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Panama: Noriegaville News Closed · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

“Sorry, but The Noriegaville News is closed and is not coming back,” reads text on the Panamanian blog.  It continues to explain why the blog had closed due not only to people's “hate campaigns online but also moved them into the real world”


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South Africa: In Boks we trust · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Keo bealives that the South African rugby team will beat Fiji on Sunday: “I can’t believe how many people are asking if the Boks can beat Fiji. I also can’t believe how many are getting nervous about the prospect of Argentina in the semi-finals.”

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Sri Lanka: Any lesbians here? · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Equal Ground on Ahmedinejad's comments on homosexuality in Iran, and the parallels in Sri Lanka.

author: Neha Viswanathan


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Ukraine: Election Observer’s Report · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

MoldovAnn posts a detailed report on observing the election at a polling station in Kyiv where Ukraine's foreign minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk cast his vote.

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Afghanistan: Corruption, Beauty, and Hope for the Future · Global Voices
Joshua Foust

Afghan blogger Mohammad Fahim Khairy asks, is President Hamid Karzai out of touch?
On the night of the [suicide] attack, Karzai showed up on national television and announced “The attacker is definitely a foreigner because Afghans do not kill any Muslims in the month of Ramadan.” How easily Karzai dismisses the crimes of the so-called Muslim Taliban that millions of people have witnessed with their own eyes.
Karzai is constantly trying to make excuses for and cover the crimes of Taliban. A few days ago, he said that he was ready to hold talks with the Taliban and offer them positions in the government. He added that the Taliban were Afghans and so they do not need to continue fighting with their own country. Ironically, however, when he claimed that Afghans doesn’t kill Muslim another news report showed the hanging of a 15-year old boy in the southern province of Helmand by the Taliban.
How can Karzai expect us to believe that a foreigner was responsible for that bus attack? Why would a foreigner want to do such a thing? I thought the foreigners were feeding us and rebuilding our country?
Mohammed Fahim Khairy is touching on a very sensitive subject in his blog: whether the government in Kabul is responding appropriately to the recent wave of Taliban attacks in the capital. The attack he refers to were on a bus, and targeted the police (at last count 27 people were killed, but the number may be higher).
Atash Parcha relates what it was like just after:
I have lost count of the number of suicide bomb attacks in Kabul let alone the number of casualties. Yesterday, another suicide attack took place in Karte Parwan near Cinema Baharistan killing 27 police (numbers continue to rise). Reuters reported 10 killed, a flimsy portrayal of the tragic imposition of the bombing. Other sources immediately reported 27 dead. If the same situation occurred in a western country, the ‘estimation’ would have been doubled increasing social alarm. However, Afghanistan continues to be forlon and Afghan blood continues to spill unnoticed by the world.
I will say no more, let the photos speak. It saddens me to think about who have been killed. Men who have joined the army only to provide for their families, recipients of US$70 month wages. Fathers, uncles, brothers. all sole income earners for their families.
I have mentioned this before and i will entrench it again, men here play multiple roles in a family. Unfortunately, sadly but truly, women find it formidable to persevere in life without a male figure in the home. My heart goes out for these women. But i also admire the strength, courage and determination of those women who continue to struggle and strive for the future. Women who perpetuate the family name in a dignified and honourable manner. The mothers and wives of Afghanistan.
Indeed, the courage of Afghan women is truly remarkable. Nasim Fekrat posts one photo of a burqa'd woman selling bread, ironically perhaps, to feed her family. As stark as it may seem to Western eyes, it is nothing compared to what Afghan women used to face in the 90's, as the Taliban extended their brutal rule.
Still, the question remains: is Karzai out of touch? Khairy complains that while the U.S. military steps up its most wanted campaign, Hamid Karzai is holding reconciliation talks with Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. He calls them “child games,” all while the national army is infiltrated and corrupted.
Perhaps much of the turmoil could be addressed if Afghanistan had a cohesive civic identity. The recent attempts to turn Ahmed Shah Massoud into a hero or saint are a part of this, but there are more banal aspects to it as well: are the Taliban and other militants fighting for “Afghanistan” the idea, or simply for religious and political power? Can the two be meaningfully distinguished?
Ronin notes an example of this conflict:
In a recent shindig where the emphasis was “knowing about other countries/cultures” the events took a strange turn and it was decided that we ought to get to know each better through renditions of our respective national anthems…
I simply didn’t know it. I do know that such a thing exists but I neither have the time nor the inclination to memorize it. Bemused and puzzled looks followed, but I ignored them. After years of traveling with an Afghan passport and treated like a freaking mutant helps one develop a really thick skin…
As for me, I related, it is not a question of pride but rather of being tired of going through national anthem after national anthem after national anthem. If one sang the royalist national anthem the khalqis would be exceedingly pissed off, and if one carried as much as a tune or a few matching syllables from the khalqi national anthem the other fuckers would go postal on one’s ass. And by all accounts, the fat lady isn’t through singing in Afghanistan and I will be damned if I burn a few neurons or worse get my ass kicked for some piss-poor hollow meaningless poetry.
Normally, national anthems are one of those banal forms of enforcing a nationalist identity—used in all sorts of cultures, from democracies to dictatorships. This is the kind of issue that will have deep repercussions across all of Afghanistan, from singing a song in school to how the ANA can maintain unit cohesiveness.
Sanjar reports:
AAF has been accused of corruption and low discipline. The government, Nato and international community haven’t thoroughly looked at the decision making process and judgment of commanders, and it’s connection with the kind of training they acquire as well as it’s significance in AAF performance.
So there is a role the Western forces are playing as well? Sanjar continues:
I am sitting there and waiting for my turn to tell them about Afghan media. Before me Colonel O’Brian from US army is telling them about the importance of media in covering the success of army. But he could not outline a single story afghan or international media on afghan army and it’s potential influence on public perception.
All the examples he give was either about WW II or Vietnam or Balkans or Cold war. O’Brian also mentioned the name of broadcasters and agencies, it was either CBS, BBC, NPR or some other western agency. I do think O’Brian was sincere in telling them media is important and the army should help media cover the war but the way he was telling has proved to be counterproductive.
Colonel O’Brian continues his speech on media, the discussion comes to Aljazeera and the officers condemn the station for having links with Taliban and Alqaida. O’Brain says; Aljazeera is not the example of a good media, what kind of journalism is propagating the message of hatred. It’s bad media. They are showing footage of Taliban crimes. Medley a civilian media advisor to NATO adds; media professionals deny any link between media and violence, but there is, media has exacerbated a conflict to genocide in Rwanda in 1994. Taliban had a radio station, Radio Sharia, propagating their version of Islam.
Clearly, O’Brian and Medley, two senior Nato representative (one military and the other civilian) don’t understand that Aljazeera has a broader agenda which extends behind reporting. If Aljazeera gets exclusive footage from Alqaida and Taliban it shows they are doing a good job. Alqaida and Taliban are the hot topic and Aljazeera is a new channel which came up with format to get access to the hot topic and audience survey shows Aljazeera is growing. This is what media business is about.
This seems like a critical failing of American policy: being subsumed in Western sources, archetypes, and norms, while operating in an environment that is not based on them.  Another example of this is the so-called “edifice complex,” in which the construction of grandiose projects is thought to be a meaningful substitute for traditional economic development (the case of the Kajaki dam is particularly difficult—it seems to have so many positives that its dire downstream consequences tend to get, if you'll pardon the phrase, washed away).
Still, all is not depression, explosions, and embarrassing culture gaffes in Afghanistan. The heartwarming attempt to create an “Afghanistan's Next Top Model” in Mazar-e-Sharif has real potential to show that women can have empowered and visible roles in society without turning into the unfortunate creatures that appear on Tyra Banks’ horrible TV show. It might be indicative of a brewing cultural fight over the proper role of traditional “Afghani dress,” but at least it holds out some hope for the future, in which Afghanistan is just another normal country in the International Community.

author: Joshua Foust


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Barbados, St. Lucia, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago: Year of elections · Global Voices
Nicholas Laughlin

2007 has been a great year for politics junkies in the Caribbean, says Caribbean Lionesse, with elections in St. Lucia, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and probably Barbados. She offers a concise analysis.

author: Nicholas Laughlin


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Bermuda: New property law · Global Voices
Nicholas Laughlin

Christian S. Dunleavy comments on proposed legislation which would change property law in Bermuda. “There is a fundamental principle here of how much you want the Government in your life and your wallet.”


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Bolivia: Morales Speech at Cooper Union · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

President Evo Morales of Bolivia recently spoke at Cooper Union in New York City.  Beautiful Horizons’ Randy Paul was in the audience and shares his thoughts on the talk.

author: Eduardo Avila


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Bolivia: Visit by Iranian President to La Paz · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Editor's note:  This is a cross-regional post looking at reactions from Bolivian and Iranian bloggers, in which the Global Voices Online Persian editor Hamid Tehrani contributed the content relating to the reaction from the Iranian blogosphere.
The Bolivian government welcomed the Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for a brief visit to La Paz, where he signed several agreements of assistance with his host President Evo Morales of Bolivia.  The unlikely alliance surprised many Bolivians since in the past few relations were made with the Middle Eastern country.  The deals were for investments in the energy and agricultural sectors, although the exact details were still to be determined. Morales indicated that the deals had nothing to do with anything nuclear-related, which may have been a request to resist any connections with Iran on that level and which was fresh off of his “don't include me in the axis of evil,” as he said on the Daily Show comedy program.
Bolivians were eager to see what the fuss was all about.  The Iranian president arrived to the airport in El Alto, and blogger Mario Duran of Palabras Libres [ES] was on hand to record the events, but not without some hassles from concerned security.
Con camara digital me encuentro en la av. Heroes del Kilometro siete que conecta el aeropuerto internacional de El Alto, con la ciudad de La Paz, empiezo a tomar fotos… primero del derrame de pegamento a la altura de la Prefectura, voy caminando, una solitaria bandera boliviana flamea al viento. Llego a la curva que esta a la salida del aeropuerto, veo gente reunida con carteles, la multicolor whipala que identifica a los pueblos indigenas, la tricolor boliviana y una bandera irani, las pancartas saludan al presidente de Iran Mahmud Ahmadinejad , empiezo a tomar fotos,escucho gritos: -¿ese que esta tomando fotos quien es?, del dicho al hecho se acerca un individuo quien con una mano me toma de la solapa de la campera de cuero con la otra va a la camara digital.- ¿Que te pasa, quien te crees? pregunto. Me dice que tienes que identificarte, tu credencial?
With a digital camera I am standing in the Avenue of the Heroes at Kilometer 7 that connects the international airport of El Alto with the city of La Paz.  I begin to take photos … first of the glue spill near the Prefecture, I begin to walk and see a lone Bolivian flag waving in the wind.  I turn the corner that is near the exit of the airport and I see people will signs, as well as the multi-color whipala flag that identifies indigenous peoples, the tri-color Bolivian flag and an Iranian flag.  The handmade signs greet the Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.  I begin to take photos and I hear yells – “who is the guy taking photos?” Soon an individual approaches me and with one hand grabs my leather jacket and with the other my digital camera, “What's the matter with you?  Who do you think you are?” he asked.  I tells me that I must show my credentials and identify myself.
Soon after showing him that he writes for a blog “La Constituyente,”  the security personnel allows him to carry on and the slideshow presentation appears on the blog.  This type of sensitivity carried on before, during and after the visit, as Bolivian bloggers tried to analyze the real reason for the visit and the signed agreements.  Some hope that it is not simply as a way to antagonize the United States.  Voz Boliviana [ES] sees another ally behind the visit, and asks, “Why Iran?”
En realidad (y no es un secreto) el acercamiento con Irán responde a una alineación política y diplomática encabezada por Venezuela, que ha demostrado con este ejemplo hasta donde puede influenciar al gobierno nacional. Nuestro presidente simplemente acata los lineamientos diplomaticos foráneos y se presta al juego de provocación a los Estados Unidos.
In reality (and it is not a secret) the approachment with Iran is due to a political and diplomatic alignment headed by Venezuela, that has demonstrated with this example to what point it can influence the national governemnt.  Our president simply follows the foreign diplomatic alignments and it becomes part of the game of provoking the United States.
Some others are even more suspicious and see Bolivia becoming a part of the global conflict with Iran and its supposed nucelar ambitions.  Willy Andres writes [ES]:
Espero que no cueste tan caro todo este supuesto acuerdo con Irán. He recibido unos comentarios sobre todo esto: “para
impulsar todo lo relacionado con lo nuclear, se requieren el uranio (que tiene Bolivia) y lo se conoce como “agua pesada” (Bolivia es una reserva de este producto), estos dos elementos son parte importante para impulsar todo lo relacionado con lo nuclear”.
I hope that this supposed agreement with Iran does not affect us too much.  I have received comments about this agreement “to impulse all that it is related to the nuclear, uranium (something that Bolivia has) is required and “heavy water,” as it is known.  (Bolivia has a reserve of this product) and these two elements are very important to impulse everything related to the nuclear.”
Many Bolivians were unfamiliar with the culture of Iran, and were surprised with the request made by the Iranian delegation.  Miguel Buitrago of MABB writes:
The opposition, of course, is skeptical. They ask what is Bolivian gaining by establishing, in so public a manner, diplomatic relations with a country such as Iran. Some even highlight the contradictions when Ahmadinejad praises Bolivian and Iranian women and at the same time officially asks not to allow any women to any reception at his hotel or any ceremony where Iranian officials are present.
However, Iranians also weighed in on the new agreeements signed by the two countries.
Ayandeh MA ( means our future) says that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iranian President, after scandal in Columbia University, took a trip to Bolivia. Nobody understands the reasons for this trip [FA]. The blogger adds that Bolivian opposition warned the Bolivian government not to invite Ahmadinejad because the Iranian government is unstable and Ahmadinejad’s presence can hurt Bolivian interests. Ayandeh Ma adds that Ahmadinejad promised one billon dollars to Bolivian government. The blogger explains that recently Iranian government gives a lot of advantages to countries such as Venezuela and China to reduce the impact of United Nations sanctions against its nuclear program.
Minyator also writes that the Bolivian opposition considered that Ahmadinejad’s presence in their country will hurt their interests. The blogger mentions that in Iran, such news is filtered [FA].
Finally, Kaghzpareh (means piece of paper) writes that Ahmadinejad , after his trip to Bolivia said that all newspapers in that country are controlled by opposition! And he was surprised that how the masses welcomed him. The blogger adds that Ahmadinejad talked about a little poor girl who polished shoes in the street to win her daily bread. The blogger says it is better Ahmadinejad goes to downtown Tehran or provinces to see many similar poor Iranian children [FA].


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Cayman Islands, Jamaica: Citizen of the air? · Global Voices
Nicholas Laughlin

News of a Jamaican woman who gave birth on a Cayman Airways flight prompts The Mad Bull to wonder: what country will the baby be a citizen of?


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China: Land Price · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Yaoblog calculated the land price differences between the land expropriation price and the government listed price to the developers (zh). It is up to RMB4-500,000,000. Where does the money go then?

author: Oiwan Lam


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China: Shenzhen Nailhouse Owners · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

“According to Guangdong province statistics, 98% of all nail house owners die in car accidents.” A shenzhen city government official told the nail house owners who had just received millions of compensation from the developer. ESWN has translated the story from next weekly.


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Madagascar elections peaceful, but marred by low turnout and fraud · Global Voices
Mialy Andriamananjara

President Ravalomanana's political party, Tiako i Madagasikara (TIM), won a landslide victory in Madagascar this Sunday, capturing 106 out of the 127 available seats despite a meager turnout: 19.42% in Antananarivo, Madagascar's capital.
President Ravalomana called for the early elections after dissolving the National Assembly on the grounds it no longer reflected the results of the April referendum that approved President Ravalomanana's new Madagascar Action Plan  (MAP), an ambitious strategic road map that aims to lift Madagascar out of poverty.
Although the polls were conducted peacefully, Jentilisa, a blogger who not only witnessed firsthand the dismally low turnout, but also helped count ballots, is concerned irregularities have marred this election.
Jentilisa writes that many ballot certifications were signed before the ballot counts were even in. Election officials left election offices early and did not supervise the transfer of ballot certifications to the Ministry of Interior and the High Constitutional Court, increasing the risk the certifications could be altered.
Fitokisana an-jambany fotsiny noho izany raha mahita ny isa eo amin’ny tabilao dia lasa mody nefa ny taratasy alefa any amin’ny Fitsarana avo momba ny lalam-panorenana sy ny minisiteran’ny atitany mety ho hafa mihitsy. Eo izany no fiarovana ny safidy nataon’ny tsirairay voalohany indrindra. Miainga eo amin’ny biraom-pifidianana ihany.
Election officials base their certifications on blind trust only because of their early departure, when certifications being sent to the High Constitutional Court and the Ministry of Interior may contain altogether completely different results. They should protect citizens’ votes at this first hand-off.
Etsy ankilan’izany, ireo izay nifidy raha tsy manaraka ny isam-bato sy izay soratan’ireo delege sy mpanisa vato ary mpanara-maso ny fifidianana dia tsy mahatsapa ny andraikiny fa tsy mijanona eo amin’ny fandrotsaham-bato akory ity fifidianana nataonao tamin’iny andro iny. Amiko ny tsy fanarahan’ireo nandrotsa-bato ny valim-pifidianana ao amin’ny birao nifidianany dia tahaka ny fanekena avy hatrany izay soratan’ireo mpampita ny isa any amin’ny tompon’andraikitra mahefa. Ny nahavariana ahy manko dia tsy nisy niteny ny delegen’ny kandida rehetra, ary tsy nametraka ny isa mialoha vao manome ny taratasy hosoniavina ihany koa. Izay zavatra hitako izay no nahatonga ahy hanao ny lohateny hoe fangalaram-bato ifanarahana izy ity ka miainga avy amin’ny mpifidy tsirairay mihitsy izany fifanarahana izany ary mipaka any amin’ireo mpikambana ao amin’ny biraom-pifidianana tsirairay avy ihany koa
Besides, voters, who do not follow up on ballot counts and certifications by the delegates, ballot counters and elections observers are not fulfilling their duties, because your voting does not stop at casting that ballot on that voting day. For me not following up on elections results of your precinct is tantamount to readily accepting whatever counts are transmitted to the officials in charge. What really amazed me was that none of the candidates’ delegates voiced a disagreement, and all of them also signed the certifications before the counts were even put in. This is the reason my post today is titled “agreed upon election frauds,” because this plot starts with each voter and spreads to each official of every precinct.

author: Mialy Andriamananjara


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Hong Kong: Internet Censorship  · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Ah yeah from inmediahk.net interviewed Charles Mok on Hong Kong government's policy in Internet Censorship (zh). In the past, the government would consult with the ISP on their policy, however, recently they choose to set up some court case for their new policy without consensus. The change of attitude may related to the monopoly of Internet business by several big corporations, which don't really care about Internet freedom of speech when compared with earlier entrepreneurs.


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India: Government and Burma · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Kafila on what the Indian Government should do about the protests in Burma, with particular focus on cutting military support to the Myanmar Junta.


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India: Wooing and Harassing · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

As a follow up to the interventions against street sexual harassment as part of the Blank Noise Project, a participant writes about what also could be potentially a class issue, what if men were not harassing but wooing women on the streets?


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Iran:”I Hate all Iranian” · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Iranian Truth reports that last week, Debra Cagan, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Coalition Affairs to Defence Secretary Robert Gates,states “in any case, I hate all Iranians.”The blogger asks people to sign a petition and ask President Bush to dismiss Cagan from office.

author: Fred Petrossian


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Iran:Molavi,Corbis and Turkey · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Kourosh Ziabari says that an open letter is sent to Corbis site.The blogger writes that this site mentioned that  Molavi is a Turkish poet.The blogger writes the born place of this honorable poet is located in Iran and all his poems in Persian.He says without any doubt Molavi is a Persian poet.


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Iran:Woman to be stoned · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Kamangir reports that the state-run newspaper Qods reported that a mother of three is sentenced to stoning. Reportedly,the evidence is video tapes of her having sex with another person.


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Mexico: Remembering Tlatelolco · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Daniel Hernandez writes about artwork that commemorates the 1968 Massacre of Tlatelolco that took place in Mexico City.


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Nepal: Supporting monks in Burma · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

United We Blog! has photographs of Nepali monks voicing support for the monks in Burma.


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Pakistan: Musharraf and After · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

All Things Pakistan runs a poll on what the consequences of Musharraf winning the election could be.


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Peru: Toledo and Humala Meet · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Reports from Peru state that former president Alejandro Toledo and the runner up in the most recent election, Ollanta Humala recently met and could be forming an unlikely alliance.  Silvio Rendon of Gran Combo Club [ES] provides his analysis on the matter.


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Philippines: “Desperate Housewives” Apologizes Over Racist Slur · Global Voices
Tonyo Cruz

At the moment, Technorati counts 499 blog posts on the racist slur in the season opener of the television show “Desperate Housewives“.
That's an awful lot and is yet another example of the progressive and forward advance of Filipino bloggers, especially after the bigotry of Malu Fernandez which got her pilloried and scorned for — well — her bigotry against her own people.
Read the online petition, now signed by 51,830 individuals, that sums up the protesters’ arguments.  The specific scene in the popular TV program posted on Youtube has been viewed more than 81,000 times.
Let's listen to Pinoy Blog Machine, a Filipino doctor educated in the Philippines:
I am offended, because I learned my profession in the Philippines, and I refuse to be told that all my hard work and sacrifice amounts to nothing more than mediocre, if not questionable. Specially if these impressions come from those who fail to see from my end, or at least check, and don’t know what they are talking about. My textbooks came from the US of A, if saying so is any help to Teri’s understanding.
I can’t even speak for the millions of Filipino medical workers in America and all over the world, whose professionalism and skill have made them prime catch. And what of the thousands of foreign students who come in droves to train in the Philippines?
Even as she apologized from veering away from her blog's fashionista bent, glamdeal.com took on the insult:
Sure, compared to USA, the American’s educational system may be better if not the best. But our doctors, nurses, and caregivers are among the best in the world; thousands of them serving, treating, and taking care of the US people.
I’m honestly not a fan of the show but I know a lot of Filipinos who are. Some say the show is a hit because of its mature and “intelligent” approach to the audience. Now with that, I guess we should all review what is mature and what is intelligent.
The rude remark was just a sign of irresponsible entertainment. Racism is never a witty and funny way of entertainment. If this is one of the show’s desperate ways to get ratings, then they’re getting one hell of controversy here.
The Broken Bow is also concerned and sees an opportunity for Filipino doctors to prove themselves:
Althought there might be some truth in the statement especially when placed side by side with the nursing exam debacle last year, I still find it offensive because it somehow committed the fallacy of over-generalizing. The fact is that there are a lot of great medical practitioners from the country and they must not be brushed aside especially when they outnumber the few who are otherwise. As for the said few, this might serve as an eye-opener and a signal to prove to those who are unimpressed that they are wrong to be so.
GMANews.tv's Pinoy Abroad surveyed the blogosphere while in uproar. Blog Addicts also covered the burgeoning blog rebellion.
At the other side of the fence is The Sassy Lawyer who says:
Is it a racial slur? It may be a jab at Philippine medical schools, not Filipinos in general. Heck, not even Filipino doctors. And some people are already making it out as an insult against Filipino health workers IN GENERAL. My goodness gracious me…
Its not a racist slur, says The Anti-Niche Blog, but it's still offensive.
The office of the President of the Philippines also expressed displeasure and demanded an apology, even if Mrs. Arroyo herself is embroiled in her own scandals. The secretary of health also chimed in.
“Desperate Housewives” producers from ABC-TV today issued a one-paragraph apology hoping to calm the storm, but others have rejected it and have demanded a more appropriate apology that may be seen by the millions who watched the assailed episode on TV.  Says the National Alliance for Filipino Concerns, a US-based group that plans to picket the ABC-TV studios:
The simplistic nature of ABC's apology only insults our community even more. It is not proportionate to the damage it has caused. It is basically just a one-paragraph response, not just to the 2nd largest immigrant group in the US, or a third world country, but ALL foreign-trained medical practitioners in this country. This country thrives on the quality skills of foreign-trained doctors and nurses, and Filipino nurses are among the cream of the crop. We all deserve a decent, sincere, and proper apology.
Let's see what happens next.
UPDATES (5 Oct. 2007): The offensive portion of the “Desperate Housewives” that has roiled many will be deleted, according to a news report.  This comes at the heels of an announcement from Filipino-American group NAFCON that a top ABC-TV executive has agreed to meet them before a scheduled picket at the ABC-TV studios in Manhattan.

author: Tonyo Cruz


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Filipinos Excited Over Expanded Paypal Access · Global Voices
Tonyo Cruz

News about Paypal Philippines now making it possible for Filipinos to receive money the Paypal way did not go unnoticed. Most Filipino blogs are elated and excited, while a number ask whether e-commerce sites  will start requiring Paypal accounts and consequently begin charging fees from Filipinos.
The J Spot, who led a campaign last year to demand full Paypal services for Filipinos, has long explained the benefits:
Having PayPal in the country would greatly benefit the following people:
and virtually anyone else who can render services remotely while corresponding via the Internet. Their correspondents can pay simply by clicking a few buttons, and that’s it.
Filipino internet pioneer digitalfilipino was clearly happy:
With Paypal being fully activated, it truly empowers the Filipino Internet user and avail of all the opportunities available online and signing up in programs that pays through Paypal.
but adds rather quickly that:
Law enforcement authorities, the Department of Trade and Industry, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, and the banking networks have to be ready with this development as this will also result to possible fraudulent transactions, especially in local auction sites.
Another blog, The Mike Abundo Effect, cannot hide its excitement over the possibilities:
Oh my God. This is the gamechanger. Philippine PayPal users can now receive money.
Let that sink in for a second. Rural Filipinos can now sell their towns’ products directly to the world over eBay. Talented Filipina babes can become the next Happy Slip by posting their videos on Revver. The Philippines — indeed, individual Filipinos — can finally earn money in the global Long Tail of ecommerce.
My mind is now racing with the possibilities for my fellow Filipinos. For years, the government has talked big about globally empowering Filipinos through ecommerce. Guess what: the power is here.
As a service to Filipino bloggers, Remeline’s House of Reviews posted  a how-to in opening a Paypal account.
But there is always the fine print and the small details, which Blog Addicts featured,  most notably the requirement that Paypal withdrawals may only be done through a bank account in the United States or via credit/debit card.
On which, Pinoy Tech Blog reminds us that:
Despite the fact that you can now send and receive funds via Paypal, there is no practical way to getting those funds locally, unless of course you have a US-based bank or a US-based credit or debit card…
Even if us Filipinos can receive payments via Paypal, the only way to can easily dispose of those funds is by using it to purchase services or goods online as well. This makes the recent limited support practically useless to 99.9% of Filipino Paypal users in the country.
Ingenious as any Filipino, myIloilo.com comes to the rescue with a work-around:
PayPal being finally here is perfect. Except for one thing. You can only withdraw the amount to a US bank. I'm not clear yet whether you should open an account with a bank in the US or having an account to a local US based bank is enough. I do have one workaround at the moment that could work. It's allowed to withdraw funds to a debit card. Unionbank issues VISA debit cards locally called EON or eWallet. Take your pick. I have EON and it works like a charm for online purchases. I'm definitely going to try withdraw money to it in the next few days when I'll be charging my offshore clients for services rendered.
This problem is also not lost on aczafra.com who makes several suggestions on how to withdraw all the moolah from your Paypal account, given the limitations.
Among the cards listed above, UnionBank’s Visa Eon is the most feasible money transfer facility because you can actually withdraw cash from your EON card. You can apply for an EON Cyberaccount online and your card will be ready in 5 days. But of course transferring money from PayPal to your EON account would still entail some charges. That I will have to find out how much as soon as I get my EON Card.
Another option which I tried verifying for my PayPal Account is to enter an international debit card. I used my Ikobo debit card (which falls under Visa debit card) hoping that PayPal accepts it. But I keep on getting an error message which I already clarified with the Ikobo customer care. Update: PayPal accepted my Ikobo debit card subject to further verification within 3 days.
The big promises of almost-full Paypal services for the Philippines should compel local banks to initiate talks with Paypal in order to make it possible to make withdrawals from local banks and remove other restrictions that so far hamper the growth of Philippine-based e-commerce.  The work is cut out for both the banks who will love more money going through their system, and for us Filipinos who will have a perfect mode of receiving and sending payments for growing online transactions.
UPDATE (4 Oct. 2007): Jozzua confirms that Paypal cash withdrawals may be made through the locally-issued EON Visa Electron card from the Unionbank of the Philippines. No need for credit cards or US bank accounts to get your money.


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Poland: Tusk in London · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Dr. Sean's Diary writes about a Polish politician courting expat Polish voters in London.


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Russia: Luzhkov and Xenophobia · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Window on Eurasia writes about Moscow mayor's attempts to shift responsibility for the growing xenophobia in the capital to the federal authorities.


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Russia: Nikolai Slichenko · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

TOL's Romantic writes about a renowned Soviet Roma actor, Nikolai Slichenko.


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Russia, Saudi Arabia: More on Hajj Quota · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

According to Window on Eurasia, there are nearly twice as many Russian Muslims who'd like to perform hajj this year than Saudi Arabia would allow into the country.


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Sri Lanka: Raid on LTTE safehouse · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

DefenceNet, which discusses military activities in Sri Lanka – on a bombing raid on an LTTE safehouse.


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St. Vincent and the Grenadines: Homeless in hospitals · Global Voices
Nicholas Laughlin

“A debate is heating up the airwaves re homeless people who are kept in the General hospital as wards of the state,” writes And Still I Rise from St. Vincent. She weighs in on the use of hospitals as temporary accommodation.


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Tanzania: A rare homecoming for Afro-Indians · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Video Journalist writes about Indian musical group, Sidi Goma, whose ancestors left the island of Zanzibar eight hundred years ago: “On the rare home coming concert of the Indian musical group Sidi Goma on Zanzibar. They kept their music and dance, and performed on The Zanzibar International Film Festival.”


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Trinidad and Tobago: Airport musings · Global Voices
Nicholas Laughlin

Waiting at the airport in Trinidad for a flight to Suriname, Taran Rampersad falls into a conversation about technology, Caribbean regionalism, and food.


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UK, Caribbean: Cuisine questions · Global Voices
Nicholas Laughlin

Why isn't Caribbean food more popular in the UK, wonders Can Cook, Must Cook. She responds to online commentary.


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Ukraine: AIDS Epidemics · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Greetings from Kyiv announces a conference on the AIDS epidemic in Ukraine and cites the statistics.


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Ukraine: Post-Election Situation · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Foreign Notes posts an update on the post-election situation in Ukraine.


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Ukraine, Russia: Gas as Political Weapon, Again? · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Mark MacKinnon writes about what appears to be the Kremlin's message to Victor Yushchenko, sent via Gazprom: “Put Tymoshenko back in power and the Kremlin will make sure it's a cold winter in Kyiv.”


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Ukraine: Vote Count; Coalition · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Orange Ukraine reports on the protracted vote count and on the forms that the future coalition may take.


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· Global Voices
Jens Wilkinson

In a new blog, Neojaponisme, W. David Marx reports on suppressed reports of pedophilia against a well-known Japanese producer, Johnny Kitagawa. It's a good read on the state of the media in Japan.

author: Jens Wilkinson


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Argentina: Prices for Vegetables Drastically Increase · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

A vegetable crisis has hit Argentina, as the price of tomatoes has drastically increased, “As such, they have become luxury items. The classic side salad of lettuce & tomato is now pricier than the main dish (meat) it was meant to accompany,” writes the blog Good Airs.


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Barbados: Email snooping? · Global Voices
Nicholas Laughlin

Is the Barbados government reading citizens’ emails looking for evidence of opposition? Barbados Free Press thinks so.


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Barbados: Visiting the Concorde · Global Voices
Nicholas Laughlin

Notes from the Margin reports on a visit to the decommissioned Concorde supersonic jet preserved at the Barbados airport (there were once weekly Concorde flights between London and Barbados).


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Brazilian “Elite Squad” Provokes Police, Pirates, Pundits and Promotion · Global Voices
Jose Murilo

“Elite Squad”, a much-hyped film about Rio's special forces police is having its official launch today in Rio and São Paulo, and the nationwide premiere is scheduled for Oct. 12. The peculiar thing about this release is that an estimated crowd of 3.5 million people have already seen it before its debut. The [unauthorized] copy of the film can be viewed  or downloaded from many different places on the web, and the speculation is that more than a million copies of the DVD have been sold  on Brazilian streets across the past few weeks.
Praised as a “City of God 2″, but presenting a narrative based on a policeman's perspective, the film is provoking heated debates across the country about the causes of violence in big cities. There are interesting discussions also on the morality of the widespread use of an unauthorized copy leaked to the web of an unreleased film. Surely, this case has made Brazilians go deeper into the actual meanings of piracy in the digital era, and it can turn out to be a  defining moment for the audiovisual industry. Bloggers are all around it.
To sum it up, the movie is about police corruption in Rio and how the police, at the different levels (civil, military, etc) managed to extort just about everyone and everything in Rio. But it focuses on the BOPE, the “Elite Squad,” that is the Brazilian version of the SWAT. They are the ones who invade favelas, especially after the regular police botch up invasions or extortion visits. It focuses on the captain, who slowly unravels, and the training and selection of new BOPE members as they ascend from the ranks of the military and civil police… One of the main characters is a policeman and a law student, who tries to show these rich kids that they are the ones helping to cause the violence by buying drugs that come from the favelas, challenging the concept that the wealthy here are not to blame for the city's violence, and that they are untouchable.
Friday Fun – Adventures of a Gringa in Rio
Capitão Nascimento
O filme conta uma história no microcosmo e sua mensagem é o ponto de vista do policial na rua. É um ponto de vista bem-vindo pois raramente ele tem a chance de se apresentar. Para o policial que arrisca sua vida em operações arriscadas para garantir a execução da lei, é o garotão subindo o morro quem mantém o ciclo vicioso. Só que não é. Um paralelo: na era digital, evitar que um filme destes se espalhe qual vírus, na Internet, é impossível. Pode ser ilegal, mas leis não existem no vácuo, elas regem um ambiente dinâmico que é o da cultura humana. É inerente à existência humana que informação considerada de valor seja espalhada. Se o meio digital facilita ao máximo esta transferência de informação, ela acontecerá. No fim, por ser inútil empregá-la, a lei terminará obsoleta e novos modelos de negócio surgirão para sustentar a produção cultural. Como, aliás, sempre aconteceu. Da mesma forma, é inerente à condição de ser humano a busca pela transcendência, pela alteração de percepção, pela abertura de sentidos que a intoxicação possibilita. Pode ser o barato do atleta que, no limite do seu esforço, modifica a bioquímica cerebral, produzindo foco extremo numa única atividade e uma sensação nada vaga de prazer. (Quem corre a conhece.) Pode ser o chope, a leve tontura, o livrar-se de inibições. Ou a maconha. Ou a cocaína. LSD. Opiácios. Não é porque a lei proíbe o consumo de algumas substâncias que alteram a percepção que ela será eficaz. Tais substâncias continuarão a ser consumidas. O que realmente cria a violência é a lei.
Tropa de Elite: pirataria, e quem financia o tráfico – Pedro Dória
One thing is sure: ‘Elite Squad’, by Brazilian director Jose Padilha, has turned into the most seen and debated unreleased film to date. From one side we see BOPE's tough agents turning into the heroes of a frightened and paranoiac society, and on the other there is a police effort to block the film's screening. In fact, Padilha tried to express that something is wrong with the system, where underpaid officers “must choose between becoming corrupt, neglectful or going to war.”  But still some are accusing the film of fascism.
Há um simplismo generalizado que assola o entendimento da violência e do narcotráfico. O Estado culpa o usuário de drogas, discurso que os policiais de Tropa de Elite não se cansam de repetir. A população, acuada, não quer nada além de tranqüilidade, nem que ela seja alcançada à base de bala. E embora o filme de José Padilha apresente em algum momento a complexidade da questão, ela não é aprofundada. Aliás, o único policial do longa-metragem que tenta fazer faculdade e é o único dali que problematiza essas relações da violência, é solenimente recriminado pelo narrador, ou seja, pela voz do filme.  Tropa de Elite – Blog da Moviola
O sucesso de “Tropa de Elite” registra o conservadorismo crescente da população nacional, na esteira da fragilização do mundo do trabalho e mergulho geral das lideranças populares tradicionais na corrupção. É enorme vitória dos poderosos que policiais fardados de preto encarnem a solução da insegurança nacional, distribuindo a morte entre os pobres, sob a bandeira da caveira sorridente. “Tropa de elite, osso duro de roer, pega um, pega geral, também vai pegar você!”. E, se não te cuidares, meu chapa, vai te pegar, mesmo!
Matando pelo bem do Brasil, por Mário Maestri in O herói de Tropa de Elite e o Che Guevara da Veja – Psico-História: Ficção Científica e Sociologia Crítica e Militante
Many commenters talk about the special quality of the film in stimulating           discussions about difficult issues such as the level of violence in big city slums and the search for  solutions for drug trafficking. An interview with director José Padilha explores his drive to generate debate with his films, as happened with his previous critically acclaimed documentary, “Bus 174“.
Em que pesem as críticas pertinentes, “Tropa de Elite” é uma obra interessante porque não tem medo de lidar com um tema cabeludo e estimular uma discussão necessária: até que ponto se justificam a coação e a tortura na repressão ao crime organizado. Em matéria de cinema brasileiro, isto é uma ruptura radical com a geração dos anos 60 que adotou a ótica do marginal como resposta ao ideário do poder vigente da época. A verdade é que os tempos do “seja bandido, seja herói” já não se justificam mais. Marginal virou uma expressão pejorativa, antítese de transgressão.
O efeito Tropa de Elite 1 – Reduto do Comodoro
“Fiz o “Ônibus 174″ para entender o ponto de vista do seqüestrador, e me acusaram de ser um radical de esquerda. Agora fiz o “Tropa de Elite” para entender o ponto de vista de um policial e me acusam de ser radical de direita. Mas em nenhum dos dois casos tentei justificar ou defender as atitudes desses protagonistas, apenas entendê-las. Meu ponto de vista não é igual ao ponto de vista do capitão Nascimento. Pessoalmente, sou a favor da descriminalização das drogas. Ela cortaria a oposição entre o usuário e o policial. Mas eu entendo a visão de um policial contra o usuário, porque ela se apóia em um fato: quem consome drogas está financiando o crime. E um fato não é de direita ou de esquerda. Os policiais são mal remunerados, mal treinados e têm que trocar tiros com pessoas com mais armas. É compreensível ele ser contra alguém que reclama da segurança pública, mas financia o tráfico.”
Entrevista com o diretor de Tropa de Elite,  José Padilha – Mateus Lopes
It is undisputable that the big novelty brought by José Padilha's ‘Elite Squad’ is its unusual ‘distribution’ scheme. As the buzz around the film kept growing through the last weeks, the movie's production team had to move from despairing declarations about the pirated version to  impassioned rejections of accusations that they leaked the copy to the Internet on purpose, as a marketing ploy. There will be many interested  people following the performance of the film being launched today in theaters, and bloggers are already taking on the new possibilities brought by the “leak of the year”.
Existe o argumento da indústria cinematográfica que a pirataria está destruíndo-a. É um argumento interessante. O mesmo argumento foi usado pela indústria fonográfica meses depois da popularização dos mp3. E põe uns 7 anos nisso. Pensando na indústria fonográfica, não vimos a destruição da indústria, mas sim uma quebra de paradigmas, ou seja, vimos uma reformulação do modelo de negócios dos envolvidos com o comércio de música. Então, se essa troca de arquivos via web favorece a divulgação das mesmas, isso também atinge os filmes. É aí que entra a grande prova de fogo de “Tropa de Elite”. Se o argumento que a indústria dita estiver correto, o filme será um fracasso total de bilheterias, e vendas de DVDs. Mas se acontecer o contrário? Se o filme atrair um público acima do esperado? Se isso acontecer, vai provar que este argumento de que a troca de arquivos via web está aí para destruir indústrias é fajuto. De que a pirataria, desde que quem utilizada pela indústria, pode se tornar uma poderosa arma de marketing.
A prova de fogo de ‘Tropa de Elite’ – Tecnologia e Cinema
Deixo um recado para a Indústria: Caiam na real, procurem novas maneiras de ganhar dinheiro. Parem de perder tempo processando as pessoas e esperando ações policiais no terceiro mundo e se concentrem em criar diferenciais na experiência do usuário. O capitalismo é o sistema para os criativos e dinâmicos – os lentos que pereçam.
A Tropa de Elite e a pirataria – Resistindo
Por fim, acho que Tropa de Elite merece uma força. Apesar de já ter visto a versão malandra, faço questão de pagar para ver o melhor filme brasileiro do ano. Mas, em todo caso, estão aí os links para download…
Tropa de Elite – O último lampejo
I'm including some videos here regarding my long post about Elite Squad and the war in Rio. They are short, they are REAL footage and they explain the favela wars and about BOPE, the Brazilian SWAT and Rio's war. And, they have English subtitles!
The real BOPE (SWAT) – Adventures of a Gringa in Rio

author: Jose Murilo


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Burma, India: Midnight Raid · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

An update from Burma on the current situation. “raided many monasteries, they visited house to house around mid-night and picked up whom they suspected as the protest leaders in Rangoon” at Sacred Media Cow.


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Cambodia: Check Your Bill Before You Pay · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Vutha in Cambodia cautions readers that should check their bills before they pay as the restaurants often cheat patrons by inflating the bill.

author: Preetam Rai


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Colombia: Bogotá Fires · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Victor Solano of ¿Comunicación? [ES] posts photographs of fires that ravaged the mountainsides of Bogotá, Colombia.


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East Timor: Rural Connectivity · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Living Timorously blogs tries to dispel the notion that poor or rural users do not need connectivity.


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Ecuador: More Election Reactions · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Ecuador Elige [ES] continues providing links from blogs reacting to the recent Constituent Assembly election.


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Guyana: Newspapers online · Global Voices
Nicholas Laughlin

Guyana Providence Stadium compares the websites of the three daily Guyanese newspapers and finds the government-owned paper lacking in savvy.


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Hong Kong: Global City Transportation Network · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Chu from zoomimagining comments on a talk given by Arjun Appadurai on the global city transportation network (zh). He feels that the situation in Hong Kong is similar to Appadurai's description, the segregation between rich and poor is very serious because of the government's planning policy.


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Hong Kong: PLA Berth Won’t Open To Public · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Hoidick from inmediahk.net quoted from the planning department in a public forum that the future People Liberation Army Berth in Central waterfront, wouldn't be opened to public access (zh). Earlier on, top government official openly said that the PLA berth would be opened to public access when it is not in operation. However, assistant department head from the planning department said that when the berth was not in use, it wouldn't obstruct the public to access other parts of the waterfront, while itself would not be opened.


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Hong Kong: Support 2012 Universal Suffrage · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Charles Mok posted a press release in his blog about Oct 7 rally for 2012 universal suffrage to express his own support (zh). So bring your umbrella to the rally to show your support.


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Hong Kong: Where’s The Patient’s Right? · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Here is a brief summary of Hegel chong's story in his blog (zh): his father had gone through an operation in a private hospital in Hong Kong and have to stay in the ward for a week. However, because of the construction on top of the building, the patients’ wards were very noisy in the day time (imagine the sound of iron and glass cutting). The blogger called up the Health Department to complain, the answer was that the hospital had gone through all the procedures in their construction work. He then called up the Environmental Department, the answer was that they could not intervene into day time noise. Not a single government department is in position to deal with the issue. Need not patients take rest in the day time, after operation? Is there patient's right in Hong Kong?


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India: A day in Calcutta · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

The author of I, Me, Myself finds himself in Calcutta and offers glimpses of the city, even as he compares it to other cities in India.


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India: Films and Pregnancy · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

When My Soup Came Alive on the rather unappetizing way that pregnancy is announced in Indian Movies.


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Indonesia: Blogger’s Meet · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Unspun blogs about the enthusiastic response to the upcoming blogger's event in Jakarta.


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Japan: Nova and Teacher Union · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

David Markle from Japan Probe picks up the Nova (English school) financial crisis issue and discusses the need for teachers to join union.


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When North and South Korean leaders meet · Global Voices
Hyejin Kim

What is the meaning of the second North and South Korean leaders’ meeting to Korea? There are two major topics. One is the discord of opinions between internet netizens and public media. The other focuses on the meaning of this meeting in political and economic aspects.
Not a few bloggers are against the critical perspectives of major conservative newspapers about this meeting. Neocross shows reactions of major conservative newspapers after the encounter of the two leaders.
나름 역사적인 날이죠.  비록 김대중 전대통령때와 같은 기분은 아니지만 7년만에 남북정상의 만남은 뜻깊은 할 수 있겠다.
여기에 각 언론들은 어떻게 반응할까요? 내용이나 페이퍼 내용은 내일 봐야 알테니 넘어가고, 일단 언론사닷컴들의 모습만 봅니다.
뭐 다들 비슷한 느낌을 주긴 하지만… 역시… 조선닷컴…별 의미를 두지 않는 듯 싶네요. 잘못 기억했는지 모르겠지만, 한나라 경선때 이명박 후보가 뽑혔을 당시 위의 통으로 떳던 것 같은데… 남북정상회담은 그보다 격이 낮은가 봅니다.
조인스닷컴은 제목은 잘 모르는 이라도 한번 까보고 싶은 의도를 읽을 수 있겠네요. 무표정과 포옹없음..ㅋㅋ
공과는 나중에 엄격하게 평가하게 되지만, 굳이 시작부터 찬물을 뿌릴 필요가 을는지.
Sandman compares how foreign and domestic news interpret this meeting differently.
참 해도해도 너무한다. 도대체 어느 게 우리나라 언론인지 모르겠다.
저렇게 저주와 패악질 만을 일삼는 신문이 1등 신문이라니…
못한 거 못했다하고 잘한 거 잘했다 하는 게 그렇게 어려운 건가?
무조건 칭찬만하라는 것도 아니고 의미와 해야할 일을 조목조목 짚어 보도해도 될 일을 저렇게 씹어대는 거 보면 이번 남북정상회담 관련 기사는 도대체 왜 발행하는 지 모르겠다.
Some bloggers are more agressively against the major media.
MBC  방송  –  조선 , 중앙 , 동아 일보가 ,  심각한 거짓 보도를 하고 있다고 밝힘.
다른 나라 신문 ( 외신 ) 에서 ,  인용했다면서 쓴 부분도 ,  모두 거짓으로 밝혀짐.
일부러 단어를 빼고 해석하고 ,  아예 없는 말을 지어내기까지 한다고 함.
외신에서 ,  노무현 대통령을  긍정적으로  평가한  기사까지   모두 왜곡됨.
www.joase.org/technote/board/opercom/upfile/media03101702.WMV
동영상 끝까지 다 봐주길 ..   얼마나 심한지 ,  보면서 어이가 없었다
너무 많지만 ,  그 중 아무거나 하나 예를 들자면, 외신에서는  노대통령이 ‘ 악의적 비판 ‘ 을 받고있다며 ,  한국 언론을 비판했는데.오히려 조중동은  단어를 일부러  뺀 채  ‘ 비판 ‘ 받고 있다고  인용함으로써,  마치 전국민이 남북정상회담을 비판하는 냥  기사를 쓰고 ( 실제로는 정반대죠 )
AP 통신에서 인용했다는 말도 ,  조사해보니  전혀  사실무근이고  ,,  등등. 너무 많아서 여기 다 못 적으니까 ,  동영상 한번 꼭 보길  ..  웃기면서도  어이가 없다.
대부분의 국민들이 ,  오늘 방송 보면서 ,  다들 훈훈해하고  감격해하는 분들도 계셨는데
신문사에서만 왜 그러지 ?  누구 밑에서 자랐길래 ,  그렇게 사고 방식이 비뚤어졌지 ?…
Look at this video clip… how serious it is.. I was speechless.
There is one example of abundant ones.
Foreign news reported that Korean media give ‘vicious criticism’ to the Korean President. But those newspapers omitted the word, ‘Korean media’ and just used ‘criticize.’ So it looks like all Koreans seem to criticize the meeting (it’s not true). Checking what those newspapers got from AP correspondence, I found it was baseless… etc.
There are so many… Please check the video clip. It’s absurdly funny. Most citizens were impressed with today’s event. What’s wrong with these newspapers? Why are their thoughts so erroneous? …
Two extreme media opinions are not welcome to some bloggers.
어쨌거나 7년 전 김대중 전 대통령의 역사적 평양 방문이 우리에게 감상적으로 다가와졌던 것에 비해 이번 노무현 대통령의 평양행은 차분하면서도 실무적인 만남의 인상이 더 짙어보인다. 향후 남북 정상회담의 정례화를 위해서는 이런 모습이 오히려 더 자연스러울듯도 하고 그만큼 남북간에 풀어야 할 현안이 많다는 의미도 될 것이다….
반면 이번 남북정상회담을 위해 방북한 노대통령에 대한 국내의 시각은 역시가 극과 극을 치달았다. 대통령의 당연한 직무행위를 역사적 구국 충정의 길이라 칭송하는 것도 역겹고 분단의 벽을 허물기 위한 한발짝의 전진을 허벅다리 후리기 한판으로 매다꽂는 식의 평가절하도 눈살을 찌푸리게 만들었다.
On the other hand, internal perspectives about this visit are divided into extremely conflicting ways. It doesn’t look good to praise his duty as the president for historical and patriotic meanings, and doesn’t look good to criticize his one-step forward in order to destroy the wall of division either.
Every detail has been analyzed.
…그리고 노 대통령이 북한에 방문했을때의 김정일 국방위원장의 태도도 지난번과는 많이 달랐다.  같은건 옷차림 뿐이라고 해야하나??   우선 김 국방위원장은 7년전에 김 전 대통령이 방문했을때와 사뭇 다른 태도를 보였다.  7년전에는 서로 포옹을 하며 서로의 인사가 끝나자 50분이 넘도록 동승해서 대화를 했지만, 이번  노  대통령 방북 때에는 둘은 그저 악수만 할뿐이었고 노 대통령을 먼저 보내고 자신도 곧 사라졌다. 그리고  김 국방위원장의 표정도 7년전과는 다르게 경직되어 있었다.
두 정상이 나눈 대화는 “반갑습니다”라는 한 단어가 거의 전부였다. 육•해•공군 의장대 사열을 받으면서도 김 위원장은 표정을 드러내지 않았다. 노 대통령이 미소를 지으며 북한측 고위인사들과 일일이 악수를 나눴지만 김 위원장은 조용히 뒤에서만 지켜볼 뿐 특별한 말을 건네지 않았다.
이에 대해서도 여러 해석들이 있다.  김 국방위원장의 건강 악화설도 있다.  이젠 너무 노쇠하지 않았나 하는  평가다.  반면에 두번째 회담이어서 첫번째와는 달리 별로 감흥이 생기지 않았기 때문이라는 분석도 있다. 또 이번 회담을 실무적으로 끌고 가겠다는 의도를 내비친 것으로 볼 수도 있다. 특히 노 대통령이 임기말인 만큼 많은 선물을 약속해도 정권이 바뀐다면 휴지조각이 될 수 있다는 생각도 표정을 밝지 않게 만들었다는 관측이 있다.
About the meeting, someone has been heartedly welcoming.
남북정상상봉장면.
감격에 전율입니다….
모두 가슴을 뜨겁게 합니다. 그리고 눈시울이 뜨거워집니다.
남북정상회담이 우리 국가와 우리 민족의 번영과 평화정착에 기여되기를 희망합니다.
Others are questioning why it has to happen now and concerned about the influence on the economy in South Korea.
2000년 김대중 전 대통령이 하늘을 날아 북한으로 갔지만..
2007년 어제는 노무현 대통령이 걸어서 군사분계선을 넘었다….
이번 정상회담에 대한 개인적인 내 생각을 밝히자면..
두 정상이 만나는 것에 대해 적극 찬성이다.
평화와 번영을 위한 그리고 나아가 통일을 위한 중요한 디딤돌이 될 것이기 때문이다.
하지만..
솔직히 너무 늦었다고 생각한다.
이제 12월이면 대통령 선거고, 다음 해 2월이면 대통령 이취임식이 있다.
제대로 일 할 수 있는 시간이 4개월 반 남짓 남은 것이다.
물론 노무현 대통령 계산대로 한다면 지금 참여정부를 계승할 수 있는 정권이 탄생해 자신의 정책을 끝까지 유지하길 바라겠지만..
솔직히 지금 현 상황을 보면 그렇게 될거 같진 않고..
아무튼.. 노무현 대통령은 자기가 해 줄 수 없음에도 불구하고 김정일 위원장을 만나고 있다는 것이다. …
대통령 4개월 반밖에 안 남겨놓고 왜 지금 가야 하는지.. 참 이해가 안된다.
적어도 2004년엔 갔어야 되는거 아닌가?무슨 사업이라도 제대로벌였을거 아닌가..
…대선에 영향을 주려는 거라니.. 뭐라니 이딴 소리는 안하겠다.
…국민들은 평화는 원하지만 예전처럼 그렇게 통일을 갈구하지는 않기 때문이다.
가뜩이나 우리 먹고 살기도 힘들어 죽겠는데..
통일하게 되면 통일비용을 고스란히 국민들이 부담해야 할테고..
경제는 더 휘청거릴테고..
물론 정기적인 안목으로 본다면
통일은 우리에게 꼭 필요한 것이다.
…하지만 지금 대한민국에는 ‘평화’ 보다는 ‘경제'가 먼저라는 것은 누구도 부정하긴 힘들다…
There is another theory, political unification with economic interdependence first.
< 투자없는 과실(果實)은 없다.>
아마도 이 말은 비즈니스의 기본일 것이다.
< 코커콜라>가 해외시장을 개척할 때 쓰는 수법을 보자. 처음에는 무조건 무료시식이다.
‘입맛’을 들이면 꼼짝없는 고객이 되고 만다.
같은 이치이다.  지금 ‘퍼주기’라고?
일본의 예를 보자.
그 동안 일본은 동남아 각국에 < 경협자금>을 엄청나게 뿌려댔다.
이제, 뿌리내렸던 일본자본의 과실(果實)이 속속 일본 본토로 보내지고 있다.
그 놀라운 ‘장사 수완’이 오히려 부럽다.
이제, 남북관계에 있어서…이제 남은 것은 남한(=대한민국)으로의 < 경제 예속화>에 의한 통일뿐이다.
북한이 남한에게 ‘엮여들도록’……더 많이 퍼주어야 한다.
몇 년 후, 남한 없이는 홀로 설 수 없도록 북한의 기초경제에 더 많이 투자하라.
< 개성공단> 같은 산업단지를 더 많이 만들어, 북한으로하여금 < 자본주의>의 ‘꿀맛’을 느끼게 하라….
북한이 애초에 누구의 땅이었는가.
북한에 살고 있는 동포가 누구인가.
우리 민족이다.
우리 민족의 땅에서… 우리 민족끼리 잘 살기 위해서 노력하겠다는데,
언 넘이 ‘감 놔라, 배 놔라.’ 하겠는가.
주변 강대국의 농간에 휘말려서야 되겠는가….
만일에 있을지도 모르는 갑작스러운 북한 붕괴에 대비하여, 붕괴 이후 일어날 혼란을 최소화하기 위해서라도, 미리미리 북한 스스로 자생할 수 있는 길을 열어두는 것은 현명한 판단이다.
골방에 틀어박혀 ‘책상머리 볼펜’으로 끌쩍대는 < 민족주의> 관점에서 바라본 북한의 붕괴와 < 흡수통일>은 기대하지 마라.
경제논리로 풀어가자.
….
If people start being used to the taste, they become customers. It’s the same principle.
About this meeting, ‘scooping out’?
Let’s see Japan.
Japan has poured
Regarding relations between North and South Korea…what we can do is unification by
Whose land is North Korea?
What people live in North Korea?
They’re our people.
On the land of our people… we do our best to live together. Who dares to intervene and judge our directions? Why are we bothered by nearby powerful countries?…
Preparing for the sudden collapse of North Korea, in order to minimize the confusion after it, it is a wise action to teach North Korea how to grow in advance.
Don’t expect the collapse of North Korea based on

author: Hyejin Kim


text:
Language death: evolution, natural selection or cultural genocide? · Global Voices
Jennifer Brea

We humans live in a world of just 194 countries, give or take, but speak between 7,000 and 8,000 languages.
That linguistic diversity is fast disappearing.  By one estimate, a language dies every two weeks.
Hundreds of years ago, a handful of European countries colonized whole continents and organized once independent or loosely related peoples into nation-states, under a common colonial language.  More recent empires followed suit.
And now the globalization of media and technology are hastening the trend toward linguistic homogeneity.  But is this really cause for alarm?
Kans, a French-Cameroonian who blogs at Le Blog du Presi, wrote a post responding to a Rue 89 article on the subject, “A language is extinguished every fifteen days” (Fr).
According to Collette Grinevald, a linguist at the University of Lyon II quoted in the Rue 89 article, 90% of local languages will disappear by the end of the 21st century.  Despite the thousands of languages that exist today, 80% of the planet communicates in just 83 languages.  Around the world, indigenous languages are giving way to colonial ones.
Comments by French and francophone Rue 89 readers (mostly anonymous) run the gamut, with some arguing that the death of languages is inevitable, and in some ways necessary, in ethnically diverse societies; others that it amounts to nothing less than cultural genocide.
Language has long been a contested issue in France, where the onslaught of anglicisms and the rise of English as the preeminent international language have caused concern in some quarters.
Official policies helped facilitate the death of several regional languages in favor of a common, national one. In the francophone world, that process is just unfolding.
Language death: evolution, natural selection or ethnic cleansing?
“C'etait mieux avant…” encore et toujours… c'est fatiguant. J'aime qu'on me parle de l'evolution des choses, pas seulement d'empecher la destruction de ce qui existait… On ne construit plus d'edifices Romans ou Gothiques… Mais on en a garder avec le temps de tres beaux. Le temps a le merite de faire le trie, c'est vrai dans l'art, la culture et la nature…
Rue 89 reader, Alzaz:
Peu importe qu'une langue devienne moribonde et disparaisse. C'est de la sélection naturelle, appliquée à la culture. La plus forte l'emporte.
It matters little when a language becomes moribund and disappears.  It's natural selection, applied to culture.  The strongest wins.
Rue 89 reader, photosieste:
L'ethnocide est la destruction d'une culture.
C'est comparable à un être vivant qui naît, vit, meurt.
S'il meurt de mort naturel après avoir eu une belle vie, très bien.
Mais si on l'assassine, ou que l'on ne porte pas assistance à personne en danger, c'est autre chose…
C'est pareil pour les langues menacées d'extinction…
You can compare it to a living being who is born, lives, and dies.
If he dies a natural death after a long and beautiful life, very well.
But if we kill him, or we don't help him when he is in danger, that's something else…
It's the same with languages in danger of extinction.
Another reader:
La mort d'une langue est grave non pas pour ce qu'elle est mais surtout pour ce qu'elle pouvait apporter. Une langue qui disparait emporte avec elle un schème de pensé, une vision du monde qui n'augmente que l'apauvrissement de la culture humaine et de la capacité des hommes à comprendre le monde sui l'entour.
Another reader:
Ce n'est qu'un problême d'entropie linguistique. On ne va quand même pas se suicider quand on pense à tout ce qui a disparu depuis 50000 ans en laissant la place à d'autres choses. Vous pensez en conservateur, en accumulateur, bref en capitaliste. Pensez en horloge civilisationnelle, pas à l'échelle d'une vie humaine. Dans 500 ans tout aura encore évolué, et alors ? Au profit de ce que l'époque voudra, et alors ? Il n'y aura peut-être plus un chat sur Terre, et alors ?
Rue 89 reader, jean jacques louis:
“… en biologie, la diversité fait la richesse” : oui mais la biologie ne connaît qu’une seule langue vieille de trois milliards d’années et qui est le code ADN car c’est bien une langue avec un alphabet de quatre lettres et des mots de trois lettres.
Of course as old languages die, new ones are created:
…combien de nouvelles langues apparaissent, pour chaque langue qui disparaît ? Il serait intéressant de faire un inventaire des nouvelles langues apparues ces dernières décennies, qui forment à peine des siècles. Les créoles des diverses îles, qui se basent sur l’anglais, le hollandais ou le français, et leurs multiples variantes, ou les diverses évolutions de la Darija en Afrique du nord…Au Maroc par exemple, la Darija, arabe dialectal marocain, est la vraie langue universelle, qui se base sur l’arabe, le français et l’espagnol, mais compte elle-même de multiples variantes suivant les régions, notamment sous l’influence du berbère.
Kans tells us that in Cameroon, a country with two hundred local languages, just two are official: English and French.  But Pidgin English (for the anglophones) and “Camfranglais” (for the francophones) are the “two most widespread and known languages” and preferred by most urban youth to both the official languages and their maternal, local language.
He gives an example of camfranglais, a rich fusion of English, French and local languages:
Moi je vous tchat que si on ne lookot pas, meme le camfrang là on va loss all. Mais popo, je mimba que les langues du lage là, francho il faut laisser tomber le way. Sauf si on veut go speak avec les anciens pour know un peu les divers du mboa, mais qui va meme do tous leurs divers là encore? Déjà que le christiannisme les avait bien bolè, il reste meme quoi nooon?! akaa!
Colonial languages a necessary evil?
Many African countries are home to hundreds of different peoples and languages.  Designating a small number of official languages, at the expense of indigenous ones, according to Kans, is often a necessary, if unfortunate, measure:
Mise en cause, la non-officialisation de ces langues. Et donc, anglais, francais, espagnol, portugais, etc. à la barre! Mais comment pouvait-il en être autrement dans des contextes sociaux tels que l'on se retrouve avec autant de langues que d'individus? Il s'impose la necessité de faire un choix, pas toujours heureux pour les langues non-choisies condamnées de facto à la disparition.
The cause [of languages dying out]?  Languages remaining unofficial.  And so English, French, Spanish, Portugues, etc. to the front!  But how could it be otherwise in contexts where there are as many languages as there are people?   It becomes necessary to make a choice, not always happy for the languages that are not [made official] and thus condemned to disappear.
Alain Colbert, a Rue 89 reader:
Si un Indien d'Amazonie ne parle pas le portugais, il n'a aucune chance de faire reconnaître ses droits de citoyen à part entière du Brésil, face aux riches et aux pauvres venus, du reste de ce pays, détruire son environnement et qui parlent cette langue, maternelle pour eux.
Kans think new technologies contribute significantly to the homogenization of language, in particular the global preference for English:
…les langues “primaires” (selon l'expression consacrée), sont aussi peut-être victime du transfert de technologie. Où comment une langue se dope de barbarismes imposés par une autre porteuse de science. Je vois à ce titre nos société africaines qui n'ont inventé ni l'avion, ni la voiture, ni les ordinateurs; y a qu'à voir les noms donnés ou adoptés pour lesdits objets pour comprendre. Et c'est la meme comparaison pour le francais vis-à-vis de l'anglais, avec des mots tels que “car”, “wagon”, “PC”, etc. Et de voir l'acharnement d'auto-proclamés défenseurs de la langue francaise, je me demande si ce n'est pas simplement peine perdue, mais bel idéalisme quand même!
In a comment, one of Kans’ readers, Keo, objects to the characterization of langauges as primitive or developped:
…objection, avec O majsucule!
Je suis d'avis qu'il n'y a ni langues primaires, ni langues développées, mais plutôt des langues négligées et des langues privilégiées…Parce que quand on parle de langues primaires, c'est comme si elles ne pouvaient jamais se développer, alors que si on les privilegiait, eh bien elles se déveloperaient comme toute les autres.
I'm of the mind that there are neither primitive or developed languages, but rather neglected and favored ones…because when we speak of primitive languages, it's as though they can never develop, but if we gave them a privileged position, they would develop like all the others.
What would a world of few languages look like?
Que deviendrait le monde si tous ses habitants parlaient la même langue ? Pourrait-on espérer que les humains, se comprenant mieux entre eux, s’entendraient mieux, et, par exemple, se feraient moins la guerre ? Certes pas, l’histoire le montre, qui a toujours vu, et voit des guerres, y compris entre « colocuteurs ».
Vive la mondialisation ! Extinction de 25% de la vie et des espèces vivantes au niveau mondial, extinction des langues vivantes, pollution, extension de la pauvreté généralisée. Elle est pas belle la vie ?
On cultural preservation
Rue 89 reader, gemrien, referring to France, writes that languages may die but they are hardly forgotten:
Les langues sont un patrimoine, aux même titre que les monuments historiques, mais aimerions nous vivre dans des chateaux forts ou dans des huttes ?
Notre devoir est de conserver un patrimoine pour le transmettre à nos enfants pour savoir qui ils sont et d'où ils viennent, mais est ce pour autant qu'il faudrait utiliser courament le patois de chaque région.
We should conserve our heritage so that it can be transmitted to our children so that they may know where they come from, but does that mean that we must use fluently the patois of each region?
The problem with this argument, as a francophone Rue 89 readers point out, is that in other parts of the world, not every dying language will leave behind monuments to its existence:
Pour prendre un cas que je connais bien, celui de l'Afrique, il faut savoir que moins de 10% – et je suis large – des 1000 langues du continent (estimation généralement acceptée) sont correctement décrites. Seule une infime minorité de ces langues sont écrites (pour les autres, il faut se contenter du boulot des évangélistes). On estime que d'ici la fin du siècle seules 10% des langues actuelles auront survécu. Pour nombre d'autres, il ne nous restera qu'une traduction du Nouveau Testament: génial!
Comprenez-vous l'urgence? Même des langues parlées par plusieurs millions de personnes sont en danger: c'est le cas du gikuyu, au Kenya, par exemple. Et encore, il s'agît d'un pays relativement stable politiquement. Mais allez travailler en RDC ou sur les mines anti-personnel du Mozambique!
Personnellement, pour reprendre votre métaphore, je ne tiens pas vraiment à vivre dans un château. En revanche, je tiens à pouvoir le visiter si j'en ai envie, et à ce que certains aient la possibilité de travailler sur son architecture, par exemple. Sur tous les continents, des châteaux disparaîssent. Sans laisser la moindre trace. Sans fossile.
Do you understand the urgency?  Even languages spoken by several million people are in danger: that's the case of gikuyu, in Kenya, for example.  And moreover, that's in a country that is relatively politically stable.  Imagine working in the DRC or on land mines in Mozambique!
Personally, to use your metaphor, I wouldn't really want to live in a castle.  But on the other hand, I can always visit one if I want to, and others have the possibility of studying its architecture, for example.  On all the continents, castles are disappearing.  Without leaving a single trace.  Without leaving fossils.
There has been a growing movement within France to preserve regional languages after many years of neglect.  However the French concern about the survival of languages like Breton or Corse does not apparently extended to languages endangered in French overseas departments.
Rue 89 reader, Sylvius:
la guyane est une region francaise au meme titre que la bretagne – 6 langues amazoniennes (sur la quinzaine de langues locales parlees dans cette region )mais les amerindiens sont isoles peu nombreux et non belliqueux…n'y a t il pas egalite et fraternite dans la doctrine francaise?pardon ca ne doit pas etre vrai pour les departements et territoires d'outre mer ! alors si on vt preserver les langues especes coutumes et peuples , pourquoi laisser tomber les ultra marins
An anonymous reader agrees:
C'est vrai. Mais il se trouve que l'histoire…a fait que quelques langues “amazoniennes” doivent également être considérées comme minoritaires et menacées en France : les langues amérindiennes parlées en Guyane française, passablement oubliées elles aussi. Le basque (qui a une presse, des médias audio-visuels, une édition, un enseignement de la maternelle à l'Université…) à côté pourrait faire figure de langue dominante…
Madagascar: An assault on the Malagasy language?
In France, government policies promoting French as the official language did most of their damage to regional languages long ago; there the debate is more abstract.
Global Voices author Mialy Andriamananjara writes about how in Madagascar, as elsewhere in Africa, policies are being put in place that may, over the long run, endanger the health of non-European languages.
The Malagasy Government has decided that it will no longer advertise official tenders or disseminate official articles in any newspapers that do not circulate at least 10000 units a day, and do not publish in at least two of the three official languages (Malagasy, French, English).
Jentilisa sees in this policy a missed opportunity for the Malagasy Government to support Malagasy speaking newspapers, and worse, a willful intention from the Government to eliminate the Malagasy language.
Dia ny fanjakana eritreretina mba hanampy ireo gazety teny malagasy ireo indray ity no vao maika mampivoitra izany fomba fisainana manao valalan’amboa ny teny malagasy izany. Nantenaina hanery ny hafa aza izy mba ho ny gazety mpiteny malagasy ihany no amoahana izay tian’ny fanjakana avoaka izay, zavatra aloa vola manko izany mba ho fanohanana ilay teny malagasy, nefa dia nivandravandra fotsiny aho sisa. Farafaharatsiny mba ho ohatra halain’ny rehetra tahaka nefa dia nanara-driandrano tahaka ny deba rehetra ihany.
The government that one hoped would support these Malagasy speaking newspapers are now reinforcing this mentality of ostracizing the Malagasy language, and treating it like a stepchild. One hoped they would force the publishing of official tenders and offers in Malagasy speaking newspapers only, because those official advertisements would zhave financially supported the Malagasy language, but I am left with only my eyes wide open. At least, that would have been setting an example for all to follow, but now they are just following the flow.
Rajiosy, a new Malagasy blogger, is less pessimistic.
Dia hoy aho hoe : tsy mila tsotsofina akory anie ny teny malagasy fa “velona sy mahery” arak’ilay hiram-piangonana iny e. Ny isan’ny mpiteny azy andavan’andro fotsiny dia ampy haha-mafy aina azy : 17 tapitrisa mahery be izao tsy manana eritreritra ny  hiova fiteny ! Ho anay mipetraka aty an-dafin-dranomasina aloha dia mahatsapa tsara izahay rehefa sendra tody any an-tanindrazana iny fa miaina ny teny malagasy.
Koa aza dia kivy ambony ihany rey olona : ny mpitondra fanjakana mbamin’ny didim-panjakana mandalo ihany fa ny fiteny malagasy mbola ho lava velona !
So I say : the Malagasy language does not need any help, because it is “Alive and strong” as one Protestant hymn would say. The sheer number of speakers suffices to strengthen it : 17 millions of people who have no intentions of switching languages  ! Those of us who live overseas feel when we come back home that the Malagasy language is alive.
So do not despair people : government leaders and laws are being passed but the Malagasy language long lives!

author: Jennifer Brea


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Russia: A Protestant Country? · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

According to Window on Eurasia, “Russia could become a Protestant country, at least in terms of the number of practicing faithful, for a few decades until ongoing demographic developments transform it, at least in its current borders, into a Muslim majority one sometime later in the 21st century.”


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Russia: Central Asian Migrant Workers · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

“…The number of Central Asians coming to work in Russia is likely to continue to grow over the next several decades,” writes Window on Eurasia.


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Russia: Corrupt Ethnocracies in North Caucasus · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Window on Eurasia writes this about violence in the North Caucasus: “… The emergence of corrupt local ethnocracies as ‘the third force’ in this battle has generally passed unnoticed.” Also, according to the deputy chairman of the Duma Committee on Nationality Affairs, “the people of Ingushetia no longer feel themselves to be part of Russia because they believe Moscow has neglected them and is prepared to accept pleasant-sounding lies from local officials about their situation.”


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Russia: Indigenous Peoples’ Land Problems · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Window on Eurasia reports that some indigenous peoples of Russia have been “reduced to the status of poachers” on their own land.


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Russia: Internet Journalism · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Window on Eurasia writes about Internet journalism in Russia.


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Russia: Kadyrov and Islam · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Window on Eurasia reports that Ramzan Kadyrov “wants to ‘impose order’ on Islam in Russia.”


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Russia, Ukraine: Gas, Again · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Wu Wei writes about the most recent gas conflict between Russia and Ukraine: “Now it is threatening LOUDLY in public to cut off gas to Ukraine (and thus inevitably to Europe eventually) just as a slightly pro-western government might be formed? […] Russia just doesn't get it, does it? That actions to neighbours speak louder than reassurances to us.”


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Serbia: Belgrade Airport Complaint · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Wu Wei writes a letter to the managers of Belgrade Airport, pointing out ways for them to improve their service.


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Sri Lanka: Blogosphere Roundup · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

A wonderful roundup of posts at the Sri Lankan blogosphere at London, Lanka and Drums.


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Sri Lanka: Violence against women and ICT · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Voice of South on the example of a program in Sri Lanka in the context of using ICT to empower women against violence.


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St. Vincent and the Grenadines: Petroglyphs threatened · Global Voices
Nicholas Laughlin

And Still I Rise is astounded by news that ancient Carib rock carvings may be destroyed in the construction of the new international airport in St. Vincent.


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Uruguay: XO Computer Rated Higher  · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

One Laptop Per Child News reports that the government entity LATU Uruguay has rated the XO Computer as “the better option” for children in the Florida province after testing both the XO and the Intel Classmate PC.


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Algeria: The Tamazight Quran  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Algerian blogger Lameen Souag discusses the Tamazight Quran.

author: Amira Al Hussaini


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Algeria: Why are Syria and Iran close?  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Algerian blogger Nouri draws attention to multi-billion industrial relations between Syria and Iran – two countries under the US blockade.


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Bahamas: Death of the neighbourhood · Global Voices
Nicholas Laughlin

“The neighbourhood — that locale which is a citizen's larger home … is dying in Nassau,” writes Nicolette Bethel at Bahama Pundit, as she urges a rethinking of urban planning policy in the Bahamas.


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Bahrain: Divided By Dialect · Global Voices
Ayesha Saldanha

In Bahrain this week: the disappearing sea, culture shock in the UK, Ramadan drama serials, a diagnosis of leukaemia – and speaking ‘Shia'!
Declamation against reclamation
Hussain is lamenting the changes in Bahrain's coastline due to development and land ‘reclamation’, though part of a special view remains:
As well as a blogger, Hussain is an excellent photographer; here is a photo of the sea where he used to swim and fish as a child:
Photo credit: Hussain
Unfamiliar politeness
Sayyid Mahmood Al Aali recently arrived in the UK to attend university, and he has written an account of his first impressions:
في بعض الأحيان أصطدم بشخص ما في الطريق دون قصد ليبادرني بكلمة آسف (Sorry)!! و كأنه هو المخطئ، بينما في بلادنا يبادرك المخطئ بالسب واللعنات قبل أن تتمكن من أخذ تلاميم نفسك والهرب!
– الطوابير (Queues)
في كل الأماكن تجد الطوابير، أثناء ذهابك للتسجيل في الجامعة، أو في السوبر ماركت أو حتى عند الATM. يبدو أن هذا الشعب مهووس بالنظام لدرجة أن نكتة تقول بأن الشعب البريطاني عندما يجد إثنان خلف بعضهما البعض، يعتقدون بأن هنالك طابوراً فيبادروا بالوقوف بعد هذين الإثنين.
–	الكلام والمعاملة الحسنة
خلال إسبوعين و لحد الآن لم أجد أي مضايقة من أي شخص لا في الشارع و لا في الجامعة بأي طريقة كانت، عندما تسأل أي شخص عن أي معلومة يحاول مساعدتك بأي طريقة. كما أن الإبتسامة هي الغالبة عند التحدث معهم ..
أعتقد بأن هذه الأمور وجب علينا نحن المسلمين أن نبادر بها قبل الآخرين و لكن ؟!!
Thanks / Thank you!
It's impossible to spend an hour in this country without hearing the phrase ‘thank you’, to the extent that I have become addicted to it now.
Sorry!
Sometimes I bump into a person in the street without meaning to and he reacts by saying ‘sorry’, as if he were at fault – whereas in our country he would respond to you (whose fault it was) with abuse and curses, before you can gather yourself and get away!
Queues
You find queues everywhere: going to register at university, or in the supermarket, or even at the ATM. It seems these people are obsessed with order, to the extent that a joke says that the British, when they find two people one behind another, think there is a queue and start to stand behind these two.
Good manners
For the last two weeks, until now, I have not had any trouble from any person, whether in the street or at university, in whatever form. When you ask someone for any information he or she tries to help you any way possible, just as people usually smile when you talk to them.
I think there are things that we as Muslims should be the first to do, but…
Feasting on television
Kawthar thinks the focus is wrong during Ramadan these days:
Dialects of division
Silly Bahraini Girl reports on the how accent still plays a big part in people's perceptions of others:
Inter marriages are a good way to bridge the sectarian rift in our society and I have always been all for it. We are, after all, the new generation and it's best that girls do get married to who their heart desires, rather than end locked up in loveless barren same-faith marriages!
But what happens when they get children? What do the children do? In liberal families, it isn't a big deal and freedom of choice and common sense reigns, as the young brood is exposed to the cultures and traditions of both faiths. But what happens when people get married to others who seemingly look progressive, but hide racist sentiments deep inside. What does a woman do when she hears her husband whispering in her ears: I don't want our child to speak Shia?
Speak what? People roll their eyes in bewilderment when I explain to them that it is easy to make out the difference between sects by simply hearing them speak. They are shell shocked when they realise that the distinction between Shias and Sunnis is detected by dialect!
I blog, therefore…
Qassim asks ‘Why do I blog?':
Voice of an angel
H. describes how he fell in love with Arabic music:
I’ve never been a big fan of Arabic music, not the hideous stuff that gets produced these days anyway. Perhaps the fact that writers, singers, and composers themselves can’t escape their limited scope of lame topics which range from snobbish unreasoned pride and ego to the slumps of sexually provocative outtakes.
And since I fell in love with the English language from an early age, my music taste found its match in western music (mainly within singer/songwriter genre). A few years back I was invited to a Marcel Khalifa concert here in Bahrain, and that was when I found my Arabic fix (apart from the legendary Fairoz and Co). Marcel introduce this divine looking lady, with an angelic voice, and a graceful humane presence. It was Omaymah Alkhalil.
Her performance was absolutely stripped from any form of indecency, unlike other the usual act from the contemporary mainstream bimbo. I knew then, that there was still a chance for Arabic music to have a special place in my heart.
Testing experience
Cookie has a shock when she visits the doctor:
Every time I go to the hospital, they ask me to check my blood ph. not cause I have a problem just cause of my yellow skin. So I went to the lab and as usual they took a drop from the finger and then to the machine then write the number and go. I saw the number it was 13 so it is good.
The woman from the lab gave me two papers the one on the top was the number and the other hmm I thought it comes with the first one !
anyways, I went back to the doc and gave her the papers, she saw the first one and said good and then she was like …. sit down !?!?! I sat and she said you have leukemia! I was like me ! .. she said it is written on this result! I felt that my world collapsed for a second. but I got my mind back and said: but I just checked the ph !!! she replied with a very upsetting voice : sorry wrong result !!!!!!!!!!!
We end with another of Hussain's beautiful photos, this time of a seagull on a local beach:
Photo credit: Hussain

author: Ayesha Saldanha


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Bahrain: Dreaming Prepositions  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Bint Battuta in Bahrain, a translator by profession, is now dreaming  prepositions.


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Bermuda: At the Music Festival · Global Voices
Nicholas Laughlin

The Devil Island reports on the highlights of the Bermuda Music Festival, celebrity encounters included.


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Cameroon: Discredited Minister Brings Libel Suit Against Newspapers · Global Voices
Jennifer Brea

Fojrega writes (Fr) that former finance minister Polycarpe Abah Abah, removed from his post for refusing to declare his assets, is suing half a dozen papers for defamation.


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Costa Rica: Voting Yes · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

On the eve of the nationwide referendum to determine the fate of the Free-Trade Agreement in Costa, the News Star's [ES] Roy Rojas writes why he will vote “Yes.”


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Egypt: Drug Epidemic? · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

“The concept of a drug epidemic in Egypt might be news to you but its been floating around for a while now. Egypt's National Council for Fighting and Treating Addiction released a study reporting 8.5% of Egypts population or 6 million people are addicted to drugs,” writes DB Shobrawy in Mideast Youth.


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Egypt: Fifi Abdou for President  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

The Arabist notes  a ‘funny quote’ in a story about succession in Egypt – in which an army general says the army wont contest even if Fifi Abdou, a famous Egyptian belly dancer, was appointed as President.


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Egypt: October War · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Zeinobia from Egypt gives us the Egyptian perspective of the October 1973 war with Israel here.


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Egypt: Peace with Israel? · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

“It's been about 30 years now since Egypt and Israel signed their famous historic peace treaty, but, from a normal friendship aspect, did any kind of real change happen in the everyday relations between the two countries?” asks The Egypt Blog.


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Egypt: What is that Smell? · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Egyptian blogger D B Shobrawy got more than he bargained for when he traveled to  the suburb of LA Ontario in California, US.


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Iran:Asefi,jailed blogger and journalist is free · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

According to[Fa] Schrr blog,Soheil Asefi, blogger and journalist who had been in jail since August 2007, is out of prison now. He used to work with Rooz online journal.


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Iran:Beautiful Iran · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Watch a collection of interesting photos about Iran's nature,history and cities.


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Iran:Dilbert cartoon creator Scott Adams on Ahmadinejad · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Peoples Geography has published “a great satirical piece by Dilbert cartoonist Scott Adams on Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.”


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Iran:Stand Against Women Stoned to Death  · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Ali Eteraz says here is a call for action to do our small part in coming to the assistance of the women in Iran who have been sentenced to death by stoning.


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Iraq: Any Happy Pictures? · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

“How come whenever we search for pictures about Iraq or anything related to it all what we see are the pictures of death and blood? Where did the beautiful and happy pictures go? Or are they any?!” asks Iraqi blogger Morbid Smile.


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Iraq: Speaking Tour · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Iraqi blogger Raed Jarrar writes about his speaking tour in the US and links to a video.


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Japan: Sumo Wrestling Takes a Beating · Global Voices
Jens Wilkinson

It’s been a tough few months in the world of Sumo wrestling, Japan’s “national sport.” First, Mongolian wrestler Asashoryu, one of two yokozuna (the top wrestling class) returned to his homeland to undergo treatment for a mental disorder brought on by criticism that he shirked his duties, pretending to be ill, and then returned to Mongolia, where he was filmed playing soccer. Parts of the media decried how “Japan’s traditional sport” was being harmed by the influx of “foreign wrestlers” and “Japan’s traditional sport.”
Anyway, the problems took a turn for the worse when it was revealed that in June, a 17-year-old wrestler named Tadashi Saito (his ring name was Tokitaizan), who had just entered the tough world of Sumo, had died following a training session. At first his stablemaster, Tokitsukaze arguedthat the death was due to exhaustion, but it has now turned out that Tokitaizan was “bullied” to death, and the stablemaster has since been fired by the Sumo Association.
Many bloggers have discussed the treatment he received, which included being hit with an empty beer bottle. For example, one blogger writes:
「もう逃げ出しません。がんばります」というように言わせたり、携帯電話を二つにへし折り、親と連絡が取れないようにするなど、（ここまで人としてできるのだろうか？）と恐ろしいばかりです。
He was forced to promise “I won’t run away anymore, I’ll do my best,” and they broke his cell phone into two so he couldn’t call his parents. It’s frightening. Can people really do that?
Blogger Matimulog expresses the widespread sentiment of disappointment in how it took such a dramatic event to shed light on the problem of bullying in sumo.
そして、弟子が死んで初めて問題が表面化するというのでは遅すぎるのである。逮捕監禁傷害行為が日常的に行われ、死ななければ問題視されないという環境、それでなければ弟子が育たないし強くならないというのでは、日本の国技というより国恥であろうに。
It seems that it takes the death of a young wrestler to make the story public. The environment is such that assault seems to be a daily occurrence, and it seems to takes a death for this to be seen as a problem, since people seem to believe that without the violence, young wrestlers cannot become strong. This should be seen as Japan’s shame, not Japan’s national sport.
One issue of common interest is the responsibility of the Sumo Association itself. As blogger Shosan no Blog writes:
相撲協会は斉藤さんの死亡直後にも事情を聴いたが、時津風親方が愛知県警の事情聴取に暴行を認めたとする報道を受け、文部科学省から独自調査をするよう指導されたため、再聴取した。同親方の説明は死亡直後と異なるという。
Right after Saito’s death, the Sumo Association asked for an explanation from the stablemaster, but interviewed him again following a request from the Ministry of Education and Culture, after Tokitsukaze admitted to the Aichi Prefecture police that violence had been involved. He apparently gave a different explanation in the first interview.
Finally, while pinning the blame firmly on Tokitsukaze, blogger Igajin no Tensei Jingo talks about the bleak future of sumo.
いまでさえ、新弟子の志願者が急減しています。時津風親方を相撲界から追放しなければ、日本の伝統である大相撲は、やがて消滅することになるでしょう。
Even now, the number of young men hoping to go into sumo is rapidly decreasing. If Tokitsukaze is not thrown out of the sumo world, a Japanese tradition, it is likely that the sport will be destroyed.
Who knows what trouble will befall the world of sumo next.


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Jordan in Pictures · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Jordanian blogger Ebrahim Owais posts images of Jordan in this post.


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Jordan: Wasta Sex  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

I’ve been wondering lately which sex in Jordan uses wasta (nepotism) more. Females or males? And I’m talking about the instigators and not just the pawns, writes Naseem Al Tarawnah from Jordan.


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Jordan: Wasted Food · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

“Have you noticed that we, Jordanians, tend to throw a lot of food in the trash? We fill our dishes with plenty of food that ends up thrown away?…This was just a quick observation…. in a nation where more people are getting hungry,” observes Jordanian blogger Hareega.


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Mideast Youth: Trial of War Criminals  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Mideast Youth has launched a petition on accountability and the trial of war criminals – sparking a debate among readers about it.


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Morocco: Illegal Immigrants Sent Home  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Morocco, under pressure from Europe to crack down on illegal migration, has begun repatriating 345 Senegalese and Gambians it caught trying to reach Spain's Canary Islands, reports Moroccan blogger Saad.


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Myanmar: Internet Access Back On · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Blog of Nyein Chan Yar says that internet is back on in Myanmar for six hours at night. Some domains like blogger.com are still banned though.


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Palestine: Family Guy ‘Anti-Semitic’ · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

TV show Family Guy has been sued for being anti-semitic, writes Palestinian blogger Haitham Sabbah here.


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· Global Voices
Jens Wilkinson

Blogger Ampontan offers an essay on the history of a matsuri (festival) which changed after the war, and discusses the aims of festivals. Not serious politics, but it's an interesting view of how “traditions” can be born from specific conditions.


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Brunei: Visit to Pulau Selirong · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Lazy Turtle takes us on a trip to the island of Selirong in Brunei Bay.