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Russia: New Beslan Footage & YouTube · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

It will be three years on September 1 since the beginning of the 2004 Beslan school siege – which ended with the deaths of 331 people, 186 of whom were children.
And on October 23, it will be five years since the beginning of the 2002 Dubrovka/Nord-Ost theater siege in Moscow. At least 129 hostages lost their lives then.
In a comment to a recent post by Marina Litvinovich (LJ user
abstract2001, founder of the comprehensive Russian-language resource on all the Beslan-related developments, PravdaBeslana.ru/Truth of Beslan), a U.S.-based reader asked this question (RUS) about president Vladimir Putin's responsibility for the tragedies:
san_diegan:
[…] Reading your notes and other people's opinions, I sometimes find myself a bit perplexed. Why is it that Nord-Ost and Beslan are treated as “the crimes of the regime”? I've encountered this view often and not just in your journal. I don't see it this way. The Nord-Ost hostage rescue headquarters had to bear responsibility – or, yes, there was a total mess in Beslan. But the desperate words “the criminal regime” conceal something worse – an unwitting exoneration of those who had actually made Nord-Ost and Beslan happen. The terrorists… It starts to feel as if the terrorists are not guilty at all. And when the two planes were blown up that same year [August 24, 2004]? It's obvious that a [bribe-taking] cop who allows just about anyone onto the plane is guilty of criminal negligence. But is this cop the regime? But those who blew up the plane are immeasurably worse. They are the obvious evil. I understand that analogies [don't work well in this context] and I don't know exactly what the the left-wing U.S. journalists are writing about 9/11. Or are they also putting the blame for the instant killing of 3,000 compatriots and destruction of the country's symbol not on the terrorists, but on the FBI and the CIA – which have incredible material resources at their disposal, unlike those half-literate cops from Beslan?
Marina Litvinovich replied (RUS):
You are right: with Nord-Ost and Beslan, there're crimes committed at the operations headquarters. Very often we speak of “the regime's crimes” because I (as well as many others) know how decisions are being made in emergency situations. Putin makes the key (political) decisions. Other decisions are taken by the head of the FSB [Federal Security Service), head of the MVD (Ministry of Internal Affairs) and their subordinates. In the case of Beslan, it was Putin (along with [FSB head Nikolay Patrushev and MVD head Rashid Nurgaliyev]) who decided there'd be “no negotiations” and [ordered] “to prepare for the storming.” And it was Putin who [ran] things during Nord-Ost (I saw it myself). [Litvinovich used to head the Internet Department of Gleb Pavlovsky's Foundation for Effective Politics and, among other things, worked on Putin's 2000 presidential election campaign.]
As for the terrorists and their guilt – they've been punished. Well, thank God for that.
What we're talking about here is that not a single public official who made criminal, wrong decisions in Beslan and [Nord-Ost] has been punished.
During 9/11, the government was trying to save people, and, as far as I know, firefighters and rescuers were acting professionally.
In the case of [Nord-Ost], 130 people died, and of this number the terrorists killed three, if I'm not mistaken. Who is to blame for the deaths of 127 people?
In the case of Beslan: 330 people died, and the terrorists killed approximately 40 of them. Who should bear responsibility for the deaths of the rest of them?
Despite years of official investigation, these and other crucial questions about Dubrovka/Nord-Ost and Beslan tragedies remain unanswered.
One of the key mysteries in the Beslan story is the cause of the two explosions that, around 1 P.M. on Sept. 3, rocked the gym where over a thousand hostages were being held. Russian authorities insist that it was the terrorists who set off homemade bombs strung all around the gym. Recently, however, a video has emerged, in which two Russian bomb experts are heard saying that, judging by the nature of the damage, there could have been no blasts inside the gym – and this seems to lend support to a claim that special forces were responsible for the initial explosions.
On July 30, Marina Litvinovich posted the new footage on YouTube, here. She was delighted (RUS) to have reached so many people in such a short period of time:
I've been making the clips till 6 A.M. today and was uploading the Beslan video of Sept. 3-4, 2004, footage of the prosecutor's office. While I was making them, I really felt like getting drunk – quickly and with vodka, because it is simply impossible to watch all this ;((
[…]
To save space, I've uploaded [the video] on YouTube (pravdabeslana). And it turns out it was the right thing to do. YouTube rules! The clips have already been watched by hundreds and hundreds of people – even though there've only been links from my LJ [blog] and today from Kasparov.ru [opposition site].
But on July 31, two clips – parts 6 and 8 of the Sept. 4 examination of the scene by the prosecutor's office experts – were deleted. Litvinovich wrote (RUS):
[…] On the one hand, this is right, on the other – it's wrong.
In part 6 – there's the blown off head and legs of [a female suicide bomber]. In part 8 – a couple more corpses of the terrorists.
What can I say? This is what the examination was like – and I've uploaded it the way it was, facts remain facts, I haven't edited anything out. I've written a warning everywhere, to save people's nerves. Should I have edited the corpses out? I don't think it would've been right.
I, of course, understand that YouTube has to be cheerful, but this footage is unique, it's got to exist. Maybe not as accessible as it is on YouTube, but where should I put it then? I'll solve this problem somehow, of course, and upload it all on PravdaBeslana.ru, but not everyone who's interested in the subject (especially those who don't speak Russian) will get there…
[…]
One reader alleged that Litvinovich was being “jammed” and another suggested appealing to YouTube, explaining that the footage was “significant politically and historically” and thus should be kept online, but in the end, LJ user nl unearthed a rather obvious explanation for what initially may have looked like censorship – the YouTube Community Guidelines:
Graphic or gratuitous violence is not allowed. If your video shows someone getting hurt, attacked, or humiliated, don't post it.
YouTube is not a shock site. Don't post gross-out videos of accidents, dead bodies and stuff like that. This includes war footage if it's intended to shock or disgust.
All 12 parts of the video – and other relevant footage – can be downloaded here, at PravdaBeslana.ru. The disclaimer typed in red warns that children and people who are “emotionally unstable” should not watch this video.

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Singapore: Happy Birthday to Singapore from Thailand · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Bisean posts national day greetings for Singapore from Thailand. “They have proven us that a little tropical island can attain world-class status. They have shown us what discipline is all about. They have given us a new meaning to shopping, how an airport should look like, how to cook our crabs properly. And most importantly… how to PARTYYYYY!!!”

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Preetam Rai


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Slovenia: Best of the Slobs · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

The Glory of Carniola‘s Best of the Slobs roundup is here.


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Slovenia: “Continuous Electoral Campaign” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Sleeping With Pengovsky writes about the “continues electoral campaign” in Slovenia: it began in 2006 and will end in 2012.


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Slovenia: Jolanda Čeplak & Mojca Mavec · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

The Glory of Carniola writes: “Last week was a bad week to be a blonde celebrity in Slovenia. Two popular blondinkas — the world-class athlete Jolanda Čeplak and the beloved media personality Mojca Mavec — fell from grace. Both of them stood accused of being cheaters.”


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Slovenia: Misplaced, Again · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

The Glory of Carniola writes about a German textbook featuring two really, really bad maps of Europe.


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Slovenia: The Best and the Worst · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

The Glory of Carniola shares five best and five worst things about Slovenia.


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Syria: Lebanese Border and Toilet Etiquette  · Global Voices
Yazan Badran

The worsening of conditions of Syrian workers and families at the Lebanese-Syrian border, calls for the return of the Golan Heights occupied by Israel to Syria, the Czech machine gun and toilet etiquette are some of the themes discussed by Syrian bloggers in this week's round up.
To start of, Golaniya from Decentering Damascus, continues her coverage of her experiences on the Syrian-Lebanese borders, and the worsening conditions of Syrian workers passing there.
Since it was so crowded inside, the hardworking Lebanese officers started to feel hot and annoyed at the yells of children:
– All those who are with children get out!
Get out where exactly? To the waiting hall?? Or under the Summer sun For hours?
After that, I saw three Lebanese officers dragging by force the Syrian workers from the lines and throwing them outside.
One of workers screamed:
– I have been waiting on this line since 1 o’clock.
It was five o’clock the time when he was dragged outside.
Sasa from The Syria News Wire reports about pro-Syria campaigns in the Syrian Golan Heights (occupied by Israel since 1967).
A summer camp has opened in the area of the Syrian Golan Heights which is currently controlled by the Israeli Army.
Chanting pro-Syrian slogans, they are calling on the Israeli government to hand their land back to Syria.
On a lighter note, Ayman from The Damascene Blog writes about a familiar experience to all Syrian students. His final oral exam on The Military Education class, about the “Czech Machine gun”…
ما هذا؟
– لا أعرف.
– حسناً. ماذا هذه؟
– ….
– طيّب ما وظيفتها؟
– لا أعرف.
– لا بد أنك تعرف هذا إذن.
– بصراحة لا
فرغ صبره فأمسك بمخزن الطلقات ورفعه في وجهي
– اسمع. هذا هو المخزن. سأسألك عن اسمه، فإن لم تعرف سترسب في الامتحان.
– حاضر.
– ما هذا؟
– المخزن.
– انصرف. وراء دُر.
- What is this?
– I don't know.
– Okay, what is this?
– …
– Okay, what does it do?
– I don't know.
– You must know this one then?
– Honestly, no.
He got impatient, held up the gun's bullet clip against my face.
– Listen, this is the bullet clip. I will ask you what is it, if you don't answer you'll fail the exam.
– Yes sir.
– What is this?
– The bullet clip.
– You may leave now.
To close off with an interesting dilemma that Wassim brings up, how do you explain to westerners our habit of “washing” yourself after using the toilette, the inevitable question of “Why do you have a jug/bottle in the bathroom?” keeps coming up.
The subsequent shock and horror they express when later they are told seems to me incredible but surely it's more hygienic or am I just being culturally obstinate? I've only brought this up because it seems to be something many of my friends seem to encounter when first they visit Western countries. I hear from African and Asian friends that Tashteef (to splash) is also the norm. Why do most people I meet in Europe and America refuse to even consider the concept? Living in a country where the toilet and bodily functions are considered suitable topics for jokes the uneasiness and avoidance of the topic is baffling to say the least!

author: Yazan Badran


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Trinidad & Tobago: Caribbean Overlooked for Booker · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“What have those judges up in London been overlooking?” asks Nicholas at Antilles, on learning that once again, there are no Caribbean writers longlisted for the Man Booker Prize for Fiction.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Trinidad & Tobago: TSTT’s Flat Rate  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“Why after all this time has the Telecommunications Services of Trinidad & Tobago decided to introduce a flat rate for all customers instead of the ‘complex rate structure’ we all now enjoy?”  The Manicou Report speculates on the company's motives.


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Ukraine: Money-Laundering Socialist · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

A prominent Socialist politician is accused of money laundering, Foreign Notes reports.


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Ukraine: Tallest Man in the World · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Eternal Remont writes about the tallest man in the world – who now happens to be a 37-year-old Ukrainian.


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Zimbabwe: Thousands stranded · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Fuel crisis in Zimbabwe deepens: “Thousands of Zimbabwean commuters were on Tuesday stranded throughout the country as fuel shortages reached crisis proportions.”

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Afghanistan: Civilian casualties in Helmand · Global Voices
Ben Paarmann

The US argues that by fighting from civilian compounds, the Taliban are responsible for the death of innocent people in the Helmand province. That is short of blaming the victims, thinks The Stragegist. Meanwhile, Afghanistan Watch reports that a British commander has criticised the US for not changing its strategy in the province.

author: Ben Paarmann


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Afghanistan: Ex-Taliban · Global Voices
Ben Paarmann

The My State Failure Blog, written by Péter Marton, sheds some light on two “ex-Taliban” in the Uruzgan province. One of them has a particular problem: “Have you ever had nightmares about people on the street looking at you weirdly because of there being a Wikipedia article on you, which says there are rumours you have killed one of your wives, something that you can't read yourself because you're illiterate? […] Well, Uruzgan's previous governor (from January 2002 to March 2006), Jan Mohammed Khan has had/is having that experience.”


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Afghanistan: Journalist detained and released · Global Voices
Ben Paarmann

Sanjar reports that Kabul-based journalist Kamran Mirhazar got detained by the NDS special police, but was released last night. In custody, Kamran was told only to write in favour of the government.


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Argentina: Theft from Checked Luggage · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Jorge Gobbi and his Blog de Viajes [ES] writes about the recent discovery that employees, in complicity with the police,at the Ezeiza aiport in Buenos Aires have been stealing valuables from checked luggage.

author: Eduardo Avila


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Bahamas: Don’t Patronize Me · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“In our society, what still matters is not what you know but who. Ours is a society that functions uncomfortably like the Mafia.”  Nicolette Bethel, guest authoring at Bahama Pundit, explores the concept of patronage.


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Bahrain blocks websites critical of the government · Global Voices
sami ben gharbia

“Bahraini authorities launched a campaign against political and human rights websites, which criticize government policies”, The Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights reported today, providing a list of the blocked websites: Bahrain center for Human Rights (BCHR), Bahrain Forums, National Edifice Forums, Al-Saheefa newspaper website, Modern Discussion Rezgar website, the sarcastic Bahrain Times website, the liberal Annaqed website, The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (HRinfo), Al-Duraz Forums, Bahrain Online.

author: sami ben gharbia


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Bahrain: Female Attractiveness · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Female attractiveness is the latest post by Bahraini blogger emoodz.

author: Amira Al Hussaini


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Baltic States: Refugees · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Lituanica writes about refugees seeking shelter in the Baltic states: “Lithuania received 312, Latvia – 19 and Estonia 8 refugees this year so far.”


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Bangladesh: After the floods · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Mash on the aftermath of the floods in Bangladesh – displaced persons and lack of clean drinking water, posing a serious health hazard.

author: Neha Viswanathan


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Belarus: Eternal Flame · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Eternal Remont takes a guess at what might be Russia's reaction to the following incident: “…last night, three drunk Belarussian youths have done what the Germans could not 60 years ago, by extinguishing the Eternal Flame dedicated to World War II soldiers in Minsk's Victory Square.”


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Belarus: Homeless Man’s New Apartment · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Adam Goodman of Being Had shares a story of a man who seems to have benefited from “a law against homelessness” that is said to exist in Belarus: “I think you can imagine how startling it is to have your friendly neighborhood bum come to you and say he now has a better apartment to live in than you do.”


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Belarus: Jagger, Russian Military, Colonial Thinking · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

TOL's Belarus writes about “colonial thinking” of some bloggers, Mick Jagger's message for the Belarusians, and a Russian military base near Vilejka.


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Bolivia: Recipes Blog · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Cocina Boliviana [ES] is a new food blog dedicated to the promotion of Bolivian recipes.


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Bolivia: Website for Bloggers Convention · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Bloguivianos [ES] is the recently launched website for the upcoming national blog convention to be held in Santa Cruz, Bolivia.
http://www.bloguivianos.com/


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Bolivia: Wishes and Relief on Independence Day · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

August 6th marked the 182nd anniversary of the independence of the Republic of Bolivia.  The occasion was marked with the usual civic acts and festivities.  Bloggers wished their country a happy birthday, but others wished for something greater.  It was also a time to reflect upon their hopes for their country, while recognizing that there have been some bumps along the way.
Miguel Esquirol of El Forastero [ES] writes:
182 años no son mucho para construir un país, pero es bueno poder decir que la gente es boliviana porque lo ha decidido y lucha para conseguir la Bolivia que desea, y aunque esto a veces traiga problemas, a veces sentirse parte del país es suficiente.
182 years is not much to build a country, but it is good to be able to say that the people are Bolivian because it has decided to fight for the country that it wants, and even though that this sometimes brings problems, that sometimes just to feel part of the country is enough.
Andres Pucci, a blogger from Santa Cruz, has often felt discriminated against and laments some of the comments in earlier blog posts.
Bolivia hoy cumple 182 años de vida independiente, 182 año con mas bajos que altos, Canada tiene 76 años de independencia con mas altos que bajos, las comparaciones son odiosas, de acuerdo, pero, ¿por qué estamos asi? repito, por la actitud, la actitud de mirar hacia atras, criticar la colonización (que no existió, fue conquista), criticando al que tiene apellido “extranjero” a pesar de tener padre y madre bolivianos, abuelos nacidos y criados en provincia, tatarabuelos que donaron bienes a su pueblo y antepasados que murieron por la independencia de este país.
Today, Bolivia celebrates 182 of independent life.  182 years with more lowpoints, than highpoints.  Canada only has 76 years of independence, but with more ups than downs.  The comparisons are unfair, but why are we here? It is because of the attitude of looking at the past, criticizing the colonization (which did not exist, it was a conquest), critizicing those with a “foreign” surname even though one might have a Bolivian father and mother, grandparents born and raised in the provinces, great grandparents that gave land to their country and ancestors that died for this country's independence.
Some bloggers like Carlos Hugo Molina of Agora [ES] paints a picture of a Bolivia that he wishes to see.
El MAS deberá aceptar, una vez más, que ofreció lo que sabía no podía cumplir. Al hacerlo, estará demostrando madurez política y sentido de realidad.
La derecha deberá aceptar que fracasó en los modelos de estados que propuso, y que no queremos volver al país de las transas, los latifundios, el cuoteo del 60/40 y la corrupción.
MAS (Government political party) should once again accept that it offered much more than it knew that it accomplish.  By doing this, it would show politicial maturity and a sense of reality.
The right-wing should accept that it failed in the state models that it proposed and that we do not want to return to a country of dealings, feudalism, the 60/40 quotas and corruption.
The anonymous bloggers at Morir Antes Que Esclavos Vivir [ES] continues:
Por un país sin marchas ni bloqueos, que respeta y asume su diversidad y multiculturalidad y que más allá del credo, cultura y color de la piel acoje a cada uno de sus habitantes.
Por un país sin odios, ni rencores, que no busca revanchismo ni venganza con enemigos imaginarios y que se maneja en la línea del respeto y la tolerancia.
For a country with neither marches, nor blockades that respects and embraces its diversity and  multiculturalism and that includes each of its citizens irrespective of their creed, culture or skin color.
For a country without hatred or bitterness that does not look for revenge with imagined enemies and that maintains the line of respect and tolerance.
Finally, an independence day parade in Santa Cruz, which featured indigenous groups from outside the city was predicted to bring conflict.  However, journalist José Andrés Sánchez of El Pais de las Maravillas  [ES] was relieved and writes:
Muchos de ellos flameaban la bandera y a cada paso exhibían un civismo pocas veces visto. Debo reconocer que me emocioné como pocas veces frente a un televisor. Me sentí no solo maravillado sino orgulloso de que esta demostración de apertura y unidad se de en mi ciudad. Debo reconocer que me agradó mucho ver a Evo Morales y García Linera al lado de Rubén Costas y Percy Fernández. Los cuatro aplaudían y sonreían. Debo reconocer (aunque a algunos no les guste) que me gusta la paz y no la tensión del conflicto
Many of them waved the flag and at each step demonstrated a civid price seldom seen.  I must admit that not too often have I been as moved in front of a television screen. I felt not only amazed, but proud of this demonstration of unity in my city.  I must also admit that I felt grateful to see Evo Morales and Garcia Linera (Bolivian Vice-President) side by side with Ruben Costas (Santa Cruz Prefect) and Percy Fernandez (Santa Cruz mayor).  The four applauded and smiled.  I admit (even though some do not like to admit it) that I like peace and not conflict and tension.


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Bulgaria: “Something Cultural” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

A wonderful story of an attempt to experience “something cultural” in the middle of “a mostly peasant summer” in Sofia – from Petya of Bighead: “Nothing can make a falafel taste better than a little bit of violin in the background.”


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Can Egypt Copy Turkey? · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Egyptian blogger Zeinobia attempts to answer the following question: Can we repeat the Turkish scenario in Egypt, in this post.


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China and Hong Kong: Merging of Shenzhen and Hong Kong · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Hong Kong Chief Executive's think tank, Bauhinia Foundation Research Centre, proposed the merging of Shenzhen and Hong Kong into a metropolitan, Lu qui luwei noticed the change of attitude in relating to China and the potential debate on free flow of population(zh).

author: Oiwan Lam


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China: Cultural Revolution · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Zhao Si-long recommended an article about the economic background of Cultural Revolution (zh) with some class and social grouping analysis.


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China: Grassroots Magazine banned · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Yaoblog reported that a grassroots magazine Minjian was banned by Guangdong Publication Department (zh). The Magazine was founded in 2005 by social development research center in Zhongshan University.


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Documentary on Workers Rights in the Gulf · Global Voices
Mohamed Nanabhay

Jane in Doha points us to a documentary (in Arabic) produced by AlJazeera on the condition of workers in the Gulf States. She is happy that the regional media is paying attention to this problem since there are “17 million foreign workers in the Gulf. Most are from Asia and Egypt”.

author: Mohamed Nanabhay


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Dominica: Principles of Parenting · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Writing from Dominica, The Hand I Fan With is “of the firm opinion that modern parents…have totally lost all perspective as it regards good parenting.”


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Egypt: Ignorant US Presidential Candidates  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

E D Shobrawy from Egypt discusses the “overwhelming ignorance” of the US presidential candidates after Tom Tancredo called for the bombing of two Muslim holy sites – Mecca and Medina.


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Estonia: Eternal Remont · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Itching for Eestimaa writes about remont in Estonia: “…the point of remont is not to finish it, but to keep doing it. This is Estonia, and in Estonia, remont is one of the national pastimes, along with drinking õlut and explaining Estonian history from the 13th century to unsuspecting listeners.”


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Estonia, Russia: Battling the “Kommisars of the Net” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Itching for Eestimaa shares the techniques of “battling Russian nationalists” on the Web: “…a tutorial on how to flip their arguments on their head, and move the discussion into territory so foreign to them, they will find themselves actually agreeing with you because they have no idea what you are talking about.”


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Estonia: Scandinavian Influence · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Itching for Eestimaa writes about Scandinavian influence in Estonia (and the two Swedes who represented Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2002 and 2006).


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Hong Kong: No Fur · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

The World's top model Joanna Krupa took a nude photo to promote no fur campaign in Hong Kong.  Littleoslo found the poster design very unattractive.


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Iran:Iran, Israel Contacts, Really? · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Haji Kensigton writes in “Treacherous Alliance,” Trita Parsi,contends that shortly after Iran proposed a “grand bargain” to the United States four years ago, Tehran made a similar offer to Israel during an academic meeting in Athens.Parsi’s claim was called into question by some Iran experts.

author: Fred Petrossian


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Iran:Kids and Drugs · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Jomhour has published a film where a kid consumes drugs and gets encouraged by an adult.The blogger says[Fa] this kid at this age is not responsible for his acts and fragile social system pushes him to become a drug addicted and gets executed in future.


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Jamaica: Short Story · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Jamaican writer Geoffrey Philp posts another of his 60-word stories, but admits: “I don't think I will ever match the brevity of Ernest Hemingway's famous six word short story…”


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Japan: 62 Years Later, Still Remembering · Global Voices
Chris Salzberg

On the 62nd anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, many bloggers found themselves this week reflecting on the history of how World War Two came to a close, on the way that this history is viewed and taught within their own country, and on the connections between this history and current events. In the United States, a new uncensored HBO documentary, which features testimonial from survivors of the bombing (hibakusha), promises to re-open debate on the motivations for use of the atomic bomb; the anniversary was the topic of discussion in other English-language media shows in as well. Meanwhile, in Japan, the Nagasaki Broadcasting Company has posted translated interviews with survivors of the atomic bombing, interviews which, as one blogger has noted, everyone owes it to themself to read.
The continuing relevance of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japanese political affairs was highlighted just a few weeks ago when former Defense Minister Kyuma Fumio made his famous statement that the bombing “could not have been helped”. The statement caused an uproar which culminated in his eventual resignation.
This week, bloggers in Japan and across the world discussed the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Blogger k2-s describes their experiences as a kid hearing stories about the bombing:
先日の広島に続き今日は長崎の原爆の日ですね。あと数日後には終戦記念日です。
私が子供のころ、祖父や親戚の人からよく戦争のことを聞かされました。空襲で防空壕に逃げ込んだときの話や、機銃が自分の目の前で撃たれていったこと、自分の家が燃えてなくなってしまったこと、そして目の前で人が亡くなっていくこと。
街を歩くと南方から帰ってきたという人たち、手がなかったり足がなかったりする人たちが街行く人にしきりに何かを訴えかけていたり。
Following Hiroshima a few days ago, today is the day when the atom bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. In a few days it will be the anniversary commemorating the end of the war.
When I was a kid, I heard a lot about the war from my grandfather and other family relatives. Stories about how, during aerial attacks, they would take refuge in air-raid shelters; about machine gun fire flying right by their eyes; about their own home burning down; and about seeing people die right there in front of them.
Walking in the city, [you could see] people who had returned from the south — people with arms missing, legs missing — repeatedly pleading for things from people going to the city.
ちょっと町外れに行くといたるところに防空壕のあとがあったり。
そして、この時期になると今よりももっともっと戦争について、平和についてみんなが考えていたように思います。戦争から時がたてば、それを体験した人も少なくなるのは当然でしょうし、人の記憶の中からも遠ざかっていくのは仕方のないことかもしれません。
でも今も地球のどこかでむごたらしいことが起きていることは事実ですし、絶対に忘れてはなりません。そのことをしっかり子供たちに伝えるのも大人の役目でしょう。
Outside of town, there were the remains of air raid shelters in every nook and cranny.
And then also, when this time of year approached, it seems to me that everybody thought much much more about the war, and about peace, than they do now. As the time since the war increases, it's natural that the number of people who experienced it decreases, and peoples’ memories [of the events] move further into the distance, nothing can really be done about this.
But now as well, it's a fact that somewhere in the world there are gory things going on, so we should not forget. It is the role of adults to take care and transmit to children the story of what happened, is it not?
Blogger sana, who just recently moved to Hiroshima, explains however that conveying this story has been very difficult in the past:
テレビでも、原爆記念日に合わせていろんなドキュメンタリーを放送しています。
私は今まで、被爆者の方こそが、原爆反対を積極的に働きかけたりしていると思っていました。
でも、それは違っていました。
原爆投下から６０年経って、ようやく原爆について話すことができたと。
それまで、友人知人、家族にも誰にも話さず封印してきたと。
誰にも話さず、話せずにいた長い年月を知ったとき、本当の悲しみを垣間見た気がします。
でも、被爆者の方も平均年齢７４歳になって、次の代に伝えることが難しくなっています。
だからこそ、自分が語らなければと、
封印していた気持ち、被爆当日の経験を涙ながらに話していました。
そんな方が少なくありません。
One of these people was quoted in a blog post at komonet describing their experience:
「ある日突然一緒に遊んでいたクラスメート達が亡くなっていった。そして遊び場だった多くの川はあまりの喉の渇きに水を求める人で埋め尽くされた。
けれども自分は生き残ってしまった。その無念の思いと一緒に生きてこれなかった幼なじみへの申し訳ない気持ちは今でも心の中で整理できない。
そのことはとてもつらすぎて今まで話す勇気はなかった。しかし、未来を託すあなたたちには話さなければならない。」
While the quotes above focus on the Japanese perspective, there were also some bloggers who asked about the experience of Americans. One blogger describes the experience of hosting a home stay student from the U.S.:
ちょうど今、我が家にはアメリカ人の男子高校生Charlieがホームステイをしています。６日の広島原爆記念日のニュースでは　「広島に原爆を落とした」　アメリカの高校の教科書にはどのように記載されているか・・・などのトピックがありました。Charlieもついこの間、アメリカが広島と長崎に原爆を投下した事実を習ったそうです。アメリカでは、今までは単に事実の羅列として原爆投下は扱われていたそうですが、９・１１のテロ以降、なぜ原爆投下する必要があったのか、という議論もするようになってきたそうです。
とはいってもあくまでも、原爆投下によって広島や長崎で犠牲になった人以上の人を救うことができた、という見方が大半を占めているそうですが。教育は誰にどうやって教わるかによって、こんなに違うんだと改めて感じました。原爆投下はアメリカにとって、英断だったと若者は教えられているいるんだ、と思うと恐ろしいです。もっと恐ろしいのは広島と長崎の原爆投下によってどれだけたくさんの命が瞬時に奪われ、今も心と体の傷跡や後遺症に苦しめられている人がいることを教えられていないということです。しかしCharlieが原爆投下にも、今のイラク攻撃にも疑問を抱いていると聞いて、救われるような思いがしました。
私がアメリカに留学していた時、大戦中に朝鮮半島や中国に日本が侵略して支配していた頃、日本人がどれほどひどいことをしていたか、真実を初めて知りました。異国に行って初めて識る母国の影の部分というのは相当ショックなものです。きっとCharlieも今回同じような思いをしたのではないかと思います。
Finally, in a post entitled “Nuclear weapons: the crisis in the modern age (核兵器—現代の危機)“, blogger Niphonese relates the anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to talk in the U.S. of using nuclear weapons against Iran:
核兵器の違法性だとか，広島や長崎への原爆投下は正当だったか否かとか，そういう論議も大いに結構なのだが，もう少し現代のアクチュアルな問題に目を向けてもいいのではないだろうか。
なによりも昨春，イラン”核開発”をめぐってアメリカとイランの緊張が高まる中，ブッシュ政権が先制核攻撃をちらつかせてイランを恫喝していたことが想起されなければならない。この狂気としか言いようのない戦争策動に対し，”唯一の被爆国”であるわが国において，一体どれだけの人が危機意識を持っていたことか。一部の反核運動家などを除いて，ほとんど無関心に近い状態だったのではないだろうか。

author: Chris Salzberg


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Jordan: Politics or Wrestling?  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

On internal politics in Jordan, blogger Khalaf asks: Is it politics or professional wrestling?


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Kyrgystan: SCO summit and no beer · Global Voices
Ben Paarmann

Asel writes that central supermarkets in Kyrgyzstan's capital Bishkek are not selling any alcohol ahead of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit slated to take place next week.


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Madagascar hosts Indian Ocean Island Games · Global Voices
Lova Rakotomalala

The Indian Ocean Island Games are underway in Madagascar and people are quite thrilled about it.
Harinjaka gives us a preview of the anticipation back home:
“C’est parti pour le 7 ème Jeux des îles de l’Océan Indien (JIOI).
La flamme olympique arrive aujourd’hui au stade de Mahamasina (Tananarive) pour annoncer l’ouverture des 7èmes JIOI, qui se tiendront du 9 au 19 août à Tananarive.
Plus de 200 athlètes originaires de sept îles de l’océan Indien, à savoir les Comores, les Maldives, l’île Maurice, Mayotte, La Réunion, les Seychelles et Madagascar, participeront à 16 différents sports pour cette competition.[..]
j’ai pu ressentir l’excitation des malgaches dont l’émotion est vraiment palpable [..]
Sachez quand même que 86 pays vivront en direct la plupart des compétitions. ”
« the 7th Indian Ocean Island Games are underway (IOIG).
The Olympic flame arrives today at the Mahamasina stadium (Antananarivo) to signal the opening of the 7th IOIG, which will be held from the 9 to the 19th of August in Antananarivo.
More than 200 athletes from seven islands in the Indian Ocean: the Comoros, Maldives, Mauritius, Mayotte, Reunion, Seychelles and Madagascar, will take part in 16 various sports for this competition. [.]
One can sense the excitation of the Malagasy people whose enthusiasm for the event is undeniable[.]
Note that 86 countries will be able to follow live most of of the matches.”
Su adds in the comment section that the event is so important that the day of the opening ceremony has been declared a national holiday.
( Ravi, the official mascott of the Indian Ocean Island Games. Photo credit: http://www.jioi2007.mg/)

author: Lova Rakotomalala


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Nepal: A new anthem · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Kathmandu Speaks has a strong opinion on the new national anthem proposed for Nepal.


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Oman: Home Dilemma  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Muscati from Oman lashes out at an interior decorator for not having his house completed in time.


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Pakistan: Missing parts of Marriage Contract · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

An author at All Things Pakistan on the missing paragraphs in the Nikah Nama – the marriage contract as signed in the Islamic tradition.


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Part Two: Defending online free speech and environmental rights in Bulgaria · Global Voices
sami ben gharbia

In Part One of this article, I outlined recent threats to the Bulgarian environment and the vibrant web-led protest movement that developed in response. In this article I speak to Milena Bokova, BlueLink Information Network executive director, who talks about the intimidation against her colleague, blogger Michel Bozgounov, the threats to the freedom of online expression in her country, and the Bluelink Freenet Campaign:
Sami: Why did the General Directorate for Combat against Organized Crime target Michel Bozgounov for blogging about the Strandja issue even though other Bulgarian bloggers were doing the same thing? And can you explain why this has been treated as “Organized Crime”?
Milena: This is a big mystery. So far the Bulgarian police authorities didn't give a relevant explanation on these questions. We can only make a guess. One of the reasons might be the fact that Michel is an average citizen without any political, financial or other protection. The other might be the fact that he is a BlueLink employee – a network that gives an alternative opinion and in some cases contradicts to the governmental one (like for instance a campaigning site BeleNE against the construction of a second NPP in Bulgaria). It might be an attempt to deafen our voice. Or it might be a random selection, we don't really know.
Sami: Does this investigation against your colleague Michel Bozgounov set a bad precedent for politicians to control what you can and cannot blog about?
Milena: It definitely does. The problem is that all these reflects on them badly. The case became really very visible in Bulgaria with its absurdness. The police absolutely has no right do tell people what they can and can not blog about. It is in violation of the Bulgarian Constitution guaranteeing freedom of expression.
Sami: What was the role of the Internet in general and the blogsphere in particular in organizing the flash-mobs and the environmental protests that some like to describe as “the largest since those against the Socialist government in 1997″?
Milena: The main tool for organizing flash-mobs was through discussion mailing lists (many of which BlueLink maintains and provides to users to communicate between each other). The organizers used these tools as a fast and direct way to reach many people at their private e-mail addresses. They also used SMS-s through the mobile operators. At most of the flash-mobs there was a ban on publicizing it until one or two hours before the events, in order to guarantee that authorities will not have enough time to prevent the events. Actually the blogsphere was mostly covering the flash-mobs after they really happened, not prior the events. There was one specially created site for publishing information about the upcoming flash-mobs (http://savestrandja.ludost.net/). The information there was usually published about 2-3 hours prior to each flash-mob.
I wouldn't say that these environmental protests are the largest since those against the Socialist government in 1997 – it is pretty much exaggerated, since the biggest protest gathered not more then 2000 people and it was not a flash-mob, but one that was previously announced at the municipality. But this is not the most important thing. The most important is that a very little group of people managed to make such a great impact on the media, government and the whole population of Bulgaria.
Sami: Do you think that the Strandja Mountain Nature Park is now safe and that the Bulgarian internet community has achieved its goal in protecting Strandja Nature Park?
Milena: I am afraid that it is just temporarily safe. Unfortunately the Parliament took a decision in changing the law for protected areas in a way which many jurists define as judicially inconsistent and might be attacked in court. Also jurists say that other Bulgarian parks are not protected either. But this is not the main issue here. Many of the laws in Bulgaria are quite good and strong and they envisage measures for nature protection. The problem is the implementation of the laws. There comes the authorities’ corruption, there are the doors ‘gray’ business uses to avoid the law and to benefit from it unpunished.
Sami: From an environmental e-network created and run by green activists, we are witnessing, with the launch of the Freenet Campaign, how the BlueLink network is becoming involved in defending online freedom of expression. What is the reason for the switch and what are your future plans regarding this issue?
Milena: Actually it is not a switch at all. BlueLink, apart from being an environmental network, works on the field of information and communication policy since its establishment. We are a part of the international movement contributing to the WSIS process and lately to Internet Governance Forum. We even created a special portal ‘Bulgarian ICT policy monitor‘ . The issue of freedom of expression on the internet is something that we have been working on establishing it in Bulgaria since 1998. BlueLink is the Bulgarian member of the Association for Progressive Communication (apc.org) through which network we are able to connect with like minded people from all around the world.
Sami: Did the Bulgarian blogsphere and the environmental web-led movement get any support from other European communities or blogspheres? Does the dissemination of the information about the Strandzha issue via video and photo sharing sites like Youtube and Flickr helped somehow in attracting the attention of mainstream and/or citizen media outside the country?
Milena: The EU and world communities of blogsphere started to support us just after BlueLink started the FreeNet campaign. I have no info for any support before that. The dissemination of information about the Strandja and other environmental cases in Bulgaria via video and photo sharing sites helped a lot in attracting the attention of the Bulgarian mainstream media. So far we have no info on interest expressed from foreign media


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Puerto Rico: Catchy New Slogan?  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Gil The Jenius has come up with a new slogan for Puerto Rico: “Finally! A slogan We can relate to and that the rest of the world can grasp in a nanosecond. Refreshingly honest, but with a touch of hope that warms the heart.”


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Raed Jarrar’s Final Say  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Iraqi Raed Jarrar will finally have his say in court after filing for a discrimination law suit against a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) official and JetBlue Airways for illegally discriminating against him based solely on the Arabic message on his t-shirt and his ethnicity.


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Russia: “Criminal Moscow” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Lyndon of Scraps of Moscow posts his old translation of the intro to Nikolai Modestov's Criminal Moscow: A Documentary Chronicle of the Lawlessness of the '80's and '90's.


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Saudi: Internet Censorship  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

The Saudi National Society for Human Rights is pressing for the unblocking of a site in Saudi Arabia, writes Saudi Jeans.


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Slovenia: Slovinglish, etc. · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

A link to the post on “Slovinglish” as well as other picks – in this week's Best of the Slobs roundup at The Glory of Carniola.


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The Plight of Iraqis in Jordan · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Last of the Iraqis recalls how humiliation and terror replaced a long deserved holiday in Jordan in a moving post which chronicles the inhumane treatment Iraqis receive at the Amman Airport.


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Trinidad & Tobago: That is the Question  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“Now I think I'm someone of at least average intelligence, but for the life of me I can't figure out how to answer this question”: Manicou is stumped when filling out an application for a Trinidad & Tobago birth certificate.


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Tunisia: Baklava Newspapers  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

This is an ad which appeared in a Tunisian paper, urging readers to subscribe in return for a package of almond baklava. Blogger Boudourou  has something to say about this ad in this post (Ar), entitled the Press of Baklava.
At any rate, it is a good move which opens the door for competition, overtaking the market and makes us aspire for better things such as “with this issue ask for the supplement and a free cake” or “more dessert for whoever subscribes before the Prophet's Birthday” or “Is your wife expecting? Subscribe now and win a gift for free.”


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Tunisia: Call to Ban the Quran in Holland  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Subzero Blue from Tunisia reports that a Dutch Mp has called for banning the Quran in the Netherlands.


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Uganda: Happy hour unrest, Blogumentary and Sam Cooke · Global Voices
Rebekah Heacock

Ugandan blogger/hip-hop artist Saving a Generation Endangered (S.A.G.E.) stirred up controversy this week when he lashed out at Uganda Bloggers Happy Hour (BHH) attendees in a Blogging a Blogger interview conducted by Country Boyi:
He (S.A.G.E.) further lashes at the Blogger Happy Hour logo that describes Ugandan bloggers as “intelligent, witty, sexy and occasionally ridiculous.” He finds an alternative description for the Ugandan blogging scenario.
“I'll just call it the theatre of the absurd,” he says, “because the ‘best’ bloggers are the same guys that have been setting themselves the goddesses and gods -the idols they worship. They don't want anyone to make negative criticism about these goddesses/gods; the whole thing is basically absurd!”
Bloggers were quick to respond, both in comments and on their own. From Dennis Matanda:
I fully understand that there is need to be open and direct – but to sour a club you found in existance is a little absurd. I was there for the first BHH and intend to keep going….
Magoola was a bit less tempered in his reaction, which took the form of a letter to S.A.G.E.:
I am not sure what got into you, but broadcasting your ignorance as featured on Country boy’s blog is uncool. Not only is it played out, it’s disgusting….
Blogging is such self-indulgence that you shouldn’t be harboring such opinions about it. Besides for all the preaching you do, what were you doing at those Blogger Happy Hours held at a bar?
Cheri defended BHH:
That’s why it’s called a blogger happy hour. They go there to meet Witty, intelligent, sexy and ridiculous people. People that will sit down and have a laugh at the end of the day. Oh, c’mon, they do it only once a month. Does it need to be a conference of sorts. Do we always have to discuss World Politics? It’s called a happy hour because we wanna just go to hang out. Not to wear hear phones and broker peace agreements.
S.A.G.E. managed to a find supporter in Phantom, who commented on Cheri's post:
i read SAGE’s blog and scoff at some of the things he says. but i also find some gems over there.
Without mentioning the blogger uproar, Ivan brings S.A.G.E. and BHH while live-blogging the Ugandan Blogumentary, a short film produced by four Danish students who came to Uganda in April:
Oh look its Sage, and Dee… and Rev returning the Nokia…and wrong-looking candle holders. Bad Mateos, BAD!!
Ladies and Gentlemen: Happy Hour!!
Expat blogger Kelly calls attention to another recently published documentary:
Yesterday they had a show on called “Return to Uganda”. It featured a young (strikingly beautiful) Canadian/Indian journalist whose parents were expelled from Uganda by Idi Amin when she was a child returning to the family home and taking stock of current race relations and politics between Asian Ugandans and Black Ugandans. If you have any interest in Uganda it was a great little special. Paul got really angry watching it, especially when Idi Amin's son, Taban Amin, was being interviewed. It brought tears to my eyes to see the recent violent riots on television. Filmed after the Mabira Forest riots in Kampala, it was the first time I had actually seen video footage of the anti-Asian protestors in action, burning cars and beating up Indians. Crazy to think that is my little Kampala. You can supposedly watch the special on YouTube.
And Iwaya closes the week with a tribute to Sam Cooke:
Switch that phone off. Let the curtain drapes down or throw them off! Fix me that drink. Hey, take off your shoes and let your feet get some air. Ain’t no need to be formal here. Cooke is in the house. I have been listening to Cooke since the beginning of this week. I have been reveling, drinking in, marveling, sitting back and then jumping up and stomping to a voice so pure, so rich, so varied, so beautiful, I can hardly believe it has taken me this long to listen to Cooke.

author: Rebekah Heacock


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Uzbekistan: Getting a Tajik visa · Global Voices
Ben Paarmann

Joshua Kucera writes about his ordeal of trying to get a Tajik visa in Uzbekistan's capital Tashkent.


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Uzbekistan: Helping Russia · Global Voices
Ben Paarmann

Jamiyat writes that Uzbek businessman Gafur Rakhimov has helped Russia win its bid for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.


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Uzbekistan: Rumours and deception · Global Voices
Tolkun

The most discussed issue in Uzbekistan these days is the decision of the government to renew all car license plates. Car owners are surprised. The government explains its decision with the need to comply with international requirements and standards. Jamiyat writes about this in his blog. He says that the decision of the government may create kickbacks for an unfaithful group of people.
Knowing the popularity of having special numbers on cars (likewise on mobile phones) among the Uzbeks, and high “prices” for such numbers, the likelihood that many registration agencies and unfaithful policemen might use this innovation to fill their pockets is very high.
The independent Internet newspaper Uzmetronom writes (RUS) that everyone who voluntarily applies for a new license plate till the end of 2007 will be freed from any taxes and get the plate for free.
On August 3, the human rights organization “Ezgulik” distributed the alleged last will of Mutabar Tajibaeva (RUS), a human rights activist who is currently detained in prison for fraud. In the letter, Mutabar Tajieva writes about the tortures of prisoners and says that she cannot stand it any longer. She also calls all international organizations to take appropriate actions to prevent this intolerable treatment in Uzbek prisons. However, Mutabar Tajieva believes that it may be too late when someone starts taking actions.
The opposition blog Turonzamin (RUS) quotes the brother of Mutabar Tajieva, who says that he does not believe in the veracity of the letter. In contrary, the information agency Ferghana.ru (RUS) writes that the letter is true and, strangely, also quotes the brother and daughter of Mutabar Tajieva. The blog Turonzamin justifies its point saying the government bodies will not be able to break the will of Mutabar, who is tolerating all hardships of the prison, even though she has become physically weak.
Turonzamin calls this another strategy of the government. The blog writes that using this strategy the government can get rid of Mutabar Tajieva.
Such strategies of the government may have really bad consequences for prisoners. The law enforcement bodies can kill a prisoner and explain it to the public as suicide. And the fake letter allegedly written by Mutabar Tajieva looks like to be one of such strategies of the government. Therefore, in this situation it is necessary to immediately demand a meeting with Mutabar Tajieva in order to make sure that she is still alive!
Jamiyat comments on the accusation of Vyacheslav Manokhin, a P-3 UN staff member, for using his position to obtain visas for Uzbek and Ukrainian citizens, who were supposedly going to attend conferences in the USA and France. Jamiyat writes about the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Uzbekistan that is a main implementer of UN policies in the regions, and accuses them for being nonchalant in carrying out their mission.
There were always dirty rumors surrounding the UNDP's activities… One of the most widespread rumors in Uzbekistan is that its mainly local staff is corrupt, and offers employment in various projects only to those who pay bribes… Also, it has been rumored that many of the Uzbek UNDP employees are in kinship relations with various Uzbek politicians and were employed simply for that fact… Who to blame… Perhaps, it is the US embassy's fault? For remaining nonchalant and ignorant towards checking up the fraudulent letters with the UNDP office in Uzbekistan… Perhaps,both [the UNDP and the US Embassy]?
Another interesting issue that was raised in the Uzbekistani blogosphere for the past two weeks is the problem with Uzbek Democratic Party Erk website that, according to the largest search engine Google, allegedly possesses harmful web content. In his blog, Jamiyat comments (ENG) about the fact that Google finds Erk’s site harmful to its users, where he wonders if Google cooperates with national security services of Uzbekistan. The comments to this post (ENG) mainly proved that the problem is in the malicious code that could be inserted by hackers to the opposition party’s website HTML content.
Sami Ben Gharbia commented:
According to the Open Net Initiative and the StopBadware.org that I’ve contacted about this, it seems that it is not a filtering case. Google has found some malicious code on the Uzbek Democratic Party Erk website, which is most likely has been victim of a malicious hacking attack inserting some bad code… In order to remove the warning the webmaster needs to find the code and then clean and secure the website. Then he needs to submit a request for review to StopBadware.org who will check the site and recommend to Google to remove its warning flag.
The blog Civil Society of Uzbekistan also proves (RUS) the point that in this situation Google has nothing to do with security services of Uzbekistan. All problems are in the HTML code of the site that may contain harmful software.
The Uzbek Democratic Party Erk’s vision (RUS) of this issue is different. They believe that politics plays a great role in this. They do not say anything about the technical side of the problem, however.
It is very interesting. How can the information website of the party be harmful to your computer? Maybe, because it gives you information about what is happening in Uzbekistan? About the torture that is done by butchers in the prisons of the country. About the oppression of the nation by the dictator Islam Karimov and his people.  And your computer will start melting after accessing this information? Or millions of gigabytes of viruses will attack your machine?
Taking into consideration the party’s and site’s “popularity”, and also in the light of the upcoming presidential elections where Erk wants to field its candidate, one must not be a genius to see the obvious fact that Erk is using this problem for PR.
Kamron comments (RUS) on an article on the independent information agency Informator.uz (RUS). The author of the article claims that allegedly there is a conception among Uzbeks in Uzbekistan that Russian people (who live in Uzbekistan) pollute the environment more than anyone, because they like to keep pets in their apartments. Kamron got many responses to his post, where people agreed (!) that there is such a tendency among Uzbeks and that the mass media must cover everything that is going on in reality.
I wrote (ENG) about breaking news in sports: The WBA heavyweight world champion Ruslan Chagaev, an Uzbekistani citizen, cannot accept the challenge from the Russian boxer Sultan Ibragimov (a a WBO world champion himself) due to illness.
Is Rupert Murdoch coming to Uzbekistan? Rowan Wagner comments (ENG) on some Uzbek editors’ and journalists’ amazing ideas about the media mogul's takeover of the Wall Street Journal.

author: Tolkun


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Women bloggers targets for filtering in Iran · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Mehdi Mohseni's blog Jomhour [Fa] (means Republic in Perisan) is a definitive source of information about social and political issues in Iran. If you “chase” Iranian blogs, you shouldn't miss this one. Around 1000 people visit daily.
Q: Would you introduce yourself and your blog ?
My name is Mehdi Mohseni and I was born in 1979 in Qom. I studied civil engineering. I am a sort of independent journalist. I published my first blog in 2002.
Q:You are based in South-West Iran. Can we talk about local bloggers? I mean bloggers that just talk about their own towns?
As you know blogs are borderless media. Bloggers can write from any place in Iran and have an audience anywhere in the world. They can talk about anything. I think there are local blogs that just give information about their town or location in their blog, but in general this kind of local focused blogging is not taken much into consideration.
Women in the line of fire
Q: What is the main problem of Iranian bloggers besides filtering? Do hackers create any problems?
Bloggers, like others, faces several difficulties in Iran. Many Iranian websites in general, and political ones in particular, have been filtered. In the last two years filtering and censorship has become worse. Especially many blogs by women were filtered. It is not really important what you blog about. If you are a woman, there is a real risk that your blog will get filtered. Political sites and blogs written by reformists and nationalist-religious people are targeted too. But the blogs hit the worst by filtering, belong to civil society activists such as students, women, and worker activists.
Hacking has not really been a problem for bloggers. So far only official sites have been hacked. In general, people also suffer form slow internet connections, high costs, and low quality technical problems.
Beyond imagination
Q: How do you evaluate the evolution of Iranian blogs in these recent years?
I can express my own ideas based on personal observation rather than a scientific analysis. I think there is a lot of pressure on people in society, and blogging is a good instrument to help people to express themselves in society. This may be the reason so many women and girls are blogging. Recently many middle aged people have started to use blogs to express their opinions too.
Q: How you see the influence of blogs in society?
There is growing censorship in Iran and in the absence of journals and news websites, blogs accomplish something beyond imagination even though we can not trust all the information that we find in them. Bloggers can transform a topics into hot issues in society, and force government to react.


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Buying condoms in Sudan · Global Voices
Jennifer Brea

In Sudan, the possession of a condom can be considered a sign of planning to have extramarital sex.  But as Zizou from Djerba writes, he's seeing condoms on sale in pharmacies, grocery stores, and hair salons.  “I'm really impressed by these government officials who [by promoting condom use] take risks out of a sense of duty.”

author: Jennifer Brea


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HiperBarrio: Local Stories, Global Audience · Global Voices
David Sasaki

As promised, this is the second installment of a two-part podcast about Medellín, Colombia and how the HiperBarrio project is taking advantage of the city's new network of library parks to teach the skills of citizen media to young people from the working class northern hills.
In today's podcast we speak with:
The background music is “Revolve” by hisboyelroy. It is available at ccMixter under a Creative Commons Noncommercial Sampling Plus license.
You can learn more about HiperBarrio by visiting their space on the Rising Voices wiki. If you understand Spanish, you can visit the participant blogs from the workshops in Santo Domingo and La Loma San Javier. Alvaro Ramirez has a great summary of posts from participant blogs from the Convergente workshop, which is also in La Loma.
In the coming weeks we'll translate material from all of these blogs into English and post it here on Global Voices.
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author: David Sasaki


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Honduras: Watching a Meteor Shower · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Aaron Ortiz of Pensieve provides tips on how to watch the Leonids meteor shower in Honduras.


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Japan: Giant mechanical O-nyudo doll · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Edo introduces a giant mechanical O-nyudo doll in Pink Tentacle. O-nyudo is a Japanese legendary monster that can cause people to fall ill simply by looking at them.


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Japan: Urban Legend · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Mari Kanazawa listed out various urban legends that spread through Japanese society.


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Korea: Media Entertainment, Lies, Fans, and Tragedy · Global Voices
Hyejin Kim

Korean bloggers have been debating the use and absue of the media the latest, particulary in relation to the cases of a few celebrities. A Korean comedian who had been in hinding after lying several years ago returned to the public view this year. Previously, she had lost a tremendous amount of weight and explained her weight loss had been achieved through exercise and not any medical procedures. Later, it was revealed she had undergone surgery multiple times. After heated public criticism, she gave up her career.
Several years passed and she now returned to public life, asking for forgiveness. It seemed that she would start her career over from scratch. She put herself on a TV program, which was about estimating the value of a participant’s belongings. She asked the value of a diamond ring that one of her best friends, a super model, presented her to show her appreciation and their friendship. According to the comedian, she helped the super model get out of financial debt. A professional appraisal concluded that the ring was an imitation and the comedian showed her heartbroken face on TV.
After that, the super model was harshly criticized in public. Later on, the model proved that she didn’t give the ring to the comedian as a gift and expressed her puzzlement and anger on her private web-page. In the end, the comedian claimed that she made up the story for entertaining the audience.
As well as her lie, another main problem was how much the TV audience should put up with these kinds of lies under the pretext of entertaining the audience. Regardless of harsh criticisms about the lie, she has been able to hold several show programs this time.
Another similar scandal came up recently. A member of a popular singing group said in an interview on a TV program that he asked a famous figure skater to have the closest relation (called ilchon) on her own homepage (called a miniroom in Cyworld), but he was rejected. After the program, his fans attacked her miniroom and criticized her arrogance left slanderous statements against her. Later on, it was proven that what the singer said was not true.
Consecutive scandals have brought up several related issues, including entertainment and sincerity, and internet abuse. Several months ago, a teenge girl who lost weight quickly shared her story on a TV program and took a photo with one of the same music group members after the program. Not being able to put up with his fans’ attack on the internet, she killed herself from depression (it’s not an officially proved cause, but it’s assumed to be partially responsible).
These cases reflect problems of how media and the internet are used. The Optimist comments on this problem.
두 사람 모두, 사과와 함께 방송을 더 재미있게 하기 위해 거짓말을 했다고 말했다. 사실 연예인들이 방송에서 한 컷이라도 더 길게, 더 많이 잡히고 시청자들에게 인상을 남기기 위해서는 어떻게든 튀어야만 한다. 몇 시간을 녹화하더라도 그가 한말이 재미가 없을 경우는 단 한 컷도 방송에 나가지 않을 수도 있다. 결국 모든 연예인들은 살아남기 위해 어떻게든 ‘웃기려고’ 노력하고 개인기를 연마한다. 그것이 여의치 않을 때는 또 다른 선택으로 이슈가 될만한 이야기들을 하기 위해 이니셜을 끄집어내며 은근한 열애설을 유도하거나 다른 연예인에 대한 뒷담화들을 늘어놓는다…
요즘과 같이 급변하는 시대에 변덕이 죽 끓듯 한 시청자들의 주의력을 붙잡아 놓기 위해서는 물론 방송이 ‘재미’가 있어야 한다. 특히 오락 방송의 경우 그 존재의 근원 자체가 ‘재미’에 있는 것을 부인할 수는 없다. 그러나 ‘재미’라는 것이 ‘한 순간 시선을 사로잡을 수 있을만한 자극’이라는 의미로 강조되면 그로 인해 다른 중요한 것들을 잃어버리는 문제가 발생한다…
In such a fast changing world, in order to get attention from the capricious audience, TV programs should be fun. Especially entertainment programs get more pressure for ‘fun.’ But if the ‘fun’ just focuses on stimulus that can capture the attention of the audience, it could lose other important elements…
Several bloggers discuss how the singer’s extreme fans responded. Windbox showed,
그 와중에 더 웃긴건 역시 팬들이다.
어디에서 어떤 교육을 받고 자랐길래 그 와중에도
‘피디들이 써준 대본 그대로 읽은게 무슨 죄냐’ 라던가
‘날개없는천사 이특오빠 지켜주지 못해 미안해요’ 라던가…
Chojunhee displayed many comments of how his fan netizens left their opinions,
나쁜사람이 아닌데…. 우리의 재미를 위해 이렇게 애쓰시는 분인데…..너무 슬프네요. 또 얼마나 힘들어 할까요…..너무 여린 오빠라서 눈물이 나요
왜 오빠가 사과해요 …………………그냥 아프지만 마요 ……
Not a few bloggers like nyperfume regard the root of the problem as coming from the behavior of media.
학교에서 학생이 사고를 당하면 관리 소홀의 책임은 학교 측에 돌아간다. 시민이 길을 가다 잘못된 구조물로 피해를 입으면 국가의 책임이다. 사회 정의에 앞장서야 할 방송국이 거짓 방송으로 물의를 빚고도 이를 연예인 당사자에게만 뒤집어씌우는 요즘 현실은 시청자들의 불신을 조장할 따름이다.
Entertainers tell lies for their survival and the media show them. The more frequently these scandals occur, the more the insensibility of this problem seems to grow up. As a result, innocent victims are more and more, and the internet seems an important means of propagating the problem, as feeling-diary commented below.
세상에피노키오들이 너무많다. 정치인들로도 모잘라 세간의 흥미와 가쉽이 될수 있다면 연예인들까지 그들의 양심을 팔아 거짓말쟁이 피노키오가 되고자 한다. 이와 발맞추어 피노키오의 일그러진 추종자(팬이라고 자청하는 이들)들은 행여나 피노키오가 맘다치지 않을까 사건의 원인제공자에게 조직적으로 댓글 폭력을 행사한다.
동화속 피노키오는 어린이들에게 꿈과 희망이라도 안겨주지만 이들과 그들의 추종자들의 광기는 폭력의 실질적인 피해자뿐만 아니라 이를 지켜보고 있는 그 누군가에게도 허탈과 증오만 안겨줄뿐이다.
In the tale, Pinocchio gives dreams and hopes to children. But madness of these followers gives blankness and hatred to observers as well as authentic victims.

author: Hyejin Kim


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Landing at the Iraqi Blogodrome · Global Voices
Salam Adil

Humiliation at the hands of the Jordanian border police; belief restored in Iraq; a report from the Iraqi city of Arbil and a life in the week of one Iraqi blogger are some of the essential tales I bring you today. Also find out what is really happening in the world of Iraqi politics.
If you read no other blog posts this week read this:
I have read – several – times of the humiliation and ill treatment of Iraqis at the Jordanian border, but none has described the details of this more eloquently than Last of Iraqis. Having begged, borrowed and risked his life to get time off work, Last of Iraqis decided to take a well-earned holiday with his wife in Jordan. But he was refused entry at Queen Alia airport in Amman, Jordan and what followed serves as a testimony that should shame the whole of the Jordanian state:
After an hour of my wife crying , her eyes are so swelled now , then another humiliating officer talked to us like we were dogs :”get the hell out of here , and go to that room” he pointed , we walked and we saw a dirty corridor with blankets and 3 small rooms , you will sleep the night here , he said. He pushed all of us and locked the door, at this time I wish I could kill one of them for the humiliation we received from them. all of us were so scared from the idea that we will sleep in a jail for the first time in our lives for no crime we did , just because we are Iraqis , why does everyone treat Iraqis like this , we are humans , we aren't aliens , we are not animals to be put in jail for no crime , I walked and I saw another man in one of the rooms , he was very classy , he smiled kindly when I entered . I asked, did they return you also? How long have you been here? He said , yes they did and this is the fifth time they return me , I don't want to enter the land of dogs “he meant Jordan” all I want is my money , all my money is there , and I want to draw it , but the dogs didn't let me in , tell your wife that there is no need to cry like this for the land of the dogs , and if she continues crying they might tell her some words that she will not like and will never forget , this happened before and I have seen it.
But this was only the beginning of an ordeal which lasted three days. Other passengers were in a worse condition. One mother was refused nappies for her baby, another, escaping kidnappers in Iraq, was not allowed to fly on to another country. And when Last of Iraqis finally managed to return home:
I was ready to pay million bucks just to let me sleep on my bed and at last I have reached there, I jumped to the bed but it was like a frying pan, I had to go and look for fuel for the generator, I tried to have a shower but there was no water, not a drop, it has been 2 days with no water or electricity as my neighbor said. What is happening to me? Am I cursed? Then I remembered that I'm Iraqi!!! All Iraqis are cursed!
Read on here for the full story.
After having given up Iraq as a lost cause and moving to Jordan, Konfused Kid has had his faith restored. As he writes:
I am as optimistic about Iraq as a dead skunk on the side-road, … all the things I see and hear everyday… all serves to confirm my deductions about the future of the country-to-have-been.
You could only imagine my own shock as I found myself trying hard as a I can to resist swelling tears as I was watching the Iraqi team win the semifinal on a penalty shot against South Korea …
Yes, I do realize that probably it may have no effect on the bloodbath back home, and things could be darker than one would ever imagine, but what this thing did for me, and hopefully for many other Iraqis, is that it reminded us that there is indeed something that is common between all of us that is real and genuine, a deep chord that is resonating still inside, whether it was already present and we lost it, or whether we are all hoping for that could transpire practically in the future, in any case, for the first time in my life, I believe in Iraq with conviction, and that is certainly enough.
Sunshine brings us another post where you feel a lifetime could have passed for all the events that happened in a week. She writes: “It has been a messy week , full of events , some were good , some were bad, in addition to tragic events mentioned in the media…” but there is way to much to do it justice here you just have to read it for yourselves.
Aunt Najma goes by car from Syria to Mosul and comments on the towns she passes:
The road to Mosul and the first few neighborhoods are devastating, ruins all over, the walls of the houses have way too many holes caused by the bullets, there were remains of bomb cars and the street was very damaged.
If you read in the press that things are getting better in Iraq, well that has bypassed Iraqiya. She apologises for not writing for a long time and gives her reasons:
I guess its because so much has been going on in the past period, I just cant bring myself to write , I feel so discouraged, so broken, and above all so sad , things here in Baghdad at this time are not getting better ,on the contrary they are getting worse !!!! when is this going to be over ? when will we live like normal human beings ? I find myself asking the same question day in and day out,
I try to find some good things here in Baghdad but I just cant, even if there are some exceptions, there is always something that will ruin it for me, like a kidnapped relative, or a sick family member that cant find the proper medical treatment ….and so on …..How ever hard I try, there is always something that will bring me down!!!
M.H.Z. is in the Kurdish-Iraqi city of Arbil and gives us the definitive guide, from its origins to its modern history. From its people:
Most of the people here are so great, they always say that we are dear guests, they always say how sorry they are for Baghdad, and how beautiful it was, and how they wish that we all go back home someday so that they could come visit us in Baghdad.
to its contradictions:
When the Iraqi soccer team got the Asian cup, celebrations were all over the world, the Iraqi flag was seen everywhere, except in Arbil, it was banned, and the police prevented the partying people from raising the Iraqi flag!!. Well, it’s too simple, if it’s not Iraq here, it’s OK for foreigners to hold their flag, and If it was Iraq, it’s also OK for natives to hold their flag, can you decide? It’s just like the roaming mobile devices, they work all over the world except in Arbil, it’s a fact, may be that’s it?
Baghdad Treasure sees members of parliament resigning from the government and others taking a month long holiday and feel nothing but bitterness:
We all know that the current Iraqi government is nothing but a piece of rock thrown at people to hurt them. …  What kind of democracy is this when every now and then we see one of the “political blocs” announcing boycott without paying attention to the hundreds of innocents killed by day, the hundreds of thousands being displaced, and the millions who fled the atrocities of the war…
Have all the political blocs seen how seventy people were killed just in Baghdad today? Aren’t they supposed to sit down and try to find a way to help stop this mayhem? Aren’t they supposed to unite instead of divide? Oh I forgot. They don’t have to, because they are on vacation! What a bump! Hundreds are dying and millions are being displaced and the “democratic” parliament members take a 30-day vacation…
Hopefully, none of the Paradise-seekers-vacationists come back to their seats. If that happened, I would be more than happy to not to look back. I would look straight for the future and for the right people to run the country, and tell those behind me: GOOD RIDDANCE.
While Omar sees the same events as a huge setback for American policy in Iraq. He writes:
The withdrawal of the Accord Front from Maliki's cabinet and the persistence of the parliament on taking a month long recess is a major embarrassment for Baghdad and Washington alike and for anyone who was looking forward to seeing some political progress in Iraq before the September milestone…
These developments show that a majority in our parliament care only about themselves and their blocs’ interests much more than they do about the country's in such difficult time and their attitude tells that the blocs don't want to work together and don’t want to reconcile their differences.
And he speculates about the possibility of a coup:
One thing makes me worried these days and I'm afraid that someone is planning a different bad solution. The rift between the minister of defense and the senior commanders including chief of staff of the army which led to a group resignation is an ominous sign that indicates a deep dispute between the two leaderships  … It would be too early to speculate that someone is planning a coup-or preparing to crush one-at this point but the mere thought of it remains a little bit scary.
But Nibras Kazimi pours cold water over any notion that a coup is possible or that Iyad Allawi could be at its head. He gives his reasons:
-No one can pull-off a military coup in Iraq.
-Parliament is out for another three weeks, so Maliki is not facing an immediate no-confidence vote.
-Adel Abdel-Mahdi, the current Vice-President, cannot deliver SCIRI’s parliamentary votes for the Allawi camp.
-The Sadrists won’t vote for Allawi.
-The Da’awa Party won’t follow former PM Ibrahim Jaafari if he moves against Maliki.
-Anyone seen as “Saudi Arabia’s guy”—as Allawi projects himself, although that may not really be the case as far as the Saudi leadership is concerned—is not likely to get Sistani & Co. to go along with this plan.
-The Iranians won’t let this happen, and they have far more political cards to play in Iraq than the Americans—and they can play those cards smarter than O’Sullivan.
-Why would the Kurds substitute their strong alliance with the Shiites, who are going to run the country for a very long time to come, in return for the fleeting favor of the defeated Sunnis (their rivals on Kirkuk) and a politician such as Allawi whose word really doesn’t go that far?
-Qasim Daoud, a favorite of the Emirati leadership and another PM candidate as far as the Americans are concerned, has too many corruption scandals hovering around his head.
-My sources tell me the following: one of the principal actors who was attempting to bring down Maliki has left Iraq for an extended vacation, telling anyone who’d listen that it can’t be done.
Enough said really so that leaves the other major policy – Oil – and the passing a new law that is one of the American benchmarks for success in Iraq. Well Al-Ghad sees that a declaration by Ali Al-Adeeb, a senior member in the Iraqi prime minister's party, against passing the law as a sign of its possible demise. Al-Ghad writes:
Al-Adeeb’s stand and opinion carry a great weight in the Dawa party, some observers consider him as the most important force in that current, which is much wider and more powerful than the official organisation. In the present precarious political situation in Iraq, it could be no exaggeration to say, his declaration would fatally affect the destiny of the Oil Law and with it the fate of Maliki’s Prime Ministry…
One is tempted to see in this episode a possible connection with the sudden bitter attacks by prominent US officials on Maliki’s Government.
And finally…
After Raed was (in)famously stopped from boarding a plane for the crime of looking like an Arab having Arabic words on his T-Shirt, the American Civil Liberties Union finally took up his case a year later. Read more about it here.

author: Salam Adil


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Myanmar: Bloggers Remember 8888 · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

8th August, 1988 is known as 8888 to Myanmar people. This was the day when pro-democracy protests erupted in Myanmar. The protests were initiated by the students demanding the restoration of a democratic government in Myanmar. Inspired by the students, government workers, monks and ordinary citizen also joined in the protests. The protests led to the fall of dictatorial regime of General Ne Win but the army took over the power immediately afterwards and ruthlessly ended the movement.
Eccentric Ghost remembers the day the protests started and how he joined in
The memories of 8888 days still fresh in my mind. I was a boy attending middle school at that time. When I heard my school is organizing to go for demonstration, I asked my mom for her permission. My mom told me I was still young and asked me for a good reason to go. I answered that if Burma became democratic country after this, I would be proud for I was part of this movement.
The blogger has more on the day's events on his blog. Eccentric Ghost pays tribute to the protesters killed by the army.
There were bloodsheds when military shot the people demonstrating peacefully especially in Yangon and Sagaing. We, the people of Burma will never forget those people who sacrificed throughout this resistance and we will never give up fighting for freedom.
Much younger Myanmar expatriate Fifty Viss recalls the day when as a young child, he got to know of the 8888 protests
I recall the first time I learned about the 1988 uprisings. It was 1996 and I was about seven, and my father’s friend from college (I don’t remember his name, but my mother always joked that he was a lanba, a tall and skinny man) visited my family to give us a homemade VHS tape of the protests and violence of 8.8.88. The people who documented these horrific events, on an ordinary black-and-white video camera must have been enormously brave. I remember the first few minutes of watching, many people protesting on a wide street. Then, my mother told me to close my eyes, fearing that the violence was too much. I obeyed, but I could hear gunshots, slaughtering by knife, screams, and rallying cries. To this day, I have not watched the entirety of the tape. Perhaps I am not ready to take in all of the tragedy that happened.
Do read Fifty Viss‘s post if you want to know  about the role of the military in Myanmar's recent history.
The Burma Review blog compares the events from 8888 to the Quit India Movement launched by Gandhi in 1942 to end the British rule. The blogger concludes his analysis with the words
It [The 8888 protests] also negated the theories that, Burmese people lack democratic values and more inclined to totalitarian regime and proving importance of 8888 revolution in Modern history of Burma.

author: Preetam Rai


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Peru: Blogger Meet-up in Huánuco · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Juan Arellano's recent trip to Huánuco provided an opportunity to meet-up with a group of bloggers from that city [ES].


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Senegal: Dying in childbirth · Global Voices
Jennifer Brea

Blog politique au Senegal shares a story of a woman who died in childbirth, a fate shared by far too many women in Senegal:  “The small crowd listened to the midwife explain she did all that she could, that it was the will of God; but at the hospital she would have been well taken care of…I stayed inside [the health center] for a good while, choked up with anger.”


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Taiwan: What’s Next After Wikimania 2007? · Global Voices
Leonard Chien

Photograph taken by halafish from flickr
Wikimania 2007 at Taipei ended on August 5th. To members promoting Mediawiki in Taiwan, this international conference is a wonderful opportunity for exchanging ideas. Among organizers and contributors, we can find five IT-related research institutes in Taiwan, including Institute of Information Science, Academia Sinica and Department of Computer Science and Information, National Taiwan University. National Digital Archive Program and National Science Council, which are strategic units from local government.
They provided very good support for the conference. It shows that most of the core members in wiki community of Taiwan share similar IT-oriented backgrounds. At Wikimania, Taiwanese IT workers took the chance to exchange ideas about the technical meanings of wiki with international wiki researchers. Take the display of double-bit words for example, which has been a plaguing problem to many; participants from Asia had put forward their suggestions in the technical conference, said local blogger Bob Chao[Zh]. Through such dialogue, people came to realize that global internet users share similar problems.
This conference not only constructs a platform for intensive conversation and regional cooperation, but also a beginning for future development.However, when it comes to social issues like citizen journalism, sharing economy and Creative Commons, participants from Taiwan have far less feedbacks than they did in those technology-related workshops. In fact, the number of bloggers, community workers and academics from Taiwan attending Wikimania 2007 is actually relatively small. In Taiwanese blogosphere, Wikimania 2007 is not a hot topic before or after the conference. It reflects that Taiwan, as a hub of global IT industry, is still an engineering-centric society. The social awareness that wiki promotes is quite new, or even alien to Taiwan.
We can somehow notice this phenomenon by looking at local volunteers that take part in this event. Michael Tang and Ivin Tsai are both college students. They find volunteer recruitment via a student club website, AIESEC[zh]. By being voluteers, they want to know different people and to have more experience in an international conference like this. However, their understanding toward wiki doesn't go beyond the research function that wikipedia can provide while they do their assignments in school.
To Ding Ding, Luchia and an anonymous female volunteer, Wikipedia is also all they know about wiki. Their volunteer recruitment info is from Ptt, the largest BBS in Taiwan. Luchia participates in order to work with a group of friendly people. Through the process, he learns more about how to organize a conference than the nature of wiki. Ding Ding and the anonymous volunteer points out, most volunteers are here for conference service. People who are interested in technology will not be volunteers, but attendants.
When asked about what they know and how they view Wikimania, Ding Ding notices that during the conference, local media only introduce Wikipedia in a general way. Journalists focus more on OLPC on display than the spirit of wiki, and this is not helpful in understanding wiki, he says. Anonymous female volunteer takes citizen media session in the unconference as example, while international participants discuss every aspect of citizen media, local attendants still try to figure out “what is citizen media?” She also says she does not have a clear understanding of citizen media yet.
Volunteeers interviewed are all local college students. Their majors range from electronic engineering, business administration, economy, law, etc. They ought to have different perspectives towards this conference. However, they never have edit Wikipedia, and they are not familiar with any wiki projects. Unsurprisingly, they use BBS more often than blogs.
Ilya[Zh], researcher of Academia Sinica and long-term blogger in Taiwan, is deeply involved in conference preparation. He points out, conferences with international presenters as majority like wikimania 2007 are rare in Taiwan. To online community in Taiwan, the major impact that wikimania 2007 provides is not what we have solved, but who we have met. Volunteers are wonderful, he says, but they seem not that enthusiastic in participating in the conference. If internet community and volunteers are eager to reach out through Wikimania 2007, they should be curious about why people come, what the connection is among people, and what feedbacks Taiwan can have.
After Wikimania 2007, what's next for Taiwan? The future may not lie in the venue, but out of it. During the conference evenings, renowned blogger Issac Mao[Zh] from China had several gatherings with local bloggers, including Carol, KEN, Vista, etcs[Zh]. Several feedbacks come from blogosphere after Carol described those gatherings on her blog. Another local bloggers tmas68 has also been inspired by wikimania 2007. He believes more unrestricted gatherings of similar kinds are needed in Taiwan. These will help bloggers to know the current trends and future cooperation. In the closing ceremony, regional promotion plan by wikimedia foundation and iCommons is disclosed. This makes people more eager to know how wiki will develop regarding to social relations. To Taiwan, the end of wikimania 2007 may be just another starting point of a long journey.
Originally written in Chinese by HOW

author: Leonard Chien


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Uruguay: Chavez’ Visit  · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

From Uruguay takes a look at Hugo Chavez’ recent visit to Uruguay and writes,  “in my opinion the entrance of Venezuela benefits Uruguay for sure in the short term. It provides a new actor in the Mercosur scene that will shake the Brazilian-Argentinean hegemony of power in the block, giving the smaller members a greater chance to be heard on their claims, plus it's always good to have a friend with plenty of spare oil.”

author: Eduardo Avila


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Bahamas: “Mother” Pratt · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Guest authoring at WeblogBahamas.com, Oswald Brown tells the inspiring story of Cynthia “Mother” Pratt, adding: “the final chapter has not yet been written.”

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Bahrain: Top Tips for Secret Smokers! · Global Voices
Ayesha Saldanha

Children are the future, right? Some bloggers in Bahrain are not too optimistic. We find others who are fed up of religious leaders, are enjoying watching people, and are smoking in secret. Two bloggers are moved by the sound of Arabic – one by the classical language, another by a local dialect. We start with a question regarding Muslims and the debate about globalisation.
Muslims and globalisation
The Observer is pulling no punches; he thinks that Arabs, and Muslims in general, cannot grasp the issues surrounding globalisation:
Brats!
This week, two bloggers found themselves extremely frustrated with the behaviour of some kids around them, and they are not hopeful for what is to come. Um Naief, an American married to a Bahraini, is having a hard time watching how her nephew deals with her baby son, Naief:
I've been trying to be a good auntie and have been taking Naief over to visit his cousin in the afternoons for the last few days. … He's a mean little boy. Before, when Naief was just a newborn, I found myself unable to deal w/ his ways and stopped going over there for a while. Now, after finding fabulous anti-anxiety meds, I have found a calmness somewhere in the sphere of this child's madness.
I say madness lightly… for I honestly don't want to be mean. I can be and have been in the past… but since getting to know him better, I feel more sadness and then a lot of anger… after he tries time after time to hurt the baby…. well, it sends me into a loss for what to do, how to act, what to say…. seriously, no book, no program, no body can prepare you for these sorts of things.
[…]
No, I'm not hoping for the world to end, my life to end, the baby's life to end… nothing like that. Just for a few people to wake up and smell the roses and get a freakin CLUE as to how to raise a child.
Gardens of Sand, back in Bahrain on a vacation from her studies in the USA, found she could not cope with the bad behaviour of the children at a family gathering, and lost her cool with a mother who was doing nothing about it – but she soon had to act contrite:
Needless to say, this being Bahrain, and me being a Bahraini chick and all, here for only a month, not wanting to embarrass my parents or ruffle family feathers and the oh so fragile peace, I had to call So and so and kiss a**. Apologize for losing my cool and pretend that she is a gr8 parent and the kids perfect. And so for the rest of my time here, I have to put up with the demons and their good for nothing but still a nice person parent if I want to see my gran.
[…]
Why is our society so full of parents who don't want anything to do with parenting? Having children is a huge responsibility, one that doesn't end at birth nor one that should be transferred on to a housekeeper. How does this bode on our future? A whole generation of spoiled, undisciplined brats…Hmmmm….
Tired of religious leaders
Eyad is also feeling frustrated – but about something quite different:
Death to turbans and beards, yes I said it, death to all turbans and beards.
Before any of you Jump and scream Kafir (unbeliever), and Before you toggle the Big red X on the corner, read and you will say with me; Death to those who made this country split into halves and quarters from the microphone of a mosque or maatam (Shi'i prayer hall), death to all those who fill the young minds with hatred to Mankind and hide behind the a turban or a beard, death to those who hide the truth a mosque should be revealing, death to an Islam you created and the Prophet didn’t preach, Death to all who claimed religious knowledge for political gains, death to who vote for religious figures just so they are from the same sect.
What is this country going through, where will it stop, do people have to die, or do we have to go through the 90’s again, why do we keep waving a big red flag pointing out our deference’s when the similarities are as clear as day light, why do we fear the other and why do we hate the other.
[…]
I hope our Beards and turbans learn that you can’t win a war fighting your own brother.
How to smoke secretly
The Girl With No Face has learnt to deal with frustration in imaginative ways:
People in this country have no idea how big of a community there is of secret smokers. And you’d be shocked at how many of them are female smokers. But for something to stay a secret in Bahrain, is &*#*! near impossible. So I’m going to give all you smoking girls some tips on how to keep your smoking secret from your family and the rest of the world (I’ll prolly go to hell for this haha)
She recommends smoking while driving:
Also, believe it or not, one of the best places to smoke, is in the car. Its better because the smell won’t stick on you and also because you can hide it well. To be able to smoke in the car you have to do the following:
-you have to only smoke when you’re on the highway cuz you know you won’t be stopping and you can hide it well..
-its preferable at night but you can still pull it off during the day.
-you have to be used to driving and used to smoking with your left hand haha
-you crack open your window maybe less than an inch
-and you keep your hand holding the cigarette a few inches away..
-while driving 80 km/h and more, the smoke will be sucked outside
-oh and before you light it, make sure that the AC on the left side of the steering wheel is off and the one on your right, turned away.
-you have to have a long enough road to finish a whole cigarette before you have to stop again right? and thats hard to find in bahrain. but from experience, i can tell you the best ways are:
the roundabout between hamad town and riffa.. (dunno what its called).. as soon as you leave    that round about, light a cigarette. you’ll be done right before you reach the seef mall flyover OR if you’re headed for like the adhari road, you’ll be done before you reach within 100 meters of that traffic light.
ok, you know the dark road from alareen that goes to al jazayer beach? … haha thats the one..  you light the cigarette when you get on that road and you reach the roundabout, you take a U turn and half way down that road, you’ll be done, before you even reach al areen again.
For more tips see here!
Beauty is in the eye…
Mohammed AlMaskati has been pondering attractiveness – what women find appealing in men, and vice versa:
I wonder what it is that women find attractive in men in this part of the world. But wait, we’re just not that shallow right? We look at deeper things, things that matter, meaningful things that stay! Fancy cars, fat paychecks, nice phone number combinations, a house. We all know that looks aren’t what really draws Arab women to men! And the evidence is all over the place. I mean, there are plenty of flabby, worthless, ugliest-people-you’ve-ever-seen, and they’ve got babes draped all over ‘em!
But honestly now, the Arab definition of beauty is just way too weird, a copy of the ever so famous Layalina Magazine fell into my hands earlier today, I was just shocked as to the amount of makeup those young girls use on themselves. I couldn’t help but imagining how much foundation cream mac could be selling in Bahrain, probably making a fortune out of those poor people.
Beauty is just a huge dilemma, girls want to give out the impression that they are decent and courteous while in the same time look attractive and sexy, and it’s very funny how the final product looks like.
Ammar has observed some rituals for presenting oneself at one's best:
She looked at her eyes in the rear-view as she re-arranged her shaila (scarf), just enough to show a little bit of hair, but not enough to give it all off. … Her lane was semi-blocked with traffic, while the opposite lane was open, with cars creeping by; mostly boys, who really made an effort to turn their heads and look, to see one of the few females driving down at this time of the evening. She was an attractive girl, for sure, but she kept composed, even with the seemingly un-endless boys gazing at her.
Ah, perfect; the rear-lights of a parked Corolla just turned white, signalling it will reverse, clearing up the pavement for her car. She waited as the owner slowly moved his vehicle, being careful not to scrape the bike parked so close to him, and trying to maneuver not to bump her car. After what seemed like an eternity, the Corolla was on its way, giving a thank-you horn as he left, and the parking spot was all hers. A little paradise in a huge desert of cars, traffic and noise. She stayed in her car a few more minutes, fixing her lipstick and eye-liner, applying her blusher, spraying unbelievable amounts of Calvin Klein perfume, and again fixing her shaila. Yes, she was finally ready for another evening at Starbucks, just another evening in the world of Juffair..
Language as identity
Cradle of Humanity has rediscovered a love of classical Arabic after hearing a poet recite his work:
I felt attached to the sound of the language he used. He sounded as if he came from long ago, from a time where people spoke Arabic for their daily life, from an old historical TV show whose actors did not replace one consonant with another, from a cartoon dubbed for kids when dialects were not used for cartoons. “There are still such poets” I told my younger brother, and I was both happy and amazed with the realization that, yes, there are still some people who can write a poem that both has such a deep meaning and rhythm. I could think of nothing but how much this language means to me, how strong the feel of belonging and identity is, how all those contestants living hundreds of miles apart can still feel there is something that ties them together, regardless of how different they all are.
While helping a European colleague learn Arabic I remember him once suggesting that standard day Arabic should no longer be one language. The difference between all spoken Arabic accents is so vast that it’s time they are all classified as different languages- Bahraini, Egyptian, Iraqi, Libyan and so on. I disagreed. “They are all subsets of the mother language”, I argued. “If you can speak the mother language, you can easily understand its subsets”. That was the virtual reason for why I refused to believe they are different languages.
The real reason, however, was much deeper than that. It was far deeper than mere linguistics. Although no nationalist, I did not want Bahraini to be a different language, I wanted it to be just a variation of the great mother Arabic, I wanted that tie with the past and present, I wanted the glory of the once upon a time great language of Imru’ al-Qais and Al-Mutanabbi. Having a Bahraini language would mean having to start from now, it would mean leaving behind the rich history- regardless of good or bad. It would mean that no longer can I say that we were or were not, that no longer can anything belong to me, but to them, the Arabs, and I still want to be one.
On hearing the news that one of Bahrain's best-known musicians, Ali Bahar, has been hospitalised, Yagoob wants to tell us what is so special about Bahar's work – and one reason is his use of a local dialect:
Fans of Ali Bahar like to use the term فيلنق when describing his music which is the Bahrainization of the word ‘Feeling’ maybe the equivalent of ‘emo’ to today’s rock music listeners minus the razors and ‘every rose has a thorn’ mentality.
But what makes his music ‘feeling’?
Yagoob thinks there are three factors, namely lyrics, music and vocals:
The majority of the band’s lyrics are from their lead guitarist Khalid Al-Thawadi, and his style suits Ali very much and a good reflection of his character. The lyrics are extremely simple and from the heart and he sings it in a way that it’s understandable especially for the age range 16-25. The simplicity of his lyrics are frowned upon by many of the Arab world songwriters whose writings are complex flows of words on topics of love and betrayal are as dry and uninventive as the deserts they originate from. … Although bringing guitars into the foreground, the Brothers did not forget their roots. … Ali’s voice is instantly recognisable as he sings in a pure Muharraqi dialect, and those who don’t know this dialect imagine how a very spoilt large woman would sound like when talking slowly, and he does it without shame, unlike many other Bahraini singers like Khalid Al-Shaikh, Hind and Adel Mahmood tend to sing in a more ‘Khaleeji dialect’. … So when mixing these three elements, you will get ‘feeling’ed.
Facing criticism
Ali is tired of people putting him – and his blog – down:
Good for you, Ali! More from Bahrain – and all our persistent bloggers – next week.

author: Ayesha Saldanha


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