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Iraq: A defining moment? · Global Voices
Salam Adil

War in Basra… curfews in Baghdad… airstrikes on city centres… then a ceasefire… what on earth happened? As a BBC report said, the Basra operation is an empty vessel – it can be filled with any interpretation you choose. And fill it I will, with interpretations of Iraqi bloggers. Some polarised, some contradictory, but a selection that can fill the gaps that exist in current reports.
But first, if you read no other blog post this week read this
Last of Iraqis gives the definitive guide to the five days of warfare from his view in Baghdad. The post is worth reading in full to get a true understanding of the ferocity of the war. He concludes at the end:
I think AlMaliki and Muqtada had a dispute and they disagreed on something and Muqtada though that he is stronger then AlMaliki wanted to show him that he is the strongest and he is the boss and Muqtada should always obey and fear him…so it's just a show business nothing more, nothing less, and now Muqtada is convinced that Maliki is stronger and AlMaliki also knows that Muqtada can really cause troubles if he wants…it's a children's fight…and now they are back to what they used to be brothers in destroying Iraq and killing Iraqis.
AlMaliki is a joke now…even in the news the presenter was announcing the last news which was about a high ranked Iranian official called AlMaliki “dear and honorable” and she laughed in a sarcastic way.
I'm afraid that the coming days will the worst…I believe there will be so much innocent's blood in the streets.
And on to the analysis…
Nibras Kazimi sees the Basra operation as a glorious victory for the Iraqi government. He writes:
Maliki was a political nobody before he ‘accidentally’ became Prime Minister almost two years ago, but today he is perceived as a statesman commanding a strong and motivated army that can impose law and order on once-powerful forces that have run amuck. If that’s not a benchmark of success, then what is? …
Maliki won, pure and simple. … Maliki’s approach is piece-meal: he’s taken out the intimidation factor that kept much of the Sadrist sway in place and he’s done that by showing them that they are no armed match for a better-disciplined, better-supplied Iraqi Army with plenty of stamina…
Now the Sadrist will have to sway voters their way with words and entreaties, rather than threats and drills. Most of the crime cartels are also on notice that the days of the ‘Wild, Wild South’ are over and there’s a new sheriff in town.
And he spends much of his posts criticising what appears to be every American media outlet for daring to disagree with him. Nibras writes:
It is unfortunate that what little news the American public gets to see and read about Iraq gets so distorted by the neurotic contortions of a handful of maladjusted, misinformed journalists.
However it is not only maladjusted and misinformed journalists that beg to differ with Nibras a number of Iraqi bloggers also disagree.
Neurotic Wife, blogging from inside the Green Zone is incredulous:
Al Maliki, who I cannot Friggin believe just stated today that Last week’s battles IS A SUCCESS!!! Is he pulling an April Fools on us??? Is that possible?
And Abbas Hawazin gives a more detailed discussion. He writes:
I'm surprised that there are people who can still wrinkle out a positive spin from this ; just type Basra or Iraq in Google News and behold pandemonium itself. Of course, one should always take into account the loyalties and the backgrounds of the news sources, but such a depressing pandemonium is unarguable, I myself rooted for the surge itself in its early days as the last hope, but as the haze clears you can't help but call a spade a spade, or a civil war a civil war, or the Iraqi Army the Badr Brigade.
Interestingly, as someone who is from the Sunni community one can notice a certain grudging respect. He writes:
Muqtada is an easy man to make fun of, with his extremely crude speech, the habibi and the repetitive uh grunt, but if you excuse his Fish Market mannerisms, you can find that he's coming from some sort of a tangible idea.
But this “respect” is one thing coming from a somewhat libertarian former rock guitarist but in a later post he also explains that even his sectarian Sunni relatives in Iraq are beginning to show support for Muqtada as a lesser of two evils:
while a great margin of Shi'i folks openly deride Mooks [a nickname for Sadr's militia], the Sunnis in general prefer him waaaay much more than the royal dynasty of the Hakims, my grandmother Ta'iffiya, a rather sectarian individual, commented on his interview last Friday by saying: “The poor sod, he cannot form a single comprehensible sentence. What a shame.”
Al-Ghad looks at the conflict and sees the oil companies behind it…
There is now mounting evidence that Maliki’s “sudden” offensive on Basra was decided during Cheney’s visit to Baghdad. Cheney was present in Baghdad, at a press conference called by Gen. David Petraeus, the commander of the occupying forces in Iraq. Oddly enough Petraeus said that he was speaking on behalf of the Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to call on the major Western oil companies to invest in Iraq’s energy sector, as Iraq looks outside to boost oil, gas and power production.
Al-Ghad considers the operation a failure and concludes by quoting Vali Nasr:
President Bush was right that Basra marked a defining moment for Iraq, but not in the way that he intended…. this is the birth of Sadrist power.”
Meanwhile Blog Iraq sees the aims of the forces that want to partition Iraq. Namely the party of Abdul Aziz al-Hakim wants to create an independent region in Southern Iraq a so-called “Southern Federation”. Blog Iraq writes:
f you read the names of the cities and provinces in which the fight is fierce, you can easily link it to another list. The list of the provinces that Al-Hakim wants in his “Southern Federation”. Of course we will have to add Najaf and Karbala. Referring to the Article 115 of the Iraqi constitution:
“One or more provinces shall have the right to organize into a region based on a request to be voted on in a referendum submitted in one of the following two methods:
A. A request by one-third of the council members of each province intending to form a region.
B. A request by one-tenth of the voters in each of the province intending to form a region.”
And since Al-Sadr has many followers in all of these provinces, and the Sadr PMs are highly against this decision, it will be virtually impossible for Al-Hakim and the Shiaa Coalition to impose such a decision without kicking Muqtada and his followers out of the way.
And Finally
Baghdad Connect gives the whole analysis of this crisis an historical perspective. its all Tactique Habibi:
“It’s a tactic, buddy” this was Muqtada’s reply in his latest interview in Al Jazeera when asked about the latest development in Basra, so was Saddam’s reply in Saudi Arabia before he started the war with Iran in 1981
And after giving a historical trail from 1981 to the present day he concludes:
This is how today’s Iraq ushers the Iraq War 2 period, and while the American military regime’s sole dilemma is how to turn Al Maliki-Talibani-Hakim into oligarchy that looks after the invaders interests in Iraq in return for the safety of the formers’ lives, other Iraqi innocent lives are being lost everyday because it is simply a “Tactique Habibi”!!!
War in Basra… curfews in Baghdad… airstrikes on city centres… then a ceasefire… what on earth happened? As a BBC report said, the Basra operation is an empty vessel – it can be filled with any interpretation you choose. And fill it I will, with interpretations of iraqi bloggers. Some polarised, some contradictory, but a selection that can fill the gaps that exist in current reports.

author: Salam Adil


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Jamaica, Canada: Homosexual Boycott?  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“I do not want any public campaign telling the children of Jamaica that homosexuality is alright…I don't want to see two men kissing in public, nor two women joining hands in marriage…” Stunner's Afflictions puts in his two cents’ worth on news that a leading human rights organisation in Canada has given the Jamaican Government an ultimatum “to protect the rights of homosexuals or face an all out boycott.”

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Jamaica, Cuba: Lois Lane  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Jamaican blogger Geoffrey Philp features the poetry of Cuban-born Celia Lisset Alvarez.


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Jamaica: Film Without Music?   · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“After Rita Marley sold her book to The Weinstein Company as basis for a Bob Marley biopic, she says the deal did not include any rights to the Legend's music…”:  Abeng News Magazine reports.


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Japan: Blogs a dangerous business? · Global Voices
Chris Salzberg

Japanese blogger Akihito at Shirokuma Nikki picks up a New York Times article about the stress of 24/7 blogging, reflecting on the attraction of blogs as a medium to connect with other people, to immediately access responses to your own thoughts, and in some cases to reach a broad level of influence [ja]. On the other hand, he also notes the similarity between the stimulus of reaching a broad audience through blogging and the stimulus of addictive behaviors.

author: Chris Salzberg


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Japan: Kyoto Goal  · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Hisane Masaki from Ohmynews International has an update on the Japan goal in greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction.

author: Oiwan Lam


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Japan: Major Parties Cooperate to Legislate Regulation of “Harmful” Internet Content · Global Voices
Chris Salzberg

Japanese bloggers have been making noise the past few days [ja] in reaction to two separate bills, submitted first by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party of Japan (LDP) and next by the leading opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), each aiming, in apparently similar ways, to legislate regulation over Internet content deemed to be “harmful” to minors (users under age 18).
On March 19th, LDP Diet Member Takaichi Sanae submitted a bill to a government panel to legislate the “prevention of browsing on the Internet of information harmful to young people” in an attempt to maintain the “sound upbringing of young people”. Shortly thereafter on April 2nd, Diet Member Takai Miho of the Democratic Party submitted a bill with the aim to create an environment that “makes it possible for children to safely use the Internet”. According to bloggers, the bills go significantly further than earlier legislation introduced late last year, which mandated default filtering on mobile phones for minors. Nonetheless, aside from a single article in Asahi shimbun [ja] on the topic, the two bills appear to have been granted no mainstream media attention.
The bills follow on a recent trend of increasing moves toward regulation of the Internet in Japan, but according to bloggers, this time Diet Members Takaichi and Takai are going significantly further — and advancing legislation significantly faster — than in the case of earlier proposals. Blogger Mishima Sakana at Osakana Blog explains:
18歳未満の人たちがインターネット上の「有害情報」に触れないようにする対策を講じる法律案ってのが、3月の中頃から末頃にかけて、姿を現してきた。朝日新聞の記事では少し紹介されているが、それ以外の大手マスコミには全然出てない。っていうか、ペーパーメディアの人間は全然ヤバさを認識してない。あるいは、分かっててトボけている。この法律案、ものすごくヤバい。
He then reviews developments over the past month:
The main concerns, he explains, are the following:
Blogger Ikeda Nobuo has been another forceful critic of Internet regulation by the government. In an entry posted on March 3rd [ja] (referenced above, see also another post in English), he writes:
まず「青少年有害情報」の定義が広範囲に及び、「〜を誘発するもの」とか「〜おそれがあるもの」というように「青少年健全育成推進委員会」の裁量によってどうにでも解釈できる曖昧な表現が多い。
もっとも問題なのは、第9・10条の行政処分と第51条の罰則である。携帯電話では、すでにフィルタリングが業界の自主規制で行なわれており、携帯電話は寡占市場なので、あえて公権力が介入する必要があるとは思われない。逆にインターネットでは、ISPは2000以上あり、そのすべてを監視し、是正命令を出すのは不可能だ。「みせしめ」的に特定のISPが摘発されるおそれが強い。
The articles in the LDP bill to which Ikeda makes reference are the following (taken from the above blog post):
第9条（是正命令）　主務大臣等は、インターネット接続役務提供事業者に対し、是正命令を出すことができる。
第10条（立ち入り検査）　主務大臣等は、インターネット接続役務提供事業者に対し、その営業所に立ち入り、業務の状況又は帳簿、書類その他の物件を検査させることができる。
第51条（罰則）　第9条又は第13条の規定による命令に違反した者は、6月以下の懲役又は百万円以下の罰金に処する。
Many other bloggers are also talking about the proposed regulation. Worried about what will happen to “minority” children who depend on the Internet as a place to connect and get help, blogger essa quips that “you can't protect your children unless you properly choose your politicians” [ja]. In a similar vein, blogger ratio – rational – irrational worries about the classification of “same-sex relationships” as “harmful content” [ja]. At Social Web Rambling, blogger namekawa01 asks [ja] if, with the new regulation bill, politics is returning to a “new 1955 system“. Elsewhere, OhmyNews Japan presents a detailed outline of the LDP bill [ja] through the words of Diet Member Takaichi herself, and CNET offers an overview of both LDP and DPJ bills [ja].


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Japan: Next generation advertising communication · Global Voices
Chris Salzberg

Japanese blogger Tokuriki Motohiko at tokuriki.com reviews the book [ja] “Next generation advertising communication” (次世代広告コミュニケーション） by Yokoshima Ryuji [ja]. The book considers the gap between the methods of mass marketing and those of Internet advertising, a gap which, from his one year of experience at the Agile Media Network, Tokuriki has felt very keenly.


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Kazakhstan: New U.S. Ambassador Coming · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

KZBlog reports that Richard Hoagland has been nominated by President Bush to replace John Ordway as Ambassador to Kazakhstan. Hoagland is currently serving in the U.S. Embassy to Turkmenistan and was Ambassador to Tajikistan.

author: Adil Nurmakov


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Laos: New Year · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Nye Noona greets everyone “Souksan Vanh Pee Mai” or Happy Lao New Year! The Lao New Year will be celebrated next week.

author: Mong Palatino


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Sri Lanka: Bomb blasts and an ongoing conflict · Global Voices
Nishadha Silva

A senior parliamentarian and one of the most important ministers in the present government was assassinated by the LTTE. The bomber is believed to have come disguised as a Marathon runner. DefenseNet gives a brief update of the incident, but the post created some heated debate and in my opinion it gives a glimpse of the average Sri Lankan's mind, who are so used to people getting killed by bomb blasts. Below are some of the comments, read the full post Minister Jeyeraj Fernandopulle killed in Weliweriya Blast
Rover -
“Jeyaraj dead ,Thats that, now lets move on.”
MyShadow -
Yes, i am gone mad…,how many of this country men will get killed, how many will blasts will keep happening in this country,
you say that “We can't dwell on the death of a single guy”
you say that in front of your computer. thousands and thousands are killed. may be you are in a foriegn country in a good position
may be you are a sadist who don't worry about people get killed, boombed
did you die ? someone died, and you say move on…
Other than the minister close to 10 people have died and among them is national marathon champion Mr.Karunasena better known and “Marathon Karu” and National Athletic Coach Mr.Lackshman De Alwis.About Sri Lanka speaks about the other prominent people injured in this post.
Meanwhile, the war continues in Sri Lanka with government claiming to kill many Tiger cadres while LTTE denies them strenuously, what most people don't hear about is the displaced people because of the war, who live in refugee camps, sometimes denied even the basic human needs, although the government speaks highly about the liberation of North not much is mentioned about the displaced persons.
ground views speaks about forgotten IDP's from the North where he mentions the hardships the Muslims and the other in that area had to suffer for more than two decades.
For these Muslims, who once led peaceful and productive lives in the north of the country, their lives were shattered when they were ordered to leave their homes in just two hours – or face dire consequences. Leaving everything they possessed behind them, they fled with their families, hoping no doubt to return when things calmed down.
Little did they know that their lives, which had turned topsy–turvy in the blink of an eye, would remain so and in fact only worsen, for the next two decades.
Although not as unforgiving as ground views transcurrent.com also speaks about the difficulties faced by the IDP's especially about the security concerns faced by them.
Despite the diversity of circumstances, Mr. Kalin identified several key issues affecting all of the IDP and returnee communities with whom he met. The predominant concern among IDPs is physical security. The Representative was struck by a pervasive sense of fear and uncertainty among those he spoke. Sources of insecurity are varied, but include the following: continued incursions and attacks by the LTTE; disappearances, abductions and looting; threats and attacks upon individuals by irregular and armed groups such as the Tamil Makkal Viduthalaip Puligal (TMVP), including infiltration of camps at night; incomplete or delayed mine-clearance; approaches used by security forces in response to security incidents, including roundups, methods to identify suspects, and detention of individuals without proper notification of family members of the reasons for and location of the individual's detention.

author: Nishadha Silva


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Morocco: Reintroduction of the bustard · Global Voices
Jillian C. York

The View from Fez reports that  General Shaikh Mohammad bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces has participated in the release of 5,000 houbara bustards in an attempt to reintroduce the endangered species to Morocco.

author: Jillian C. York


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Nepal: Goodbye Nepal · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

In a rather evocative post, Kathmandu Speaks writes about the decision to leave the country – seeking better opportunities.

author: Neha Viswanathan


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Nepal: Time to vote · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

The Radiant Star captures the mood of Nepal as it heads towards an election on the 10th of April.


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Nigeria: Climbing the Mountain of Death · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Jeremy climbs the Mountain of Death in Nigeria: “Together with eight other adventurers (three Nigerians and five other oyinbos – Ellie, Kash, Olly, Luc and Diane), we had decided to climb Gangirwal (a.k.a Chappal Wadi, a.k.a the Mountain of Death), Nigeria’s tallest mountain. Gangirwal lies deep inside the park, on the border with Cameroon. Professor Sommer had helped with the arrangements, organising porters from the nearby Gashaka village, as well as two park rangers and a tracker to act as guides. The walking-camping segment of our trip was to last six and a half days.”

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Pakistan: Wasting food at weddings · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

All Things Pakistan laments the huge amount of food that is wasted during weddings.


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Russia: “A NATO Summit For Putin” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Transatlantic Politics writes about Vladimir Putin, “the real winner of the NATO summit in Bucharest”: “Perhaps, in the end, Putin smiles because he knows the truth: Putin has also looked into the West’s eyes to see its soul and has found that the West is lacking both a soul and a backbone.”

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Russia: “Resurgent” – but “Militarily Encircled”? · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Soumaya Ghannoushi believes, among other things, that “far from being a threat to the West, Russia is, in fact, a country under threat.” Her opinion piece has received over 300 comments at the Guardian's Comment is Free.


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South Africa: Deep roots of AIDS denialism · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Pierre writes about the deep roots of AIDS denialism: “I have wondered for a long time, for example, why so few poor and black South Africans have spoken out against the HIV/Aids dissidence of President Thabo Mbeki and his Health Minister, Manto Tshabalala-Msimang.”


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South Africa: SA Blog Awards 2008 · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

A video of the South African Blog Awards night: “If you weren't able to attend the awards night, see what went down. Here is a video of the event put together by the guys at Zoopy. Thanks.”


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Syria: Human Rights Activist Arrested · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Badih Dak al-Bab, a Syrian human rights activist, was arrested last month in Damascus after writing articles critical of the government, reports Or Does it Explode…

author: Amira Al Hussaini


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Trinidad & Tobago: Crime Loan?  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

My Chutney Mind says of news that Trinidad and Tobago is getting an IDB loan to fight crime: “It's beyond sad, it's tragic.”


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Turkmenistan: Welcoming Investors · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Maciula discusses the new law on foreign investments adopted last time in Turkmenistan concluding that main aim of the Turkmen authorities is to change the image of Turkmenistan on the international arena and convince the investors that Ashgabat is a credible business partner.


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Vietnam: Returning home · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Blogger Vietnamese God shares the happiness of a mother who returned to Hanoi after being away for ten years.


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Zimbabwe: A country of starving billionaires · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

From My Zimbabwe today: “Now the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has rewarded the people of Zimbabwe with a new $50 000 000.00 bank note to reduce the number of notes they have to carry around.”


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Zimbabwe: Final Senate results · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission has announced all Senate seats: “The final count, for those 60, is as follows: Zanu PF has 30 seats, the MDC MT has 24 seats and the MDC has 6 seats.”


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Zimbabwe: If only kids could vote · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

“If only kids could vote then Mugabe would have been really beaten”, says my partner's 11 year old child. “They should let us vote because there are more kids than adults. All my friends at schools want MDC to win”, she continues,” writes Comrade Fatso.


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Zimbabwe: Media crakdown · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Peta Thornycroft blogs about media crackdown in Zimbabwe: “There has been a heavy crackdown on Zimbabwe’s small group of journalists, many of them forced to work under cover.”


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Zimbabwe: Recount of Presidential Ballots Unprocedural · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

This is Zimbabwe blog posts a press release from Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights: “Should this report be accurate, Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) wishes to express its grave concern at such unprocedural action which has the potential to compromise the entire electoral process.”


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Zimbabwe: Zimbabwe in photos final edition · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

The story of Zimbabwe in pictures has come to an end: “Many thanks for your overwelming response to our photo-newsletter. This is our final edition. As you read this Zimbabweans and the world –at-large are sitting on the edge – anxious to know the full results. We hope that the country will soon be back on track and return to its glorious days…”


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Africa: Africa-India Summit · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Marian writes about Africa-India Summit: “April 8-9 mark the first-ever India-Africa Forum Summit. Might the Summit include any component addressing human trafficking and undocumented (i.e., illegal) immigration coming from the Asian subcontinent into East and Southern Africa??”


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Albania, Kosovo: “Important Political Force” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

A Fistful of Euros on “Greater Albania”: “[…] Even though there won’t be a ‘Greater Albania,’ the Balkans are seeing a completely new phenomenon: the emergence of Albanians as an important political force.”


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Armenia: Gender Trouble · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Unzipped: Gay Armenia reports on an exhibition staged yesterday to mark observance of Motherhood and Beauty Day in Yerevan. The exhibition was staged to remind people that the “real meaning […] has been erased from people’s memories.”

author: Onnik Krikorian


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Bahamas: Economic Implications  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“There seems to be considerable fear among the local intelligentsia…that signing on to the European Partnership Agreement (EPA) is the thin end of the wedge that will ultimately force us to sign on to the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME).”  Rick Lowe at WeblogBahamas.com takes a closer look.


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Bahrain: Surreal Gulf Moments  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Bint Battuta in Bahrain describes “one of those surreal Gulf moments when I found myself unable to get my message across in either Arabic or English.”


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Bangladesh: Secure enough · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Mukti reflects on a trip to India, and on the differences in the presence of military forces as compared to Bangladesh.


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Barbados, Cuba: Blogger Wins Award  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Bajan Global Report notes that “Yoani Sanchez has been awarded one of Spain’s top journalism awards…for her ’shrewdness’ in overcoming hurdles to freedom of expression in Cuba, her vivacious style and her drive to join the global space of citizen journalism.”


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Barbados: Taking Stock  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Notes From The Margin wonders if the Barbados Stock Exchange is becoming irrelevant.


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Bermuda: Support for Obama · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Vexed Bermoothes says that “Obama has a lot of support from Bermuda, partially due to his theme of bipartisanship. Whether he’s earnest or not, it strikes a hopeful chord for the 48 percent of Bermudians who are disenfranchised by our current government.”


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Bolivia: How Some Postal Workers Add to Pay · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

The Bolivian post office is striking and asking for an increase in wages, but the blogger A.L.K.O.L.I.C.A [es] writes about other ways that some postal workers have added to their pay, such as opening packages and taking items and money.

author: Eduardo Avila


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Bosnia & Herzegovina: Danis Tanovic · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

From the Frontline and Bosnia Vault write about Bosnian film director Danis Tanovic and the new movie he is working on.


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Brunei blogger in Jakarta · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Brunei blogger Naqiyah Stripped writes about her adventures in Jakarta, Indonesia.


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Brunei blogger is sorry for causing traffic · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Blogger amieheidi is sorry to commuters for causing a small jam in a Brunei street.


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Brunei: Hornbill photos · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Blogger Shimworld is delighted to share the hornbill photos which he captured in Brunei.


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Brunei: Robbers using children · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

MogLie's recycled ramblings warns about robbers using children for their modus operandi in Brunei.


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Cambodia: Cambodia Digital Citizens Meet · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Mongkol checks out the OLPC and talks about the first Barcamp due in Cambodia.

author: Preetam Rai


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Cambodia: No visionary leaders? · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Cambodian blogger I Just Don't Understand is disappointed that there are no visionary leaders in his country.


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China: Nationalist traitor at China.com · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Hecaitou criticizes the angry youth at China.com who used cultural revolution language to attack Nanfang daily's opinion piece calling for free press on the tibet issue. The blogger uses the term “nationalist traitor” to describe those who use “nationalism” as the means to achieve personal goal [zh]. ESWN has translated Hecaitou's blog post.


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China: Tibet Fatigue Syndrome and Lhasafication · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Fuge noticed new terms popping up after the Tibet riot [zh]. Tibet Fatigue Syndrome – meaning getting tired of the debate about media representation of Tibet incident. Lhasafication – meaning too much military control over places with strong religious belief.


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Cuba: Blocked Blogger Yoani Sánchez Receives Prestigious Award · Global Voices
Elia Varela Serra

Yoani Sánchez is probably the most famous blogger in Cuba, a country where internet access is very limited and controlled. Her blog Generación Y [es] is extremely popular for anyone interested about Cuba, and has been often featured as an example of cyber-dissidence in Western media such as The International Herald Tribune, The New York Times, Público [es] or BBC Mundo. Since Fidel Castro's retirement from the Cuban Presidency in Februray and with the world's eyes turned on Cuba, Generación Y‘s popularity has increased even more, reaching 4 million visitors in March and 1,600 comments in her latest post. Probably for that popularity, Yoani's blog was recently blocked by the Cuban authorities, outraging Cuban bloggers in the diaspora and blog readers in general.
Last Friday Yoani Sánchez received another type of recognition, when she was awarded the Ortega y Gasset Prize in Journalism by Spanish newspaper El País, the most prestigious in Spanish language (equivalent to the Pulitzer in English language) named after philosopher and journalist José Ortega y Gasset. As Penúltimos Días [es] reported, she received the award in the category of Digital Journalism for the following reason :
… por la perspicacia con la que su trabajo ha sorteado las limitaciones a la libertad de expresión que existen en Cuba, su estilo de información vivaz y el ímpetu con el que se ha incorporado al espacio global de periodismo ciudadano.
… for the perceptive way in which her work has dodged the limitations of freedom of expression that exist in Cuba, her sharp information style and the impulse with which she has joined the global space of citizen journalism.
Yoani wrote a post titled “I can't believe it!” after hearing about the award:
Esa porción de filóloga que aún me queda –que conoce de literatos, filósofos y nombres académicos- está dando saltos de contenta por el Premio Ortega y Gasset de periodismo que me han otorgado. La blogger, por su parte, siente que tantos obstáculos para acceder a Internet, tanto memory flash llevado de aquí para allá, ha valido la pena. Sólo atino a recordar que era abril –ya Eliot había reparado en la crueldad de la primavera- y decidí exorcizar mis demonios en un Blog. Comencé por expulsar al más paralizante, ese que nos hace apelar a la máscara, el disfraz y el silencio. El segundo en la fila de los desalojados, fue la apatía del que sabe que no puede hacerse mucho. A mediados de agosto, la legión formada por la frustración, el desencanto y las dudas ya drenaban con cada post. Lo que parecía una terapia personal, para sacudirme todos esos achaques, se convirtió en un espacio para muchos que, curiosa coincidencia, también tenían sus propios demonios. Lectores, yo sólo soy el rostro en la barra lateral de este sitio. Ustedes, polemistas, incendiarios, censores y boicoteadores, son, en fin de cuentas, los que hacen el Blog.
That portion of a philologist that I have left – that knows about people of letters, philosophers and academic names- is jumping for joy over the Ortega y Gasset Prize in Journalism that I've been awarded. The blogger, on the other hand, feels that for so many obstacles to access the internet, so many flash drives that I have carried around, have all been worth it.
I can only manage to remember that it was in April – Eliot had already noticed the cruelty of spring- that I decided to exorcise my demons in a Blog. I started by expelling the most paralizing of them all, that one that makes us resort to a mask, the disguise and the silence. The second one in the line of the abandoned, was the apathy of that who knows that not much can be done. In mid August, the crowd made of the frustration, the disillusion and the doubts were already draining away with each post. What seemed like a personal therapy, to shake off those ailments, became a space for many who, funny coincidence, also had their own demons.
Readers, I'm only the face on this site's sidebar. You, polemical, incendiary, censoring and boycotting readers, are, at the end of the day, the ones that make the blog.
Many blogs and readers have been celebrating Yoani Sánchez's award, such as Enrisco [es] , Bitácora cubana [es], El blog de Tania Quintero [es], just to name a few. Cuban writer Zoe Valdés, who lives in Paris, expressed a wish:
Ojalá el Premio Ortega y Gasset siga premiando a periodistas cubanos, notablemente a aquellos que se encuentran en celdas de castigo hoy en día, y que aún así siguen informando de la realidad de las cárceles cubanas. O a otros periodistas cubanos, que llevan años, en condiciones peores que la propia Yoani, ella misma lo ha dicho, intentando pasar la comunicación de la realidad, fuera de la isla, a través de llamadas de teléfonos, o a través de correos inseguros.
I hope that the Ortega y Gasset Prize Award continues recognizing Cuban journalists, especially those that are today in solitary confinement cells, and who in spite of that continue to inform about the reality of Cuban prisons. Or to other Cuban journalists who for years have been trying to communicate the reality of the island through phone calls or insecure mails, in worse condicions than Yoani – she said it herself.

author: Elia Varela Serra


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Cuba: Thank Heavens for the Flash Drives · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Potro Salvaje [es], the Cuban blog devoted to writing about the difficulties to access the internet on the island writes, “Cubans have a new saint.  It is a small and is called USB-flash, memory stick….Praise be this new protector and distributor of information that has come into our lives!“


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Ecuador: Security and Privacy Concerns on the Internet · Global Voices
Milton Ramirez

Ecuador has been in the headlines a lot in 2008 so far.  First, torrential rains have fallen and have left much of the country under water. Then, the controversial dispute involving national sovereignty and its neighbor, Colombia, has also been in the news recently.  Finally, the announcement that has left Ecuador's government in hot water [es] indicates that the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) has found shelter in the country.  However, something that has not been in the news, but may be just as worrisome is the question of security on the internet and the recent incidents of hacking.
The hacking of the page of the presidency occurred in the middle of February, and was committed by a hacker who openly mocked [es] the security of government systems and assures he will get into other media portals. Carlos Jumbo [es], who works in this profession explains that it is not the first time this happened in Ecuador and problems like this can be solved:
Fácil de ubicar y detectar con prevención, el problema está en los responsables de las seguridades de estos espacios gubernamentales, deben saber qué hoy en día las verdaderas batallas se libran en el ciberespacio…. se tiene que aprovechar la reforma a la ambigua Ley de Seguridad Nacional que se debatirá en la Asamblea Constituyente, introduciendo nuevos artículos que conlleven a la protección de los recursos naturales y para la lucha contra el Ciberterrorismo, una amenaza creciente en América Latina debido al poco esfuerzo de los países en dedicar su esfuerzo en diseñar y planificar estrategias para contrarrestar estas amenazas latentes, mientras tanto, una cultura de Ciberseguridad puede convertirse en un elemento indispensable para el desarrollo de los pueblos con menor desarrollo.
It's easy to locate and identify with prevention, the problem lies with those responsible for the security of these government's entities, they should know today that the real battles are being fought in cyberspace…. They need to take advantage of the reform of the ambiguous National Security Law that is being debated in the Constituent Assembly, which introduces new regulations involving the protection of natural resources and the fight against  Cyberterrorism, which is a growing threat in Latin America because of the little effort made by countries to devote their efforts to design and plan strategies to counter these latent threats.  In the meantime, a culture of Cybersecurity can become an indispensible element for the development of lesser developed countries.
People and bloggers were concerned of this incident and Palulo [es] while visiting southern Ecuador tried to look for a technical answer from the experts at the Technical University of Loja. He interviewed two professionals who have deep knowledge of ASP applications,  ISS servers y hacking. The following are Fausto Loja's opinions:
La servidores ISS pueden ser atacados por fallos en el sistema operativo utilizado para gestionarlo. En el caso de la página de la Presidencia se utiliza Windows, que no es tan seguro, y eso se manifiesta en la publicación de parches de seguridad (service packs) por parte de Microsoft; además “cuando los desarrollos no son hechos por quienes sepan de seguridad, pueden dejar muchas puertas abiertas”, y esto puede provocar que personas se introduzcan en las aplicaciones y hagan alteraciones,…
The ISS servers can be attacked by bugs in the operating system used to manage it. In this case, the page of the presidency uses Windows, which is not as secure, and this is manifested in the publication of security patches (service packs) by Microsoft , besides  “when developments are not made by those who know the facts,  security may leave many doors open,” and this can allow others to enter the applications and make alterations…
Some of these violations are common in Ecuador, but not when the company allows the opening of private data.  A major telephone company in the country allows the public see all sensitive information about its customers.  La Bitácora de Calú [es], warns:
Precisamente eso sucede ahora mismo con Pacifictel, uno de los operadores estatales de telefonía fija del Ecuador. Cualquiera está en capacidad de llegar a conocer no solamente el nombre, el número de cédula o la dirección de un abonado a partir de su número telefónico, sino incluso los números telefónicos a los cuales ha llamado, la duración de las llamadas y otros detalles más [..] Sin duda que para el propio abonado esta información le puede ser útil, pero Pacifictel debería crear un perfil con usuario y contraseña para que cada abonado pueda ingresar a un entorno donde se provea esta información, de lo contrario -tal como sucede ahora- todas tus llamadas -y las de tu vecino/a- efectuadas y recibidas pueden ser espiadas por cualquier persona que tenga un simple acceso a Internet.
This is happening with Pacifictel, one of the state-owned fixed-line telephone operators in Ecuador. Anyone is able to know not only the name, identity card number or address of a subscriber from your listed phone number, but even the telephone numbers to which you have called, duration of calls and other details [..] Certainly for the customer itself, this information can be useful, but Pacifictel should create a user profile and password for each subscriber to enter where such information is provided, or else-as is happening right now-all your incoming and outgoing calls – and those of your neighbor- can be spied by anyone who has a simple Internet access.

author: Milton Ramirez


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Guyana: Jungle Gym · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Guyana-Gyal discovers the “jungle-garden” workout.


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Hong Kong: Olympic and Justice · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Diumanpark agreed that Olympic shouldn't be politicized, however, it is related to people's aspiration for justice [zh].


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India: China, Tibet and the Torch · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

With all eyes on the Olympic torch, Sacred Media Cow talks of the flame, China and all the attention it is getting.


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Indonesia: Religion and economic problems · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Indonesian blogger Transform notes that a religious issue is used to divert people's attention from the real problem: economic crisis.


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Iran: A woman activist was arrested · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

According to Change for Equality,on the morning of April 8th,Iranian security police forcibly entered the home of Khadijeh Moghaddam, women’s rights activist and member of the One Million Signatures Campaign and arrested her.

author: Fred Petrossian


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Iran: Ahmadinejad calls for innovation · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad,Iranian president, in his recent post in his blog,says[Fa] country needs innovation and we should not confuse laziness and conservatism with rationality.He asks people not to be afraid of innovation.


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Iran:Poor city and nuclear city · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Mehriran has published several photos of Hamidieh, a city without running water in Khuzestan province.This city is near to Bushehr where Iran has constructed its nuclear reactor.


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Israel: Egyptian Goose Spotted in Tel Aviv · Global Voices
Maya Norton

Something you may not know about Israel is that it is an orthnologist's dream. At the crux of transcontinental migration patterns, Israel is well known as a bird lovers’ paradise. An odd bird was spotted today in Tel Aviv, believed to be from Egypt or Sudan. OneJerusalem brings us photographic evidence.

author: Maya Norton


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Israel: Funny Movie Translations from English to Hebrew · Global Voices
Maya Norton

Can you guess what American movie title was translated into Hebrew as “The Gun Dies Laughing?” A translator's job is not just about language, but cultural and slang savvy. Blogger and stand-up comedian Benji Lovitt features some laugh out loud examples.


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Israel: Wild Boars in Haifa, Oh My · Global Voices
Maya Norton

Mia the Ima reports that there are wild boars in Haifa. The City of Haifa has passed a new law legalizing wild boar hunting to cut down its burgeoning population. Antics are guaranteed to ensue.


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Jamaica: Singing Obama’s Praises  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

YardFlex.com reports that a popular Jamaican singer has composed a song honouring Barack Obama.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago, DR: Junot Wins Pulitzer  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Both Jamaican litblogger Geoffrey Philp and Trinidad & Tobago blog Antilles report that Junot Diaz has won the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction.


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Japan: Penis Pandemonium · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Lee from Tokyo Time posts photos of the annual fertility festival at Hachiman-gu Shrine.

author: Oiwan Lam


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Kenya: Cabinet talks suspended · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Phil writes about the recent development in Kenya cabinet talks: “Tension is steadily building around the country following the collapse of talks between PNU and ODM towards the formation of a grand coalition cabinet. The PNU have outrightly rejected ODM's demands for certain cabinet portfolios while the ODM had announced a few moments ago that it is suspending any further discussions with PNU until the current cabinet is dissolved.”


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Kenya: SMS political campaign · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Political use of mobile technology in Kenya: “Kenyans for Peace and Justice (KPTJ) have launched a SMS campaign to urge politicians to fight against a bloated Cabinet. Given the current impasse, there is still an opportunity to urge OUR elected representatives to stop being selfish and to put the nation’s interest before their personal interests”


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Korea: Drama Kingdom · Global Voices
Hyejin Kim

Korean dramas have been popular outside Korea. There has been a term to refer to this popularity, Hallyu (Korean wave). Pretty girls and neat boys, and their pure love or triangular love relations…. They would be characters to represent Korean dramas. The popularity of Korean dramas has become one of the important businesses through exporting to other countries.
One result of hallyu is aggressive competition between channels over dramas in Korea, and the budget to make a drama is increasing tremendously. The program rating decides the length of dramas and the content of the drama story. The Internet has become a significant means to sense how the audience reacts each time. Opinions the fans leave on the drama website are more powerful than scenario writers or producers.
Recently, there have been criticisms of Korean dramas. A new drama that talks about people who are making dramas is very popular. And the drama producer and scenario writer announced that they would not change the end of the story according to the audience’s opinions, and they will focus on professionals’ lives, not on a love story.
But Tara shows the characteristics of Korean dramas again.
한국 드라마는 짝짓기를 안하면 성립이 안되는가?
21C 대한민국은 드라마 왕국이고, 드라마 왕국은 죽어가고 있는데 어찌하여 드라마를 위기에 빠뜨린 이들은 반성하지 않는 걸까? 그동안 드라마 제작진, 작가, 감독, 배우, 기타 스태프를 등장시키는 드라마는 많았다. 허나, 결국 그것 또한 방송국에서 연애하는 이야기로 끝날 수밖에 없었다[…]
어찌어찌 하다가 요즘 새로 하는 드라마 를 보게 되었는데, 꽤 재미있었다. 그래서 계속 시청하게 되었고, 다른 사람들은 이 드라마를 어떻게 생각하는지 궁금해서 간만에 드라마 게시판에도 기웃거려 보았다. 그리고.. ‘더헛~’ 놀라면서 다시는 안 가야 되겠단 생각을 한 번 더… 예전에, 드라마 시청 게시판에 놀러 갔다가 배우 팬들끼리 언쟁을 벌이며 싸움박질하는 현장을 구경한 뒤론 잘 안 가게 되었는데, 최근 흐름을 보아하니.. 별로 달라진 건 없는 것 같았다. 사실, 드라마를 보고 나서 해당 게시판 찾아가서 글 남기는 시청자는 전체 시청자의 1%도 안된다고 하던데…
엄밀하게 말해서 내가 선호하는 드라마 작가는 1%도 안되는 시청자들의 배 놔라, 감 놔라에 휘둘리지 않고 애초에 본인이 기획한 대로.. 촘촘하고 탄탄한 구성과 본인이 처음부터 의도한 개연성 있는 결말을 보여주는 작가이다. 본인이 원래 무엇을 쓰고자 했는지 망각한 채, 타인들의 제각각 취향과 참견에 갈대처럼 휘둘리는 작가는 어쩐지 무지 줏대 없고 실력 없어 보이기에[…]
.. 이 드라마의 기획 의도를 한 번 살펴보자- 분명, 기존에 난립했던 천편일률적인 짝짓기식 한국 드라마를 비판하는 내용이다. 그리고 자기네들은, 기존에 그래왔던 것처럼 방송 관련 등장 인물들이 방송국에서 연애하는 이야기로 끝날 수밖에 없는 그런 드라마 따위는 쓰지 않겠다는 식으로.. 뭔가, 방송을 중심으로 한 전문 직업인들의 이야기를 기존의 드라마와는 달리 차별화 되게 보여줄 것처럼 거창하게 기획 의도를 잡아놓구선.. 최근 이 드라마에 대한 흐름과 시청 소감을 종합해 보니 기획 의도와는 전혀 다르게 흘러갈 가능성이 크기에, 또다시 적잖은 실망을 하고 있는 상태이다. ‘그럼, 그렇지.. 기존의 연애극이랑 뭔가 다를 것처럼.. 기획 의도만 거창했지, 전문 방송 드라마는 개뿔~ 그냥 직업이 배우, 작가, PD, 매니저인 주인공들이 자기네들끼리 연애하다 끝나는 그저 그런 연애극으로 흘러가게 되는 건 아닌가..’ 싶은 우려가 들었다.
In the 21st century, Korea is the drama kingdom. While the drama kingdom is dying, why don’t people who throw the dramas into crisis reflect? There have been so many dramas that talk about professionals, such as drama producers, scenario writers, directors, entertainers, and other staff members, as main characters. But in the end, the stories are all about love stories[..]
I started watching a drama recently. It is quite interesting. So I continue to watch it and check its homepage to see how other people think about this drama. And then.. ‘oops~’ I decided not to check this kind of site anymore. Before, I had checked another website of a drama and seen that actors’ fans were barking at each other. I decided not to spend my time there. It seems that the trend hasn’t changed at all. In fact, I heard that people who leave their opinions on the homepages of dramas are just 1 percent of the total audience.
Strictly speaking, drama scenario writeres whom I like are the ones who don’t change the end of their stories for this one percent of the audience who interferes in the stories and keeps the scenarists under their thumbs. Forgetting the original reason why they wrote the story, some scenarists like reeds are swayed by whatever other people say. Those scenarists look spineless[…]
… Let’s check the intention of making the drama I am watching now. It is about criticizing Korean dramas that have been obsessed with talking about love stories and mating men and women. And then they showed that the intention of making this drama is not to make dramas that have been made before. Their purpose is to make the drama talking about professionals. But observing the plot and opinions from the audience, it seems that the drama will change contrary to the original plot. I’m getting disappointed. ‘So it is… the intention that they started was on a large scale… like they will be different from the existing love stories. People who have jobs, such as entertainers, scenarists, PD [producers], managers, just go out and make love stories… that’s all. They might end the love story.’ I’m quite concerned.
- 약은 약사에게, 진료는 의사에게.. 드라마 창작은 제발 전문 작가에게 맡기라..
무엇보다.. 작가가 그걸 원하지 않아도 시청자들이 마구마구 압력을 가하면 드라마 작가도 인간인지라, 흔들릴 수밖에 없기에.. 그래서 이 드라마가 애초의 기획 의도와는 달리 결말이 산으로 갈까봐 무지 걱정된다, 난… 이 드라마 등장 인물들의 대사 내용 중에 이런 대사가 있었다. “우리 나라 시청자들, 그렇게 수준 높지 않아요~” 였던가..? 새삼 그 말이 정답이네, 싶기도 하다. 물론.. 보다 다양한 거, 발전적인 걸 원하는 시청자들도 있긴 하지만 극소수이고 대부분의 시청자들은 아직까지도 여전히 5년 전에 봐 왔고, 10년 전에도 봐 왔던.. 이젠 너무나도 익숙해져 버린 주인공들간의 므훗한 러브러브 모드, 내가 원하는 라인으로 무사히 그 로맨스가 연결되는 결말이 나길 원하고 그걸 통해 대리 만족을 느끼려고 한다. 그런데 그게 만약 삼각 관계가 되어 버리면, 두 동성의 배우 팬들 간에 살벌한 신경전이 오고가고 결국 어느 한 쪽으로 결말 지어져 버리면 그 반대 쪽 라인을 지지했던 팬들은 대리 만족 대신 상처를 받게 된다는 것[…]
한국 드라마 내에서, 천편일률적인 짝짓기는 이제 그만~
많은 시청자들은 결국.. 그저 그런 연애극이 아닌, 전문 방송 드라마를 표방한 이 드라마에서조차 상투적인 멜로를 원하고 자신이 원하는 라인으로 흘러가지 않을 경우, 벌써부터 작가를 공격할 태세다. 솔직히, 이 드라마를 재미있게 보고 있는 내 입장은.. 어느 한 쪽 라인 지지자에게 섭섭함을 안겨주거나 기존의 연애극같은 상투적인 짝짓기 식 결말이 아닌.. 같이 방송 일을 하면서 끈끈한 동료애가 생기고, 각자 자기 직업에 대한 정체성을 찾아가는.. 그 정도 선에서 결말 지어졌으면 좋겠다. 그게 제작진들이 천명한 기획 의도를 안 뻘쭘하게 만드는 결말이기도 하고…
Most of all… even though the scenario writers don’t want to change the stories and the audience gives the pressure on and on, the scenarists are also humans and could be confused… therefore, I’m really afraid that the conclusion of this drama will go in a different direction as well. A line in the drama says, “Audience? Their level is not that high~” It might be the answer. Of course there are people who long for more various and better stories. But they are the minority. Most of them want the story to talk about love between the main characters and to end the way they want. The trend has not changed yet compared to five or ten years ago. And they get the satisfaction through the stories indirectly. But if it is triangular relations, conflicts between fans of the two of the same sex get serious. When the story ends with one side, the fans of this other side got hurt[…]
Please stop monotonous love stories~
It seems that many people who watch this drama could be aggressive if the drama doesn’t show conventional love stories. Honestly speaking, as the person who watches this drama and finds it interesting… I want the conclusion that is not looking for love, but that shows that the major characters find their own identities with their jobs and discover camaraderie. That should be the conclusion as the producers had clarified as the original intention…
- 한국 드라마의 고질병, 완치될 수는 있을까?
[…] 우리나라 드라마, 예전부터 쭉~ 메디컬 드라마라 표명한 드라마에선 직업인 의사를 다루는 게 아닌, 의사들이 연애하다 끝나는 드라마로 만들고.. 전문 법조인 나오는 드라마에서도 변호사들이 연애하다 끝나는 드라마로 만들고.. 경찰 드라마에서도, 파일럿 드라마에서도, 호텔 드라마, 방송 드라마, 전문 경영인&상업 드라마, 스포츠 드라마, 실제 역사를 다룬 정치 사극에서도 다 연애만 하다가 끝난 드라마가 부지기수였다. 이젠.. 맨 처음 기획 의도를 중간에 살짝 밥 말아먹는 그런 드라마는 더이상 보고 싶지가 않다. 미국에는.. 또 일본에는 실제로 연애 드라마와는 차별화된 전문 드라마들이 참 많던데, 우린 언제까지 그 단조로움을 못 벗어나고 제자리 걸음을 해야 하는 것일까..?[…]
[…] Drama of our country, from the past to the present~ In medical dramas, they’re not talking about medical doctors, but focusing on love stories. In law dramas, all lawyers in the drama are in love… dramas about policemen, pilots, hotel, broadcasting, professional businessmen, sports, and political history… all dramas are talking about love. I don’t want to see the dramas that give up the original intention of producing them. In America… in Japan… there are many professional dramas different from love story dramas. Why can’t we get over the monotony? Why are we in a stalemate? […]
There is a series of parodies of Korean dramas that American comedians made. They show characteristics of Korean dramas (in a funny or extreme way^^)

author: Hyejin Kim


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Kosovo, Serbia: Discussion of a Kosovo Article · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

A discussion of Dejan Djokic's article on Kosovo – at the Guardian's Comment is Free.


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Kosovo, Serbia: More on Haradinaj’s Verdict · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Balkan Baby writes about the implications of Ramush Haradinaj’s verdict.


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Kyrgyzstan: Opposition Convention on April 12 · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Elena considers whether Kyrgyz social action group “For Justice” will hold a popular convention on April 12, as it intends to. They accuse the government of putting obstacles in the way of holding their assembly.

author: Adil Nurmakov


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Malaysia: Office break-in · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Frus and Fuss had a break-in at the office. The blogger also explained why their office didn't bother to call the Malaysian police.

author: Mong Palatino


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Minimum wage in Cambodia and China · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Cambodia Calling discussed the minimum wage in Cambodia and China


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Nepal: Elections in 1959 · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

With elections due in a couple of days, Nepali Netbook takes a look at the elections in 1959.


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New Zealand: China Free Trade Caption Contest · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Whaleoil.co.nz is running a caption contest for a picture that features the Chinese leader gesturing while talking to the prime minister of New Zealand.


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Nigeria: A nation of police · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Black Looks discusses two controversial Bills in Nigeria: “Although the Nigerian Same Sex Marriage Bill of 2006 appears to be at least temporarily shelved, no one knows if and when it will reappear. For the moment the focus is on another proposed “morality” legislation, the Dress Code Bill sponsored by Senator Eme Ekatte, Chairperson of the Senate Committee on Women and Youth Affairs. At first glance her logic is beyond belief but when looked at in the context of the fundamentalist religious movement led by Bishop Akinola on the one side and Sharia advocates on the other, is it really so surprising?”


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Nigeria: Condom ban · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

An article about condom ban in Anambra, Nigeria: “It is now illegal to encourage the use of condoms in southeast Nigeria's Anambra State. The state government has also banned the advocacy and distribution of other forms of contraceptives including IUDs (intrauterine device) and any other “un-natural” birth control.”


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Pakistan: Chaos in Lahore · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Lahore Nama points to the chaos in the city thanks to sheer mismanagement and lack of urban planning.


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Pakistan: Where is the change? · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Elections were held in Pakistan with the promise of change, and Pakistani Spectator asks where all that change is.


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Palestine: Daily Kos to Visit Israel  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Palestinian blogger Haitham Sabbah comments on the Daily Kos‘ anticipated visit to Israel in this post.


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South Korea: How the Dead are Remebered Differently? · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Matt discusses about how the dead are remembered and forgotten in South Korea.


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Syria: The Arab Summit · Global Voices
Yazan Badran

So, another Arab summit comes and goes. This time it was the all awaited Damascus summit. As you can see, this roundup is almost a week late, simply because I couldn't find anyone who's actually writing about the summit – which tells you exactly how little people have come to expect from these annual gatherings.
Of course, as with every Arab summit, this year has its own drama – who will attend? Given all the bickering and tension between Syria on one side, and the Saudi-Egyptian-Jordanian triangle on the other, people were expecting a showdown. Differences over Lebanon, Palestine, Iraq and Syria's alliance with Iran has driven the relations between Syria and Saudi Arabia into an all time low, and even for a time, threatened to thwart the whole Arab Summit.
Rime Allaf gives us a wonderful wrap up of the situation before the summit:
Syria is anxious to avoid a humiliating no-show from the big names. Repeatedly trying, and repeatedly failing, to secure Saudi approval for a visit by Foreign Minister Walid Muallem to deliver the official summit invitation, Syria finally resigned itself to send it at a much lower level, illustrating the depth of the gulf between Riyadh and Damascus. It will not have helped, of course, that Lebanon was the last of 22 countries to be invited to the summit, in a manner defying protocol and typical of Syrian “diplomacy”: handed to a resigned minister of the Lebanese cabinet by an official of the Syrian Foreign Ministry, it wasn't even signed by the host of the event, but by the Syrian Prime Minister.
The summit also meant a great deal of logistic work, Damascus with its old infrastructure needed an emergency face-lift, the preparations reached some extreme levels with closing down the airport and some parts of the capital. Sasa tells us about that.
And this morning, the airport closed (yes, that's right, it closed – shut down until next week – no civilian flights in or out of Damascus International Airport, and no-one is allowed to fly over Syria's capital). That was only announced a couple of days ago – unless you're a Syrianair passenger, in which case, it still hasn't been announced!. That didn't even happen during the Iraq War.
And so, the long awaited summit took place, but not without Lebanon boycotting it. The results of the summit?
The final statement of the summit, was called the “Damascus Declaration”. Almarfaa blog, wonders, is it a coincidence that the name “Damascus Declaration” has thus far been associated with the biggest opposition umbrella group?
وهي حركة – إن كانت مقصودة وأتوقع انها كذلك – تهدف إلى محاولة إخفاء وتهميش (إعلان دمشق) المعارض للنظام وتخفيف تأثيره الإعلامي بعد أن تم تخفيف تأثيره السياسي من خلال الاعتقالات لجميع قياداته وأعضاءه في أسلوب قمعي متخلف ينم عن حقد دفين لأي حركة معارضة مهما كانت سلمية !
هناك فرق كبير بين (إعلان دمشق) المعارض .. و(إعلان دمشق) التابع للقمة العربية !
This is a move -if it was intentional, and I think it was- that aims to hide and marginalize the “Damascus Declaration” that is opposed to the regime, and to weaken its effect on the media, after it has weakened its political effect with the arrest of all its leaders, in a repressive manner that only reflects deep hatred against any opposition movement, no matter how peaceful it is!
There is a big difference between the Opposition's “Damascus Declaration”, and the Arab summit's “Damascus Declaration”
As for attendance, Ibrahim Hamidi sums it up on Joshua Landis’ blog,
The final answer is 11.
The countries whose Heads of State came were: Syria, Kuwait, Qatar, UAE, Mauritania, Algeria, Tunisia, Sudan, Kozzor
al kamar, Palestine, Libya,
Heads of State who never attend Arab summits: Oman, Morocco
Heads of State who declined to attend: Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, Yemen, Bahrain.
Boycott: Lebanon.
Yes, yes. Another year, another summit.

author: Yazan Badran


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Taiwan: Ma Worships at the Tomb · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Michael Turton comments on the newly elected president Ma Ying-jeou's visit to Chiang Kai-shek‘s mausoleum to commemorate the anniversary of the his death.


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Thailand: Social inequality · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Bangkok Pundit quotes from several news articles highlighting social inequality in Thailand


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Turkey: What if Iraq is Split?  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Turkish blogger Metin asks “What's in a name?” following Greece's vetoing Macedonia's bid to enter Nato. He also asks: “What if, when the U.S. troops leave Iraq (but not its government), the country is split into three, including Kurdistan. And Turkey finds itself opposing the name Kurdistan, as it realizes the same could be applied to the territory inside its own borders.”


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Turkmenistan: Old-Type Markets To Be Closed · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Maciula considers reports that open-air market in Ashgabat, the capital city of Turkmenistan, is to be replaced with a modern trade centre by 2010. He also posts some pictures of the current traditional-style market.


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Yemen: Mideast Youth Blocked · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

“Walid al-Saqaf, the creator of YemenPortal.net, whose ban in Yemen we are actively campaigning against, informed us that we have just been banned in Yemen. This is because Walid launched a circumventing software that would allow people in Yemen to access the site despite the ban,” announced Esra'a at Mideast Youth.


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Zimbabwe: An eyewitness account · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

An eyewitness account of elections in Zimbabwe: “I travelled up to Zimbabwe on Tuesday the 25th March to help the MDC Tsvangirai faction with election preparations. I volunteered to help three candidates , Joseph Mutsvanga from Zvimba East, Knox Danda from Zimbabwe West and Edward Musumbu from Norton.(For those who don’t know, Zvimba is +/- 80 kilometers from Harare and is the area where Robert Mugabe was born.”


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Zimbabwe: Verifying votes in secrecy · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Brenda Burrel blogging about the latest turn of events in Zimbabwe: “According to the MDC’s latest press statement the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) has disbanded the National Command Centre and shifted the ‘verification process’ to an undisclosed location.”


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Afghanistan: First blogging workshop in Kabul · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

The Afghan Association of Blog Writers (Afghan Penlog) overcame financial difficulty and obstacles like electricity shortages to organize the first blogging workshop in their history. The workshop was held in Kabul on April 3-4, in association with Nasim Fekrat and Masoumeh Ebrahimi [Fa], two active Afghan bloggers.
At the end of the workshop, several blogs were created in Dari, Pashtou and English.
Fekrat said, “I am receiving lots of inquiries from Kabul University students and journalists who want to learn blogging, but financial problems remain a main obstacle.” Fekrat is already thinking of organizing a second workshop because there is more to share and teach.
Nasim Fekrat says [Fa]:
This experience has been very useful. I learned a lot. Most of the people who participated in this workshop were journalists, academics, writers and others who can help revitalize our culture and intellect in Afghanistan's bored society. Organizing such a workshop has been one of my goals for a long time. Finally, thanks to Geomap and Masoumeh Ebrahimi it became a reality.
Manzarra who learned to blog in this workshop writes about using the internet to advance free speech and freedom of the press .
Mokhtar Pedram, a journalist, shares [Fa] his experience with us:
I was scared to come to the world of internet and blogging… Maybe it was a technical barrier. But this one and half day workshop changed my perception… It wouldn't be true to say that all my problems with the internet were solved in these two days, but I did decide to start my blog, which proves just how effective this workshop has been.
Safeh says [Fa] blogging is a new thing in Afghanistan and that academics and teachers have only just discovered it.
Zartosht writes [Fa] that such workshops may be the most important step for journalism in Afghanistan.


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Afghanistan: Lack of Capacity in Counter-Drugs Strategies · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Barnett Rubin analyzes why many of internationally accepted standards and practices of community's capacity builing do not work very well in Afghanistan, and says that they presuppose a set of interoperable systems that do not exist.


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Africa: How many Africans are on Twitter? · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Kikuyumoja wants to know the number of Africans on Twitter: “How many African twitterdudes & -dudettes are there on Twitter?
Am asking because of my friends on facebook who feel like being spammed with “JKE is twittering:…” messages on their feed pages. I’ve received at least two “what is this twittering business”-questions so far and then try to explain it.”


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Algeria: Silly Summit Debate  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

From Algeria, Nouri the Moor sheds more light on the Arab Summit, held recently in Syria, and the coverage it got.


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Angola: Thinking Angola 2022 · Global Voices
Paula Góes

Peixoto Alves [pt] has an extensive post about the future of Angola. “The challenge is thinking with an innovation-intelligent approach as a tool for the country in a long term perspective, sustaining short-term action at the political, economic, social and cultural levels.”

author: Paula Góes


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Bahrain: Cool Project Launched · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Bahraini blogger Ammar laughs his way through the opening of a new project in Bahrain.


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Bahrain: Farmer’s Market  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Bahraini blogger Mahmood Al Yousif announces the country's first farmer's market, being held at a garden centre this weekend.


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Bangladesh: Buying rice · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

With food prices becoming an issue of debate the world over, Unheard Voices on the fluctuations of the price of rice.

author: Neha Viswanathan


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Barbados: Banking Oligopoly? · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“Has anyone else noticed how all the major bankers are lining up to tell us how the take over of RBTT by Royal Bank of Canada won’t affect competition in the Barbados banking market place?”: Notes From The Margin remains unconvinced.


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Bermuda: Going Tribal   · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Vexed Bermoothes thinks that Bermuda's tribal way of voting is “politically immature and very depressing.”


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Bolivia: Poor Service by Hipermaxi · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Andrés Pucci [es] and Renzo Colanzi [es] have started an online campaign against poor service by the supermarket Hipermaxi in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. Colanzi writes that the supermarket has begun the habit of giving out candy instead of coins, of which they claim they are out.  He makes the calculation that this has enabled to chain to make more unreported income as a result.


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Brazil: Blogosphere debates infanticide · Global Voices
Paula Góes

“We are discussing the superiority of Western Christian civilization over the indigenous peoples because of infanticide. Well, we may disagree, and want to do something about it, but the indigenous tribes do what they do for one reason clear: in their way of life, it is very difficult to keep disable individuals. Whereas we need every now and then a Veja [magazine] cover to remind us about the abuse, murder and torture of children to remind us how advanced we are.” O Hermenauta [pt] has his last word on a controversial subject that has been debated in the Brazilian blogosphere.


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Cameroon: Fraudulent dog sales · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Ethan writes about dog fraud in Cameroon: “I mentioned to Stross a new scam I’d become aware of: fraudulent dog sales from Cameroon. Buyers are offered a chance to buy a pedigree’d pooch from an “AKC-certified” breeder in Cameroon – when the sale goes through, the buyer will be asked for additional fees, including travel insurance and vaccination fees. Needless to say, the dog never arrives. Message board posts on this topic make it clear that this is an increasingly common scam, and that lots of people fall for it.”

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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China: Book on the Truth about Tibet · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

In three weeks time, a book about lies and truth of Tibet has been published in China. Joel Martinsen from DANWEI translated an interview with the publisher, Zhang Weimin.


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China: Reflection from a Tibetan Monk · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Woser reposted an article by a Tibetan monk on the March 14 incident. He criticized the violent protest as well as the blame that Chinese government put on Dalai Lama [zh] which distorted the truth.


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Croatia: Vukovar · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Balkan Baby writes about the Vukovar massacre and the trial of Bogdan Kuzmic.

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Cuba, China, Tibet: Reactions  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“As you may be aware, the Olympic torch relay through major European cities has been successfully disrupted over the past week by demonstrators calling on Communist China to respect human rights and to get out of Tibet”: Child of the Revolution focuses on Cuba's reaction.


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Czech Republic: Havel For EU President? · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

A Fistful of Euros believes that having former Czech president Vaclav Havel “as the first permanent president of the EU could be ideal as Europe continues to try to get over the divisions of the 20th century.”


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East Timor: What commentators don’t say about Tibet · Global Voices
Paula Góes

On publishing a Guardian video about the situation in Tibet, Daniel Arruda [pt] comments: “The sentences are clear: “China does not want the reality of Tibet to be known” or “the Chinese propaganda machine started working.” A video that shows what many of our commentators have tried to deny.”


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Ecuador: Taxi Strike in Riobamba · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

La Voz de Guamote [es] writes about a taxi strike in Riobamba in which 2,500 taxi blocked the road in protest of the proposed creation of more taxi cooperatives.


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Egypt: Al Mahalla Update  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Egyptian blogger Sandmonkey provides us with updates about a riot which rocked Al Mahalla, in Egypt, with photographs, in this post.

author: Amira Al Hussaini


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Egypt: Bloggers on the Frontline · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Egyptian bloggers worked round the clock telling the world about a workers’ revolt that shook their country, as thousands rioted at a textile mill in Al Mahalla, demanding better pay and protesting against increasing prices. They were also among the first casualties of the unrest, which left two people killed, scores injured and an undetermined number of activists, organisers and mere spectators behind bars. Their coverage came in the form of blog posts, YouTube videos, Twitter feeds, Flickr shots, Facebook messages and all other online tools they could get their hands on.
April 6 was supposed to be a day of civil disobedience, where a general strike would be observed, with people staying home for the day. The government swore to hit the strike with an iron fist, and warned the public not to heed to the call. Rallies were also quashed and the day ended with a confrontation between workers and the police at the Mahalla district, at the heart of Egypt's textile industry.
Blogger Malek Mustafa was the first to be arrested, allegedly for distributing flyers, on the day of the strike. Malek has since been released, but other bloggers are still behind bars, awaiting prosecution, along with an unspecified number of detainees. Among them is Esraa Abdul Fattah, an Egyptian girl, and one of the founders of the 6 April – The Day of Anger Facebook Group, which was instrumental in spreading the word about the strike. So far, the group has attracted 68,000 members and counting. Bloggers Sharkawy and Karim Al Bihairi have also been reportedly arrested.
Tadamon Masr blog (Ar) announced Bihairi's arrest saying:
قبض على كريم البحيري، أحد العاملين بشركة غزل المحلة وصاحب مدونة عمال مصر، وأخذ إلى مكان مجهول واعتدي عليه بالضرب وتم صعقه بالكهرباء. وسئل عن كافة أرقام التليفونات التي كانت مسجلة في موبايله. مصدر هذه المعلومات هو كريم نفسه حيث تقابل مع بعض محامي “جبهة الدفاع عن متظاهري مصر” وروى لهم ما حدث له
Karim Al Bihairi, of the Egypt Labour Blog, who works in Mahalla, was arrested and taken to an unidentified location, where he was beaten up and electrocuted. He was also asked about all the telephone numbers which were registered on his cell phone. The source of all this information is Karim himself, who met with lawyers from the Coalition to Defend Egyptian Protesters and told them what happened to him.
Blogger Hossam El Hamalawy offers exceptional coverage of the unrest and security threats on bloggers, in his detailed reports, which are regularly updated and which include accounts of the incidents, dotted with graphic photographs. More photographs can be seen here and here.
Dedicated phone lines were also set up for members of the public to report their sightings of unrest to a collaborative blog called 6 April 08 (Ar), which provides detailed coverage of the three days of unrest. A coalition of lawyers to defend those arrested has been formed too and the blog posts the following plea:
توجه جبهة الدفاع عن معتقلي يوم الإضراب نداء لكل المحامين المهتمين بالحريات للتطوع و المشاركة .
The coalition to defend those arrested following the strike calls upon all lawyers interested in human rights and freedom to volunteer their services and participate.
American photojournalist James Buck, who is in Cairo, posts the following Tweet, saying:
Hundreds still missing in mahalla; families beg for human rights help
More clashes are expected in the next few weeks as online activists, supported by the masses on the ground, gear up for another faceoff with authorities. A new Facebook Group is calling for a bigger strike on May 4, which coincides with Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak's birthday.
Photo credit: May 4 Strike Facebook Group
Other Global Voices Online reports about the strike:
Egypt: A wake up strike
Egypt Gears Up for a General Strike Sunday


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Egypt: Uneventful Local Elections  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

“The local council elections were today, but their results were a foregone conclusion even before the country’s largest opposition group, the Muslim Brotherhood, withdrew its candidates and called for a boycott,” writesElijah Zarwan, from Egypt, who goes on to discuss the Mahalla protests and general strike.


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Hong Kong: Boycotting Olympics FAQ · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Kursk continued to explain why he urged for boycotting Olympics [zh].


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Hong Kong: Guarding Olympic torch · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Fongyun commented on the Chinese security staffs in guarding the Olympic torch away from protesters. The blogger pointed out that Australian media were correct after all [zh], China did send out military police for guarding Olympic torch.


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Hong Kong: Pre-Olympic Sport · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Diumanpark described the seizing of Olympic torch by protesters as Pre-Olympic sport[zh].


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Hungary: “Intellectuals and Politics” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Hungarian Spectrum writes about Hungarian intellectuals in politics.


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India: Caste, Men and Kerala · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Meena Kandasamy on caste and male sexuality in Kerala, India.


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Iran: Sania Mirza · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Kourosh Ziabari admires  Sania Mirza,a Muslim tennis player from India.


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Iran:If Ahmadinejad resigns · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Jomhour writes[Fa] that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says that some ministers should leave government because country needs progress and innovation.The blogger adds may be it is time that Ahmadinejad resigns too.


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Jamaica: Marley Matriarch Passes On   · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

YardFlex.com acknowledges the passing of Jamaican reggae icon Bob Marley's mother.


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Jamaica: More Poetry  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Geoffrey Philp features the work of Jamaican writer Opal Palmer Adisa.


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Jamaica, U.S.A.: Woman of the Year · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“In spite of the negativity surrounding Jamaica…there is one more reason to be proud”:  YardFlex.com reports that a Jamaican has been chosen by the American Biographical Institute as their Woman of the Year in Education.


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Kazakhstan: Children of Autocrats · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Steve LeVine opines that the alleged birth of an extramarital son to the Kazakhstan's oil tycoon and presiential son-in-law Timur Kulibayev, as well as a London-based socialite raises questions on whether he is still Kazakhstan's most important oilman.


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Kazakhstan: Government Introduces Oil Export Tax  · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Adam reports that Kazakhstan will impose a crude export duty of $109.91 per tonne from May in a move to solve fiscal challenges, stabilize domestic oil products prices and manage inflationary pressures.


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Kazakhstan: Police Wants Cooperation with Church · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Lena reports that the Kazakhstan Ministry of Internal Affairs is seeking cooperation with Muslim and Orthodox Christian officials in crime prevention.


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Kenya: Follow President Kibaki on Twitter! · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

A Twitter channel for the President of Kenya, Mwai Kibaki!: “Time to take a nap. This reminds me, I should have a bedroom built at Harambee house.”


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Kyrgyzstan: Parliament Speaker Says No Accountability Is Necessary · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

The Azamat Report informs readers that Kyrgyzstan's Parliament Speaker Adaham Madumarov, also leader of pro-presidential Ak Jol Party, said that the Central Election Commission does not have to report to anyone, when he was asked why the December 16 elections results have still not been published.


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Macedonia: Bloggers Discuss NATO Summit and Greece · Global Voices
Filip Stojanovski

Last week, the Macedonian blogosphere buzzed about Greece's obstruction of Macedonia's NATO entry. This post presents a set of typical initial reactions to this news.
Filip Petrovski described (MKD) the atmosphere in Macedonia several days before the NATO Summit:
The tension in the air is incredible. The upcoming NATO Summit in Bucharest created a heavy atmosphere of expectation in the region. It is absolutely impossible to predict what will happen there. Expecting closure is already unavoidable part of our lives, of all everyday discussions… I recently observed two friends who had different opinions about Macedonia's stance on the latest proposal by the mediator Nimetz. I've known these two persons for a while, and I have never seen them being nervous, aggressive or intolerant of each other on political or historical issues. But this time it wasn't so. One of them simply got up and left in the middle of the discussion.
On the night of April 2, upon learning that Greece would stop NATO from reaching a consensus on invitation of new members, dozens of Macedonian bloggers reacted with angry posts.
Some placed pictures of the current Macedonian flag on their sites, while others chose to display (MKD) Macedonia's 1992-1995 flag, which carried the Vergina Sun symbol and is no longer in use due to Greek objections. Many, including Toast Government (MKD), expressed an opinion that the goal of Greece is to completely negate the Macedonian identity and eradicate the nation. Along with congratulations to Croatia and Albania (MKD), the countries that succeeded in receiving NATO invitations, some bloggers recommended (MKD) that Macedonians unite in the time of a calamity and offered ideas (MKD) to the Macedonian government on how to act in the future.
The next day, there seemed to be more optimism in bloggers’ responses; some included video clips with Macedonian music in their posts. One blogger wrote (MKD) that this was not the “end of the world”:
Since morning, people around me seem possessed by some kind of madness or hysteria. They come and go out of my office, and I hear wailing, sighs, conversations about NATO, […] VETO […] …
I see higher spirits on the blogs, but they seem to slide into it, too. Oh, what shall we do, too bad for our youth, loads of such stuff… Hey, people! You were not this scared when the war started in 2001! Come on, let's all cry out to heaven and wait for the judgment day. As far as I can see, the Sun rose up again, my house is still in the same place, and the work I have to do is still waiting for me!!!
Zoriv commented (MKD) ironically on the Greek attempts to monopolize the world's historical heritage, saying that the true heir of Alexander the Great would not show fear that “his country could be invaded by a nation which is five times smaller.”
Anti and Bi (MKD), bloggers who have been promoting principled pacifism for years and advocated Macedonia's non-involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan, reiterated their stance against participation in military alliances.
Kalina reacted (MKD) to the new breed of skepticism towards NATO and EU integration, pointing out that after the failure at the NATO Summit, some inconsistent analysts, who have never before questioned this long-term strategic objective of the country, started talking that maybe Macedonia should give up trying to gain membership in these international institutions.
Human rights experts Mirjana Najcevska and Zharko Trajanoski (MKD), held the government accountable for failing to fulfill its obligation to provide NATO membership for Macedonia. The latter warned that the huge obstructive force of Greece could not be the sole excuse for all Macedonian failures.
Bazhdardzhijata criticized (MKD) the Macedonian journalists who protested by leaving the press conference of Greek Minister of Foreign Affairs in Bucharest:
I still can't get over the prideful stupidity of these journalists. Instead of staying at the event and bombarding with revealing questions, which would have caught the Greek fascist policies with their pants down, they decided to leave. And the way they left! They did not make any noise, they just turned their backs on them. After such a departure, I am sure Dora [Bakoyannis] sincerely and silently thanked them.
In the following days, some Macedonian bloggers realized how important it was to communicate about these issue with the world and started publishing more English-language posts.
VBB used historical examples to emphasize that Greek arguments were unsustainable:
There's an island called Ireland. Because of historical reasons similar to those described above, that geographical region became divided between the Republic of Ireland (an independent state like the Republic of Macedonia) and Northern Ireland, a constituent unit of another country- the United Kingdom (similar case as the Greek province of Macedonia). The British crown has imposed harsh measures on its Irish possesions, that also included colonising loyalist elements from Great Britain. Basically its the same story as with Greece. However, the difference is that, today the UK does not demand from the Republic of Ireland to change its constitutional name.
Taking into account the role that politics plays in Macedonia's daily life, it is quite possible that NATO integration will remain one of the hottest political subjects for Macedonian bloggers in the near future.

author: Filip Stojanovski


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Macedonia, Greece: Against “Radicalism” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Say: Macedonia speaks up against “radicalism” that seems to be more and more prevalent in the Greek-Macedonian relations: “I wish to condemn any violent form of ‘resolving’ the issue and to ask everybody to cool down, because the problem will stay, and in the meantime the gap between the two nations will become wider. After all, we do need to live together.”


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Montenegro: Filip Vujanovic Re-Elected · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Balkan Baby writes about the re-election of Filip Vujanovic as Montenegro’s president last weekend.


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Morocco: TGI Friday’s · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

A new TGI Friday's has opened in Rabat and Pink Hijab brings us the story.


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Nepal: Elections tomorrow! · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

United We Blog! on the much looked-forward-to elections in Nepal, due to be held tomorrow.


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Pakistan: Politics and Violence · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

All Things Pakistan on politics in the country taking a violent turn.


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Poland: Football Racism and Corruption · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

20 East writes about the sorry state of Polish football: problems include racism and corruption.


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Saudi Arabia: Regulating Women’s Work  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Saudi Arabia is moving towards introducing more regulations with regards to women's employment, reports Saudi Jeans, who comments on a new ‘vague’ law just introduced in the Kingdom.


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Saudi Arabia: Restaurant Rating Site  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

“Qaym (Ar) is a website for user-generated restaurant reviews based on social rating. The idea behind it may sound simple, but the execution is excellent and the result is great,” writes Saudi blogger Saudi Jeans.


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Lebanon: ‘I Love Gemmayze’ Protests Nightclub Curfew · Global Voices
Francois Bacha

Lebanese blogger Pink Ployd from Blogging Beirut has launched “I Love Gemmayze,” a campaign protesting the curfew imposed by authorities on the pubs and nightclubs of Gemmayze, a district of Beirut.

author: Francois Bacha


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Sri Lanka: Right to Secede · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Rants Raves and Miscellaneous Musings from Sri Lanka asks if people have the right to secede from the country.


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St. Vincent & the Grenadines: Flour Hike · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Blogging from St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Abeni is concerned about the rise in the price of flour.


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Sri Lanka: Stop the War on Journalists · Global Voices
Mathy Kandasamy

International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), an organization which aims to protect and strengthen the rights and freedoms of journalists is calling for a Global Day of Action on the 10th of April, titled Stop the War on Journalists in Sri Lanka.
IFJ has asked it's friends and colleagues to participate in the Global Day of Action by:
“This is part of a series of actions for the ‘Stop the War on Journalists’ campaign for Sri Lanka which will culminate with World Press Freedom Day on May 3 and the release of the IFJ’s annual South Asia Press Freedom Report for 2007-2008″ says IFJ.
Following news reports and links present a detailed picture of what is going on in Sri Lanka. While this is a mainstream media report, it provides an overview of why Sri Lanka is a dangerous place for journalists to operate in.
Human Rights Watch says
The Sri Lankan government is responsible for widespread abductions and “disappearances” that are a national crisis, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released today. Human Rights Watch urged the government to reveal the whereabouts of the “disappeared,” immediately end the practice, and hold the perpetrators accountable….
…The 241-page report, “Recurring Nightmare: State Responsibility for ‘Disappearances’ and Abductions in Sri Lanka,” documents 99 of the several hundred cases reported, and examines the Sri Lankan government’s response, which to date has been grossly inadequate. In 2006 and 2007, the United Nations Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances recorded more new “disappearance” cases from Sri Lanka than from any other country in the world.
Morning Star: has a report on detained journalists.  Transcurrents reports that the Sri Lanka Media Rights Group expresses concern over the string of journalist arrests.
Number of journalists arrested; one journalist released after questioning says Free Media Movement, Sri Lanka, an affiliate of the IJF. Reporters Without Borders reacts by expressing concern for the fate of the five Tamil journalists arrested by the anti-terrorist police in Colombo. Uthawi.net, the German non-profit organization for whom Mr.Jasikaran, one of the detailed journalists acted as the liaisons volunteer has issued a press release. Thiru, a blogger from Belgium asks us to send appeals to OHCHR-UNOG, Amnesty International, Sri Lankan President among others, on behalf of the suffering orphanage children. ICT4Peace draws parallels between censorship in Iran and Sri Lanka, which brings to mind this question – If journalists are threatened, will bloggers face similar penalties?
TamilNet reports that the the government's actions are neither transparent nor in the spirit of a free media, and perhaps reflect the government's actions against the ethnic minority.
Yesterday morning, I. Shivalingam, a TamilNet reporter from Wattala, boarded the morning train to come to the TamilNet office in Colombo. However, he never reported for work, and has not been seen or heard of since he left his home. Investigations by TamilNet reveal that a white van was seen in the vicinity of the Fort Railway Station round about the time that I. Shivalingam was scheduled to be there. TamilNet investigations have also found that Ranjini, a neighbour of Shivalingam, has also disappeared the same day under suspicious circumstances.

author: Mathy Kandasamy


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The South African Blog Awards · Global Voices
Muhammad Karim

On April 2nd, The South African Blog Awards were held in Cape Town to a great turnout of bloggers and also some very inspired winners. This is a summary of posts about the award from South African bloggers.
Both Eish! and 123 Blog Myself attended the event.
123 Blog Myself:
I just got home after attending this year’s blog awards ceremony at the UCT Tennis Club. What a great turnout! It was great putting some faces to the names and the blogs, and meeting a whole bunch of awesome new people. I am especially psyched about finally meeting Chris from iMod.co.za, CJC from Riply.co.za and Revolving Credit from The Big Wheel face to face.
It is only by a miraculous sequence of tiny miracles that I managed to:
* (A) leave at work on time for a change
* (B) Actually find the blasted tennis club despite the directions, and
* (C) find my home again afterwards.
I’d like to say a special thanks to Roxie who showed me the way there, and to Riply for being such an angel to show me how to get back on the highway again afterwards. Thank you – you guys ROCK!
Eish!:
The SA Blog Awards has progressed to become a significant event in the online calendar year. The packed out venue last night attests to this, as does the fact that finalists and interested parties flew in from around the country to be there.
The event has sufficiently informal as one expects from this community and there was more than enough time before and after the ‘ceremony’ to mingle with fellow bloggers, media and those that had an interest in the web.
When the ceremony began promptly at 7:30, the finalists were surprised to hear that besides being able to sport the ‘SA Blog Awards 2008′ graphic on their page for a year, there were actual physical prizes they could take home with them. There was wine from Warwick Estate, an indigenous tree from Stodels, Dell sponsored some categories with a flat screen monitor and Microsoft gave away a Xbox360 to the overall winner. And suddenly things became just a wee little more intense!
Without a doubt the big winners were Durban's East Coast Radio who, along with the other big winner Mail and Guardian have embraced the blogging medium and it seems to paying dividends, not only at the SA Blog Awards, but by increasing their reach into South African society. While ‘mainstream media’ made a huge impression at this years awards, there was still more than enough space for the smaller guys to pick up awards. In fact, having the big boys doing so well made the victories of the others that much sweeter and it was great to see the excitement and genuine pride these winners exuded for the rest of the evening.
While there was the odd good natured murmuring about the mainstream onslaught this year, there was none of the vitriol that seemed to emanate after last year's awards.
All in all, it was a great evening. Well done to the winners, and to those who missed out, it's time to up the ante!
And the winners are …
South African Weblog of the Year
The Best of the Best from South Africa
Winner:
thoughtleader.co.za
Most Humorous South African Blog
Witty, comical and written to induce uncontrollable laughter
Winner:
blog.ecr.co.za/breakfast
Best Overseas South African Blog
Best blog written by a South African in any foreign country
Winner:
cooksister.typepad.com
Best SA Blog about Politics
The best SA blog featuring mainly a political theme
Winner:
thoughtleader.co.za
Best New Blog
Best blog which was started during the year of 2007
Winner:
blog.ecr.co.za/newswatch
Mike Stopforth congratulates the organisers:
The event was held at the UCT Tennis Club and was very well attended by folks from all walks of life. Huge congrats go to Jon Cherry and his team for organising the event out of the goodness of his heart (all that where there would have noted that Jon never once promoted Cherryflava or Cherrypicka).
Vincent Maher, one of the winners in the News Category, writes:
Don’t I feel like an idiot – at the last minute Matt and I had to cancel our plans to go to Cape Town tonight for the SA Blog Awards and we won 4 awards – Matthew Buckland won best business blog, Amatomu won best site promoting blogs and Thought Leader won best political blog and blog of the year. I feel pretty foul about missing the party and the celebrations but very happy for the recognition.
The person who probably deserves the most thanks in all of this is Riaan Wolmarans, the Thought Leader editor who is the most over-worked person I know right now [except for the hamster powering my laptop during power outages].
And finally… CherryFlava gave their thanks to all the sponsors and people who had made the event possible.
All in all it was a great event and a sign of greater things to come for the South African Blog Awards and South African Bloggers alike.  Looking forward to 2009.

author: Muhammad Karim


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Trinidad & Tobago, Jamaica, Canada: iTunes Boycott · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“In another blow to the controversial dancehall music industry, iTunes Canada has pulled several songs from major Jamaican dancehall singers…which contain lyrics glorifying violence against gays”: Caribbean Beat Blog says that the Jamaican government appears unfazed.


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Trinidad & Tobago: This & That  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Trinidadian blogger Jeremy Taylor lets loose on everything from the tour of the Olympic torch to the elections in Zimbabwe.


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Tunisian Journalist Covers Elections in Zimbabwe · Global Voices
Jennifer Brea

Bassam Bounenni, a Tunisian journalist who blogs at Wherever I Roam, That's My Home, describes covering the elections in Zimbabwe for Al Jazeera [Fr]: “We have been stopped repeatedly and our hotel was surrounded by snipers, who had come to look for Western journalists without accreditation.  The country is beautiful and the people are really wonderful, in spite of all the misery.”

author: Jennifer Brea


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Turkey: Interview with Murat Kurnaz · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Turkish blogger Metin links to a chilling interview with “Murat Kurnaz, a German of Turkish origin, who was detained (and tortured) at Guantanamo Bay, even though he was completely innocent, and with no connection to terrorism.”


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UAE: Another Accident · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Seabee, from Dubai, reports yet another accident, and posts a picture too.


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UAE: Dubai Courts Round Up · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

From Dubai, Seabee reports on court cases in the Emirate in this post. Among them is the high profile case of a French boy, who was raped in Dubai.


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Uganda: FrontlineSMS for farmers · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Farmers using SMS to get coffee prices in Uganda: “Tonight, a hundred and fifty farmers and their families who I have never met will be going to bed better off. Not only is this significant for the farmers, it's also significant for me. Because without FrontlineSMS, which is being used to provide coffee prices to these smallholder farmers, this would not be happening.”


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Video on Flickr: An apple of dischord · Global Voices
Juliana Rincón Parra

Seventeen hours after its creation, the Flickr group “NO VIDEO ON FLICKR!!!” already has more than 5475 members and 670 items. What is even more amazing is that another group, “We Say NO to Videos on Flickr“, created 2 hours later, has more than double the number of members of the previously mentioned group, and both are composed of Flickr users who oppose the idea of having video on the platform traditionally used for uploading pictures. On the other hand, the groups created for uploaded videos hardly have more than 30 members yet. What is the reason for this insatisfaction with Yahoo and Flickr's decision to make video uploading and viewing possible on their site?
Most of the users in these groups are concerned that video upload will interfere with their user experience in browsing pictures, leading to lower speed and picture uploads, and others are upset that the main reason why they joined Flickr was for photography, and not for video. They fear that the supportive community they've found in Flickr will disappear and become into what a community “mainly reduced to flaming people about their beliefs, intents and capabilities.” You can read these and other perspectives by following this link. However, even among these groups there are those who believe that  because only pro users can upload videos, that that will become a sort of quality filter, and that it will make it less likely for new users to get into Flickr just because of video. Others hope that it becomes a tool for photographers to make slide-shows or stop motion animation with their pictures, and use it to give their products an added value. There have also been requests for discussion threads in Spanish, and a translation of the petition they are signing has been posted.
So what sort of content has been uploaded so far?, CreepySleep uploads a video of a deep leg wound cleansing in a young boy, and it is only one of many different videos he has uploaded on life in South Sudan.
Another video is this one featuring children playing instruments and singing for tourists at the salt plains of Uyuni in Bolivia, uploaded by i-ren ishii. Mr.Frosted uploaded the following video where you can see the bright blue garbage collector truck with its trademark song in the streets of Vietnam. He also has several other creative commons videos on different locations throughout the world.
The last video I´ll present has actually been chosen by the Flickr team to be a part of the Video! Video! Video! group where they've been amassing the best examples of video on Flickr so far. The following is “Mount Fuji from the Shinkansen” by antimega:
Whether you agree with Flickr being used for videos or not, people are using the new option and uploading their content: it will remain to be seen how Yahoo and Flickr will will respond to the groups unhappy with this change.

author: Juliana Rincón Parra


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Yemen: The Highlands of Hadhramout  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Omar Barsawad, from Yemen, introduces us to the highlands of Hadhramout in a series of breath-taking pictures.


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Zimbabwe: Bread, Milk and Toilet Paper · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Comrade Fatso on the situation in Zimbabwe: “The parallel realities we live in have become the only reality now. The other one is paralysed. So bread is now hustled on street corners for two US dollars. Like an illegal drug. Milk has also joined the list of ‘goods’ that are sold in our parallel economy. Not in the shops but on the streets. And if you're looking for toliet paper then just drive to the nearest ‘Give Way’ sign, a Zimbabwean ‘Stop’ sign.”


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Zimbabwe: Fighting for democracy with FrontlineSMS · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Kenny writes about the use of FrontlineSMS in Zimbabwe: “A local NGO seeking to promote human rights and good governance, Kubatana were the very first users of FrontlineSMS when it launched back in 2005, starting a trend which has seen the software used for similar activities in a number of other countries around the world. In their own words, FrontlineSMS finally opened up the possibilities for text messaging in their work, and I knew they had plans to use it during the 2008 elections. This is what they've been doing.”