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Thailand: Airports reopen but crisis not yet over · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Bangkok’s airports are now open. The protesters have agreed to end their protests after the country’s top court ordered the dissolution of the ruling party which forced the Prime Minister to step down. Military troops are now guarding the airports. Tourists are advised to contact their airlines and tourism offices to check for flight schedules.
Last week protesters belonging to the People’s Alliance for Democracy have occupied Bangkok’s two airports demanding the removal of the corrupt government. The airport takeover has stranded more than 300,000 passengers in the country.
Because of the favorable court order, the protesters have declared victory. However, they vowed to launch similar protest actions in the future if reforms are not instituted. Excerpts from PAD’s statement:
“The PAD would like to call on whichever side that attains power to run the country to find a solution for the current problems and not to create conditions for another political turmoil in the country. Do not bring to power people from the Thaksin regime. Address the wrongdoings conducted by those in the Thaksin regime. Join with the people in making new politics a reality.”
The PAD would like to make the following pledges.
1. If a proxy government of the Thaksin regime is set up again or if there is an attempt to amend the Constitution or the law to whitewash the wrongdoings of those in the Thaksin regime, to benefit politicians, or to lessen the power of the King, the PAD will return.
2. From now on, if there is any government which comes into power but is insincere in its efforts to launch new politics with the people, the PAD will return.
Thaksin is former Prime Minister of Thailand who was ousted in a coup two years ago. PAD accused the last two Prime Ministers of being puppets of Thaksin.
Thai Politico interprets the PAD statement:
“The implication at the moment is that if the next PM is not to the PAD's liking they will occupy the airport again. Will the security forces now completely secure Thailand's airports so that nothing like this can take place again? Or will we see the army back off like scared rabbits into the corner?”
New Mandala believes PAD’s victory will be short-lived:
“The celebrations by the yellow shirts at Suvanabhumi will be short-lived. The parliament has not been dissolved and the government looks very likely to maintain its majority. The Democrat-except-when-you-can’t-win-an-election-and-then-a-judicial-coup-is-OK Party simply can’t muster the numbers. More blatant judicial or military intervention will be required to remove the government.”
Political cartoon by Sacravatoons
PAD is popular in Bangkok (but the airport takeover has made it less popular today). PAD is accused of having close ties with Bangkok’s elite. On the other hand, most of the rural voters are supportive of Thaksin’s party. Someone asked: What if the farmers staged their own protest against PAD and the urban elite by refusing to plant rice?
Stranded tourists are now recounting their experience in Thailand. Tuesdaynight narrates how he and his wife were able to leave the country by traveling to Malaysia and Singapore by land. He writes:
“Finally, I have to say, after all this, I consider us to be lucky.  We found a way out of the country and it worked.  I truly feel for the hundreds of thousands people whose travel was impacted because of this.  More importantly, I feel for the Thai people who have yet to find some form of political stability.”
Despite the airport chaos, life in Bangkok seemed like normal the past week. Oneditorial writes:
“During the week, I called my family to get their views on this event. They did not seem to be thinking too much about what is going on. They still carry on their daily lives as usual. As a matter of fact, on the day I talked to my mother on the phone, the entire family was completely absorbed in watching a Thai soap on the telly, never mind the fact that the country is in a state of political turmoil. I just wish I could be as detached as them.”
Andrew Biggs asks if the airport crisis would produce positive results:
“Could it be that the pain, shame and anger we have all experienced with the PAD’s closure of the airport actually be heralding a new era of politics in Thailand? Could it possibly be that something good is going to come out of all this?”
An anonymous commenter criticizes the organizer of the protests:
“Im sure terrorist groups in South-East Asia have witnessed the complete lack of security at the airport and thus it would be a sitting duck for groups who plan terrorist attacks against planes and passengers. Bangkok as a major hub? I dont think so any more. What airline will want to fly in and out of Bangkok when the airports own security guards ran like scared children from their own people. Shame on Thailand for allowing this anti democratic group to act like terrorists and hold an entire country to ransom. Thailand is about to see the trickle down from this catastrophe and I pity the ordinary people who were not involved in this protest but could lose jobs.”
Gabriella Haynes describes the mood in Bangkok:
“The atmosphere in wider Bangkok since the protests started has been calm and business as usual in general. While the city’s residents don’t take the sporadic and seemingly random spurts of violence and the loss of life and income lightly, there is no sense of widespread panic and concern. International news agencies report airport mayhem and interview distressed and worn-out tourists stranded in the country, yet most Thais I have spoken to only express concern about the potential violence of the situation and concern for the economy.”
And let’s not forget that pro-government supporters are also numerous in the city:
“The PAD has ceased their protests for now but the capital has also been inundated with pro-government supporters, which means the situation has not been completely diffused.”
Flickr photos from Ronn Ashore and Willie Lunchmeat
Thomas Wanhoff from Vietnam is disappointed that tourists are complaining of missed flights while Bangkok protesters are fighting for some cause:
“This is just unbelievable. There are people in Thailand trying to fight for democracy (but of course is their understanding of), at least stand up against the corrupt government, and tourists are just complaining about missed flights.”


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Thailand: Going Home Finally · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Oakmonster is happy that she can finally go back to Thailand. The opposition supporters had occupied the main airports in Bangkok and disrupted air services.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Preetam Rai


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The Saudi Patient  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Dubai Consumer Mirror pleads with Saudi bloggers to come to the aid of a Saudi girl, who was injured in an accident. Read more about her here.

author: Amira Al Hussaini


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World Disability Day in South Asia · Global Voices
Bhumika Ghimire

December 1 is observed around the world as AIDS Day and the occasion is largely publicized. Unlike the attention World AIDS Day receives, World Disability Day barely registers on the world media’s radar.
Circle of friends by Flickr user Jimee, Jackie, Tom and Asha and used under a creative commons license
Celebrated every year on December 3, World Disability Day honors the contribution made to our world by those with physical and mental handicap. In case of South Asia, there is severe stigma attached any kind of physical and mental handicap. World Disability Day is an opportunity to spread awareness about the rights of the handicapped and that being differently able is not a sin or something to be ashamed of.
In India, activist Javed Abidi, the country’s leading advocate for the rights of the handicapped, will lead an event called “Dilli Chalo” or “Lets go to Delhi” to mark the occasion. It will be held at the historic India Gate.
Mr. Abidi says that India has made some progress in securing rights of the disabled but more needs to be done.
“Now, in India, as we are aware, we have had the Disability Act for the last 12 years. Last year we thought was a momentous year for two reasons. One was that our country ratified the UN Convention, and the second was that we also got the XI Plan. And in the XI Plan…..for the first time, there is a distinct chapter or a section on disability. And we thought that things were going to change. ……if we were look at the last one year, we find that things have not really moved the way we had expected them to move….”
Along with addressing legal issues related to the rights of the disabled and the opportunities they deserve, efforts are also needed to help those living in abject poverty because of their physical condition.
A news report published by the The National shows how urgently India’s poor disabled citizens need their government to take steps to insure that they are able to live in dignity.
Shaikh Azizur Rahman reported this November that an elderly father taking care of two severely disabled bed ridden daughters has asked the Indian President that they be allowed to be euthanized. He said that he is too poor to take of his daughters who need round the clock care and attention. Fatema, one of his daughters, says that she too wants her life to end.
“I told my father many times to bring poison for me. Nobody is helping me to kill myself.”
Across the border in Pakistan, there is still the mountain of odds facing citizens with disability. Writing for Dawn, Zahid Abdullah, who works for the Center for Peace and Development in Islamabad, says that country still has a long way to go before those with different ability can feel that society values them too. He also expresses frustration at slow pace of legal reform regarding the rights of the disabled.
Like in India and Pakistan, the society in Nepal too views physical and mental handicaps as a result of past life’s sins. Handicapped are usually treated as sub human; they have very limited access to education and meaningful employment. Often you can see a person with physical disability begging on the streets to sustain life.
Meen Raj Panthi says that families hide those with a disability to protect their honor and prestige:
“The notion that people with disabilities have equal rights and duty as any other individual, is largely absent from the popular mindset.”
Children are most vulnerable to discrimination. National Disabled and Helpless Upliftment Association in Nepal cites an example of a little girl named Manisha held captive by her parents because she is blind:
“While her parents work at fields, she is often locked in her own room and tethered with rope by her parents because she has no one to look after her at home. But her elder brother and sister go to school.”
Thumbnail image by Flickr user Shizhao and used under a creative commons license

author: Bhumika Ghimire


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Fiji: How to change the government from within?  · Global Voices
John Liebhardt

As the two-year anniversary of Fiji's military takeover approaches, another international governing body has called the Pacific island nation to hold elections in 2009 as once promised.
This time a European Union delegation, led by German legislator Gabrielle Zimmer, met with leaders in  Fiji and urged,  “that parliamentary elections take place before the end of 2009 based on a political dialogue process involving all stakeholders and conducted without delay.”
Problems between the island nation and regional partners began when self-appointed Prime Minister Commodore Frank Bainimarama promised in 2007 that elections would be held in March 2009, a pledge he later back away from. Government officials have long claimed the country isn't ready for elections until it undergoes major changes in its race-based electoral laws.
The EU statement follows the Pacific Forum indication in August it would suspend Fiji from the organization if the government failed to schedule elections and return the country to Parliamentary democracy. Yet Bainimarama has held firm. In its most recent budget, the government allocated no extra monies for organizing an election, although funds were set aside for buying electronic equipment for voter registration.
Unlike the Pacific Forum's threats, the EU's statement could be especially damning to Fiji’s economy because the organization may withhold sugar subsidies for another year. ($50 million in subsidies were suspended for 2008 due to overthrowing the government of Laisenia Qarase.)
A discussion has broken out in the blogosphere over how exactly to initiate political change in Fiji. A commenter named Peace Pipe to a post in the “Soli Vakasama blog, follows up on the EU representative's argument that external organizations like the Pacific Forum and the British Commonwealth can only apply limited pressure to the government. Real change won’t take place in Fiji until “pressure from within” is also applied.
She is quite right there but I would like to know pressure in what form. A classic example when pressure was applied in a small way is the case of Vilise and what happened when anyone tries to demonstrate opposition to this regime. By the way whats become of our comrade in democracy. We must consider her comments on the issue of applying pressure and work out how are we to do just that to show we are keeping to our side of the bargain with the free world.
Enuf Dictatorship, another commenter, wonders whether silence is pressure enough:
I have said it already too, there is only so much the international body can do. The SILENCE is deafening and it does make them wonder about how STRONG we are. Thais are doing it (but we don’t want violence, that I understand), the Burmese monks did it, Pakis did it, etc etc..even the LADIES IN WHITE of Communist Cuba do it..every Sunday after church they march with a white gladioli in their hands to protest the Communist govt of Cuba who are holding their democracy fighters in jail (esp. their men).
So, again..pressure from within…we write, we blog now is time to be visible..on Sundays? hmmmmmm a thot…
Raw Fiji News argues that while women may become leaders of change in Fiji, the men have long lagged behind.
The problem with the Fijian attitude is that they are so full of ideas and opinions but lack the action required to effect the change they want. They rely too much on others to do the dirty job for them and they hide behind their false humility and Fiji time to cover-up their inaction.
We’ve observed with much sadness how the women folks in Fiji continue to push for democracy in peaceful but effective ways while the menfolks carry on with their grumblings over a bowl of grog leaving the poor women to go to war on their behalf (with the exception of the brave Vilisi, Taoi, Kinivuwai and only a handful of others).
So what’s wrong with these Fijian men? It seems they are all pussies meowing and scratching from the back. C’mon guys, let’s play our part and be real men for once. The ladies have done more than enough. It is now our turn to take Fiji out of the mess the menfolks have taken it into. Otherwise, we are not worth the air we breath and the soil we’re standing on!!
In the forum of Fiji Board Exiles, a decidedly less optimistic discussion of economic pressure from the EU, Australia and New Zealand takes place. The military government will get its money elsewhere.
From real jack:
the EU threat to shut down the funding is an old one – and its meaningless because there are other sources now available to Fiji – the regime had already made arrangements for that way back in 2007. the Eu stops the funding, Fiji gets it from elsewhere – no problem. thats already arranged.
this is why i have already posted that the EU can't stop whats happening. they won't.
our past is with the Aussies and Kiwi's – the here and now and the future is within the Sino – Indian geopolitical sphere. they are the coming powers of this region – and they represent the power of the future.
playing with the Aussies is playing small change – loose change. that play was done by 1987 – it went nowhere for us and resulted in nothing for us. ZERO.
what the Sino- Indian objectives mean for us is much more significant – transforming Fiji into the transhipment route into Latin America – and the financial inter connection point for those financial trades – with their money and muscle and shipping – thats where its going – the Chinese and the Indians already export the biggest number of products anywhere worldwide anytime, they will soon own the shipping lines shortly and then they will soon own the key transhipment ports on the various routes they move their products through – thats happening now.
…
the people who are looking at the Aussies are looking at micro regional plays – with the Chinese and the Indians the play is international and global – Aussie muscle doesn't even factor into that equation – and thats the difference – and its the bottom line.
those who are looking back to the Aussies are living in the past – that past is gone – its history – and its not coming back.

author: John Liebhardt


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A day in the life of a Zimbabwean · Global Voices
Elia Varela Serra

At the Kubatana blogs, Godfrey Macheso describes a typical day in Zimbabwe, which involves a lot of waiting in line. He concludes: “everything about, and around you seems to be hard hit by complications and there is no way to solve any of the issues at stake”.

author: Elia Varela Serra


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Bahamas: medical accountability · Global Voices
Nicholas Laughlin

At Bahama Pundit , Larry Smith outlines the labyrinthine twists and turns in a "landmark" case of medical accountability currently before the Bahamas Medical Council — "more than six years after the 42-year-old man who started it all died."

author: Nicholas Laughlin


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Barbados: HIV secrets · Global Voices
Nicholas Laughlin

Barbados Free Press is outraged that the head of the Barbados Family Planning Association advocates not informing a woman about her husband's HIV-positive status. "[The FPA head] is a menace to the health of every woman on this island."


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Bulgaria: The President and Creative Commons · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Veni Markovski reports that the Bulgarian president’s site “has been launched officially under Creative Commons license.”

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Costa Rica: Calling a Constituent Assembly · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Some Costa Rican lawmakers are supporting the convocation of a Constituent Assembly to rewrite the Constitution, something that Mirando en Marcelo [es] has been supporting.  However, he points out that he wonders about the intentions of some of the lawmakers, especially since they seem not to understand the process.

author: Eduardo Avila


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Costa Rica: Different Perspectives on Reporting · Global Voices
Juliana Rincón Parra

Cristian Cambronero of Fusil de Chispas [es] writes about the recent Juan Luis Guerra concert in San José, Costa Rica, where most of the concert attendees were herded into a muddy field.  He writes that citizen media allows for the documentation of real experiences of events through the use of video and images, which shows different perspectives than the most of the media that were reporting from comfortable booths away from the mud and crowd.

author: Juliana Rincón Parra


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Czech Republic: Moravia · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

The Journeys of Captain Oddsocks writes that “Moravia and Moravians deserve more recognition for their homeland and the role they’ve played in Czech and European history.”


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Egypt: Supporting Israel’s Conscientious Objectors · Global Voices
Maya Norton

Mona of Mideast Youth expresses her support for Israel's conscientious objectors: “Becoming a conscientious objector in Israel takes an extraordinary amount of courage. Although I cannot refuse with them, I am inspired by their actions and want to spread their powerful message of hope, change, and dialogue.”

author: Maya Norton


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El Salvador: Internet Favoring a Particular Candidate · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Fafa Monge asks his readers whether they think that using the internet will favor a particular presidential candidates in the upcoming elections in El Salvador [es].  Many seem to think that it will not.


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Estonia: TV · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

A note on Estonian TV from AnTyx: “At this exact moment, the Estonian state TV channel is broadcasting the advent mass – live from one of the country's biggest prisons. […]” And a reader's comment to this post: “A remark to foreign readers of this: calm down, Estonia still remains a normal Western democracy. There is no state TV in Estonia. What the author is referring to is a public broacasting institution (ERR) and its main TV channel – an equivalent of BBC 1.”


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Guatemala: Manifestarte Festival · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Ivan Vivaldi Guas Caceres writes about the 6th annual Manifestarte Festival, a cultural event held in Cerrito del Carmen [es] in Guatemala.


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Guyana: new crime hotspot · Global Voices
Nicholas Laughlin

Living Guyana is "reliably informed" that new hotspots for criminal activity are developing west of Guyana's capital, Georgetown: "another major crime development … which the mainstream media have not yet picked up."


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Haiti: clean water · Global Voices
Nicholas Laughlin

Haiti Innovation posts detailed information about a campaign to improve access to clean water in Port-au-Prince. "Their approach is to provide cost effective tablet chlorinators and to build the capacity of community members to manage them."


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Hungary: A Hate Crime Verdict · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Hungarian Spectrum writes about a verdict on a crime that initially appeared to be racially motivated.


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India: Stop The Blame Game · Global Voices
Rezwan

At The Observers Indian and Pakistani activists discuss why India is blaming Pakistan for the terror attacks in Mumbai.

author: Rezwan


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India: Why CEOs Should Blog Daily · Global Voices
Rezwan

Rajesh Jain at Emergic writes about the importance of blogging by a CEO/founder of a company: “Blogging can probably open up as many opportunities as a good meeting can — in a way one cannot directly imagine.”


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Indonesia: Metaphorizing Obama · Global Voices
Marisa Duma

Indonesia Anonymus from Indonesia metaphorizes president-elect Barack Obama for the nation's governance: “… are [Indonesians] going to cling on to the same old divisive politics, same old status quo while at the same time happily cheering for America's Obama?”.

author: Marisa Duma


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Israel: Having Fun with Fateh · Global Voices
Maya Norton

International relations are rarely good for a laugh, but one Israeli blogger is having some fun.
Pinchas Orbach of Kumah reports:
“So… Fateh, of Yasser Arafat fame, set up a website called Fateh.net and they opened it up to anybody that wants to post a blog. Hmm… well someone posted this blog there called “Am Yisrael Chai” (The Nation of Israel Lives!)”
Subtitled “Israel rocks Fateh.net,” the Am Yisrael Chai! blogger's recent entries include “Jew-cooties” and “Nah! They're not Anti-Semitic,” as well as a calendar that counts kassam rockets landing in Israel from Gaza, similar to the one found here.
The blogger's “About” page reads:
“This is mostly a joke page just because I saw that anyone could create a blog on Fateh.net. The posts here are a very small selection of posts from the Elder of Ziyon blog.”
If you would like to join Am Yisrael Chai! on Fateh.net, you can do so by clicking on their homepage, which reads:
“You can start to create your FREE blog here www.fateh.net/
انشئ مدونة صفحتك الخاصة مجانا”
Blogs are based on a WordPress platform. No other information is available about the blog (in English) from its homepage, other than the fact that bloggers are welcome to write in English, Arabic, Spanish, or French.


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Japan: Fukuoka Bar Association requests halt to Street View · Global Voices
Chris Salzberg

Matimulog reports on news that the Fukuoka Bar Association has made a declaration requesting that Google halt its Street View service [ja], launched in August of this year in Japan to mixed reviews, due to its violation of the right to privacy. The blogger writes: “I can't help but wonder: why the Fukuoka Bar Association? The Street View service hasn't even been offered anywhere in Kyūshū, let alone in Fukuoka.” (For more info see also J-CAST article [ja].)

author: Chris Salzberg


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Japan: Print Media in Crisis · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Ampontan translated an article from a magazine which gives an overview of the problems faced by the Japanese print media with a few suggestions for overcoming those problems.

author: Oiwan Lam


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Latvia: More on Freedom of Speech · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Updates on the violation of the freedom of speech in Latvia – at Free Speech Emergency in Latvia.


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Madagascar: a library-on-wheels to encourage literacy  · Global Voices
Lova Rakotomalala

Tahina, blogging at Madagascar not the movie, posts photos of a  “bibliobus”, a library-on-wheels project that promotes literacy in Antananarivo (en). He explains that the project is a true success in his neighborhood. ” If kids can’t go to a library, then a library will come to them”, he says.

author: Lova Rakotomalala


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Taiwan: Newspaper for the Immigrants · Global Voices
Portnoy Zheng

Bao Bon Phuong, a unique immigrant-focussing Vietnamese newspaper celebrates its second year from its first issue in Dec. 2006. On its blog(zh), the editor 張正 Zhang Zheng writes : “Everyday, the editorial team receives dozens of letters written in Vietnamese. Each letter contains different state of mind: to thank somebody, to look for new friends, to ask for helps, to talk about his or her daily life in Taiwan, to yearn for homes and families.  Some mail their photos, essays, and pantings to us in wish to share them all on newspaper with others.” “As the rise of Web 2.0, readers are the major actors; they are authors, journalists(more than half of the content in each issue are provided by our readers). The editorial team are more than glad to work hard as our readers’ stepping stone-to digest, type, edit, send-in order to spread out our readers’ voices. “

author: Portnoy Zheng


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Nigeria: Murder of a high chief in Enugu · Global Voices
Elia Varela Serra

Icheoku writes about last Monday's murder of Igwe Uche Nwachime, a high chief of the Enugu state in Nigeria, after being abducted.


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Pakistan: A Citizen Journalist On Karachi Riots · Global Voices
Rezwan

Jackie, an American expat in Karachi writes in CHUP! – Changing Up Pakistan about this week’s violence in Karachi and discusses who are the players, why are they fighting, and how it has impacted daily life in Karachi.


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Palestine: Christmas Good for the Economy · Global Voices
Maya Norton

Israel Matzav writes that Christmas will be good for Bethlehem's economy.


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Paraguay: Heavy Rains for the Country · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Carlos Rodríguez of Rescatar [es] notices that Paraguay continues to be hit by heavy rains and that the country once was a country with balanced and frequent rains, but lately they have been more damaging.


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Peru: Municipal Recall Elections · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

This Sunday, many Peruvians will vote in municipal recall elections, which will determine the fate of many elected officials based on their performance writes Juan Arellano of Globalizado [es].


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Poland: Kaczyński in Mongolia · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Polandian writes about president Lech Kaczyński's Mongolian doctorate and his airplane misadventure at Ulan Bator airport.


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Poland, UK: “Pole Poll” – Sylwia Presley · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

A quick interview with Britain-based Global Voices and Lingua contributor Sylwia Presley – at the POLSKI blog.


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Romania: Anti-Corruption Fighters · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Transatlantic Politics writes that Romania's “anti-corruption fighters [are] hailed in Europe, not at home.”


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Romania: Election Results · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

An update on the results of the parliamentary election in Romania this past Sunday – at Corina Murafa: “Few Romanians left their cosy apartments for a trip to the ballot box (a bit less than 40% of them , to be more precise), and there’s worrisome statistics indicating that only 15% of the voters had higher education.”


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Russia: Blogging the Crisis · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

IZO links to “a crisis blog tracking lay-offs (Sokratili, in Russian)” and translates a quote from it: “in some departments of Mayak [radio station] 40% have been laid off immediately, at gazeta.ru [online paper] 50%, at rbk [business paper] nearly 2/3 have been sacked.”


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Russia: Photos from Politkovskaya’s Murder Trial · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Photos from Anna Politkovskaya's murder trial – by LJ user vorobieva-irina (RUS).


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Serbia: Corn Husk Dolls · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

A Yankee-in-Belgrade posts a picture of a popular Belgrade souvenir – corn husk dolls.


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Serbia: Coverage Critique · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Belgraded critiques a story on the political and social situation in Serbia that appeared in the Irish Tribune.


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Serbia: “The Proper Way To Do Propaganda” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Belgraded dissects and does his best to translate some of the samples of Serbian war propaganda.


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St. Vincent and the Grenadines: “monopoly money” · Global Voices
Nicholas Laughlin

A trip to the supermarket forces And Still I Rise to contemplate price inflation in St. Vincent and the Grenadines: "our money has become monopoly money. Yet, I am positive I heard the PM say … that cost of living is declining."


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Sudan: Deployment of a joint AU & UN force to Darfur · Global Voices
Elia Varela Serra

AK of For Sudan comments on the Sudanese government accepting a agreed to the deployment to Darfur of a joint force of the African Union and the United Nations: “So is this a move in the right direction? Absolutely! However, the ‘international community’ i.e. the US has been focusing too much of its effort to help “resolve” this conflict on its military aspect. I see it like this, the security and humanitarian situations are the side effects of the real issues of politics, economics and the environment”.


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Taiwan: President out of mind? · Global Voices
Portnoy Zheng

Social activist Wobblies says on his twitter(zh): “Knowing that Ma refused Dalai Lama's visit to Taiwan, I began to think that my father's friend is correct. He said that this President is either a body double, or is just kidnapped by someone. Or whatelse can there be such an idiot President?”  Lynn Miles has further thoughts on why she thinks that Ma's refusing Dali Lama is a good thing(en).


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Trinidad and Tobago: recession blues · Global Voices
Nicholas Laughlin

The latest news about the world economy reminds Trinidadian Coffeewallah of hard times in the 1980s: "people dropped their house keys off at banks and fled the country to escape loans."


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Uganda: Kampala taxis and Karamoja country life · Global Voices
Elia Varela Serra

Rucco van der Merwe of Eyeing Africa posted a series of photos of a taxi-park in Kampala and of beautiful landscapes in the Karamoja region.


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Argentina: Closing of Restaurants in Buenos Aires · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Many restaurants in Buenos Aires have had to close due to the decrease in international tourists writes Jorge Gobbi of Blog de Viajes [es].


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Belize: Former PM Arrested  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Belizean and Barbadian blog Keltruth Corp. are all over the story of the former Belizean Prime Minister being charged with the misallocation of public funds.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Brunei: Technology and Spirituality · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Pixelated Scribbles from Brunei writes: “It’s great that we are technologically progressing, but it doesn’t mean that we should let our spirituality be left behind.”

author: Mong Palatino


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Cameroon: Interview with Muntu Valdo · Global Voices
Elia Varela Serra

Dulce Camer interviews Cameroonian musician Muntu Valdo, whose music can be described as a mix of bossa nova, afro-cuban, blues, soul and funk. The interview also contains a few videos of Muntu Valdo's music.


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Cameroonian Hell · Global Voices
Elia Varela Serra

Cameroon Comedy posts a joke about Cameroon.


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China: Editor removed from Southern Metropolis Daily · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

feng37 wrote on a new wave of control over media in China: the highly renowned chief editor of Southern Metropolis Daily's Editorial section, Jiang Yiping (江艺平) has been sacked and replaced.


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Croatia: The Anti-Sanader Facebook Group Controversy · Global Voices
El Hud

The people of Croatia are upset by their current government to produce realistic economic plans and have taken to the streets as well as the internet.  The majority of the frustration is directed at Prime Minister Ivo Sanader which spawned the creation of a Facebook Group: “I bet you'll find 5000 Facebook users who do not like Sanader!”.  Naturally, the group has well over 15,000 members as of this writing.
The creator of the group, Niksa Klečak recently got in to trouble as relayed by Svetlana Gladkova on Profy:
…the main problem with it was that the guy was not just some regular citizen unhappy with his Prime minister and the financial ideas of the government – he is actually the president of one of the local branches of the youth of SDP (social democratic party) which is in opposition to the government in Croatia…But the result of this situation is simply outrageous as yesterday the guy was arrested by the police that claimed he kept some Nazi symbols and propaganda at home. When they could not find any evidence, they claimed he had links to child porn somewhere and that could be another reason for the arrest. Eventually Niksa Klecak was let go by the police for lack of evidence but the social networks and the local media outlets are all abuzz about these actions of the police.
A very prominent voice to speak out on the absurdity of this arrest was Vesna Škare Ožbolt who was a former member of Sanader's cabinet.  She wrote on her blog, Funky Politika (HRV):
In France you may sell voodoo dolls with Sarkozy.
In Croatia, virtual gatherings on Facebook are prohibited.
I can not imagine what would happen to those who would be in the middle of Zagreb selling voodoo dolls with a figure of he whose name we may not speak.
…After the incident on Facebook it has sent all a message.  The message is that those who fight for the freedom of words in this country must be stronger.
On Reci.hr (Words), T-Zombix writes (HRV):
Now it is becoming clear that the main tasks of our police are: the clearance of the Mafia, who are the Mafia, and where are the Mafia. So, the Mafia is on the Internet and very active on Facebook where they are inflicting incalculable harm to this country.
Prime Minister Sanader has officially been taking the high road, as the BBC reported that he claims this was not his doing, “…no-one should be detained or arrested in Croatia for expressing different views.”  Of course this is contrary to what Klečak believes as written by Marko Biočina on Tyche (HRV):
Klečak, who is not affiliated with the organization of protest initiative 5th December, in his first statements, he argued that his arrest was ordered directly from Zagreb.
The “protest initiative” is part of a movement over the past few days, that has led a great many to called for action as written on Opurba (HRV):
It is smart to choose the virtual world in which we all so brave, I do not know fear, we have our opinions and we want the Internet to a new revolution.
One of these should now leave the virtual world and overflow into the streets of major Croatian cities.
The calls were answered as Marko Biočina wrote (HRV):
…if everything is according to plan, [protests] will be held on the 5th of December at the city's central squares, eight Croatian cities, Zagreb, Split, Osijek, Rijeka, Zadar, Sibenik, Pula and Požega.
Croatian newspaper, Jutarnji (HRV) reports that the largest crowd was of 2,000 in Zagreb.  It will be interesting to see the end result of these actions as Croatia is standing at a delicate point in its modern history with EU membership just within reach.  Vesna Škare Ožbolt is very much aware of this as she closes (HRV) her post by stating:
Thus the continuation of repression and convulsions for the armchair power struggle could stay with us and eventually lead to a mass-produced voodoo doll, of course … only when join the EU, which is near is not it?

author: El Hud


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Cuba: Government Officials Tell Bloggers to Cancel Planned Meeting · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

A Cuban blogger meet-up scheduled for December 6 is in danger of being cancelled by the authorities. The event, which has been in the planning stage for months and had 25 confirmed attendees, is being deemed “counterrevolutionary.” This is according to a recent conversation between officials from the Interior Ministry and one of the island's most well-known bloggers and Best of Blog winner Yoaní Sánchez of Generación Y [es].
Sánchez received a summons notice, which she photographed and published on her blog, for her to appear at a local police station.  Her appointment with government officials took place last Wednesday, and immediately following the event, she posted about the details:
El encuentro  es breve y el tono enérgico. Somos tres en la oficina y el que lleva la voz cantante se ha presentado como el agente Roque. A mi lado, otro más joven, me observa y  dice que se llama Camilo. Ambos me anuncian que pertenecen al Ministerio del Interior. No están interesados en escuchar, hay un guión escrito sobre la mesa y nada que yo haga los distraerá. Son profesionales de la intimidación.
El tema me lo esperaba: estamos cerca de la fecha para el encuentro de blogger que, sin secretismo ni publicidad, hemos estado organizando desde medio año y ellos me anuncian que tenemos que suspenderlo. Media hora después, cuando ya estábamos  lejos de los uniformes y de las fotos de líderes en las paredes, reconstruimos  aproximadamente sus palabras:
“Queremos advertirle que usted ha transgredido todos los límites de tolerancia con su acercamiento y contacto con elementos de la contrarrevolución.Eso la descalifica totalmente para dialogar con las autoridades cubanas.
La actividad prevista para los próximos días no puede ser realizada.
Nosotros, por nuestra parte, tomaremos todas las medidas y haremos las denuncias pertinentes y las acciones necesarias. Esta actividad, en los momentos que vive la Nación, de recuperación de dos huracanes, no será permitida.”
The encounter is brief, the tone energized. There are three of us in the office, and the one with the singer’s voice introduces himself as Agent Roque. At my side, the younger one watches and says his name is Camilo. They announce that they are with the Interior Ministry. They are not interested in listening. There is a script on the table and nothing will distract them. They are professionals of intimidation.
The subject I expected: we are approaching the date of the blogger meetup we have been organizing, with neither secrecy nor publicity, for the past six months and which they proclaim must be cancelled. About a half hour later, when we were away from uniforms and photos of leaders on the walls, we tried to reconstruct what was said.
“We want to advise you that you have transgressed the limits of tolerance in your closeness and contact with elements of the counterrevolution. This disqualifies you totally to conduct dialogue with Cuban authorities.
The activity scheduled for the next few days cannot take place.
We, for our part, will take all measures and will lodge the pertinent charges and take the necessary actions. This event- in these moments which the nation is living, recuperating from two hurricanes- will not be permitted.”
(translation of Sánchez’ post by Babalú blog)
Sánchez was not the only blogger to be summoned by government officials.  Claudia Cadelo of Octavo Cerco [es] also received an unexpected visit by the police.  She writes about the surprise in her post titled “Me too!,” where she also posts a photo of the summons:
Con Reinaldo Escobar en el teléfono, aún sin conexión, y enterándome por él de todo lo ocurrido, no tuve tiempo a expresar mi frustración ante la anulación de nuestro primer encuentro de bloggers, pues en ese mismo momento un policía tocó a mi puerta para entregarme mi respectiva citación:
Presentarse mañana en la estación de policía de Zapata y C a las 2 pm.
With Reinaldo Escobar (Yoaní Sánchez’ husband) on the telephone, and still without connection and learning about everything that happened, I did not have time to express my frustration for the cancellation of our first blogger meet-up, and in that very moment a police officer knocked on my door to hand me my own citation:
Present yourself at the police station at Zapata and C at 2 pm.
Cadelo posted a photo of herself holding the summons, smiling, flashing a peace sign and a sign in the background ironically saying “I Love Minint” (Ministry of the Interior). The image drew the attention of Enrisco del Risco, who sees the photo as a sign that “times are changing” and writes [es]:
La sonrisa y el orgullo con que enarbola un papel que cada vez da menos miedo. El desafío y la complicidad. Y ese cartel al fondo que lo dice todo diciendo lo contrario con una gracia reservada para cosas menos serias. Los tiempos cambian porque ella sabe que no está sola, que ahora mismo mirando esa foto –con un punto de angustia, es cierto- estamos todos nosotros.
The smile and the pride that lifts her role and provides less and less fear. The challenge and the complicity. The sign in the background tells all and the opposite with a humor reserved for less serious things. The times are changing because she knows that she is not alone, that right now looking at that photo – certainly with a bit of distress – are all of us.
In spite of the warnings from government officials, Sánchez says that the meet-up will go on as planned.  In a recent AFP news article [es], Sánchez writes that these types of intimidation tactics by the government only draws more attention to her blog and an increase in traffic.  She also thinks that the summons was excessive since the meet-up was not political in nature, and that the bloggers was an informational gathering to learn about techniques and share experiences.


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Cuba: Two Sides of Che? · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Havana-based Circles Robinson wonders how Cuban audiences will react to the new film about Che Guevara, while diaspora blogger Uncommon Sense advises readers to enroll in “The Ché Guevara Re-Education Program.”


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Egypt: Dirty Sexy Secrets · Global Voices
Marwa Rakha

Young enlightened Egyptian bloggers write about their society's sex code, racism, bigotry, and lust after scandals – all in an attempt to make Egypt a better place to live in.
An Egyptian Citizen wonders where this country is heading:
Lobna Khairy attempted to define the Egyptian Sex Code saying:
In almost every country there happens to be 2 taboos; politics and religion. But in Egypt and some Arabian countries, we couldn’t settle for less than 3; politics, religion and sex!
#1: The porn denial – Parents do not believe that their kids get their sexual education from porn
#2: Men – decent men who have no prior experience will not satisfy a woman
#3: Women – decent women who understand how babies are made are indecent
#4: Only a manly need – women do not need sex
#5: Milk him – to keep him
Denoting that sex is all that occupies their mind and hence if you want to keep your man, you better fulfill his physical appetite excessively or else he’ll be running down the streets searching for other women who can! How degrading is this for both males and females?
Mona Eltahawy reveals the Arab world's dirty secret when she tells a tale of racism:
I was on my way home on the Cairo Metro, lost in thought as I listened to music when I noticed a young Egyptian taunting a Sudanese girl. She reached out and tried to grab the girl’s nose and mouth and laughed when the girl tried to brush her hand away.
The Sudanese girl looked to be Dinka, from southern Sudan and not the northern Sudanese who “look like us”. She looked black African and was obviously in distress.
I removed my headphones and asked the Egyptian woman “Why are you treating her like that?”
She exploded into a tornado of yelling, demanding to know why it was my business. I told her it was my business because as an Egyptian and as a Muslim who was riding the Metro, her behaviour was wrong and I would not stay silent about it. I knew she was Muslim because she wore a scarf.
I told her that the way she was treating the Sudanese girl made the scarf on her head meaningless. Her mother asked me why I didn’t cover my hair and I replied that I didn’t want to be a hypocrite like her and her daughter.
As distressing as I found that young woman’s behaviour, I was even more distressed that the other women in the Metro car with us watched passively and said nothing. They made no attempt to defend the Sudanese girl nor to defend me when I confronted the Egyptian woman.
The racism I saw on the Cairo Metro has an echo in the Arab world at large where the suffering in Darfur goes ignored for two main reasons – firstly because its victims are black people and we don’t about those with dark skins and secondly because those who are creating the misery in Darfur are not Americans or Israelis and we only pay attention when America and Israel are behaving badly.
My argument on the Cairo Metro was a also a reminder of our double standards. We love to cry “Islamophobia” when we talk about the way Muslim minorities are treated in the West and yet we never stop to consider how we treat minorities and the most vulnerable among us.
For those of us who move between different worlds – where one day we are a majority as I am as a Sunni Muslim in Egypt and another we are a minority as I am as a Muslim in America – it is clear that to defend the rights of a Sudanese girl on the Cairo Metro means to defend my right on the New York Subway.
Insomniac wrote about bigotry hidden under thick layers of religious and liberal pretenses saying:
Coming from a religiously conservative family, I was brought up to take extra pride in my faith, even though I did not necessarily understand it enough to practice it properly. Almost everyone in my family (from both sides) has a meaningful name influenced by religion.
Until college, I used to go by my first name and my father’s middle name. That combination made my name sound perfectly neutral; people couldn’t guess my religion and accordingly treated me cautiously in fear of offending me.
Until I got veiled!
I was confronted by how cruel society can be, judging people by their looks. I realized that my neutral name and non-significant appearance shielded me from awkward moments. I realized it was a blessing having been treated with extra caution!
And no, it’s not the expected group of people who judged me, whatever that is. Against the general assumption, I travelled to the US the next summer, and I barely had any troubles because of my veil. Average Americans, aside from the “notorious” political agenda (which is not up to me to support or condemn), do not judge people based on their looks the way people do in Egypt (and perhaps the Middle East). We are such racists and bigots and the sad part is that we hide it under thick layers of fake religiousness and liberalism which we barely practice when unwatched.
Please meet those who judge me…
- Strictly religious Muslims who consider what I wear not hijab, and expect me to dress more modestly, and
– Pseudo-Liberals, either Christians or Muslims who seem to be very appalled by my veil!
Now I won’t go defending my choice or my religion because I don’t think those who judge me or my likes would either understand or appreciate what I have to say. All I can say is “SHAME ON YOU”, both parties.
I find both parties hypocrites, who miserably fail practicing what they preach and give their causes a horrible horrible names.
It used to hurt and offend me when I felt mistreated because of my veil, but then I realized something; it’s a unique way of blocking all the fakers and pretenders who can’t handle but judge me based on my appearance rather than my personality. To those people, I say it’s really your loss, touché!
Ahmed El Sabbagh wrote about the dishonest keyboard:
حاولت إصلاح الكيبورد فى أحد محلات الصيانة فنظر لى فنى الصيانة شزراً وقال
دى موش معيوبة .. روح إتعلم القذارة وهى تشتغل زى الفل .. عشان ده عيب يوزر
Last but not least, Fantasia's World wrote about the qualifications of a scandal in the Egyptian media:
You are a sick perverted society that revels in people's misfortunes when your own houses are made of glass and the way the media tackled the murder case of Heba and Nadine is sick, mean, shameful, and disgraceful .. it is not their fault .. it is the fault of the crowds who crave scandals.
And speaking of this horrendous crime, Ethar El Katatney wrote about the media is saying about the murder:
The deaths of the two 23-year-olds, both college students, are tragic.
But what is more tragic is the way the Egyptian media dealt with the murders. Rather than answering (or attempting to answer) the 5W’s and H in their articles (Who, what, where, when, why, how), they decided to use the front page spots to create what I can only call sensationalist trash. Headlines such as “Hashish and opium and drugs” were a dime a dozen.
“If it bleeds, it leads.” So true.
The papers had a field day publishing rumors, manipulating facts, embellishing half-truths, and focusing on (what they believed were) the lives of the two women rather than their deaths.
To sum up what (the majority) of the press reported:
Nadine is one of Egypt’s elite, living it up in a sumptuous villa enclosed in one of Egypt’s many exclusive compounds. She lives alone, meaning she was loose and had no morals. She held huge parties with men coming and going at all hours. She and Heba were high on drugs and booze, and the man who killed them did so violently, meaning it was a crime of passion. It was so violent it couldn’t have been a robbery. The neighbors heard shouts, which means Nadine was arguing with a man—it must be a boyfriend. Oh, and also, she gave LE 40,000 to a boy at university, that must mean something. Perhaps trading in drugs?
Speculations, assumptions and downright lies.
Heba was not hung out to dry in the media, perhaps because of who she was, and perhaps because she didn’t commit the scandalous crime of living on her own. But once the papers found out that she had married her husband behind her parent’s backs, the press tore her to shreds. Who cares how she was murdered or who murdered her? Let’s write about how her mother must feel at this moment! Let’s focus on that!
The truth:
Nadine’s parents are middle class, and live in Saudi Arabia. She came to Egypt to study. She lives alone in an apartment, not a villa. Her father paid for the apartment over the space of three years, and had to wait another year before he had saved enough money to actually make it habitable. Nadine had been living with her grandparents in Giza, which was a two hour commute both to and from her college. Her grandfather was bedridden and her grandmother was also taking care of two other grandchildren, both of whom had Down’s Syndrome. Tired of the commute and of being an added burden on her grandmother, Nadine asked her father to live in the apartment nearer to her university.
Her dad called her a dozen times a day on a special Saudi line (to save money) to make sure she was okay. She held no parties. She was a “good girl.” The boy the papers said she gave LE 40,000 to was a boy who was thinking of proposing to her. No money was ever exchanged. And she wasn’t his girlfriend in the way the papers insinuated she was—the coroner told her dad that she was a virgin. Blood tests showed there was no drink or drugs in either of the girl’s systems and no drink or drugs were found in the apartment.
“My daughter has just been killed and I have to ask the coroner if she was a virgin to salvage her reputation,” said her father on TV as he struggled to hold back tears. “I had to cancel the funeral because of what the press has reported. Haram what they did. Publish lies. Nahsh a’rad alnas [An Arabic phrase that translates as “clawing the honor of people.”] If any of it was true, then write it! But if it’s not, then don’t ruin the memory of an innocent girl who died a horrible death.”

author: Marwa Rakha


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Egypt: Wael Abbas refuses to meet President Bush · Global Voices
Marwa Rakha

Egyptian blogger and activist Wael Abbas  just announced on his blog that he turned down an invitation to meet up with Bush.
Here's what Abbas wrote:
بوش مش رئيس جمهورية بلدي ولا ولي أمري ولا ولي امر العالم كما هو متخيل. بوش مش رمز لأي حاجة كويسة أصلا علشان حد يتشرف أو يتكرم بمقابلته. مقابلة بوش تلطخ أي شريف وليست تشريف أو تكريم. انا مالياش حاجة عند بوش ولا طالب منه حاجة ولا في ايده اي حاجة ليا وحتى لو في ايده انا مش عايزها وانا اصلا ضد فكرة اي تدخل امريكي في مصر لا بالخير ولا بالشر – انا عايزه يكف اذاه بس ويبطل مساعدة ومساندة النظام المصري. سيبكم من غزو العراق والبلاوي الكتير التانية اللي بوش عملها في العالم كله انا كفاية عليا ان بوش يقول مبارك رجل سلام. انا لم ارفض هذه الدعوة لخوفي من الانتقاد او بمعنى اصح الشرشحة بتاعة بعض التيارات السياسية لان بصراحة احنا في مصر لا عندنا تيارات سياسية ولا بطيخ من بابه ولان ببساطة كمان هاقابل بوش بتاع ايه مش علشان انا قليل لا بالعكس علشان بوش ده ايه اصلا بوش مش نلسون مانديلا ولا غاندي ولا الام تريزا الله يرحمها ولا حتى بانكي مون اللي زي قلته
انا الصراحة لو كانت جات لي دعوة لمقابلة اوباما – ومحدش يزعل مني – كنت ها ارحب جدا على الاقل الحق قبل ما اوباما يمسك ويوسخ الدنيا وتبتدي الناس تنتقده ببساطة لاني ها اقابل رمز تاريخي للتغيير في امريكا ورمز لرئيس دولة منتخب ديمقراطيا بجد والناس بتحبه وعندها امل فيه وده نموذج نتمنى نشوفه في كل دول العالم بداية بمصر وممكن كمان اتجرا واقول ان انتخاب اوباما من اهم الاشياء منذ حركة الحقوق المدنية للسود ورموزها زي مارتن لوثر كينج ومالكوم اكس
لكن بوش ده رمز لإيه؟ انا باشتغل على الحريات السياسية والفردية وعلى مقاومة القمع والعنف والديكتاتورية بوش بيرمز لإيه في اللي باشتغل عليه؟
الادارة الامريكية القديمة للاسف عارفة انها رايحة وبتشتغل بمبدأ يا رايح كتر من الفضايح وبتعمل انها بتكرم عدد من المناضلين في حين انها في الحقيقة بتلوثهم وعايزة تنسب الفضل في نضالهم ونجاحهم لنفسها قبل ما تمشي. أنا باحب الشعب الأمريكي والشعب الأمريكي هو اللي بيحتضني ويكرمني وليست الإدارة الأمريكية
وربما أمريكا ليست النموذج الامثل في حرية الصحافة ولا الاحزاب السياسية
لكن تجربة المجتمع المدني الامريكية جديرة بالاهتمام
Bush is neither my president nor my father; he is not the world's legal guardian as he would like to imagine. Bush is not a symbol of anything honorable to honor anyone who meets him; Meeting Bush would tarnish an honest man's reputation – it is by far nothing worthy of pride. I owe Bush nothing and he owes me nothing and even if he has something that I might want, I no longer want it. I am inherently against any American involvement in the Egyptian business be it good or bad. I just want him to hold his peace and stop supporting the Egyptian regime. Put the Iraqi invasion aside with all the other worldwide disasters that Bush brought on the world, it is more than enough for me that Bush calls president Mubarak “a man of peace”.
I did not reject the invitation for fear of criticism and live skinning of some political parties in Egypt because I can safely assume that we do not have anything even close to political parties in Egypt. Simply why would I be interested in meeting a person like Bush – he is not a Nelson Mandela or a Gandhi or a Mother Teresa -may she rest in peace.
Had this been an invitation to meet Obama – no offense – I would have gladly accepted it. At least I would have had the pleasure of meeting the man before he assumes office and dirties his hands. Now people love him and I would have liked to meet him when people still love him. I would have had the honor of meeting the icon of change in American history. He is the symbol of a truly democratically elected president. This is the model that we would like to see all over the world, starting with Egypt. I might even have the audacity to say that Obama's victory is a new landmark since the African American civil rights movement and its symbols – namely Martin Luther King and Malcolm X. But who is this Bush and what does he represent? I serve the causes of political and individual freedom and fighting oppression, violence, and dictatorship so how does Bush serve my cause?
The old American cabinet knows that they are on their way out so they decided to create havoc on their way out. They also decided to honor some activists when in fact by doing so America is disgracing them. They want to take credit for their strife and success before its fifteen minutes of fame are over. I love Americans as people and every time I visit America, it is because the Americans are supportive of me and my cause…. Maybe America is not the ideal solution for freedom of press and political parties but still it's civil society is an interesting experience to study and analyze.


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Egypt: When Virginity is More Important than Murder  · Global Voices
Tarek Amr

Egypt is gripped with the story of a gruesome murder, in which two university students were killed, in the upscale Sixth of October City’s Sheikh Zayed district. One of the victims is the daughter of Moroccan singer Laila Ghofran.
This murder follows in the heels of yet another horrifying crime which claimed the life of Lebanese singer Suzanne Tameem, in Dubai, and in which an Egyptian businessman is accused of hiring a hitman to have her killed.
“Two girls were brutally killed in 6th of October city … But it became the talk of town because one of the victims is the daughter of 3rd degree Moroccan singer called Laila Ghofran,” writes Egyptian Chronicles.
And to make the incident more interesting to the readers, some papers started to spread rumors about the victims’ lifestyle.
Taboohat writes about how the media and society as a whole are dealing with the murder:

author: Tarek Amr


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Ghana: Choosing the lesser evil in the presidential elections · Global Voices
Elia Varela Serra

Jemila of Ghana Unite for Development comments on Ghana's development efforts in view of the upcoming presidential elections on December 7th. He appears pessimistic about the outcome: “I am not in the least bit confident in any result that this election might come to. All I can hope is that we don't accelerate the process of ruining what strides we have made so far…”

author: Elia Varela Serra


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Imagine what 20 million Egyptians could do · Global Voices
Marwa Rakha

Naguib Sawiris's Mobinil is positioned as the leading mobile service operator in Egypt.
Scene & Heard hails Mobinil's inspirational campaign “Imagine what 20 million Egyptians could do.”
We don't know if you guys have heard the new Ad campaign for Mobinil on the radio, but we are honestly impressed!
It hovers on the verge of a Public Service announcement pointing out how much better our country could be if we all worked together…20 million Egyptians could build a thousand pyramids, could clean up Cairo's streets in minutes, could make each others day by just smiling…We honestly have to give it to them for thinking this through and coming out with a meaningful message…
Underneath the message Mobinil smartly points out how those same 20 million Egyptians, were able to get together and do have one thing in common…their all subscribers to their service!
Now if only we could get 20 million of us to get together for a cause…ahhh only in a perfect world!
Ad in Arabic below


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India: Anti Terror Rally in Mumbai · Global Voices
Rezwan

Rajan Nair posts some images of the anti-terror rally took place on December 4, 2008 at Gateway of India in Mumbai.


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India: Dear Israel, Love Kashmir · Global Voices
Maya Norton

False Dichotomies’ Alex Stein recently received a letter from Kashmir, thanking him for his coverage of Mumbai. It read: “Jews are and always have been welcome in Kashmir. In fact, in 1991 when Jews were taken hostage by Pakistani militants, it was a Kashmiri group – JKLF which stands for secular independent Kashmir – that rescued them. The simple, decent folk of Kashmir have nothing but feelings of brotherhood and hospitality for the Jewish people. You are always welcome here.”


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India: Firing At New Delhi Airport · Global Voices
Rezwan

Kamla Bhatt analyzes the fresh reports of firing at New Delhi’s International Airport on the early hours of December 5, 2008.


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Iran: Film Festival Will Honor Jewish Actor · Global Voices
Maya Norton

Iran's 27th Fajr International Film Festival will honor actor Paul Newman, who died this year, Israelity notes. In Israel, Newman's best known work is “Exodus,” the story of the State's founding.


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Israel: Send Terrorist Prisoners to Sderot · Global Voices
Maya Norton

“What if Israel moved all the terrorist prisoners to Sderot so that they too would be exposed to the rocket fire from Gaza?” Yaakov Kirschen of the Dry Bones Blog asks.


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Jamaica: The Agony of Defeat?  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Jamaican Kadene Porter, writing at Abeng News Magazine, notices that women are often less than gracious “when it comes to conceding defeat in a political campaign.”


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Jamaica: When You Gotta Go… · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Need to go to the bathroom in Jamaica?  Iriegal can point you in the right direction.


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Japan: Ikeda on the Fall of Japanese · Global Voices
Chris Salzberg

Minae Mizumura‘s The Fall of the Japanese Language in the Age of English, which sparked debate recently in Japan on the future of the country's national language, is the subject of a blog post [ja] by Nobuo Ikeda. Ikeda writes that his wife had bought the book and described it as “boring”, and when he later picked it up and had a read himself, he felt the same. “She says that Japanese literature is being threatened so we need to protect it, but her understanding is mistaken,” he writes. “In scholarship and business, at least, Japanese is already nothing more than a regional language.”


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Jordan: Photographs from Recent Art Expos  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Khobbeizeh, from Jordan, posts photographs from recent art exhibitions in Jordan.

author: Amira Al Hussaini


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Jordan: Recent Portraits  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Jordanian photographer Laith, who lives in Los Angeles, US, posts a few of the latest photographs he took here.


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Kuwait: Holiday season  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

From Kuwait, G.Q. is celebrating December and the holiday season.


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Kuwait: Off to Hajj  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Kuwaiti blogger Marzouq is off to Hajj, the pilgrimage Muslims perform to Mecca, at least once in their life time, if they have the means and are able to do so.


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Nicaragua: Mondongo Soup Recipe · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Homero shares a recipe from his mother for the Nicaraguan dish Mondongo Soup [es].


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Oman: Unequal Treatment over Visas  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Muscati from Oman is enraged at the treatment Omanis receive when they apply for Schengen visas to visit Europe. “The reason I'm writing this post is that I am pissed off that Oman has a visa on arrival policy for countries that don't have quick visa procedures for Omani citizens,” he notes.


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Pakistan: Deadly Bomb Blast in Peshawar · Global Voices
Muhammad Farhan

Peshawar, the capital of the North-West Frontier Province in Pakistan was rocked with a high intensity car bomb blast today. The car was parked near the assembly hall laden with almost 30-40 KG explosive materials. It was not a suicidal attack as there was no one inside the car. As per the latest reports Police confirmed that 21 people were killed and more than 90 were injured.
Ayesha writes in her post “Peshawar Bleeds”:
How many more blasts and how many more deaths this historic city would see?
Koocha Risaldar, Kissa Khawni is the congested and populated area. The blast took place at such time when most people were out shopping as Eid is also round the corner. Although the blast occurred close to Imam Bargah but in my view that wasn’t the target.
The situation got worse when the electricity of that area failed and a huge fire spread out due to an explosion in an adjacent gas pipeline. Nearby Warehouses and shops were also engulfed in fire. Sources have been suspecting that this blast could be a reaction to the recent Mumbai terror attacks and the usual blame games are on in the media and news channels from Pakistan that the Indian Intelligence RAW could be behind this. The Chief Minister of NWFP has also mentioned that a foreign hand could be involved behind this attack.
Pakistani bloggers were slow to react to this news probably due to the weekend, Hajj and Eid ul Adha holidays. But some were seen active on Twitter in disseminating the news. For the latest updates on the tragedy you can follow the Twitter updates here or at my own Twitter Channel here. You can also find a roundup of media reports at my own blog Guppu.com.

author: Muhammad Farhan


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Palestine: Settlers Shoot Palestinian in Hebron  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Palestinian Haitham Sabbah posts a video showing a settler shooting Palestinians in Hebron. The footage was filmed by Jamal Abu-Sa'ifan, who documented how his own family was attacked.


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Saudi Arabia: Bloggers and Blogging in Saudi Arabia  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

American Bedu, an American woman in Saudi Arabia, writes about the impact of blogs and bloggers in the Kingdom. “In my view, blogs are an excellent mechanism to further balance out and learn about Saudi Arabia,” she writes.


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Saudi Arabia: Welcome to Old Jeddah  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Susie's Big Adventure, a blog by an American woman in Saudi Arabia, introduces us to old Jeddah in this post.


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Senegal: Troubles in schools · Global Voices
Norbert Bousigue

Recently, several Senegalese bloggers and journalists have turned their attentions to the challenges of educating children in Senegal.
In an article on the news website PressAfrik [fr], Awa Diédhiou writes that “The Senegalese school is in danger”, because many schools -mainly in Dakar – are close to markets,
L’école sénégalaise est menacée. Beaucoup d’établissements scolaires sont en train de se transformer timidement en un fief de délinquants et l’environnement est de plus en plus carnavalesque. Les enseignements se déroulent dans un fond sonore assourdissant provenant des marchés dont l’animation et l’encombrement permettent aux voyous et aux drogués d'entrer discrètement dans les écoles
Picture of the clasroom of the school of Agnam-Goly, Senegal by Adama Diop, under Wikipedia Commons License.
Naomed, writing [30th of November 2008] on the blog Politique au Sénégal [fr], points another issue :
De 2001 à nos jours, au moins 1 050 cas de grossesses ont été recensés dans les écoles du département de Kolda. […]
Plus de 50% de ces grossesses seraient dues à des enseignants.
From 2001 to present, at least 1,050 pregnancies have been registred in schools of the department of Kolda [an area with 300,000 inhabitants]. […]
Teachers would be responsible of more than 50% of these pregnancies.
With rather coarse words, the author of this post emphazises two important problems.
First, is the lack of sex education in schools, which make girls “gullible”, “good to consummate” and “ignorant about essential matters”. Naomed criticizes religious leaders who are “quick to denounce occidental way of life” and thinks the real sin is ignorance. An ignorance apparently shared by teachers “incapable of using condoms”.
Second, the impunity ot those teachers seducing their pupils. Naomed points out that in most cases, no legal action against them. “People negotiate and sort things out,” Naomed writes.  Money changes hands, the matter is forgotten.
L'omerta fonctionne parce qu'un consensus non dit couvre en général ce genre d'actes, tout comme il couvre la corruption, le détournement… C'est la rançon de la difficulté des sénégalais à condamner l'un des leurs. La rançon de la propension des sénégalais à négocier toujours et encore, même le non négociable. La rançon de la tendance des sénégalais à résoudre tous les problèmes avec l'argent.
This sad reality seems to be confirmed by Hamidou Sagna, who writes an article on allAfrica.com [fr] about NGO's and schoolchildren in Hann-Bel Air, a district of Dakar, calling for the end of brutalities, abuses, genital mutilations and rapes against girls. The children wore T-shirts with inscriptions saying “I want to learn without fear”, “My school, a safe place to learn” and “Stop harassing girls”.
A post on Scoops de Ziguinchor [fr] reports the speech of the mayor of Ziguinchor, when he delivered some furniture and stationery for the schools. He was satisfied and told the parents: “You sacrifice yourself for the future of your children. Good choice”. But more surprisingly, he also criticized education:
Toutefois l’édile de Ziguinchor est d’avis que plus les gens sont instruits moins ils regagnent leur village et plus ils tournent le dos à la terre. « Le travail de la terre est aujourd’hui une contrainte. C’est comme qui dirait une punition pour ceux qui n’ont pas pu fréquenter ou réussir à l’école. Cela il faut y réfléchir. Car constituant l’ennemi principal de notre développement économique et social ».
The mayor notes that villages are losing inhabitants; school educates people only for them to migrate to the cities where they face uncertain futures, and often unemployment.
Even so, more and more children in Senegal are going to school.  UNESCO figures show that 72% of children attended primary school in 2007.  It's progress, but one that creates new challenges and issues.

author: Norbert Bousigue


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Singapore: Medical treatment for AIDS victims · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Everyday’s Life in a Snapshot from Singapore insists that government should subsidize the medical treatment of AIDS victims.


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Sri Lanka: Misconceptions prolonging ethnic conflict · Global Voices
Rezwan

Somapala Gunadheera at Groundviews writes about the ethnic conflicts in Sri Lanka: “It is being prolonged by misconceptions born (out) of prejudice, parochialism and rivalry.”


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Syria: New Home for Blogger  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Yazan Badran's On Olives and Sake has a new home on WordPress – thanks to Syria's censorship of blogging platform Blogger.com.


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Thailand: Complaint of stranded Filipinos · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Coffee Stains & Inks from the Philippines hints that embassy officials were slow in helping Filipinos who were stranded in Thailand during the airport crisis.


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Thailand: Journalists caught in the crossfire · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Journalists criticize both the pro and anti government groups for harassing and attacking reporters during the airport crisis.


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Trinidad & Tobago: P of A · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Trin finds the government's position on certain key issues implausible and asks: “Are exhausted people resorting to threats of violence to escape a sinking city or Trinbagonians dying from an imaginary dengue outbreak part of your vacuous plan of action for ‘nurturing a caring society'”?


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Venezuela: After the Municipal Elections · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

After the results of the recent municipal elections, Kira Kariakin of K-minos [es] cannot believe that President Hugo Chávez announced that he wants to remain in power.

author: Eduardo Avila


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YouTube Auditions for First Virtual Symphony Orchestra · Global Voices
Suzanne Lehn

YouTube is orchestrating an exciting new collaborative project: inviting musicians worldwide to be auditioned online for the world's first virtual symphony orchestra. Amateurs as well as professionals, have until January 28, 2009 to download sheet music, and upload videos of their performances.
In this video ad for the orchestra, Chinese composer Tan Dun (Remember the film, “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”?) and many other musicians beckon: “Join us!”. The appeal is available in more than a dozen languages.
Play your part in music history and join the YouTube Symphony Orchestra. You just need to upload two videos: your contribution to the Tan Dun piece and a general audition video.
Good luck!
Here is how it works.
1. Prepare – Select your instrument to access the sheet music and rehearse with the conductor
2. Submit – Upload your performances and submit them to join the YouTube Symphony Orchestra
3. Entries – Browse videos to get ideas and check out the competition.
Professional musicians will make a first pre-selection, before a vote by the YouTube audience takes place in February 2009. The objective is a real life performance, due to take place at Carnegie Hall, in New York, on April 15, 2009, conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas, musical director of the San Francisco Orchestra.
Now to your instruments, and go!

author: Suzanne Lehn


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Bangladesh, India: Photos On Positive Lives  · Global Voices
Rezwan

Renowned Bangladeshi photo journalist Shahidul Alam reviews the works of Dayanita Singh, an award winning Indian photographer. Her works were displayed at “Positive Lives”, an exhibition on people’s responses to HIV/AIDS.

author: Rezwan


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Ethiopia: Teddy Afro gets a six-year sentence · Global Voices
Elia Varela Serra

Addis Journal reports that Teddy Afro was been given a six-year sentence on Monday, convicted on two charges of killing a homeless in hit-and-run accident and driving away without reporting the incident. His arrest last April two years after the original incident captured nationwide interest, was filled with drama and inspired a petition for a fair and speedy trial.


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Iran: Images from Iran · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Pars Arts has done an interview with Tom Loughlin a Colorado-based artist whose portraits of Iranians in Iran are being shown in a groundbreaking and thought-provoking installation across the United States.

author: Fred Petrossian


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Iran:Disaster in Gaza · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Edalatkhaneh, an Iranian blogger, has published[fa] a report on economic disaster in Gaza Strip. The blogger says Israel's economic sanctions have made life very difficult for people living in this area and the world is silent about it.


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Iran:How does the Guardian get its information? · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Bepa09, an Iranian blogger, writes  that an article in the UK based Guardian says about its source of information: according to Jahan News, a website considered close to Iran’s intelligence ministry. The blogger adds “the writer does not explain who says this site is considered close to Iranian intelligence.”


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Iran:”Resistance in Gaza” · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Haj Rezvan, an Iran based blogger, says [fa] “resistance in Gaza Strip will become stronger if [Israel's]blockade continues”.


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Latvia: Freedom of Speech Controversy · Global Voices
Aleks Tapinsh

Prominent Latvians are outraged over the detention of a university lecturer at a seaside town of Ventspils by the security police. The economic crisis, a bank bailout, and the launched talks with the International Monetary Fund served as a backdrop for the arrest of Dmitrijs Smirnovs. During a discussion at a provincial newspaper Ventas Balss, Smirnovs said:
The only thing that I can recommend is: first of all, do not save money in banks; second of all, do not save money in lats because right now it is very dangerous.
Historian Gustavs Strenga writes (LV):
In the end, because of this thoughtless act of the security police (SP), Latvian state and society suffered. The society can no longer feel safe about the freedom of speech, but the state's loss is its degraded image. You just have to read the foreign press. Austrian Der Standart writes (DE) about the arrest of D. Smirnovs, so does Tageszeitung (DE). Both newspapers don't hide their surprise about SP's action to send the expert into jail. Smirnovs’ arrest made it clear for the international community – first of all – and our largest partners in the European Union that they are still dealing with a post-communist country where repressive organizations are still ready to act against their own citizens. That is a very dangerous signal. Latvian officials ought to understand it and at least attempt cosmetic changes inside the SP, at least to fire the head of the SP Janis Reiniks to show that SP won't continue to act this way against its own citizens.
Latvian journalists wrote an open letter (LV) to authorities, voicing their concern for the freedom of speech:
We ask the Latvian government to announce clearly that it supports guarantees of the freedom of speech that are included in the Constitution of the Republic of Latvia and international agreements on human rights.
We turn to the European Union institutions on human rights and democratic governments in Europe and elsewhere in the world as well as non-governmental organizations that protect freedom of speech so that they would strongly remind the Latvian government that it is its duty to respect the freedom of speech.
Following an account in the Wall Street Journal about Latvia's Unpalatable Choice, the head of the Latvian Central Bank Ilmars Rimsevics came out against the action of the security police for the first time only on December 3.
Free Speech Emergency in Latvia, a blog set up by Latvian journalist Juris Kaža, cites the bank chief:
Logically, the detention of these two people in connection with spreading rumors is, unfortunately, laughable and pathetic, for they were not the true rumor-mongers. The real rumor-mongers are watching this and laughing. The rumor-mongers work with SMS messages, naming specific dates when decisions will be made, even saying what the new lats rate will be. No such person has been detained. I truly feel uncomfortable, seeing how singers and lecturers are detained.
The blogger also adds:
But Rimšēvics also told the media in an earlier statement (that seemed to refer to the Security Police actions) that in other countries, rumor-mongers would be arrested within 15 minutes of expressing their views about the finance system or currency. One can only guess which authoritarian regimes and dictatorships would act this way.

author: Aleks Tapinsh


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Latvia: Ruling party in trouble · Global Voices
Vilhelm Konnander

Baltic comments on the potential for political crisis in Latvia, as news broke that Prime Minister Godmanis and his ruling LPP/LC party overstepped the legal threshold for campaign spending for the 2006 parliamentary elections.

author: Vilhelm Konnander


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Malawi: 36-hour bus ride to Johannesburg · Global Voices
Elia Varela Serra

Boni Dulani describes his 36-hour bus ride from Mangochi, Malawi to Johannesburg, South Africa going through Mozambique and Zimbabwe. He concludes “despite all those challenges, there is a positive story to tell from my trip: Zimbabwe is the only country where I didn’t have to pay any bribes to get both an entry and exit visa”.


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Myanmar: English translation of Constitution · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Myat Thura uploads an English translation of Myanmar's constitution


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Pakistan: Spare the Lamb for Eid-ul-Adha · Global Voices
Rezwan

Temporal at Baithak suggests some effective ways of sacrificing wealth for the poor during Eid-ul Adha instead of sacrificing animal (Qurbani) and wasting the meat: “We can think of many ways to make Him (God) happy and spare the lamb”.


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Philippines: Reflections on Iloilo History · Global Voices
Karlo Mongaya

ToTomel reflects on the history of Iloilo, a center of trade and commerce in the central Philippines since the 19th Century when the country was under Spanish colonial rule.

author: Karlo Mongaya


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Thailand: Protesters honor their fallen comrades · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Anti-government protesters from the People's Alliance for Democracy have been conducting street actions for the past 193 days. PAD said 7 of its members were killed, one comatosed, six crippled, and 625 injured.


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Thailand: Why did they choose the airport? · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Thai Politico explains why anti-government protesters chose Thailand's new airport to stage their “decisive battle” against the government.


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Vietnam: Activist blogger faces tax fraud charges · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Vietnamese activist Nguyen Hoang Hai, better known by the blogging name of Dieu Cay, is facing tax fraud cases. But he claims these are trumped up charges. According to his supporters, the government wants him jailed for being a founding member of Free Vietnamese Journalists Club.


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Vietnam: Christmas invasion · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

CitizeMekong uploads a video about the “Christmas invasion” in communist Vietnam. David in Ho Chi Minh notes that Christmas in Vietnam is “strictly the commercial free-for-all” with no mention of the birth of Jesus or much of a Christian theme.


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Vietnam: New regulations on blogging · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Vietnam authorities want to impose new regulations on internet use and blogging in Vietnam. The ministry officials said “The law will not interfere with bloggers’ privacy, but will help in the healthy development of the Web-log environment.”


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Wife of ousted Thai leader returns to Bangkok · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Potjaman Shinawatra, the wife of ousted Thai leader Thaksin Shinawatra arrived in Thailand on the first day of reopening of Bangkok's airport. The Thaksin couple was earlier found guilty by a Thai court for tax evasion. Twitter user Smartbrain comments: “Pojaman landed. Escorted to home and not arrested despite the outstanding warrant. So I guess she's above the law…”


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Armenia: CNN Genocide Coverage Controversy · Global Voices
Simon Maghakyan

Too short for Armenians and too long for the Turkish government, a two-hour CNN  documentary by Christiane Amanpour on genocide  includes a 45-second mention of the WWI extermination of Ottoman Empire's indigenous Armenian population. Premiered on December 4, 2008, Scream Bloody Murder has made many Armenian bloggers angry, leading them to recall Hitler's rhetoric for impunity, “Who, after all, remembers the Armenians?”
Armenia-based blogger, photographer and designer Arsineh had concerns even before watching the documentary. Writing on Ars Eye View, she says:
[…]
I'm preparing to watch the program for myself, but given this much prior information, I have to ask. If you are going to cover the epidemic of genocide, starting with the campaign to criminalize genocide, continue to show the struggle so many have endured to (as you titled your program) “SCREAM BLOODY MURDER” while the world turned a deaf ear only to allow genocide to continue around the world, shouldn't you be talking about the biggest cover up of genocide, the very one which inspired Lemkin to coin the word, the very one which also inspired Adolf Hitler to follow through with the Holocaust? Afterall, it's this denial that scares CNN from ever using the word “Genocide” in their reporting on related matters.
[…]
She also posts a video question to  CNN.
Writing in detail, West of Igdir says a previous CNN press release suggested the coverage of the Armenian Genocide was going to be more intense.
[…]
The release specifically mentioned Armenia as one of the cases of genocide it would be examining. This naturally created some excitement that finally a major news organization would be dedicating a program partly to the so often overlooked Armenian Genocide of 1915 and inform a nationwide audience about it.
[…]
I had been feeling hopeful about the documentary and might have given it more of a pass on this omition until I saw this interactive map on the section of Scream Bloody Murder section of CNN's website about the world's killing fields. It appears that despite the fact when it had first been announced Armenia was prominently mentioned as one of the examples of genocide that would be covered, it was overlooked as being pinpointed on the interactive map as an example of genocide.
[..]
Clearly the documentary did not go unnoticed in Turkey, despite the fact it says almost nothing about the Armenian Genocide, as the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet yesterday declared “Genocide feature worrisome.”
[…]
Sevana at Life in the Armenian Diaspora is also unhappy.
When will this second class genocide victim status end? I guess CNN is afraid that CNN-Turk will be cut off the air if they include the Armenians… how very, very sad.
Another diasporan voice, Seta’s Armenian Blog posts an action alert by the Armenian National Committee of America to protest CNN’s almost exclusion of the Armenian Genocide.
Dozens of users of CNN's iReport have also reacted to the documentary by posting comments on  anchor Christiane Amanpour’s page, most of them condemning a short mention of the Armenian Genocide.
One user writes:
[…] It[‘]s unfortunate that today, Genocide, Ethnic Cleansing, or whatever new term one uses for this act, still happens today and yet nothing is really done to stop it. Hitler once said (referring to the Armenian Genocide) “Who remembers the Armenians”… and yet, I'm still waiting for someone to answer that question. I thought it might be answered in “Scream Bloody Murder”, but it was not, and again the question remains unanswered….
That's Sprezzatura is angry not only about the brief mention of Armenians but also because there was no mention of Henry Morgenthau, the U.S. Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire at the time.
[…]
Amanpour, by the power of her camera and microphone, breathed life to the screaming voices of the forgotten activists, and deservedly amplified the “bloody murder” calls of the moral few, such as: Eli Wiesel, Father Francois Ponchaud, Peter Galbraith, Richard Holbrook, Romeo Dallaire and other unsung heroes, but Amanpour chose dead silence instead to the screams of Henry Morgenthau, the US Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire at the time of the Armenian Genocide — Morgenthau too, ‘screamed bloody murder.’ Give that honorable man some credit and the 1.5 million Armenian victims some respect.
[…]
In addition, the blog calls the documentary a “Bloody Shame Whisper.”
Shameful in the eyes of many Armenians, even the short mention of the WWI genocide, nonetheless, has angered nationalist Turks. The blog of the Turkish Coalition of America, for instance, posts YouTube videos by Bruce Fein, a conservative Harvard lawyer with strong links to Turkey, challenging CNN’s inclusion of the Armenian Genocide in the documentary.
Furthermore, the blog of The New York Turkish Times posts an action alert, apparently a letter that a Turkish organization sent to CNN before the broadcast, asking supporters to sign the letter which says it “condemn[s] CNN for its decision to broadcast a two-hour special report titled ‘Screamed [sic] Bloody Murder’ that will include a discussion about ‘So-Called Armenian Genocide’ on December 4, 2008.”
[…]
Genocide is a legal term. The only legally recognized genocides are the Holocaust and the Rwandan Genocide. How can CNN Intl Correspondent Christiane Amanpour criminalize denial of a so called genocide that does not even legally and historically exist? As you probably might know according to article 2 of the UN Convention on Genocide of 1948 “there has to be an intension to exterminate a race, ethnic group..”
While there is a clear international law for the term genocide, why don't Armenians take the so-called case to an international court.
[…]
I can promise you that broadcasting this “so-called” documentary will result in a substantial loss of support from viewers of CNN.  As the President of FTAA [Federation of Turkish American Associations], I urge you not to approve the airing of the “Screamed [sic] Bloody Murder” that plans to air on December 4th.

author: Simon Maghakyan


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Armenia: Earthquake Anniversary · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Today marks the 20th anniversary of the 1988 earthquake which devastated parts of northern Armenia including the country's second largest city of Gyumri. Unzipped says that for the estimated 7,000 families which still remain homeless the past two decades have been full of nothing more than empty promises. Meanwhile, Anush Babajanyan's Photoblog puts the figure at nearly half that and posts photographs of life in just one district of Gyumri where 300 families still live in domiks and other deserted buildings.

author: Onnik Krikorian


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Bangladesh: Eid and Christmas Bazaars · Global Voices
Rezwan

Life as a Tai Tai posts some pictures of Eid and Christmas Bazaars in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh.


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Bolivia: Irresponsible Driving in School Zones · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Marisol Medina of Lenguas Cultura y Sociedad [es] witnessed an unfortunate accident in El Alto, Bolivia, when a bus hit a student and she faults the bus driver to not being aware of pedestrians in school zones.


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China: Official report — political aristocracy has ruled national wealth · Global Voices
Bob Chen

Power makes money, money makes power, this is not unusual. That the owners of power have innate intention to pass on the privilege to their children, as well, is more than estimable. But the specific degree of such phenomena in China have nonetheless long been clouded as a taboo.
This, if any one has done the research, must have been a top secret. But thanks to the “unusual openness” of Chinese media, a striking figure comes to the light. Perhaps what surprised us more is no longer the expected fact how notable the monopolization of social wealth is associated with political power, but that what unprecedented honesty allows these figures slip into Xinhua News, the state-owned media, and open to public.
The figures are revealed in two sets of reports which are both quoted in a professor’s article on a newspaper. The article is put online on Xinhua.net, named “Word of worry: what’s behind the groups of astonishing numbers”. It was soon called into attention in blogsphere. Muji in Bullog.cn picked the text and exposed the most significant data on the title:
官方：亿万富翁3220人中2932人是高干子女
The original article says
中国社会科学院两年前的《当代中国社会流动》研究报告曾有统计说，我国处于社会优势地位的阶层，高干子女职业继承性明显增强，“干部子女当干部的机会比常人高2.1倍”。
What’s more telling is the data revealed by a co-effort of several central research agencies, including the Research Center of State Council and Central Academy of CPC:
截至今年3月底，内地私人拥有财产（不包括在境外、外国的财产）超过5000万以上的有27310人，超过1亿元以上的有3220人。超过1亿元以上者， 有2932人是高干子女，他们拥有资产20450余亿元。而考证其资产来源，主要是依靠家庭背景的权力下的非法所得和合法下的非法所得。
Up to March this year, 27310 people in China possess, each of them, a fortune over 50 million (Yuan), 3220 with over 100 million each, and 2932 of them are children of senior officials; their aggregate fortune amounts to 2045 billion. The further study finds that, the fortune is mostly derived from illegal income facilitated by their family’s political power, and illegal income that is from legal sources (as read in the original text—translator).
Netizen 常非常 reply almost immediately:
官方也承认这个了，感动中……
牛家庄客 laughed
革命的目标实现了!
It gains 60 clicks of “support”.
hcgs2218  says:
内地私人拥有财产（不包括在境外、外国的财产）
这个统计很不全面啊。如果包括的话，我们可以说，共产主义终于在高干子弟群体实现鸟。
刘亚玲x1300000000 questioned the twisted saying in the article:
‘合法下的非法所得’？？？
说合法，就合法，
说非法，就非法，
合法也非法，
非法也合法，
党妈说了算
杨佳第二 (2nd Yang Jia) on the contrary, has no time to mock and sigh, but furiously yelled:
上帝让人灭亡，必先让其疯狂。努力攫取吧，因为这是你们通往地狱的纸钱！！！！！！！！！

author: Bob Chen


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Egypt: Egyptian Dialect Wikipedia · Global Voices
Tarek Amr

Wikimedia has agreed to create a new section – a Wikipedia in the Egyptian Dialect. This decision was the catalysis for a discussion across the Egyptian blogosphere. Is it a good or a bad move, and is Egyptian and standalone language, or just a dialect of Arabic?
Iknaton2, from  A Whisper, wrote here:
Ahmad Gharbeia then commented on Iknaton2‘s post saying:
Lasto Adri reacted to Ikhnaton2's post as follows:
Gharbeia then replied:
Then Bella added:
Also Zeinobia wrote a separate post about the same issue:
I am totally against the new Egyptian dialect Wikipedia , now we got our localized version of Wikipedia , we got our own Egyptian dialect Wikipedia and I am sorry to say that it sucks.
Seriously it is ridiculous , I read in it some entries and I was shocked.
Look I do not know why people do not contribute more to the Original Arabic Wikipedia if they can spend hours contributing to the Egyptian dialect Wikipedia.!!??
May be they hate the Arabic grammar rules !!??
Well then I have a nice suggestion , I do not know if it is available or not but we can add spell and grammar checker to Arabic Wikipedia.
I do not know what the next will be ; a PortSaidi or Upper Egyptian dialect Wikipedia !!??
Such debate wasn't limited to the blogosphere only, but it spread out to Jaiku.
Tarek (Myself) wrote:
Then Alaa (Manalaa) replied:
Lasto Adri responded:
Alaa reacted:
And Moftasa had a different point of view there:
Tarek then asked another question:
Lasto Adri replied:
And Alaa added:
And finally, Tarek wrote:


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Egypt: Change the Channel Initiative · Global Voices
Nermeen Edrees

During the past few months, Egyptians have been haunted with catastrophic headlines and top stories on a daily basis – from murders, to corruption, to a series of fires, to sexual harassment… not to mention the effect of the global economical crises that the Egyptian officials allegedly confirmed hasn't significantly affected the (already) deteriorating economy.  Seriously, it was like a spell has been cast on Egypt and caused  a series of unfortunate events.
Amid this grim, Egyptian bloggers decided to revolt against the country's current rueful state and bring out some positive energy to the surface through the “Change the Channel” campaign.
The campaign is the brainchild of blogger Tarek Amr, one of Global Voices Online‘s authors, who describes it as follows:
He then continues:
المهم الحملة ديه إتفقنا نسميها
غيَر المحطة
و حاتكون في اليوم إل رقمه زي رقم الشهر
يعني واحد يناير و إتنين فبراير و تلاته مارس لحد إتناشر ديسمبر
The initiative is highly encouraged and welcomed around the Egyptian bloo sphere and some bloggers are exhilarated about going pink. In her blog, Jessy decided to change the tone until further notice:
“I am going to limit this negative input and replace it with more positive and healthy messages, at least in my own pink bubble life”

author: Nermeen Edrees


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Japan: Bloggers’ Meeting on Dec. 18th · Global Voices
Chris Salzberg

Agile Media Network announces [ja] a bloggers meeting on December 18th starting from 19.30 at the Nomura Research Institute [ja]. The event is free and in Japanese. More info in Japanese here. [ja]

author: Chris Salzberg


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Japan: Hatena Bottle a spam trap? · Global Voices
Chris Salzberg

In a post entitled, “I realized for the first time yesterday that Hatena is doomed” [昨日初めて「”はてな”はダメだ」と思った], blogger id:grgr56 explains how they tried out the new service “Hatena Bottle” yesterday [ja] and concluded: “Hatena Bottle is a spam trap”: “I noticed [after registering] that mails started coming. […] If you go to the top page of Hatena Bottle [ja], you'll see that nothing is written about what kind of service it is. I guess some people must consider it the fault of the person who registers for the service [that they end up getting spam mails]. Well, that was my mistake. I overestimated Hatena.”


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Japan: Japanese Language Proficiency Test Day · Global Voices
Scilla Alecci

Takeshi at Saigon kara kita tsuma [サイゴンから来た妻] writes about his Vietnamese wife who took the Japanese Language Proficiency Test [en] [日本語能力試験, nihongo nōryoku shiken] today, as do thousands of other people every year who want to test their Japanese level. Seeing his wife to the test site, Takeshi-san was moved by the number of foreign people — coming from all over the world and speaking every language imaginable — who decide to live in Japan and dedicate themselves to the study of the Japanese language.

author: Scilla Alecci