshops and explosive laboratories of Gaza, even as the lethal fruit of those laboratories rains down on the heads of Israeli civilians in the western Negev.”
World renowned author (and occasional blogger) Naomi Ragen gets specific. She points out that many of the employees of the Ashkelon power plant are residents of neighboring Sderot and that Ashkelon has additionally been the target of attacks.
“Picture this: the electric plant which supplies 70% of electricity to the Palestinians in Gaza is in Ashkelon. The Palestinians in Gaza have been shooting kassam rockets at the plant ever since the ‘disengagement’ i.e. the abandonment of Gush Katif [Gaza]. Now, Palestinians are crying that they don't have enough electricity. They are complaining about Israeli sanctions against them. They are going to the U.N.
The truth is, Israel has not stopped supplying electricity to Gaza. Not only that, but Israeli electric company employees are risking their lives to do so.
Mickey Tsarfati, head of the union of electrical workers, was quoted in YNet: ‘It is unbelievable chutzpah for them to complain. We have not stopped supplying them with electricity for a minute. And they have not stopped logging bombs at us for a minute.’ Many of the workers who fix the lines to Gaza daily are residents of Sderot. It has happened more than once that bombs fell next to their homes as they were fixing the lines to supply electricity to the bombers.
Now the U.N. and the Quartet, and the Arab League are all getting demands to stop Israeli ‘sanctions’ against the Gazans…. You tell me what other country would be supplying electricity to people who are bombing their children on a daily basis, and risking their lives to do so.”
Lirun of East Med Sea Peace is concerned with the humanitarian implications of the crisis and suggests a way that Israelis can help provide food for Gazans.
“heard it on the radio this morning.. apparently on saturday morning a convoy of cars will be driving to gaza to pass on some supplies to the gazastanis.. who as you probably all now know are languishing in starvation and darkness.. because apparently nothing short of that could bring the rocket fire to an end..
people who want to drive down and donate flour sugar and rice should be at the arlozorov train station no later than 8 am and the reading bus depot no later than 830am..
i hate the qassam rockets just as much as the next guy.. and as far as i am concerned the hamas and co are collectively punishing a whole region of israel for israel not conforming to hamas’ demands.. however – people are starving in gaza and dying of hypothermia because of the measures we are taking and i cant accept that.. “
Meanwhile, Elliot Chodoff of Mideast On Target leaves us with suggestions for Israel's leadership.
“What can be done in the meantime?  First, the Israeli leadership needs to conclude that while inaction under the circumstances is bad, improper action is worse.  The Gaza population need not be provided with everything its heart desires, but allowing the creation of the image of a humanitarian disaster is counterproductive, especially when the image is false.  Second, military activity needs to be stepped up, not only in quantity, but in quality.  We have seen early indicators that this is occurring over the past two weeks, but if Sederot and its surroundings are to have any hope of weathering the rocket rainfall of this winter, the IDF will have to operate more intensively in Gaza until the weather permits the extensive operation that will be sure to occur sooner or later.   It is high time the Israeli leadership stopped making declarations and starting taking effective action.”
Learn More–
You can learn more about the reactions of the Arab blogosphere from these Global Voices Online authors:
Your Reactions–
After you have read reactions from the Israeli blogosphere in this post and opinions from Palestine, Egypt, and Jordan from my colleagues, come back here and let us know what you think about the whole situation. What are your reactions reading the voices of those whose lives have been touched on both sides of the border? What do you see as possible solutions? What do you think your country would have done when faced with similar threats from its neighbors?
I look forward to learning from your perspective.

author: Maya Norton


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Israel: The Liars of Gaza · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Smooth Stone, from Israel, writes: “More Muslim mendacity. If children were indeed starving, why are there no photos of their swollen bellies?”


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Jamaica: Misdirected Gratitude?  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“Here in the Caribbean we relate to people who provide us with good service with some gratitude, and perhaps with too much gratitude”: Francis Wade explains.


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Japan: Best Selling Mail Order · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Mari blogs a magazine survey on best selling mail order in 2007. The top product is a medical pillow from Italy.


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Japan: Illegal or Harmful? · Global Voices
Chris Salzberg

Blogger Sakiyama Nobuo [ja], a social activist who has covered the area of web censorship in Japan for many years, early last week responded to a conversation initiated by fellow blogger Minakata Tsukasa [ja] on the topic of the regulation of so-called “harmful” websites [ja]. The blog entry is long and heavy in legal terminology, but it provides a useful overview of the current state of legal controls on Internet content in Japan, something which may come in handy in the future.
He starts by distinguishing between “illegal” and “harmful”:
この議論、しばしば「違法・有害」というふうに並べて議論されているのだが、もちろん、「違法」と「有害」は、全く異なる概念だし、さらに、ひとくちに「違法」と言ったところで、その内容もさまざまだ。そして、現実に起きている事象も複雑で、それらを個別に捉えつつ、全体として考えていかないと、議論がおかしくなる。
He then observes that “illegal” is less ambiguous than “harmful”, and so begins the discussion from Japan's “Provider Liability Limitation Law”, which Minakata claims covers illegal sites. Sakiyama argues that it is not actually so simple:
プロバイダ責任制限法は、プロバイダの民事責任を制限するに過ぎない。簡単に言って、著作権侵害とか、名誉毀損・プライバシー侵害とか、そういう民事の問題について、知らなきゃ責任無い（監視義務もない）し、申立てに基づいて「送信防止」するさいも、内容がそれらしくてデュー・プロセスで処理されていれば、情報発信者の利益を損なう部分について責任無いよ、というだけだ。 厳密な話とか、業界ガイドラインとかは、プロバイダ責任制限法対応事業者協議会によるサイトを参照のこと。刑法的な問題は、プロバイダ責任制限法ではカバーされていない。
刑法的な部分でどういうものが問題になりうるかは、インターネット・ホットラインセンターの運用ガイドラインにおける違法情報が、一応の参考にはなるだろう（が、これで網羅されている、とも言い難い気はする）。このガイドラインの大分類には問題があるが、とりあえず個別にみていくと、児童ポルノ、わいせつ物公然陳列、売春防止法違反、出会い系サイト規制法違反、規制薬物の濫用の煽り、規制薬物の広告、預貯金通帳等の譲渡の誘引、携帯電話の匿名貸与業等の誘引、といったものが並んでいる。児童ポルノのように個人的法益の侵害の大きいものもあるが、大半は社会的法益の侵害としての犯罪とされるものだ。
[…]
こういった情報と疑われるものについて、プロバイダが「送信防止」したから、といって、情報発信者の権利を侵害するとして問題になることは、あまりない。そもそも、多くの場合は、プロバイダは契約者との間で結ぶ規約で、そういったことが問題になることを防ぐ規定を入れている。 具体的な議論は、2006年のインターネット協会主催セミナーにおける森亮二弁護士の発表などがネット上にある（森弁護士は、学会で論文なども発表していたと思うが私はそこまでチェックしていない）。
とはいえ、これは「削除は安全だ」という話であり、放置したからといって、プロバイダが直ちに刑事罰に問われる、という話ではない。各犯罪の幇助（や状況により正犯）に問われているケースでは、もう少し積極的な関与があったり、あるいは状況を認容していたり、といった状況があるようだ（これも森弁護士の前記発表を参照のこと）。実際、インターネット・ホットラインセンターへの通報で国内サイトについての通報で違法情報と判断されたもの全てが、削除されているわけではない。ホットラインセンターが違法と判断したものはすべて警察庁に通報されているが、警察は「違法」なものを処理するために動くとなれば、捜査をして被疑者を特定し、送検し、処分を確定する、といったことを前提に動くわけで、そこまでのものではないとなれば動かない。そして、警察より後に通報されたサイトなりプロバイダなりが放置すればそれまで、ということになる。
He then points out that even certain types of voluntary child porn, if left on free bulletin boards, will not necessarily be taken down, and that a lot of “illegal” content is in fact simply left on these bulletin boards as spam. He then continues:
とりあえずここまで見てきたように、インターネット上での「違法情報」といったものは、さまざまな種類があり、数の上ではその多くが具体的存在を認知されつつも放置されている、というのが、実際のところだ。警察も、ある意味「どうでもいい違法情報」まで強制捜査をして潰しているほど暇ではないし、プロバイダも、通信の秘密や表現の自由の保護を前提とすると、情報発信の抑止には慎重になるし、あるいは、そもそもが「チープ革命」で無料や極めて安価のホスティングやレンタル掲示板（無料のものは個人情報登録不要のものも少なくない）があふれる中、自覚なく「プロバイダ」になっていたり、あるいは自分の開設したサイトを放置したり存在そのものを忘れたり、という状況で情報発信の抑止に慎重になる以前に、その意識もないとか、あるいは通報を受け付ける体制もない、とった零細法人や個人も少なくないだろう。
しかし、そのような場合にだからといって、掲示板開設者からレンタル掲示板提供者へ、さらにホスティング業者へ、といった具合に上位のプロバイダに通報して潰していけるか、というと、利用者の権利を考えると、そう簡単でもないのだろう。インターネット・ホットラインセンターのスキームでは、現状ではそのようなエスカレーションは行われていない。
そういう意味では、「違法サイト規制」の枠組には、穴があいている部分がはっきりとあるといっていいだろう。そのような穴は、ある程度は、憲法の定める基本的人権があえて作り出すものではある。通信の秘密だけではなく、人身の自由も関係する。そういったものが国家の法執行を適切に制限することで、私たちは、社会正義に著しく反するようなことでもなければ、軽微な違法性はスルーして、あまりギスギスとしない社会をつくってきていた。

author: Chris Salzberg


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Japan: The Whistle of the Middle East · Global Voices
Hanako Tokita

The sport of handball is receiving the kind of attention from the media and general public it never has before in Japan, as well as in Korea. The dispute came to light when Korea and Japan together appealed to the International Handball Federation for replay of the Olympics qualifiers of the Asian region because of some dubious judgements made by referees. The allegation is that the Asian Handball Association (AHF), chaired by Kuwaiti royal Sheikh Ahmad Fahad al-Sabah, changed the European referees to ones from the Middle East just before Kuwait's matches against Japan and Korea to tilt the games in favour of Kuwait.
While the bickering seems to be getting rather ugly, here's what some Japanese bloggers had to say.
We Are Family criticizes the so-called “Whistle of the Middle East” and thinks that the characteristics of Japanese people may have played a role in the whole thing:
あの「中東の笛」と呼ばれるスポーツにあるまじき行為・・・。個人的にはスポーツはお金や権力に左右されずにみんなに平等であるべきだと思うけど・・。では何故今それが話題になってきたのか？これまではなかったのか？と考えると・・・日本の自己主張力がないような気がする。今回の問題も韓国のおかげで事が大きくなったし。多分日本は不公平なジャッジでもしょうがないと思っていたに違いない。そこがやはり外国と日本との考え方（価値観）の違いなんだろうねぇ。まあこれからはもっと国際化してくなかで日本人が直さないと世界とは戦えないという事が増えてくるかもしれないねぇ。。頑張れ日本！！
Sports News points out that unfair judgments are not anything unique to the Middle East but are a common affair in sports.
にわかに脚光を浴び始めた「中東の笛」という言葉ですが、中東に限らず地元のチームに有利な判定が出ることを「ホームタウン・デシジョン」と言います。これはプロの世界ではボクシングでかなり露骨に見られる場合があります。例えば問題になった亀田興毅ＶＳランダエタの第1戦などもその一つであると考えられます。あの時は驚異的な視聴率をとったこともあり、多くのボクシングビギナーもＴＶ観戦したことから大問題となりましたが、海外で日本人が（日本人に限りませんが）試合をした場合に、地元の選手に有利な判定で涙を飲むことは珍しくないんですよね。
「中東の笛」は批判されてしかるべきですが、スポーツの試合に完全なクリーンさを望むのもどうかと思います。一番ホクホクしているのは、高視聴率がとれそうなコンテンツのできたテレビ局かも。
Finally, hanasinogomibako writes:
クウェートの王族が実権を握っているのだから友好関係にひびが入るほうが心配
中東諸国が石油を日本に売らないと言われたほうが心配
日本は北京五輪に出られたとしてもメダルを取れるほど強くはないし予選で韓国にも負けているほどだから
ハンドボールの件は日本韓国のアピールが通ったのだから次回からは公平に成ると思う。
スポーツと政治は別ものだが歴史を見れば関係大有り。
(Top image: Reproduced under GNU Licence)

author: Hanako Tokita


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Jordan: 24 Hour Marathon · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

From Jordan, Ammar Ibrahim will be running in a 24 hour marathon. “Dead to Read (D2R) is an annual event for psychos, you get teams of 10 people to run 242KM from Dead Sea to Red Sea in under 24 hours. we start running at 3 PM Thursday Jan 31st, and finish (hopefully), by friday morning. I don't understand how I will be awake for 24 hours running,” he explains.


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Jordan: Snowing in Dabouq · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

It is snowing in Dabouq, Jordan, reports blogger Ahmad Humeid, who shares with us this exclusive footage.


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Kazakhstan: A Girl from Provincial Town Leads International Reality Show · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Lena B-va reports on a girl from the northern Kazakhstani town of Temirtau, and how successfully she represents Kazakhstan on the international contest “Hello Jurmala” in Latvia.


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Kazakhstan: Kazakh Billionaire Noticed in London · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Steve LeVine says the Kazakhstan billionaire Horelma Peramam has just spent 50 million pounds ($97 million) in the largest new residential property sale in U.K. history.


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Korea: Have you been pressed down by scissors? · Global Voices
Hyejin Kim

Have you heard about ‘your body is pressed down by scissors?’ When I was kid, I heard adults sometimes tell each other they were pressed down by scissors the previous night and talked about horrible ghost stories. I didn’t understand what it was until I experienced it one time. I didn’t know why they’re afraid of being pressed down by ‘scissors.’ People, who are tired, are stressed out, or don’t have strong spirit, sometimes have this experience. Literally, you feel that your body is pressed down by heavy stuff between you as you are about to fall asleep. You’re half sleeping and feel something press down on your body hard. It could be a thing, part of a human’s body, or a human (according to the experiences of people around me, such as family and friends). Those could be regarded as scissors.
Some frequently have this experience, others don’t in their lives. Even though I didn’t see something, I have had the same experience since being a teenager, having my body pressed down by something bulky and I couldn’t move my body at all for a while, right before I fell asleep. It wasn’t a pleasant experience. In my case, it happens when I sometimes go to bed after 1 am. I still don’t know what it is. Maybe I was way too tired. But netizens share their experiences.
A blogger wants to share his worries about it.
올해 26살 먹은 건장한 남자입니다. (어릴적부터 유도, 검도등 운동을 해서 정말 건장하고 건강합니다). 인터넷에 이런 글 처음 써보네요. 악플보다는 진지한 의견들 부탁드립니다..
제 친구 중에 철수(가명)라는 애가 있는데 어릴적부터 심한 가위눌림과 귀신을 자주 본 친굽니다…
이야기는 작년 여름 철수 집에 놀러가서 생긴 일부터입니다. 하루는 술을 잔뜩먹고 철수집에서 하룻밤을 잤습니다. 다음날 저는 철수랑 이야기를 나누다 귀신 이야기가 나왔고 장난으로 ‘니방 귀신 내가 데려가께, 귀신아~ 귀신아~ 나 따라와라~’ 이런 식으로 말을 했었습니다. 난생 처음 가위 눌림을 당했습니다. 놀라서 인터넷에서 가위에 관련된 이런저런 글을 봤었죠. 그리고 얼마후..일요일 낮에 여자친구집에서 잠깐 낮잠을 자는데 가위 눌림을 당했습니다. 그때 똑똑히 봤죠 여자라는 것을….. 제가 가위를 눌리는 동안 여자친구는 저를 깨우고있었답니다..
그러다 어제.. 새벽 3시쯤 제 방 침대에서 엎드려 잠을 청했습니다. 예, 또 가위 눌림을 당했습니다. 근데 평소와는 다르게 너무 무서운게 도망을 가고 싶드라구요. 몸은 움직이지 않았지만 제 머리속은 방에서 나가고 싶어 마루쪽을 향해 기어가는 생각뿐이었습니다. 그 순간 누군가가 저를 방밖으로 끌어 내던지는데 어찌나 힘이 쎈지 공중에 붕떠서 날라갔습니다. 고맙기도 했지만 왠지 내 방에서 쫓겨난 느낌이 들어 마루에 던저진채로 방을 봤는데 방 문이 없는겁니다………. 그리고는 가위에서 풀려났습니다.. 제 몸은 여전히 침대에 엎드려 누운 상태 그대로였습니다….작년 봄까지만해도 가위 눌림을 겪는건 그저 남의 이야기였습니다. 친구집에서 그 일이 있은 후,, 너무 빈번하게 가위 눌림을 당하고 있습니다.. 비슷한 경험 있으신분 없으신가요? 후… 꼭 조언 부탁드립니다.
One of my friends who is called Chulsoo (fake name) has been pressed down by scissors and seen ghosts… One summer, I went to see him at his house. Drinking alcohol, I slept at his house. Next day, we talked about ghosts and jokingly I said, ‘I will take your ghosts… ghosts~ ghosts~ follow me~’ and then for the first time in my life, I was pressed down by scissors. I checked about this experience on the internet. Later, I had the same experience. On Sunday, I took a nap at my girl friend’s house and it came to me again. That moment, I clearly saw. It was a woman… While I was pressed down by scissors, my girl friend tried to wake me up because I looked painful according to her…then yesterday.. I was about to fall asleep at my room at 3 am. Yeah… I was pressed down by scissors again. Compared to other times, I was so scared and wanted to run away. Even though I couldn’t move my body, I just wanted to get out of my room and head to the living room. That moment, someone dragged my body out of the room and threw me to the living room. Being thrown on the living room, I looked at the room, but there was no door…. And then I was released by the scissors. My body was still on the bed.  Until the spring of the last year, being pressed down by scissors sounded like others’ stories. After I talked to my friend at his house, I’m tortured by scissors way too often…. Anyone have a similar experience? Please I need advice.
Clayaiken’s story is not so uncommon.
5시, 5시 48분, 7시 이렇게 세번이나 눈을 떴지만, 일어나기 싫어 이불 속에서 부비적 거리고 있었더니 천만년 만에 가위를 눌렀네요. 1년에 한번 겪을까 말까한 일인데 조낸 생생하다능…7시에 불을 켜고 다시 누워있다 정면에 놓인 시계를 보니 8시. 일어나려는데 뭔가 묘한 느낌. ‘헉. 설마 그거?”했더니 역시나.. 흙흙…손목까지만 있는 절단된 손 두개가 양쪽 어깨를 누르고 있었다능.. 그랬다능…손을 올려서 손가락 하나하나를 들었는데 마치 온 몸에 초장을 두르고 입에서 바둥거리는 산낚지 다리 마냥 도로 착 감기더라능…이뭐.. 무슨 자석도 아니고..
Of course, some netizens like yasu shares his knowledge of how people can get away from scary scissors.
“가위 눌린다”는 의학적으로 수면마비(sleep paralysis)라고 합니다. […]
가위눌림을 예방하기 위하여는 아래의 규칙을 지키세요.
1. 항상 충분한 수면을 취한다.
2. 생활의 스트레스를 줄인다.
3. 규칙적으로 운동을 한다. 하지만 늦은 저녁이나 밤에는 하지 않는다.
4. 취침과 기상 시간을 항상 일정하게 한다.
Kim02 interprets it based on shamanism and lets netizens know how to get out of the moment.
1.가위눌림 현상에 대한 이해와 분석
수면마비라고도 불려지는 가위눌림은 과학적으로는 정신적인 불안 스트레스가 요인이 된다.
무속에서의 이해
무속에서는 사람의 3가지, 공간을 느끼는 장소 (화장실, 잠이 드는 순간, 머리를 감을때) 등이 있는데, 그중 가장 쉬운곳이 잠이 드는 순간이라고 하여서, 잠을 자면서 꿈을 꿈으로 아는 그 순간이라고 한다.
Understanding in Shamanism.
In Shamanism, there are three things that humans can feel some space (restroom, the moment when you fall asleep, the moment when you wash your hair). The easiest part is the moment when you fall asleep. It is the moment when you recognize dreams as being dreaming.
2.가위눌림의 이유
1)REM 수면기에는 호흡이 불규칙하게 변하며 심장도 빨라지고 숨도 가쁘게 쉬고 혈압도 오르며 이때 목이 조여오며 가슴에 누가 올라탄 느낌이 듭니다.
2)두려움 때문 입니다. 평상시 걱정하거나 두려워하던 일이 악몽으로 나타나고 가위눌림으로 이어집니다.
3)집안에 흐르는 수맥의 영향으로 혹은 갑자기 심한 스트레스로 가위눌림이 옵니다.
4)흔치않은 경우이지만 “빙의”된 경우 그 영가때문에도 발생됩니다.
무속에서 말하는 가위눌림 이유
무속에서 가위눌림은 역시 다른 이공간의 느낌입니다. 따라서 가위를 한번 눌리게 되면 다른 공간의 느낌을 알기때문에, 가위를 눌리다보면, 잠들기전에 이미 오늘 가위를 눌린다는 사실을 알게 됩니다. 이런 이유는 경험에 의한 기억때문입니다. 가위를 눌리게 되면 온몸의 털이 곤두서고 무게를 느낌니다.
무속에서는 정신의 불안정과 함께 살에 의한 작용과 영체의 접근을 막지 못하는 상태에 가위를 눌린다고 봅니다.
The reason why you are pressed down by scissors, according to shamanism.
According to shamanism, being pressed down by scissors is to transfer to another space. Once you have been pressed down by scissors, you know the feeling of another space. Therefore, before falling asleep, you get to know you would be pressed down by scissors. It’s because of memory from your experience. You will feel goose bumps and feel heavy. Due to spiritual instability and prevention of ghosts, they believe that people are pressed down by scissors.
3. 가위눌림을 방지하려면?
1)가장좋은 방법은 잠을 자기전에 마음을 편하게 하는것입니다. 무서운 영화나 책을 보고 자면 가위눌림이 오기 쉬우니 자기전에는 마음이 평화로워지는 책을 보거나 편안한 음악을 듣는것이 좋습니다. …
4. 가위눌림에서 빨리 빠져나오는 방법
몸의 어느 한부분, 이를테면 손가락에 정신을 집중해서 움직이려고 노력하는 것입니다. 그렇게 할 경우 대개 손가락정도는 움직일수 있고 차츰 몸전체를 움직이게되며 가위눌림에서 빠져나올수 있습니다….
[Photo] Being pressed down by scissors??? (from Yasu)

author: Hyejin Kim


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Kuwait: Scarlett Johansson in Kuwait · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Actress Scarlett Johansson visited a military camp in Kuwait, making blogger Mark to ask: “How does one go about getting access to US camps in Kuwait?”


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Laos: Mon Song · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Suan Mon posts a video of a Mon song and asks readers to sing the song with him. Mons are a ethnic group from South East Asia.


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Latvia: The Suiti · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Marginalia writes about history, culture and songs of the suiti, the people of Alsunga in Latvia.


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Malaysia: Broadband Slower Than Fax · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Jeff Ooi discovers his broadband internet running slower than the fax machine.


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Morocco: Ashoura and Fashion · Global Voices
Jillian C. York

Morocco is celebrating Ashoura, the 10th day of the month of Moharram (which is the first month of the Hijra calendar year).  Unlike their Shi'a counterparts in Iran and elsewhere, however, Moroccans typically do not commemorate Ashoura with mourning and breast-beating.  As Everything Morocco explains:
Children and young teens are everywhere in the streets with whole percussion bands assembled from genuine snare drums right down to plastic gallon-sized vegetable oil bottles they probably snatched from the kitchen. Some have metal castanets and others have sticks. They are celebrating the 10th day of the month of Moharrem.
Shifa of Move It or Lose It noticed how the holiday coincided with warm weather:
The second day of Ashora was the first day of Spring in Tangier. Heartwarming, seeing as how I can assume my bedroom at home is still overlooking dirty mounds of snow and sludge. I celebrated by taking the three dirham taxi to Sweni.
Dress was a prominent subject amongst Moroccan bloggers over the weekend as well.  Maryam of My Marrakesh, who is currently traveling in Kyrgyzstan, shares a poem and photographs:
Bewildering.
A girl who lived in the heat of the desert
found herself in a place
where, in the warmth of the mid-day sun,
it was -17°C.
Without the wind chill factor.
*
Brrr….Welcome to Kyrgyzstan.
A Moro in America shares an AP photo of Moroccans celebrating their football (soccer) team, and remarks:
Moroccan chicks support the national team a-la-Bresilienne :)
Myrtus shares two fashion-related stories; one about “Redlight Fashion” in the Netherlands, to which she remarks:
Those who think that fashion can replace prostitution seriously need their heads examined and those who say the two don't mix are in for a big surprise.  Take a look how Amsterdam is making it all happen in the famous Red Light District.
The other is in regards to the ongoing debate about hijab, or “the veil:”
The question is: Do Muslim women believe and desire what Western women believe and desire? Following Virginia Woolf’s model of sexual equality, the internationalist feminists are convinced of the universality of women’s needs and rights beyond national boundaries. As Woolf once said, “As a woman, I have no country. As a woman, I want no country. As a woman, my country is the world.”
But, according to professor Shahrzad Mojab, some postmodern feminists defend the use of veil in the guise of respect for other cultures and denouncing critics of the veil as cultural imperialist. For example, professor Fadwa El Guindi goes as far as claiming that for women, veiling in contemporary Arab culture fulfills many functions. It can signify privacy, kinship, status, power, autonomy, and political resistance, she says. Boiled down to its essence, this view is a cultural relativism, which render nations or individuals with authority to (mis) use culture as a basis for justifying human rights abuses.
Loula comments:
Muslim women and the West. What about Muslim Women and the Far East? I think women in “Islamic” countries are in a very bad position. Of course, some will argue that much need to be done before women's condition could be enhanced in “Islamic” countries, funny this always comes from men.Other will argue that women in the West are also oppressed, then again depending where. Anyway we are all in the same boat, although Women in many countries are really suffering. But, hey the Old Boys Club is still calling the shots.

author: Jillian C. York


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Nepal: On Coups · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

The pace of political events in Nepal prompts Nepali Netbook to conclude that the choice is between  a “democratic coup” or a “nationalist” one.

author: Neha Viswanathan


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Nepal: Rising fuel prices · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

United We Blog! on the stream of protests on the streets in Nepal – the latest one on the issue of rising fuel prices.


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Philippines: Korean English Teacher Visa Policy · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Diplomats from Singapore, Philippines and some other Asian countries are critical of South Korea's new Visa Policy that bars Asians from Teaching English.


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Pitch Black Gaza: Jordanian Bloggers React! · Global Voices
Naseem Tarawnah

As the Israeli onslaught in Gaza continues this week, the death toll continues to climb. With many of the dead being civilians and the European Union labeling the Israeli offensive as ‘collective punishment’, the situation has not sat well with Jordanian bloggers. Here's what they had to say in the past few days:
On his blog, Haitham Sabbah encourages readers to support Gazan families through donations and has this to say about the situation:
“If Israel and its allies think that the siege and its war crimes will stop Palestinian from fighting for their freedom and return of their land, they are stupid. Palestinian will continue their resistance until the last drop of their blood, in light or darkness. Israel, you are dreaming. You will only gain more hate and give more reasons for more violent resistance.”
The Heart Of Darkness:
Roba Assi and Secratea choose more symbolic forms of solidarity, while Naseem Tarawnah struggles to find the right words for Gaza.
Khalid, who studies in Amman, analyzes ‘the darkness’, while Razan Khatib resurrects his prose from 2002 that is sadly, still applicable today. Like Jad, Isam lights a candle and lets the images tell the story. Asoom, inspired by Martin Luther King Jr. Day in the US, scribbles words of reality between darker photos, while ‘Lost Within’ was taken aback by a particularly powerful photograph
Elsewhere, doctors in Gaza have stopped doing surgeries because of the electricity shortage, and Hareega wonders just how long the generators will last, saying:
“Another crime committed by Israel, the country that attacks ambulances, bombs schools and destroys houses on its inhabitants without a warning. Israel was founded by offending the right of others, killing the innocent, and with blood on its hands. It would be naive to believe that it would behave differently in order to defend itself.”
Reaction-less :
‘J’ of Jordan Journals is appalled by the reaction of the UN while Dana reacts to the Israeli belief that Hamas is deliberately intensifying the crisis. SimSim is baffled by the world's silence, wondering if Palestinians are still considered to be human.
But what about the (expected) lack of reaction from Arab leaders? Tallouza puts the looming humanitarian crisis into perspective, while Moi of My Occupied Territory aims her frustration over the situation at the lack of reaction, especially from Arab leaders:
“I just fail to understand how Arab and Muslim leaders are watching this misery take place across the border. I fail to see why Jordanians, Egyptians, Syrians, Saudis, and Qataris don’t take to the streets and demand that their governments do something about this shameful situation. I’m disgusted, utterly disgusted by those cowardly Arab dictators who welcomed the scum of the earth to their palaces last week and failed to mention to him the misery of our Palestinian brethren.”
Ali takes a similar stance by saying:
“Are we that deaf not to hear the cry of help from innocent kids and women in Gaza? I don’t blame Israel or US for supporting Israel’s actions, at the end all parties have their own agenda and beliefs. I put the blame on the Arab States who are silently watching the news coming out from Gaza.”
Calling Out:
Gazans are calling out, but Eman doesn't seem to think anyone is listening:
“The disastrous situation the Palestinians, particularly the Gazans, are living is so out of control and calls for immediate international intervention. But who’s listening?”
No Angel expresses emotions of helplessness:
“If I send donations, they are blocked
If raise my voice, it is unheard
If light a candle, it is blown away
If I write a letter to my representative, it comes back unread
If I voice my opinion about it on the internet, I am told they brought it upon themselves”
Kinzi recalls a girl from Gaza, whom she believes to have been one of the most influential people in her life. In the context of recent tragedies, she says:
“Israel has not learned the lesson of the Holocaust. No one wants to forget what happened under Hitler, but it seems the same vilification of a whole people has been repeated by former victims of the same. Blood is blood, whether Jewish or Arab. It is life, and it is flowing out in death again.”
The events have left Qwaider and Khalidah rather speechless. While Iman decides to unleash her wrath on another entity:
“…right now I want to give myself the right to blame some for the latest humanitarian crisis, the latest misery, the latest catastrophe on the Cancer of Palestine – Hamas! They are the source of the misery Gaza and Gazans have been Plagued with… It’s time to put the firecrackers away and think logically of the best way to get your people out of the misery you (of course with the help of your very people, as they are the incompetent citizens who voted  you in to begin with) put them through since you ‘liberated Gaza.’”

author: Naseem Tarawnah


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Poland: The Primaries in the U.S. · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

The beatroot writes on “who should Poles vote for, if they could, in US primaries”: “What goes on in Washington should be of keen interest in Warsaw.”


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Qatar: Online Journal Closes · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Qatari online journal Qatar Journal has called it a day, reports Mohamed Nanabhay from Doha.

author: Amira Al Hussaini


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Russia, Serbia: Gazprom Buys NIS · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Robert Amsterdam and A Fistful of Euros write about Gazprom's acquisition of “Serbia's national energy monopoly, NIS, at a knockdown price.”


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Russia: The North · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Window on Eurasia writes that “small ethnic groups of Russia’s north suffer […] from abuse in the post-Soviet media which appear to treat them all as one enormous and inappropriate Chukchi joke.”


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Saudi Arabia: Women Allowed to Stay at Hotels · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Or Does it Explode reports a small victory for Saudi women in this post. It quotes news sources as saying: “Women in Saudi Arabia can now stay in a hotel or a furnished apartment without a male guardian, according to a government decision that comes as the country faces increasing criticism for its severe restrictions on women.”


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Saudi Arabia: Women May be Allowed to Drive  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Mideast Youth author Muneeb links to news reports which say that Saudi women may be allowed to drive by the end of this year.


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Serbia: Election Politics · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

A Fistful of Euros posts a detailed roundup on the first round of the Serbian presidential election.


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Singapore: Books 2.0 · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Hazman Aziz introduces a made in Singapore book search engine and social network.


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Singapore: Tech Video Podcast · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Singapore Entrepreneurs introduces 65 Bits, a Singapore based technology podcast 65 Bits, a Singapore based technology podcast. The latest episode of the podcast covers the recently concluded Macworld.


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Social Media Outreach: Non-Profits are the Key · Global Voices
Rezwan

Originally posted on Rising Voices.
We often talk about extending the global conversation to every corner of the world with the use of social media tools. The means to do this are manifold and depend upon the support and implementation of local institutions. The main impediment to this cause is the lack of awareness of the freely available tools available to enter the global conversation and the absence of basic communication infrastructure in the developing world. Essentially, the digital divide is much larger in these countries than the developed countries.
However, with the proliferation of mobile communication in regions such as the Indian Sub-Continent and Sub-Saharan Africa, internet access has reached remote rural areas without the need of additional infrastructure like cables and land lines. But the potential of this phenomenon is largely yet to be harnessed.
Non-Profits are the Key
The not for profit organizations or NGOs as they are known in some parts of the world have a wider influence on the population of the developing countries. In some countries they contribute by sustaining a large workforce and their development budgets frequently make up a major part of the economy. These non-profit organizations have the capacity to use this technology on a wider scale and, thereby, to inspire a communication revolution among the people they serve. So when we talk about bringing the fruit of social media to each and every person in the world, we cannot progress much without enlisting the help of non-profits.
The digital divide
Which side of the digital divide are the non profits and NGOs? First let us look at the developed countries. In the USA, the Overbrook Foundation had released a report assessing some of the foundation's human rights grantees use of Web 2.0 tools. Some findings are:
If the exposure of non-profits from developed countries to social media look like this then imagine the state of non-profits in developing countries. They are still in the process of incorporating to the digital age. Slowly, more and more non-profit institutions are making their web presence felt. But their web presence is mostly characterized by static web 1.0 websites which don't allow for participation or interaction. They remain typical brochure sites with nothing more than a mission statement, some advertisements, rarely updated newsletters, a few photos, contact information, and zero interaction.
Nepal’s ASMITA is a powerful advocacy organization where a small group of female media activists are playing a pivotal role in the country’s history. ASMITA uses many forms of media.  “It acts as a print magazine, a media campaign for women’s rights, a research group, a media watchdog, a TV and radio producer and a publisher of educational literature.” But what it does not have are participatory web media tools like blogs, videos, podcasts.
More than 20,000 NGOs work in Bangladesh. The official websites of Bangladesh’s two big NGOs BRAC and Grameen have still yet to incorporate web 2.0 applications on a visible scale.
In the era of Web 2.0, non-profits must take their online messages to a new level. Using social media tools like blogs, podcasts, videos and collaborative wikis they can initiate more interaction, make their work more interactive, and can positively distribute their message. We have seen that there is occasionally mistrusts among people regarding certain non-profits, which are not always transparent about their activities. When communicating with interactive social media, stakeholders and supporters can have each have better understandings of each other and ascertain whether everything is working properly.
What is social media or web 2.0?
Techsoup explains web 2.0 in the context of the non-profits:
“Web 2.0″ to me is the building of community and collaboration on a website — wikis, social-networking, user-created content, repurposed content, people interacting publicly through a website, users interacting with staff and with each other.”
The advantages of web 2.0:
Beth Kanter is a trainer, blogger, and consultant to non-profits and individuals who want to effectively use social media. She writes in the Read Write Web:
Non-profits that integrate Web 2.0 tools and techniques effectively into their communications and programming strategies are reaping many benefits….
…In a recent blog discussion on the Netsquared community blog, some nonprofit techies believed that the answer is actually a change of mindset. Their point was that non-profits need to adopt a new philosophy of making their constituents the distributors of their message, and their work. To facilitate this shift, there is a need to educate more non-profits about what possibilities Web 2.0 tools offer and the practical ways to get started. It took years and small steps for many in the nonprofit sector to make the leap from fax machines to email – and it'll be the same when taking the leap from Web 1.0 to Web 2.0.
Seth Godin's free one-pager for non-profits courtesy of Npower New York and Squidoo.
Examples of the use of social media tools
Best practices for non-profits using web 2.0
“How are smart non profits using the power of the web to spread information and have virtual conversations with their supporters? Who are using the web to deliver their message, but more crucially, to engage audiences in a conversation?”
Alexandra Samuel answers those questions in Social Signal quoting some of the best practices:
Check the rest here.
Why is the Web 2.0 is important for small local non-profits?
Ken Goldstein writes that using interactive applications, two-way online communications and user-generated content the established core constituency of a non-profit can be expanded wider, possibly transforming it to a global powerhouse. Some advantages:
How non-profits can start leveraging Social Media
Masternewmedia prescribes ten ways to do it.
If, as a decision-maker of a non-profit, you still are not convinced of the power of new media, then read Beth Kanter’s entire Blog dedicated to the theme: “How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media.”

author: Rezwan


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South East Asia: Best Universities · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

ASEAN- Asia's perfect 10 introduces the best places to study in South East Asia.


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Sri Lanka: Blogging and a Literary Festival · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

TheKillRomeoProject expresses disappointment after attending a panel discussion on blogging at the Galle Literary Festival.


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Sri Lanka: Galle Literary Festival · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Cynically Yours goes to the Galle Literary Festival and writes about what she didn't like.


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Sudan: Potassium bromide and witchcraft · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Andrew Heavens writes about Potassium bromide and witchcraft in Sudan: “Only in Sudan. Sudanese bakery owner fined for using witchcraft in court”


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Thailand: AirCrew Unhappy with TV Program · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Siam Sentinel writes that Thai Air flight attendants are unhappy with a TV serial. They claim that negative portrayal of flight crew in the program might discourage recruitment.


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Trinidad & Tobago: On The Wire  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Irony pervades Caribbean Free Radio‘s second attempt to improve her wireless broadband service.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Turkmenistan: How about Buying a Flat in Ashgabat? · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Maciula comments on Berdymukhammedov’s new decree on home loans and the true reasons of its introduction, which he believes lies in the sphere of simply filling up the empty multistorey apartment blocks.


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Turkmenistan: Now Safe for Clowns · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Nathan says that there has been a shift in policy in Turkmenistan. The new plan is to reopen an opera house, resume circus shows and build a cinema in the capital Ashgabat.


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Ukraine: Drunk Driving · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Taras of Ukrainiana reports on a deadly car accident that took place in Odesa this month:
On Jan. 12, an 18-year old Odesite crashed his Toyota Prado into a Daewoo Lanos moving on the opposite lane, killing one person and wounding two others in an accident that involved a total of eleven vehicles.
[…]
When the police arrived, the 18-year old showered them with profanity and demanded his cell phone, saying his dad would fix things quickly. On his way to the precinct, the bad boy was escorted by a trail of luxury cars.
According to Dmytro Fuchedzhy, deputy chief of Odesa oblast police, the subject was DUI. Now hear this: The young man reportedly attends law school. He is also the son of a wealthy businessman who holds a seat in the local assembly under the wing of the Party of Pensioners. […]
The episode raised a firestorm of indignation at Ukrainian forums, with many netizens gloomily expecting the Odesa offender to get away with murder […].
[…]
Below is a selection of readers’ reactions to a story (RUS) on Korrespondent.net news site about president Victor Yushchenko's proposal to raise fines for drunk driving to $270-$500. According to the publication, over 7,000 people died in car accidents in Ukraine in 2007.
Oleg Sevastopol:
Right, now we'll have to carry 500 bucks instead of 100 along with our driver's license. And the rest will stay the same. […]
***
iVeter:
Fines aren't going to intimidate those Subaru-driving idiots… As a rule, their parents have already paid all these fines a year in advance…
***
Nekto:
It's all total crap! Drivers are the ones who's gonna suffer again. Ok, drunk driving is unacceptable, driver's license should be taken away for this altogether. But yesterday I was driving 120 [km/p] outside the city… my car is capable of doing 220, visibility is perfect, the road is empty and dry, why not? Well, [cops] stopped me… Naturally, I had to bribe them, and then, while I was still there, they stopped some jeep: a window opened and some IDs were shown, and after that the jeep continued on its way at about 160 [km/h]… Any questions??? […] It's not the issue of the amount of the fine, but of the inevitability of punishment, but we're unlikely to succeed here, because some are [more equal than others].
***
voditel:
[…] It'd be great if they weren't selling driver's licenses for $700 at traffic police department [skipping tests and other formalities] […].
***
from CA:
That a ridiculous fine.
My friend in California has been fined $300 recently for riding his bike along the bicycle path when the red light was on.
Another example – a $1,000 fine for throwing garbage out of your car onto the highway (that's a really good road that Ukraine's never gonna have).
And don't tell me about their salaries – for 90 percent of the population, this is a considerable amount of money.
And drunk driving is a criminal offense.

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Ukraine: Euro 2012 To-Do List · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Orange Ukraine lists what needs to be done to accommodate the Euro 2012 visitors (from 400,000 to 1 million) in Ukraine: “As of this moment, Kyiv has 4,000 hotel rooms. What is required is all the logistics incl. infrastructure (roads, parking, planes, trains, etc.) and upgrading facilities such as hospitals and clinics, the building of stadiums, the upgrading of dormitories such as in Donetsk for low cost renting, the settling of the conflict at the Olympic stadium in Kyiv (removal of shopping centre which makes it unsafe), the building of walkway to metro station, … And there is a to-do list not just for Kyiv but for Kharkiv, Lviv, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, etc.”


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Ukraine: Unity Day · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Ukrainiana writes about the neglected Unity Day in Ukraine.


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U.S and China: Martin Luther King and China · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Jeremiah Jenne from Granite Studio blogs about Martin Luther King and his comments on the Vietnam War and China. The blogger points out that much of his comments are still valid today.

author: Oiwan Lam


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Latvia: Old Believers · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Aleks of All About Latvia writes about the Old Believers’ community in Latvia.


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Afghanistan: Cold weather victims increase · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Mohammad Fahimsays that extremely cold winter causes harsh humanitarian problems in Afghanistan, with the number of people killed by cold weather and heavy snow in several Afghanistan provinces over the past four weeks has risen to over 300.

author: Adil Nurmakov


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Afghanistan: New Report on the ‘Forgotten War’ · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Bipasha Ray reviews the new report by European Council on Foreign Relations calling for U.S. and European governments to “overhaul their strategies and strike a ‘grand bargain’ to stabilise the country”.


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Armenia: Predictable Presidential Election · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Halfway Down the Danube takes a look at the start of the pre-election campaign ahead of next month's presidential election in Armenia. The blog says that all signs are that the prime minister, Serge Sargsyan, will win and not least because of the administrative resources at his disposal. However, the expat blogger says, there are other reasons too.


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Armenia: Presidential Election Day 2 · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

The Armenian Patchwork reports on day two of the official pre-election campaign for next month's presidential election in Armenia. She posts photographs of a rally held by presidential hopeful and former head of state Levon Ter-Petrosian in the Armenian capital, Yerevan. Despite the cold weather, thousands of supporters from the regions of Armenia took part in an unauthorized march.


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Azerbaijan: Living is Easy? · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Carolyn & Jesse's Azerbaijan Peace Corps Blog says that life in Azerbaijan during the winter isn't so easy, but it is interesting. The two PCVs describe living through the cold season in the land of fire.


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Bahamas, Cuba: Double Speak · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“Such obvious double speak is trite in the 21st Century. And to state that in a country that is of the ‘western liberal ilk’ is quite presumtuous”:  Rick Lowe at WeblogBahamas.com is unimpressed with the Cuban Ambassador's statement about the island's recently held elections.


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Barbados: Blogs in Danger?  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Barbadian blogs are some of the most outspoken in the Caribbean, regularly taking politicians and mainstream media to task for issues such as transparency and public accountability.  The landslide opposition victory in the country's recently held general elections has raised the issue of the power of the blogosphere and whether popular political blogs like Barbados Free Press and Barbados Underground had a role to play in influencing the vote.
After the DLP win, Barbados Free Press found that post-election analysis failed to acknowledge the work of bloggers, noting:
Neither the DLP nor the Barbados news media want to mention the blogs and the voice that every citizen now has.
Neither the DLP nor the Barbados news media want to mention how much of the public’s vote was driven by the growing realization and disgust of the corrupt activities of the past government AND the growing public realization and disgust with the spineless Barbados news media.
Neither the DLP nor Peter Wickham want to mention that during the election they turned to the Bajan blogs because they realized that the new media is now playing a significant role in our society.
Keltruth Corp., however, was quick to address the issue in his own blog:
Role of the Blogs plus a Few Brave Souls!
The more established blogs have really delivered on the news that the Nation, Advocate and CBC would not touch. Things that the ruling party would have preferred swept under the carpet were brought to light. Congratulations especially to BU and BFP for their amazing coverage of the news and the elections. Bravo!
Congratulations to those brave souls actually residing in the island, who kept passing on and reporting the news despite the numerous threats.
Way back in July 2006, Barbados Free Press blogged about a call for internet regulation by then-Deputy Prime Minister Mia Mottley:
…the Deputy Prime Minister of Barbados is calling for changes to our system of government – saying that call-in shows “will continue to predominate” and that internet blogs “marginalize…parliaments and cause disrespect (for the rule of law and institutions that keep our society safe,)”…
Ms. Mottley is now the Leader of the Opposition and while she personally has not resurrected the issue of internet regulation, the topic still appears to be very much on the table – a topic that is of great interest to us here at Global Voices.
Barbados Free Press reports that a former Deputy Speaker of the House of Assembly has spoken out against the blogs in a mainstream newspaper, calling them “a virulent threat to democracy”:
Ezra Alleyne Just Doesn’t Get It.
The world has changed.  The elites of media, government and business no longer have the ability to censor information from the public. No longer can they control the discussion by ignoring issues and preventing them from being discussed in a public forum. No longer can they make court cases and other news “disappear” from the public record when it suits their purpose.
Barbados Underground has also taken notice of the anti-blog sentiment, this time expressed by a University of the West Indies lecturer:
On this evening’s talk show, our eardrums were offended by the preamble delivered by Dr. Don Marshall, a lecturer at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Cave Hill. In essence, he suggested that the unregulated environment in which Barbados Free Press and Barbados Underground peddles information is a dangerous development which should concern Barbadians. He believes that if Barbadians have to resort to the blogs to air their views then we are not living in a democracy – words to that effect.
It smacks of a high class hypocrisy that Marshall would make a statement on national radio to imply that the Bajan blogosphere is a negative for Barbados.
So are Bajan blogs under attack?  That may still be up for debate, but according to Barbados Free Press, the Bajan blogosphere is here to stay:
Welcome to the future. Most of us newly-active Bajan voters are young and idealistic… and we are online.
There are over 2 million WordPress blogs in existence today. While the stats change daily, at this moment CNN News Political Ticker is the #1 most popular WordPress blog in the world.
Fox News Presidential Campaign Blog is the #3 WordPress blog in the world.
And on Wednesday, January 16, 2008, the #4 WordPress blog in the world is Barbados Free Press.
That’s right… a nothing little blog run by a group of amateur writers on a tiny Caribbean island is, right now, the #4 most popular WordPress blog in the world.


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Botswana: Patients’ chair at Nata village · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Nata village clinic has news chairs: “Before we show you the new chairs that arrived today at Nata Clinic we wanted you to see one of the old ones.  To be honest, we wanted to burn this chair but someone will actually use it somewhere else.  We don't throw anything away in Nata.”

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Brazil: Blog Carnival about online journalism · Global Voices
Paula Góes

“Several blogs will be publishing texts about online journalism this Wednesday, in the first round of ‘Ciranda de textos’ and every month one of them will make a kind of guide to reading: a summary of each text and a link to where it is”, announces Andre Deak [pt] on the Brazilian version of Blog Carnivals. The linked post will be updated whenever a new blogger takes up the challenge.


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Brazil: Counting the victims of murder · Global Voices
Paula Góes

PE Body Count [pt] welcomes the news that another news website is also implementing a murder counter in the neighbor state of Alagoas. “To combat the problem [crime], it is necessary to admit that it exists. We do this by counting homicides and giving faces to the numbers. Both we and the Alagoas 24 horas” [pt]. PE Body County has already registered 279 murders in Pernambuco since the beginning of 2008.


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Brazil: Gaza, Egypt, Israel and a stupid boycott · Global Voices
Paula Góes

“Making the life of people who live in Gaza worse is a tremendous stupidity”, Pedro Dória [pt] gives his thoughts on the Israeli boycott against Gaza.


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Brazil: On community radios and mainstream media · Global Voices
Paula Góes

“Do you think you know little about community radio stations or those that are called “pirates” on TV? Don't be surprised”. Luiz Carlos Azenha [pt] interviews Guilherme Canela about a research by him that shows that community run radios stations were subject matter for only 0.8% of the reports published by newspapers and magazines on the Brazilian media.


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Caucasus: High Speed Internet · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Social Science in the Caucasus says that 3 percent of Georgians have Internet access at home, but that it's quality leaves something to be desired. While Azerbaijan has the fastest download speed in the region, the Caucasus still lags behind the developed world.

author: Onnik Krikorian


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China: Little Match Girl · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Andersen's story of “Little Match Girl” has a real-life Chinese version in Guiyang (zh). The 8 years old girl's family make their living by collecting rubbish. On 20 of Jan, the weather was -3 to -1 degree celsius and she tried to warm her hands by lighting matches. The photos were first posted at photobase.cn and reposted at 163.com.


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China: Women at The Wheel · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Tiger temple introduces an online documentary about woman taxi drivers’ life in China. The director is a Chinese migrant in Germany. The whole documentary is streamed at 24hr blogbus (zh).


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Czech Republic: Fake Radiation Leak Alert · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

The Czech Daily Word reports on a recent fake radiation leak alert in Brno.


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Dominica: One Laptop Per Child  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“Bill Gates, you want to send a dozen XOs so I can set up the Caribbean's first XO mesh?!”:  Steve McCabe sees potential for the One Laptop Per Child project in Dominica.


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Ecuador: Correa’s Powerpoint Presentation · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

After one year in office, Ecuador president Rafael Correa provided a powerpoint presentation of the achievements of his administration.  Nelson Piedra contrasts Correa's presentation with another recent newsworthy event [es[, the Keynote presentation made by Apple Computer's Steve Jobs.

author: Eduardo Avila


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Environment: Nobel Laureate speaks out on security in Kenya · Global Voices
Juliana Rotich

From Pambazuka:Prof. Wangari Maathai, a nobel laureate (Environment) speaks out against the loss of lives and property in Kenya. “She said although such clashes had a history, the Government had failed to deal with its instigators and perpetrators. Prof Maathai said the Government should ensure the rule of law is respected by all. More than 600 Kenyans have been killed and thousands displaced in clashes that erupted after President Kibaki was declared the winner of last December General Election.”

author: Juliana Rotich


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EU, Mauritania: Faraway Fishing · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Polish, Latvian and Lithuanian fishers are robbing Mauritania of its fish – all because “the EU has methodically depleted fish stocks in its own waters, and now, it is buying fish quotas from poor countries in the third world,” Jonathan Newton reports.


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Guyana: The White Line  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“I read somewhere, a butterfly flutter he wings in one country and earthquake happen in another part of the world.  Reality, me dear, ain't pretty like a butterfly”: Guyana-Gyal connects the dots of the drug trade and puts a face on the people whose lives are affected.


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Hong Kong: Citizens Radio’s Courtcase  · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Daisanna blogs about the civil disobedience culture and the recent High court's decision (on Monday) to deny the Hong Kong justice department's request for an extension of the civil injunction banning Citizens Radio from the airwaves.


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Hong Kong: Creative Commons Landing · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Yusuf Goolamabbas from outblaze has interviewed Joi Ito and Pindar Wong (Chairman of the Asia & Pacific Internet Association and co-founder of the first licensed ISP in Hong Kong) about Creative Commons and its relevance to Hong Kong. A local version of creative commons license has been drafted. It will be officially launched in Hong Kong after some consultation and amendment.


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Hong Kong: Facebook Cooling Down · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Moliuology finds that after a few months of facebook heat, it is now cooling down. There are too many friends, too many applications and too many invitations that people start to ignore the notices (zh).


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Hong Kong: Save the Stock Market? · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Yesterday the Hang Seng Index suffered its biggest one-day fall, some suggested that the government should save the stock market by buying in. Diumanpark responds by asking “are you willing to give 90% of your profit to the government when you win in the stock market?” (zh)


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India: Caste and Politics · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

a reader's words on the dynamics of caste and politics in Punjab, India.


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India: Marriage and Women · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Bohemian Rhapsody on the expectations in India, when it comes to women who get married – to look, behave and act in a certain manner.


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India: On Breastfeeding · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

IndieQuill on breastfeeding, and what the fuss is all about in India.


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Indonesia: Bird Flu · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Martin Manurang asks why no one is talking about the bird flu in Indonesia.

author: Preetam Rai


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Indonesia: White Herons in Bali · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Singapore based Bird Ecology Study group takes a look at the white herons in Bali and a local legend associated with them.


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Jamaica: An Inconvenient Truth  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“Detective Constable Cary Lyn-Sue…put the cat among the pigeons last week by doing something revolutionary. He told the truth”: Jamaican Annie Paul, new to the blogosphere, writes about “an extraordinary admission” of misconduct by a young policeman.


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Japan: Insider trading at public broadcaster NHK (Part 1) · Global Voices
Chris Salzberg

Japan's public broadcaster NHK has been the talk of the news and blogs over the last several days as it faces yet another controversy, with revelations having emerged of insider trading by three NHK employees on shares of Kappa Create Company [ja].
According to NHK, a news story about plans by restaurant chain Zensho Corp. [ja] to take Kappa under its wing was released onto NHK's internal prebroadcast reporting system at 2.38 p.m. on March 8th of last year, twenty minutes prior to its scheduled 3pm air time. Noticing the news story, two employees with years of experience in stock trading are reported to have gone home and bought between 1000 and 3000 shares in advance of the announcement, while another did so by mobile phone, with profits estimated at between Y100,000 and Y400,000 ($943 and $3,774).
President of NHK Hashimoto Genichi has already announced his resignation, four days before of the end of his term on Friday, in response to the news. The scandal however is not the first at NHK in recent years, and many are questioning the system which allowed insider trading to happen in the first place.
This first part of a two part series focuses on technical details to the story left out of major news reports. Blogger and economics professor Ikeda Nobuo, who has intimate knowledge of the internal pre-broadcast system at the center of the scandal having once been an NHK employee, wrote a number of entries on the topic (on Oct. 18, 19, 20, 21 and 22), some topping the charts at goo blogs.
In the first entry, titled “NHK's IT literacy” and posted on Dec. 18th, he writes:
NHKの職員がインサイダー取引の容疑で、証券取引等監視委員会の事情聴取を受けたというニュースが、きのうの19時ニュースのトップを飾った。任期があと1週間の橋本会長は、この3年間、何をやっていたのだろうか。今回の問題は、3年半前の横領事件より、ある意味では深刻だ。横領はどの業界にもあるが、報道機関が情報を私的な利益のために使うという事件は、「公共放送」の根幹にかかわるからだ。
記者会見で、石村理事は「システム上の問題以上に、倫理観がなかったのが最大の原因」と語っているが、この認識は誤っている。今回は去年3月8日の場が引ける直前に異常な値動きがあったことから、監視委が証券会社に不審な取引記録の提出を求めたため、たまたま露見したものと思われるが、東京と岐阜と水戸で独立に起きたらしいことからもわかるように、犯罪につながるような情報を20分前に全国の職員が見ることのできるシステム管理が間違っている。同様の事態は、これまでにもあったのではないか。
実は、この「新NCシステム」が1988年にできたときの最初の設計には、私も加わった。当時、ニュース原稿を入稿の段階からスタジオまで100%電子化し、紙をなくすというシステムは、日本では初めてで、キーボードを使えない記者から激しい反発を受けたが、それを押し切って実施した。今回の報道で出てくる「汎用原稿」という概念も、そのとき作ったものだ。
NHKは8チャンネルもあるので、同じニュースを多くのメディアで使いまわさなければならない。それまでは、テレビニュースを見た関連番組の担当者が整理部に原稿をもらいに行ったりしていたのだが、これでは非効率なので、最初に記者が取材したことをすべて書いた汎用原稿を電子化してサーバに入稿し、これを各メディアの編集担当者がオンラインで読んで、それぞれの用途に合わせて編集するシステムにした。したがって複数メディアで使う汎用原稿は、放送のかなり前からオンラインで見えるようにしないと仕事ができない。
ただ、当時はアカウント管理が厳密にできなかったので、特ダネなどの特殊なニュースは、汎用原稿をオンラインには出さないでニュース原稿にした。今回の事件であきれたのは、相場にからむ（3時のニュースにしたのはそのため）汎用原稿を、5000人もの職員が見られる最低レベルのセキュリティで3時前にオンライン化したことだ。20年前でも、そんなことはしなかった。
これはシステム管理者（編集責任者）に、基本的なリテラシーが欠けているとしか考えられない。しかも、理事がそれを個人の倫理の問題に矮小化するとは何をかいわんやだ。J-SOX法はいうに及ばず、ごく当たり前の企業の内部統制でも、性悪説に立ってセキュリティを設計するのが基本だ。情報を裸で出しておいて、悪用した職員だけを責めるのは、本末転倒である。
NHKは「文科系」優位の会社で、しかも中枢はほとんど（ITとは無縁の）報道が握っているので、ITリテラシーが非常に低い。かつては私も総合企画室にレクチャーに行ったことがあるが、企業戦略の立案にかかわる幹部が、テレビとインターネットの違いを理解していないのには困った。デジタル放送からB- CASに至る混乱した方針も、企業の根幹にかかわるメディア戦略を（古いテレビ技術を守るインセンティブの強い）技術陣に「丸投げ」しているために起きた失敗だ。
今度、着任する福地新会長は、倫理やガバナンスなどとむずかしいことをいう前に、自分たちの商売道具であるITのしくみを職員（特に幹部）に徹底的に教育し、ネットワークとは何か、NHKはどういうメディア環境に置かれているのか、という認識を叩き込む必要があろう。
追記：増田総務相が関係者全員の査問を要求したが、証拠もなしに5000人もの職員を犯罪者扱いするのは有害無益である。コメントにも書いたが、まず不正な取引のログを取って合理的な調査を行なうべきだ。
追記2：記者会見の詳細が産経に出ているが、驚いたのは「素原稿から汎用化原稿にする段階で“秘”というのをデスクが外す。汎用化原稿は５０００人程度は見られる」という答だ。これじゃ20年前と同じだ。アカウントの区分もしていない。昔は汎用原稿は報道（800人程度）が読めるだけで、放送後に「資料」になってから全部局に見えるようになっていたのだが、サーバをNHK全体で運用するようになって、かえってセキュリティが落ちたわけだ。これはシステム設計に問題がある。
In Ikeda's next post on Jan. 19th, he remarks on how many hits the first post (above) attracted:
きのうは4万ページビューを越え、当ブログの最高を記録した。NHK職員が、多数アクセスしていると思われる。NCシステムは、驚いたことに私が20年前に参加してつくった基本設計ばかりか端末(NEC5300)まで同じらしいから、私の知識が使えるという前提で、問題を少し整理しておきたい。
NHKは来週末までに全職員11000人と契約社員を含む査問を行なうことを決めたが、これは役所向けのポーズにはなっても実質的な効果はない。ドタバタと自己申告の査問をやっても、証拠もなしに「私はインサイダー取引をしました」と名乗り出てくる職員がいるはずもない。それより監視委が調べた884件の不審な取引の情報を入手してシステムのログと照合し、疑わしいアクセスを絞り込んでから査問すべきだ。
そもそも基本的な事実関係がよくわからない。記者会見では、石村理事が「2時38分から5000人がアクセス可能だった」と答えているが、産経によれば、2時間前から「デスクなど一部の人間」には読めたという。したがって3人のうち、東京のテレビニュース（整理部）は、2時間前からアクセスできた可能性が高い。
テレビニュースにアクセス制限をかけると仕事にならないので、これは第一義的には本人のモラルの問題だ。ただテレビニュースの中でも、当の原稿に関係のない記者が見る必要はないので、今回のように「解禁」のある原稿は、放送までは出稿者と担当デスク以外はアクセス禁止にするなど、もう少しきめ細かいアカウント管理を行なうことで、かなり問題は防げるだろう。
もう一つは、アクセス制限しても、見出しに何と書かれていたかだ(*)。5300では見出しは一覧できるので、原稿が読めなくても、見出しに両社の固有名詞が入っていれば、インサイダー取引の材料になる。自宅へ帰って取引したというのは、 22分間では考えにくいので、2時間前から知っていた可能性が高い。出稿された原稿のタイトルを変えないで、アクセス制限だけかけていたという「頭隠して尻隠さず」の状態だった可能性がある。
また読売によれば、水戸と岐阜のうちどちらかは、アクセス制限のかかっている時刻にパスワードを入力して原稿を見たという。常識的には、地方局に解禁前の原稿へのアクセス権を与えているとは考えられないが、与えていたとしたらシステム管理がおかしい。最悪の場合は、パスワードが盗まれたことも考えられる。
何より問題なのは、なぜ22分も前にアクセス制限を解除したのかということだ。石村理事も「5分前でもよかった」といっているが、3時のニュースは総合テレビとラジオ第一だけなので、汎用原稿を出すのは放送後でもいいはずだ。アクセス制限と解除についての手続きが整理されていないのではないか。
私のいたころは、まだ端末も100台ぐらいしかなく、報道しか読めなかったので、それほど問題はなかったが、今は端末は1000台、おまけにPCからも接続できるようになっているというから、5000人全員が端末をもっているに等しい。放送前のデリケートな情報が「中継や回線のコーディネートなどの放送技術の人も見られる」というのは、システム設計がおかしい。
根本的な問題は、20年前とほとんど変わらないセキュリティ管理のまま、アクセス範囲をどんどん広げたことだ。私のいたころはNHKが仕様を決めたので、システムの内容を把握していたが、それをそのまま20年も使っているうちに、ブラックボックスになっているのだろう。NECのメインフレームをまだ使っているというのも驚異的だ。システムをコテコテにカスタマイズして囲い込む「ITゼネコンの囚人」になっているのだ。
この調子では、局内に報道・編成・資料・経理など6系統も（互換性のない）コンピュータ・ネットワークがある混乱した状態も、大して直っていないと思われる。これを機会にITゼネコンと手を切り、システムをイントラネットに統合して汎用アプリケーションに切り替え、セキュリティ管理を見直すべきだ。「倫理」を説教するより、システムで防ぐことが第一である。
(*)朝日によれば、タイトルは「外食問題」で、3時のニュースのトップだったという。
[Note: Hanako Tokita contributed important tips on translations in this article. Thanks Hana!]

author: Chris Salzberg


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Kazakhstan: German Journalist Attacked in Astana · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Ben reports that German journalist Marcus Bensmann was seriously injured in an attack on his life in Astana, the capital city of Kazakhstan.


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Kazkahstan: IKEA Comes to Kazakhstan · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Joshua Foust reports that IKEA, the discount Swedish retailer which furnished a swath of my apartment, is penetrating the Kazakhstani market with opening two giant stores in Kazakhstan—one in Astana, and one in Almaty.


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Morocco: Artisian Exposition  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Live Peace Morocco shares photos from a recent artisan exposition in Rabat.


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Morocco: Female Genital Mutilation · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Braveheart does the Maghreb shares her opinion on how to deal with female genital mutilation globally.


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Mozambique: Yet another case of deforestation · Global Voices
Paula Góes

Carlos Serra [pt] reports on yet another case of interception of illegally felled  hardwood for exportation in Mozambique. This time, seven ten tonne trucks were seized by the Mozambican police in the district of Meconta. The ongoing deforestation in the country is a recurrent issue in the blog, says Carlos, who also reminds his readers to “read or remember the three letters which I, by the way, wrote to the President Armando Guebuza, here, here and here“. All links in Portuguese.

author: Paula Góes


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Nepal: Fuel and Protest · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

The Radiant Star on the protests against fuel price rise in Nepal, and how nobody is really spared.