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Trinidad & Tobago: Retro BWIA · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

As Trinidad and Tobago's indigenous airline comes to the end of its life (BWIA will cease operations at the end of the year and reopen on January 1 under a new moniker, Caribbean Airlines), Thebookman refers to a BWIA ad from 1972 and says, “Perhaps in a couple of decades, the blend of the peoples of this small Caribbean nation will…have their own identity, and probably their independence.”


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Trinidad & Tobago: The Nutcracker · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

The Full Belly Project is a non-profit organization that designs and provides simple agricultural machines for people in developing countries: Taran Rampersad thinks it's “probably the best technology use” he's heard of all year.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Trinidad & Tobago: World Cup Cricket Visa Requirements  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“Aussie cricket fans are furious about new visa entry requirements to go to World Cup matches in Antigua, Jamaica and Barbados. It's the first time they have ever needed such visas, and they go at a whopping $128 a piece.”  The Caribbean Beat blog wonders about the wisdom of the move.


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Ukraine: Chernobyl Photographer · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Ukraine List writes about the first photographer on the scene in Chernobyl.

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Ukraine: Chernobyl Rumors · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

MoldovAnn writes about the most recent Chernobyl scare: “One guy had a chance to check the news on the internet before dinner, and read a report that a wall on the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant had collapsed, releasing a bunch of radioactive dust into the air. The report advised to keep children indoors. No official government statement had been made. My first thought was ‘Shit, what an idiot I am to be living in this place, so close to this disaster waiting to happen.’ […] Within a short time our colleagues were in contact with numerous officials, both at the station and in the town of Slavutych, where all the station workers live, and we were assured that it was all a rumor, nothing had happened. We all relaxed, sighed with relief, and then the jokes started – it must be a coping mechanism, joking about horribly frightening things. I couldn’t quite lose the feeling though that I’m playing with fire here. I like Ukraine, I’d like to stay here for a long time to come, but I’d like to live farther away from Chornobyl!”


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Ukraine: “Return of Frankenstein?” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Foreign Notes documents yet another step on Ukraine's path back to the pre-Orange Revolution past: “If the bill is approved it will enable the pre-OR guys in the CEC, including its chairman Serhiy Kivalov [now a PoR VR deputy,] and the other cheats to return.”


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Ukraine: The Black Sea · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Ukraine List posts satellite photos of the Black Sea.


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Africa: China-Africa trade · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Africa-China relationship is increasingly becoming an important subject to bloggers in the African blogosphere as seen in the latest post on the subject by Grandiose Parlor:“More on China-Africa trade.”

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Arabisc: Moroccan Authorities Lack Humour, says Blogger · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

In Morocco, a newspaper is being sued  for publishing an article on jokes which Moroccans enjoy.
Blogger Hjiouij  thinks its not discussing religious issues that the authorities object to in print but rather any attempt to ridicule Moroccan King Mohammed the Fifth.
But this isn't the case in Egypt, where blogger Abdulkareem Nabeel Sulaiman is still being detained in custody for articles which appeared on his blog, which were deemed to be anti-governmental and anti-Islam.
Fellow blogger Alaa Abdelfattah  wonders about the fate of his jailed colleague, whose stay behind bars has been extended for another 45 days after already spending 45 days – under investigation.
Still in Egypt, MrGemmyHood informs us about the launch of a new pro-government movement which aims to drum up support for President Hosni Mubarak, who has been in power since 1981.
Meanwhile, Subzero Blue from nearby Tunisia tells us about a new Saudi film which has just been released. If what I have read is true, it is the first Saudi Arabian feature film to hit the big screen – ever.
Our last stop in this round up is in Jordan, where Bater Wardam tells us about a gang fight which rocked Yarmook University, in the province of Irbid, the previous week.

author: Amira Al Hussaini


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Armenia: .AM Domains · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

The Armenian Economist asks why there are so few .am domains.

author: Nathan Hamm


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Armenia: Araz Petition · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Christian Garbis reports on the Araz Petition, an online petition named after an Iranian teenager struck and killed by a speeding driver in Yerevan. The petition aims to pressure the government into making Armenia safe for pedestrians, which Garbis says involves addressing reckless driving and jaywalking.


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Armenia: Dead Homeless · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Onnik Krikorian writes about encountering the dead body of a homeless man while walking his son to school. He says that many homeless people die on the streets in Yerevan due to a lack of services to assist them.


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Bangladesh: A divided nation · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

drishtipat on Bangladesh as a divided family, with parallels drawn on quarrels in slums and the blogosphere. “Well, we, 150 million people are divided into two groups in support of two families who are trying to somehow grab the ruling power of the country.”

author: Neha Viswanathan


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Barbados: Greenland Dump Ill-Advised · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Hans G. Machel guest authors at Barbados Free Press, criticizing the government's plans to continue to spend millions of dollars on an “ill-fated site” for mass garbage disposal.


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Bermuda: Ritz Carlton to be approved? · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

A “nine-storey monstrosity, in the shape of the proposed new Ritz-Carlton hotel” may soon be erected in the City of Hamilton.  A Limey in Bermuda shares his thoughts on the subject in the context of Bermuda's current planning laws.


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Central Asia & Caucasus: 30 Years After Independence · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

neweurasia looks at Central Asia and the Caucasus 15 years from now in a series of posts addressing the fates of the various countries of the region.


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China: cultural critique on consuming Christmas · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Zhao mu re-posts an open letter written by10 PhD students in China (all from top univeristy) which criticized the celebration of Christmas in China. The students suggest government to ban and discourage advocation and promotion of Christmas consumption by education department and commercial sectors in order to preserve “Chinese cultural subjectivity” (zh). (The arguement is very odd to me but it is something new.)

author: Oiwan Lam


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China: model answer blogpost · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Zengying explains why 2006 is an significant year for him because one of his blog post became a model answer for university entrance examination: a student copied his post in the examination and got a full score. The blog post was then reproduced in many exam preparation guide books without proper acknowledgement. He became famous after he published a protesting post… (zh).


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China: population quality · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Kaie blogs about a recent population policy in Guangzhou city. The policy is to prevent low quality population to reside in the city. Kaie comments that the urban residents have no rights to bar off rural population to enjoy city life (zh).


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China: Who are the enemies of a harmonious society? · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

China law prof posts a translation of Liang Jing's commentary on Chen Guancheng's case: Who are the enemies of a harmonious society?


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China: Xinjiang 2021 · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Michael from the opposite end of China blogs about his wild speculation of Xinjiang in 2021. The post was written in response to a call by neweurasia.net.


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Estonia, Latvia: EU for Non-Citizens · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Itching for Eestimaa reports that the Council of the European Union now permits non-citizen residents of Latvia and Estonia to travel in the EU without visas: “Hopefully those newcomers that couldn't make it in Estonia can press their luck elsewhere.”


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French Antilles: Retail is Principal Economic Sector · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Says NewMedia (Fr), according to a recent investigation by the French government, retail is the principal economic sector in French overseas departments Guadeloupe, Martinique and Guyane: “Retail encompasses half the businesses but it is wholesale that generates the biggest revenue and highest margin rate (35%).”

author: Alice Backer


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Guadeloupe:Celebrating Chevallier de St-George · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Guadeloupe Attitude is happy  (Fr) a Guadeloupean school chose to rename itself after local historic figure Joseph Bologne a.k.a. Chevallier de St-George, the child of a white French planter and freed african slave woman who lived in the 18th century and conquered classical composing and military skill in both Europe and Guadeloupe. He also surveys the ways in which Caribbean institutions in Cuba and elsewhere are increasingly recognizing him as a hero.


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Guyana: Letter to Santa · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“Santa, ask not what Guyana can do for you, ask what you can do for Guyana”: GuyanaGyal writes a letter to St. Nick.


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Guyane: Forest In Danger from Gold Digging · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Blada.com (Fr) points to a Mongabay.com english-speaking series on the French Guianese environment and says: “Illegal gold digging is threatening the forest, biodiversity and indigenous populations of French Guiana. The biggest European tropical forest is invaded by clandestine gold diggers.” The site also deplores that France –of which Guyane is an overseas department– has not done more to reverse the process.


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Hong Kong: experienced journalists become PR · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Mo's notebook blogs about the resignation of three senior reporters in a major TV station in Hong Kong (TVB). He notices that many good reporters have left the media industry and tranfered the public relation field instead because of the poor media environment (zh).


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India: The glory of strikes · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Random thoughts of a demented mind on enjoying a Bandh (strike) in West Bengal. “Postponing a bandh? What kind of lunacy is that? Don’t people understand that the bandh needed to be on 21st (Thursday), 22nd (Friday) so that with the weekend (23rd and 24th) and Christmas (25th) we would have a really really long weekend ?”


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Iran:Iranian President talks about Student Protest · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad,Iranian president, wrote in his blog about student protest movement in AmirKabir University during his speech.In his blog,we read  “when students with an absolute total freedom – without being worried – insulted the elected president of the people, I had a feeling of joy”.

author: Fred Petrossian


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Jamaica: Manley and the new global politics · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

The Latin America News Review posts an article by Claude Robinson about Jamaica's former Prime Minister, Michael Manley: “Professor Marable, one of America's most published and controversial academics, believes that Manley's central ideas about social justice in both the domestic and global contexts can have a new resonance in the current world environment…”


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Japan and South Korea: citizen reporters meeting · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Oh Mun-su from Ohmynews reports on the recent meeting between Korean and Japanese Citizen Reporters. “It was held in the OhmyNews Japan office in Tokyo to reconcile differences in thinking between the two citizen groups and extend each other's understanding.”


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Kazakhstan: Controlling Nationalism · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Sean Roberts analyzes efforts to control nationalism in Kazakhstan, efforts that have not been entirely successful.


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Kenya/Tanzania: cultural differences · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Africa Affairs blog has the fourth part of socio-cultural differences between Kenyans and Tanzanians. Links to previous posts on the subject are at the end.


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Kyrgyzstan: Ala Kachuu · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Tolkun Umaraliev writes on the practice of bride kidnapping in Kyrgyzstan, noting that the practice is common despite it being illegal. He says that officials are reluctant to do anything about it.


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Laos: Touristy Vang Vieng · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Popagandhi leaves Laos in a hurry after discovering how touristy Laotian city of Vang Vieng has become. Laos was one of the last South East Asian country to be opened to tourists.  “Everybody sold the same mediocre and expensive food tailored for the Western palate. Everybody played the same music. You’d have 3 ‘bars’ in a row, on the little ‘island’ by the banks of the Nam Song, each of them with their sundecks and hammocks. Quaint, but it’s the same everywhere. I ran away in terror, and unfortunately ran out of Laos.”

author: Preetam Rai


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Lithuania: Camerata Klaipeda · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Music and Life – Everywhere! writes about the Lithuanian Camerata Klaipeda – “a very interesting little string orchestra” – and other music matters.


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Malaysia: Cheating Penang Cab Drivers · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Blueheeler has a post on the cheating taxi drivers in Malaysian city of Penang. “I still enjoyed Penang, but when it was time to get a taxi, it pissed me off slightly, knowing that all the bloody drivers are out to make more money from me than they should. Today, on the plane home, my wife and I figured that more than 50% of our cash was paid to taxi drivers. If I'm now complaining about getting cheated by Penang taxi drivers, I hate to think how much European/Australian/American tourists get fleeced by Penang taxi drivers.”


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Malaysia: Maglev link between Singapore and Malaysia · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Rajan Rishyakaran analayses the various forms of rapid transport links being considered between Malaysian city of Johor Bahru and Singapore and feels that planners should make better use of the existing infrastructure rather than coming up with exotic ideas like maglev trains.


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Nigeria: political recycling · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

“Recycling may be good for the environment but political recycling is definitely not good for the nigerian environment,” writes Ijebuman's Diary.


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Pakistan: The return of the Expat · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Metroblogging Islamabad on Pakistani expats returning to the city and not quite fitting in. “All they can do is complain and try to pose something they are not with their myopic perspective. If you look at foreigners, the ones who do not even belong to Pakistan, they always manage to find a way to enjoy life in the “lifeless” capital.”


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Philippines: US Soldier Convicted of Rape · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Early this month, US Marine Lance Corporal Daniel Smith was found guilty by a local court of raping a Filipina woman while three other co-accused soldiers were acquitted. This was the first time a US soldier was tried by a local court ever since the government allowed the entry of US troops in the Philippine islands. The battle continues to this day whether the United States Embassy can request custody for the convicted soldier.
Rasheed’s World thinks the verdict was fair:
“The conviction was fair in my opinion because of the overwhelming amount of physical evidence collected and presented during the trial….Many commentators, myself included, initially cast doubt on the story of Nicole (the rape victim), saying that she willingly went to a bar with the soldiers, drank heavily with them, flirted and danced sexily with Smith. She even left the bar voluntarily with them, though she was extremely drunk. It was while she was in the van making out with Smith that their two stories diverge. Smith says that she wanted to have sex with him, and even helped him guide his penis into her vagina. She denies this, saying she struggled, said no repeatedly and then passed out. When she awoke, she found herself abandoned on a roadside, her panties and jeans pulled down around her ankles.”
Out of my mind somewhat disapproves the raising of political issues during the trial period but believes that the three other soldiers were guilty of something else:
“What I found really infuriating and galling about the circumstances around the rape case was the way they treated the victim after the supposed crime was committed. As it is, rape is a crime that cannot be justified or excused. But there is absolutely no defense for the way they carried the victim out of the van like a pig, dumped her unceremoniously on the sidewalk, and left her there like a piece of trash…So while the three other servicemen may not have been found guilty of rape there is no doubt in my mind that they are guilty of something else—something just as terrible, depraved, and atrocious. They are guilty of barbarity of the highest order.”
Notes of Marichu Lambino pens her opinion on where to detain Smith:
“I don’t care if the detention facility they agree on is the Manila Hotel (well, not that I don’t care; but our hands are tied; and VIP’s in the Philippines have been given special detention facilities but still within the jurisdiction of our courts); the important thing is for the convicted accused to remain within the reach and jurisdiction of our courts. The U.S. Embassy is outside our jurisdiction.”
She explains why the soldier must be jailed within Philippine jurisdiction:
“Why must it be within our jurisdiction? So that the convicted accused could be covered by the orders of our courts; a convicted accused is not in the same legal status as a person who has just been charged.”
Luis Teodoro is asking why the government is lawyering in behalf of the convicted soldier.
“At some point (the Justice Secretary) declared that the Philippines could not demand custody over Smith and company because Philippine detention facilities did not have the amenities they’re used to…as various commentators have said, this rape is all about sovereignty–US sovereignty.”
He is also bewildered over the outpouring of support for the convicted soldier:
“There are also the nameless millions out there in the archipelago of our sorrows who’re secretly or openly rooting for Smith and blaming “Nicole” not only for complaining that she had been raped, but also for not enjoying it.”
Biag ken siak ponders why Smith has many fans. In the comments section, a reader accused the judge of the local court of issuing a biased decision.
Gormful lauds the brave rape victim:
“Most rape victims would rather clam up and keep the traumatizing experience to themselves. Nicole did otherwise. It took a lot of courage to come out in the open, relive the experience by telling other people what happened, and waited. She waited for a long time. More than a year to get some results.”
Khanterbury tales hits fellow media practitioners of violating the privacy of the rape victim:
“As a media ethicist, I would still opt for the protection of Nicole’s identity, despite the promulgation of the decision. It still does not give media the license to use her real name in their stories nor does it give them the license to take a clear photo of her without her expressed permission”

author: Mong Palatino


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Russia: Abramovich Leaves Chukotka · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Billionaire and FC Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich has resigned as governor of Chukotka, reports Russia Blog.


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Slovakia: “The Nature of the Regime” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Slovakia's Deleted By Tomorrow writes about “the nature of the regime”: “Bit by bit the poisonous stupidities are swelling, building up, gaining momentum and threaten not only the free development of Slovak society, but, what’s infinitely much worse, also my sanity and peace of mind. It’s the little things that just might go unperceived by a foreigner, or get lost in translation, a dictum, a tone, a turn of the phrase, an ominous reminder of things long past and almost forgotten. It’s irritating beyond words.”


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South Korea: migrant news roundup · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Jamie from Two Koreas reprints some news from Migrant Worker TV to sum up some of the current issues going on in the migrant movement in South Korea these days.


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Sri Lanka: Discrimination and those of the Indian Origin · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Moju on workers in Sri Lanka of Indian origin being paid less than average and the troubling times for this ethnic community. “Their call on an indefinite strike to raise their daily wages to an amount of Rupees 300 from Rupees 135 per day is staged when elsewhere in the country the average wages of a skilled labourer is between Rupees 600 and 750. What is the basis of this shocking inequality in income distribution?”


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St. Vincent & the Grenadines: Nine Mornings Festival · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“The choir was far from melodious but I couldn't believe I was hearing right.”  Being serenaded with Christmas carols encourages Abeni “to shake off the gloomy feeling” and be part of the Nine Mornings Festival – a unique Vincentian tradition.


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Tajikistan: Voices from Tajikistan · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Vadim rounds up the Tajik blogosphere.


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The Balkans: Reading List · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

South East Europe Online compiles a list of English-language books on the Balkans.


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The Shadowy World of 419, Posing With a Crocodile And Santa Claus in Ouagadougou · Global Voices
Oluniyi D. Ajao

What happens when scammers go digital? The result is the shadowy world of 419. Scribbles from the Den, a Cameroonian blog, has a post about these scammers “I Go Chop Your Dollar”: 20/20 Goes into the Shadowy World of Nigerian Internet Scammers:
The email usually pops unannounced in your mailbox with an enticing “private business proposal” or a “request for business relationship”. The style and content of such emails usually vary, however, the substance is always the same – someone with access to a huge sum of money (usually millions of dollars) needs your assistance to move the loot out of his or her country of residence. And for your hard work, you will receive a mouth-watering percentage of the fortune in question. This is the famous 419 Internet scam.
The blog throws a spotlight on a recent broadcast by the US-based news network ABC about scams coming out of Nigeria:
This evening,  ABC's 20/20 (Friday, December 8, 2006 at 10 p.m. ET/PT), Chief Investigative Reporter, Brian Ross travels, to Lagos to expose the murky world of the 419ers, and turn the tables on some of these “masters” of crime who end up being the “mugus” (slang for big fool) – a classic case of outconing the conmen.
Still on scams and scammers, Oluniyi David Ajao‘s headline is simple and straight-forward: You can’t cheat an honest man:
…The scam popularly refered to as 419 is basically an “advance fee fraud” that is based on the greediness of the “victim”. It would take a very dishonest person to fall victim.
All the variants of 419 listed on Wikipedia are based on the greediness/gullibility of the willing victim…
There are so many indications that such attractive offers are scams. Huge sums of money are almost always involved. For example, you receive an email or text message that you have won $20,000 in a lottery. You are then asked to send $1,505 as administrative fees or something like that. Now, you would clearly know whether you staked lottery or not. If you didn’t stake any lottery, the only reason you would expect to get something for nothing, is dishonesty.
I am not holding fort for scammers and never will. My point here is simple:  You can’t cheat an honest man (or woman :-) ).
This form of scamming is named after the section of the Nigerian criminal code, 419, which prohibits it.
Instead of spending his time responding to scam emails, the Ghanian blogger, Ramblings of an African Geek, likes to play with crocodiles.   He shares some close shots of himself with a crocodile, in Paga, northern Ghana: Some road show pictures:
Me holding a crocodile tail at Paga, just south of the Ghana – Burkina border
Moving on from Ghana to Burkina Faso, we are told that Father Christimas is visiting this West African nation. Under the acacias writes: Father Christmas comes to Ouagadougou:
Christmas is coming apparently. However, in Gorom-Gorom, there is no sign as yet of the approach of Christmas, apart from the increase in price of sheep at the market.
So it was a shock to get to Ouaga and find at the traffic lights that, alongside the usual paper hankies and cellphone cards, inflatable Father Christmases are now also available for sale!
Happy Holidays!

author: Oluniyi D. Ajao


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Uganda: defying rules of gravity · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

I've Left Copenhagen for Uganda did not know that some cars in Africa can defy rules of gravity!


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Venezuela: Preserving Indigenous Languages · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

As many as thirty-four indigenous languages are spoken in Venezuela and a special committee of the country's National Assembly is drafting a law designed at preserving them.  The Latin Americanist also reports that there are plans to have indigenous representation on the Assembly.


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Anguilla: Convention vs. Corruption · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Corruption-free Anguilla republishes an article by Indra Jeet Mistry, which calls for Caribbean governments to sign the UN Convention against Corruption – “the first legally binding, global anti-corruption agreement, marking an historic milestone in the fight against corruption. One year on…in the Caribbean, only Trinidad and Tobago and Antigua and Barbuda can count themselves as signatories…”


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Argentina: Music: Holy – Cascarano · Global Voices
David Sasaki

With English lyrics and “melodies that combine pop, rock, folk, and dub” the latest Holy production, Cascarana, has been released under a 2.0 Creative Commons License. Fernando Casale has all the tracks available for download.

author: David Sasaki


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Aruba: Parlimentary Behaviour · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

The behaviour of parliamentarians quells any political aspirations Arubagirl may have been nurturing…


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Barbados: Grenada’s National Park to become Resort? · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Gallimaufry reports on an article from Caribbean Net News about the government of Grenada's plans to sell an entire national park to make way for a resort development.


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Bermuda: Government TV  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

As the Bermudan government forges ahead with plans to open its own television station, A Limey in Bermuda maintains that “watching TV to find out about Government services makes about as much sense as entering the Tour de France on a unicycle.”


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Bermuda: Joke about Premier turns serious  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

On the heels of Bermuda's Premier aiming racial slurs at former Opposition Leader Grant Gibbons in Parliament, a chef makes a joke and is subsequently fired and deported, leaving Christian Dunleavy to shake his head “at the silliness of it all”.


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Brunei: Credit Card Economy · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

The Daily Brunei Resources blog looks at the ills of credit card economy.


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Cambodia: Former Police Chief Extradited from Malaysia · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Sopheak blogs about the former Cambodian police chief Heng Pov who was brought back to Cambodia from Malaysia to serve his 18 years sentence for the murder of a judge. Heng Pov denies his role in the murder and was seeking to leave Malaysia for Finland where he was granted asylum.


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China: blogender · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

An online test (zh) about blogger's gender by analyising the language in the blogpost.


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China: more on boycotting Christmas · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Granitestudio comments on the recent call by PhD students in China on boycotting Christmas celebration.


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Costa Rica Blog Wrapup: CAFTA, Christmas and arts. · Global Voices
Juliana Rincón Parra

Highlights from Costa Rica's blogs these past weeks.  We have more on the CAFTA, complaints on Christmas, and posts on artistic and cultural events.
We'll begin with a touch of humour:
Lachi in Prueba de Artista posts a video taken during an Anime-manga event where they got an undesired dose of preaching from a Christian minister who took advantage of the event to damn them all into hell.
La Sardina Albina  was also there and wrote about the religious invasion to their privacy.
Damian comments about a costa Rican custom of getting a psychic to cleanse offices from negative spiritual forces.
Christmas season kicks off:
Amorexia gripes about the early start of the Christmas season:
The saddest thing could be how desvirtuated the celebration has become, besides antiesthetic. Two examples of why kickstarting Christmas so early  is not right: this morning, walking to work, I saw at least three christmas trees which were already dried up thanks to the lights, and we are still not in December!… and the other day I heard a little girl say that Christmas is the day when Santa saved the world from the Grinch. Please!
Lo más ingrato puede ser lo desvirtuado de la celebración… y antiestético, dos ejemplos mas de por que adelantar tanto la navidad no esta bien, esta mañana camino al trabajo, vi por lo menos tres arbolitos de navidad que ya estaban secos por las luces, y aún no es Diciembre! … y el otro día escuche a una pequeña niña decir que en la navidad se celebraba la fecha en que Santa salvo al mundo de el Grinch! Por favor!
Emilia Villegas in Yellow Boxing Glove documents the traditional making of tamales in a photographic set.
On the artistic front:
Julia Ardon calls ticos to visit the Estrecho Dudoso event, organized by Teorética, where arts will go to the streets and have those who rarely express themselves do so through art.
Emilia Villegas writes about the tribute to Chavela Vargas, a Costa Rican born international artist and adds many pictures of the event.
Jacinta Blogs on the Canal Central project were 21 nicaraguan migrants were given cellphones with cameras to document their lives in Costa Rica.
Uri Ridelman writes about the traditional ox-cart parade in San Jose, with pictures by AP/Kent Gilbert.
On the Costa Rican political events front
El Mercader writes about the mayoral elections and its lack of diffusion in Costa Rica and how he suspects it will be reflected in very low turnout rates to the polls.
Victor Alba de la Vega links to a poll published by the university of Costa Rica on CAFTA's acceptance by the Costa Rican population.
Itzpapalotl comments on Costa Rica's social security health system, known popularly as “La Caja”:
La Caja anguishes me to tears, especially because it is that good and important. It's like having your mother become an amnesiac crack addict who bashes your car window in to ask for a buck.
La Caja me angustia hasta las lágrimas, especialmente por lo buena e importante que es. Es como si tu mamá se volviera una piedrera amnésica que te arrea por la ventana del carro para pedirte seis tejas.
El Mercader comments on the decision made in Sao Paulo, Brazil to allow a gay couple to adopt a child, and questions what Costa Rica will do to follow suit.
Eduardo Mora on two important trials that took place this past weeks in Costa Rica: one for the murder of a journalist and the second one on the Monteverde bank robbery, he analyzes the judicial processes from his expertise as a lawyer:
Here both trials connect: the system's detractors will say the judges in the first case put the rights of those impeached over the victim's. These are two of the principal vices of the actual penal system: The one impeached has every right and when he or she is condemned the veredict does not compensate the harm done. The system's defendors will say that these rights are those that keep innocent people from going to jail by mistake and that penal justice is not revenge…
In the meantime, the citizens are increasingly losing respect for the judicial system, which is supposed to be the anchor of any democracy. Here the true danger begins: when citizens begin taking justice in their own hands.
Aquí los dos juicios se juntan: Los detractores del sistema actual dirán además: Los jueces en el primer caso privilegiaron los derechos de los imputados sobre los de la víctima. Estos son los dos vicios principales del sistema penal actual: el imputado tiene todos los derechos y cuando es condenado la condena no resarce el daño hecho. Los defensores del sistema dirán que esas garantías son las que permiten que un inocente no vaya a la cárcel por error y que la justicia penal no es venganza…
En el ínterin, los ciudadanos le vamos perdiendo más y más el respeto al sistema judicial, que se supone es el ancla de cualquier democracia. Aquí comienza el verdadero riesgo. Aquí es cuando los ciudadanos comienzan a tomar la justicia penal en sus manos.
Andrés Borrasé in Por la Boca vive el Pez calls for Costa Ricans to read and educate themselves on the CAFTA agreement and make their opinions known before a decision is made to sign or not the treaty.
Pbro Ronald Vargas Araya also makes his opinion as a Cristian known in Por La Boca Vive el Pez regarding the CAFTA.
Damian critizices a pro CAFTA email he received where the author assumes that everyone lives a priviledged life where they buy in fast food chains and buy expensive brand name jeans.
In my case I don't work in any public institution, I'm not part of any union or political party. I'm not a student at the University of Costa Rica or any other  public university and if I say no to the CAFTA it isn't because someone told me to be against it, but because I made the decision to read, investigate and make my choice.
En mi caso yo no trabajo en ninguna institución pública, no soy parte de ningún sindicato, ni de un partido político. Tampoco soy estudiante de la UCR o de alguna universidad pública y si yo le digo NO al TLC no es porque alguien me dice que lo piense, sino porque yo decidí leer, investigar y escuchar y tomar una decisión.
Julia Ardon questions the media's failure to inform the general population about main issues that have to do with the CAFTA discusion and ratification.
A few days ago, a group of Costarican constitutional lawyers, all people of very respectable criteria, published in La Nacion an article where they point out with very serene and serious criteria that the procedures that the comision of International Affairs in the Congress has set in motion for the discusion and ratification of CAFTA was full of omissions, mistakes and missteps.
The press, in spite of these serious charges has failed to bring out this issue. It's ignoring it… it continues to emphasize on light news or accidents.
The reality is that there's a true fog around everything related to this treaty, this negotiation and the means the congress has been using… well.. it is a touchy and dense topic and few things have been said about it…
In this country, it seems that unless it's said by Telenoticias or La nacion it doesn't happen, it doesn't exist, it just ISN'T
Hace unos pocos días, un grupo de abogados constitucionalistas costarricenses, todas personas de criterio muy respetable publicaron en La Nación un artículo donde señala con criterios serenos y muy serios que el procedimiento que la Comisión de Asuntos Internacionales de la Asamblea Legislativa ha puesto en marcha para la discusión y ratificación del TLC ; está lleno de omisiones, torpezas y yerros.
La prensa a pesar de tamaña denuncia, no ha destacado el hecho para nada. Lo ignora…sigue dándole énfasis a noticias livianas o de sucesos.
La realidad es que hay una verdadera nebulosa en todo lo que tiene que ver con ese tratado, esa negociación, los métodos que en la Asamblea se han utilizado…bueno…es un tema complicado y denso…y poco se dice al respeto.
Y en este país, pareciera que lo que no dice Telenoticias o La Nación no pasa, no existe, no ES.

author: Juliana Rincón Parra


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Estonia: Estonica · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

A Step At A Time links to Estonica, “a web encyclopedia about Estonia, in English and Estonian.”


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Festival Internacional de la Cancion de Autor · Global Voices
Leon Kadoch

Panamanian songwriter Gonzalo Horna has a review about the first Festival Internacional de la Canción de Autor in which he participated as the opening artist. Read more about this event.

author: Leon Kadoch


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Guyana: Ovaltine · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

GuyanaGyal‘s nephew has his priorities straight.


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Hong Kong: blogger alliance against Star Ferry demolition · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Some bloggers in Hong Kong started an alliance against the demolition of Star Ferry and Queen's Pier. Anson Mak collects all the posts and newspapers reports together at beyond the stars (zh).


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Hungary: “The Peaceful Majority” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Pestcentric writes about Hungary's “peaceful majority”: “Although I think this whole “I’m the peaceful majority” postcard thing is a nice gesture, it’s empty. Firstly, because those against whom it is addressed obviously don’t care. Second, because the majority of the peaceful majority is an angry majority within the majority, (got that?). They’re mad they’ve been lied to, that they keep being lied to, and how this country now has a government that acts as if it has a mandate when the opposite is clearly the case.”


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“India Should Become a Model for Africa” · Global Voices
Alice Backer

At Le Blog de PKJ Agency, Frederic Kingue Johnson reports (Fr) the thoughts of Cameroonian Jacques Bonjawo, a former senior manager at Microsoft and CEO of Genesis Futuristic Technologies: “Bonjawo is convinced that there are lots of similarities between India and Africa and that it is imperative that the black continent not just be a consumer of software but also and mostly a producer.”


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Iran: The word “women” is no more filtered · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

According to FreeKeyboard the word “women” is not any more filtered in Iran [Fa].


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Iran:A blogger was elected  · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

A blogger from Hamedan is among the elected ones in City and Village Councils election.Mrs.Mehrnoush Najafi wrote a post on her election story with “kind hands of people” as its title [Fa].


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Jamaica: Remembering Neville Willoughby · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Both Jamaican View and Leon Robinson remember Neville Willoughby, veteran broadcaster and radio icon, who died from injuries sustained in a recent car crash.


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Japan: how to survive the year end party · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Alexpappas from Japundit gives the readers some tips on how to survive a Japanese style year end party – Bonenkai.


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Madagascar: The First Indian Ocean Musical Network · Global Voices
Alice Backer

El Sono Mondial announces that (Fr): “A seminar about financial management of cultural enterprises specializing in music (organized by the International Organization of La Francophonie) took place last week [in Madagascar] … The participants discussed creating the first Indian Ocean musical and cultural network.“


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Malaysia: Sex Education in Schools · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Cakap Tak Serupa Bikin asks couple of questions after reading about the proposed introduction of sex education in Malaysian schools. “Since the education minister is adamant that sex education will be incorporated into these subjects and will begin by January 2007, would the teachers have sufficient time to digest the knowledge and skills to impart them to the pupils who are school children?”


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Nepal: Going home · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

United We Blog! on the return of Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) in Nepal. “However, most of the IDPs were disappointed over the government’s indifference. Following the beginning of the peace process, a total of 500 IDPs from the Rajhena camps have returned home.”


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Philippines: Learning from Seoul City Planners · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Urbano dela Cruz writes about South Korean capital Seoul's bold restoration of a river and a park by demolishing a highway in the city centre. The blogger says that Manila city should learn from Seoul's example.


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Poland: No Banking Experience · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Traveling Life writes about the man with no relevant experience who has been appointed to run Poland's main banking group.


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Romania, Bulgaria: Joining the EU · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Neretva River writes about the EU's “unwelcome newest members”: “Romania and Bulgaria will join the EU on January 1st with less fanfare than any other previous EU enlargement.”


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Russia: Arkhangelsk Mayor For President · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Russia From The Inside tells of the “strange things” that began to happen to the mayor of Arkhangelsk after he decided to run for president of Russia in 2008.


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Taiwan: please speak Chinese · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Holly blogs about her frustration in learning Chinese in Taiwan, and she hopes that her Chinese friends can speak Chinese to her.


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Trinidad & Tobago: Minshall’s Vision · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“T&T Carnival has become a celebrity thing and mas’, in its purest sense, is not about celebrity. In fact, it’s the antithesis of it,” writes Francomenz, as she reports on Peter Minshall's vision for the festival.


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Turkmenbashi’s Death: Bloggers’ Reactions · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Turkmenistan's authoritarian and, to put it lightly, eccentric President Sapurmurad Niyazov died suddenly of a heart attack in the early hours of December 21st. Niyazov renamed himself Turkmenbashi, the Father of the Turkmen, penned a spiritual work called the Ruhnama, which became required reading and which he said guaranteed access to heaven if read aloud three times, renamed months after his family member, and enacted a long list of strange decrees and construction projects that often made Turkmenistan a source of unintentional and tragic comedy in the international press. (Many news agencies are getting in one last hurrah listing his odd edicts.) Deputy Prime Minister Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, who is rumored to be Niyazov's illegitimate son, has taken over as acting president after it was announced the constitutionally required successor has had criminal charges brought against him.
Bloggers who cover Central Asia were quick to comment.
Bertrand looks at Turkmenbashi's legacy and notes that while the future of the country is hard to predict, it stands to reason that many governments will try to influence Turkmenistan's course.
Given the country’s location – not to mention its energy resources – one can expect leaders in the West, Moscow and the Middle East will be watching carefully, and probably, trying to influence Turkmenistan’s future. There may also be implications for the other Central Asian states, with whom Niyazov’s relationships have ranged from indifferent to cool to sometimes prickly.
neweurasia's Turkmenistan blog, one of the few stops in the blogosphere for well-informed comment on Turkmenistan, points out that Turkmenbashi's date of death is surely false in a lengthy and informative post on Niazov's death and the roles that Turkmenbashi's legitimate and rumored-to-be illegitimate family may play in the chaos some think is coming. The same blog continues to cover events as they unfold. Peter covers two new big developments, one of which could leave Turkmenistan a much poorer country.
Turkmenistan expert and Vremya Novostei correspondent Arkady Dubnov gave a press conference at the RIA-Novosti press agency in which he revealed that according to information in his possession, close Saparmurat Niyazov confindante and treasurer Alexander Zhadan went missing the day before Niyazov’s death.
…
Dubnov claims that Zhadan has control over all Niyazov’s financial dealings. A combination of this and the possible billions salted away in Western bank accounts may mean that Turkmenistan is a considerably poorer country today.
He also covers attempts by the exiled Turkmen opposition to return to Turkmenistan to play a role in post-Turkmenbashi politics. Early attempts to return have already failed, and he notes that even if they were successful, they probably would not amount to anything.
Not only do the wider population not have any concrete understanding of who the alternatives to the Niyazov nomenklatura might be, but perhaps more worryingly, these individuals themselves have lost any real fundamental grasp of the issues that could serve to lead the country out of its current blind alley. The occasional article in the Western press is about as much as concession the opposition seem prepared to offer to matters of popular welfare.
The same post also discusses international competition for influence with the country's new leadership. Western attempts to persuade Turkmenistan to export natural gas through proposed pipelines bypassing Russia will certainly renew.
Once again, with the death of Niyazov and a new leaderhsip in place, the chimerical Trans-Caspian may start to be raised again, but more seriously. Such an arrangement is becoming ever more tempting to the West, which is seeking at all costs to alienate an growingly confident Russia. The pipeline would be the magic bullet that the West has been seeking in both its commercial interests and its geopolitical considerations. The prospect of affordable gas purchased at the expense of the Russians and the Chinese seems too tempting a prospect not to consider.
Sean Roberts also discusses international politics, suggesting how the US should respond, though he is not optimistic that the opportunity will be taken advantage of.
But, if it is in the interest of the U.S. (which I think it should be) that next steps include a “De-Turkmenbashification” of society and a gradual introduction of democratic reforms, more needs to be done. The U.S. needs to take a strong stance now on the developing situation before a new Turkmenbashi takes shape. Not doing so will likely only strengthen the influence of Russia in the succession process. With the gas at stake in Turkmenistan, Russia is without a doubt ready to influence the course of the succession struggle.
Other bloggers have expressed a bit of sadness at Turkmenbashi's passing. Foreign Dispatches says that Niyazov's death “is a great loss for unintentional comedy.” Carpetblogger says that Turkmenbashi will be missed (though not so much by his own people) and that she is glad to have seen Turkmenistan under Turkmenbashi, before the absurdity ebbs. Idiot’ strikes a similar note on Niyazov's death, saying “dictators are funny” (RU).
As for Turkmenbashi himself, in his secret diary, he says his death is a bad end for his year and that he regrets he will never get to see the penguins at Ashgabat Arctic World. He is happy though that his funeral will be bigger than Pinochet's.


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Venezuela: SMS Election Info · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Justin Oberman describes how were able to find out information about their polling stations via SMS with their cell phones.


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Africa: blood diamond · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Black Looks reviews the film, Blood Diamond, and comments on Russel Simmons initiative, Diamond Empowerment Fund.


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Bangladesh: Cricket in the country · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

the 3rd world view reviews cricket in Bangladesh over the last year. “Year 2006 was a very successful year for Bangladesh Cricket as they won 18 one-day internationals, eight in a row, out of 28 games.”


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Burundi: permanent solution to violence · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

“But to the Burundians I know, the idea that “peace and reconciliation” could be achieved while killers remain in power is a cruel joke. The difficult, messy truth is that democracy alone is not enough. Only by ensuring that Burundi's war criminals are prosecuted under international law, can we hope to see a permanent end to the violence,” writes Desire-Joseph, whose sister was killed in Burundi six years ago.


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Chilean Christmas Consumer Behavior · Global Voices
Rosario Lizana

Christmas is coming. This post takes a look at Chileans’ consumer behaviour during holidays. Writing about what Chileans are buying for presents, Luis Alarcon (ES) describes top-selling present:
El éxito de esta navidad, poleras (polos, tshirt) con las pólemicas imágenes de Allende y el reciente fallecido Pinochet. Los encargados aseguran que su stock esta agotado y que la mayoría son vendidas al extranjero.
He also jokes about the controversy of these two politicians and continues “t-shirts and insults are sold separately”.
What do Chileans eat on Christmas? While the British have their pudding, Germans eat their stollen and Italians have pannettone, we have traditional “Pan de Pascua” (ES). It's a traditional cake with nuts and fruits.
Capacitacionencostos (ES), a Bolivian blog, wrote about the expected sales of Pan de Pascua in the two main supermarkets in Chile:
Según Lider, anualmente venden cerca de 2 millones de unidades en los más de 100 supermercados que manejan en Chile, mientras que Alfredo Ruiz, administrador de perecibles de Jumbo La Dehesa, asegura que la cadena de Horst Paulmann espera vender más de 250 toneladas en esta temporada.
Chilean families typically celebrate with the traditional Christmas tree. In popular areas it could be found that the municipality will take care of it, like in Iquique where all of the community of Pozo Almonte was invited to light the tree. As extraiquique (ES) explains:
11 metros de altura, 300 mil luces forman parte del árbol de navidad que desde hace 11 años la Ilustre Municipalidad de Pozo Almonte enciende en Diciembre. El árbol se “ prendió” por primera vez el año 1995 y desde esa fecha Elías Muñoz es quien año a año instala las luces demorándose 30 días en el montaje.

author: Rosario Lizana


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China: Nary Xmas? · Global Voices
John Kennedy

A group of PhD students at several of China's biggest and best universities came together last week to release a letter calling for Chinese to boycott Christmas—a holiday they see as representing waning interest in traditional Chinese culture—and all the rest of non-native cultural trends. Presumably not a very popular stance in China, most bloggers took issue with their reasoning, and had sightly different ideas about where exactly the blame should lay.
Highly-read Tianya Blogger Ten Years of Chopping Timber reposted a post on the subject from internet writer Ya Kefu:
十博士在《呼吁书》中一开头就说：”西洋文化在中国已由'微风细雨'变成'狂风骤雨'，最为直接和集中的体现，莫过于'耶诞节'在中国的悄然兴起与日趋流行。在此，我们，十位来自中国不同高校和科研院所的博士研究生，郑重呼吁国人慎对'耶诞节'，走出文化集体无意识，挺立中国文化主体性。” 读了这段博士高论，在下却十分不以为然。首先我觉得西洋文化在中国演变成”狂风暴雨”并非是现在才发生的事，也并非仅仅体现为”过圣诞节”。实际上，我们现代中国人的生活中几乎方方面面都受”西洋文化”的影响，随手举几个例子：我们日常穿的衣服、鞋子是西洋式的；我们乘坐的交通工具是西洋式的，我们家庭用的电器也是西洋式的；我们所受的教育是西洋式的，我们用来工作的电脑也是西洋式的；即使是生了病，我们多半也是看西医——莫非”十博士”们认为，我们必须穿身穿长袍马褂，足登布底皂靴屁股下坐着八抬大轿，点着大红灯笼，读四书五经写八股文章，拔拉算盘珠子当上网，张口”之乎者也”、闭口”呜呼哀哉”，病了只服仁丹或者是请来巫婆神汉跳大神，才算是”走出文化集体无意识，挺立中国文化主体性”？是不是我们应该学习阿富汗的塔利班，一股脑儿将西方的”腐朽文化”统统禁掉，发扬我们的传统，让女人重新裹起小脚，男人重新留起辫子，以显示我们重新拾回传统的决心？
[snip]
“西化”有多么可怕？….如果说我们亚洲人不能”西化”，那么日本、韩国、台湾、香港这些”西化”得比较彻底的国家和地区为什么也活得好好的呢
Put that way, one can imagine that anti-Xmas views in China don't represent the majority of Chinese, urban and educated at least, who seem more interested in getting closer in tune with the rest of the world, starting with their neighbors in Asia. Old school blogger He Caitou posted a Chinese-language news story on the students’ letter, to which commenter K said:
看看日本韩国对西方文化的崇拜永远超过我们, 可是它们对传统文化的保留好像比我们好一百倍. 台湾香港比我们西化, 对中华文化的保持却比我们好. 我们知道什么? 你不去农村, 你甚至不知道中国的婚礼应该讲究什么. 他们以为抵制了西洋文化, 就能保住自己的文化吗? 放P
Communism might have seemed like a good idea at the time, but seems to have been abandoned lately. Could these PhD students be closet Confucianists, hoping for some pull? Maybe Chinese (bloggers) are enjoying the lack of heavy ideology of the last few years. From Sohu blogger Huang Si:
黄丝要说的，就是双方都不要激动，也不必担心。因为文化传统这个东西，不是靠谁一个呼吁甚至命令就可决定它的生死存亡的。
前几年不是各个地方都在发布命令禁止春节燃放烟花爆竹麽？结果怎麽样了？不但当时实际上没有禁得了，现在居然在强大的习惯和风俗传统的压力下，纷纷由那些当初发布禁令者自行解禁了。
[snip]
你看人家小布什，每年春节，还要专门发布文告，向美国华人祝贺春节，比如2004年，媒体报道说：
『美国总统布什日前在美国《侨报》14周年报庆时发去贺函，向广大华人表示良好的节日祝愿。
布什在贺函中说，对于华裔人士来说，猴年春节是合家团圆，亲友欢聚，并缅怀先人的特殊时刻，同时也是喜迎新春到来和来年繁荣的日子。
布什说，他和夫人劳拉一同向广大华人致以最美好的祝愿，祝新年快乐，健康如意。』
呵呵，这小布什怎麽不怕那些已经归顺了美利坚的华人把中国的传统的”春节文化”带到美国，冲击了他们自己的”圣诞文化”呢？你听听，他还要致以”美好的祝愿，祝新年快乐，健康如意”！说的诚恳得不得了，是不是？人家知道，文化这东西，来硬的不行，不管你愿意不愿意，有时你还得迁就迁就，小布什就知道这个理，所以他尽管笃信上帝，也不会忘记在咱们农历春节里向美国华裔公民祝贺一下。
[snip]
更重要的是，文化要发展，民族也要前进，我们就必须像鲁迅先生说的那样，对自己的风俗习惯也要”加以研究，解破，分别好坏，立存废的标准”。就是说对于不好的，不适合时代要求的落后的东西，也有个取舍的问题，而对于别的民族、国家那些好的东西也可以拿过来加以改造、借鉴，以便形成我们自己的更加先进的文化。
一个大国，而且号称正在崛起的大国，不但在经济上、政治上要站在时代的制高点思考问题，在文化上也同样要站在时代的高峰，以海纳百川的胸怀与气魄，面对其它民族的文化传统，只有这样，我们才能取得发展自己的主动权。
With no symbols or mention of Jesus or Mary attached to Chinese-style Xmas, not much connection to churches at all really, maybe it's better just to let the holiday be what it's already become, a chance to spend money, have fun, enjoy recently-expanded social spaces. From Sina blogger Tianmu Mountain Man, from the Sina Blog front page:
对于中国人，圣诞节不是洪水猛兽，相反，多了一个相互表达感情的机会、或理由，就像”情人节”可以过，”七夕”也照过不误，过两次，多好！对于”中国传统文化”一说，我们照样过我们的农历新年，对大部分人而言，圣诞节没什么概念，对小部分人（尤其是年轻女性）而言，圣诞节就是”过购物瘾”的节日，没人会因此对春节”不屑一顾”了，损害了什么？在商家看来，”圣诞概念”就是商业机会，披红挂绿地，多卖出去好多东西，赚”莫老老”（杭州话，很多）的钱！对孩子而言，多一个向大人要礼物的机会。如此看来，”圣诞节”没什么不妥啊！

author: John Kennedy


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D.R of Congo: gorrilas at risk · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Congo Rangers blog reports about the danger facing gorrilas in the Democratic Republic of Congo, “Unfortunately the risk to the gorillas isn’t just from stray bullets, but also from rockets and grenades… the Congolese army clearly mean business, but unfortunately they are up against a well trained and well equipped rebel group and it’s not going to be easy.  Only time will tell if the gorillas make it through unscathed.”


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GV Summit Delhi ‘06 Session Two: Outreach · Global Voices
Jennifer Brea

At the Saturday meeting of last weekend's second annual summit, Global Voices’ South Asia editor, Neha Viswanathan, facilitated a discussion about outreach: who is blogging, why some communities aren't blogging and how to make sure that blogospheres represent all voices.
(Photo by Jace)
The session focused on how to mitigate barriers to access, presented examples of current outreach efforts, and brainstormed possible new outreach projects.
Several participants wondered how the poor could be convinced blogging could be of value to them.  Working in rural India, Dina Mehta found the first question is often “What's in it for me?”  Blogging may be a hard sell or perceived as nonessential in communities where many “are struggling with clothing their children, having bathrooms, or money for soap.”
One woman wondered whether blogging might not be an inherently elitist activity since most of those who do blog have the luxury not only of access to the internet, but of time.  She commented that for those people are struggling day-to-day to survive, those who are better off might need to be the ones to represent their voices.
Others thought that if blogging could influence mainstream media coverage of poor or underrepresented communities, it would be a powerful way of of convincing them that blogging can bring concrete benefits.
The cost of owning a laptop – as much as 30,000 rupies in India – was cited as a major obstacle to blogging. Even internet cafes, though prevalent in large cities, can be prohibitively expensive.
Ethan Zuckerman mentioned the One Laptop Per Child project as an example of a project to reduce the financial barrier to entry and to bring computers and the internet to an entire generation of children.  “What will happen when a million children have access to this device?”
SMS and mobile phones, which one participant referred to as the personal computer of the developing world, was offered as a powerful, practical and cost-effective means of amplifying citizen voices.
Basic literacy is another major obstacle, but many participants were enthusiastic about the potential for photos, audio and voice as a means of expression for those who cannot read or write.
Ben Paarman, founder and editor of Neweurasia and a Global Voices Central Asia contributor, discussed Neweurasia's outreach efforts.  The group plans to make 25 outreach trips in 2007 to the region to train bridge bloggers in Kazakhstan, Kygystan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikstan using a “train the trainers” model.
Southeast Asia Editor Preetam Rai presented examples from Timor, Vietnam and Cambodia.
Audience participants also offered their own experiences with outreach.
Shivam Vij, and an Indian blogger & journalist, offered by way of example Cybermohalla, a project which gives young people living in the slums of Delhi the tools to used and produce media for self-expression.
One outcome of the project has been Nangla's Delhi, a blog where Cybermohalla participants who live in Nangla Maachi write about their lives their and the fight against evictions and government-ordered demolitions.  The power of media “is not to provide people with solutions, it is to provide them with a platform where they can express themselves and provide their own solution.”
One participant pointed out that media is already “training a society of people to SMS in their thoughts,” for example, in response television show or radio program polls.  One project might involve establishing a system for receiving and aggregating SMS messages or photographs captured by mobile phones for publishing online. Another participant suggested creating a system where villagers could use their mobile phones to podcast or submit their voice for transcription.
GV human rights video editor Sameer Padania discussed the power of voice, of actually going out into communities and taking oral histories.  Ishta, a Uganda American student studying in Delhi, suggested interviewing people, getting those who are already blogging to record or write “real human conversations.”  Many people want to communicate what they care about, but don't necessarily have the time, means, or inclination to actually sit down and write themselves.
Deborah Ann Dilley suggested using Global Voices as an educational tool for teachers to help them teach students about activism and other places around the world, and suggested developing lesson plans.
Jose Murilo, GV's Portuguese Language Editor, works for Brazil's Ministry of Culture.  Jose suggested creating projects to help kids digitize the art they are already creating – theater, dance, music – so that they have the means of reaching wider audiences.
Many also emphasized the importance of localizing tools and technology, for example, translating blogging platforms into local languages.
Maria Seidel pointed out that even with the best outreach projects, empowered citizens would not necessarily use blogging for socially useful or activist goals.  Others commented that most blogs are used to discuss “trivial” topics like movies and celebrity gossip, and that most blogospheres are dominated by technology and entertainment blogs.
However, Rosario Lizana and others argued outreach efforts need not worry about “the immediate qualitative gain.”  Blogging should be fun.  The key is to increase general technological literacy, to increase the number of people who can blog, so that “when the real needs arises, you already have these networks.”

author: Jennifer Brea


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India: Compulsory HIV Testing · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

The Life and Times on compulsory pre-marital HIV testing. “Andra Pradesh just called for compulsory HIV testing before marriage and everyone seems to agree that this is a violation of individual rights.”


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Iran:Syndicate leader is out of jail · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

According to AghBahman [Fa], Mansour Osanlou,head of the executive committee of the Syndicate of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company, is out of prison now.


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Malawi: does Google know Soyapi Mumba? · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Does Google know Soyapi Mumba, the Malawian blogger?, “I found it interesting to see that only Google suggests my name. Google will suggest the correct spelling of my name when you search for my name with a slight mistake in the spelling. Yahoo Search and Live Search don't.”


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Pakistan: Musharraf and Kashmir · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

President Musharraf's statements on Kashmir with respect to Pakistan and India have quite a few reactions. Light Within on some fundamental issues. “The first one is that how can a single man – military dictator – claim to speak for the nation of Pakistan? Number two, what becomes of our age old stance that Kashmir should be resolved on the basis of the various UNSC resolutions.”


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Somali-Ethiopia conflict looms over Ethiopian blogosphere · Global Voices
Andrew Heavens

War and rumours of war dominated the Ethiopian blogosphere this week as reports came in of bloody clashes between Ethiopian and Islamist troops in northern Somalia.
Accounts of the conflict from the mainstream media have so far been fragmentary and often contradictory.
GlobalVoices’ own Ethan Zuckerman summed up the confusion in a post on his blog …My Heart's in Accra:
The situation in Somalia is, as it always is, extremely confusing. Headlines yesterday alternated between reports of fierce battles and reports that both sides were returning to the negotiating table.
Ethiopia's government was today still insisting that their troops were not involved in the fighting – the official position is that they don't even have any soldiers in Somalia. This approach was faithfully echoed in the country's official state news outlets.
But the claims were contradicted by the BBC which yesterday claimed one of its correspondents had been stopped close to the besieged town of Baidoa by “a huge convoy of Ethiopian military armour”. Meanwhile, journalist Mike Pflanz gave glimpses of life in Somalia in his blog-style Diary from Somalia in the UK's Daily Telegraph newspaper.
Ethiopia's highly politicised bloggers got round all this editorial uncertainty by staying away from the hard facts. Instead they concentrated on pouring scorn on the Ethiopian government and what they saw as its misguided military strategies.
The whole world knows that it's [Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi's] unprovoked military maneuver in and around Somalia that prompted the Jihadists to declare war on Ethiopia. Just like the French and the Brits opposed the war on Iraq, we Ethiopians should oppose the unprovoked war on a country that doesn't even have a working government system,
wrote Ephrem Madebo of the blog Enset in Four big mouths, four big lies.
How about a militant leader interfering in the internal affairs of a neighboring country (that has finally, according to international reports, ‘admittedly’ experienced a level of stability and security under the [Union of Islamic Courts] unprecedented for over a decade) to appease Western powers that seem “less than pleased’ over recent reports of internal human rights abuses?
wrote Mengedegna in his post on The Other Side.
Don't eat my Buchela! took a bitterly ironic tone in her post By God, Let the Games Begin!:
According to rumors from Ethiopia, the war with Somalia has “sort of” started. Soldiers are also being sent up north to the border with Eritrea. This is good, good news for all of us for many, many reasons including the five below:
1. I am a mom now. Yaaaaaay for all those mothers whose sons are going to surely die. And die they will in thousands. There will be sooo many new heroes! Such a lucky nation Ethiopia is, blessed with so many chances to make new heroes.
2. The little bit of “economic growth” Ethiopia seems to have accidentally achieved will now be stripped bare. We have to spend millions to get Ethiopian mothers’ sons ammunition to create heroes for Somali mothers. They are going to be so happy happy! …
Zenobia of Ewenet Means Truth in Ethiopia warned against making simplistic analyses of the conflict in The Minefield of Somali Clan Politics:
It is very easy to view the unfolding events in Somalia as one between the Eritrean supported “Islamists” of the Union Islamic Courts versus the Ethiopian supported “secularists” of the Transitional National Government of Somalia.
This article in Somaliland Times from the point of view of a Somalilander Ahmed Ali Ibrahim clarifies what the conflict in Somalia really is about -a battle between various embittered clan factions for supremacy and power.
Miles away from the fighting, Alex Russell of Addis Calling talked about how the new conflict was affecting ethnic Somalis living in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa. in Addis Ababa Somalis Lay Low he wrote:
Last Friday a police officer came to our house. He was conducting a last minute census of the neighborhood, an area filled with Somali families who escaped pre-Islamic Court Mogadishu and are waiting to get their refugee visas to Western countries. Most have been here for years and want nothing else than to get as far away from Somalia (and Ethiopia) as possible. “I'll be in Norway in a month,” one young man hopefully told me. The owner of the Somali café fifty meters up the road just let it be known he'll be in the US in a month (after eight years here). If true, hello Khat withdrawal.
But these Somalis were the hustle and bustle of my dusty street, but since the Police officer came through they've retreated behind their gates. At night I keep on listening out for some sort of round-up, not really sure what I'm listening for. The fear, captured by the silence in the streets and the sudden lack of Somalis in the satellite-TV cafes, is palpable.

author: Andrew Heavens


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Tanzania: hot tamarind sauce · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Mirecipe writes about hot tamarind sauce, “What is for snack today? Baked green bananas and hot tamarind sauce. Woo! You should try this.”

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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This Week’s Saudi Blog Roundup · Global Voices
Global Voices MENA

The Human Rights Watch visit to Saudi Arabia is still making headlines, 80 rats were found on a Saudi Airlines plane, a Bible was denied entry into Saudi, the Quran is now recognized as the second-most wanted Christmas gift in Denmark, and Sheikh Dot is back. Now, for the roundup…
According to Rasheed's post, “Human Rights Watch issued a press statement yesterday [December 19th] about how their delegation that was here in the Kingdom last week were denied access to many detention facilities that they had wanted to visit here [in Saudi Arabia].” Crossroads Arabia, however, sheds some light on other claims regarding the visit; according to an article on the Saudi Gazette, HRW “was able to visit prisons.” Aya thinks that they were -genuinely- denied access to prisons and detention facilities. “I don't think that HRW actually expected to be granted full access to the country, for God's sake, even its ‘contact us’ page is blocked in the kingdom,” she says.
Ahmed said he couldn't believe his eyes when he read in the newspaper that “80 RATS were found on a Saudi airline plane going from Riyadh to Tabuk! Apparently they were in one of the passengers BAGS!!!” He exclaims: “I mean HOW ON EARTH did that bag pass in the first place?!” In another topic, according to Crossroads Arabia and the article they posted, illegal immigration is currently growing to be a major issue in Saudi Arabia.
Rasheed posted about how the British press reported “about a British Midlands International (BMI) flight attendant who is taking the airline to an employment tribunal after the airline allegedly banned her from carrying a Bible into Saudi Arabia.” Still relating to holy books, Amer has posted about a very interesting new trend in Denmark, “Kristeligt Dagblad reported that the holy Quran is currently the 2nd most wanted Christmas present this year.”
Now, to wrap up…
Both Khloud and Mohammed (Arabic) were intrigued by Time Magazine's choice for Person of the Year; “You.” Sheikh Dot is back with a Christmas special. JeddahFood.com has emerged as “a major point of call for all those wishing to find out about the latest restaurants and hot spots in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.” Margrave has posted about the city of Riyadh's new Tom and Jerry fixation. And, lastly, Abu Anas shares some statistics (in Arabic) that might suggest the near demise of the blogging fad; he thinks the number of blog authors and contributors in the world will settle on 30 million, and will only see minuscule fluctuations.

author: Global Voices MENA


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Zimbabwe: using SMS to fight dictatorship · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Following the move by the government of Zimbabwe to confiscate radios, SW Radio Africa has started to distribute news headlines via SMS technology.


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A New Shuffle to the Mix- A More Personal Account of the 2006 Global Voices Summit · Global Voices
Deborah Ann Dilley

Hello Dear Readers,
I have been charged with giving an account of the 2006 Global Voices Summit in New Delhi that took place last week.  If you would like to read the transcripts, please see the conference blog, and of course, there have been various summaries posted on this site already.  Rather than repeating the work of my esteemed colleagues, I thought that today I would try to give you the view of a Global Voices author.
Working with Global Voices
The life of a Global Voices author is probably not what you might expect.  Yes, we are connected through the internet with the blog and email, but we aren't really connected connected.  The majority of us operate in complete seclusion from the rest of the group.  It is a lone blogger, a computer, and hopefully a reliable internet connection, writing about the world.  Somehow Global Voices has formed this network of rouge bloggers and created something beautiful and special.  I had one goal when I came to this conference…I wanted to know about the experiences of the other bloggers: what was their process, how involved were they with the community they cover, what sort of responses were they getting?  And thankfully my questions were answered.
(Photo montage by Ange)
A surprising thing to learn is the success of the Global Voices site.  Last month alone we had 1.1 million unique visitors.  You, dear reader, are a part of this…a part of a global community.  Global Voices is not about the Authors or the Editors, or in some respects, even the Bloggers that we cover.  Global Voices is about the readers, the ones who broaden their minds and try to take in the world.  It is from you that we need to hear from.  We want to know what you think about our work, what direction you would like to see Global Voices go, we want to know what it is about this site that matters to you.
The primary focus of the summit was to find more ways to reach our readers.  We discussed outreach opportunities, ways of translation to broaden the linguistic scope of the site, and we even discussed ways that, as authors, we can improve ourselves to give you the best posts possible.
Electric Discussions
There is an electricity that surrounds a great discussion…and that was present throughout the whole summit.  There are many forms of outreach that were discussed.  Some wanted to work on projects to help bring the internet and blogging to more marginalized communities, others (ok, this might have been just me) wanted to see more outreach in the form of giving school teachers tools in which to incorporate Global Voices into the classroom.
Another aspect of what I see as outreach was translation.  This year Global Voices has increased the number of posts that are being translated into English, but we want to reverse that process too…we want to translate our content into as many different languages as possible to bring in even more people into the discussion.  Here is where I want to diverge and tell a little story…
In the midst of a heated discussion about the man hours it would take to translate GV content, GV editor Preetem Rai was handed the microphone and suggested that we offer audio translations of posts.  The moment was terrific.  It was as if the clouds had suddenly parted and angels had begun to sing…everyone in that room was breathless.  A comment offering a simple solution held the entire room in sway.  And why not?  More people can listen than can read.  Why not take Global Voices to the next level?  We focus on the written word and we have begun to bring in video and audio…why not more?
In addition to our focus on the written word, we looked at ways to improve our own writing skills.  We looked at what made a good post.  We looked at the process that each of us goes through to write our posts.  More importantly, we developed a bond between us all that carries through what we do on this site.
What the Summit Really Means
If you look through the photos on Flickr that refer to summit, you will see 400+ photos of people eating and talking, and while they might not be that interesting to view, they represent the people that you read every day on this site.  When I read an article from David or Amira or John, I don't just read the words…I now read them hearing their voice. The background of each author on this site is as various and diverse as all of the languages and regions of the world that we represent.  This last week I discovered a family that I never knew before…and you, dear reader…welcome to our family.

author: Deborah Ann Dilley


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Cambodia: Video Footage from 1960s Cambodia · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Phenomenon highlights couple of youtube videos of 1960s Cambodia. “if you’ve never been to Cambodia, it’ll look like a cheesy 60s Disney documentary but if you’ve been to these places, you’ll probably want to cry.”


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Haiti, Dominican Republic: Slaves in Paradise · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Says Collectif Haiti de Provence (Fr):”For International Anti-Slavery Day, May 10, 2007, Pour Que L'esprit Vive Association is organizing a series of activities to denounce living conditions in [Dominican] bateys: photo exhibits, roundtables with Haitian and Dominican intervenors, films. The event will be titled ‘Slaves in Paradise’.”


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Iran: Interview with Omid Memarian, Blogger and Human Rights Activist · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Omid Memarian is a journalist and blogger,  well known in Iran for his news analysis, regular columns and blogs in English and Persian.
In October 2004 Omid was arrested, along with two dozen other bloggers and journalists, and detained for two months. And in 2005 “Human Rights Watch” honored Omid Memarian’s courage with the esteemedHuman Rights Defender Award.
Omid is a freelance writer for the IPS news agency (Inter Press Service), Roozonline Daily, and BBC Persian. He is frequently invited to participate as a guest on panels dealing with Iran and he has had op-ed pieces published in the New York Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, and the Contra Costa Times.Omid was a visiting scholar at UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism in 2005.
I talked with Omid about different subjects including filtering and the difference between Iranian blogs inside country and abroad.
HT: Please tell us about yourself and your blogs – why do you have several blogs?
OM: I have a Farsi and an English blog. I started blogging in Farsi in 2002 and began the other one in 2003. In my opinion each one has its own function. In my English blog I consider that the readers would perceive my blog as a source. So I care more about check and balance and language. But on the Farsi one sometimes it is very informal and also contains casual topics.
In my English blog I have to explain more about the things that for Farsi speakers are very obvious. For instance when I talk about the “Friday prayer” ceremony, I have to add what the Friday prayer is and how it works and why Muslims do it. However I think sometime there are topics that I can not really talk about. The Farsi language blog is full of social and political considerations, unlike the English. Perhaps that’s a matter of cultural taboos that is combined with the language.
Since, I moved to the United States for study I have found many topics which are hard to cover. For example, last semester when I was studying at UC Berkeley library I heard that, as has been a sort of tradition for many years, naked students will show up after midnight and run through the library. I was there at that time. I took many pictures and also shot a few short videos. Then I made a short clip of that. But just a few hours before posting this piece, I asked some of my friends to tell me how appropriate it was. In my opinion, it was an amazing event, which doesn’t happen very often and literally is a Berkeley tradition. They said “if you put it on you blog, your readers in Iran and also your friends would say that Omid has gone to the US to make sexy videos” which was, of course, completely not the case. But I heeded their advice and I didn’t put it on my blog.
Personal life is another taboo. We are trained under the Islamic Republic to breathe with two different kind of oxygen in private and public life. In general, when I write in English, I feel that I have more freedom.
HT: You as a journalist are involved with different journals such as IPS news agency (Inter Press Service), BBC Persian, Roozonline daily or WashingtonPrism. What is your blog's added value compared to your articles in journals?
OM: In my articles in Farsi or English I should meet the journalistic standard. I have to consider check and balance and coherency of the language I use. I use quotations, accurate background information and whenever I write an Op-Ed piece, I ask some other people’s opinion about it, just to make is more precise and to the point. Also, there are some topics that are appropriate to cover in a long type of writings. Barely have I written something on blog with more than 500 words. Readers also can connect to the writer they know closely through reading my entries in my blog. They find more information about my daily life, my interests and also my pains and happiness. At the time, they know that as a journalist I never ignore the standards or at least I try to keep them in my mind. I write about my profession and my achievements and most of my involvements which for many of readers is interesting.
HT: In your opinion is the content of political blogs written in Iran different from political blogs written by Iranians outside the country?
OM: In Iran we can see how blogging has become a way around limitations, restrictions and lack of freedom of speech. In the United States, for example, we are not facing this issue. In Iran, political bloggers are at risk of prosecution, torture and jail. But in the United States, bloggers don’t feel that by writing about the politics they can change their lives in a terrible way. Blogging in Iran is not recognized as a serious medium by organizations and newspapers. But in this country there are many bloggers who professionally do blogging as a project. They are paid and they are committed to meet a set of standards. And some famous bloggers are also journalists.
In Iran the restrictions in the political atmosphere mean bloggers, like journalists, suffer from self censorship and also many consideration and fear of being prosecuted. Although many of them bravely talk under these circumstances their writing style is sometimes like poetry. Readers should know how to interpret it. When I first started studying journalism at UC Berkeley journalism school it was very hard for me to change my style to be clear, direct, summarized and to the point. Now it has gotten better because of all the classes I took and mostly because I am really passionately keen to write in English and journalism school was the best field to develop my skills in writing.
Compared with the American blogs, many of the Iranian political blogs deal with domestic issues but not global events. The main concerns of the blogs are topics about the internal politics. However it reflects another characteristic of many political journalists who use the local factors in the analysis and comments.
HT: How you see filtering effecting blogs and sites in Iran?
OM: Filtering definitely affects the matter of access to material produced on the web, but it is not clear exactly how effective it is. People who really follow the news and internet fans ultimately find a way to go beyond the filters by proxy servers and the other software. Also they use email as a tool to disseminate information among the blogger community and internet fans in general. In the short term it limits access and makes it a nuisance to get information. But in a long term perspective whatever has been published on internet is easily accessed by different tool and it makes it hard to stop the flow of information – what remains at the end is just wasting time and money by the Islamic Government. In my opinion the Iranian authorities have no idea about the side affects of the Information Society which bring new settlements, arrangement and orders in the world. That’s why governments have to be honest with distribution of information and let their people to speak, not to put filters on their speaking channels. It makes people skeptical about the function of the government and increases the gap between the people and the state, which is already so big in case of Iran. It just wastes money and in term of human costs, put many of the people into danger with no reason. History is the best teacher for governments. There is no government which can resist against the flow of information. Filtering is a very naive and serves no constructive function.
The government has also tried to create a network of its fans in the blog sphere which is really artificial and in fact has not had a big impact among the Farsi readers. However Islamic government officials want to acknowledge the blogging phenomenon, but at the same time they just want to give credit to their fans. The government’s interference in blogging geography has brought more harm than help to bloggers. As many of them have no idea about the whole thing, they always choose the worst way to do it.
HT: Any advice for Blog Bridge projects such as Global Voices?
OM: It is an amazing effort, something very extraordinary. Using people like you to run different parts of this website, who are not biased about these societies, is very vital for the rest of the road. Covering the different range of interests and voices in any society despite our personal views and the accuracy of thoughts needs a certain amount of tolerance and understating. I regularly visit your website and I get a coherent, diverse and at the same time strong information which comes through in a concise way. It is also valuable in terms of the literature which has been produced since the beginning of this project. Now, the wealth of all human beings has been increased by all the issues which have been shared with all the readers who care about others all over the world.


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Aruba: A reminder from Suriname · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

A passage in a book about Suriname received as a Christmas present resonates strongly with ArubaGirl: “While things in Aruba aren't nearly as bad as they were during that time in Suriname, I could particularly identify myself with that passage. It seems like here in Aruba, the government just take actions, willy nilly the protests of the people. Yes, I know they were voted in power, but surely that doesn't mean that all of us just have to sit back and be quiet, does it?”

author: Georgia Popplewell


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Bahamas: “Improving” Junkanoo · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Nicolette Bethel advises her fellow Bahamians to heed the words of Trinidadian Carnival designer Peter Minshall when considering the “improvement” of Junkanoo, their own national festival.


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Barbados: Condoning human rights abuses · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Barbados Free Press is horrified that Barbados abstained from a UN vote citing Iran for human rights abuses, then went on to vote to protect Iran against sanctions.


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Barbados: Hollywood in the Caribbean · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Barbados blogger AirBourne offers a capsule history of Hollywood's interventions in the Caribbean, with a special emphasis on the music featured in the films.


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Belize: What do Christmas vacationers want? · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Lee Vanderwalker in Caye Caulker, Belize, wonders: “Why do you think people vacation at Christmas time. Do you think they expect a traditional American Christmas? Do you think that if we play Marvin Gaye they will forget about Christmas?“


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Bermuda: Poison comment debate · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

A tongue-in-cheek post by the Limey, riffing off of a incident where a chef at a Bermuda resort was thrown off the island after making a joke about putting arsenic in a meal to be served to the island's Premier, occasions a string of comments debating issues of propriety and taste.


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Bloggers on the new US Congress and the US policy on Cuba · Global Voices
Carlos Gradaille

Not much has been said in the blogosphere about how the results of the recent mid-term elections in the United States, which put the Democrats in control of Congress back in November, can affect the future of current US policy regarding Cuba. The truth is that several Democratic representatives (and some Republicans too) have been supportive of lifting the embargo and/or ending the ban on travel to Cuba, ever since the island entered a period of crisis about fifteen years ago. As Sir Ronald Sanders, former Caribbean ambassador to the World Trade Organization, observes in a piece republished on the blog of US journalist David Kinchen:
. . . US policy in Cuba is still too closely tied to the fortunes of both the Republican and Democratic parties in domestic elections for any radical change to take place soon. The votes of the anti-Castro, Cuban-American community and lobby remain influential.
Nonetheless, there can be no doubt in the minds of policy makers in the US that the global community – and the Caribbean countries especially – want to see the normalization of relations between the US and Cuba.
A Cuban blog called Por la izquierda [ES] wrote a post on November 24 which talked explicitly about the election results in and the changes — if any — one should expect in US policy toward Cuba. The blogger, who writes under the name Left-handed, opens by saying:
I've read a few articles about the perspectives of change of the US policies towards Cuba, now that the democrats are in control of the US congress. It sounds good, and I hope every day for the US government to stop letting certain influences from South Florida to dictate their foreign policies in this respect.
And even more fresh and maybe more insightful are a couple of articles from December 21, published on the blog Cuaderno de Cuba [ES] by the Miami-based Cuban-American journalist Armando Armengol. He quotes the leader of the Cuban parliament, who said recently that the US policy toward the island is a problem of priorities:
…the president of the Cuban parliament, Ricardo Alarcón, mentioned an important issue while expressing his negative vision about a change in the US policy towards Cuba: the situation in Iraq. As long as the conditions in the Arab country worsens, and Raúl Castro continues the process of succession without obstacles, Washington will limit itself to maintaining without change its Cuban strategy.
Armengol also offers a good analysis there about what the options are, both for Democrats and Republicans, and how this new situation may not be so advantageous for the former.
From the electoral standpoint, the democrats may be about to enter a minefield: instead of being able to show the incapacity of the current administration to put in practice an effective policy that contributes to bringing about a change towards democracy in Cuba, they may end up being the ones responsible for failure. They have against them a situation that seems advantageous at first sight: to continue being the party in the opposition, only that now with a considerable amount of power that makes them responsible for the errors.
On his second article touching on these issues Armengol goes deeper into the declarations of Alarcón, and he wonders why these contrast to such an extent with Raúl Castro's recent overtures to the US:
[Alarcón's negative and pessimistic] position is somewhat contrasting with the attitude, expressed twice already by Raúl Castro, of being willing to talk to the US.

author: Carlos Gradaille


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Brunei: Origins of Wedding Rituals · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

The Daily Brunei Resources blog traces the origin of Malay wedding custom of bunga telur. Bunga telur is the token gift presented to the guests who attend a wedding.


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China: 100 Outstanding Mothers  · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Granite Studio comments on the recent announcement by the government on the 100 outstanding Mothers in China. The blogger notices that such practice is not new.

author: Oiwan Lam


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China: 2006 most popular Chinese word  · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Many Chinese bloggers are discussing the most popular Chinese word of 2006. Some of the suggestions are: Bo (as in Blogger), Gao (as in spoof) and Chao (as in argue). Gao is so far the most popular one (zh).


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China: humor · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

One Man bandwidth looks into the differences in the western and Chinese sense of humor.


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China: illegal church construction? · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Ai Wei Wei criticizes a recent court case in Hanzhou concerning “illegal church construction”. More than a thousand people were involved in the church construction from 26-29 July 2006. On 22 of December, the court found 8 of them guilty (zh).


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China: republishing protected by law? · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

DANWEI has a post summarizing internet republishing debate in China. It explains the copyrights law in China which allows fair use and translation.


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Croatia: War Crimes · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Neretva River writes: “As exhumations begin at Osijek's central cemetery as part of the Croatian judiciary's investigation of war crimes committed against Osijek's non-Croat civilian population during December 1991, 2006 could prove to have been the year that domestic courts in Croatia demonstrated that they are serious about prosecuting war crimes committed on the territory of the Republic of Croatia.”

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Egypt: Just in Time for Christmas · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

“Egypt, where Mary, Joseph, and Jesus fled seeking shelter. But the Christmas spirit has apparently not returned, at least not to the Qalubia governor who just attempted to shut down a local NGO for reporting on poor civic conditions,” Or Does it Explode reports.

author: Haitham Sabbah


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Estonia: Christmas Customs · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Itching for Eestimaa writes about Estonian Christmas customs.


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Ethiopia/Somalia: Ethiopia at war · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

“So we are at war. We are no longer “technically” at war, or swapping challenges and insults, or officially providing training support to somebody else's army,” writes Meskel Square from Ethiopia.


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Ethiopia/Somalia: using propaganda to justify war · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Arguing that religion is not the cause of Ethiopia-Somali war, Urael writes, “The suggestion that the conflict between the mafia gang [Ethiopian government] and the Union of Islamic Courts has something to do with religion is the ultimate attempt by the gang to survive. They know that the Islamiphobia in the United States is at his peak with the new born Christians at the helm.”


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Guinea, Senegal: Shame on President Konte · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Senegalese blogger Seckasysteme is unhappy (Fr) with Guinean President Lansana Konte for personally freeing powerful friends who had been booked for financial fraud from Guinean jails. “Africa is ashamed of Lansana Konte”, concludes the blogger. “Guineans are right to have taken to the streets, demanding that he and his corrupt clique resign.”

author: Alice Backer


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Haiti, US: President Bush Signs HOPE law  · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Of President Bush's signing of the HOPE Law (Haitian Hemispheric Opportunity through Partnership Encouragement Act), Collectif Haiti de Provence writes (Fr): “We find ourselves compelled to welcome with enthusiasm this law which seems to be designed to favor job creation via textile subcontracting. We would like that leaders in that sector hold the expertise needed so that Haitian industry derives maximum profit out of the law.”


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Hungary: Budapest’s Poor · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Pestcentric writes about Budapest's poor and the problem with videotaping them.


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India: Community Video Unit and Dalits · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Reflections in a window pane on the power of video and overcoming oppression. “When the use of Video by a team of six Dalits, working for a Community Video Unit, set up by Navsarjan, Drishti and Video Volunteers transcended all barriers of caste, it brought upon relief for an entire village.”

author: Neha Viswanathan


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India: The day MGR died · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Metroblogging Chennai remembers the Christmas Eve of 1987, when a famous politician died. “The size of the crowd was unimaginable – hundreds of thousands of people. The driver had to inch along. People peered in, saw us foreigners and the wreath, and parted to let us pass.”


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Israel: Settler and Settlement · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Yisrael Medad says that he opposed the term “settler” and “settlement” from the beginning, preferring his own term -“revenant” and “Jewish community”. Find out why he hate these terms.


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Jordan: reBranding the Middle East! · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

“There is a big need to re-brand the Middle East. Not just to change the bad image we have in others minds, but also to change the bad image we hold for ourselves inside. And maybe this would be one of the most efficient steps towered resolving the most complicated conflicts in mankind history,” Wael Attili said.


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Libya:A view into the blogging scene · Global Voices
Fozia Mohamed

The Libyan blogosphere is rich and diverse, but quietly apolitical. I'm constantly surprised at how it has sprouted during the last three years. It may have less bloggers than other countries, but the fact that some people are actually blogging is a miracle per se.
Libyans blog from inside Libya and from all the countries they currently live in as expats or citizens. You can usually figure out who is living abroad from the others.
This weekly round-up will aim to bring the Libyan bloggers from all over the world onto your screen. OK – not so ambitious, but just the most interesting/relevant stories. Remember as I said above, most Libyan bloggers do not write about politics or ‘sensitive’ issues yet. We shall see how that evolves especially in light of  this good news.
Khadijateri, author of the blog with the same name is an American married to a Libyan. She recently brought to our attention the devastating of the number of car accidents in Libya. Khadijateri believes this is ‘because the roads are not being properly maintained’. I don't think people hear enough about how dangerous driving is in Libya.
On a similar vein, Lebeeya of Lebeeya Says, posted about the effect of the rain on the Omani roads. This started a conversation in the comment section about the Libyan infrastructure which needs revisiting due to climate change and the inability to cope if it rained for more than one day. The photo of a Mercedes stuck in a flood is priceless.
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On another note the Libyan blogs have been buzzing with personal projects. Bloggers challenged each other to produce a video about Libya using ‘windows movie maker’, or other video editing software. It all started on Beacon's blog Tripoli Nights with his ‘You Tube’ compilation Ya bladi Hubik Mawali shortly followed by A.Adam of Flying Birds and Hanu of D-Log. Hanu made a touching ‘slide show with pictures of Libyans from 1924 to 1930′.
Smokeyspice of The Third Space, highlights the sudden interest in Libyan authors as she believes that ‘there are treasures of stories among Libyans that are waiting for the right time or the right question’. I am not surprised after the success of Hisham Matar's novel. Speaking of Libyan writers, the very talented Soad of My Enchanting Sereeb got one of her short stories ( in English) published. We are waiting for her to return from her travels and link or scan it for us.
Trabilisia of Tripoli Ghibli was able to locate a short biography of her grandfather, a famous Libyan physician back in the 1920s. It is worth reading as his story shows a glimpse of what it was like to live in the Ottoman empire of which Libya was a part until the early 20th Century.
To wrap things up, Libyan bloggers are experimenting with communication and expressing themselves to a wider audience. Topics are too many to cover, but I hope this taster has whetted your appetite for more.

author: Fozia Mohamed


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Nepal: Digital Democracy Organization · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Democracy for Nepal discusses Humro Nepal. “It has not been registered. It does not have a budget. Both those details are intentional and are to be kept that way. It is the world's first digital democracy organization. A lot of members and outsiders still do not think of it as a “real” organization.”


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Poland: Honorary King · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

The beatroot reports: “46 members of the Polish parliament have tabled a motion to name Jesus Christ as the ‘honorary King of the Republic of Poland’. […] There is an historical precedent to this mad move, however. The Virgin Mary was made Honorary Queen of Poland 350 years ago by King Jan Kazimierz (who must have been a lonely soul).” The beatroot‘s thoughts on another Poland-related Christmas story are here.


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Religion and Suicide Bomber · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

What is the relation between religions and suicide bomber? Is religion the only factor behind it? Who and why a person commit a suicide bombing? All these questions and more are answered in a series of posts by Lawrence of Cyberia. To start, follow the posts here and here then don't miss the coming interesting posts to follow.


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Russia: A Blogger’s Short Stories · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Copydude is posting short stories – one, two, three, four – he wrote while in Tatarstan: “They come under the category of ‘True Lies’ – or what writers prefer to call ’semi-documentary’. I wrote them about real people – but sourced largely from local gossip.”