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Nepal’s Dolphins in Danger · Global Voices
Bhumika Ghimire

“Just 30 years ago, the Karnali River was home to approximately 100 Ganges River Dolphins. But according to conservationists, there are only six of them left.'” Rhishja Larson at Ecoworldly writes about Nepal's disappearing fresh water Dolphins.

author: Bhumika Ghimire


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Pakistan: Banking Sector Blogs · Global Voices
Rezwan

Aamir Attaa at Pro Pakistani highlights two Pakistani blogs which concentrates on the Banking sector.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Rezwan


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Paraguay: The Government’s Negotiations in the Itaipú Dam · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Carlos Rodríguez of Rescatar [es] is pleased with the negotiations between Paraguay and Brazil regarding the binational project of the Itaipú dam. He applauds the actions of President Fernando Lugo for showing “commitment, patriotism, honesty and negotiating ability.”

author: Eduardo Avila


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Philippines: Eating Taho · Global Voices
Karlo Mongaya

My Cebu PhotoBlog posts pictures of Taho, a popular snack item in the Philippines made of bean curd, tapioca balls, and sweet ’sauce’ from liquefied sugar.

author: Karlo Mongaya


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Trinidad & Tobago: Assassination Attempt?  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

The Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister has revealed an alleged plot to assassinate him a few years ago, prompting diaspora blogger Jumbie's Watch to call the claim “a serious piece of dotishness.”

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Trinidad & Tobago: Mother Earth  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“It’s not how many tractors you have or how much oil you drill or how many smelters you build. But the humanity and the humility of what you do with your knowledge and your resources”: Trinidadian blogger Attillah Springer fears that we will pay for the “gross and sloppy mishandling of Mother Earth’s breasts.”


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United Nations: Video contest for 9-25 year olds about migration · Global Voices
Juliana Rincón Parra

The United Nations Alliance of Civilizations is organizing the Plural+ video contest about building a more inclusive, tolerant society. The contest is open for any participant between the ages of 9 and 25 before September 30th, and what they have to do is produce a video between 1 to 5 minutes of length including titles and credits about migration, diversity and tolerance, and other similar topics. The complete rules for the Plural + contest can be found on their website and are available in English, Spanish, French and Arabic.
film team by extranoise http://www.flickr.com/photos/extranoise/155085339/
On their site, they present the invitation:
Recognizing youth as powerful agents of social change in a world often characterized by intolerance, and cultural and religious divisions, PLURAL+ is aimed at involving youth in addressing  the key issues in their community related to migrant integration, inclusiveness, identity, diversity, human rights and social cohesiveness. The practical contributions of young people – whether they are migrants, second-generation immigrants or non-migrants – can come not just by identifying constraints but also through promoting a climate of respect and appreciation for each other, helping to point the way towards a more enlightened world.
Videos don't have to be exclusively made for this contest, but they should have been completed after January 2008. The difference between this contest and previous ones we've mentioned on Global Voices is that the application is not through online tools, but a DVD has to be sent to the New York offices of the UN Alliance of Civilizations. Videos should be in English, or have English subtitles.  Entries must be received before September 30th to qualify.
So take this opportunity, and if you fit the age group for this contest, or if you know someone who does, get them to participate, and if they do, please let us know if you post a copy of the video online, and leave it in the comments.   Don't forget to check out the FAQ, the Rules and Regulations and other pertinent information for the contest.

author: Juliana Rincón Parra


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What is Team Building in the Filipino Language? · Global Voices
Karlo Mongaya

Letters to Mindanao looks for the Filipino equivalent of the word teambuilding.


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Africa: New dates for African Bloggers Conference announced · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

New dates for African Bloggers Conference, Kelele '09, have been announced. Kelele '09 was scheduled for August 13th-16th, 2009. The conference, which will bring together African bloggers for the first time, will now take place from 29th October – 1st November 2009 in Nairobi, Kenya.
What exactly is Kelele '09?:
Kelele is an annual African bloggers’ conference held in a different African city each year and run by an organising committee in that city. Kelele will be held for the first time October 29th – November 1st 2009 in Nairobi, Kenya.
Explanation for changing conference dates:
Greetings African Bloggers.
As the organizing committee of the KELELE Bloggers Conference, we would like to apologise for the postponement of the African Bloggers Conference—KELELE—which was due to take place from 13th to 16th August, 2009 in Nairobi, Kenya.
The African Bloggers Conference is an initiative of Kenyan bloggers and as the organizers we required significant financial support to underwrite the event. Although many sponsors had initially expressed interest in being a part of this great undertaking, due to the prevailing global economic climate they did not come through as we had anticipated.
We also encountered a setback while working out the logistics of partnerships with a sister event, namely the African Blog Awards. The African Blog Awards were to take place prior to the conference. The awards were designed to give Africans a chance to vote for the best blogs across the region with the winners from each country being awarded an all expenses paid trip to the conference.
We are now pleased to announce that the inaugural Kelele, Bloggers Conference will take place in Nairobi from 29th October– 1st November, 2009.
Mark your calendars, book your tickets and pack your bags because this is a conference you cannot afford to miss!
Subscribe to our newsletter here for more information on how to register for the conference.
Beat your Drum!
The theme of this year's conference is Beat Your Drum:
The theme of the conference is ‘Beat your drum’, a befitting theme that not only defines the influence that Africa has had in the world’s history mainly through its musical sounds but the sounds that have now entered the digital age into the blogosphere as the voice of its people.
With so many voices marginalised or simply ignored in the African society today mostly due to a lack of a free space, we believe that the internet in general and grassroots media tools such as blogs in particular represent the most powerful way in which Africans can take back their voice.
“We are gathering to make a powerful, positive, inspirational noise that will be heard across the continent and beyond; KELELE!” says Daudi Were the Kelele Project Coordinator and one of the KenyaUnlimited administrators.
African bloggers have defied all odds to tackle fundamental issues that are facing their communities as well as highlighting developments in technology, sport, music and art.
The conference is aimed at gathering Africa’s top grass root activists for a discourse and to create a synergy on the Internet. This will be the start of other similar conferences under the Kelele banner that will be held annually in different African Cities and will be run by an organizing committee in that city.
Kelele '09 needs your help:
Become a volunteer for Kelele '09:
Do you have graphic design skills that can help take Kelele’s branding and image to the next level? Please email us at main@kelele.org – we would love to work with you!
Are you proficient in either Kiswahili, French or Arabic? We need help with translating the key information on this website in order to reach as many African bloggers as possible! If you can help please email us at main@kelele.org – we would love to work with you!
Sponsor Kelele:
We invite organizations and companies to seize the opportunity to be associated with a positive movement rising across Africa by sponsoring the conference designed to bring a lot of that positive energy into one room. KELELE sponsorship demonstrates your organization’s support for Africa, the voices of Africans, citizen media and the benefits it can bring to people in the developing world. For corporations, KELELE sponsorship also offers the opportunity for brand positioning.
Sponsor a speaker or session
KELELE speakers will be traveling from across the globe. Help us cover all or part of the costs associated with a particular speaker or session. Sponsors’ names will be mentioned in all publicity material and KELELE announcements and be included in the session description. Sponsor logos will appear on the KELELE web site. Other entitlements may apply depending on the level of sponsorship.
Sponsor speakers or participants from a particular country
If your organization has an interest in a specific country, please consider helping us underwrite the cost of bringing people from that part of the continent to the Summit. Sponsors’ names will be mentioned in all publicity material and KELELE announcements and will be included in the session description (if participant is a speaker). Sponsor logos will appear on the KELELE web site. Other entitlements may apply depending on the level of sponsorship.
You can follow Kelele on Twitter and Facebook.
Here is the summary of proposed program and list of board of advisors and organizing committee.

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Bangladesh: Adulteration And Death Of Children · Global Voices
Rezwan

Unheard Voice comments on the death of a number of children in Bangladesh due to Diethylene glycol (DEG) poisoning after intake of a fever drug and the inaction of the authorities: “Our governments, under media pressure and public outcry, successively have bothered to resort to short term damage control and hide the issue from public eye.”


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Belarus, Russia: Bloggers React to Graphic Chechen War Video · Global Voices
Mikola Andrejeu

On July 3, 2009, Belarusian blogger Tatsiana Elavaya posted a provocative video showing the assassination of captive Russian soldiers by Chechen guerrillas during the 1999 war in Chechnya. The video had been available elsewhere before, but when Tatsiana – whose LJ nickname is Zmagarka, “Female Warrior” – posted it on her blog, the reaction of the Cyrillic blogosphere was unprecedented. More than 2,000 comments brought Tatsiana’s blog to the top of Yandex, Russia's leading search engine.
In a way, Tatsiana did her best to provoke the reaction. She wrote this description (RUS) in her blog post:
Russian soldiers are being slaughtered by Chechens as swine. […] The carnage will continue until Chechnya becomes completely independent. […]
Mostly hateful, the comments to Tatsiana's post sound far angrier than the one below, posted by LJ user rassenstolz:
Chechnya can’t be left behind. It is not a people, but an utter bloody unit of gunmen. If Chechnya were independent, we would get an Islamic aggression breeder, an outpost of Muslims for their Northern advance. I also do not endorse Kremlin’s actions. But if someone is saying that Kremlin oppresses poor Chechens, I think that it is too soft against them. [Father-Kadyrov], a former rebel fighter, has been put to rule them, and monthly unrequited budget infusions are being made. What for? We need to cut this people out as cancer. They can do nothing but rob and kill. While Chechens kill ours on their land, we will be killing these bastards on our land. Russians will respond with no less cruelty.
The absolute majority of the feedback happened to be cursing and threatening. Some bloggers promised to find and kill Tatsiana. LJ user gutnik_real posted a bureaucratic-style request to the Prosecutor General of Belarus to arrest Tatsiana. Not only Chechens were insulted in the comments to the post, but Belarusians, Ukrainians, Georgians and Jews as well. Thousands of angry voices hardly showed 30 percent of decent lexicon. Hateful posts and discussions like this one are common for LJ blogs.
Some Russian bloggers appealed to LiveJournal to have Tatsiana's post blocked, but LiveJournal reacted by adding an Adult Content Notice to the post: “The content that you are about to view may contain material only suitable for adults. To continue, you must confirm that you are at least 18 years of age.”
The sensational post drew attention of the Belarusians both in blogs and in the independent media. On July 26, Mikola Buhaj published an article titled “Russian Nazi Threaten to Kill Belarusian Blogger” (BEL) in the Nasha Niva. The article has generated more than 140 comments, which is unprecedented for this opposition-run newspaper. Most of them condemn Tatsiana’s intolerance, but xenophobic comments get even more condemnation. Krywich wrote:
I thank Tatsiana for her bravery, her deed has helped to preserve the honorable face of modern pragmatic youth.
Tatsiana’s position was supported by a number of Belarusian LJ bloggers. In her later post, she wrote (BEL, RUS):
So far, some 1,010 people have added me as a friend. What gladdens me is that there is a number of kind, reasonable and interesting people among them. Resonance methods help them to show their true face and decide whether our paths are coinciding.
Ukrainian nationalists also showed some support. LJ user guzj, a representative of an ultras organization, wrote:
The National Alliance stands with you! Guys are ready to defend you, say when and where to go!
On her publicly available Facebook page, Tatsiana wrote this (ENG):
I did my best not to let this conflict spread outside of livejournal. I didn't want to write anywhere about it. But Belarusian independent journalist thought other way. E.g. that's link to article from “Nasha Niva” about one post in my blog entitled “Chechens cut russian soldiers as pigs”. It contains video with Chechen separatists killing russians + my comment. Idea of the comment: “I do not approve such violent acts, but they are going to continue until russian occupation troops remain in Chechnya.” Huge scandal has burst. 2000 comments and plenty of other stuff. Several requests where written to Prosecutor's Offices of Belarus and Russia to initiate criminal proceedings for inciting ethnic hatred. 2000 people wished me death. But I'm still alive and going to make you happy with truth. Even if it's not so nice. As they say welcome to the real world. Without the pink glasses ;)
Being an activist of the Belarusian Bunt (“Rebellion”) youth organization, Tatsiana is known for her active anti-Russian position. She widely supports former Soviet states that have problems with Russia. Also, she is very concerned with the fate of the Iran elections.
Pro-government Belarusian bloggers have also responded to Tatsiana's post. Stas Allov, an author with the pro-government “Ring of the Patriotic Recourses of Belarus” portal, thinks that bloggers are directed by the West. Here is what he wrote (RUS) on his blog about the coverage of the recent events in Iran and China by Belarusian bloggers:
A number of the so-called “Belarusian” “jeans” opposition activists […], as if following a wave of the conductor's baton, […] together with their Russian colleagues began to defend the Iranian opposition and the Chinese rebels.
And [they were quite synchronous about it]. When the peak of the Western coverage was on Iran, these opposition activists were synchronously writing materials on Iran. When the pendulum moved to the Chinese Uighurs, […] these LJ users suddenly began to write materials on China. There was lots of material. Many photos ([where did they take them from?]), reports in the Persian ornate lettering (as if they've all learned Persian all of a sudden…). […]

author: Mikola Andrejeu


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Bermuda, Haiti: Standing Up · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“In the 1980s Bermudians participated in the global anti-Apartheid anti-imperialist movement”: Catch a fire thinks “it is time that our new generation continue this tradition and pick up the mantle of fighting injustices” such the ones in Haiti.


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Bermuda, U.K.: Missed Celebrations · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Repeating Islands reports that Britain's Queen Elizabeth II “skipped yesterday’s celebrations of the 400th anniversary of the settlement of Britain’s oldest colony after a row with the island’s pro-independence leader”, adding that the island's Premier was also noticeably absent.


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Bhutan: The Need Of A Rescue Service · Global Voices
Rezwan

“The news of seven boys in Chukha was shocking, it was only shocking until I knew they were washed away after hours of hanging on to life and before the eyes of their parents and police and the Dzongda,” informs Passu Diary stressing the need of a rescue service in Bhutan.


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Cuba: Interview with Blogger Lizabal Mónica · Global Voices
Claudia Cadelo

In 2007, Cuban writer Lizabel Mónica started blogging about the Book Fair about recent works that she felt were important to showcase. Even though her concept of blogging was still closely tied with the concept of the print, she admits that her first few posts were too long and full of news.  However, since then she has become quite comfortable with the use of blogs as a tool of communication and she currently publishes on three different blogs.  Most of these blogs are closely associated with Cuban art, literature and culture.  She summarizes her outlook on blogs in this manner, “Blogs are related with my way of looking at art, literature, but above all and this is the best part of the blogging phenomenon: confuse the life that we recount, with the life that we live in reality.”
Photo of Lizabel Mónica and used with permission.
Her first blog palaDeOinDeleite [es] is also her personal blog and focused on Cuban art, literature, politics, and society. It has evolved into a place to showcase other cultural projects on the island.  A second blog is called Cuba Fake News [es]. This site, as the name states, provides bilingual “fake news” about Cuba and receives contributions from a variety of authors.
Mónica's third blog is Project Deliz [es], which provides information about the cultural project, which aims to “build bridges between literature and national and international art, as well as to explore the relationship between art and life.” On the blog, one can also download a copy of the multi-media magazine.
The following is an excerpt of an interview conducted with Mónica about her projects and her participation in the Cuban blogosphere:
****
Claudia Cadelo: Tell me a little about the Project Desliz
Lizbal Mónica: It is an open project. Everyone who wants to participate can form a part of the project participating as much as they want. Desliz is an inclusive project, which uses the dynamism of social networking, and our page continues to add and subtract participants. Desliz is not a ghetto, but rather a reason, so that everyone who joins this purpose and participates in the activities is a part of the project. What is its purpose? To build bridges: spread the national culture and promote dialogue between Cuban writers and artists who live on the island and those who have emigrated; bring artists that we know to the national scene; promote cultural dialogue on a national level; explore the concepts of each genre or area, and the concepts of art and literature in general. Those are some of our goals. Another, more obvious: to make culture, which is archaic, more dynamic and which often does not know its own potential.
CC: Your blogs and your digital magazine Desliz are a possibility for artists and writers to access the virtual world in Cuba. Could you talk a little about your goals of using technology for artistic promotion?
LM: Writers, artists and professionals in general should have access to the Internet, but it is more important that everyone who wants access receives it, regardless of their job or position, and even if they work or don't work for society. The opinion and participation of all is important and that is what it is all about.  What happens in Cuba is a superiority prejudice of Saint-Simonianism.
Project Desliz provides a specific function with the artists, but our interest is to carry out, in the near future, something similar with the common citizen. There are two prejudices in Cuba regarding the participation or presence of an individual or group on the Internet: they are either artists or independent journalists – that they start a blog to make criticism to society and/or to the government.  In this manner, the vicious circles of an authoritarian government continues to turn. One of things we understand is that our country needs that the individual take the reigns of his or her own life, not under an ideology or respectable labor, but simply in the name of one's own interests, whatever they may be. Cuba lacks a civil society, and this is one of the best ways to help create one.
CC: You are starting a project to support artists so that they can create blogs and have an online presence. How is it going?
LM: Now I am working on some artistic projects and with artists who want to have an independent presence online. They also bring a lot of good ideas with them. Due to the fact that the Internet is prohibited except for some State workers, it is very expensive – the price of an “underground” account is the same as housing rent -, and the work becomes much slower than what is would be without these other conditions. Many of these artists do not have Internet, and some do not even have their own email accounts, for that reason we use our own account, limited by hours per month – using the excess hours is too expensive and we cannot afford it – for the creation of these blogs, once they are created, we help them maintain them. None of these blogs are online yet, but we just started, and soon you will be able to see the results.
CC: Do you have faith in the Cuban blogosphere? How do you feel a part of it?
I have faith in how we can develop through it. I hope that it continues to diversify, even though the voices go out of tune. There are different views, and listen to how we differ from one another, which is something that my blog Desliz tries to do. I am pleased with the start of citizen activism that can count on key characteristics like inclusion, which is by (predetermined) default with the language and the logic of the Internet, and the start of a constant change to the structures or better yet, the absence of defined structures. I count on it.

author: Claudia Cadelo


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Czech Republic, Russia: “Putin Goes To Pikalyovo” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

CzechFolks.com and Scraps of Moscow write about a Russian YouTube rendition of a 1970s Czech song, which mocks PM Vladimir Putin.

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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DRC: Rape Epidemic Fuels Fistula Cases · Global Voices
Juhie Bhatia

Ongoing fighting in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) continues to take its toll on women's health.
Throughout the conflict women have been brutalized by rape and sexual violence. An estimated 200,000 women and girls have been assaulted over the past 12 years, with more than 18,000 cases reported between January and September 2008. This past May, the U.S. Senate foreign relations committee held a hearing to address how rape is being used as a weapon of war in the DRC.
Often this rape takes on extremely violent forms and can cause injuries to a woman's reproductive organs. For instance, it can cause a health condition called vaginal fistula, which happens when the wall between a woman's vagina and the bladder and/or rectum tears. Also called traumatic fistula when caused by sexual violence, it's hard to know how many women in the DRC have this condition. But it's been estimated that thousands of Congolese girls and women have been impacted, and one assessment of six DRC provinces found that out of 432 fistula cases, around14 percent were because of trauma.
Jim Bliss, blogging on The Quiet Road, elaborates on the situation. He says:
“In the rest of the world the condition [fistula] generally occurs due to serious complications during childbirth. Most gynecologists and obstetricians will go their entire career without ever encountering a single case. In DRC, however, there’s an epidemic. And it’s not down to an increase in complicated births.
Many of the militias in DRC have adopted a deliberate policy of terror through mass rape…However rape – even violent rape – does not as a rule cause fistula. No, instead the militiamen, having already gang-raped the woman (often a huge number of times over a period of weeks or months) will deliberately inflict major damage to her genitals before sending her back to her village. More often than not this is achieved by carefully shooting the woman’s vagina at point-blank range…Knives, broken glass or just sharp sticks are [also] used to cause as much damage as possible. Girls as young as 12 months have been subjected to this violence.”
Medical complications for women with fistula can include being permanently incontinent, infertility, miscarriages, and other health problems. On top of this, women with fistula often face  stigma because of their status as a rape victim, as well as their chronic incontinence.
Many wounded women are unable to get treatment, but there are some medical centers that treat rape-related injuries, including fistula. One such center is the Panzi Hospital in Bukavu, which was created in 1999. Surgeons at the hospital performed 540 fistula repairs in 2005, 80 percent of which were due to sexual violence. In this video, a psychologist at the Panzi Hospital shows what life is like for women seeking treatment for traumatic fistula.
Endre Vestvik visited the hospital and took a series of photos of women and girls being treated for fistula. This is a photo of 4-year-old Vitonsi, who is preparing for fistula surgery. She was raped by soldiers when trying to cross the river with her pregnant mom and her sister.
Gypsy Girl Chronicles also went to Panzi Hospital and describes her experience:
“Doctors here specialize in fistula operation and women travel here from far and wide for a cure. I met one woman here who was raped and tortured at the age of 17 during the height of the war. She has been at the hospital, away from her family for over 6 years now enduring one operation after another. She said that she did not feel human anymore and had no future.”
A hospital in Goma is also working to treat women who have fistula. This video shows a young woman with the condition being taken to the DOCS Hospital, where other women are recovering from treatment.
Despite the positive work being done by these hospitals, Emin Pasha, blogging on Congo Resources, felt highly discouraged after learning more about sexual violence in the DRC.
“Little is being done about the problem, despite the fact that rape in eastern Congo has become such a well-known and well-publicized problem. Research on the topic remains preliminary; there are still only a handful of clinics and hospitals addressing the needs of the women; police and local authorities still don't have any capacity or willingness to protect the population; and overall it appears that the problem is getting worse not better.”
Still, Brad MacIntosh, blogging on A wide-angle view of the DRC conflict, says his visit to the Panzi Hospital in June gave him a glimmer of hope.
“It is hard to describe all the emotions as I walked through the open corridors of the hospital complex on a warm and sunny day. I headed towards the operating theatres and found that the second building is now fully operational. This operating theater is for surgical repair of women who have survived rape. Surgeries are performed by the head fistula surgeon, a gentle and wise doctor named Dr Yunga who I met previously. Beyond this building is a beautiful courtyard where survivors of rape have a place to call their own, where they have workshops, sing, cook and learn skills…I have seen evidence of remarkable progress at Panzi Hospital. Layers of progress in fact, which leads me to conclude it is a place of immense potential and optimism in city that has seen too much despair.”
Photo of Waiting for Treatment by Endre Vestvik (cyclopsr) on Flickr.

author: Juhie Bhatia


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Egypt: A Car Trade Social Service. · Global Voices
Mohamed ElGohary

CarLog is a new online service for trading cars in Egypt that enables car owners to  share photos, videos, and reviews of their vehicles on Facebook.

author: Mohamed ElGohary


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Haiti: What Happened to Pierre-Antoine? · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“July 28 marks the 94th anniversary of the US occupation of Haiti…August 12th will mark the second anniversary of the disappearance of Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine”: The Haitian Blogger wonders what has happened to this leading human rights activist.


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Jamaica: On Writing  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

More on what makes a writer, from Jamaican litblogger Geoffrey Philp.


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Japan: DPJ’s election manifesto  · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Tobias Harris from observing Japan comments on Democratic party's 2009 general election manifesto. The manifesto covers five major areas: (1) cutting waste (essentially political and administrative reform); (2) child care and education; (3) pensions and health care; (4) regionalization; and (5) employment and the economy.Part I and Part II.

author: Oiwan Lam


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Japan: Parental child abduction · Global Voices
Scilla Alecci

Given the rise in cases [en] where children born to a Japanese mother and a foreign father are abducted by the Japanese mothers and brought to Japan without the father's consent, U.S., France, Canada and the U.K. have recently urged Japan to sign the Hague Convention. The treaty, covering international child abduction, came into force in 1983 to provide specific legal means for promptly returning the child to their original state of residence.
By flickr user id: ajari.
So far Japan is the only one in the Group of Seven Nations who hasn't signed  the treaty, which means that the government is not required to give any information regarding the child or the mother who returned to Japan or even ask  the parent to return the child.
Also, awareness about the question is very low among the citizens and major media don't help to raise knowledge of the problem. Blogger and activist Debito comments and criticizes [en] the coverage of the child abduction question by the NHK (Japan national broadcasting organization), where the cases and information provided were biased against the foreign fathers.
I watched the NHK report this morning, and was, frankly, gravely disappointed. After giving some stats on international divorce (around 20,000 cases last year, about double that ten years ago), NHK gave three case studies in brief: […]
It even concluded with the typical relativities (i.e. how everyone’s doing it, therefore Japanese can too), mentioning in passing alleged cases of how NJ mothers were abducting Japanese kids overseas (meaning that now suddenly Japanese fathers were kawaisou [poor thing]; the bottom line was that Japanese are being kawaisoued). The MOFA was quoted as not being able to comment on whether Japan would be able to sign Hague.
No mention at all was made by NHK that there has not been a single case of children being returned to the NJ parent by Japanese courts (the converse is untrue), that Japanese are committing crimes (and not honoring overseas court custody rulings, such as the Murray Wood Case), or that (and I speak from experience of not seeing my kids for about five years now) the Koseki system [Japanese family registration system]  will deny all title and access to Japanese parents too after divorce.
NHK tried too hard to be sympathetic to either abducting Japanese mothers, or the position of Japanese in general (not the kids and how they’re affected by not having both parents in their lives). What a crock.
Lawyer Kawahara calls for more proactive and responsible action and participation by the politicians irrespective of which party they belong to.
国際離婚して、日本に子どもを連れ帰る日本人妻が多く、現に、カナダやアメリカから、条約を批准していない日本が批判を浴びています。[…]
都議会議員選挙の後、国会審議が止まっています。
国会議員は、法律の制定改廃が仕事でしょう。
いくら、総理大臣の問責決議が参議院で可決され、衆議院議員選挙が近いからといって、国会議員たるもの、国会審議を放置するのは、無責任すぎます。
多くの大事な法案が、廃案になりそうです。
馬鹿げています。
日本は、ますます国際社会から取り残されそうです。
野党の民主党も、いくら政権交代の可能性が大だとしても、国の政治は、与野党が協力して、粛々と動かすべきでしょう。
Also another lawyer, Mori, expresses his opinion about the child abduction issue but he is more doubtful about the ‘internationality’ of the problem itself.
日本人女性が外国人と結婚し、子供を産んだ。しかし、夫婦仲がうまくいかず、子供を連れて日本に帰国した。
我々日本人からすると、「フーン」と思うだけである。
ま、「夫婦仲が悪い夫が、ある日、会社から帰ると、妻は子供連れて実家に帰り、家の中はもぬけのからだった」、というのは、日本では日常的で、これが離婚訴訟で問題になることもない。
しかし、外国では、こういう行為は子供を奪い取る「犯罪行為」と考えているところがかなりある。
特に、日本人女性の場合、日本に帰ると「聞く耳を持たない」という感じで、夫から手紙が来ても無視し、あるいは居場所さえ知らせない、というケースがある。
[…]そこで、米英仏などが、日本に、このハーグ条約への加盟を強く迫っている。しかし、取引法の分野と異なり、家事法の分野は、なんでもかんでもグローバル化すれば良いというものではない。やはり、各国の文化にあわせた処理を行うべきで、ハーグ条約への加盟すべきか、安易に結論をだすべきではない。
But the child abduction issue does not impact only on Western parents, as the manager of a blog/agency that arranges international marriage points out.
このハーグ条約、欧米ではおよそ80カ国が調印しているが、日本や韓国、中国、フィリピンなどアジア諸国はほとんど調印していないらしい。
また、日本国内でも中国人と結婚した日本人男性から「妻が無断で子を連れて中国へ帰ってしまった。子を連れ戻したい」という多数の相談が外務省などに寄せられているらしい。
その一方、日本人男性と中国人女性の夫婦が日本国内で離婚し、裁判で親権を争うと、今後、中国人女性側は子供と会ってはいけないという結果がでている話を数件聞いている。
どちらにしろ罪の無い子供たちが一番苦しんでいるはずだ。
はやく、日本国内での法律の整備が必要と感じる。

author: Scilla Alecci


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Japan: Yokohama Mayor Resigns · Global Voices
Tomomi Sasaki

Shisaku on Yokohama Mayor Nakada Hiroshi's resignation: “When an electoral shoo-in like Nakada takes a leap like this into the unknown, it is just one more indication that postwar system is on the verge of final, precipitous collapse”.

author: Tomomi Sasaki


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Kenya: Fibreglass Lions to go ‘Wild’ in Nairobi · Global Voices
Samuel Maina

Freshly sculpted lions
As Kenya's lions continue to face persecution and the population continues to dwindle, a campaign to raise funds and awareness about the lions was launched on 17 June 2009 in Nairobi.
An initiative of the Born Free Foundation, this project will use 50 fiberglass lions, dubbed ‘the Pride of Kenya‘ to drive awareness about the plight of the 2,100 lions that still remain in Kenya.
“For Kshs 200,000 ($2,500), we’re asking organizations to sponsor a life-size fibre glass lion and we’ll be getting artists to decorate them in July and August”, says the Pride of Kenya blog.
Many corporate bodies in Kenya have subscribed to this campaign and have ‘adopted’ each their own lion. Substantial media attention has also started building around this campaign with the Nation Media Group, one of the key media houses in Kenya, being right in the middle of the campaign.
This campaign is already being anticipated to become the biggest wildlife event of the year. The Pride of Kenya blog says, “Pride of Kenya really is going to be the biggest thing in Kenyan conservation this year”. “Pride of Kenya…launched today at the Serena Hotel, Nairobi, is already being described as an event with potentially national significance”, Will Travers, the Born Free Foundation CEO said in the same blog on the day of the inauguration of the campaign.
Although most lions have been adopted by business people, WildlifeDirect, a Kenyan web-based conservation organization has also adopted a lion. WildlifeDirect has put the fight to stop the importation and sale of Furadan – an agricultural pesticide that is responsible for the death of more than 75 lions in the past few years – as the focus of their campaign. There was excitement when WildlifeDirect signed the agreement that secured them one lion. The WildlifeDirect Team blog, Baraza, wrote:
Our campaign will focus on ending lion poisoning using Furadan. The centerpiece for this campaign will be a life-sized lion statue made of fiberglass.
WildlifeDirect will also involve the readers of their blogs. On Baraza, they said:
We need ideas for the art we shall create on this ‘canvas’.  I know you have lots of ideas. Send them to us. We are thinking that it would be great if we could send a global message about lion conservation with our lion. You can be as creative as you want. You can even suggest modification of the lion – as long as it still looks like a lion. But we cannot put advertising. No logos.
The Born Free Foundation has said that these lions have to have been decorated by end of August in readiness for a parade in Nairobi this November. The lions will then go under auction on the same day and proceeds from the auction will go towards lion conservation projects in Kenya. The November date also coincides with Born Free's 25th Anniversary.
There are signs that this campaign – modeled around the Go Elephants campaign held in Summer 2008 in Norwich-  will be exciting and it would be interesting to see how the blogosphere and media will react to it.

author: Samuel Maina


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Malaysia: Remembering film director Yasmin Ahmad · Global Voices
Niki Cheong

There is this joke going around – though not many people are staking claim for it – that 2009 is not a good year for public personalities. So many, like David Carradine and Michael Jackson, for example had left the world all too soon.
Last weekend, Malaysians, and many film aficionados around the world, mourned the loss of another personality – Yasmin Ahmad.
Publicity shot from Rain Dogs by Ho Yuhang.
Yasmin passed away on Saturday night (July 25) from massive bleeding in the brain. She had passed out during discussions for a project with a local TV station two days before her death.
Many people took to their blogs to mourn and grief the loss of this talented person, including Prakash Daniel:
Looks like Malaysia has lost a talented person and its so hard to grasp the fact that she is has left this earth. The time she spent here has trully inspired many people in one way or another.
Yasmin is most-known for her poignant TV commercials and films, which often revolve around the theme of multi-culturalism. Her films have been screened around the world at prestigious festivals including the Tokyo International Film Festival and the Berlin International Film Festival, where she won the Grand Prix award by the Kinderfilmfest International Jury and Generation K-Plus Crystal Bear Special Mention in 2007 for Mukhsin.
Her breakout film was the 2004 romantic comedy Sepet, which told the story about a Chinese boy falling in love with a Malay girl – a subject some deemed controversial due to racial sensitivities. Sepet won three international awards including the Best Film awards at the 27th Creteil International Women's Film Festival in France and the Global Chinese Golden Arts Award.
It is arguable that Yasmin brought many people who would not usually watch local productions into the cinemas with her movies. She has been credited as creating films that are accessible and speaks to the heart of most of her fellow countrymen.
In his tribute to Yasmin, ehsharkj spoke about
I’m not a fan to Malay movies, I don’t watch Malay movie in the cinema, I might ter’watch (“ter” is a Malay language prefix that has the connotation of “by accident” or “unintentionally” – GV Author) Malay movies during the Raya movie specials on TV.. but when it comes to Malay movies by Yasmin Ahmad, I never get bored watching, especially TV commercials made by her.
Before Yasmin was known as a filmmaker, she was most respected for her TV commercials. Even detractors of her film recognised her works in advertising. One such blogger is HTNET.
I’ll be honest and say it very early on; I don’t consider myself a fan of the late Yasmin Ahmad’s films. What I do admire her for is her work in the advertising sector.
Yasmin has the knack of delivering strong messages in very short time periods. In TV advertising, what you can deliver in a few seconds decides whether your campaign is a flop or success.
In this context, I cannot find any other Malaysian director who delivers this as consistently as Yasmin.
Some of Yasmin's works were highly controversial, and her films have been on the receiving end of the Malaysian Censorship Board's scissors many a times. In fact, some of her films are shown in other countries but not Malaysia.
Yet, in her death, bloggers like Anarm are calling for people to remember her for the remarkable talent she had and the compassionate heart she possessed.
Tapi aku suka filem-filem dia sebab banyak mesej yang dia berjaya sampaikan. Pendek kata, beliau memang hebat lah.
Even bloggers in neighbouring Singapore have been mourning this loss. Yasmin's is known there for her commercials commissioned by Singapore's Community Development, Youth and Sports Ministry – one entitled Funeral, and the other Red Shoes – both of which focussed on family ties.
erictbk, from Singapore, in introducing the YouTube videos he posted on his blog featuring his favourite pieces by Yasmin, said:
The departure of her did not only felt by fellow Malaysians, but Singaporeans too.
These are the works left behind by the legendary Yasmin Ahmad in the country's and international's film industry. You can see how beautifully,sincerely yet creatively her stories are being told…..
Thanks to the wonders of the Internet, Malaysians too were able to watch these commercials. In Funeral, an Indian widow of a Chinese man speaks about her husbands imperfections during his funeral service:
Many bloggers, like Peter Tan, chose to use Yasmin's words from the commercial to pay tribute to her. Part of it says: “In the end it’s these small things that you remember; the little imperfections that make them perfect for you.”
Adding to that, Peter said:
She made me sniffle, more often than once, usually during festive seasons. She made me chuckle, of all things about death. She is the greatest storyteller Malaysia has ever seen. There was never one like her, one whose talent and ingenuity will be a hard act to follow. Malaysia has lost a great daughter. Rest in peace Yasmin Ahmad.

author: Niki Cheong


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Moldova: Repeat Elections · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Updates and resources on the repeat election in Moldova – at Scraps of Moscow, here and here.


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Peru: Oral Storytelling Festival in August · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

The 3rd National Festival of Oral Storytelling will take place throughout the month of August in Lima and Lambayeque, Peru. Elizabeth Lino Cornejo of Te Voy a Contar [es] writes about the importance of preserving these types of traditions.


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Philippines: Reactions to the 9th State of the Nation Address · Global Voices
Karlo Mongaya

Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo gave her 9th State of the Nation Address (SONA) last Monday, July 27, 2009. The SONA has traditionally served to present an appraisal of the president's performance and lay down her plans of action.
The recent SONA is supposedly the president's last SONA before the 2010 elections. As the president gave her speech, thousands braved the rains to join protests presenting the real state of the nation outside the Congress and all over the country.
For many, the SONA cannot be separated from the scandals and crisis situations that plagued Arroyo's administration and the fears that the president will seek power beyond her term.
The full transcript of the SONA at tonyocruz.com. The following is a sample of the varied responses to the speech in the Philippine blogosphere.
Vernon Go gives the president a passing grade:
I wanted her to be balanced in resenting her State of the Nation Address like mentioning the negatives and the positives but I guess that is not her style. But I give her a passing grade for she did what she can as president, while inheriting the previous problems of the administration that she took over, and facing challenges & problems such as the bird flu, H1N1 Virus, OFW problems abroad, natural disasters and the global economic & financial crisis.
Femme Power asks if the SONA is based on fact or fiction:
Is the economy really doing good as the President confidently stressed? Or is the country’s economy just lucky to be sustained and fuelled by the OFW’s billion dollar remittances? Who among them are giving the real statistics and the real state of the nation? Are the figures reported by the President factual or are they, like what her critics say, merely works of fiction?
For The Construct, the real state of the nation is not reflected in the president's address:
…the true state of the nation is in every Filipino. Your nation is only as good as how your life in it is.
Unless Arroyo has some big announcement (snap elections, Martial Law, or Con Ass), I can only expect it to be more of the same – a speech from president trying to quantify her successes through numbers and qualify them with anecdotes. Some would say, the real SONA is on the streets – the cold hard facts of life compared to the more than optimistic view of an unpopular president.
Ako Mismo reflects on how the president will be remembered by history.
She knows that her administration will not be remembered fondly — hence the repetitive assertion that she brought progress at the expense of popularity — and did her best to expound on exactly what she did and why she did them. She’s justifying all her political failings with the economic progress she has made. Ever the professor, she came with all the numbers and figures she needed. Ever the politician, she came with the human props she helped emancipate. But were they enough?
For A Filipina Mom Blogger, the recent SONA was no different from Arroyo's previous SONA's.
She says “I did not become president to be popular” but I can’t help thinking all the statistics and progress report she is spewing are all embellishments or the creative work of fiction from her speech writers.
This sentiment is supported by data from a series by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism on
the failed promises, the statistical inconsistencies in government economic data, and by all indications, the illusory growth that nine years of the Arroyo Administration leave as a legacy to the Filipino people.
According to the PCIJ, the claims of economic growth by the Arroyo administration are “overstated, and based on inconsistent data sets. The National Statistical Coordination Board admits as much.”
Far From Neutral Notions cites data from the IBON Foundation:
“The last eight years of the Arroyo administration have resulted in record joblessness, deteriorating quality of jobs, falling household incomes, increasing poverty, fiscal crisis, unprecedented debt and debt service, social service cutbacks, and deeper Philippine underdevelopment.” Particularly troubling: “In 2006, the net worth of just the 20 richest Filipinos – including close Arroyo allies Lucio Tan, Enrique Razon, Jr., Eduardo Cojuangco, Enrique Aboitiz and others – was P801 billion (US$15.6 billion), which was equivalent to the combined income for the year of the poorest 10.4 million Filipino families.”
Contrary to Arroyo's promise of creating 1 million jobs a year, A Radical's Nut reveals that
Under the Arroyo administration, the country has been experiencing its worst jobs crisis, which has been further aggravated by the wave of massive displacements due to the impact of the global financial and economic crisis. Unemployment rate since 2001 has remained at more than 11% per year with about 4 million workers jobless every year. Annual unemployment rate under the Aquino to Estrada administrations was between 9 to 10% while the number of unemployed was between 2 to 3 million a year.
Isang Panata assails the president for stating only the positive side in her SONA.
126 na palakpakan ang nangyari. Malamang ay talagang maraming naganap na palakpakan dahil mayorya sa Congressman/Congresswoman ay ka – alyado ni Arroyo. Kahit siguro magpose o ngumiti o mag bad finger siya sa harap ng marami ay magpapalakpakan pa rin ang mga kongresista. Sinabi niya na siya ay ‘napaparatangang ginagamit ang kanyang kapangyarihan para sa pansariling kapanakanan ng walang ebidensiya’. ASA. Hello Garci? NBN ZTE Scandal? Extrajudicial killings? CHA CHA? Marami pang mga naganap at nagaganap na skandalo sa kanyang panunungkulan.
Third Wave feels that opposition politicians who boycotted the president's speech are immature.
…by not attending the session, these senators are showing to the Filipino people their political and leadership immaturity. They don’t want to listen to the President simply because the President is not their ally. Besides, these senators are believing that by doing so, they will get commendation for siding people on streets. On the contrary, people are dismayed because these senators ignore their primary responsibility – actively participating in government official activities.
Going against the current blogs about how it feels to be stuck while history happens.
I’m working while history is being made outside. I’m stuck inside the concrete walls of my workplace while people outside harangued and protested against the glaring rottenness of this administration. I’m finding a living while I am supposed to be involved in this very important milestone in my country’s history.
Adarna's Attic looks into the Arroyo administration's legacy of bribes, betrayal and blatant corruption.
The government has lost its moral ascendancy to govern due to the long list of scandals, electoral fraud and corruption issues that have mired its rule. The Arroyo administration has long ceased to perform as a role model government for the youth. It has caused the widespread disillusionment among young people and has been a disappointment to the youth's desire to instill reforms in government.
Pinoy Observer thinks that the system is the problem and not the president:
The problem really is we expect Mrs. Arroyo to churn out miracles after miracles, when we all know that it is this decaying democratic system that is causing the problem. How can you do good things when the very system prevents or hinders you from actually making it? We expect Arroyo to drastically change things when we know even then that this is impossible under a decrepit system.
Mong Palatino, Kabataan Partylist representative in the Philippine Congress and GV Southeast Asia editor, contends that it is the president herself who benefits from and is the number one defender of a corrupt and oppressive system.
Halos isang dekada na si Gloria Arroyo sa Malakanyang. Isang dekada na ring nagtitiis at lalong naghirap ang ating bansa. Para po sa aming henerasyon na naging bahagi ng Edsa Dos, ang nakalipas na siyam na taon ay parang bangungot. Bakit ang People Power president ay naging “halimaw sa banga”? Imbes na pagbabago, imbes na kaunlaran, ang nasaksihan natin ay ang kabaligtaran. Kung mayroon mang pagbabago, eto ay ang pagdami ng mga tagong yaman ng First Family; kung mayroon mang pag-unlad, eto ang pag-unlad ng kabuhayan ng mga kroni ni Arroyo.
Isang insulto sa mamamayang Pilipino ang nilulutong con-ass ng Kongreso. Hindi tayo mangmang; huwag nila tayong lokohin. Ang con-ass ay pinasa para sa kapakinabangan ni Arroyo. Walang ibang layunin ang Kongreso kundi bigyan ng legal na batayan ang hangarin ni Arroyo na manatili sa kapangyarihan habambuhay.
The con-ass being cooked in Congress is an insult to the Filipino people. We are not ignorant; they can't fool us. Con-ass was passed for the benefit of Arroyo. The Congress has no other aim but to give a legal basis to Arroyo's aspirations to perpetuate herself in power all her life.
The D Spot asks if the 2009 SONA is Arroyo's last.
Will she promise that this will be her last SONA? (Remember history? She said she won’t run for the elections—and RUN she did!? Will she say “I am sorry”? Indeed she has a lot of things to be sorry for—we may see the hard infrastructures—roads, bridges, airports, schools, etc. that she has been so proud of. How about that which we cannot see? Has her regime made people less poor? Has there been more food on the table of each family? Has her regime made people more educated?
Political commentator Mon Casiple blogs on the unsaid implications of Arroyo's SONA:
By stating that “I never expressed the desire to extend myself before my term,” she left open the possibility that she may do so in the future. By singling out each major presidentiable for snide remarks, she indirectly put herself in the ring with them. Considering that she cannot run anymore in the 2010 elections, this leaves only the possibility for charter change. She hints in the SONA that she will contend for power with them, not necessarily through elections. The not-so-subtle message of her full red gown is: GMA is ready to fight!
The SONA definitely is not a swan song, nor is it a unifying call, nor one of a legacy speech. It sounds like a campaign speech, a call to arms, or an act of throwing down a gauntlet. Is this simply a way to ward off the image of a lameduck presidency or a preparation for a real move towards a strong-woman rule?
MLQ3 sums the SONA in 3 brief sentences:
1. Don’t count me out.
2. Cha-Cha is a go.
3. we will mobilize vs.certain presidential candidates.


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Russia: Oleg Yankovsky · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Mumin Shakirov of OpenDemocracy.net writes about actor Oleg Yankovsky, who died of cancer in Moscow earlier this year.


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Russia: “Russian Software” Project · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Profy writes about the Russian Software project, whose “idea is to provide high-quality alternatives to proprietary international software titles and to make sure that these alternatives will also be much less expensive than the Western products.”


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Taiwan: Racist cartoon causes controversy · Global Voices
David Reid

Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs published a booklet featuring two cartoon characters to inform the public about the proposed free trade agreement between Taiwan and China, commonly referred to as ECFA. The cartoons quickly attracted criticism as they were considered derogatory to certain ethnic groups. The cartoons depicted two characters, Yi-ge, a Hoklo-speaking salesman from Tainan and Fa Sao, a Hakka woman from Hsinchu who speaks English, Mandarin, Hoklo and Japanese. Yi-ge is depicted as poorly informed about ECFA while Fa Sao is shown as someone who seeks knowledge and is well informed about ECFA.
Echo Taiwan posted a picture of part of the cartoon which described in detail the backgrounds of the two characters. Echo looks at the political reasons why Tainan was represented in this way in the cartoon.
為什麼又必須選「台南人」？台南是前總統陳水扁的故鄉，台南縣市是泛綠到現在還沒有 嘗到選舉敗績的地方，可以說，台南是泛綠支持者的重鎮。把「台南人」跟那些負面的人格描述連在一起，一來讓民眾在閱讀該說帖時，不知不覺在潛意識中被灌輸 「泛綠＝低級」的醜化印象，二來又不著痕跡地將阿扁以及阿扁支持者醜化。
The View from Taiwan featured a guest post by Drew Kerslake which analysed the cartoons in terms of their context in contemporary Chinese nationalism. Kerslake argues that both PRC and ROC nationalist ideologies are based on the late 19th century concept of racialism. He goes on to look at how this ideology is reflected in the cartoon characters and the relationship between the coloniser and colonised.
In the case of the cartoon images we see a clear example of Hoklo and Hakka as “ethnic other/periphery”, with the KMT and its representatives firmly in place as the “civilized center” or as “advanced” on a constructed trajectory using the dichotomies of forwardness and backwardness/ advancement and degradation/modern and backward/ civilized and uncivilized .
Kerslake goes on to write that the cartoons are actually discriminatory to both Hakka and Hoklo speaking people in Taiwan.
At first glance the characters are depicted to resemble opposites. Yi-ge the lowly, uneducated, blue collar worker, juxtaposed with Fa Sao, an educated, upwardly mobile Hakka. Although this may be a ploy to score political points with the Hakka, which have gradually shifted support behind DPP candidates, the cartoon depictions serve to degrade both Hakka and Hoklo speakers to the fetishized objects of colonial desire.
The Far-Eastern Sweet Potato writes that the production of the cartoon wasn't a mistake and someone high up should take responsibility.
Deng can say all he wants about the ministry not wanting to insult anyone, but the fact of the matter is, surely, at one point in the process of creating the cartoon, someone in the army of “public relations experts” that came up with this brilliant idea would have noticed that by design or accident, the depictions were prejudicial, if not outright racist. Surely, someone would have raised an objection, or called for caution. If this happened, then that person was silenced, as often happens in government. If no one did, then it means that whoever was involved in the creative process all agreed on what can only be seen as defining characteristics based on biology, which is the first step toward outright racial discrimination.
Letters from Taiwan criticises the apology of Minister of Economic Affairs Yiin Chii-ming (尹啟銘).

author: David Reid


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The Balkans: More on EU Visa Rules · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

More on the new EU visa rules for the Balkans – at A Fistful of Euros.


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Trinidad & Tobago: Thoughts on Alleged Plot · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Of the alleged plot to assassinate the Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister, This Beach Called Life says: “Strangely, no one has been arrested even though the Papa claims he knows which group likes him the least.”


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United Kingdom: Barcamp Transparency in Oxford · Global Voices
Sylwia Presley

Around 50 people gathered for Barcamp Transparency at the Oxford University Club last Sunday to discuss issues of transparency in open government, social media and cyberactivism. As mentioned earlier, Global Voices was one of the media sponsors of the event.
The day began with breakfast at 10 AM and the sessions were live-tweeted by attendees:
Lunch provided everyone with an opportunity to discuss the sessions and network around their ideas and projects. In the afternoon there were three more rounds of one-hour sessions.
There was also a session dedicated to Global Voices work, which resulted in new fans:
After the final session we packed our Google goodie bags, food and laptops, and moved down to the bar for a drink.
Barcamp Transparency was only the beginning of a discussion about open government, social media, and cyberactivism ethics. The conversation remains on Twitter and on FriendFeed (do also check the discussions from our Friday virtual event). The organisers hope to repeat the event in Oxford next year, as well as travel to Italy, Spain and Poland in the Spring.
If you are interested in photos, tweets and posts from the event and projects presented and developed there, look for #bct09 hashtag online.

author: Sylwia Presley


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Azerbaijan: Watermelon season · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Sheki, Azerbaijan says that watermelon season has started in the country, posting photographs and detailing some of the traditions associated with the summer fruit.

author: Onnik Krikorian


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Bangladesh, India: Tipaimukh Dam And Transparency · Global Voices
Rezwan

Our previous report on the damaging aspects of the Tipaimukh Hydroelectric Project and protests against it generated much reader response. This post has updates on the situation.
Asadul Haque at Haque's Talking describes how this has been a hot debate in Bangladesh recently:
The Tipaimukh dam issue currently continues to dominate the domain of political, media, intellectual and civil society’s discourse in Bangladesh with a unilateral demand for revocation of India’s decision for the project. Massive public protest in different forms i.e. rallies, protest meetings, strikes and so on against the dam continue to gain momentum in Bangladesh.
Zahid at Sachalayatan writes:
বাংলাদেশ আজ একটি ভয়ঙ্কর সমস্যার মুখে পতিত, আমরা এখনো বিষয়টি পরিষ্কার বুঝতে পারছিনা তাই আসল চিন্তা না করে রাজনীতির কাঁদা ছোড়াছুড়ি করে যাচ্ছি। বিষয়টি নিয়ে ব্লগে, সংবাদপত্রে, টিভিতে, জনসভায় আলোচনা হচ্ছে, কুটনৈতিক পর্যায়ে মতানৈক্য চলছে, বিভিন্ন দলের বিশেষজ্ঞদের নাম জানা যাচ্ছে কিন্তু তার পরেও আমরা পনের কোটি মানুষ শান্তিতে ঘুমোচ্ছি। সুনামগঞ্জের হাওড় এলাকার দরিদ্র কৃষকটি, যার সারা বছরের খাবার আর জীবন যাপনের একমাত্র অবলম্বন বোরো ধান, কিংবা দরিদ্র জেলেটি যার খেয়ে পড়ে বেঁচে থাকা নির্ভর করছে বর্ষাকালের হাওড়ের মাছের উপর সেও শান্তিতে ঘুমুচ্ছে কারন সে জানেনা কি ভয়াবহ ভবিষ্যৎ অপেক্ষা করছে তার জন্য। ফাঁরাক্কা ব্যারেজের কারনে আমাদের উত্তাল প্রমত্তা পদ্মা আজ যৌবন হারিয়েছে সেই সাথে ধুকে ধুকে মরছে এর শাখানদীগুলো। ১৯৭৪-৭৫ সালে নির্মিত ফাঁরাক্কা ব্যারেজের ফলে ভারতের একচেটিয়া পানি উত্তোলনকে কেন্দ্র করে একটি চুক্তি করতে কুটনৈতিক আলোচনা গড়িয়েছে ২০ বছর, আর এই সুদীর্ঘ সময়ে আমরা হারিয়েছি আমাদের নদীর নাব্যতা, আমাদের ফসলের জমি হারিয়েছে তার উর্বরতা, লবনাক্ততা এসে গ্রাস করেছে আমাদের অহংকার সুন্দরবনকে, ইবনে বতুতার সবুজ বাংলাদেশের উত্তরাঞ্চল পরিনত হয়েছে শুষ্ক মরুভূমিতে।
The protests have already spread in Internet. More than 80 Facebook groups have been opened, which includes: :: Stop Tipaimukh Dam ::, Protest Against ‘Tipaimukh Dam’, Tipaimukh Dam & Fulertal Barrage – Lets Stop India, Stop Tipaimukh Dam, Save Our Bangladesh Tipaimukh Dissemination. Dedicated blog sites have been launched to compile and disseminate Tipaimukh dam related news.
Anondomoye discovers [bn] from the EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment) report:
সবচেয়ে উলেখযোগ্য যে তথ্যটা পেলাম সেটা হলো টিপাইমুখ ড্যাম সাইট থেকে ৯৫ কি.মি. ভাটিতে ফুলেরতালে একটা ব্যারেজ নির্মানের প্রস্তাবনা আছে (যা ভারত সবসময় অস্বীকার করে আসছে)।
Image courtesy Subir Bhowmik
Navid says:
The Tipaimukh Dam project may not be harmful to us rather useful if it only consists of a Dam. The problem will arise if India makes Fulertal Barrage along with the Dam. The Barrage can really render this great country into a desert.
The recent comments of the Indian High Commissioner in Bangladesh has caused much uproar in Bangladesh politics, reports An Ordinary Citizen. Indian journalist Subir Bhowmik writes in his blog that hiding of facts are fuelling more controversies. He opines:
If we leave this aside as normal compulsions of domestic politics in Bangladesh, it still falls on India to take a lower-riparian neighbour like Bangladesh into confidence when we plan such huge projects like Tipaimukh.
However, Diganta Sarkar at The New Horizons comments on the EIA and EMP documents that he “hardly finds a ground to accuse (the Indian) Government of hiding anything” as these are available online. He is also satisfied with the mitigation effort and planning to tackle the environmental damages and earthquake threats published in those documents but questions whether all of them will be implemented.
Zahid has already published five posts of his investigative six part series [bn] describing the impact of the dam and barrage refuting the Indian claims that there will be no environmental damage in Bangladesh. (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5). He says:
একজন সাধারণ মানুষও যেখানে জানে যে বাঁধের কিছু না কিছু প্রভাব উজান ভাটিতে থাকে সেখানে একটি বিলিয়ন ডলারের প্রকল্পের Environmental Impact assessment (EIA) এ এর ভাটি অঞ্চলকে প্রায় সম্পূর্ণ ভাবে উপেক্ষা করা কতটা যুক্তিযুক্ত ?
Indian blogger Biplob Pal says [bn]:
বিদ্যুত অবশ্যই চাই। ভারত এখন শিল্পোন্নত দেশ-সেখানে ঘন্টায় ৪-১০ ঘন্টা গড়ে লোডশেডিং নিশ্চয় কাম্য না। কিন্ত সেটা হিমালয়ের জল সম্পদকে লুন্ঠন করে কোটি কোটি মানুষের জীবিকাকে ধ্বংশ করে কেও নিশ্চয় চাইবে না ।
টিপাইমুখ কোন বিচ্ছিন্ন ঘটনা নয়। হিমালয়ের বুকে এই রকম আরো ১০০ টী জলবিদ্যুত কেন্দ্র তৈরী করার পরিকল্পনা চলছে। আফটার অল, যত বেশী বাঁধ তত বেশী ঠিকাদারি। পকেট ভরবে রাজনীতিবিদদের। দুদিকে লাভ। অর্থাগম ভোটাগম। মাশুল গুনবে ভারত -বাংলাদেশের সাধারন মানুষ।যাদের অধিকাংশই আদিবাসি। নদীই একমাত্র জীবিকা কেন্দ্র।
Tipaimukh is not an isolated incident. There are plans to build about hundred more such hydro-electric plants in India. After all, the more dams the more contracts. The politicians will also cash in. The profit is multidimensional: more money, more votes. The price will be paid by the common people of India and Bangladesh. And most of them are indigenous, rivers are their only livelihood.
Jiten Yumnam at Intercultural Resources reminds that this project can spark movements in India's Manipur state:
India should refrain from constructing Tipaimukh dam to avoid multidimensional conflicts and complications as the project is potentially rife for causing conflicts between states, between state and indigenous peoples and between indigenous peoples all over control and management of resources and definition of developmental priorities. As Manipur is already rife with movements for right to self determination, any forced construction of Tipaimukh dam with its multifaceted impacts will only legitimize their movement to defend their land and resources.
A 10-member all-party delegation of parliamentarians of Bangladesh is visiting India currently to assess the situation. The Bangladesh government has requested India not to start building the dam without Bangladesh's consent. Muhammad Zamir opines in an Oped at The Daily Star:
What is required today is transparency and political will. One hopes that the visit of our Parliamentary delegation will be followed not only by intensive discussion on the basis of shared data between relevant experts from both countries but also meetings between the two political leaderships. An acceptable equation has to be reached between sovereign rights and national interests.

author: Rezwan


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Barbados: Humming Birds  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

my rustic bajan garden manages “to capture some photos of the emerald throated humming bird” and her young ones, who will soon be ready to leave the nest.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Brazil: Fighting for more recycling with the Electronic Waste Manifesto · Global Voices
Diego Casaes

Photo by marcbraz on Flickr
Worldwide waste management  is a difficult task for many countries, regardless of whether they are developed or developing nations. In Brazil, only about 10% of cities have a proper strategy to deal with recyclable waste, according to André Trigueiro, a journalist, professor and commentator on CBN Radio Network.
In recent weeks, the National Policy on Solid Residuals proposed in the Brazilian  Chamber of Deputies has sparked discussion amongst Brazilian bloggers solely because of an amendment to its 33rd article,  dealing with the regulation of reverse logistics (take-back) and mandatory recycling of special waste, no longer considering electronic equipment as such. Many people think this is due to certain pressure from recycling industries, given the high cost of dealing with electronic waste.
Reacting to the adaptation of the bill, the Coletivo Lixo Eletrônico (Electronic Waste Group) created the Electronic Waste Manifesto [pt] to share some insights about what the inclusion of electronic waste in this national policy to control solid residuals would mean for the Brazilian population and its current lifestyle. Here’s an extract from the Manifesto:
No Brasil, temos uma oportunidade hoje que está sendo desperdiçada. Tramita na Câmara dos Deputados o Projeto de Lei da Política Nacional dos Resíduos Sólidos (PL 203/91). É imperativo que a Política Nacional de Resíduos Sólidos contemple os equipamentos eletro-eletrônicos e que estes sejam enquadrados como produtos especiais de logística reversa e reciclagem obrigatória. Os eletro-eletrônicos estarão cada vez mais presentes na nossa vida, trazendo benefícios na mesma velocidade em que produzem mais lixo com o qual ainda não lidamos corretamente. Regulamentar sua destinação é condição urgente e necessária para que possamos continuar a nos beneficiar dos avanços da tecnologia de maneira sustentável, sem pagar um alto preço ambiental e à saúde de nossa população.
The full text of the translated Manifesto can be found on my personal blog.
During an interview [pt] on the  Primeira Mão blog (First Handed), Felipe Andueza, from the Electronic Waste blog, one of those responsible for the Manifesto, when asked how Brazil deals with electronic waste, replies:
Na esfera federal, há somente a Lei de Crimes Ambientais, que institui a responsabilidade até a deposição adequada de todos os produtos potencialmente contaminantes por seus fabricantes e algumas Resoluções CONAMA sobre pilhas e baterias. […] Boa parte deve parar no lixo doméstico, principalmente o que não pode ser doado, reaproveitado e etc. Estima-se que mais ou menos 1% do lixo eletrônico produzido no Brasil seja reciclado, somente.
On a national scale, there is only the Law for Environmental Crimes to establish  accountability over potentially toxic products until they are properly disposed of, and there are some  resolutions about batteries from the National Environment Committee. […] A large part of this type of material ends up in domestic landfills, especially that which cannot be donated or reused. It is estimated that only about 1% of all Brazil’s electronic waste is currently  recycled.
As sustainability demands recycling grows faster, the amendments to the bill take Brazil in a direction that is incompatible with the country’s population and economic growth. It is also important to note that, for many people, reverse logistics of electronics would be an interesting way of supporting digital inclusion projects by taking advantage of electronics that are still in good condition.
To seek support for this manifesto, an online petition has been created and it is slowly gaining support through the Brazilian Internet. It is necessary to spread the word more quickly, as the law may be passed with the environmentally unfriendly amendment, but the mainstream media has not picked up the issue so far.
Photo by Flickr user Galeria de Milton Jung CBNSP
In a comment on the Electronic Waste Manifesto blog, Walfrido Assunção remembers a time when, similarly, tires were left behind in the natural environment, such as in rivers, without proper attention from environmentalists and the population; bringing [pt] an interesting point to the comment box, he says:
[…] Quem de nós não tem no porão, na garagem ou numa prateleira qualquer um televisor ou computador obsoleto “esquecido”? Quem de nós não tem um (ou vários) telefone celular obsoleto em uma gaveta qualquer? Esses eletro-eletrônicos hoje que são “parte da paisagem ou da decoração”, no futuro não muito distante se tornarão também num preocupante passivo.
Karine Estevam also reflects [pt] on the Manifesto's blog post, arguing that:
Achei maravilhosa esta iniciativa de fazer o Manifesto, afinal precisamos participar incisivamente do processo de formação das Politas Publicas Ambientais.
O lixo é uma questão muito seria e extramamente relevante, principalmente este tipo de lixo já que não se tem ideia do período de decomposição e por isso deve-se buscar alternativas para o seu descarte.
Vou assinar com todo prazer!
Celedo gave his thoughts on the subject with a strong point of view, highlightng [pt]:
O mundo está uma verdadeira imundície!
O lixo diário e por vezes lixo por segundo (nova medida de lixo/tempo) é produzido pelo consumismo exacerbado da humanidade… espero que não sejamos omissos neste caso de importância mundial!
In conclusion, thinking of means of managing the residuals of the electronics industry is part of proposing and creating a sustainable lifestyle and system of recycling for electronic goods. Both cyberactivism and online participation raise awareness of the public's needs that are currently being undermined in the industry's economic interests.

author: Diego Casaes


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China: Sulfur mining in Big Tree County · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Asia Society released an old documentary about pollution problems caused by sulfur mining in Da Shu Xian, or Big Tree County, in Sichuan province. The documentary was produced in 1992.


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Colombia: Hiperbarrio Featured at Periodismo Ciudadano · Global Voices
Juan Arellano

Those who follow Global Voices and who also have an interest in topics relating to participative journalism, digital communities, and the projects of Rising Voices, may already be familiar with Hiperbarrio [es], a project of Colombian young people from Medellín. They have recently been awarded with the Prix Arts Electronica in the category of “Digital Communities.” Not long ago, they have also celebrated their second anniversary and members from Periodismo Ciudadano [es] site (Citizen Journalism), our partners at GV in Spanish, as part of the celebration, had the excellent idea of producing a series of video interviews, two of which have already been posted on ther site. Volunteers from the Periodismo Ciudadano and Global Voices communities subtitled the videos into English.
In the first video, published with the post titled ConVerGentes Group celebrates its second anniversary [es], Catalina Restrepo, member of Hiperbarrio and blogger at Cosas del Alma [es] tells about how the project started and the problems faced by La Loma in Medellín, the neighborhood where they are located. Restrepo was recently awarded with the Talented Woman Award in the field of Social Development in her hometown.
Video I
In the second video, published under the title Gabriel Jaime Venegas: rescuing La Loma’s historic memory [es] features Gabriel, one of the pioneers of the project, who blogs at Esas Voces que Nos Llegan [es], who tells why recovering the neigborhood history is so important to them.
Video II
Jacinto Lajas, one of the members of Periodismo Ciudadano and the person who produced the videos shown above, is a self professed fan of Hiperbarrio project. Lajas describes why the project in Medellín was so appealing to their site and led to the production of the videos:
Since we started with PC (Periodismo Ciudadano), besides having friends there already (Argentina, Chile, Venezuela, etc.), our interest has been focused more in Latin America, which in the aspect of citizen journalism in Spanish is the logical area of interest, and where its development is more interesting at every level, because of the sociopolitical contexts from the different countries, among other things. Besides that, personally (and I guess everybody else) I’ve have always been interested about what was happening there (politically, socially…). At least, a lot of people of my generation in Spain were already interested in those themes during our own youth. Come on, we used to hear Quilapayún, Víctor Jara or Violeta Parra along with Deep Purple, Creedence (Clearwater Revival) or AC/DC, to make ourselves musically clear. :D
The first interest in Hiperbarrio came about through an article that dealt with the project as a way of taking young people to certain neighborhoods of Medellín, making the most of libraries, as an alternative to the way of weapons, something similar to computers vs. guns, to put it in simpler terms. And it was nice the touch of citizen journalism, where young people could document their own reality and thus be productive, instead of victims of a situation of deep-rooted violence, which always ends in the same way, crime and death. That was the part of the project that attracted me.
Then once I met them, my conviction about the huge injustices grew stronger. They were nice young people, intelligent, cultured, full of goals and dreams, with a lot of ability and with a lot to offer. Thanks to this path offered by Hiperbarrio, they are making it clear to the world what is happening in Colombia, as in other parts of Latin America and the world in general. It is not a problem of the people, but of those who lead people’s destiny without caring at all about the people. There are paths to fight against that sort of curse without deaths or bloody revolutions. Instead one can fight with their hearts and a free voice, in a peaceful and kind way (which now the Internet allows to spread further).
The complete series consists of five videos, two of them are posted at Periodismo Ciudadano [es], to watch the rest of them, you can do it here. Global Voices would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Hiperbarrio once more, who recently participated in Campus Party Bogotá 2009 with a workshop about videoblogging and who appeared days ago in a piece of news at the Colombian newspaper El Espectador.

author: Juan Arellano


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Egypt: Fox News Creative Chaos · Global Voices
Mohamed ElGohary

Egyptian blogger Zeinobia reacts to a mistake on Fox News, where Egypt is placed on a map instead of Iraq. Our Morocco author Jillian C York makes a similar observation here.


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Global Voices develops alternative revenue streams · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Like all other media organizations in times of economic crisis, Global Voices has to be creative and innovative when it comes to thinking of ways to sustain our organization.
In 2008, after being administered for three years by the Berkman Center at Harvard University, we became an independent non-profit foundation incorporated in the Netherlands. For an organization with hundreds of members throughout the world, Global Voices manages to keep costs relatively low. We have no physical office, and most of the remarkable people who work so hard to produce the content you see in these pages do so on a voluntary basis. Still, much of our time and energy in the past year and a half has been focused on fundraising and figuring out ways to make the organization more independently sustainable.
We’re pleased to say that, in spite of the current economic crisis, we’re close to covering our budget for 2009, thanks to the support of the philanthropic organizations listed here. To ensure our long-term sustainability, however, we’re looking to strike a balance between philanthropic support, editorial commissions, partnerships, and content syndication, with a bit of advertising in the mix.
Here are some of the ideas we’ve been exploring:
Content Commissions and Underwriting
All our content is published under a Creative Commons license that allows both commercial and non-commercial websites to republish what they like. From time to time, however, an organization will commission us to cover a specific region or topic more in depth. In 2008, Reuters underwrote the cost of hiring editors to curate content on climate change and citizen video. And over the next six months, a new blog from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) will be commissioning our editors to cross-post stories about women's health, young people and sexuality, population, development and climate change. Some donors or organizations with an interest in seeing more of a certain kind of coverage could also specifically support that content, with a clear understanding that they will have no say over the content itself. This kind of underwriting is a feature of many public media models. This type of income is likely to become a significant alternative source.
Advertising
Many websites use automated advertising services, but so far we’ve decided against going that route. Earnings from these ads would be fairly small relative to the amount of space we’d have to devote to them, and we’re concerned about some of the questionable content automated ads can serve. But this doesn’t mean we’re philosophically opposed to advertising. This week, we will be doing our first paid promotion for an online video competition organized by the website Put it On. We feel that promoting a citizen media competition that is open to anyone in the world is in line with our mission. We have also made a commitment that we shall always make it expressly clear when any of our relationships or content partnerships is paid or sponsored, and advertising will be clearly marked as such.
Consulting
There’s an tremendous amount of knowledge and talent in the Global Voices community, and there are opportunities for partnerships with other organizations which can bring financial benefit to both Global Voices and to individual community members. In September, 30 Global Voices bloggers will be paid an honorarium to mentor new bloggers from Europe and Africa participating in an online communication course with ActionAid Denmark. We’re delighted to be able to provide interesting opportunities for Global Voices volunteers and also to share the income across the organization, while using the experience to develop new training guidelines for future mentoring projects.
Online donations
We launched our online donations page at the end of last year with a quiet funding appeal followed by a slideshow featuring photos and artwork from members of our community, and we’re planning another in the near future. In an ideal world, we’d be able to survive only on donations from our readers, and while we know that’s unrealistic, we’re very grateful when friends show their support in that way. So if you like the way we're thinking and growing and care to send us a donation, do know that it will be greatly appreciated!
These are just a few of the ideas we’ve been exploring in order to generate additional revenue for Global Voices alongside our more traditional fundraising. If you’d like to explore any of these further with us, please contact me at georgiap at globalvoicesonline dot org.
We're hugely thankful and proud of all the people who invest their time and energy in this project and who, together, seem to be making it work.

author: Georgia Popplewell


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Haiti: Secret Funeral  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Haitian blogger Wadner Pierre reports that Kenel Pascal, “who appears to have been gunned down by UN occupation troops”, was given a secret funeral “because the priest and family were fearful of UN and Haitian government reprisals” and goes on to write another post examining the circumstances surrounding the death of the young man.


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Hijablogging: On Burqas and Bans · Global Voices
Jillian C. York

Although the practice of wearing hijab has been around since pre-Islamic times, the debate surrounding it has increased in recent years.  Whereas in some countries (Saudi Arabia, Iran, parts of Afghanistan and Indonesia), hijab is mandated, in others, it has been banned in schools and other public spaces (Turkey, Tunisia, parts of Belgium and Germany).  But whether required or forbidden, Muslim women's dress is almost always a topic of hot debate.
Most recently, French President Nicholas Sarkozy proposed a ban on the burqa.  His proposal follows a 2004 French law banning hijab from schools.
Bloggers around the world across the spectrum of belief have been speaking out about Sarkozy's decision.  At KABOBfest, Canadian Sana writes:
By targeting how a small number of French women choose to assert and represent their sexuality, France is missing the real sources of the problem as well as implying that its foundation is perhaps far less stable than what it would like the world and its own citizenry to think. It is now time for France not to shed the various components of its identity, but rather to approach those very pieces with a broader outlook. Its minority population has been willing to adapt for decades, but can France accept minimal equity as a basis for greater equality as we have done so here in North America?
The blogger concludes with:
Mr. Sarkozy, your efforts may be sincere; you are, after all, only trying to protect the criteria for what makes one“French” enough. Remember, however, that in your attempt to free woman from her draping chains, you restrict her sexuality, her own sense of her individualism and her being to the confines of your harem by dictating the dance she must do and the garments she must wear to please you.
Algerian-American blogger The Moor Next Door echoes a similar sentiment.  Arguing that Sarkozy's proposal is “bigotry dressed as gallantry,” he states:
The trouble the French may want to worry about is not the burqa as it is worn in France today, but that such a ban, as the headscarf ban has done, will make the garment a greater symbol of Muslim identity and sign of cultural defiance. France has done a good job at finding ways of alienating racial and religious minorities. Indeed, among Western nations it is a leader in this field. This is a quality that does little to further the assimilationist cause the French so actively pursue, though. The proposition comes with other baggage, too. The concern (posed by the Economist piece) that this proposed ban would be might be “misunderstood abroad,” seems foolish. What is to be misunderstood? It is precisely an effort to limit the expression of religion, Islam especially in this case, and follows from the same motivations as the earlier headscarf ban.
Farah, writing for the group blog Nuseiba, presents an excellent roundup of Australian opinions on the matter, noting:
A lot of writers (including Posetti and Hussein) against a ban point out that a number of women actively choose to wear the burqa or niqab. While the burqa has been used by groups to subjugate women, these writers highlight the need to identify the agency of these Muslim women, rather than denying them that agency which a ban would do.
Faith-based blogger Tracy Simmons, from the United States, sees the issue as a simple one.  Asking Sarkozy not to strip women of their dignity, she pleads:
I don’t think people realize that wearing the burqa is a choice for many Islam women. And because it’s a choice, they shouldn’t be forced by a government NOT to wear it.
Of course, not all bloggers are opposed to Sarkozy's ban.  Popular Egyptian blogger and columnist Mona Eltahawy, who famously took off her own headscarf a few years ago (an experience which she has written about on her blog) wrote an op-ed for The New York Times in which she stated that, as a woman and a Muslim, she was opposed to the burqa being worn anywhere.
One U.S.-based blogger, Anne of Carversville, expresses her support for Eltahawy by saying:
I’m sensitive to the delicate nature of change in politics, but I have not lived my life to hear in 2009 that I’m offbase, because I believe that burqas debase women, erasing them from society as Eltahawy argues.
In formalizing my position against burqas, I am in no way affronted by the more conservative form of dress chosen by many Muslim women. I am not opposed to head coverings of any kind.
More broadly, the blogger adds:
At the same time, I support and advocate the embracing of life’s sensuality — seeing, hearing, smelling and using all our sensitivity to experience life. This view does not put me in opposition to Muslim culture, which also embraces the deeply sensual nature of life.
I will also accept burqas for women when men are equally compelled to wear them. For both genders to embrace burqas as a sign of respect for their religion (which does not require them in the Koran), then I agree that burqas are a sign of Muslim culture and religious custom.
Eltahawy's column was not without opposition from the blogosphere, however.  Sahar, writing for Nuseiba, protests:
…the best way to support Muslim women is to respect their choice in how they express their religion and culture. It is not to impose what we think is good for them.  I find it ironic that Eltahawy who claims to be a feminist is ignoring the importance of choice, agency and the lived experiences of these women— which are essential factors in understanding women in feminist analysis.
Nor do we all agree with Eltahawy who, perhaps due to her socially privileged position is detached from the social, political and religious motivations for wearing burqa, and can’t comprehend how it can be a vehicle of success for some or a proud reinforcement of Muslim identity for others. The burqa can be understood as a symbol of the outrage Muslims are feeling as they are exposed to an increasingly xenophobic Europe.  It’s symbolic of an attempt to cling on to an identity that is being eroded in a hostile environment. I write this piece now after just reading about an Egyptian woman who was stabbed in a German court 18 times by the man she was suing for harassing her for wearing a headscarf.  It is not the burqa alone that is being undermined and discredited but Islamic dress entirely. Therefore, the call to remove the burqa cannot be devoid of such a context and for Eltahawy to think that divorcing her criticism from such a context as viable is politically naïve.
Though it remains to be seen whether or not France will implement a ban on the burqa, one thing is certain: this is a very polarizing topic around the world.

author: Jillian C. York


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India: Advertising Prop Used In Real Life Situation · Global Voices
Rezwan

News Views And Analysis informs (with pictures) that an advertising prop, a raft was taken off the hoarding and used as a real life rescue tool when Mumbai submerged under flush flood due to heavy rain.


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Iran: Mourning the Green Movement’s Victims · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Several Iranian bloggers and news sites reported that several thousands people commemorated the protest movement's victims when the police attacked them. Here is a video of today's gathering in Behesht Zahra Cemetery in Terhan. Watch the photos here.

author: Fred Petrossian


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Jamaica: Doping Athletes?  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Girl With a Purpose reports on five Jamaican track and field athletes “who have been found with traces of a banned substance in their urine.”


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Lao SEA Games 2009 · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

The 25th Southeast Asian Games will take place in Laos on December 9-18. Visit the official site of the games.

author: Mong Palatino


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Laos: Pollution from paper factory · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Lao Voices uploads a video which shows pollution from a paper factory in Laos.


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Mexico: Free Events Around the City · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Gratis Hasta Puñaladas [es] is a new blog dedicated to sharing information about events and activities around the city that are free.

author: Eduardo Avila


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Mexico: The Santa Fe District · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

The Mexico City district of Santa Fe is “Mexico's Dubai” and characterized by its commercialization boom and high-end shopping, but which is also surrounded by many of the city's slums writes Daniel Hernandez of Intersections.


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Moldova: Election Updates · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Notes on Moldova's repeat election – at Scraps of Moscow, Eternal Remont and Robert Amsterdam's Blog.

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Nepal: The Strike Culture · Global Voices
Rezwan

Continuity writes about the Bandh (strike) culture in Nepal: “Bad security? Bad wages? Bad hair day? Lack of landfill sites? Microbuses getting torched? Food prices too high? All of these things are acceptable reasons for strikes here in Nepal.”


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Pakistan: Citizen Media Vs. Print Media · Global Voices
Rezwan

Hina Safdar at Chowrangi informs of a recent dispute between a blog vs. some journalists. The pkpolitics.com blog exposed some journalists on various corruption issues and some of them responded by publishing articles in a Pakistan daily.


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Paraguay: Typical Food Called Sopa · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

The blog Camino al Paraguay [es] continues by showing foods from the country with 2 posts showing Paraguayan Sopa, which is cooked in a mud oven called a Tatakua.


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Philippines: Taal Volcano · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

nomad4ever writes about Taal Volcano in the Philippines. His description of the volcano: A volcano on an island in a lake on an island in an ocean.


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Russia: Activists Appeal To Iranian Opposition · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

On July 26, LJ user dobrokhotov wrote (RUS) about a rally in front of the Iranian embassy in Moscow, organized by the Russian democratic youth movement “We” in support of Iran's opposition: “[…] The main thing is we'd like the Iranian opposition to go on chanting ‘margbar putin’ – but, from now on, not ‘[margbar russiye]’.” LJ user oleg_kozyrev added: “[…] I would prefer that ‘margbar’ isn't chanted at all.”


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Russia: Putin on Solzhenitsyn · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Eternal Remont writes about PM Vladimir Putin's recent interaction with Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's widow.


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Russia: Unsold iPhones · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Profy writes about the situation with iPhone sales in Russia.


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Russia: Vasily Krima, aka the “Volgograd Obama” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Sean's Russia Blog writes about Vasily Krima, “the first Afro-Russian to run for public office” – here and here.


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Situation of Indonesian farmers · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Maya observes that Indonesian farmers are still suffering, especially during food crisis.


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Sri Lanka: The Detained Refugees · Global Voices
Rezwan

Indi.ca comments: “Sri Lankan IDPs are not displaced as much as detained. They’re being held until LTTE cadres are ‘weeded out’ or screened or whatever, which has a logic, but there’s no particular legal basis for it. That’s why I’m interested in the Fundamental Rights case filed by the family of an IDP.”


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The Balkans: Mladic Update · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Foreign Policy Association's War Crimes blog posts an update on Ratko Mladic.


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Trinidad & Tobago: Emancipation Celebrations · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“On August 1, 1985, Trinidad and Tobago became the first country in the world to declare a national holiday to commemorate the abolition of slavery”: Repeating Islands highlights Emancipation Day celebrations in the twin island republic.


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Trinidad & Tobago: PM vs. the Media · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

As the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago declares that the media is against him, KnowProSE.com says: “My olive branch for the Prime Minister would be, ‘You fix the government, we'll fix the media.’  But the point is that he isn't fixing the government…”, while This Beach Called Life sums it up this way: “Mostly, the Prime wants to know why the media hates animals and doesn’t want to kiss his donkey, like the rest of his cabinet affectionately and religiously does every day.”


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Ukraine: Q&A with Hryhoriy Nemyrya · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

EurActiv.com visits Kyiv and talks to Hryhoriy Nemyrya, Ukraine’s vice PM, in charge of relations with Europe: questions are here, Nemyrya's responses – here, a shorter summary – here.


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Armenia: Homophoia and intolerance · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Unzipped: Gay Armenia comments on a round table held in Yerevan on homophobia and intolerance in society. The blog says that Armenia cannot afford to allow xenophobia, homophobia and intolerance towards others to go unchecked.


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Armenia: Kim Kardashian, national identity and peace · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Ianyan continues its regular feature compiling mention of Armenia and Armenians on the Internet. In its latest column, the blog comments on reference to celebrity socialite Kim Karashian and fashion, national identity, breaking down ethnic divides, and more…


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Barbados: Corruption Legislation Needed · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“It doesn’t matter how many tens of millions of dollars are missing at the end of a major project, no one ever goes to jail”: Barbados Free Press suggests that part of the problem is that “Barbados lacks the laws and the codified standards necessary to prosecute public officials for common acts of corruption.”


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Chinese NGOs: reading political signs in the fate of Gongmeng · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

David Bandurski from China Media Project translated an article written by Qian Gang which comments on the recent crack down of Gongmeng, a corporate registered citizen rights NGO, by the Beijing government.

author: Oiwan Lam


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Cuba: Political Prisoners · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Cuban diaspora blogger Uncommon Sense reports that while one former political prisoner has started a blog, another Cuban human rights activist “faces up to 8 years in prison if convicted of trumped-up charges of assault and receiving stolen property.”