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Belarus: Overview of Political and Economic Situation · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

An overview of the political and economic situation in Belarus – by Natalia Leshchenko at OpenDemocracy.net.


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Bermuda: Waiting in Vain for PATI · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

According to Vexed Bermoothes, “there is no sign of ‘freedom of information act’ preparation in any part of Government”, despite the fact that a year has passed since the Public Access to Information Act was passed in the Bermuda Legislature.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Bhutan: Tour De Bhutan · Global Voices
Rezwan

Bhutan's latest passion is mountain biking and this year Tour Of Dragon, the successful cross country biking race event, is going international, informs Passu.

author: Rezwan


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China: Chengguan kill handicapped street vendor in daylight · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Jing Gao from MInistry of Tofu collects information about a mass incident happened in Guizhou province on July 26, in which two men and one woman from the Chengguan squad, killed a handicapped street vendor in daylight and riot police used tear gas to drive speculators away.

author: Oiwan Lam


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China: Double Frontage · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

On July 27, 2011, Qianjiang Daily's have two versions of its newspaper's frontpage. One is about Wenzhou train crash, the headline said: Today is the fifth day of the accident, 11 lives are still struggling. Add oil! Be strong. The second version is a commercial. Netizens believe [zh] that the double frontage is a result of the propaganda department's censorship order in the middle of the printing process.


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China: Ministry of Railways · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Twitter user @JAYxiaomuzhu posts a number of T-shirt design using the logo of PRC's Ministry of Railways to protest against its handling of the recent train crash incident in Wenzhou.


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Colombia: Dancing Police Welcome Soccer Players · Global Voices
Juliana Rincón Parra

In Medellin, Colombia, police officers welcomed soccer players at the airport, making a good impression on visitors but raising concerns about security for some locals.
The city of Medellin is hosting the FIFA U-20 World Cup, and the Football Association (FA) posted a video of the welcome the city gave to the English Sub 20 in a post titled ‘A crazy Colombian welcome‘.
Screenshot from TheFA video
The England U20 squad found their rhythm on arrival at Medellin Airport, as they were given an unexpected welcome to Colombia by the local police force.
Marxepunx who lives in Medellin [es] seems to disagree with the police's priorities:
Y justo ayer leía que no se podían disponer de algunos policías en el Centro de Medellín donde se han incrementado los robos. Es que los pocias están súper ocupados haciendo labores de “CRAZY” comité de bienvenida.
Nevertheless, it seems that for Argentinian visitors covering the World Cup this was a nice touch. On Banfield Locura [es], a blog on the Argentinian soccer team they wrote:
Fue impactante el recibimiento que tuvo el seleccionado argentino. Tanto en Bogota, primera escala, como en esta ciudad punto de concentración para los partidos de la fase clasificatoria. Danzas típicas, conjuntos lugareños, salsa, música tropical, y otros tantos ritmos más. Lo curioso, que aquí la coreografía de las mujeres eran formadas y realizadas por integrantes de la fuerza pública. Tímidamente, casi a los empujones, con un tanto de vergüenza y pudor los muchachos no pudieron negarse y ensayaron algunos pases de baile.
Es que aquí se vive y respira fútbol a cada paso, en cada rincón de esta cálida tierra colombiana. Conocen a todos, saben a la perfección “la historia” de cada uno. Los aeropuertos desbordaron cordialidad, amabilidad y porque no admiración.
The welcome given to the Argentinian selection was impressive. In Bogota, the first stop as well as in this city which was the meeting point for the games in the classifying round. Folkloric dances, regional musical groups, salsa, tropical  and several other rhythms. The curious thing was that the choreography was made up of women of the police forces. Timidly, almost having to be forced and with a bit of embarrassment and shyness the boys couldn't refuse and they tried some of the dance moves.
Because soccer is lived and breathed here in every step, every corner of this warm Colombian land. They know everyone, they know to perfection the “history” of each one. The airports were overflowing with congeniality, kindness and why not, admiration.

author: Juliana Rincón Parra


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Colombia: Singer Joe Arroyo Dies · Global Voices
Lully

Colombian singer Álvaro José Arroyo González, better known as Joe Arroyo, born in a humble neighborhood in Cartagena on November 1, 1955, passed away on July 16 at 07:45 A.M. in Barranquilla due to multiple organ failure for which he had been hospitalized at Clinica La Asunción, a hospital in Barranquilla, for 29 days.
Joe Arroyo began his career at age 8 and participated in several salsa groups around the country, but he became famous when he joined the group “Fruko y sus Tesos”. Later, in 1981 he founded his own salsa group, “La Verdad”, traveling to many countries around the world. The prolific singer-songwriter even created his own dance beat, ‘el Joesón’, mixing salsa with Colombian Caribbean music like the cumbia, the porro, and the champeta.
Joe Arroyo, image from Wikimedia Commons.
Manolo Bellón (@ManoloBellon) a music specialist, mourns [es] his death:
La muerte de Joe Arroyo deja un inmenso vacío en la música popular caribeña. Adios al más grande de Colombia, se fue demasiado joven. RIP
Colombian singer Juanes (@juanes) thanks him [es] for his musical contribution:
Día triste para la música…  Gracias por toda la alegría que nos dejas ! Arriba Joe Arroyo!
Venezuelan singer Oscar D’ León (@OscarDLeon) expresses his sadness  [es] and mentions Cuban deceased singer Celia Cruz:
Estoy muy triste…  mi hermano Joe Arroyo se nos fue…Celia cuídame a Yoe…
Journalist Camila Zuluaga (@ZuluagaCamila) refers [es] to the words of Joe Arroyo's former manager, when he mentioned the show that TV channel RCN would broadcast about Arroyo's life:
El señor Marco Barraza dice que la novela de RCN del Joe Arroyo es una mentira
Blogs and websites also reacted to the news, sharing photos or videos like Otras tardes.com [es] did with the song “La noche”:
The blog Vallenato refers [es] to one of his most representative songs:
Quizás su mayor éxito ha sido “Rebelión” (1986), canción que narra la historia de un matrimonio africano, esclavos de un español, en la Cartagena de Indias del siglo XVII. (…) un éxito inmediato que aún se baila en las fiestas y discotecas del continente.
Total T.V. mentions, among some of his other qualities, the power of his voice [es]:
El gran Joe, nació en el barrio Nariño, en una loma de Cartagena,  (…) Allá se forjó el mito del niño tocado por Dios en la garganta, quien, más adelante, en la pubertad, se convirtió en la voz de los prostíbulos de La Heroica.
EJU.TV provides a short biography of Joe, where they mention his father [es], writing about another aspect from his life:
Fue uno de los 39 hijos que tuvo Guillermo Arroyo, el Negro Chombo, con seis mujeres diferentes, todas llamadas Ángela.
You can follow the conversation and read more reactions to the singer's death on Twitter with the hashtags #GrandeJoe, #Joe, Alvaro Jose Arroyo, Rebelion, and Tania.

author: Lully


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Cuba: Tired July 26 Celebrations?  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Generation Y blogs about this year's celebration of Cuba’s revolutionary holiday.


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Jamaica: An Anime Nation to be Reckoned With  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Jamaipanese says that this year's Anime Nation was “bigger and better” than its inaugural event, calling it “an epic event for fans of anime, cosplay, video games and Japan as patrons came from all over Jamaica to enjoy the event many of them wearing costumes or “cosplaying” as their favourite characters from various anime and video games.”


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Jamaica: Public Outbursts from Diasporan Women  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“How can we not say to ourselves –  was any enterprise ever so doomed to failure? Was anything ever so sad?”: An eye-opening post from Under the Saltine Flag about the underlying issues that could possibly have sparked public tirades by two Jamaican women.


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Jamaica: Unimpressed with Minaj  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Active Voice publishes a guest post about singer Nicki Minaj's performance at Jamaica's recent Reggae Sumfest: “Minaj messed up when she displayed such flagrant disrespect to Jamaica by announcing that she was warned about profanity but went ahead merrily, regardless.”


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Mexico: 17 Dead After Jail Riot in Ciudad Juárez  · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

“Seventeen people are dead following a Juárez jailhouse ‘riot’, which seems to have been more a pitched battle between the Mexicles and the Aztecas, two local gangs whose members populate the detention centers” reports Gancho, and adds: “The jail was built for 850 people, but houses some 2,700, which seems par for the course in northern Mexico. The prison issue remains a scandal in Mexico.”

author: Silvia Viñas


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Nepal: Bloggers Sign Code of Ethics · Global Voices
Rezwan

A historic moment in citizen journalism in Nepal happened today as Nepali bloggers signed their own code of conduct, reports Ujjwal Acharya. The Code of Ethics for bloggers is a joint initiative by BLOGAN, a network of Nepali bloggers, and Online Journalists Association of Nepal (OJA).


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Russia: Policeman that Promised to “Rob and Kill” Dismissed · Global Voices
Alexey Sidorenko

A policeman that was caught on camera saying that if he would be dismissed he would “go to the streets to rip, rob, and kill” (video [ru]) was dismissed, lenta.ru reported [ru]. The dismissal (result of a bloggers’ activity in spreading the word about the case), however, didn't solve a broader issue of legal nihilism among Russian policemen.

author: Alexey Sidorenko


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Russia: While LiveJournal Experiences DDoS Attack (Again), Users to Twitter and Facebook · Global Voices
Alexey Sidorenko

LJ-user igrick (head of LiveJournal development team) publishes [ru] (the link might be temporary unavailable) evidence of another serious DDoS attack against the platform. Roem.ru, on the other hand, brings up graphs [ru] that say that bloggers deprived of their publishing platform move to Twitter and Facebook.


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South Korea: Tweet Photos of Downpour · Global Voices
Lee Yoo Eun

Heavy downpour battered South Korea yesterday, causing flooding and property damage even in one of the wealthiest parts of Seoul. Wiki Tree consolidated photos of downpour Twitterers have sent.

author: Lee Yoo Eun


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Sri Lanka: One Million Users On Facebook · Global Voices
Rezwan

Amitha Amarasinghe informs that Sri Lanka became the 76th country to reach one million users on Facebook. “This is a penetration of 4.66% into Sri Lanka’s entire population”, says Amitha.


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Haiti: Martelly’s Promises  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Toussaint on Haiti suggests that Haitians who voted for a Martelly presidency may now be suffering from buyers’ remorse.


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Africa: First African Demo of Sixth Sense Technology · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Bontle Moeng blogs about the first African demo of sixth sense technology: “Basically, Sixth Sense is a mini-projector coupled with a camera and a cellphone—which acts as the computer and your connection to the Cloud, all the information stored on the web.”

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Africa: How Social Conservatives in Africa Use Anti-Globalization Struggle · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Graham shows how social conservatives in Africa use the anti-globalization struggle: “They use the same arguments and language as the radicals, but they are not revolutionaries. Their language of liberation, of African independence and opposition to aid, seeks not to liberate but to constrain. They seek to ossify culture and to maintain the status quo. They are social conservatives.”


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Africa: Membership Opens For mLab SA · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Application for membership for mLab Southern Africa has opened: “The mLab SA provides incubation support to mobile developers and entrepreneurs through the following services: subsidised office space with meeting rooms – to allow members to benefit from being part of the mobile startup community; training and accreditation on mobile technologies and entrepreneurship…”


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Armenia: Nationalist links alleged after Utøya attacks · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Unzipped comments on claims that Anders Behring Breivik, the Norwegian responsible for the 22 July terrorist attacks in Oslo and Utøya which killed at least 76 people, had online connections with extreme nationalists and neo-Nazis in many countries including Armenia. The blog says that the local security services should investigate this possibility and hopes that the tragedy in Norway has alerted everyone to the danger of right wing extremism.

author: Onnik Krikorian


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Belarus: Schengen Visa=Guilty · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Pyotr Kuznetsov mentions [ru] a Belarusian police officer who interpreted a Schengen visa in the passport of one of the women detained at a protest rally as a solid proof that she was not a law-abiding citizen. He said this to a colleague who used to know the woman and was having doubts about the legality of her arrest: “Have you seen her passport?! She's got a Schengen! Me, I don't have a Schengen!” (More on the EU-Belarus relations, in this recent GV text by Vilhelm Konnander.)

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Bulgaria-Russia: Refinery Shutdown Causes Oil Crisis · Global Voices
Vilhelm Konnander

John Helmer of Dances With Bears reports that a Bulgarian government-imposed shutdown of the Lukoil-owned Burgas refinery threatens to create an oil crisis in the country, and goes on to describe the political game behind the crisis.

author: Vilhelm Konnander


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Cambodia: #camlabor hashtag · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Cambodians tweeting about migration, labour and trafficking issues in Cambodia are urged to use the #camlabor hashtag

author: Mong Palatino


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Cambodia: Need for independent media · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

KI Media uploads a dissertation by Sothearith IM that highlights the importance of developing an independent media in Cambodia.


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Colombia: Indigenous Peoples Seek to Restore Peace After FARC Attacks · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

As previously noted on Global Voices, Colombia's armed conflict is threatening indigenous peoples. Ahni in Intercontinental Cry reports that “The oldest and strongest grassroots indigenous organization in Colombia, The Regional Indigenous Council of Cauca (CRIC),” has called for “a ‘Minga of resistance’ [“a traditional gathering or activity for the collective good”] to restore autonomy and peace throughout Indigenous territories in the Colombian state of Cauca”.


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Cuba: Call for Justice in Death of Teen · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Laritza's Laws posts an update about the shooting death of a teen by a retired police officer: “Relatives and neighbors of the victim suspect the police are looking for excuses not to prosecute him, and they are demanding justice for the death of Angel Izquierdo Medina, that it not go unpunished.”


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Cuba: Differences of Opinion are Healthy · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“‘The People's Path‘ is…a vision statement of what the movement for a free Cuba should be striving for,” writes Uncommon Sense, who, along with Babalu, thinks that despite Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet's lack of support, “the debate that the document, and Biscet's disapproval have sparked, are nothing but healthy for Cuban opposition and the cause of Cuban freedom.”


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Dominican Republic: Bohemian Nights · Global Voices
Firuzeh Shokooh Valle

Dino Bonao writes about the Dominican bohemian nights [es].

author: Firuzeh Shokooh Valle


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Equatorial Guinea: Blogging Political Cartoons · Global Voices
Ana Lúcia Sá

The blog of Equatoguinean cartoonist Ramón Esono, Las Locuras de Jamón y Queso [es], denounces the country's political situation with cartoons. Each cartoon of the LOCOStv (MADtv) presents well known characters of the Equatoguinean political and social life and some interviews full of satire and parody. President Teodoro Obiang is the most recurrent character in the blog's set.

author: Ana Lúcia Sá


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Estonia: Tower of Babel · Global Voices
Vilhelm Konnander

Giustino of Itching for Eestimaa discusses how Estonia – contrary to preconceptions – is very much of a multilingual country, not least because of tourism but also in daily practicalities.


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EU, Poland: Airport Body Scanners; Shaminder Puri’s Case · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Dominika Bychawska-Siniarska of Europe of Human Rights writes on BlogActiv.eu about airport body scanners, “human dignity” and the case of Shaminder Puri, a British Sikh who was harassed at the Warsaw Chopin Airport last year.


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Hungary: Government Debt Cut Receives Varying Reviews · Global Voices
Vilhelm Konnander

Edward Hugh of Hungary Economy Watch comments on reactions to the Hungarian government's decision to drastically cut public debt.


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Hungary: International Critique Against New Constitution · Global Voices
Vilhelm Konnander

Eva Balogh of Hungarian Spectrum reports on how US representatives are becoming increasingly concerned about the new Hungarian constitution and how the Hungarian government reacts to US and European crtitique against it.


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Kyrgyzstan: Government Bans News Websites from the Election Campaign · Global Voices
Altynbek Ismailov

Ahead of the presidential elections to be held in Kyrgyzstan on 30 October, 2011, the Central Elections Committee (CEC) came out with a controversial decision, barring web-based news media from taking part in the campaign. Eleven news sites were denied accreditation to inform voters on the pre-election developments.
This step taken by the CEC stirred up active discussions in blogs, web-based media, political observers and NGOs, revealing challenges to the development of Internet in Kyrgyzstan. According [ru] to CEC spokeswoman Tolgonai Samatalieva:
The Kyrgyz Law on mass media does not regard web-based news agencies as media outlets; that is why they cannot generate revenue from promotion of the candidates.
Kyrgyzstan flag. Image by Flickr user timbrauhn (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0).
NGO leaders responded immediately. ‘Progress in Kyrgyzstan’ foundation protested [ru]:
Such a decision restricts the voters’ rights to receive information about elections and constrains presidential candidates’ campaigning opportunities. The presidential election is one of the most important upcoming events in Kyrgyzstan, and news websites are the media that can provide the most comprehensive coverage.
Head of the CEC, Tuygunali Abdraimov, rejected [ru] all accusations:
Web-based news agencies do not want to be considered as mass media outlets. They don't want any changes in the media legislation, and we cannot break the law.
General Director of the news website Vesti.Kg, Oksana Filyug, opined [ru]:
The CEC has exempted us of liability by saying that we are not mass media outlets. That means, everything that is prohibited for the mainstream media, cannot be applied to us. But the more interesting question is why the authorities had been allowing websites to participate in the elections earlier? Why have they now decided to sideline us? Who stands behind it and what shall we expect? Who will control online activities in the campaign period of the presidential elections, and how?
Daniyar Karimov from the website 24.kg continued [ru]:
The CEC decision limits citizens’ right to free access to information. Interestingly, in the Information Age, when Internet resources are the main and effective information source, the Kyrgyz government does not consider those as mass media. Such decisions are a beginning of total censorship and an attempt to control activities of information agencies.
Bloggers and forum users have different opinions on the CEC decision. According to Erorist [ru]:
The CEC has made the right conclusion, news agencies cannot participate in campaign processes, because they have to provide unbiased information. But the question is why the CEC makes such decisions, not the parliament.
Adam wonders [ru]:
Then what about websites of the political parties and blogs of the candidates? What is their difference from  “news agencies”?
Web-based news agencies have more freedom of speech; they do not want to lose it, or to have problems with government, like printed media usually do. However, it is more an indicator of the lacking freedom of speech in Kyrgyzstan, rather than of technical problems with registration of news agencies
Adam adds [ru].
Very good decision. If agencies want to earn money they have to be officially registered. When they want to participate in the elections, they seek accreditation as mass media, but when they are accused of slander or libel, they declare that they are not mass media and have no responsibility
Ggg-fff writes [ru]:
The most efficient agitation tool is the Internet. It was proved by the Arabic revolutions. It is cheap and handy, you don’t have to endanger your life by delivering printed materials or spend a lot of money to be published in the newspapers. They restrain web-based news agencies, because they want newspapers to earn more, and it is easier to control printed media
Leader of the ‘Butun Kyrgyzstan’ party Adahan Madumarov agrees [ru]:
Among all publications, web-based news agencies are the most independent. That is why there are serious attempts to bar them from participating in agitation campaigns.
Meanwhile, Ahmat Keldibekov, speaker of the Parliament of Kyrgyzstan, voiced [ru] a cautious supposition that – given the importance of the Internet in the distribution of information – the websites could be given the right to participate in the campaigns.
Pre-election campaigning will start on September 25. Discussions are still heated, and they will hardly calm down as the presidential election gets closer.

author: Altynbek Ismailov


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Latvia: Referendum Sacks Parliament · Global Voices
Vilhelm Konnander

Juris Kaža of Failed State Latvia? writes about the 23 July referendum in Latvia, resulting in the dissolution of parliament and new general elections on 17 September.


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Lebanon: Maritime Dispute with Israel Escalates · Global Voices
Antoun Issa

For a region so deeply rooted in religious conviction, divine intervention is hardly doing the troubled Middle East any favours.
Hezballah leader Hassan Nasrallah has exclaimed that God had given Lebanon an opportunity to rid itself of a crippling debt, and become a “rich country” by providing it lucrative offshore oil and gas reserves. There is, however, one major conundrum preventing Lebanon from exploiting such a resource: the reserves potentially lie in a disputed maritime border zone with Israel.
If there were ever a problematic area of the world to discover new oil and gas reserves, this is it. Unfortunately it also happens to be one of the world's most volatile conflict zones. Instead of being a source of economic development, the offshore deposits in the Eastern Mediterranean threaten to become yet another layer to the Israeli-Lebanese conflict as both sides adamantly persist on disputing maritime boundaries.
The two states remain technically at war, having fought the last war in 2006. Only a UN peacekeeping contingent is maintaining a fragile peace along the border, but it is a force that would hastily vacate the premises should Israel and Hezballah ever decide to enter a new round of bloodshed.
The maritime dispute has indeed raised the prospects of renewed conflict as Nasrallah declared Hezballah was “stronger and better” than ever before, vowing to strike Israeli oil facilities if the Jewish state were to attack Lebanon over the dispute.
Point of contention
Google map of disputed maritime zone – Courtesy of Qifa Nabki
The two states are in disagreement over their actual maritime border, which will thus determine each country's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).
As Israel and Lebanon do not have diplomatic relations, they have each sought UN intervention to mediate in the dispute.
A negotiated boundary between Israel and Cyprus in 2010 angered Lebanon as Beirut claims Israel placed its border far too north, encroaching on Lebanese sovereignty.
Lebanon has submitted its own documents to the UN disputing Israel's border claim, insisting that its EEZ extends several kilometres further south.
Political blogger, Elias Muhanna, has covered the story at Qifa Nabki, including a Google map indicating the points of contention (above):
An alternative map posted in the comments section of Qifa Nabki‘s post shows, however, that Israeli exploration of coastal oil and gas reserves falls well within Israel's EEZ.
Ghassan Karam, also on Qifa Nabki‘s site, plays down the significance of the dispute:
There are many maritime borders that are is dispute all over the world. So we add another one, that is not a big deal.
What is important in the case of Israel-Cyprus-Lebanon is not the 200  nautical mile EEZ since the distance that seoarates Lebanon from Cyprus  is under 150 nautical miles. The only potential problem is to agree on  the point from which the maritime border starts; which point on the  coast, and the angle at which the line is drawn in order to make coastal  points on both sides equidistant. But even that does not need to be  resolved since no country is under an obligation to go to arbitration.
But what if the gas/oil is discovered in a field that stradells both  sides of the border? The most likely principle is that the resources go  to the country that extracts first.
Rani Hazbani, on Qifa Nabki's blog, argues that Lebanon should stop complaining about Israel exploring potential oil and gas reserves, and start drilling in its own waters:
It seems that also here, as in other places, the  Lebanese government is more keen on talking, complaining and making  troubles for Israel than on doing positive deeds for Lebanon. For their  own good the Lebanese should stop complaining and start drilling as soon  as possible.
The big international money will not be kind to any nation that will use  force in such situations, they are stronger than Israel & Lebanon.  Lebanon should declare the best line for her and start exploring  intensively the sea bottom NORTH of the Israeli line without regard to  any thing that Israel say or does. That is what most nations do. Lebanon  should demand that her technical people will participate in all the  stages of the exploration. There are Lebanese expat doing all kinds of  jobs in that industry in the Gulf, they should be brought back to  Lebanon. As things are now in Lebanon it is possible that if Lebanon  will not act cleverly and fast soon you will see, off its coast, all  kinds of strange operators: Iranian-Nowegian, Norwegian-USA-KSA, and  even Chinese etc. And again Lebanon will be left behind.
The discovery in the Eastern Mediterranean is a major win for the United States, according to Lebanon Spring. Israel with substantial oil and gas reserves will renew the strategic importance of the US-Israeli alliance, potentially making the US less dependent on Arab oil:
The recently discovered oil and gas in the Eastern part of the  Mediterranean will not only change the balance sheets of the involved  countries, but also the balance of powers towards the side of the US –  via Israel
We, in Lebanon, are still yet to confirm the legal internal framework  for the whole process, and more likely to have a disputed area with  Israel. The Turkish part of Cyprus has threatened today Greek Cyprus that it is entitled to block any sea deal with  neighbouring countries (although this was Turkey’s position in 2008  according to Wikileaks).
But in the mean time, and according to the World Energy Council,  Israel’s Shfela Basin (south of Jerusalem) holds 250 billion barrels of  recoverable shale oil. This will put Israel in the third place in such  reserves after the US and China. I recommend reading the above mentioned  article in full (The Globe and Mail – thanks Kamal to the link), as it gives a rough estimation on how the  US could plug the gap in its energy demand, while Israel is playing a  role in that.
It’s probably something for the regional policy makers, dictators and Arab Sheikhdom to take note of...
As the two rival states dispute their maritime border, no evidence exists as yet that any offshore deposit straddles the contested border region.
Israel has commenced drilling of deposits within its EEZ, and is thus, well ahead of Lebanon in benefiting from a resource that could dramatically benefit both states.
Perhaps it is time for Lebanon to stop talking of grandeur and begin some drilling of its own to ensure it receives a slice of the lucrative pie.

author: Antoun Issa


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Lebanon: Musician Arrested for Mocking President in Song · Global Voices
Antoun Issa

Lebanese musician Zeid Hamdan was detained briefly this week for allegedly defaming President Michel Suleiman in a song he released in 2010.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L83n4zhg8Jw
Lebanese newspaper Assafir has since reported the Hamdan has been released, but not before a Twitter and blogger storm publicised the news of his initial arrest.
Lebanon's online community swiftly erupted in outrage at Hamdan's detention, with a Facebook page dedicated to the release of Hamdan attracting more than 2,000 supporters within a few hours.
Zeid Hamdan (left) with Mahmoud Radaidah. Image by Flickr user alhussainy (CC BY 2.0).
Twitter also witnessed an outcry, with the #FreeZeid hashtag quickly circulating as a means to express anger at the arrest.
@LeShaque: @SleimanMichel Are you not seeing what is happening to your Arab buddies who do not like criticism? #
@bilalhouri: The Lebanese Government opened Zeid's song on YouTube in August 2010, it finished buffering today. #OntorNet
@nmoawad: #FreeZeid and arrest Mohammad Iskandar!
@TajaddodYouth: Pr. @SleimanMichel we know your commitment to #freespeech. Zeid Hamdan must be released. Essential freedoms threatened #Censorship #FreeZeid
@hindmezaina: “The role of art & music isn't to flatter the fragile egos of insecure public figures.”http://t.co/SqJXPJy #freezeid
Concerning to many Lebanese is the threat to freedom of expression posed by state authorities who hastily imposed a law dating back to the French mandate, against those who openly criticise the President of the Republic. Hamdan's brief arrest has reignited calls for reforms to protect free speech.
Karl Sharro, at Karl reMarks, wrote a response shortly after news of Hamdan's arrest surfaced, dubbing the detention as a form of “intellectual intimidation”:
… this incident has now given an all too realistic view of the contemporary culture of repression and arbitrary use of power in Lebanon. The song in question, General Suleiman, is a light-hearted reggae number that has has provoked the humourless authorities to go after Zeid Hamdan, in all likelihood for the ‘offence’ of demeaning the position of the President of the Republic. This archaic residue of the French mandate period has often been used by the authorities to clamp down on the freedom of expression.
While it's tempting to defend Zeid on the basis that the song isn't actually offensive, I think this is the wrong approach. What we need to defend here is the freedom of expression, without qualifications, and push for abolishing the archaic laws that provide the legal basis for such arrests. No politician or public figure should be beyond critique, and they shouldn't be allowed to use those laws in a desperate bid to gain the respect that their political record hasn't gained them. The role of art and music isn't to flatter the fragile egos of insecure public figures. Let's say a resolute no to these forms of intellectual intimidation and fight for our freedom to offend the clique of fools that is ruling us.
Oussama Hayek highlights the absurdity of Lebanon's archaic Lèse majesté law:
The news that Zeid Hamdan was briefly arrested for insulting our Dear Great Leader President General Suleiman (henceforth DGLPGS) was unsurprising, but nonetheless a sad reminder of the atavism of Lebanon's legal system. Indeed, every once in a while we hear of one person or another arrested for insulting DGLPGS.
In a normal country with a real “majesté” such as Britain, the laws against insulting the Queen or King have not been prosecuted since the 18th Century. In Holland, calling the Queen a whore can set you back a €400 fine.  Lebanon seems to be in a league with fine beacons of progress like Thailand in enforcing Lèse majesté laws.
The problem is that DGLPGS is not a near-deity like the Thai royals. He is merely an elected official in a ramshackle democracy. Even ramshackle democracies can't function if elected officials cannot be (harshly) criticised.
Elie Fares at A Separate State of Mind, contends that while the law deployed to arrest Hamden is absurd, critics should tame their outrage at their own country:
What we also do is bash our country left and right, up and down. And every direction in between those anytime something we do not agree with happens.
Let me illustrate this.
The most recent example is the arrest of Zeid Hamdan today, after being accused of libel against the Lebanese president, following a rather useless song.
The moment Zeid was taken into custody, Lebanese twitter and Facebook users were up in protest. The Facebook page dedicated to freeing Zeid gained about 2000 followers in a few hours. All good, right? I mean, the arrest was ridiculous. The law upon which the arrest was based needs to be revised. It’s no longer 1926 when our constitution was “inspired” by the French one at the time. France changed theirs. It’s high time we change ours.
Another side of the Zeid Hamdan arrest was a lot of Lebanese people bashing their country, some calling it a useless place, others calling it a failure of a nation, while some called it a piece of sh*t.
Just because our political system is in a perpetually fragile equilibrium doesn’t mean the whole system is a failure. Just because power transfers easily doesn’t mean the country is a failure.
And you know what the most ridiculous thing is, our expectations are so low of anything Lebanon-related that we’re willing to believe any rumor that defames the country as a whole.
The freedom to criticise, satirise and hold accountable a state's political leaders is a key pillar of democracy. For Lebanon to be truly democratic, it must respect the principle of freedom of speech and expression.
Hamden's arrest is, thus, a necessary reminder that Lebanon still falls well behind the expectations of a fully democratic state.


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Malawi: A Chronological Account of Protests in Malawi From Afar · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Read Dadakim's account of protests in Malawi: “It’s also important to realize that the protests were not spontaneous. Civil society organizations had previously attempted a similar protest in February and university students and lecturers successfully staged protests in May primarily rooted in demands for academic freedom. It is thus important to put these protests in context.”


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Malaysia: Letter of Catholics to Pope · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

A letter signed by 365 Catholics and other Christians in Malaysia was sent to Pope Benedict XVI expressing concern about the timing of the visit of Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak in the Vatican. They remind the Pope that Najib used “unnecessarily excessive force” in dispersing a democracy walk early this month.


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Mexico: A Mother’s Struggle to Find Her Missing Daughter · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

Judith Torrea in her blog Ciudad Juárez, En la Sombra del Narcotráfico (Ciudad Juárez, In the Shadow of Drug Trafficking), tells the story [es] of Lucy, a mother who has been looking for her missing 18-year-old daughter, Nancy Navarro, for two weeks. Nancy disappeared in downtown Ciudad Juárez, and is one of many women that have gone missing in that city.


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Myanmar: Traditional music instruments · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

htootayzar posts pictures of traditional music instruments from Myanmar.


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Peru: Reactions to Ollanta Humala’s Swearing-In Ceremony · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

July 28 is Independence in Peru, and this year it is also the day Ollanta Humala was sworn in as the new President of Peru. In his blog Globalizado [es] Juan Arellano, Global Voices Spanish Translation Manager and author, adds a Storify post with pictures and Twitter reactions to the ceremony.


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Peru: Tweeting About President Alan García’s Last Speech · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

Global Voices author and Spanish Translation Manager Juan Arellano has collected reactions [es] to President Alan García's last presidential address. Twitter users used the hashtags #mensajepresidencial, #teperdonocomoAlan, #LargateALAN, among others, to tweet during the speech. Ollanta Humala will be sworn in today, July 28, 2011, as the new president of Peru.


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Philippines: Online reactions to president’s speech · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Blogwatch gathers online reactions to the Philippine president's second state of the nation address delivered last Monday.


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Philippines: Photos of fishing village · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Art Radar Asia features the photo exhibit of Wahoo Guerrero about the lives of fisherfolk in a coastal village in the Philippines.


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Poland: The State of Reading · Global Voices
Anna Gotowska

A few weeks ago, a new social campaign – Reading in Poland – was launched by one of Poland's largest daily newspapers, Gazeta Wyborcza, due to the fact that reading rates in Poland are very low: a report published by the Polish National Library states that 56 percent of the Polish people don't read books at all – and are also incapable of reading texts longer than 3 pages. A huge debate has started on the reading culture in Poland and the reasons for the crisis it is facing.
Public figures across the country got deeply involved in the project, urging the society to start reading. A series of articles [pl] was published on the lack of reading passion and steps that could be taken to change the situation. In one of them [pl], a Polish writer and essayist Janusz Rudnicki puts the blame on the list of obligatory reading for primary and high school students, created by the Ministry of Education. He writes:
W szkole straszy. Jeśli porównać ją do opery, to jej upiorem są lektury. Ich liczba jest makabryczna. A co najmniej połowa, licząc już od szkoły podstawowej, absolutnie zbędna. Czytanie ich wszystkich to droga przez mękę. Niech sczezną. A razem z nimi odpowiedzialne za ten jeżący włosy na głowie repertuar MEN. I nauczyciele.
The results of the research are especially alarming when compared to similar reports on reading habits conducted in other European countries. For instance, reports based on a research conducted in the Czech Republic and France state that 83 percent of the Czech people and 69 percent of French citizens have read at least one book in the past year, whereas in Poland the figures are dramatically lower: only 44 percent of the Poles have had any contact with books at all (including cook books, albums and dictionaries!). The most shocking figures show that 20 percent of the Poles with higher education (among them lecturters and teachers) haven't read a single book in the last few years.
Polish bloggers have also joined the conversation. One of them, known as Metzliszcze, comments on the results presented in the report:
Zacznijmy od tego, że w moim domu lektury zawsze były obecne, a moi rodzice nie potrzebowali akcji społecznych żeby wiedzieć, że dzieciom należy czytać książki. Z tego też powodu niewyobrażalne jest dla mnie, jak można w ciągu 365 dni nie znaleźć chwili czasu na to, żeby sięgnąć po przynajmniej jedną książkę. A tutaj proszę, 56% spośród badanych taki wysiłek już zdecydowanie przerósł.
He also writes:
Czy pozostaje coś jeszcze do dodania? Może konstatacja, że od 1992 roku (czyli momentu od kiedy zaczęto systematycznie to obserwować) poziom czytelnictwa sukcesywnie u nas spada, a lada moment staniemy się narodem wtórnych analfabetów.
Varia, whose blog contains mainly the reviews of the books she has read, wonders what the reasons behind the situation are:
Z czego to wynika? Moim zdaniem, niestety, z lenistwa intelektualnego. Ono przejawia się nie tylko w niskich wynikach czytelnictwa, ale także w tym, że w godzinach największej oglądalności w telewizji można obejrzeć tylko kolorowe seriale albo krzyczące teleturnieje albo w tym, że multipleksy nie wyświetlają tak zwanych ambitnych filmów. Zbyt wiele osób pozwala sobie na intelektualne lenistwo, na karmienie mózgu wysoko przetworzoną papką, która szybko się wchłania i nie każe się nad sobą zastanawiać. A czytanie książek, nawet takich rozrywkowych, wymaga jednak jakiegoś wysiłku intelektualnego i skupienia przez dłuższy czas. Ale to są wzorce, które wynosi się z domu i ze szkoły.
Another blogger, whose nickname – Kindlemaniac – reveals his true passion, has created a survey, asking his followers to anwser several questions concerning their reading habits. The results are remarkable: over a half of his readers claim to be reading more than 10 books a year, with 17 percent  reading over 50! He writes:
Bardzo mnie cieszy fakt, że wśród odwiedzających bloga jest tylu regularnych czytelników książek. Myślę, że ma to też swoje uzasadnienie pragmatyczne. Właśnie osoby, które decydują się na zakup czytnika zazwyczaj na co dzień czytają dużo a czytnik ma im jedynie ułatwić oddawanie się ‘nałogowi’. Co ciekawe nie rzadko świeżo upieczeni właściciele Kindle'a stwierdzają, że odkąd posiadają czytnik przeczytali więcej książek w danym czasie niż normalnie by się im to przydarzyło.
Kindlemaniac concludes with a statement:
Można powiedzieć, że grupa czytelników bloga reprezentuje wręcz odwrotne tendencje niż główny nurt.
But is that so for the rest of the Polish blogging society?
It seems to be at least not as bad as some may imagine. Nobooks writes:
Serwisy literackie odwiedzają setki tysięcy internautów, którzy tworzą wirtualne biblioteczki, oznaczając między innymi, co chcą przeczytać. W Empikach setki książek i komiksów są po prostu „zaczytywane”, na co narzekają ich wydawcy. Targi książki biją rekordy popularności.
According to the Polish bloggers, the Polish “reading horizon” may seem clouded, but there is hope. The happy news – especially for those who see the internet as a new platform for sharing knowledge and thoughts – is that due to the Polish blogosphere survey, over 3 million Poles (who are older than 15) claim to be reading blogs every day. What's more, over 300,000 of the Polish children read blogs on a regular basis, 180,000 write their own internet diaries, and nearly 160,000 leave comments on things they read about online.

author: Anna Gotowska


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Puerto Rico: Bicycle Hang Out · Global Voices
Firuzeh Shokooh Valle

The blogs Bicijangueo [es] and PR Fixed [es] are posting texts, videos, and audio on everything and anything related to the new urban cycling trend in Puerto Rico.


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Puerto Rico: Blogger’s Research on Femicides · Global Voices
Firuzeh Shokooh Valle

Feminist activist and blogger Verónica RT continues her project of updating the national statistics of femicides in Puerto Rico, which do not necessarily coincide with the numbers provided by the Police. According to her research, 22 women have been murdered this year, and three more cases are under investigation [es].


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Puerto Rico: Libraries and Reading  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Gil the Jenius puts forward a theory about why “there are no decent libraries on the island”, adding that with the current levels of Internet penetration, “We don't have any excuses anymore.”

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Puerto Rico: PR Indie’s LAMC Coverage · Global Voices
Firuzeh Shokooh Valle

Redod, the editor of the alternative music blog Puerto Rico Indie [es], reflects on the amazing and intense coverage [es] they offered of the Latin American Music Conference (LAMC) in New York City. Check it out!


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Puerto Rico: Science and Ethics · Global Voices
Firuzeh Shokooh Valle

Miguel Adrover discusses and contextualizes [es] governor Luis Fortuño's recent comments about the need to develop more engineers, scientists and mathematicians.  The blogger, a science teacher himself, stresses that what needs support is a scientific culture with a profound ethical commitment within an interdisciplinary curriculum.


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Puerto Rico: Violence Against Children · Global Voices
Firuzeh Shokooh Valle

Blogger Rima Brusi writes a post full of emotion [es] on the recent case of a man who murdered his four-year old daughter in yet another incident related to domestic violence.


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Russia: Political Campaigning Degenerates · Global Voices
Vilhelm Konnander

Edmund Downie at Foreign Policy Passport satirizes ongoing political campaigning in Russia for Putin and Medvedev, which play on sex and power.


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Russia: Summer Brings Death · Global Voices
Vilhelm Konnander

Vadim Nikitin at Foreign Policy Association observes that death tolls in Russia seem to rise during the summer, from terrorism, accidents, disasters and other reasons.


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South Korea: 41 Dead in Torrential Flooding and Landslides · Global Voices
Lee Yoo Eun

Torrential rain has battered South Korea for several consecutive days, causing landslides, flooding and power cuts. At least 41 people have been killed and 12 people are still missing. Throughout the disaster, South Koreans have shared updated stories, photos and useful tips for those affected via Twitter.
Numerous disasters
Among numerous disasters, a landslide in Woo-myun mountain which was caused by the downpours, has shocked South Koreans. The incident claimed 32 lives, including those of ten college students doing voluntary work. The mountain is located in heart of the capital city Seoul and is still the site of landmines buried during the Korean War, a threat which has prompted widespread public fear.
Heavy downpours cause flooding in Gyeong-gi Province, South Korea, Image by Twitter user @karistuck, Posted on the Wiki Tree site (CC BY 2.0).
One of the nation's most popular Twitter users Dogsul (@dogsul) who has more than 110,000 followers, tweeted [ko] late on July 27:
우면산 산사태가 걱정되는 이유 중 하나는… 대인지뢰 때문입니다. 잘 알려지지 않았지만 우면산은 지뢰가 가장 많이 매설된 후방지역 중 하나입니다. 관련 기사입니다. http://t.co/Lyyzv2F
Early in the morning of July 28, a local news report [ko] quoted an army official who confirms that they have failed to retrieve about ten landmines lost during the flood.
Twitter user Funpt tweeted three photos taken by an acquaintance living near the mountain:
우면산 난리네요…twitpic.com/5wf1a0 twitpic.com/5wf1a1 twitpic.com/5wf1a2
Woo-myun mountain in chaos. Image by @Funpt.
Oh Ja-young (@urpurple) tweeted [ko] a link to a citizen media video of the mountain landslide:
우면산 산사태 동영상 tvpot.daum.net/clip/ClipViewB… […]영화 ‘해운대'는 아무것도 아닌듯. 호러물이 따로 없군요.
Photos of apartments near the Woo-myun mountain. Image by Twitter user @stella868, Posted on the Wiki Tree site (CC BY 2.0).
Placing blame
Seo Hyung-wook(@minariboy), a football commentator, criticized [ko] the mayor of Seoul city, Oh Se-Hoon and the people of Gangnam who voted him into office. Gangnam district is one of the nation's wealthiest areas, and is also the most heavily flood-affected regions:
강남의 몰표로 시장님이 된 남자는 부임 이후 5년간 수해 예방 예산을 1/10로 줄였다. 그리고 오늘. 서초구 우면산은 무너졌고 전기는 끊겼으며 강남구 대치역과 강남역은 물바다가 되었다. 참사로 되돌아온 강남의 몰표. 선거란 얼마나 중요한 일인지.
Peristory, a Twitter account of a non-profit organization, which analyzes economic policies for ordinary people and defends consumer rights tweeted [ko]:
서초구 방배동 우면산 산사태. 쓸려 내려온 자동차가 빌라 3층 건물에 박혀있다 http://twitpic.com/5wkokg
It is believed [ko] that the landslide was partly caused by the construction of a tunnel near the  mountain, but Peristory pointed out [ko] that there is another reason:
우면산 산사태는 ‘이기심'이 원인인가. 서초구청은 산사태 방재공사를 평소에 하려했지만, 개인땅이 97%라 ‘반대가 너무심했고, 도저히 할수 없었다'고 http://twitpic.com/5wmbir
Struggling to cope
Cars struggling in Gangnam area, Seoul, South Korea, Image by Twitter user @westminia, Posted on the Wiki Tree site (CC BY 2.0)
As the rain flooded Seoul's downtown area where several tens of thousands people commute to work daily, cars struggled to cope with the drenched roads.
Twitter user knowledge_bot tweeted [ko]:
침수지역을 지나실 때 통과해야 하나 고민되시는 경우, 자동차의 바퀴와 물의 깊이를 비교해보세요. 자동차 바퀴는 3분의 1, 화물차는 바퀴 절반 이하가 됐을 경우 지나갈 수 있습니다.
A continuing tweet [ko] read:
Flood in Hongdae area, Seoul, South Korea. Image by net user 케이머스, Posted on the Wiki Tree site (CC BY 2.0)
차를 타고 물웅덩이를 통과해야 할 경우, 1단, 2단 기어로 두고 시속 10~20km로 서행 운전하세요. 물웅덩이 통과 후에는 브레이크를 여러 번 가볍게 작동시켜 브레이크 라이닝을 말려주세요.
More photos and reports are flooding in on Twittersphere as downpour continues today. With more rain expected within next 24 hours, netizens have created a Google map to mark the damaged areas.
Update: The death toll has rose to 59 on July 29. Regarding the allegation that the Seoul city mayor's severe cut-down on the flood prevention budget has caused such disaster, Police defined it as a rumor and started a wide investigation on net users who first spread false information, local news reported [ko].


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The Balkans: Trials of Ratko Mladić and Goran Hadžić · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

At OpenDemocracy.net, Eric Gordy writes on what there is to expect from the upcoming ICTY trials of Ratko Mladić and Goran Hadžić.


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Trinidad & Tobago: National Strike on the Horizon?  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Caribbean Journal reports that Trinidad and Tobago may soon be facing a national strike.


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Ukraine: Collapse of Government Policies · Global Voices
Vilhelm Konnander

Taras Kuzio posts a translation of Vitaliy Portnikov's article [ru], arguing that the policies of the Ukrainian President Yanukovich and the government are close to a political collapse.


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Ukraine: Timoshenko Case Turning Sour · Global Voices
Vilhelm Konnander

Levko of Foreign Notes argues that the trial against former Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko is quickly becoming a liability for President Yanukovich, with mounting international and domestic critique, and the trial in itself giving an additional political platform for Timoshenko.


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Zambia: Blogger Thinks Late President Fixed Election Date · Global Voices
Gershom Ndhlovu

Zambia’s President Rupiah Banda on July 28 2011 finally announced September 20 as the election date following his signing of a statutory instrument to dissolve parliament.
After the parliament was adjourned sine die on June 24, rumblings started rising from the opposition, civic organisations and citizens with everyday that went on without the president announcing a date. There has been debate in the country to have a fixed election date instead of depending on the whims and caprices of a sitting president who is allowed under the Electoral Act to announce the date.
But one Zambian blogger, Mazuba Mwiinga, argues that President Banda’s predecessor, the late President Levy Mwanawasa , indirectly fixed the election date.
Zambian President Rupiah Banda. Photo released by Antonio Cruz/ABr under Creative Commons (CC BY-SA 2.5)
Mazuba writes:
Levy was such a clever President and sharp lawyer. Don’t you think so? Intelligently he told (former Finance Minister, Ng’andu) Magande to fix the period when the National Budget should be presented in Parliament. And the set up believe me you; dictate that general elections must always be held before October of an election year.
Wonder shouldn’t be at your neck. According to the Constitution of Zambia (Amendment) Act No. 20 of 2009, Article 117 (1) states that, “The Minister responsible for finance shall, subject to clause (2), cause to be prepared and laid before the National Assembly, not later than the second Friday of October, before the commencement of the next financial year, estimates of revenue and expenditure of the Government for the financial year”;
It simply means that by the second week of October, Government must present its budget for the following year in Parliament every year.
Mazuba continues:
Clause 2 is a blanket clause that gives a lee way to a new government to relax and get prepared. But Clause 3 of Article 117 is the focal point on which an election period stands. It restricts the rules of this game. It states that, “The National Assembly shall, subject to clause (2), approve the budget not later than the thirty first day of December”.
Elsewhere, Zambian netizens welcomed the date with mixed reactions.
Writing on the Lusaka Times [the site does not have links for individual comments], MMD Chief Bootlicker says:
Game on. Finish all your interviews in your homes and lets have the real battle . Let the battle for truth and destiny for Zambia begin. We are ready and our well oiled machine is already up to speed.
Indeed let the battle begin
Taking the fight to the opposition, zedian Umusasa says:
The Opposition have been calling for it, and he has given it to them, less than 2 months away.
Most have not even announced lists of parliamentary candidates!!!!
Lets hear them complain , again!!
Without stating his preference, but clearly siding with the opposition, Teza Chirwa says:
We cant go on, troding the same path and expect different results. The bembas [a Zambian ethnic group] say –”umwana ashenda atashiya nyina uku nayia bwaili” [he that does not travel wide thinks his mother is the best cook]
Throwing in a bit of dark humour about victory by PF president Michael Sata who is known to suffer from heart complications, POMPIDU says:
Unfortunately either way, Mr Sata will have a heart attack. If he wins he will have a heart attack in disbelief. If he loses he will have a heart attack because he will understand that that would be his last chance and the end of his dream. Are we willing to take chances for another by-election. Vote wisely. Either RB (Rupiah Banda) or HH (UPND president Hakainde Hichilema).
There was no much difference on the comments on the Zambian Watchdog.
A contributer who seemed to be an MMD supporter, Muzo 4 rb writes [the site does not have links for individual comments]:
viva rb. now whts pf going to complain about?am sure it has caught them unaware! let them give us the list of their mps. these pf characters have no game plan non whts so ever!
surely the end of sata has come! he and his chaps will be finally forgotten for good! chweeechweeechweee
Another one who seemed to be a UPND supporter KANYEMBO writes:
Thanks Mr. President But the hour for your departure is nearing. The Young Man HH is coming in with new blood. VIVA HH 20HH
Sata whose party was the second largest party in the just dissolved parliament, does not equally lack supporters. SHAMROCK writes:
PA PWATO LELO (on the boat, the PF symbol, today) VIVA SATA
One contributor, Rooney, calls for a televised debate for the presidential hopefuls:
It is high time, people to debate issue that affect our country. We need these three presidential candidates namely,HH, SATA and RB to debate live on Tv so that voters can choose suitable candidate to be president of zed. Let not insult and stop issuing tribal comments to each other. Tribal remarks will not take us anywhere. Let be objective.
As the countdown to the elections begins, it is now a wait see game before Zambians know who takes over the instruments of power in the next seven weeks.

author: Gershom Ndhlovu


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Armenia: The Barber of Ashtarak · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Ianyan pays a visit to Ashtarak, a small city just outside Yerevan, the Armenian capital, and a local barber's shop. The blog posts photographs and a brief account of the experience.


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Bahamas: Taking Precautions vs. Dengue   · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Womanish Words is shaken by her son's diagnosis of Dengue Fever, saying: “These are serious times. We all must take proper precautions. And we need to amp up the national response to the outbreak of Dengue Fever in Nassau. This thing is no joke.”


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Bangladesh: Indigenous or Not Indigenous, That Is The Question · Global Voices
Rezwan

This post is part of our special coverage Indigenous Rights.
Almost 98% people of Bangladesh are Bengalis and they speak the Bangla language. The minorities include Chakmas, Khasi, Santhal and other tribes numbering more than a million (about 1.2% of total population) who mostly live in the various hilly regions. Chakmas are ethnically Tibeto-Burman, and are closely related to the Himalayan tribes.  According to history, they are originally from Arakan (present Rakhine State of Burma) who hundreds of years ago wandered and settled in different parts of India and Bangladesh.
In recent months many Bangladeshi indigenous people have taken the streets holding meetings, human chains and rallies, demanding constitutional recognition of their population. The ‘indigenous’ debate arose after some remarks of a special parliamentary committee working to amend the present constitution reverting back to the 1972 constitution. There was no reference of tribal or indigenous people in Bangladesh’s first constitution of 1972 where it was mentioned that Bangladesh would be the land of Bengalis.
The parliamentary committee said that it would recommend recognizing them as “small ethnic groups” and questioned: “Would Bangalees [Bengalis] be termed ‘intruders’ or ‘invaders’ if the ethnic groups are called adivasi (indigenous)?”.
Members of indigenous communities demanded their recognition in the constitution as “indigenous people” instead of tribal or proposed “minority ethnic group” at central Shahidminar in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Image by Abu Ala, Copyright Demotix, 29 April 2011.
The state minister for cultural affairs Pramod Mankin said:
“There is no question that indigenous people would receive constitutional recognition. The debate is in how will they be recognised.”
“The government is reluctant to recognise indigenous people as “indigenous” as it questions ethnicity of the country's native Bangalees.
Monjurul Haque at the Indigenous Bangla blog writes [bn] about the complexity of the situation:
শাসকদের পক্ষে বলা হচ্ছে- ‘পাহাড়িরা পাহাড়ের আদিবাসী নয়’! ‘বাংলাদেশের সংবিধান মানার কারণে পাহাড়েও বাঙালিদের সমান অধিকার’। ‘বাংলাদেশের সংবিধানের আলোকেই পাহাড়িদের বাংলাদেশের নাগরিক হিসেবে সমতলের নাগরিকদেরকেও মেনে নিতে হবে’। অসহায় গরিব সেটেলারদের ধরে ধরে পাহাড়ে পাঠানোর পর বলা হচ্ছে-‘পার্বত্য চট্টগ্রামের চাকমারা বার্মার আরাকান প্রদেশ থেকে এসে এদেশে বসতি স্থাপন করেছে এবং তারাই বহিরাগত!’
It may be mentioned here that the tribals in Bangladesh have been subjected to human rights abuse for long by the Bengali settlers.
Shimon Baskey mentions [bn] what the people of the hills think:
Tribal indigenous people of Bangladesh in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. Image by Anwar Hussain. Copyright Demotix 7/8/2010.
আদিকাল থেকে আমাদের নিজস্ব ভাষা,  সংস্কৃতি, কৃষ্টি, আচার-আচরণ একই,  এর কোনো পরিবর্তন হয়নি।  আমরা এই দেশের ভূমিজ সন্তান। আমাদের পূর্ব-পুরুষরা কারো জায়গায় বা অন্যকারো দ্বারা বসতি স্থাপন করেনি। তারা এই দেশের বন-জঙ্গল পরিষ্কার করে নিজেরা চাষের উপযোগী করে ওই অঞ্চলে প্রথম বসতি গড়েছে। দেশ বিভাগের সীমানা নির্ধারণ করার আগেই তারা বংশ-পরম্পরায় সে সব এলাকায় বসবাস করছে।
Sarkar Amin recognizes [bn] the plights of these people:
মঙ-মঙ বান্দরবানের এক পাহাড়ে তোমার সঙ্গে পরিচয়। আমি বাঙালি তুমি পাহাড়ি। তুমি আর্টিস্ট। আমি কবিতা লিখি। আমাদের দ্রুত বন্ধুত্ব হলো। তোমার নিষ্পাপ হাসির আড়ালে কোনো কষ্ট কি ছিল বন্ধু?
সংকট আছে। পাহাড়ের জনতা জাতিসত্তার সাংবিধানিক স্বীকৃতি চায়। আদিবাসী হিসেবে অভিহিত হতে চায়। শান্তিচুক্তির ন্যায়সঙ্গত বাস্তবায়ন চায়। বাংলাদেশের শাসক শ্রেণী আদিবাসীদের শতভাগ সাম্যমূলক অধিকার দিতে এখনো আগ্রহী নয়। দুঃখ ও সংকটের এটাই মুল কারণ।
Mong Mong, I first met you in a hill of Bandarban. I am bengali and you are from a tribe. You are a painter and I am a poet. We become friends at once. Was there a pain deep inside your innocent smile? [..]
There is a crisis. The people of the hills want constitutional recognition of their population. They want to be termed as “indigenous”. They want implementation of the peace accord. But the ruling elites of Bangladesh do not want recognition of equal rights of the people of the hills. This is the main reason of the pain and the crisis.
Jewel Bin Jahir reminds [bn] how the indigenous minorities feel as their language, culture and beliefs are neglected in the constitution:
Image courtesy Wikipedia. Used under a CC License
আমরা আমাদের বিজু, বৈসু, কারাম, ওয়ান্না, সোহরাই দ্বারা নিজ নিজ শ্রেষ্ঠত্ব প্রমাণ করতে চাইনি। আমাদের সাংসারেক, লালেং, শারণা কেন্দ্রিক বিশ্বাস কখনো অন্যের উপর চাপিয়ে দেওয়ার চেষ্টা করিনি। আমাদের আচিক, চাকমা, ককবরক, ঠার, মুন্ডা, সান্তালী ভাষা দিয়ে জগতের অন্য কোন ভাষার উপর আধিপত্য প্রতিষ্ঠার চেষ্টা চালাইনি।
কিন্তু তারবাদেও আমাদের হাবা-জুম, জংলা-জঙ্গল সব দখল হয়ে যায়। আমাদের নিজ নিজ মায়ের ভাষা কোনঠাসা হয়ে পড়ে। আমাদের আপন আপন বিশ্বাস অশূচি হয়ে যায় দাপুটে বিশ্বাসের প্রতাপে।
We had not tried to prove our supremacy by our Biju, Baisu, Karam Wanna, Sohrai (festivals and rituals). We had not tried to impose our Sangsarek, Laleng, Sharna centric beliefs to anyone. We had not tried to overwhelm other languages of the world by our Achik, chakma, Kokborok, Thar, Munda, Santali languages.
But still our Haba-Zoom(plantations), forests and ditches are being dispossessed. Our mother tongues are being ignored. Our own beliefs are deemed as impure, illogical by influential and imposing beliefs.
The debate further escalated as the foreign minister of Bangladesh commented recently that the term “indigenous” for the people of the hills in Bangladesh is a misnomer:
“In the constitution, all minorities were recognised generically as minorities, and through the 15th amendment, the present government has categorised them as ‘ethnic minorities’ and no longer only as ‘tribal’ people.”
She also said:
“Giving a special and elevated identity to enfranchise only 1.2 percent of the total population of 150 million by disentitling the 98.8 percent cannot be in the national interest of Bangladesh.”
She reminded about the 4000 year old tradition of the Bengalis in this land:
“The ethnic Bengalees are not colonial settlers, neither are they foreigners or non-indigenous to their own native land and never will be.”
Biplob Rahman, a journalist and a blogger protests [bn] the government's stand that there is no indigenous people in Bangladesh. He quotes from Chakma King  and member, UN Permanent Forum On Indigenous Issues, Debashish Roy's recent rebuttal [bn]:
সাংবিধানিকভাবে ‘আদিবাসী’ স্বীকৃতি দিলে মূল ধারা থেকে বিচ্ছিন্ন, প্রান্তিক ও অনগ্রসর এই ১ দশমিক ২ শতাংশ মানুষ তাদের প্রান্তিক অবস্থান জানানোর একটি আইনি ভিত্তি পাবে। এই মর্যাদা তাদের কোনো ‘বিশেষ’ সুবিধা দেবে না।
Biplob reminds that the incumbent Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, had given statements on the  International Day of the World's Indigenous People several times terming the people of the hills as indigenous people.
He quotes an article of a local newspaper [bn], where it was reported [bn] that:
জানা গেছে, ‘আদিবাসী’ অভিধা ব্যবহার করলে সরকারকে বিভিন্ন জাতিসংঘের সনদে স্বাক্ষর করতে হয়। সে ক্ষেত্রে পার্বত্য চট্টগ্রামসহ দেশের আদিবাসী অধ্যুষিত অঞ্চলে মানবাধিকার লঙ্ঘনের ঘটনায় জাতিসংঘের সরাসরি হস্তক্ষেপ করার সুযোগ থাকে। এ পরিস্থিতি এড়ানোর জন্যই বাংলাদেশ সরকার কৌশলগত অবস্থান নিয়েছে। এ ক্ষেত্রে এ দেশের প্রভাবশালী রাজনৈতিক দলগুলোর অবস্থান অভিন্ন।
Mithusilak Murmu notes [bn] that at present there are certain quotas in the Government services and public education institutions for the indigenous people and wonders whether the present proposal of the Government will lead to change in the practice of  the issuance of “indigenous certificates” for the population of the hills.
Around 370 million indigenous people in 70 countries of the world are subject to marginalization and mistreatment. These people in Bangladesh and elsewhere are facing similar problems and are fighting for their identity, land and way of life.
This post is part of our special coverage Indigenous Rights.

author: Rezwan


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China: Know more about activist Wang Lihong · Global Voices
Andy Yee

Wang Lihong, one of many lesser known activists jailed in China, is facing imminent trial. The blog Free Wang Lihong has published a detailed English biography of her. Amnesty International has also issued an appeal to take action for her release.

author: Andy Yee


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China: Wen Jiabao in bed for 11 days? · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Jing Gao from The Ministry of Tofu questions the Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's statement in the press conference of the Wenzhou train crash that he was ill and in bed for 11 days. According to the records (in snapshots) of official newspapers, Wen had been active in meeting foreign visitors during his 11-day sick leave.

author: Oiwan Lam


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Colombia: ‘Padding Journalism’ · Global Voices
Julián Ortega Martínez

In the wake of the death of singer Joe Arroyo, Colombian news channel NTN24 featured reactions with actresses, models, and former beauty queens in English on its website. The video featuring model and presenter Carolina Cruz was heavily mocked on blogs and social media. Journalist Carolina Ruiz questions [es] the value of these interviews and the trivialization of Mr Arroyo's death, while Simón Posada “defends” [es] Ms Cruz blaming the media and the “ugly habit” Colombians have of “mocking everyone's way of speaking.”

author: Julián Ortega Martínez


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Cuba: Internet Restrictions  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Uncommon Sense says that despite the arrival of “an underwater cable reached Cuba from Venezuela” designed to improve Internet access to the island, ” the regime has intensified its control of the Internet, restricting government employees’ access to Facebook and on networks that provide ‘illegal’ e-mail accounts.”


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Cuba: MSM Paying Attention  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Pedazos de La Isla takes heart in the fact that “various English-language news sources have been brave enough to publish the truth about the Caribbean island”, saying: “In Cuba, there is much to report, whether it is through blogs, digital magazines, newspapers, television, radio, etc.  On a daily basis, dissidents who demand their freedom are beaten, jailed, exiled, or even killed…”


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Denmark: Starvation Day · Global Voices
Maria Grabowski

The severe drought in Africa's Horn is echoing in many online corners of the world. But not only established organizations are raising funds for food. Here's a Danish Facebooker introducing an alternative event – Starvation Monday [en]: “Starve yourself on August 1 and donate the money you would have spent on food to the starving people in Horn of Africa.”

author: Maria Grabowski


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Dominica: Rains Cause River to Break Bank  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

NewsDominica.com reports on the latest damage caused by persistent heavy rains on the island.


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El Salvador: National Assembly Repeals Decree 743 Requiring Unanimity on Constitutional Court · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

Decree 743 “the controversial law which attempted to impose a requirement of unanimity on the Constitutional Court” was repealed this week by El Salvador's National Assembly, as Tim reports in his blog. The blog Voices from El Salvador describes the repeal as an “important indication that civil society and public participation are strengthening in El Salvador.”

author: Silvia Viñas


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Global Voices Bloggers to Mentor Youth Activists from 10 Countries · Global Voices
Solana Larsen

Members of the new Activista Blogger Swarm (pictured here) will each be working with a Global Voices mentor
Today we announce the names of 10 Global Voices bloggers and 11 activists who will be working together virtually over the next months as part of a new mentoring initiative developed by Global Voices and Activista, the youth network of international development organization, ActionAid.
Activista has selected activists from 10 countries on five continents to form part of a “Blogger Swarm” which will be blogging on the Activista website over the next 12 months. Their goal is to get youth around the world involved in discussions about development, and especially food and climate justice.
The new bloggers have just completed an intensive workshop in Tanzania where they have been trained in journalism and technical skills, like video production.
Two years ago, 31 Global Voices bloggers mentored participants of another ActionAid workshop in Denmark. One former mentee, Casper Knudsen, is now an organizer of the new Blogger Swarm.
Our hope is that the mentors will provide friendship, technical support, and feedback as they accompany the new bloggers on their journey into the online world.
Without further ado, here are the 10 new mentors and 11 mentees.
Global Voices Mentors | Activista Mentees
Best wishes to everyone!

author: Solana Larsen


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Haiti: Revered Flag Maker Dies  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Repeating Islands acknowledges the passing of “Silva Joseph, a highly regarded Vodou flag maker…in the tradition of BelAir’s famous flag artists, such as Tibout, Joseph Fortine and Luc Daniel Cedor.”


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Iran: Islamic Republic’s problem with ‘Chat’ and ‘Facebook’ · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Islamic Republic's Interior Minister Mostafa Najar called [fa] Facebook, satellites and chatting, instruments used by western countries’ soft war against Iranian regime.

author: Fred Petrossian


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Kenya: Facebook Should Unfriend John Mwau · Global Voices
Collins Mbalo

A Kenyan blogger Daudi Were has raised an interesting question about whether the U.S. government will be willing to enforce the  Kingpin Act against Facebook for apparently doing business with a Kenyan national John Harun Mwau who had earlier this year been designated as a drug lord under the Kingpin Act (See White House Press Release).
The Kingpin Act denies significant foreign narcotics traffickers, their related businesses, and their operatives access to the U.S. financial system and prohibits all trade and transactions between the traffickers and U.S. companies and individuals.
Daudi makes some interesting observations in his post titled “Facebook Should Unfriend Mwau”:
In other words Kingpin Act targets, on a worldwide basis, significant  foreign narcotics traffickers, their organizations, and operatives by  making it illegal for any U.S. company or any U.S. individual to conduct  any financial transactions with them.
Daudi further elaborates:
Facebook is a social networking service and website operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. Facebook, Inc was founded in 2004 and is based in Palo Alto, California. It is a U.S. company. Ownership of Facebook, Inc is shared between Mark Zuckerberg, Accel Partners, Digital Sky Technologies, Greylock Partners, Meritech Capital Partners and Microsoft amongst others. Most are U.S. citizens and U.S. companies.
Remember that U.S. companies and U.S. individuals are forbidden from any financial transactions with narcotics traffickers named through the Kingpin Act. The fines for ignoring the Act range from USD 1 million to USD 10 million and there’s also the not very little matter of the possibility of 30 years imprisonment.
Last night I started noticing adverts on Facebook for John Harun Mwau’s Facebook page. The text for the ad reads:The text for the ad reads:
Success and Wealth are but a state of mind. Discover the principles that guided me to Success on My Facebook Page.

author: Collins Mbalo


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Kuwait: Bidun fly “Freedom Balloons” · Global Voices
Mona Kareem

This post is part of our special coverage on Refugees.
A month ago, the stateless community of Kuwait started a 3 day-long campaign of “flipping your Twitter avatar” to catch the media's attention and highlight their cause for the world. This Friday, they've made another campaign to set balloons in the air, calling them “freedom balloons“.  Just as people have interacted and sympathized with the “flip your avatar” campaign, many Twitter users have changed their avatars to one designed by Talal Obeid (@tatabotata) that says one word in Arabic: “Bidun”, which means “stateless”. People are showing support and sympathy to those who want to speak up for their rights in a peaceful way, by flying balloons.
The avatar designed by @tatabotata spread on Twitter to show support for the Bidun of Kuwait
A female Twitter user called Manayer (@ManayerAbs) complimented the Bidun for using peaceful expression in her tweet:
@ManayerAbs: Despite the miserable ways of living, they manage to create a peaceful campaign to stand up for their rights.
Omar AlOraiman (@OmarAlOraiman), a Kuwaiti student, has also pointed out how peaceful the Bidun are when demanding their rights:
@OmarAlOraiman: #Freedomballoons and they keep on showing us how great they r by their patience & love to Kuwait with their neat peaceful campaigns
Kuwaiti Lawyer Nasser Najaf (@NasserNajaf) addressed the government in his tweet about the status of Kuwaiti Bidun, saying:
أتمنى ان تكف الحكومة عن المماطلة في توفير الحقوق الانسانية والمدنية لهذه الفئة المظلومة
A girl from Kuwait whose nickname is Qaboul (@Qaboul) has been tweeting over the past few days for the #FreedomBalloons campaign and in one of her tweets, she shows how disappointed she is over the arrest of those who were flying the balloons, although there is no confirmed news on these arrests yet:
@Qaboul: Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm. But today they Kill the Dreams they kill our enthusiasm
An American blogger based in Kuwait called “American Girl” has quoted the statement of the campaign in a recent post, to show support:
The bidun and all their supporters launch A campaign to ignite the freedom glow flying lantern in Expression of the Departure of Their Lives out of the prison of racism to the sky of freedom,Timing of the launch will be in the date of 29/7/2011@ 8:30 PM Kuwait local time,plz support the bidun human campaign to claim their humanity and freedom. Participate Through the launch of the glow lantern of freedom At the time mentioned.
Kuwaiti Twitter user Abdulaziz Al-Assaf (@Bo_S3aiyed) was there to show support for the campaign and he recorded a video then uploaded it on Youtube . According to his niece Fouz Abdullah (@FouzAbd), Al-Assaf was going to be taken by the police but was let go of when they discovered he is Kuwaiti and not stateless:
@FouzAbd: Interestingly, My fully kuwaiti uncle @bo_s3aiyed was also asked to go with the police but they left him when they knew he is Kuwaiti!
One of the bloggers called Khaled has gathered pictures of the campaign from Twitter and put them together in a post.  Here is one of them:
A man flies one of the Bidun's Freedom Balloons
This post is part of our special coverage on Refugees.

author: Mona Kareem


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Mexico: Improvements in Education Decreasing Emigration Rates · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

The second post on a series about immigration throughout the Americas on the Council on Hemispheric Affairs Blog focuses on “Mexico's Improving Education and Declining Emigration”.


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SEE: Danica Radovanovic’s Interview on Online Social Interactions · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

At Open Society Foundations’ Blog, an interview with Danica Radovanovic of Digital Serendipities, covering “various topics related to digital use, online social interactions, digital divide, social networks and young adults in Southeastern Europe” and the Balkans.

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Senegal: Against a third term for President Wade · Global Voices
Abdoulaye Bah

Macoumba Beye covers [fr] on afriscoop.net the demonstration organized in Dakar on July 23 against the candidature of President Abdoulaye Wade for a third term as President: “The Movement of  June 23 – or M23 – brings together political parties, civil society movements, unions, imams and the movement “Y en a marre” (Fed up).  It was born  on June 23,  on the day of the withdrawal of a bill establishing a vice-presidency, following strong public opposition.”

author: Abdoulaye Bah


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South Korea: 35 Million Users’ Information Leaked in Cyber Attack · Global Voices
Lee Yoo Eun

Thirty-five million Koreans’ information stored in the South Korean portal site Nate and Cyworld, was hacked in cyber attack from China. One net user from Daum Agora website blamed [ko]  Nate's default setting in checking emails- reading the emails without preview function- for involuntarily opening doors to mass hacker attacks.

author: Lee Yoo Eun


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Vietnam: More than 500 Attended Barcamp Saigon · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

The fourth Barcamp in Saigon was held last Sunday, July 24, at RMIT International University in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. It was the biggest Barcamp in Saigon in terms of attendance. The organizers are grateful for the participation of many people
Thanks to everyone for making this the biggest BarCamp in Saigon yet (with an attendance of 570 people)! We’re really thankful that so many of you came out to participate, share and talk. We at the BarcampSaigon organizing team always want to make BarcampSaigon open, fun, and a learning experience for everyone.
Barcamp Saigon 2011 from the Facebook page of Preetam Rai
Saigonist highlights the activities and events in the Barcamp
Outsiders are awesome. I'm really grateful for the guys who brought Barcamp organizing experience from Cambodia, China, Southeast Asia, Germany, etc. to Saigon to share with us. Barcamps are often bootstrapped by foreigners. Outsiders also expose us to new ideas in technology. But I was happy to see at least some local ideas find an audience in the foreign attendees.
Barcamp isn't just about the sessions. It's as much about people coming together and sharing ideas outside of the sessions. The organizers’ task isn't to control who speaks, unlike traditional conferences. Our job is to provide a platform for everyone to share knowledge with anyone who is interested. The trend, I hope, is for more people to realize that they do have knowledge that's interesting and worth sharing and to give them the opportunity to speak in front of an audience and further develop their ideas when putting together their presentations, and also get feedback from strangers that they otherwise would have never met.
Barcamp Saigon 2011 from the Facebook page of Preetam Rai
Some twitter reactions
@MoodyRain @welivetoplay You are quite welcome. Enjoy! Happy to see #barcampsaigon spread as far as Amsterdam!
@barcampSaigon #barcampsaigon Summer 2011 is over, but having already 4 confirmed sponsors and 1 more team member for Winter 2011.
Some of the topics discussed in the Barcamp were gamification, using twitter in classroom, Vietnamese language lifehack video tutorials, creating a startup, entrepreneurship and innovation, street photography, and What’s wrong with having more than 500 friends on Facebook?
Pictures of the Barcamp were uploaded on Facebook and Flickr.

author: Mong Palatino


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Blog Carnival: Mexico – Citizenry, Violence and Blogs  · Global Voices
Juan Arellano

This post is part of our special coverage Mexico's Drug War.
Global Voices in Spanish is interested in encouraging blogging and  promoting blogger networks, and is currently doing so through its ‘Festivales de Blogs‘ (Blog Carnival) [es]. The Carnival helps generate original content with a certain level of reflection and analysis, and participating bloggers can at the same time benefit greatly from the visibility their work gains by being referenced on Global Voices (GV). Let's look at the details of our Carnival:
Scope: Mexico
As the geographic base and center of out first 2011 Blog Carnival, GV has chosen Mexico, a great country going through a period of violence that has yet to cease. Aside from this, we have a number of collaborators in Mexico that have supported us in the spread of this virtual event. While the majority of the bloggers, and the most well-known ones, are found in Mexico City, we also expect participation from bloggers in cities like Guadalajra, Monterrey, Puebla, Toluca, Ciudad Juárez and many others.
We would like to clarify that participation is not restricted to bloggers or blogs that are dedicated exclusively to the topic indicated in the following paragraph – any blog and blogger can participate.
Topic: Citizenry, violence and blogs
Violence has a constant presence in human societies, but in some cases it becomes a preponderant element, interrupting that which we consider the normal development of our lives. A current case of this in our hemisphere is the violence in Mexico, of the so-called ‘Mexico Drug War,’ which exemplifies our incapacity, as well as that of the governments, to deal with this problem.
In a context like the one described there are always stories that are not shown via traditional media, stories of resilience that we should all know. Nevertheless, reflection is quite needed and we can therefore ask ourselves, what opinion do Mexican Internet users have regarding the international image of violence that has been created with respect to Mexico? Is it true? Is it exaggerated?
Is the media, including the Internet, contributing to the polarization of opinions or a responsible criticism? Is the media part of the solution for this context of the conflict or simply a further instrument of this violence? Is regulating the media's coverage of the violence recommended? If so, who would do it: readers, the media, NGOs or the government?
Are there tangible results from activist campaigns (online and otherwise) against the violence in Mexico? Has Internet use had a bearing on the prevention or visibility of the violent acts taking into account that not all of these acts are published in traditional media? Could or should new forms of media go beyond the work of coverage and reflection?
Participation:
Any Mexican blogger living in the country or not, can participate  by publishing a post on the topic in their own blog. Foreigners living  in Mexico can also participate. The post has to be an original post, in  other words, created by the blogger, not copied from another source,  and published during the period set for participation in the Carnival.  The structure, style and length of the post can be decided by the  blogger.
Bloggers can pick how to focus on the topic. It can be through one of  the suggested questions or from a focus that the blogger considers  convenient. When bloggers have published their post for the Carnival,  they must email  juan.arellano at globalvoicesonline dot org with the  following information:
Name of the author
Name of the blog
Title of the post
Corresponding link or URL for the post.
A button is available, the image in this post, for bloggers to use  and paste on their blogs as a signal that they are participating in the  Carnival. Once the button is added to a blog, the blogger must reference  this post.
At the end of the period of participation we will proceed to arrange   and summarize the participating post in order to publish a summary post   for Global Voices. Depending on the amount of participation we will be   able to quote posts or not, this is mainly due to reasons of space. Any   questions may be directed to the email mentioned above. Results from our previous Blog Carnivals can be seen from: Colombia, Ecuador [es], Venezuela, and Peru.
Chronology:
Activities carried out throughout the blog carnival will be as follows:
- Call, invitation and dissemination. Through this post and during the duration of the period for participation.
– Period for participation. From August 1 to 10.
– Selection period and the creation of a summary with the participating posts. From August 11 to 15.
– Summary post published on Global Voices in Spanish. August 16.
Note: This is not a competition, therefore there will be no winners  or losers. It is about looking for contributions, collaborations and  testimonies on the proposed topic, in order to develop a broad, varied  and updated picture on the topic of society and participation through  the Internet, in Mexico.
Participation on Twitter
We would also like this Carnival to be present and active on Twitter, and as such we are making the Carnival's official hashtag available to all Twitter users here: #vocesmx
This hashtag will do all the work of spreading information and announcements for participation in the Carnival, but we would also like there to be tweets on the topic of the Carnival with this hashtag. We will be following it and a selection of the most interesting tweets will be published in our summary post.
We look forward to your support, collaboration and participation!
This post is part of our special coverage Mexico's Drug War.

author: Juan Arellano


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Cambodia: Blog Article Leads to Murder Investigation · Global Voices
Sopheap Chak

An investigation on the reported death of a Cambodian domestic worker in Malaysia has been initiated by the Cambodian Embassy in Malaysia in cooperation with the police, according to an article by the Phnom Penh Post.
The aunt of the domestic worker was informed by the labor recruitment firm APTSE & C Cambodia Resource Co Ltd that her 19-year-old niece died from pneumonia. However, the pre-departure medical test in Cambodia in September last year showed her health to be perfectly fine.
It's now alleged that she could have been murdered following an expose by a news aggregation website, Khmerization, which published and circulated an email from an anonymous person who reported that a maid in Malaysia is being abused by her employer.
The case was picked up by rights groups and politicianswho appealed for a proper investigation.  The anonymous sender of the letter wrote to Khmerization:
We came across a blog on your website (khmerization.blogspot.com) regarding “Malaysia Embassy saved Cambodian maid alerted by Khmerization's article”, posted on 23 March 2011. We would like to bring your attention to a recent death of a Cambodia maid which we suspected the actual cause of death is due to the constant physical and mental tortures by her employer.
According to the local neighbourhood, they do constantly witness the deceased being beaten up and abused and had many times sought help from other maids in the neighbourhood. A day before her death, she passed down a message saying that if she really pass away without any valid reason, please inform her uncle back in Cambodia.
MP Mu Sochua vows to investigate the death of the teenager domestic worker
It should be noted that Khmerization has once successfully convinced authorities to investigate and assist another Cambodian maid who was allegedly abused by her employer in Malaysia. Aside from publishing an article about the abuse, Khmerization circulated an email encouraging its readers to submit a letter to embassy officials in Malaysia.
According to the 2011 report prepared jointly by CARAM Asia, CARAM Cambodia and Tenaganita, titled “Reality Check: Rights and Legislation for Migrant Domestic Workers Across Asia,” the number of Cambodian migrant domestic workers in Malaysia are over 40,000 of which the women account for 51.7%. The report outlined some common violations experienced by domestic workers:

author: Sopheap Chak


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Colombia: FIFA’s U-20 World Cup · Global Voices
Cati Restrepo

Colombia is hosting the U-20 FIFA World Cup. The opening ceremony [es] took place in Barranquilla on July 29. The country is in a happy mood and on Twitter netizens talk about the tournament with the hashtag #Colombiaesmundial.

author: Cati Restrepo


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Cote d’Ivoire: Unequal pay for equal work · Global Voices
Abdoulaye Bah

Siriki Moustapha explains on africavox.com [fr] why equal pay for women still is a subject of debate in Ivory Coast: “These are men of varying socio-economic and intellectual levels; they do not think of themselves as old-fashioned, enemies of women, or even anti-feminist. Their logic is that the Ivorian woman demonstrates such immaturity that the question of wage equality shouldn't even come up.”


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Guinea: Weekly Newspaper Le Defi Vandalized · Global Voices
Abdoulaye Bah

Lamine Camara writes on infoguinee.com [fr]: “The central office of the independent weekly newspaper Le Défi was vandalized and completely ransacked by anonymous looters on the night of July 20- 21, 2011. Those non-identified individuals, after wrecking havoc on equipments, computer and hardwares, left a scribbled message on a sheet of paper: “Ennemy of Guinea, get lost“”.


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Hungary: Situation of Roma · Global Voices
Vilhelm Konnander

Eva Balogh of Hungarian Spectrum writes about the situation of Roma in Hungary against the beckground of US-talks with representatives of the Roma group in the country.

author: Vilhelm Konnander


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Kenya: Follow 10 International Bloggers Visiting Kenya · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Follow 10 international bloggers visiting Kenya: “This week, ONE is joining 10 bloggers who are making their way through Kenya to see what life is really like for moms in the developing world.”

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Malawi: Ports Turns Into Fishing Ground · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Nsanje Port in Malawi has turned into a fishing ground, Face of Malawi reports: ”We’re happy that Mutharika built us a fishing pond.We used to go very far away crossing shire river but now we are doing it at the port.”These are words of fishermen based in Nsanje district where the port was built.


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Nepal: It is Code of Ethics, Not Censorship! · Global Voices
Rezwan

Bhumika Ghimire comments on the code of ethics signed by 10 Nepali bloggers which turned controversial: “this code of ethics is part of that effort to help the community, it is not censorship and it is not an attack on a blogger’s individual rights.”

author: Rezwan


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Nigeria: Nigerian Girl Victim of Oslo “Coward” Terror Acts · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

A Nigerian girl, Modupe Ellen Awoyemi, was one of the people killed by the bomb blast in Oslo, Norway: “If you want to leave a condolence message, then search for (Norway Victim – Modupe Ellen Awoyemi – Rip – 22.07.11) on facebook to express your sympathy with friends and families of Modupe.”


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Poland-Russia: Passing Out Blame for Kaczynski Plane Crash · Global Voices
Vilhelm Konnander

Streetwise Professor comments on the Polish report about last year's plane crash that killed the country's president, and goes on to argue that, whereas Polish pilots where mostly to blame, Russian air-traffic control was probably also to blame.


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Russia: News as Rap · Global Voices
Vilhelm Konnander

Edmund Downie at Foreign Policy Passport reports that Russian president Dmitri Medvedev is much impressed by news agency's RIA-Novosti introduction of news in the form of musical rap info [ru].


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Russia: Science Fiction Vocabulary · Global Voices
Vilhelm Konnander

Yelena of Russian Blog addresses a few of the new Russian words adopted with the increasing popularity of science fiction in the 1990s.


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Russia-USA: 20 Years Since START I · Global Voices
Vilhelm Konnander

Hans Kristensen at FAS Strategic Security Blog commemorates the 20th anniversary of START 1, the first Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty beween the Soviet Union and the USA curtailing the number of nuclear missiles.


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Russia-USA: Pest and Cholera of Russia Policies · Global Voices
Vilhelm Konnander

Vadim Nikitin at Foreign Policy Association blog finds US Russia-policies of both the Democrats and the Republicans negative, after Russian ambassador Sergei Rogozin recently met with two US senators.


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Slovenia: New Twists in Arms Bribery Affaire · Global Voices
Vilhelm Konnander

Sleeping With Pengovsky posts an update about new developments in Slovenia's scandal over bribery in the Patria affaire concerning purchase of Armoured Personnel Carriers from a Finnish company.


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South Korea: Controversies on the Return of Korean Royal Books · Global Voices
Jae Yeon Kim

Uigwe (의궤 in Korean) is a collection of Korean Royal books that was looted by French troops during the French invasion of Korea's Kanghwa Island in 1866. It finally returned home after 145 years on May 2011.
The South Korean government celebrated the return with a large-scale traditional ceremony on June 11 and decided to exhibit it at the National Museum of History from July 19 to September 18. However,  controversies remain as the return of the Korean Royal books is deeply connected with Korea's troubled modern history.
As the return of the royal books was achieved after long years of tedious negotiation with the French government, this return has been warmly welcomed by many. What ignited the various controversies was the fact that the return was conditional, a de facto ‘rent’ of the treasure rather than a permanent return. The Korean government is required to renew the agreement it made with the French government, regarding keeping the artefacts in South Korea, every five years.
But most Koreans are still thrilled at the news. Bloggger JooYoo who participated in the welcoming ceremony on June 11, expresses [ko] how people are overwhelmed with joy over the return of the national treasure:
외규장각 의궤는 비록 ‘대여'라는 이름으로 계속 연장을 해야한다고는 하지만 중요한 건 ‘컴백홈'을 했다는 것!
Uigwe is highly regarded treasure for its beauty and its historical value in understanding Korean tradition. Blogger Cookiedesiger reflects [ko] this view:
예로부터 내려온 것은 작은 못 하나라도 민족의 혈이 흐르는 보물이 아닌가 합니다.
National pride and humiliation mingled
The decision to rent the treasure was based on consideration of French domestic law. And in the diplomatic world, it is interpreted as the French government practically allowing the return. But that explanation could not satisfy Koreans. Blogger Binbini argues this negotiation was unfair and short-sighted [ko]:
정부와 외교 통상부가 하는 말을 보시라. 갱신 형식으로 사실상 영구 대여가 된다. 일단 돌아온 문화재를 빼앗아 가겠느냐. […]원래 우리나라에 있던 문화재를 강제로 약탈해 갔습니다.
Look at what the Head of Administration and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said: ‘It is actually “a permanent rent” as long as we continue to renew the agreement’ and ‘What would they do about it? Once the treasure arrived in South Korea, they couldn't possibly take this away from us.’ […] They've forgotten that it was looted during the French invasion.
The National Museum of History located in Seoul, South Korea. Image by Flickr user RadioHat. (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
That disagreement is intertwined with the paradoxical combination of national pride and humiliation. For example, blogger A Small World in the World expresses his resentment [ko] toward the attitude of the French government and its decision to allow the ‘limited’ return:
솔직히 남의 나라에서 약탈해 간 문화재를 이정도까지 완벽하게 보관해 줬다는 점에서는 프랑스에 감사했습니다.[…]애초 외규장각 의궤는 우리나라 겁니다. 긴 세월 남의 나라 도서관에 있다가 원래 있어야 할 곳으로 돌아오는 것 뿐입니다. 우리나라 입장에서 보면 나쁜 놈들이 뺐어간 내 물건 되찾아 오는 겁니다.
Then the blogger continues:
더구나 외규장각 의궤에 관련해선 프랑스는 우리국가를 상대로 대놓고 거짓말을 한 전력이 있습니다. 고속철도 도입 당시 프랑스 일본 독일 등의 고속철에 대한 논의가 있었을 때, 우리나라가 프랑스 TGV를 선택한 결정적인 이유가 프랑스 대통령이 약속한 외규장각 도서 반환에 대한 약속 때문이라고 해도 과언이 아닙니다. 당시 미래를 생각하면 일본 고속철도가 더 나은 선택이라는 말이 있었지만, 저 약속 때문에 프랑스 TGV를 선택한 것입니다.
Although the blogger did not articulate it explicitly, it was not hard to  read between the lines that his post reflects Koreans’ view on the colonial era. His post title read ‘Royal Text Return: While Resenting Japanese Occupation, Why are We Reacting so Generously toward French Invasion?‘ [ko] and note that the blogger chose the words “outright lie” in the first sentence. He used such an emotive word about a ‘negotiation’ situation where costs and benefits only matter and cold calculations are the only language two sides use.
Nonetheless, pushing the Korean public to accept the limited return of the treasure seems myopic. That does not encompass public views and feelings toward their tragic history and how their views affect current Korean society.

author: Jae Yeon Kim


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South Sudan/Sudan: Football Torn By Citizenship · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

What is the future of Sudanese football following the decision not to grant citizenship to Southern Sudanese living in the north?: “A large number of southern players have a significant presence on Sudanese football teams, including al-Hilal and al-Merreikh. They have also formed the mainstay of Sudan’s national team, as in the case of Richard Justin Lado, who played in a number of clubs, starting with al-Sahafa, followed by a move to al-Hilal before he went professional with the Ismaili team.”


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Ukraine: Survival of the Stolovaya · Global Voices
Vilhelm Konnander

The Pickle Project discusses a visit at one of the few remaining public stolovayas – soviet style lunch canteens – in Crimean city of Yalta.


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Ukraine: Timoshenko Facing the Law · Global Voices
Vilhelm Konnander

LEvko of Foreign Notes follows up on the trial against former Ukrainian Prime Minister, Yulia Timoshenko, and finds that – despite a weak case – the process is likely to end with a guilty verdict for a number of political reasons.


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Zambia: Current Events Through Political Satire  · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Kalaki's corner is a political satire on current events in Zambia in the form of a weekly story: “Spectator Kalaki, aka Roy Clarke, came to international attention in January 2004 when he wrote a story about a foolish elephant. This story was read by the then president of Zambia, Levi Mwanawasa, who saw himself in the elephant, leading to a deportation order being issued against Kalaki. The subsequent legal battle led to Kalaki achieving fame and fortune and a wide readership, for which Kalaki remains eternally grateful.”


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Zambia/Ethiopia: Only Elephants Should Wear Ivory · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

A Zambian woman has been arrested in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia for wearing ivory bracelets, Gershom Ndhlovu reacts: “Only elephants, and no one else, should wear ivory. As such, not only the Ethiopian authorities should arrest Zambians wearing ivory bangles on their territory, Zambians should also play their part for as long as elephants and elephant products remain on CITES Appendix III.”


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United Arab Emirates: Adjournment of Blogger Ahmed Mansour’s Tria · Global Voices
Thalia Rahme

”Poor Arab and Emirati intellectuals and thinkers!” bewails Ahmed Al Mouhareb [ar] while reporting on his Twitter account the deferment the trial of the blogger and activist Ahmed Mansour and of four of his companions until September 26 [en]. Arrested in the beginning of April 2011, after having signed a petition calling for democratic reforms, Ahmed Mansour is accused of threatening state security, undermining public order and insulting the president, the vice president and the crown prince of Abu Dhabi [fr]. This trial has poor echo among medias or public opinion in UAE or elsewhere, however, Hassan Al Ibrahim tweets that ”70 Arab academics announced their support for the detained and specified Ahmed Mansour” [en and ar].

author: Thalia Rahme


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Africa: Prefix Taps Into Africa’s Digital Realm · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Prefix taps into Africa’s digital realm, Bontle Moeng reports: “Prefix Technology, a software design company is developing mobile applications and content management tools (cms) for Africa’s online publishing companies. In SA, the company connects 1 in 5 people to a digital platform.”