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Venezuela: Kusturica’s Visit Becomes Political · Global Voices
Laura Vidal

Acclaimed film director Emir Kusturica visited Caracas to close out the week of celebrations for the city with a concert by his No Smoking Orchestra. After seven years from his last visit, Kusturica's fans (myself included) gathered for the free concert that took place at one of the biggest parks in Caracas.  In the end, Kusturica's visit became a political visit, which was especially demonstrated, when he attended conference at the Center for Latin American Studies (CELARG in Spanish) and congratulated the rebel spirit of Venezuelans who struggle against the Empire. In addition, he spoke in favor of the president and criticized the manipulating media. He made it sound as he was someone who seemed to know the country very well… even though he only stayed for a couple of days.
Photo by Luis Carlos Díaz and used under a Creative Commons license.
All the activities that surrounded the Serbian artist's visit had a very kusturican atmosphere. After hours of waiting, disorganization, chaos and the belief from people that the political discourse had no place at the concert, the evening began controversy, ideaologies, political bands and a humiliated politician, but in the end, all the magic and music brought by the No Smoking Orchestra was what was important. Before and after the big event bloggers showed their views on the artists, who no doubt, left a mark on those who participated.
In his blog Lejos del Mundo y de Los Hombres Vanos [es], Gustavo remembers part of the concert and about the crowd's reaction to the town's mayor:
Luego (…) llegó el turno a El Pacto. (…) Esta gente, aunque suenan bien, bajaron un poco el ánimo del público. Sus letras anti imperialistas cargadas de política no calaron bien en la gente. Ojo, varios de los que estaban a mí alrededor se sabían las canciones, eso me dijo que esta gente tiene sus seguidores (…) Suenan bien y suenan duro. Particularmente no me gustó escuchar el discurso del presidente cantado en Rock. (…) Ya eran las doce de la noche (…) el Alcalde (…) se montó en la tarima (…) Apenas tomó el micrófono, comenzó el abucheo. No fueron todos los presentes, pero fueron suficientes para que se escuchara con claridad. Le gritaban a coro “fuera” “fuera” y le tiraban botellas de plástico (pocas pero lo hicieron) (…) el niño grande se molestó y dijo (no son sus palabras exactas): “la Alcaldía les trajo a Kusturica, ¿Quieren que me vaya? Porque si me voy, Kusturica no toca”.
After (…) it was the turn of the band El Pacto to play. These people sound good. Nevertheless their lyrics are full of political ideas and anti-imperialism, which didn't really fit in the public's mood. But, hey… many people around me knew the songs, which tells me that the band has fans. They sound good and hard, but I didn't really liked the President's speech sung backed by rock music (…) It was already midnight (…) and the Mayor appeared on stage (…) As soon as he grabbed the mic, the public started to boo. Not everybody did it, but the booers were enough to make themselves heard. The shouted “get out!” and threw plastic bottles (not very many, but they did) (…) The big boy got mad and said (I don't remember his exact words) “The Mayor's office brought Kusturica, do you want me to leave? ‘Cause if I go, Kusturica won't play!”
HAL 9000 of Reflexiones de Robot [es] provides more on the concert's incident and the double-edge sword of “free” culture:
En realidad la comunicación del evento fue bastante desastrosa… Un grupo importante de gente creía que comenzaba a las 2, otros que a las 4 y otros que a las 5… En realidad lo importante es que a las 7 y media de la noche todavía no habían comenzado… Un par de ¿animadores? Se subieron a la tarima a explicar que todo se debía a “problemas técnicos (…) La masa respondió con pitas, pero los animadores, tratando de hablar con un lenguaje callejero que les salía tan natural como una novela de RCTV o una película de Carlos Azpúrua, esgrimieron un argumento que les pareció genial para justificar la falta de organización… “Recuerden que es gratis”. ¿Gratis significa chaborreo y desorganización? ¿Gratis significa que puedo pautar a la gente a una hora y después comenzar el espectáculo cuando a mí me dé la gana? Y peor aún, ¿gratis significa que te la tienes que calar y no puedes protestar?”
To be honest, the logistics in the event was disastrous. Many people thought it started at 2 pm, others that it started at 4 pm and some others that it would be at 5 pm. What is important is that at half past 7 they had not yet started. A couple of hosts(?) appeared on stage and explained they were having some “technical problems.” The public responded with boos, but the hosts tried to reply with wit, and in a very unnatural slang, saying that the public should remember the concert was for free. Does “free” mean disorganization and mediocrity? Does “free” mean that I can tell people that they should come at one time and then start the show when I feel like it? Or even worse, does “free” mean that you have to swallow your words and keep the protest to yourself?”
Titus remarked some of Kusturica's ideas in Selva [es]
El cineasta y músico, agradeció la oportunidad de poder venir a Venezuela nuevamente y presentarse con su banda, y señaló que la visión de Caracas esta vez es distinta, que es una gran ciudad con edificios altos y hamburguesas pero que detrás de eso está la lucha de un pueblo (…) Para él aún existen los mismos problemas, tanto en Sarajevo como en Caracas, pero muchas veces los medios de comunicación masivos reflejan otra cosa. (…) muchas de las informaciones sobre la situación de Kosovo, fueron creadas por los Estados Unidos y repetidas constantemente alrededor del mundo para crear una falsa matriz de opinión.
“La gente empieza a creerlo, porque los medios hacen la verdad y la verdad es muy débil si no se sustenta en los medios. Una vez que has sido marcado como una persona mala es muy difícil luchar contra los medios. Cuando los medios te aprietan, no crees en nada más y al final de la historia, la gente que no conoce qué pasó en Kosovo, cree lo que ve en los medios. Y si no conoces el alma y corazón de Kosovo… pero ¿quién se interesa hoy por la cultura y la historia? Nosotros tenemos que encargarnos de eso, porque sin identidad sin nuestra cultura, no sobreviviremos.”
The movie maker and musician thanked the opportunity he was given to visit Caracas again and to be able to perform with his band. He noted that his vision of Caracas is different this time, that it's a city with high buildings and hamburgers but that behind everything there was the struggle of its people (…) In his opinion there are still the same problems, just as there are Sarajevo as in Caracas, but the media shows something else. Much news and information on Kosovo were created by the United States and repeated constantly around the world in order to create a false sense of opinion.
“The people start to believe, because the media tells the truth and truth is very weak if it is not supported by media. Once you've been marked as a bad person it is difficult to fight against the media. When the media tightens its screws, it is difficult to believe in anything else and at the end of the story; people that do not know what happened in Kosovo believe what they see in the media, even more if you don't know the soul and the heart of Kosovo. But who is interested in culture and history nowadays? We need to get on that, because without our identity, without our culture, we won't survive.”
Noticias 24 reports that in the concert that had taken place the day before, a shooting left two people dead. Nevertheless, the show went on and the Mayor's office did not cancel the festival. It seems that the deceased had charges against him and that others that were also wounded in the shooting went away when the confusion arose. In addition, blogger and Global Voices author Luis Carlos Díaz comments on Noticias 24 regarding the Mayor's incident and publishes a video and photos he took and at the concert.
Cuando el alcalde apareció para decir quién firmó los cheques la gente no paró de abuchearlo. ¿Lo impresionante? Que Barreto intentara chantajear al público diciendo que si no lo querían a él, entonces Kusturica no se montaba en el escenario. Y luego dijo “váyanse, pues, váyanse”. Las pitas no dejaron de aumentar y hasta botellas plásticas y papeles tiraron a la tarima, hasta que se fue. Y sí, el público era mayoritariamente pro-revolucionario. Pero con Barreto se gritó “fuera la política”, entre otras cosas.
When the Mayor appeared to say who paid the money (to bring Kustruica to Caracas) people did not stop booing him. What was impressive was that Barreto (Caracas mayor) tried to blackmail the public saying that if they did not want him, Kusturica wouldn't play. The he said: “go, go now…”. The boos kept growing and plastic bottles were even thrown to the stage, until he left. And yes, the public was mainly revolutionary. But with Barreto people started to yell “no politics!” among other things.
At the end, Kusturica's art triumphed over politics, contradictions or even disorder. People danced with the musical genius of the Non Smoking Orchestra, and Kumasi of Miniplug TV [es] sums it up:
Kusturica & The No Smoking Orchestra dieron el mejor show del año, dejaron montar a un gentío (…) y repitieron dos canciones al final, son lo máximo. – Todo terminó tranquilo y no hubo tiros ni nada fuera de lo normal.
Kusturica & The No Smoking Orchestra gave the show of the year! They let a lot of people get on stage (…) and they repeated two songs at the end. They're the best! – Everything ended quite normally. There were no shootings.

author: Laura Vidal


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Armenia: Djulfa · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Blogian comments on a recent interview given by a former presidential candidate in Armenia on the destruction of an ancient Armenian cemetary in the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhichevan. The blog says that while the eradication of Djulfa should not result in Armenia pulling out of peace talks with Azerbaijan to resolve the conflict over Nagorno Karabakh, the matter should at least be raised.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Onnik Krikorian


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Brunei: Thoughts on racism  · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Cici Khalid doesn't understand why people are always racist. He asks: “How do you feel when other people is making fun of your race?”

author: Mong Palatino


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Cambodia: Where is social justice? · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Carrie Martin asks: Where is justice in Cambodia?


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China: Different Voices on the Upcoming Talk with Dalai Lama · Global Voices
Meng Zhang

The state-run Xinhua news agency reported Friday that “in view of the requests repeatedly made by the Dalai side for resuming talks, the relevant department of the central government will have contact and consultation with Dalai private representative in the coming days.”
The report which was promptly copied by China's portal websites provoked another new round of discussion and controversy on Dalai Lama among the Chinese netizens.
In Sohu.com, within a few hours more than 8000 people have made comments on the news:
作者:江西省网友
发表于:2008-04-25 16:17:19
拿出点骨气来！！要谈也到奥运后，这个时候偏不理睬他！！！
Author:netizen from Jiangxi Province
Posted on:2008-04-25 16:17:19
Stand up for yourself a bit！！Put off the talk until the end of the Olympics, if at all. Just ignore him at present！！！
作者:北京市网友
发表于:2008-04-25 17:50:18
可以对话,主权问题绝不容妥协!!!
Author:netizen from Beijing
Posted on:2008-04-25 17:50:18
It's OK to hold a dialog, but never compromise on the issues concerning state sovereignty!!!
作者:深圳市网友
发表于:2008-04-25 18:16:31
支持谈,都是中国人,当然可以谈.只要在我们的原则在,他们可以来道歉.承认错误,可以给他们个机会.
Author:netizen from Shenzhen
Posted on:2008-04-25 18:16:31
Support for the dialog. Because we are all Chinese, we can certainly have a talk with each other. On the premise of our principle, we can give them a chance to apologize and admit their error.
作者:温州市网友
发表于:2008-04-25 18:29:56
维护统一，反对对话，反对妥协，反对让步，坚决打击达赖集团
Author:netizen from Wenzhou
Posted on:2008-04-25 18:29:56
Safeguarding unity, opposing dialog, opposing compromise, opposing concessions, the Dalai Clique should be resolutely cracked down.
作者:常德市网友
发表于:2008-04-25 19:42:55
沟通可以，磋商也行，但只能在祖国的土地上。
Author:netizen from Changde
Posted on:2008-04-25 19:42:55
It's OK to have a talk or consultation with him, but it can only take place on the motherland.
作者:北京市网友
发表于:2008-04-25 21:47:54
向巴平措回忆2002年接待达赖代表说道：至于我们同达赖谈什么，主权问题不容谈，这是铁板钉钉的；人权问题，达赖没有资格谈。达赖主政的时候，西藏人权是个什么样子，大家都清楚。要谈，就谈达赖的前途，这是我个人的看法。
支持支持支持支持支持支持！！！！！！
Author:netizen from Beijing
Posted on:2008-04-25 21:47:54
When Qiangba Puncog recalled the moment that he met Dalai's representative in 2002, he said: as to what we would talk with Dalai, it's clear that the question of sovereignty is not open to discussion. Dalai has no right to talk about human rights. The human rights situation in Tibet under Dalai's rule is apparent to everyone. My personal opinion is if there is a dialog, the only topic is Dalai's future.
Support！Support！  Support！  Support！  Support！  Support！
作者:唐山市网友
发表于:2008-04-25 22:13:06
对话总比对抗强！希望双方都进一步妥协，49年了，亲兄弟有什么隔阂也应坐下心平气和的对话，希望达赖喇嘛尽早重返拉萨。全国名族大团结万岁！
Author:netizen from Tangshan
Posted on:2008-04-25 22:13:06
Dialog is always better than confrontation! Hope the both sides can further compromise with each other. It has been 49 years and no matter how serious the estrangement is, brothers must sit down and have a calm and sensible talk. Hope Dalai Lama can return Lhasa as soon as possible. Long live the great unity of the Chinese nation！
作者:美国网友
发表于:2008-04-25 22:58:52
对话是解决问题的最佳途径，对少数民族我们更要放下身段好好谈一谈，这样就有利于民族和解。达赖公开宣称自己是中国人，而且告诉藏人要以北京奥运为荣，我们至少要肯定他这一点。与达赖对话是中央政府成熟、明智、自信的表现。
肖吾省
Author:netizen from US
Posted on:2008-04-25 22:58:52
Dialog is the best way to solve problems. For the promotion of National Reconciliation, we must get off our high horse so as to have a good talk with the minority people. Dalai has openly proclaimed he is a Chinese and told the Tibetans to take pride in Beijing Olympics, so we should at least approve him at this point. Talking with Dalai shows the maturity, wisdom and confidence of the central government.
Xiao Wuxing
作者:西安市网友
发表于:2008-04-25 22:59:56
政府这样做是对的!一味的强硬态度对双方都不好.毕竟藏族是个几乎全民信教的民族,而达籁拉嘛又是众多信众的精神领袖.在维护国家统一,主权完整,废除奴隶制,保持社会安定,保护和发展民生福祉的前提下,听取不同的声音和要求,是负责任政府的表现.
不论是什么民族,不论是什么人,只要是认同中华大家庭,我们就要想法子去争取他!
祝中华民族和睦团结!祝中央之国早日一统!
Author:netizen from Xian
Posted on:2008-04-25 22:59:56
It's right for the government to do so! A rigid attitude benefits neither side; After all, Tibetans are mainly religious people and Dalai Lama is the spiritual leader of most of them.  On the premise of national unity, sovereignty integrity, abolition of slavery, social stability and preservation and development of people's livelihood, it's responsible for the government to listen to the different voices and demands.
No matter which people, no matter who, as long as he identify with multi-ethnic family of China, we will try to win him over!
Wish the Chinese nation fraternal unity！Wish that the complete reunification of China can be achieved at an early date!
作者:无锡市网友
发表于:2008-04-26 07:58:34
谈不妥的，我可以断定，达赖是不会放弃自己的立场的。打达赖就得像打狗一样，把他打得摇尾怜。
Author:netizen from Wuxi
Posted on:2008-04-26 07:58:34
I bet the negotiations will break down, because Dalai will not renounce his stand. We need to beat Dalai like a dog until he grovels before us.
作者:广州市网友
发表于:2008-04-26 08:37:45
这是中央政府在向西方社会妥协，是在向欧美妥协，软弱的中央政府！！！达赖必须承认一个中国，不分裂才能谈！
Author:netizen from Guangzhou
Posted on:2008-04-26 08:37:45
The central government is appearing to bend to the western world; it's a concession to Europe and America; how weak the central government is！！！Dalai must firstly acknowledge the One-China Principle and stop activities to split motherland before the talk.
作者:加拿大网友
发表于:2008-04-26 08:39:33
一直不知道达赖是什么想法？他的政治主张是什么？中央政府应该让人民知道。分裂祖国是不得人心的，政治清明我们也关注！
Author:netizen from Canada
Posted on:2008-04-26 08:39:33
People don't know Dalai Lama's views？What are his political opinions? The central government must let people know that. Splitting motherland is unpopular, but we also concern the political probity！
作者:河池市网友
发表于:2008-04-26 08:47:18
达赖已是法国人，反对同其商谈。
Author:netizen from Hechi
Posted on:2008-04-26 08:47:18
Dalai has become French. Oppose talking with him.
作者:淄博市网友
发表于:2008-04-26 08:57:18
与其磋商也要其承担刑事责任，他教唆他的喽罗们杀了那么多人，给国家造成那么大的损失，不能就这么算了。一定要将达赖之流绳之以法。不杀达赖不足以平民愤！
Author:netizen from Zibo
Posted on:2008-04-26 08:57:18
Dalai shall be prosecuted for his criminal liability even we accept to consult with him. He has abetted his underlings to kill so many people, causing such great damage to the state. We can't let it go at that. Fellows like Dalai must be brought to the justice. Dalai has to be executed to assuage the people's anger!
Netease blogger Zhi Kuanyou also gave an immediate response to the unexpected news:
今晚我注意到了一条消息：
中央政府有关部门准备同达赖方面磋商。
更让我纳闷的是，在网易发布这条消息的时候，竟然一条网语的评语都没有，看来是没有勇气面对全国的国民呀。在此之前，我们的中央政府把达赖批得体无完肤，魔鬼一个，引得我们可爱的国民喊杀一片。现在我们的中央政府却要和达赖磋商了，太让人哭笑不得了。
更为客气的是，前些时候我写有关达赖的短文不得不用DL来代替达赖，否则我的博客根本通不过网络警察的审查，其实我也就完整地转述达赖近期在国外对媒体发表的看法，就是这样也很不容易通过审查呀。
我们老是说西方媒体的不公正给中国人民造成了伤害，试问我们的媒体又给达赖多少公正呢？
可喜的是，中国政府正朝着正确的方向了望了。
This evening I noticed a piece of news:
The relevant department of the central government will have contact and consultation with Dalai side.
.
What made me disconsolate was when Netease published the report, not a comment was visible after the news. It looks the government doesn't have courage to face the whole nation. Before that, our central government had criticized Dalai to shreds and devil, provoking a tide of battle-cry against him from our lovely people. Now our central government is going to consult with Dalai. It's really ironic.
.
Earlier, what annoyed me more was I had to use DL instead of Dailai when I wrote something about him, otherwise my blog would not pass the Internet police's censorship at all. In fact, I just completely retold some of Dalai's recent airing views in the foreign media, but even so, it's still very difficult to pass the censorship.
.
We always keep criticizing the western media's injustice which has harmed Chinese people, but how much justice have our media given Dalai?
.
The good thing is Chinese government is heading in the right direction.

author: Meng Zhang


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Dominican Republic: First Trip on the New Metro · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Lara from Blog Santo Domingo [es] recounts her first experience on the new metro in the Dominican capital and that it is not permitted to talk about politics or other controversial topics that may create debate.

author: Eduardo Avila


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Ecuador: Joining the Creative Commons Community · Global Voices
Milton Ramirez

During a well-advertised event, Ecuador has joined other countries that offer free distribution of information and content under the guidance of licenses called Creative Commons. Delegations from Colombia, Argentina, Mexico, Chile, Venezuela, Peru, Brazil, Ecuador, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Honduras, Dominican Republic and Cuba arrived the day before the event to take part in the 2nd CREAD Andes Congress and the 2nd VIRTUAL EDUCA Summit, where they discussed the quality of distance education. Also present were 26 experts from 4 continents Europe, Asia, America and Africa.
The launching of Creative Commons (CC) Ecuador was scheduled to be part of this meeting and was organized by the Loja's Technical University (UTPL), member of CREAD.  After months of hard work, mentors Juan José Puertas Ortega and Carlos Correa Loyola saw their hard work pay off.
GVO has been following the events as Eduardo Avila posted on this posts here and here..
Creative Commons 3.0 [es] in Ecuador, is the 45th jurisdiction worldwide to adopt the Creative Commons licensing and according to the press release, they are “interested in promoting cultural production and research, so we have taken the initiative to launch the Creative Commons licenses as an alternative to ‘all-rights-reserved’ copyright. To achieve this, we have been going through a process of adapting the international license to our legislation, in discussions both public and private, and we have worked together with our community stakeholders and notable representatives in the field of copyright to reach a public presentation of its launch.” More can be read in the new Scripta (pdf).
For those Ecuadorans who couldn't attend the launch of the CC Ecuador were able to follow the developments, Loja's Technical University website Open UTPL [es] contains more information. For some videos about the all progress of what we are reporting, please head over to the university's YouTube Channel..
As we said at the beginning most of Ecuadoran bloggers supported this process, which started on March 10, 2008. Nelson Piedra along with Palulo were live blogging the ceremony which was followed by hundreds of people not only in Latin America but worldwide.  Here the first reaction of local blogosphere:
Angel Gualán [es] a blogger and also member of Saraguro's community says the CC Ecuador was entirely sucessful:
Con total satisfacción se cumplió el lanzamiento de Creative Commons Ecuador, para ver la cronología del evento aqui en el blog de Nelson Piedra.
With total satisfaction was fulfilled the Creative Commons's launch, Ecuador chapter; to see the chronology of the event here in Nelson Piedra's blog.
Blogger and Creative Commons user, Palulo [es] was quick to liberate the content of his blog:
Todos los creadores de arte, blogs, etc. de Ecuador están llamados a compartir sus creaciones o ceder ciertos derechos de ellas, todo en bien por crecer juntos y generar más conocimiento.
Ecuador's creators of art, blogs, etc. All of them are called to share their creations or to yield certain rights of it, everything for the benefit of growing together and generating more knowledge.
The Blog of the Department of Educational Information Technology of Loja National University  says:
…Estamos por buen camino con lo de otros paises llevan en lo relacionado a la Web 2.0, e-learning, EVA, etc……..Un deber como docente es compartir con todos ustedes nuestra experiencia.
We are doing well, same as the other countries that are pursuing and relating to the Web 2.0, e – learning, VLE, etc … ….. The duty as a teacher is to share with everyone your experience.

author: Milton Ramirez


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Ethiopian bloggers defend charged pop star · Global Voices
Andrew Heavens

Ethiopian bloggers rushed to the defence of their country's top pop singer Teddy Afro, after he appeared in court charged with the hit-and-run killing of a youth in capital Addis Ababa.
Many writers were convinced Afro was being framed by Ethiopian authorities who, they said, resented the singer's huge popularity and veiled anti-government lyrics.
Afro was first questioned by police in November 2006 after a homeless 18-year-old was killed by a car in the centre of Addis Ababa. Officers reportedly claimed Afro's BMW had been spotted at the scene by a taxi driver.
His fans were taken by surprise when Afro was arrested, charged and remanded in custody last week, two years after the original incident. The mainstream media described how fans staged protests outside the court room where a judge decided to postpone a bail hearing.
Teddy Afro – real name Tewodros Kassahun – is hugely popular among Ethiopians in and outside the country. His hit song Yasteseryal (hear a clip on his official site teddyafro.com) – which many say criticises a line of Ethiopian leaders including current prime minister Meles Zenawi – was reportedly banned on state controlled radio.
Merkato published an entry by Golto Aila titled Ethiopia – “My Solidarity Forum” for Teddy Afro – An Ethiopian Hero & a Prisoner of Conscience which stated:
This advocate of justice for our people; this voice for the voiceless; this champion of the oppressed; this ultimate entertainer could have lived in luxury abroad and enjoyed life as most of us do, but knowing the risk to his own life, he returned home to continue the mission he has set for himself! Today he sits in the notorious Kaliti Prison, precisely because of what he does for his down-trodden compatriots! The humiliation he has suffered so far and will continue to suffer hence will be the most poignant symbol of our peoples’ suffering for the last two decades!
Debteraw Blog mentioned Afro in a list of “political prisoners” in the entry Tensae Le-Ethiopia.
Addis Tibeb wrote in Teddy Afro arrested:
Many fans believe that Teddy is set up for the charge by the government that is supposed to resent Teddy’s public acceptance in his political reprimands by some of his songs
Arefe of Addis Journal stopped short of describing his own opinion of the case, but described the scenes outside the court in Court adjourns Teddy's hearing:
hundreds of cheering and chanting fans had greeted Teddy's arrival. Wearing a T-shirt and sunglasses, Teddy waved as he slowly made his way into the courthouse. As he left the court, the ‘free him’ shout became more intense and police surrounded and arrested some of them. A journalist for Hamrawai magazine and another newspaper reporter were among the arrested. It's unclear why police arrested them. It was said they are all detained in the police station in front of the court…
Teddy's arrest weeks ago has generated much interest and anxiety in the city and his songs have enjoyed sudden popularity in the bars, taxis and public places.
freeteddyafro left a message on esai the forum run by The Ethiopian Students Association International:
It is hard to know if Teddy's (imprisonment) is motivated by politics or it is a following judicial process. Teddy is the symbol of Ethiopian new and future generation. He is a bridge for the past, present and future. He is an idol for young generation. Let us bring Teddy to daylight before he disappears forever.
esai commenter Ethiopia said he was convinced Afro was innocent and feared for his chances of a fair trial:
I DONT believe Teddy IS BOTH INHUMAN to leave a dead street kid laying on the ground AND DUMB enough to stay in the country for two years.
Samuel Gebru sounded a lone voice of caution, calling on people not to politicise Afro's case in Ethiopia: Teddy Afro's imprisonment:
Some Ethiopians abroad have tried to capitalize his imprisonment, pending a bail hearing, as the Government's bid to silence the iconic singer…there's a long way ahead before the verdict, so whatever is said abroad is mere speculation. Nevertheless, the politicization of his arrest is not only false but unhealthy in our developing political climate in Ethiopia.

author: Andrew Heavens


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Hong Kong: Tibet Journal Article · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

David Webb posted an article that have been rejected by the Journal of Law Society in Hong Kong. The article discusses about the history of Tibet and the issue of self-determination.

author: Oiwan Lam


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Indonesia: Working at home · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

So Mote It Be! lists the reasons why working at home is fun


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Iran: A series of aerial photos of Iran · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Homeyra has given a link to a series of aerial photos of Iran taken by George Steinmetz.

author: Fred Petrossian


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Japan: Japan Today supports Scientology · Global Voices
Chris Salzberg

Ken at What Japan Thinks writes about opposition from readers of Japan Today to video ads for the Church of Scientology.

author: Chris Salzberg


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Japan: Olympic Torch Protest in Nagano · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Mousan has posted images from the largely peaceful protests that met the Olympic torch in Nagano, Japan.

author: Preetam Rai


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Japan: Yomiuri article on Japanese chemical weapons buried in Chinese land · Global Voices
Chris Salzberg

Sayonara, Mata Ashita comments on an article in Yomiuri shimbun, Japan's largest newspaper, about chemical weapons buried in Chinese land at the end of the Second World War.


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Panama: Doing Their Part to Keep the Country Clean · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Rosa Ivette applauds and writes about two “heroines” in the community of Clayton, Panama [es] that during their daily walk also help keep the streets clean by picking up trash along their routes.


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PangeaDay: Videos to change the world on May 10th · Global Voices
Juliana Rincón Parra

On May 10th 2008 at 18:00 GMT, 24 films will be broadcast during a 4 hour event. What makes this different is that this event, PangeaDay will be broadcast from six locations worldwide in seven different languages worldwide to be viewed through internet, television or cellphones with one unique purpose: to make each other know about the lives of others and focus on what makes us similar, instead of what makes us different and let us work together towards peace. This initiative came from Egyptian filmmaker Jehane Noujaim‘s wish. As a TED Prize winner she was granted a wish in addition to a $100 000 USD award. PangeaDay is her wish, to change the world and create a day in which people of the world could come together through film. Her 2006 acceptance speech can be found here.
Because PangeaDay is about bringing people together, an invitation made for audiences to upload their own videos on the pangeaday video channel where you can view the 1037 videos people uploaded in reply.
As an example, one of the uploaded videos is about an Art student in Tanzania, telling his story of his day to day life and how he wants to teach homeless kids about art.  Following, the story of Chado by jamesstephenbrown:
The logistics of PangeaDay are awe inspiring: from Cairo, Kigali, London, Los Angeles, Mumbai and Rio de Janeiro, films, live music and speakers will come together to inspire the whole world. The films chosen have been selected  from more than 25000 films from over 100 hundred countries.These movies all share some characteristics such as being able to inspire, transform and enabling us to experience life through another's eyes. Queen Noor of Jordan,  will be one of the speakers, along with musician and activist Bob Geldorf, Christiane Amanpour from CNN and the Iranian rock group Hypernova. While at these locations people will be getting together, all around the world parties and groups of friends can sign up and show that they will be tuned in: you can attend an open event in your hometown or even host your own.
However, Pangea Day isn't just about getting together during 4 hours. The idea is for the event to get people inspired, talking and making changes. It has also allowed others to participate not only as viewers. Through partner organization Nokia, aspiring filmmakers in different locations throughout the world have been given video enabled mobile devices to some people in rural areas, refugee camps, and film schools, so they too can portray their stories. People can also upload their own videos for a chance to win a Nokia N95 8GB mobile device. This partnership brings us a Myanmar refugee in India recording children's laughter, an Iranian family in a refugee camp in Afghanistan recording their idea of Hope, and an Indian in Bangalore filming the cutting down of  Banyan trees… and children planting new trees.  You can view these and other videos on this page.
So there are many different ways to participate. Don't miss the chance to be a part of this and make sure to tell others and spread the word.

author: Juliana Rincón Parra


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Philippines: Blogging summit · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

iBlog4 or the 4th Philippine Blogging Summit is taking place today.


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Saudi Arabia: Blogger Fouad Alfarhan Released · Global Voices
sami ben gharbia

Prominent Saudi blogger Fouad Alfarhan was freed today. He is back home in Jeddah after 137 days in custody.

author: sami ben gharbia


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Singapore: Food safari in Singapore · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Yum Yum Asia writes that Singapore is not only one of Asia’s most dynamic cities; “it’s also a center for some of the best food in South East Asia.”


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Syria: Explosive Nuclear News · Global Voices
Yazan Badran

Yesterday, the CIA released footage of an alleged Syrian North-Korean-built nuclear reactor. The footage “exploded” all over the news.
The story started with an Israel air strike on an unknown target in the Syrian northern desert in September 2007. Speculations about a possible nuclear cooperation between Syria and North Korea has been floating since then. But both Israel and the US have kept an official policy of secrecy over the target, until yesterday.
Syrian officials have repeatedly denied the allegations. And the IAEA was highly critical of the US and Israel for concealing the information until now, and for referring to force before giving the UN a chance to confirm the information.
Syrian bloggers have been very skeptical about the contents of the footage, almost everybody still remembers the confidence with which Collin Powell briefed the UN about Iraq's never-to-be-found WMDs.
Joshua Landis rounds up media reactions on the footage, and comments on America's “Shoot-first-and-ask-questions-later” policy.
The second criticism of the CIA's effort was to argue that Washington should not be encouraging Israel to launch bombing raids without first going through legal channels, international agencies, and peaceful alternatives. Shoot-first-and-ask-questions-later policies are sure to undermine US legitimacy in the eyes of the international community. They will do nothing to dispel Arab anger at US and Israeli arrogance. On the contrary, the propensity to use force as a first option will convince others to do the same.
Sasa from The Syria News Wire, tries to put the accusations in their international context, and wonders why did they wait this long to release such “important” information.
There's nothing new here. These accusations were leveled when Israel destroyed a building in Syria with an air raid last September. Now the US has produced photographic ‘evidence’ and given it to the UN nuclear agency. But they're not happy – the IAEA is furious at the delay in handing these photos over.
So why the delay? Look at the timing. It comes on the day America is about to finish negotiating with North Korea. And it comes two days after Israel revealed it was willing to return the whole Occupied Golan Heights in return for a peace treaty with Syria.
And finally, we stop at Ihsan‘s, where he also seems highly skeptical of any concrete facts behind the allegations, but raises another issue: Whatever is the purpose of that building, we seem to have a case of high treason. “Have some heads rolled in Damascus over this or not?” he asks.
The photos were not just taken from a satellite; in fact, the most compelling photos were taking from within, outside, and few meters away from the building and during different phases of its construction. Whoever took them was available on site and did not just sneak some peaks from afar. The alleged extreme secrecy surrounding the “project” would naturally suggest extreme security measures and “no cameras allowed” signs all over the place. Yet, the person(s) took the shots was pretty comfortable judging from the angles of the photos. This means one of two things, it has never been a top secret covert location as claimed and anyone could get there, or the presence of a huge fat rat among or a friend of the elite and most trusty people who were in charge of it. I, however, lean toward the latter.

author: Yazan Badran


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Ukraine: Remembering Chernobyl · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Déjà Vu – The Uncanny Feeling remembers Chernobyl: “When I think of Chernobyl … […] … I see 16-year-old Katya in Kiev, 90 km south of Chernobyl, scared to death by a danger she can't see, she can't sense, getting on a train for Leningrad to escape from radiation. She has never moved back to Kiev. This was the “sudden end of my childhood” as she said years later. Katya is my wife.”

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Vietnam: Motorcycle car park · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

The Final Word in Saigon blogs about the motorcycle car park from the center of town near the now infamous golden triangle.


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Zimbabwe: Post-election violence on the rise · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

The election crisis in Zimbabwe continues: there are reports from the mainstream media, bloggers and human rights organisations about state organised post-election violence against supporters of the opposition, the main opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, has left the country for Botswana fearing for his life and the “ship of evil” continues to draw bloggers’ attention.
The Evil Ship
KOGY calls the Chinese ship carrying weapons destined for Zimbabwe “the evil ship”:
As the evil ship carrying weapons of mass destruction is stranded in the South African coast, there are cries for ‘freedom’ everywhere in Zimbabwe today. The once prosperous country full of happy people has now turned into an unwanted hunger and disease stricken country. The economy is in shambles, the country is in crisis because the ruling party does not want to release the results of the elections which everyone else besides Zanu PF believe Mugabe lost. The Zimbabwe government has now turned to acquiring weapons of mass destruction, to destroyed the same people whom they want us to believe they voted for Mugabe to remain in power.
Hope questions the logic of buying weapons during “abnormal times”:
Can a transaction in arms ever be considered ‘normal’ during abnormal times?
I’m nothing more than a confused Zimbabwean, but I want to know what happens when the postman arrives at the door of Zimbabwe’s State House asking for the President to sign for the delivery… who signs for it?
Who will come to Zimbabwes aid?:
Already the illegal government is busy buying arms from China either using aid money meant for ordinary Zimbabweans or mortgaging the country's natural resources for the exchange of arms that it intends to use on ordinary unarmed civilians whose sole crime is vote Mugabe and Zanu PF out of power. The Chinese vessel failed to offload its cargo in South Africa thanks to the members of the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (SATAWU) who refused to offload the weapons and is said to be heading towards Angola or Namibia and we know Angola sides with Mugabe so as does Namibia and the world's superpowers should halt that consignment reaching a blood thirst dictator. If the world does not act now there will be catastrophe in Zimbabwe.
Sokwanele calls for action:
Send a Portuguese email to stop the ‘An Yue Jiang’:
This relates to our action post (at this link), where we are collating efforts and ideas to stop the An Yue Jiang from delivering Chinese weapons to Zimbabwe.
Feel free to copy and paste the text below to send emails to Portuguese speaking recipients. We’ve kept the wording non-specific so you can use it for a variety of organisations. Include a personal English comment underneath this text if you would like to do so.
A very big thank-you to CC for the Brazilian-Portugese translation.
Stop the An Yue Jiang from delivering Chinese weapons to Zimbabwe.
They have posted a petition by Avaaz, a gobal web movement, and have also developed an ‘Action Contact Database’:
The response from everyone to the campaign to stop weapons on board the An Yue Jiang from reaching Zimbabwe has been phenomenal. A wealth of information and contacts poured in to us, but finding all the contributions amongst all the comments was a little overwhelming.
In response, we have developed an ‘Action Contact Database‘.
Morgan Tsvangirai
Following the reports that the opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, is not planning to go back to Zimbabwe soon from Botswana, Bev Clark writes, “If I had my way I’d put him on a shuttle and send him straight to Mars.”:
I’ve read that Morgan Tsvangirai believes that shuttle diplomacy is the way to go right now. If I had my way I’d put him on a shuttle and send him straight to Mars. I read in the Zimbabwe Independent that Tsvangirai, his family and his advisers have set up camp in Botswana because Zimbabwe is too dangerous. I’m not sure how much more insulting one can get but Tsvangirai certainly takes the cake.
I was at a lunch on Saturday and I just wish Tsvangirai could have been there because the derision with which his name was uttered would surely have made him sit up and take note. I wrote recently about finding these ridiculous stickers in Newlands in Harare likening Tsvangirai to Mandela . . . yeah right.
Kubatana asked Zimbabweans to send their views about Tsvangirai's decision to stay in Botswana. They texted their views to Kubatana:
He has to come back & instill confidence in the electorate but obviously he has to be security conscious lest he runs into a booby trap.
—–
He should come back so that we face this war together he is our man.
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Tell Tsvangirai to come back. Lets fight together they can arrest him yes but the revolution spirit will never die.
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Tsvangirai should not take refuge in a foreign country. He must come back home and face the reality. He should be like a Kalilombe which sacrifices itself up to death.
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What would u do if there is no one to protect you? He is right.
Post-Election Violence
We are going back to war:
The same person who sent us this message also advised us that someone he knows in the Macheke area saw two youngsters walking down the road with AKs slung over their shoulders. He asked another person – a war vet he had a friendly relationship with – what it was about:
The answer was, “Yes we are all being armed; we are going back to war”.
There are torture camps set by Mugabe supporters:
In the Thursday edition of The Zimbabwean there were revelations that, “Militant supporters of President Robert have set up torture camps in parts of Mashonaland East province and stepped up a terror campaign against opposition activists in the province”.
The reason for their deployment is to ensure a victory for Mugabe in their planned run-off election.
Sokwanele is able to report that we are able to verify and endorse this information with a report leaked to us by a member of the defence forces. This was received yesterday.
There are a variety of strategies being employed to hoodwink Zimbabweans, particularly those in the rural areas. What follows is a breakdown of the information we have received.
Coordinated state violence against innocent civilians:
It looks like a coordinated phase of Mugabe’s crackdown against human rights and opposition activists.
In addition to the news of the arrests, we have received further information from a trusted source who says that the awful Obert Mpofu is up to his dirty tricks and thuggery and violence in Umguza. This is what our source sent us:
Obert Mpofu, the ‘former’ Minister of International trade and Industry controls all the intimidation and violence in Matabeleland North. He was also indirectly implicated in the violent murder of Martin Olds on Independence Day in 2000.
One of Mpofu’s main henchmen is Richard Moyo, the Zanu PF Chairman for Ward 8, Umguza.
Moyo runs a store and beerhall on Cranmore farm, Umguza. He drives a new white Nissan King Cab with Zanu PF Umgusa District on the door.
Moyo is very dangerous and has been known to murder anyone getting in his way. He has a murder charge pending on him since 2005 when he beat-up and then burned to death a guy called Zenzo, who had spoken to one of his girl friends.
Hand amputations:
You may remember that I wrote a post ten days ago about information that had been sent to us about hands being cut off. I relayed the information from my contact like this:
he said a contact of his had phoned him and told him that people in the Musana Communal Lands, in the Bindura / Shamva area (Mashonaland Central), have had their hands cut off.
Read the statement concerning violence and torture from the Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights and visit Kubatana's Special Post-Election Violence 2008 Page.
Protests and Riots
Students at Bindura University of Science Education protested last week:
There was mayhem in Bindura yesterday the 22nd of April 2008 when Bindura University of Science Education BUSE students joined other students at tertiary institutions countrywide in protesting against the illegal regime’s efforts to cling onto power despite losing the March 29 harmonised elections. The angry students stormed the streets at around 10am and marched from the new  to the old campus site chanting protest songs. The march was disrupted by ruthless and brutal armed soldiers who forced the students to stop the protest and assaulted several students in the melee. This led to the arrest of three student leaders who were quickly whisked away and are to appear in court today charged under the notorious Public Order and Security Act (POSA).
Last week saw the opening of tertiary institutions nationwide mounted by massive protests by aggrieved students who could not take lightly the exorbitant fee hikes and the illegal delay in releasing the just ended Presidential poll results. The students vowed to continue protesting until the illegal Government of Robert Mugabe swallows its pride, accept defeat and leave office.
And there was a riot at the National University of Science and Technology:
There was a riot at the National University of Science and Technology (NUST) yesterday (16 April).
We heard that several activist students called all the students from their lessons to start a boycott of classes until the Presidential results were released.
There was a slow trickle of curious students out of their classes to see what was going on, and at about this point the riot police were called in.
Things turned aggressive and the university was locked down. We believe that the activists have been arrested, but this fact has not yet been confirmed. The whereabouts of the student activists is unknown.
The student situation in Zimbabwe has been very under-reported.
Simon “Dreadman” Mudekwa, the President of the Zimbabwe Revolutionary Youth Movement  was arrested while protesting outside the Chinese Embassy in South Africa. Hope would like people to show support by calling him on his mobile phone:
I just had word that Simon “Dreadman” Mudekwa, the President of the Zimbabwe Revolutionary Youth Movement, was arrested in South Africa while protesting outside the Chinese Embassy.
He is apparently, as we speak, locked up in Sunnyside Police Station – with his cell phone.
Give him a call (we can’t) and let us know in the comments what’s up. Please give him a big cheer from all who love Zimbabwe and stand with him in Solidarity.
Cell phone number: + 27 (0)79 619 2955.
South Africa is about to do the unthinkable:
But after the arrests resulting from a protest outside the Chinese embassy in South Africa, I was alerted to this via 702:
Zimbabwean exiles to be deported after illegal protest
Pretoria police say over a hundred of the Zimbabwean exiles arrested during an illegal protest outside the Chinese embassy today will be deported.
Anti-Zanu PF Tactics
Kubatana blog received tips to counter Zanu PF tactics:
Here are some useful tips sent to us by a passionate man committed to Zimbabwe’s restoration. More than take note – take some of them on!
We need to counter Zanu PF tactics
Communication
Fliers, newspapers, rallies, SMS, emails, international media
Violence and Intimidation
Build while they burn
Support teams of activists to stand up to the bullies
We must document the violence, get it into the media and expose the perpetrators
Civil Disobedience
Create doubt among Zanu PF
Name and Shame
Expose them, assets, deals etc.
In the event of a Run-off
Pre-election Strategies
Election Day Strategies
The ordinary person can – at no personal exposure
* Forward SMS messages of encouragement to friends and colleagues every day
* Drive with their headlights on and encourage others to do the same
* Give people lifts – especially the police and army personnel – let them do the talking
* Talk to friends about the situation – keeping positive, encouraging and creating awareness
The next steps (as people become braver) could be:
* Open palm salutes to everyone throughout the day
* More open discussion and encouragement
* The distribution of newspaper articles and fliers
From most of you we expect a lot more – we expect you to take charge, LEAD
Government of National Unity
Is there a need for a government of National Unity?:
Now we hear that they want a government of national unity, based on what? They called the elections and lost what needs to be negotiated is the smooth transition of power to MDC the choice of the people. Even Zuma the South African Presidential hopeful's ideas of a negotiation between MDC and Zanu PF should be mooted, there is nothing to negotiate, we won the election, we are ready to govern. This whole idea of that Mugabe will steal this election and declare himself a victor rule for 18 months and then hand over power to Emmerson Mnangagwa who in turn will then instigate negotiations with MDC to resume the flow of international aid and perpetuate Zanu PF's stranglehold on Zimbabwe will be rejected by people of Zimbabwe and if needs be we will defend our vote violently.
 If I read carefully between the lines of the propaganda mouthpiece the Herald is that Mugabe and his military junta surely know that they cannot revive the economy of Zimbabwe, there want to give MDC piecemeal positions within their illegal government ignoring the outcome of the election.
Hope asks, “Is this a sign that Zanu PF are recognising they cannot simply steal the elections and get away with it?”:
The state controlled Herald (aka The Horrid) has an article today which proposes a government of National Unity lead by Robert Mugabe and outlines what they (read Zanu PF because The Herald is their mouthpiece) want SADC to do:
The Zimbabwe Government and independent international observers are agreed that the just-ended harmonised elections did not produce an outright winner in the presidential race. It is unlikely that the on-going recount will substantively alter that position.
Accordingly, it stands to reason that, the transitional government of national unity, negotiated by the two leading contending parties, under the mediation of Sadc, supported by the international community, should be led by the incumbent president.
Confusing Collage of Symbols and Slogans
Finally, Comrade Fatso describes the streets of Zimbabwe:
The streets are empty. The state has retreated. So has the opposition. All we are left with are their torn posters, pasted over each other in a confusing collage of symbols and slogans.
We also have their space-fillers. Riot police aimlessly walk the streets, batons in belts like forgotten cellphones. Or sometimes unconsciously swung in the air like a stick-picked-up-on-a-path. They walk the streets like the thousands of unemployed H-town youths. Space-fillers. Like the pothole-filling youths who have taken over the suburban streets. Stopping traffic, asking for donations, filling potholes. Unhindered.

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Angola: The voting weapon · Global Voices
Paula Góes

Cazimar [pt] echoes the news that the Chinese An Yue Jiang ship was allowed to dock in Luanda only to unload merchandise destined for Angola. The blogger asks Angolan president José Eduardo dos Santos why he wants weaponry and call people to react: “Be careful with this delivery of weapons. You may be backfired. The weapons are your only guarantee of your independence (for which you fought), against this gang of dictators and corrupt negotiators. They'll try to disarm you, so that they can massacre you. The voting weapon will be a farce. A circus made in China, similar to Zimbabwe and Kenya.”

author: Paula Góes


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Argentina: Price Differential in Travel for Tourists and Nationals · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Foreign tourists and Argentine nationals pay different fares for internal flights in the country.  Argentina's Travel Guide provides some background information on the policy and that the law to eliminate this price differential has yet to be implemented.


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Argentina: Suggestion for Charging Monthly Fee at the UBA · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

The University of Buenos Aires (UBA) is free for its students, but Esteban Grinberg of De Todo Un Poco [es] suggests that a small monthly registration fee should be applied so that improvements can be made to the departments and so that students have greater duty to complete the work.


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Bolivia: May 4th Referendum · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Miguel Centellas of Pronto* provides an overview of the May 4th Referendum to be held in Santa Cruz, Bolivia.


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Brazil: Blog gives away tickets to attend to PangeaDay · Global Voices
Paula Góes

Victor Vasques [pt] is giving away five pairs of tickets to the PangeaDay event in Rio de Janeiro to readers of Com Limão (With Lemon) blog. Contestants only need to send a video or catchphrase about “I want to attend to Pangea Day” via email and the five best chosen by the blog team will make it.


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Cambodia: Rice production · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Im Sokthy reports that Cambodia could be the world's largest rice-exporting country in the next few years


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Colombia: Latin American Web 2.0 Gathering · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Victor Solano of ¿Comunicación? [es] provides a post-event evaluation of the First Latin American Web 2.0 Gathering held in Bogotá, Colombia, which attracted 160 attendees and another 130 virtual participants.


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East Timor: On the shortage of rice · Global Voices
Paula Góes

Ângela Carrascalão [pt] describes how rice entered East Timor via Indonesia, substituting native corn, and the problem the country now faces in times of food shortage: “When it was no longer part of the current diet of the East Timorese people, the population almost ceased to grow corn, and the idea that the maize could help to overcome the shortage of rice in the market is not even contemplated.”


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Ecuador: Mines Back to the State · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

In the Ecuadoran Constituent Assembly, there is a proposal to revert the mines back to the state, and Libertad Ecuador [es] thinks that is a bad idea for the country's development.


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Honduras: Report on Melon Contamination · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

La Gringa's Blogicito provides continuing coverage of melon contamination in Honduras and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's recent report on their investigation into the matter.


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Indonesia: Food and agricultural policies · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Youthful Insight reviews the food and agricultural policies of Indonesia


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Iran: Audio Story for all · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Audio Story is a blog[Fa] where people can listen to  different stories,articles and so on. In Audio Story we read that 5 million people,including the blind, can not read in Iran and thanks to this blog they can listen to stories, books and articles.


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Iran:Toilets and Nuclear technology · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Kaghz Pareh (means a piece of paper) says[Fa] that according to news sites Spain signed a contract with Iranian government to construct 1000 toilets in Iran. The blogger says I got surprised by this piece of news because each day government announces new inventions and progress in nuclear technology but we are unable to construct even our own toilets.


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Malaysia: Squabble over welfare funds · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

NotaRazi asks whether it is correct to transfer out the money of a Malaysian state organization a few days after the state fell to the Opposition.


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Mysterious death of a Filipino worker in Hong Kong · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

A death in Hong Kong is a blog set up by concerned Filipinos who are demanding a proper investigation to the mysterious death of a Filipina domestic helper in Hong Kong


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Singapore: Philatelic Museum’s exhibition on rats · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Sparklette blogs about the thematic exhibition at the Singapore Philatelic Museum featuring rats


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Thailand: Top 100 blogs · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

The Lost Boy lists his top 100 Thailand blogs.


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Afghanistan: Learning from PRTs · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Josh Foust opines on the Provincial Reconstruction Teams in Afghanistan and takes a critical view on their effectiveness.

author: Adil Nurmakov


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Africa: Measuring Internet Connectivity · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Measuring Internet connectivity in Africa: “ICTP Science Dissemination Unit has been monitoring and testing internet connectivity to 45 universities in Africa for the past 12 months. Using at tool called PingER Africa, they track real-time network performances in terms of response time (for a succession of pings) and packet loss percentages.”


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Argentina: Bloggers at Buenos Aires Book Fair · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Fabio provides a list of bloggers scheduled to appear [es] and speak at the Buenos Aires book fair through May 10.


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Bhutan: Lost in Democracy · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Lost in Democracy, an online documentary about how Bhutan is coping with westernization and its transition to a democratic state.

author: Neha Viswanathan


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Brunei: Top six blogs · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

After more than six months of public nominations and votes, the top six blogs of Brunei are finally known.

author: Mong Palatino


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Cambodia: Funny signs · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

ZJ posts funny and creative signs in the streets of Phnom Penh, Cambodia


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China: An American Youth’s Advice to Chinese Youths · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Haujia posted a letter written by an American youth who works in China. He listed out 18 suggestions for Chinese youths in dealing with differences. Part I, Part II and Part III.


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China and Tibet: Tibetan Wish · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Woeser posted 5 short pieces written by Tibetans which expressed their suggestions and wishes for a better Tibet [zh].


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China: Carrefour Boycott Censored by GFW · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Dupola reported that “Carrefour” becomes a “sensitive word” in GFW filter and Caodan reported that they got a notice to clear all discussion regarding Carrefour boycott [zh].


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Colombia: Memories of a Love Dashed by the Guerrillas · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Uhelmdn of Airsounds [es] remembers an episode in his hometown of Ciudad Bolívar, Colombia, where an encounter with a platonic love had to be forgotten as word that the guerrillas had arrived into the town spread like wildfire causing panic forcing everyone to flee home.


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Ecuador: Food Prices and Demand Might Help Farmers · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

ABA of Cambiemos Ecuador [es] wonders whether the rise in food prices and higher demand might be beneficial for some Ecuadoran farmers, who might be able to begin cultivate unused land.


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Egypt: When Religion Sleeps With Politics · Global Voices
Tarek Amr

Egyptian blogger Zeinobia attacks Pope Shenouda III in one of her recent posts here, for his Easter speech this year.
Still I feel so sad and angry from what the Pope Shounda said and did this Easter from praying for Mubarak to have longer life !! and warning his people from listening to those vandals over the Internet who will be sent to hell !!??
She continues:
For the Muslims this is something usual ,I know from long time that the speeches of the Emam in the Mosque in our neighbourhood are approved by the security , so I do not care much for what they said , not to mention that the religious men in Islam do not have this holy status of the religious men in Christianity.
But for someone like Pope Shounda in his position comes and says these nonsense about those facebookers who will be roasted in hell , then we need a stand here.
She ends her post with:
There is no excuse for the Pope or the for Sheikh of Al-Azhar in fact I will dare and say that they should fear the Lord not the President
Cyberactivism, blogging and the use of Facebook has recently come under the scrutiny of Egyptian officials, following claims that a nation-wide strike on April 6, which culminated with the Mahalla workers revolt. Several bloggers as well as the founder of a Facebook group named April 6 were among hundreds of activists, politicians and passer-bys detained by the authorities on the day and the days which followed. That said, the fact remains that it wasn't the Facebook group which has led to the strike and workers calling for higher wages and better salaries to meet increasing living expenses.

author: Tarek Amr


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Guatemala: Celebrating Earth Day and Ways to Preserve · Global Voices
Renata Avila

Photo by Ivan Castro and used under a Creative Commons license.
The name of Guatemala derives from a Mayan word meaning “the land of trees”. Actions in the form of words is the way that I describe the spirit of bloggers telling the world what are they doing to protect and save the planet. From small local governments to desks of people in the city, many bloggers are conscious about the environment and they are telling the world some examples of what we can do, as Mr. Man says:
En Guatemala, Mexico, y varios países de Latinoamérica aun producen sus emisiones de co2, no toman en serio la Alerta, las personas son incapaces de tomar decisiones si el estado de los respectivos países no se preocupa, la crisis energetica es lo que es por el mal actuar, y si ahora no nos preocupamos por este cambio climático, se va avecinar una peor situacion, en la cual no hay vuelta atras. Este va ser el Mundo del mañana que van a vivir las futuras generaciones.
In Guatemala, Mexico and other countries in Latin America still produces CO2 emissions, and the countries do not take the alert seriously, people are even incapable of deciding to do something if the State of each country is not concerned. Energy crisis is what it is because of our bad behaviour, and now we are not concerned with global warming, and a worse situation is approaching, there is no turning back. This is the world of tomorrow, where future generations will live.
But there are also small actions by local governments that are taking place.  The blog a small local government in Quezaltepeque described their actions [es]:
Entre los distintos bosques podemos mencionar el bosque de Santa Teresa, bosque de Yocón y el bosque del caserío San Juan de la aldea Cubiletes, en los cuales se han realizado prácticas de reforestación y los cuidados necesarios para evitar que incendios forestales acaben con nuestra flora y fauna.
Among the different forests we have Santa Teresa, Yokón and the one near San Juan, in “Muffins” Village, where we have reforested and have taken all the necessary care to protect our flora and fauna from fires.
Among the different posts was the one by El Diario del Gallo,
Considero que el dia de la tierra se empezó a celebrar justamente en el primer minuto cuando una primera mujer o un primer hombre de lejana comunidad prehistorica se alegró de descubrir el agua para beber, el fuego para cocinar y abrigarse del frío, el suelo para cultivar, el aire que le tonificó cuando cansado salió a la orilla de su cueva en la parte más alta de su casa en la montaña y llenó sus lpulmones y se sintió como nuevo, y todo esto y más aún nos dá la tierra. El celebrar el Día de la Tierra forma parte de una estrategia de concienciacciòn y educación ambiental, pero es necesario que nosotros como ciudadanos del mundo de nuestro país Guatemala, el cambiar nuestra forma de vida y de consumo, de proteger nuestra riqueza natural y sobre todas las cosas el “agua”.
I think that the first celebration of earth day took place when the primitive man or woman from a prehistorical community was happy to first discover the water to drink, the fire to cook and warmth, the soil to grow crops, the air that purified him when he went out of from his cave at the top of the mountain and breathed and felt renewed. All of this and more is given by the Earth. To celebrate the Earth is part of a strategy of environmental  motivation and education, but it is necessary that we, as citizens of the world and our country, change the way we live and how we consume. It is necessary to protect our natural heritage and above all “the water”.
The first Blog in Peten, the largest area in Guatemala, El Blog de Rudel commented about a forgotten Natural Reserve, and he is concerned about it as is an important resource for the Planet:
El día de ayer tuve a bien sobrevolar la zona de Chiquibul, una reserva forestal que forma parte del sistema guatemalteco de áreas protegidas, y se ubica en la parte central del departamento adyacente a la linea imaginaria con Belice. Del lado Guatemalteco hay comunidades como Carrizal, El Limon, Los Olivos entre otros, y de nuestro lado esta mas dañado. Del lado de Belice, la Reserva de Chiquibul se constituye en la mayor reserva forestal de Belice y se encuentra en buenas condiciones. Sin embargo, de ambos lados, esta reserva puede ser explotado turisticamente, particularmente el turismo de aventura, ya que la zona es propicia para la espeleologia, el campamento, navegacion en rapidos, entre otros.Aqui se encuentra el sistema de cavernas de mayor extension de centroamerica. Del lago Guatemalteco, existe una gigantesca caverna en donde se introduce el Río Chiquibul, y aparece a unos 20 kilometros al norte. … Me preocupa que este ecosistema se pierda. Los medios solo hablan de la RBM, pero hemos olvidado la parte central saliente de Petén y este bello lugar.
Yesterday, I was flying above the area of Chiquibul, a forest reserve that is part of the Guatemalan System of Protected Areas, located in the center of Belize's frontier. On our side there are communities like Carrizal, El Limon, Los Olivos among others, and our side is the one showing more damage. For Belize, Chiquibul is their largest forest reserve and it is well preserved. But both sides can become tourism spots, mostly for adventure tourism, because the zone is great to explore caves, to camp, to practice rafting, among other attractions.  Here is the largest chain of caves in all of Central America. Of Guatemala Lake, there is an enormous cave where Chiquibul River passes and appears some 20 km to the north… I'm concerned  that we are losing the ecosystem. The media only talks about Maya Reserve Biosphere, but we have forgotten the center of Petén and the beautiful place that I described earlier.
Global or at least, local warming is also getting serious.  According to El Zacapaneco  Guatemalan weather was perfect the whole year, but now is hot, humid and getting worse. A man died because of the extremely hot weather.
The Planet is sending us clear signals and small actions can really make the difference. The added value of countries like Guatemala, meaning the land of trees, where people have to cut down beautiful rain forests because they do not have alternative means of living, is a loss for the citizens of the world. However, bloggers are suggesting small actions that can result in big changes.

author: Renata Avila


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Guyana: Footprints  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Living Guyana shares a few steps he is taking to mimimise his carbon footprint.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Guyana: RIP McAndrew · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Signifyin’ Guyana acknowledges the passing of Wordsworth McAndrew, “a pioneering Guyanese artist.”


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Haiti: Food Crisis · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

kiskeácity links to a Haitian organization's perspective on the island's food crisis.


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Hong Kong: Net Respect Project · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Charles Mok the Hong Kong Chapter of Net Respect for promoting user’s code of ethics.


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Hong Kong: Shame · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Danish artist Jens Galschiot has been denied for entering Hong Kong as he is planning to attend a peaceful demonstration during the Olympic Torch relay. Galschiot has made a sculpture called “pillar of shame” after the June 4 incident. Kursk criticized that the HK government added one more shame to the pillar [zh].


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Hungary: End of Coalition · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Hungarian Spectrum writes about the SZDSZ's vote in favor of leaving the coalition: “With this decision something entirely new came into being in Hungary: a minority government. And since it is new, most Hungarians don't quite know what to do with it.”


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Hungary: “Goy Bikers” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Hungarian Spectrum writes about “Goy Bikers” and the “resurgence of neo-nazi activism.”


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India: Food in Bolivia · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

30 in 2005 goes to Bolivia and samples the culinary delights.


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India: Teaching them about reservation · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

nanopolitan on how the school textbooks in India deal with the issue of reservations.


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Indonesia: Craft Fair · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Elyani's Place writes about Inacraft 2008. Now on it's tenth year, the big craft fair was held at Jakarta Convention Centre.


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Indonesia: Rice laws · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

‘Sarapan Ekonomi, quotes a scholar who says “Asian rice laws and regulations are going in the wrong direction.”


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Jamaica: Su Su  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

In honour of National Poetry Month, Geoffrey Philp's Blogspot features a poem by Jamaican Velma Pollard.


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Japan and China: Nationalistic Language Learning · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Ampontan noticed the nationalistic rhetorics in Li Yang's crazy English teaching approach.


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Japan: Nagano red for Olympic torch relay · Global Voices
Chris Salzberg

The Japanese leg of the Olympic torch relay came to an end on Saturday without serious incident, but many Japanese bloggers who attended the event were left with lasting — and often bitter — impressions. The story of a Tibetan exile living in Taiwan, who jumped at the runner and was taken down by police, sparked hundreds of posts on 2channel, as did the choice of police to block protesters holding Tibetan flags from entering the area around the finish line.
Many bloggers pointed out how Nagano, for one day, seemed to transform into China. Blogger shuyan writes:
私の印象は「この一日だけ長野は完全に中国と化した」ということです。
テレビや写真などで確認できる映像は、とにかく赤い国旗のオンパレードでした。
物々しい警備などを見て「本当にこれが日本？」と思われた方も多いでしょう。
この異様な雰囲気は、平和の祭典とあまりにかけ離れているといった感じです。
In a post entitled “Nagano was red”, blogger Vasi (ヴァスィ) writes:
真っ赤に染まった沿道。
ぶつかり合うチベット支援者と中国人。
何重にも取り囲まれて走る聖火ランナー。
ゴール地点に中国人しか入れさせない長野県警。
弱腰で偏向なマスコミ。(これは異様ってこともないか…)
Many bloggers expressed frustration at the police presence. Blogger ae0800 writes about their own experience:
僕はスタートの約2時間前、午前6時前後にスタート地点を通過したんですが、その際も持っていたメッセージボードをバッグにしまうよう、警察から指示を受けました。曰く「君たちをトラブルから守るため。それに従えないなら、ここを通すことは出来ない。」ということ。スタート地点周辺は既に中国の国旗が多数はためいている状況でしたが、それでも「埋めつくされている」という状態ではなくむしろスペースかなりがある状態だったにも関わらず、チベット支援者が国旗やボードを掲げる行為、あるいは「そこに留まること」は許されませんでした。同行していた何人かが抗議の声を挙げましたが、「それはここで話す内容ではない。説明や質問は一切受け付けない。」という形でかなり高圧的な対応をされていました。
An article at OhmyNews cast suspicions, however, on the motivations of some of the pro-Tibet protesters. As writer Fujikura Yoshiro explains:
26日、長野市で行われた聖火リレーのスタート前に見かけた「チベット側支援者」の小競り合いには、現場で取材していて、ある不自然さを感じた。というのも、その場の「チベット側支援者」の言葉や態度が、これまでオーマイニュースでリポートされてきたチベット人のデモ行進や関係者の発言とは、明らかに違ったのだ。
The article goes on to explain that these “Tibet supporters” were actually Japanese “fake Tibet supporters” deliberately trying to cause problems:
スタート地点にいたチベット側支援者たちは、中国人に向かって「帰れ！」「虐殺糾弾！」など、強い調子で非難の言葉を吐いていた。「帰れ」という言葉が、ここでの小競り合いの原因にもなっている。しかし、これまでオーマイニュースでリポートされてきたチベット人のデモなどには、これほどの攻撃性が感じられなかった。ただひたすら「フリーチベット」とコールしているだけで、中国への非難や恨みをモチベーションに活動しているといった印象をまったく受けなかった。
The article concludes with these thoughts:
チベット人グループと主張が違っていたとしても、チベット旗を掲げ、「フリーチベット」を唱えていた以上、チベット人を支援する意思はあるのだろう。しかし、果たして彼らの存在はチベット人のためになるのだろうか。
むしろ彼らの行動や態度が、「似非チベットvs中国人」のトラブルを「チベット人vs中国人」であるかのようにメディアや世間に見せつけ、チベット人の足を引っ張ることになりはしないか。
今回の聖火リレー騒動では、長野市が北京に見えてしまうほどの中国人の動員力と統率力に驚かされ、チベット人グループのまじめで悲痛な訴えにシンパシーを感じた。しかし同時に、“似非チベット”の醜さも見せつけられたイベントでもあったように思う。
Meanwhile, a 40-year-old truck driver, blogging at Kurukichi no hitorigoto, was fed up with both sides:
正直、中国人留学生とチベット支援者がバカ騒ぎするだけの集まりにしか見えませんでした。
留学生も支援者たちも行けばどんな風になるか、わかっているようなものなのに、現地に行って、いざ小競り合いになって怪我人出してたら世話ないですね。
スタート前、右翼の関係者ともめて、怪我をした留学生もいるようですが、これは右翼側が悪いにしても、そんなところに行って御騒ぎすればどうなるかわかると思います。
また、チベット支援者も物を投げたり、乱入しようとしたりと、ただただ迷惑をかけているようにしか見えませんでした。
いろんな言い分はあるにしても、私は双方どちらともいいことをしたとは思えません。
正直、このリレーより善光寺で行われた、チベット騒動の犠牲者の追悼法要の方が落ち着いた感じで視れました。
Finally, blogger OTO tried to move beyond the dispute and hoped for a resolution of the conflict:
北京五輪聖火リレーで少し問題があったみたいです。でも、日本ですから大丈夫です。中国とチベットの問題は２国で解決してし欲しいです。聖火リレーはみんなの人たちにして欲しいです。


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Kazakhstan: NATO Coop. and Regional Integration · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Patrick Frost reports that amidst failure of the initiative of Central Asian Union's creation, NATO’s Special Representative recently visited Kazakhstan to discuss the railway transit project.


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Korean President’s Visit to the U.S. and Media · Global Voices
Hyejin Kim

The first summit between America and South Korea since the Korean Presidential Election was held in Washington in April. Current President Lee Myung Bak’s visit to the U.S. attracted the attention of netizens. Besides the contents of the conversation between the two representatives, the issue of how conventional media in Korea will present the news is of interest to netizens because of unfriendly news about Roh Moo Hyun’s visit to other countries during his governance.
A netizen puts a series of posts about how media could respond differently.
The first post:
한국 시각 16일 미국 뉴욕에 도착한 이명박 대통령이 교포들을 만났다.그 자리에서 여러가지 말들을 쏟아 냈다.보수언론은 상당히 우호적인 입장으로 기사를 쓰고 있다.만약 노무현이 그랬다면 신문사들 반응이 어땠을까 상상해 본다.
“기분 같아서는 선거가 끝나고 그 다음날 뉴욕을 오고 싶었다”
또 망언…대통령 자리가 그렇게 한가한가?
“뉴욕 분들이 100%라고 말할 수는 없지만 99%는 저를 지지했다고 생각한다”
===>선거민심 자의적으로 해석하는 오만한 대통령
“미국과 유럽이 (경제에) 어려움이 오더라도 대한민국은 극복하고 성공할 수 있다는 자신감을 가질 수 있다”
===>이 대통령, 우물안 개구리? 글로벌 경제 현실에 너무 어두워
“새 정부는 작은 정부를 지향하고 있기 때문에 정부조직은 줄여나가려 하고 있고 앞으로 2단계 조직개편도 있을 것”(재외동포청 신설에 부정적)
===> 한국 동포들의 열망 짓밟는 한국 대통령
“부족한 것은 내 임기중에 많이 바꿔 놓으려고 하며, 내 임기는 5년이지만 10년 내에 일류 선진국가 수준에 갈 수 있을 것으로 본다”
==> 이 대통령, 무리한 장밋빛 미래만 언급
“규제도 없애고 국내외 기업들이 모든 분야에 걸쳐 한국에서 활동하는데 불편하지 않도록 법도 바꾸고 빠른 시간 내에 많은 변화가 이뤄지도록 하겠다”
===> 의회 권력 무시한 오만한 태도….대통령이 지시하면 법이 그냥 바뀌나?
“올해 세계 경제가 좋지 않다고 하는데 FTA가 되면 미국이 동아시아 경제권에 진입하는 교두보가 될 수 있을 것”
===> 한국경제 죽어가는데 미국경제 걱정만
“남북관계는 특수한 관계로 다른 나라와 북한과의 관계는 매우 다르다. 우리 동포라는 점을 인정하지 않을 수 없다”
===> 다시 도진 온정적 민족주의
“외국인도 공무원을 할 수 있도록 법을 바꿔 기회가 많아졌다”
===>내국인 일자리도 모자라는데 외국인까지 꼭 데려와야 하나?
“교육.금융.과학기술 등 여러 분야에서 젊은 교포 2세들을 스카우트하려 한다.”
===>근거없는 낙관…오란다고 다 올까?
“In my mind, I wanted to come to New York on the next day after the election.”
===>  Absurd remark again… is the position of President at leisure?
“Although I can’t say 100 percent, I think 99 percent of Koreans in New York supported me.”
===> Arrogant President who interprets people’s minds in his own way.
“Even though the U.S. and Europe will have economic difficulties, Korea has the confidence to overcome and succeed.”
===>  Is he like a frog that lives in a well? He’s way too ignorant of the reality of the global economy.
“The new government looks forward to the small government. Therefore, we will cut down the government organizations and will go through the second reorganization of the government systems (he is against establishing overseas Koreans’ bureau).”
===>  Korean President who tramples on overseas Koreans’ desire.
“I will try to change what is weak during my governance. Even though my governance will be five years, I am sure that Korea will be the first developed country within 10 years.”
===> President who guaranteed unreliable future.
“I will get rid of regulations which make hurdles for domestic and foreign enterprises in Korea and will accomplish many changes in the short term.”
===> Arrogant attitude that disregarded authority of the National Assembly … can the laws change with President’s orders?
“Even though it is said the world economy is not good, after the accomplishment of the FTA, America can step into East Asia’s economy boundary.”
===> Regardless of the demise of the Korean economy, he is worried about the American economy.
“Relations between North and South Korea are special. It is different from relations between North Korea and other countries. We should not disregard them as our brothers.”
===> Paternal nationalism again.
“I will give opportunities for foreigners to work as civil servants.”
===> In the situation that is short of jobs in domestic markets, do we have to accept foreigners?
“I will scout from among the second generation of young Koreans in education, finance, and science technology.”
===> Groundless optimism… will they come if we ask?
The second post:
이명박이 줄리아니 전 뉴욕 시장에게 한 농담이 화제다.
“Why don’t you ask me how to win the primary?”
이를 두고 동아일보에서는
“사실 ‘예비경선에서 이기는 방법을 내게 물어보지 그랬어요?’라는 의미라면 ‘Why didn’t you ask me how to win the primary?’라고 해야 정확했겠지만 미국인들의 웃음을 자아내는 데는 아무 문제가 없었다.” 라고 썼다. 만약 노무현이 그랬다면 어땠을까? 아니면 동아일보가 이명박에게 노무현만큼 반감을 가졌다면 어땠을까? 다음과 같은 몇 가지 헤드라인들이 예상된다.
- 역시 상고출신…영어 문법 엉망
– 대학나와 영어 잘하는 번듯한 대통령이 그립다
– 공사판 콩글리쉬, 대한민국 품격 떨어진다
– 대한민국 국가원수가 왜 영어로?
– 당사자에 대한 외교적 결례…겉으로 웃지만 속으로는 부글부글
– 한글 맞춤법도 모르는 이 대통령, 이번엔 영어망신
– 부시와도 ‘막말'할까 비서진들 안절부절
– 국익 걸린 외교무대에서 왜 어설픈 영어로?
– 국익보다 우선하는 콩글리쉬 자랑?
– “솔직히 창피하다” 일부 교민 분통
– “서툰 영어는 오히려 손해”…익명의 미 고위 관료
– 외교의 기본도 모르는 대통령…한글 맞춤법부터 배워야
– 이 대통령, 한국말이 그렇게 창피한가?
- As expected, he’s from a commercial high school… English grammar is messy
– We miss the President who can speak right English with a college degree
– Konglish, dignity of Korea went down
– As the President of the Republic of Korea, why did he speak English?
– Diplomatic mistake toward the other side… even though they laughed outside, they must have been mad in their minds
– President who doesn’t speak Korean well… messy English this time
– Secretary team had jitters if he would speak roughly with the U.S. President
– Why did he speak in coarse English at a diplomatic meeting to talk about national interests?
– Bragging in Konglish rather than considering national interests?
– Honestly it’s embarrassing,” some overseas Koreans said
– “Coarse English bring damage”…. An American high positioned official said
– President who doesn’t even understand the etiquette of diplomacy… he should learn Korean first
– Is he that ashamed to speak Korea?
The third post:
미국에서 쇠고기 협상 타결 소식을 전해 들은 이명박의 일성이란다.
“양국 대표들이 어젯밤에 한숨도 안 자고 밤을 새서 협상을 했다고 들었다”
“새벽에 두 사람이 잠결에 합의한 것 같다”
보수언론은 한결같이 이 ‘조크'에 좌중의 폭소가 터졌다고 난리다. 한국 국민들은 미국산 미친 소를 먹게 생겼는데 그게 지금 조크가 나올 상황인지, 그리고 그게 지금 대통령의 뛰어난 조크 감각을 찬양하고 떠받들어야 하는 상황인지, 도대체 한국 언론들은 똥인지 된장인지 구분도 못하나?
만약 노무현이 그랬다면 언론의 1면은 이렇게 장식되지 않았을까?
– “잠결에 합의”? 대통령, 잠꼬대 하나
– 대통령 또 막말…농민들 부글부글
– 밤샘 협상 했다면서 무조건 항복…협상단 뭐했나
– 대통령, 미국 소 먹어보긴 했을까
– 국민 생명 댓가로 캠프 데이비드 하룻밤…대통령의 화려한 외출
– “청와대부터 미친 소 먹어라” 네티즌 항의 빗발
– “솔직히 이렇게 쉽게 타결될 줄 몰랐다” 익명의 미 고위 관리
Conservative media said that due to such jokes from him all people around him burst out laughing. In the moment that Koreans had to start eating any American cows, including crazy cows, how come he could tell a joke and how come they praise the sense of his humor?
If Roh Moo Hyun reacted like that, how would the media react?
– Agreement while asleep? Is he talking in his sleep?
– His blunt remark again… peasants are mad…
– Surrender regardless of the negotiation the whole night… what did the negotiation team do?
– President, has he even tried American beef?
– With the cost of peoples’ lives, a night at Camp David… luxurious outing of the President
– “The Blue House should try the crazy cows first” Netizens’ continual criticisms
– “Honestly speaking, I even didn’t expect it will be solved so fast,” An American high-positioned officer said

author: Hyejin Kim


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Lithuania: Bicycles in Vilnius · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Babel in Vilnius writes on how to turn Vilnius into a bicycle-friendly city.


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Nicaragua: Ranking on UNDP Human Development Index · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Nicaragua currently is listed 110 out of 154 countries in the United Nations Development Programme's Human Development Index.  Isabel Valdez González of McDonald [es] wonders why the government does not take concrete steps to change this and compares its situation to its neighbor Costa Rica.

author: Eduardo Avila


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Nicaragua: The Return of Silvio Rodríguez · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

On the blog of Radio La Primerísima [es], Luis Enrique Godoy reviews the two concerts of Silvo Rodríguez, who returned to Nicaragua after 25 years. and he compares the contrast between the countries at both of those times.


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Nigeria: The Next Fela  · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Ladybrille interviews the Nigerian musician, 9nice: “A self proclaimed “artist, poet and custodian of tradition and the Nigerian culture,” 9ice, like the great African musical icon-Fela Anikulapo Kuti, is dynamic, authentic and uncompromising, especially when it comes to his decision to sing in his native language.”


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Pakistan: A deal with militants · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Five Rupees asks some questions about the deal just made with Mehsud's militants in Pakistan.


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Pakistan: All about security · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

The security frenzy in the city has Metroblogging Islamabad telling a story about how innocent walks and lunches are viewed with suspicion.


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Peru: MRTA No Longer on US Terrorist List · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Silvio Rendon of Gran Combo Club [es] notices that the guerrilla group MRTA (Revolutionary Movement Tupac Amaru) is no longer listed on the U.S. list of terrorist groups, and that its declassification was made with little fanfare.


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Poland: Gorbachev vs John Paul II? · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

The beatroot writes about the publication of “a politburo document, signed by Mikhail Gorbachev, which appears to warrant a KGB contract killing on John Paul II.”


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Poland: Tolerance March · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

The beatroot writes about this year's Tolerance March in Krakow.


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Russia: Moscow and NYC · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Two-Zero explains why Moscow is not “the new New York.”


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Serbia, EU: SAA and the Election · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Kosmopolit reviews perspectives on whether the EU should offer Serbia a Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) before the May 11 general election.


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Slovakia: Hotel Kyjev · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

The Foreigner's Guide to Living in Slovakia writes about plans to demolish Hotel Kyjev in Bratislava: “Though I agree that buildings like the Hotel Kyjev are part of Slovakia’s history, I disagree that they are part of true Slovak culture. Are the communist principles, good or bad, embodied in socialist-realism architecture a part of Slovak culture simply because Slovaks survived through those 40 years of it?”


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South Korea: Olympic Torch Relay Protest · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

R. Elgin from Marmot's Hole blog about the Olympic Torch relay protest in Seoul.

author: Oiwan Lam


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Southeast Asia: Rice and food price crisis · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Prices of rice and other basic food items are increasing in the world. The global food price crisis is affecting millions, possibly billions of people. Food policies are challenged. Governments are imposing emergency measures to calm down their restless constituents. The Southeast Asian region, home to several emerging and developing economies, is also struggling to cope with the situation.
For want of a better title more or less sums up the problem in the region:
“The biggest problem with our rising rice prices is that it’s more a distribution error than a problem with the rice yields. It’s more about politics than it is about agriculture…What’s probably going to happen though is an even higher rise in rice prices. The thing about a necessary product is that when price goes up, people buy more. And since they’re spending more on rice, they’ll spend less on the things that accompany that rice.”
Even Singapore, one of Asia's richest countries, is now scrambling to offer cheap food prices as reported by Singapore News Alternative.
Rice exporting nations are also gripped with panic. Thanh Nien cites that “Rice fever runs hot in several Vietnam provinces.” Details are Sketchy is worried because nearly half a million kids in Cambodia are expected to start missing meals in the coming weeks as a result of the rising cost of rice.
Vuthasurf describes the mood in Phnom Penh:
“The rice price is remarkably increasing in Phnom Penh. Phnom Penh residents have been buying and stocking rice. All type of rice price is increasing too fast and making Cambodian people worried. The price of rice is going up across the nation by more than 20 percent, comparing to the previous year. Rising the rice price is helping the farmers but it is hitting badly the poor such as garment workers, teachers, civil servants who have low-income.”
But Cambodia’s government is optimistic that rice production will improve. Im Sokthy explains:
“Cambodia has about two million hectare of land for rice production. Its existing irrigation system can cover 30 percent of the land. It can expand to three million hectares for rice production. Adding to this, Cambodia could cultivate about two to three times per year on the same land areas. Based on this, it is seen that Cambodia has huge potential to become the world's largest rice exporting country.”
Youthful Insight notes the anomaly in policymaking in Indonesia, which may be applicable as well to other countries:
“On one side the government must keep inflation and food price low enough so its does not hurt the poor. But on the other side the government must maintain a reasonable high price to give incentive to farmers to increase their production and increase rural welfare. Is there any policy to achieve both objectives above? Yes! Give high subsidy to the farmers like what the developed countries are doing. But the problem is our government does not have the money to do it.
“Cheap food price is good for poor urban, whose main sources of income are the service and manufacturing sectors. But bad for rural poor whose main source of income is agriculture sector. Lower food price means lower income and also lower welfare for rural area. The government sacrifices the rural for the sake of the urban. Why? Because urban poor is more attractive politically than rural poor.”
New Mandala mentions the ongoing debate in Thailand about the extent to which farmers will benefit from high rice prices. Thailand Crisis is surprised to hear the Thai Prime Minister exhorting the people to eat less so that Thailand can export more rice.
The Malaysian quotes a politician who is asking the Malaysian government to stop the space mission program so that the money can be used to develop Sabah as a food producing state.
Filipino journalist Ricky Carandang points to another reason for the rising food prices:
“Yes, there are real supply and demand factors driving up rice prices, but one must concede that a big chunk of the increases in the prices of oil, gold, and rice, are due to speculation on the international commodities markets.”
Lengua et Pluma blames the economic policies of the Philippine president:
“The government is quick to blame the traders, when it hides on the background its policies that pave the way for cartel operations and the declining rice production in the country.  This crisis that has brought about the overdependence on the importation of food, and an agriculture that is geared mainly towards the production of raw materials for export, has put on the forefront the long-running problems that beset our agriculture and farmers –lack of irrigation, lack of subsidy on the production of our farmers, land use and crop conversion, and the monopoly of land by a few land owners and transnational corporations, to name a few.”
Local Freakonomics hopes the Brunei government will continue subsidizing the price of basic food items:
“While I don’t expect the government to subsidize all food but I do expect some food price subsidies/food security packages are being planned for Brunei’s staple food (in addition to rice and sugar) such as cooking oil, flour, milk, eggs, chicken.”
Related article: Southeast Asia and rising price of rice


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St. Lucia: Inflation  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Blogging from St. Lucia, Looshan Ramblings notes that “Oil is set to go up again. If the trend continues the first casualties of this spiraling inflation are the poor nations of the developing world.”


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St. Vincent & the Grenadines: Safety Issues · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

As St. Vincent & the Grenadines’ latest homicide makes the news, Abeni says: “It's a scary situation which seems like it will get worse before it gets better.”


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Turkmenistan: How many Turkmens are there? · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Maciula presents results of his net searching, aim of which was to find out how many Turmens live in the world.


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Uganda: Mwenda, 3 others arrested in newspaper raid · Global Voices
Rebekah Heacock

(UPDATE: Andrew Mwenda has been freed on bond, see his letter to supporters on the TED blog.)
Bloggers and independent media outlets in Uganda are reporting that three journalists and a photographer at The Independent, an opposition newspaper based in Kampala, have been arrested and that the paper's offices have been raided by Ugandan security forces.  One of those arrested was Andrew Mwenda, who was previously charged with sedition for his coverage of the death of Sudanese vice president John Garang in 2005.
Reuters and Uganda's Daily Monitor ran the story yesterday, and the Independent published a full account of what happened:
In a two-pronged operation, police and operatives from the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI), Joint Anti-Terrorism Taskforce (JATT) and the Black Mamba squad raided The Independent again, exactly a month after the first raid.
…
At [Mwenda's] house, the police confiscated his lap-top, flash disks, 43 CDs full of information – both official and private, a manuscript of a book he has co-authored with Prof. Roger Tangri on Elite Corruption and Politics in Uganda. After that, Mwenda was driven to the offices of The Independent.
…
In no minute, other plain-clothed men, some feigning meanness others calmness, stream into the offices and start taking position as [police detective Joshua] Musede hordes the few employees already at work out of the newsrooms into the open space, saying there is something he is looking for.
Consulting editor Charles C. Bichachi then demands to know what the group was exactly looking for and the authorisation permitting them to do so.
“The ID is enough, he doesn’t have to show a search warrant,” interjected one of them, a relatively tall and light-skinned man feigning calmness, speaking Runyankole with a gun popping out of his waist.
…
Mwenda’s arrival clears the air as to what the raid this time is about; the team is searching for seditious material that the publication is in possession of; transcripts and audios of interviews of alleged torture victims in safe houses in Kampala and around the country under the wings of CMI.
Juliana at Afromusing writes:
Andrew Mwenda, arguably Africa’s most refreshing intellectual and journalist, has been arrested by Ugandan officials. More here.
This is utter injustice, and i am not even sure where to begin. For now, highlighting it on this blog seems to be one way, please highlight it on yours too, and I am sure some initiatives and online campaigns are being organized. Keep an eye on the TED blog for Updates.
Glenna at Uganda's Scarlett Lion adds:
May 3 is World Press Freedom Day. This year, Uganda was not included on the annual Reporters Without Borders survey. The web site lists no reason behind this decision.
Supporters of Mwenda have set up a Facebook group demanding his release.

author: Rebekah Heacock


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Ukraine: BBC Pulls Story on Hitler Doll From the Web · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Kyiv Scoop reports that BBC's website has removed a story about the Hitler doll controversy.


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Ukraine: Chernobyl · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Belatedly, a link to Ukrainiana‘s extensive post on the 22nd anniversary of Chernobyl.


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Ukraine: Velykden · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Ukrainiana writes about the celebration of Easter in Ukraine.


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Venezuela: Update on the Simpsons Controversy · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Luis Carlos Díaz of Periodismo de Paz [es] provides an update on the controversy involving the Simpsons in Venezuela.  Turns out that the show will be moved to “supervised” prime time slot in the evening, but would allow for more children to see it because most are in school during the original programming slot.


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Zimbabwe: Government of National Unity? · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Zimbabweans speaking about Government of National Unity: “We’ve received a flood of replies, particularly via SMS, with voices against a government of national unity out numbering those in favour of it by about 10:1.”


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Zimbabwe: Truth and Justice Coalition · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

There is Truth and Justice Coalition in Zimbabwe: “The Institute for a Democratic Alternative for Zimbabwe (IDAZIM) has initiated, with full support from civil society, labour and legal organizations, the Truth and Justice Coalition on Zimbabwe. Its objectives are to identify perpetrators and seek legal redress for the victims of crimes against humanity and other serious crimes in Zimbabwe.”


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Afghanistan: A Battle of Will · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Sanjar reflects on how long is the Afghan insurgency going to take and says that the war challenges the will of international community, the will of Afghans and finally the will of Taliban and insurgents.


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Afghanistan: Karzai Lives to Rule Kabul for Another Day · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Joshua Foust opines on the essense and consequences of the Taliban militants’ attack on Afghanistan president Karzai during the Mujahideen Day parade.


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Armenia: Art School Online · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Kyle’s Journey in Armenia, a Peace Corps Blog, proudly announces the launch of an Internet site for the Koghb Art School. The move is not only part of work to help gain the school exposure, but also part of a project to make rural communities self-sustainable.

author: Onnik Krikorian


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Armenia: Fashion Zombies · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Life Around Me is puzzled by the apparent obsession displayed by many Armenian girls and women in changing their appearance to match foreign ideas of fashion and beauty. In particular, the blog says that the current trend of wearing artificial-looking and colored contact lenses has turned many of them into something more like zombies than anything human.


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Armenia: Government U-Turn · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Unzipped comments on news that the Armenian government has backed down in its attempts to prevent a congress by supporters of the former president and radical opposition leader from being staged in the capital, Yerevan. The u-turn happened after the organizers of the congress instead looked to Tbilisi, capital of the neighboring Republic of Georgia, as a possible alternative location for the meeting.


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Armenia: Sirusho in London · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Unzipped: Gay Armenia reports on the visit to London by Armenia's entry to the Eurovision Song Contest, Sirusho. The blog notes that the young Armenian singer is one of the favorites to win the international song contest.


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Armenia: Torchlight Procession · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Life in Armenia posts an account and photographs from last week's torchlight procession held on the eve of the 93rd Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide in Ottoman Turkey. The blog says that the march brought a much needed sense of unity to Armenia after the recent post-election unrest that left at least ten people dead.


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Bahamas: Educational Responsibility  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“Remember, everyone we can save is one less who will have an opportunity to participate in crime”: Craig Butler at Bahama Pundit says that education is a collective responsibility.