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Saudi Arabia: KAUST To Inspire Scientific Achievement – And More? · Global Voices
Ayesha Saldanha

On September 23, Saudi Arabia's National Day, the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology was inaugurated. It is a graduate-level research university with state-of-the-art facilities, and has attracted scientists and students from more than 60 countries. The KAUST campus is located at Thuwal on the Red Sea coast north of Jeddah, and is the first coeducational university in the country, where students will be able to mix freely in classes. In this post we hear reactions to the inauguration of KAUST by bloggers in Saudi Arabia, including some KAUST students.
Nathan Collier is an American postdoctoral researcher at KAUST:
The idea of the University is to be a graduate school only in sciences and mathematics. The goal is to function much like a government lab would, with directed research foci, yet have students come to be part of this also. KAUST has done a fabulous job at attracting great people to its faculty and has taken an aggressive stance to become a significant contributor to the world's scientific knowledge. There is a lot of skepticism about whether the University will succeed, but at this point these discussions are not fruitful. The point now is to work hard to make it a success and help contribute to our understanding of the way our world works.
Eric Martin, blogging at Sober Saudi, is an American master's student:
(A)s the first class of a University, there is a heavier burden of responsibility that lies on the students shoulders than there is with following classes (obviously).  Traditions, formation of student government, and academic standards are just a few key responsibilities that come to mind. […] As student unions form, students settle, and classes come into maturity, there remains one balancing act left for KAUST to master; respecting the Saudi culture while simultaneously keeping the open mind that will attract scholars from around the world for years to come.  One Indian friend put it bluntly, calling it a “lose-lose” situation;  suggesting that if KAUST gets too liberal the nation won’t support it, but if it is too conservative it will become just another “Saudified” university.  I’m still ambivalent at this point, “near-beer” in hand.
Eric attended the inauguration of the university, and was in awe:
Tonight I attended my first Royal Ball, on National Saudi Day, hosted by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques (and now KAUST); King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud.  The official event, the KAUST Inauguration Ceremony. I have never felt better (or cooler for that matter) being so insignificant in my entire life, if you can grasp that. There’s something special about being in the presence of a King, a REAL King.  I get the idea that there are many such “Kings” in our world today, but only few actually have the power to inspire a nation.  King Abdullah is one of those few. […] KAUST’s motto has always been “Through Inspiration. Discovery.”  Fortunately for this Inaugural class, “Inspiration” is coming in the form of extravagant events, and until KAUST becomes yet another “Self-Inspiring” university, we can only imagine what grand act awaits us next.  I’ve already put in a request for either stealing the World Cup from South Africa or bringing Michael Jackson back from the dead, whichever costs less.
Nathan, another American at KAUST, writes at Saudi Aggie:
The more I learn about King Abdullah, the more I have grown to like his policies, his savvy politics (necessary in such an ideologically diverse country), and his progressive vision for the country. The King deserves a Nobel prize for bringing us together here in Saudi Arabia from different countries and cultures to learn more about the world through science…and to learn more and build bridges between each other's cultures while we are here.
Abdullah Al-Duhailan is proud of his country’s achievement:
Ahmed Al-Omran, who blogs at Saudi Jeans, is in a reflective mood:
Last Wednesday was the 79th National Day of Saudi Arabia. […] I salute those who live by the ideals of this nation, and find the courage in themselves to stop, think and reflect, and then say: we can do better than this, we must do better that this, we are better than this. That’s why when I read that groups of young men in different parts of the country decided to celebrate the National Day by acting like hooligans, I was disturbed but not surprised or shocked. […] Although we have a great country, we are yet to construct a plural identity and make those boys realize that what they were vandalizing is actually theirs. Our national identity has been tied to individuals, tribes and religion among other things, but never to the country which we all should belong. […] At the very same moments when the hooligans were destroying storefronts in Riyadh and Khobar, a dream of our King was coming true in Thuwal. […] The launch of KAUST promises a new dawn for Saudi Arabia, the beginning of a future based on knowledge and enlightenment. That’s the promise, but will we ever come to realize it or even just come near it? How can we make sure that KAUST will not end up, in the words of Rasheed Aboulsamh, as a west coast Aramco enclave, where freedom and progressive thinking prevail while the rest of the country remains hostage to a religious dogma controlled by a select few? The celebrations of the National Day, the opening of KAUST, the acts of vandalism, and everything else that happened over the course of this past year left me with many conflicted feelings: aspiration and disappointment, hope and despair. But more than anything, this 23rd of September left me with many questions, and no answers.

author: Ayesha Saldanha


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Sri Lanka: Suppression Of Media Freedom · Global Voices
Rezwan

Concerned Citizen comments on the media freedom in Sri Lanka at Groundviews: “despite vehement denials, it is obvious that the government is guilty of suppression of media freedom and dissent through intimidation, threats, violence and extrajudicial acts which have seriously affected their credibility both nationally and internationally.”

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Rezwan


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Tunisia: Severe Flooding Kills 15 · Global Voices
Jillian C. York

Photos show severe flooding in Redeyef
Flash floods hit Tunisia this week, killing at least 15 people and damaging property in the town of Redeyef in southern Tunisia.  Tunisia Online News recently reported that three cargo planes have been sent to the area to assist residents; Tunisian help has also been sent to Burkina Faso, which is also experiencing severe flooding.
Photos shared on the Asslema Tunisie forum show cars nearly overtaken by floodwaters, while forum commenters lament the situation.  One, Quasimodo, remarks:
Des images terribles
Quand l'eau monte à ce niveau avec des infrastructures comme les nôtres,il faudrait imaginer le pire!!!!
je m'imagine dans ma voiture dans cette situation ,à moitié dans la boue
Et que dire des autres endroits ou régions plus défavorisées?
je trouve que c'est trop désolant
Bidi’ Niqat, Liba'd El-Horouf (which means “some dots for a few letters”) has started a campaign of solidarity for the victims of the flooding.  On his blog, he presents a badge that users can add to their blogs, declaring:
وقفة تضامنية، مع عائلات و اهالي الضحايا… و احتراما لمشاعرهم، تقرر أن يكون يوما الخميس 24 و الجمعة 25 سبتمبر 2009 حدادا على مستوى الفضاءات الإفتراضية التونسية.
Blogger Carpe Diem, who has added the badge to his own blog, explains the tragedy of Redeyef:
A elle seule, cette ville de quelques milliers d'habitants concentre tous les maux d'un peuple : pauvreté, chômage, pollution, sous-développement économique, manque d'équipements et d'infrastructures, répression policière. Après la terreur d'état qui s'est abattue sur la ville il ya un an, c'est la nature qui s'est déchainé sur ses habitants.  Les inondations ont causé plus de 20 morts et plusieurs blessés, et la ville a été ravagée par les eaux qui ont tout emporté sur leur passage.
Some bloggers politicized the catastrophe. Blogger Subjectif wrote :
He added:
*By “Change Maker” the blogger is referring to Tunisian president Zine Al Abedine ben Ali.
Lina Ben Mhenni contributed significantly to this piece.

author: Jillian C. York


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Turkmenistan: Reforms back on the shelf? · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Annasoltan analyzes the political impact of the visit of Turkmenistan president Gurbanguly Berdimuhammedov to the United States, and says that it will be difficult for him to present himself as a reformer who would take Turkmenistan out of present isolationist course.

author: Adil Nurmakov


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West Africa : Victims of Floods Call for Help · Global Voices
Suzanne Lehn

Last weeks’ torrential rains triggered disastrous floodings (Fr), killing 159 people and affecting over 600,000 in a dozen Western Africa countries, unprepared to face seasonal rains growing heavier and heavier. (See map). Afropages (Fr) describes the situation in Conakry, Guinea's capital.

author: Suzanne Lehn


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Arab World: Artificial Virginity Made in China · Global Voices
Hisham Almiraat

Moroccan blogger Mounir writes on Des maux à dire [Fr] about artificial hymens, made in China, apparently much appreciated by a growing base of Arab customers. “In the Arab region, Syrians have seen this revolutionary ‘product’ invade the black market. In Egypt, investors are seriously considering its introduction,” alleges the blogger.

author: Hisham Almiraat


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Hungary: Healthcare · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Hungarian Spectrum writes about healthcare in Hungary.

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Hungary: Political Talk Show Taken Off Air · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

GV Author Marietta Le of Remainder of Budapest and Eva S. Balogh of Hungarian Spectrum write about Nap-kelte, a morning political TV talk show that was taken off air last week, some 20 years after its launch in 1989.


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Hungary: Pro-Nightlife Rally; Art Station · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Marietta Le of Remainder of Budapest posts photos and video from a rally in support of Budapest's nightlife and from a graffiti and extreme sports competition held inside a metro station whose construction had been halted due to financial difficulties.


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Israel: “Ajami” Reveals Nuanced Look at Israeli Society · Global Voices
Maya Norton

The film “Ajami” was the big winner at last night's Ophir Prizes and will continue on to international audiences as Israel's foreign film nominee for the 2010 Academy Awards.
“Ajami” is named for the eponymous Jaffa neighborhood where the story unfolds. Written and directed by the Arab-Jewish team of Scandar Copti (a resident of Ajami) and Yaron Shani, “Ajami's” complex storyline reflects a popular narrative style in Israeli literature and film.
With recent accolades piling up from the Ophir Prize and the Cannes and Jerusalem Film Festivals, “Ajami's” path is reminiscent of Israel's recent Oscar nominees, “Beaufort” and “Waltz with Bashir.” To date,  “Ajami” has been the recipient of Ophir Prizes for Best Film, Best Directing, Best Script, Best Editing, and Best Composition, as well as the Camera D'or- Special Mention at the Cannes Film Festival, and the Wolgin Prize for best feature film at the 2009 Jerusalem Film Festival.
The movie's trailer is available via YouTube in Hebrew and Arabic with Hebrew subtitles (no English available at this time). You can also learn more by visiting its Facebook fan page.
Yudit of OCCUPIED is intimately connected to the movie as she lives in the neighborhood where the story occurs. She reflects:
It hits you in the face, Scandar Kopti's and Yaron Sheni's movie “Ajami”‘ bluntly. It's overpowering. And yes, this is where i live. It's about “my” neighbourhood. Of course this is not going to be an objective film review. I know most, no, almost all of the actors, at least by face and some are very good friends. The cast  has been trained, but they are not professional actors, just my neighbours, more or less playing themselves, situations they know, reacting naturally as they would have done were the story real. It could have been real.
“Ajami” is also the subtitle of Yudit's blog. She explains:
Ajami, Agami or Adjami, or however you spell its name, it's home. In spite of all. The word “home” carries many associations. Mine is located in Jaffa (Yafo), once (meaning before 1948) “The Bride of the Sea”, now a slummy southern Tel Aviv suburb.
Carmia of Kishkushim describes “Ajami” as:
A gripping tale of all the balagan [chaos] that goes on in Ajami: relations between Jewish and Arab neighbours, West Bankers and Israeli Arabs, Christians and Muslims, and everything in between.
Ayelet Dekel of Midnight East chronicles her reactions upon viewing the film at the Jerusalem Film Festival.
If I had been given a summary of the movie’s plot, I might not have been attracted to it, as its events belong to a genre I don’t particularly like. Yet Ajami is so much more than its plot, as people are so much more than a description of the circumstances of their birth and the events of their lives.
Dekel also gives us a peek into the real life of Ibrahim Frege, who plays Malek, whom she met backstage after the film.
19 year old Frege said he had never thought of acting. While still in school, friends who participated in workshops of “Peace Child Israel” (an organization founded in 1988 by David Gordon and Yael Drouyannoff to teach coexistence using theater and the arts) invited him to come along just for fun. He participated in the theater workshop for a year, and then received a phone call asking him if he would like to be in the movie. He thinks they were looking for someone with an accent similar to that which might be heard in Nablus, his character’s hometown.
Finally, film critic Yair Raveh of the Cinemascope blog postulates whether “Ajami” could garner an Oscar nod.
Could “Ajami” become the third Israeli film in three years to get a nomination for best foreign language Oscar (after “Beaufort” and “Waltz With Bashir”)? Regretfully, I have to say I doubt it. “Ajami” is an outstanding film, and in many ways a breakthrough in Israeli cinema, but it might be too realistic, gritty, true-to-life, and perhaps too confusing for the average Oscar voter. And it lacks the pre-awards buzz that “Waltz With Bashir” had last year, and “Lebanon” is getting right now. But, who knows.
Recommended Reading–
– Israel: Film Illustrates Problem of Closed Gaza Borders (Maya Norton)– Israeli bloggers respond to the short film “Closed Zone,” directed by Yoni Goodman
- Lebanon: Lebanese Bloggers React to Israeli Film “Lebanon” (Antoun Issa)– Responses from Lebanon on an Israeli film chronicling soldiers’ experiences during the Lebanese civil war (1975- 1990). “Lebanon” follows “Waltz with Bashir” as the second film on this topic from Israeli directors in two years
- Cannes Film Festival: Sources of Hope, Amid a Divide (Joan Dupont, New York Times)– three films about Israelis and Palestinians debuted at Cannes this year. Dupont interviews “Ajami” directors Copti and Shani

author: Maya Norton


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Israel: Cafes Discourage Digital Workers · Global Voices
Maya Norton

“How do we handle fast shifts in the economy and in people's behavior?” asks Ami Vider of Tel Aviv Tomorrow, reflecting on how businesses respond to the physical presence of digital workers.


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Israel: Dealing with Israelis During the Holiday Season · Global Voices
Maya Norton

“Every fall, millions of Israelis stop what they are doing (aka “working”) and spend several weeks watching and sending Shana Tova (Happy New Year) greetings to one another.” Gila Weiss of My Shrapnel offers a crash course on what you need to know about dealing with Israelis during the holiday season.


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Israel: Leonard Cohen Performs to Rave Reviews · Global Voices
Maya Norton

Songmaster Leonard Cohen visited Israel this week, performing to a sold out crowd of 47,000 fans. Israeli bloggers who were lucky enough to attend gave rave reviews.
During his time in Israel, Cohen also stamped out his legacy, inaugurating the Fund for Reconciliation, Tolerance, and Peace, a foundation dedicated to promoting peace among Israelis and Palestinians.
The Concert–
In a post entitled, “The High Priest,” Jerusalem Wanderings reports:
I kept on telling everyone at work for the entire week that on Thursday I had a meeting with the Jewish High Priest – the Cohen Gadol, the Priest of Priests.
(“Cohen” means priest in Hebrew.)
Leonard's voice was perfect. The band was incredible. He was incredible. The audience was great. Noisy when it had to be, yet when he spoke, you could hear a pin drop. Everything was incredible. So, yes, it was worth the fortune I spent.
Cohen's title is not for naught. Jerusalem Wanderings writes:
We must have been on the same wavelength somehow, either that, or I am psychic as all hell, because at the very end, right before he left the stage, he stood at the microphone with his hands up the way Jewish priests bless the people, and Leonard Cohen, the High Priest, blessed the audience in Hebrew with the ancient priestly blessing – “May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord let His face shine upon you and be gracious to you. May the Lord look kindly upon you and give you peace.”
Leonard Cohen [Source: Mike Darnell, Digital Art Jerusalem
Mike Darnell of Digital Art Jerusalem is similarly reverent. In a post entitled, “I Saw a Living Legend Last Night,” he glows:
The man somehow succeeded in granting the 50,000 people that came to hear him the feeling that we were all in some intimate jazz club, and Cohen, rather than was singing to a massive stadium was in fact just sharing the evening in the company of the most intimate circle of his closest friends.
View Darnell's photos of the concert via Flickr.
An excerpt of the concert shared by CityMouseGuide on YouTube lends a sense of the event's flavor.
The Foundation–
Proceeds from the concert, an estimated $2 million, will be donated to Cohen's own foundation, the Fund for Reconciliation, Tolerance, and Peace, as well as the Parents Circle-Families Forum, the Palestinian Center of Research and Information, Radio Kol HaShalom [Eng: Voice of Peace], and Saving the Children- Peres Center for Peace.
Robert Kory, Cohen's manager, elaborates: “Leonard decided that if he was going to play in Israel, he wanted the money to stay here. We've met so many Israelis and Palestinians in doing this who are committed to peace.”
Recommended Reading–
For background information on Cohen's relationship with Israel, please refer to Israelity's  post, “Another Cohen in Israel.”


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Israel: New Organ Donation Law Passed · Global Voices
Maya Norton

The Chief Rabbinate (Court) and Knesset (Congress) of Israel have ruled that a patient who is brain dead is legally dead, allowing for his organs to be harvested more effectively before his heart stops beating. OneJerusalem.com discusses the implications of the ruling.


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Israel: Palestinian TV Comedy Wins Applause from Bloggers · Global Voices
Maya Norton

“Country on a String,” a new Palestinian comedy that aired during Ramadan, is being hailed by Israeli bloggers for its creative irreverence. Tamar Orvell of Only Connect writes:  “I salute my brave Palestinian cousins who pick up pens, not guns, and who look within and without in a bid for lightening and lighting the long way ahead for us all.”


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Israel: Preparing for Yom Kippur, Day of Atonement · Global Voices
Maya Norton

Jerusalem Diaries’ Judy Lash Balint records and remarks upon various traditions preceding the holiest day of the Jewish year: Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.


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Israel/Palestine: Mocking Qaddafi on Wikipedia · Global Voices
Maya Norton

Qaddafi = dog? Mu-ha-med of The Traveler Within reports: “I don't what was it that ticked an anonymous user to edit his Wikipedia page, changing the Libyan leader's name in Arabic from “Muammar Al-Qaddhafi معمر القذافـي” to “DOG كلب.”


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Japan: Animated Explanations of Policies? · Global Voices
Tomomi Sasaki

Inspired by this American video explaining ‘Why We Need Government-Run Universal Socialized Health Insurance‘, Media Sabor suggests using some of the budget from the canceled National Center for Media Arts to have animators create understandable animations to explain new policies to the public [ja].

author: Tomomi Sasaki


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Japan: Measuring Celebrity Buzz on 2ch · Global Voices
Tomomi Sasaki

Blogger APEESCAPE translated a 2ch post that measured the buzz of celebrity stories by counting the number of threads on 2ch from 2004 to 2009.


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Japan: Training for disaster prevention · Global Voices
Scilla Alecci

The first week of September in Japan is the Disaster Prevention Week [ja]. During this week schools, organizations,  offices and so on come together to organize disaster prevention training.
Severe earthquakes, inundations, fires and other types of disasters are simulated and every citizen is required to participate.
In a country where every year there are approximately 100,000 earthquakes  (including many that human beings cannot perceive), everybody lives their life being aware that a calamity could happen anywhere at anytime and they need to know how to deal with it in the quickest and  most effective way.
By Flickr id: Nemo`s great uncle
Obarin, who works for the Red Cross, describes what the training was like in his city. (Excellent pictures are also provided with the post)
私たちの住む町では、地区ごとに防災グループが組織されて日ごろからいろいろ活動してます。
そんな彼らのグループ内では、テントの設営とか消火訓練などを実施してます
私は赤十字奉仕団ですから、ほかの仲間とともに「災害ボランティアセンター」の運営訓練を
実施しました。今回は町の防災士も参加してくれて、熱意が感じられましたよ。
倒壊家屋も訓練用に設営され、被災者役の男性たちを彼ら災害救助犬が捜索します。
彼ら消防レスキュー隊は倒壊家屋の下敷きになって脱出できない被災者を救出します。
県の防災ヘリも参加して、被災者を吊り上げて搬送する訓練も見せていただきました。
A blogger living in Shizuoka Prefecture (south of Tokyo)  explains what he learnt this year.
8月 11日に静岡県を襲った 震度 6弱の地震。その地震で、あらためて災害に備えることの大切さを知りました。
そして、先週から、「県の防災週間」がはじまり、静岡県内の各地で、巨大地震 (震度 7以上) を想定した防災訓練が行われています。
[…]
今年度の町内会の組長である小生は、「簡易担架の作り方」コーナー担当でした。毛布とかシーツを使って、カンタンに怪我人などを運ぶ方法を学びました。
ほかにも、防災倉庫に常備されている チェーンソウ、発電機、消化ポンプの使い方。三角巾などを使った怪我人の手当ての方法も学びました。
今年からは、簡易トイレも購入して、その作り方も学びました。
Fascinating images of the recent training in Adachi Ward (Tokyo) at Kerestinus`s blog.

author: Scilla Alecci


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Philippines: Worst Flooding in 40 Years · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

More than 50 people were killed after tropical storm “Ondoy” (International Name: Ketsana) battered Metro Manila and nearby provinces. The storm triggered the worst flooding in the country in the past 40 years displacing 280,000 people in Manila and five other provinces, with more than 41,000 people in 92 evacuation centers. As of this writing, 1.2 million residents are still without power supply in the urban capital of the Philippines.
Social media sites were maximized not just to share information about the storm but also to report rescue efforts and emergency cases in disaster-struck areas. Joey Alarilla observes how the internet was used by Filipino netizens as the storm hits Metro Manila
I’m blogging this using a prepaid HSDPA USB modem as our condominium still has no electricity after several hours, yet I’m luckier than many of my countrymen, some of whom are still stranded on the road or even on the rooftops of their houses
Twitter and social networking sites such as Facebook have been the main means Filipino Internet users have kept pace with developments and shared information, such as the text numbers for disaster relief agencies and volunteer organizations now that voice networks are clogged.
The Rescue Info Hub Central features a spreadsheet document that has a list of addresses of flood victims who need to be rescued. A google map page was also created to monitor the flooded areas in Metro Manila and to direct authorities to villages where flood victims need assistance.
Filipinos also used Twitter and Plurk to monitor updates about the storm, In fact, “Ondoy” and “NDCC” (the government’s National Disaster Coordinating Council) became top-trending topics on Twitter last Saturday. A sample of Twitter posts:
pretzelgurl: my dad still stranded in their workplace in manggahan, pasig city. please send help
angeliesa: Was dismissed by prof. around noon. Walked and struggled on the flood. Got home around 8pm. Now my whole body is weak
janblando: My grandma's still stranded in her attic in Country Homes, Cainta. The flood on their street is down to waist deep but the current is strong
ValfrieClaisse: Oh my gosh! No electricity here since yesterday. Big and dirty flood had been invading the whole community.
dementia: There are plenty of donations coming in but what's really needed is a mode of transporting goods to victim
teeemeee: Flood has receeded in our parking lot but is still knee-waist high. It reached nearly chest high last night
ArmelEspiritu: I just got home after spending the night in my car. I had to relocate it somewhere where there's no flood to save it
Several videos were also uploaded on Youtube which showed the severe impact of the flooding in Metro Manila. First video: Flood in Makati City, the country’s financial center. Video uploaded by yugaabe
This video shows the overflowing waters of Marikina River. Video uploaded by Initiate360
Along Katipunan Avenue, a van fell into a submerged road.
Pedestrians try to cross a flooded street
Donations are still needed. There are various groups which receive donations for the flood victims.

author: Mong Palatino


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Syrian Students Banned From Using Supercomputer at KAUST · Global Voices
Anas Qtiesh

Wael Alwani said on his blog [ar] that Syrian Students at King Abdullah University for Science and Technology (KAUST) are forbidden from using Shaheen, a US made supercomputer, due to technology export sanctions imposed by the US against Syria.

author: Anas Qtiesh


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Taiwan: BoF 2009 · Global Voices
Portnoy Zheng

Started by a group of bloggers in 2005, and then organized by ADCT since 2006, BoF(Birds of a Feather), aka Taiwan Youth Blog Festival, has become the major Web 2.0 event in Taiwan. This year, because of Typhoon Morakot that wreaked havoc in August 2009 in southeren Taiwan, BoF 2009 on 9/27 focuses on how online community, as a part of local society, should have leverage in the offline world under the theme “Clean UP!”. Besides damage mitigation, this year BoF also divide sessions for microblogging, blogger economy and family bloggers, observing how different trends and innovations change the landscape in the blogosphere. (Live broadcasting in both text and video here.)

author: Portnoy Zheng


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Aruba: Election Results · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“It's still sinking in. It was an incredible night. I'm fairly sure that this government is, at one point going to disappoint me, but today I'm very happy”: Arubagirl reports on the outcome of elections in her country.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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B.V.I.: Heritage Tourism  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Repeating Islands reports that the British Virgin Islands are exploring the benefits of heritage tourism.


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Brazil: Socio-digital Inclusion through the Lan House Revolution · Global Voices
Paula Góes

Bruno Fernandes, from Patos de Minas, Brazil. Photo available under a Creative Commons license.
Acredito que vocês devam está habituados em ver os pais levarem e buscarem seus filhos em lan houses. Esta é uma locadora que fica aqui na minha cidade, veja só a quantidade de bicicletas. Tinha mais ainda do outro lado.
The photo and caption above illustrate the “Lan House Revolution” taking place right now in Brazil. Across the country, the majority of Brazilians accessing the Internet today do so through Local Area Networks (LAN) spanning all cities and communities. The concept of the LAN arrived in Brazil in 1998 but it had been previously observed only in the rich Brazilian neighborhoods. Now it has become a phenomenon especially in poorer and smaller communities, where computers and broadband connection are beyond the reach of the population. According to Ronaldo Lemos, director of the Center for Technology and Society at the Fundação Getúlio Vargas (FGV) School of Law in Rio de Janeiro, “lan houses are places of intense sociability, and are occupying an important place in the life of the favelas”. His paper LAN Houses: A new wave of digital inclusion in Brazil was presented at the recent Harvard University Communication and Human Development Conference.
Internet for all?
There are over 90 thousand lan houses nowadays in Brazil, which account for 50% of the Internet access in the country. Research published in 2008 by the Brazilian  Internet Steering Committee (CGI.br) shows that in Brazil 48% of all users access the Internet from commercial premises like lan houses. When it comes to people from the poorest classes D and E,  this number jumps to 79% – a 60% increase from the 48.08% in 2006. Brazil's government and Brazilian researchers break down socio-economic groups into five categories according to the householder's education level and the ownership of a series of domestic items, A through E, with A constituting the richest and E the poorest class.
Another poll [pt], conducted by TV Cultura earlier this year in 27 lan houses throughout the city of Sao Paulo and drawing from 376 interviews with users and owners,  revealed a growing presence of users from classes C and D and indicated that for 17% of the users, the lan houses are their only way to access the Internet, the same proportion of interviewees also have access at home (usually people who need to access the Internet when they are out), 15% at work and 12% at school. Playing video games is the main activity at lan houses for 42% of respondents, but an equal proportion access websites, culture, news and entertainment. Social networks, especially Orkut, and online chat are also very popular. In addition, the lan houses are also used for various research, school work and job searches.
Has the digital inclusion promoted by the lan houses across the country affected human development in Brazil?
Jeimy Remir [pt], who has interviewed lan house owners and users, says that they improve lives – both of owners and users – and have changed the face of the country, especially in peripheral areas of big cities:
Fruto de criatividade e empreendedorismo, a construção de uma lan house tem mudado a vida de seus proprietários. Geralmente acopladas à casa de quem administra, as lan houses apresentam-se em ambientes estilizados, muitas vezes estruturados nas garagens de residências, com iluminação e decoração diferenciadas. […] Outra característica das lan houses é servir como espaços para encontro de jovens, intencionados em fazer amizades, interagir e paquerar. Com as ferramentas atuais da Comunicação, como msn, orkut e bate-papo, a utilização desses espaços para semelhantes fins tem sido mais intensa e confirma tais ambientes como um reflexo social.  […] Por isso, as lan houses afirmam seu poder por servirem para a inclusão digital, dando acesso à internet para pessoas de baixa renda, e confirmam com singularidade suas inclinações: fonte de renda para quem administra e ponto de encontro para jovens.
Photo by Yasodara used under a Creative Commons license.
Lan house, até aqui?
Lan House em Pirenópolis. Fica em frente ao Banco do Brasil.
Ah, o pogresso.
Facing prejudice and hurdles
However, despite promoting social inclusion, the lan houses are victims of prejudice. A piece of news on a major Internet website that recently drew attention was about the police being called by the owner of a lan house to arrest a customer who had brought along pornographic pictures of children to make them available online. According to users, the way the media treated the news led to the impression that lan houses are paedophile meeting points. Rodrigo Lara Mesquita [pt] commented in forums and blog posts:
O título da notícia que está sendo veiculada na internet ,e que com quase toda a certeza será veiculada pelos jornais, é Suposto pedófilo é preso em lan house com fotos de crianças, como você podem ver neste link do Terra e neste outro de uma procura pelo tema no Google News. Quem fica com a fama, quem fica mal na foto é a Lan House. Antro de desmandos e desvirtuamento de caminho para adolescentes.
Não é este o quadro. As lan houses sofrem os mesmos riscos que qualquer outro setor  da economia enfrenta. Lans Houses, cybers cafés, telecentros e o que for, têm um papel fudamental no processo de inclusão à infraestrutura da era do conhecimento, da  inclusão digital à inovação, como eles demonstram nesta apresentação estatística do mercado brasileiro.
This is not the real picture [pt]. The lan houses suffer from the same dangers faced by any other sector of the economy. Lan houses, cyber cafes, telecentres and whatever, have a fundamental role to play in the process of inclusion in the knowledge infrastructure, from digital inclusion to innovation, as is demonstrated by this statistical presentation of the Brazilian market [of lan houses].
André Rubens [pt] realized that this prejudice is widespread throughout the country in a meeting he attended last December with other owners and presidents of lan house associations. He said it was possible to see that “people seem to think that lan houses are something that damages the health and well being of the individual.” He explains how this situation used to be worse, when this new, then unknown, type of business saw a rapid and significant increase:
Tudo isso virou uma grande bomba, até que começaram a aparecer novos dados que mostram que somos responsáveis pela inclusão digital no país e que jogos eletrônicos fazem BEM SIM para a formação da criança e do adolescente INCLUSIVE aqueles considerados violentos e principalmente as pessoas que nos atacavam receberam seu contrata ataque devido e hoje nos respeitam! Nossa briga continua, argumentando com as autoridades, rebatendo comentários estúpidos e fazendo novos projetos vamos conquistar simpatia da sociedade e seremos reconhecidos com grande importância na inclusão sócio-digital.
Av. Paulista – São Paulo – Brasil. Photo by cassimano used under a Creative Commons license.
Diversas questões foram tratadas, tais como a questão da informalidade, as propostas de regulamentação para o setor, os principais problemas técnicos enfrentados, sugestões de customização do Firefox e as restrições ao uso de jogos. (…) A primeira fase do Projeto Lan House consistiu exatamente em identificar quais eram os problemas enfrentados e mapear as opções de como ajudar.
State control and tough regulations
In an interview on Ceila Santos’ blog [pt], the director of ABCID (Brazilian Association of Digital Inclusion Centres) [pt] Rafael Maurício da Costa explains how new, fierce regulations may cause many lan houses to close down:
Associou-se intensamente que lan house equivale à evasão escolar. E deduziu-se que para combater a evasão escolar, basta combater as lan houses. Como conseqüência disto produziu-se uma série de leis pelo País que dificultam de sobremaneira a instalação formal do negócio. O que acontece é que há uma demanda vertiginosamente crescente pelo acesso à tecnologia, e ela produz a oferta que vemos, dessa forma, como não há amparo na atuação legal a informalidade é majoritária. O interessante é que é justamente nessa informalidade que predominam todas as más praticas que a legislação pretende combater e como conseqüência infeliz o aumento do número de pessoas formais que encontram cada vez mais “cláusulas de barreira” à operação legal.
There are already quite tight regulations for lan houses, and these differ according to which state they inhabit. In Sao Paulo, for instance, every lan house must keep a record of users’ names and addresses. In Paraná, a bill proposes that every user accessing a computer from a lan house is filmed [pt] and that management keeps all recordings for two years. In the state of Amazonas, underage users must provide a written authorization from their parents to access a computer from lan houses. A draft bill considers requesting ID for every user [pt]. Luiz Rodrigo Silva de Souza [pt], a 14 year old blogger who sometimes uses lan houses in the Amazonas capital Manaus, comments on regulations and how they do not seem to work – maybe because they are far from reality.
Já deve ser a décima lei que fazem tentando regulamentar lan houses. Regulamentar não, proibir permitindo. Já tentaram proibir lan houses num raio de 1 km de escolas, proibir as crianças de usar os computadores por mais de três horas seguidas e competições com prêmio em dinheiro, e funcionou? (…)
O ideal é a criança estar na escola, não na lan house, mas tirá-las de lá não é somente criar uma lei, se fosse assim, por que também não cria uma lei que proíba crise econômica, cigarro e miguxês? Está mas do que claro que estas medidas não vão tirar as crianças da exploração e prostituição infantil, o máximo que vão conseguir é falir as lan houses. Manter uma lan house legalizada em Manaus é inviável com os custos de uma conexão banda larga por aqui, e com essas leis querem responsabilizá-las por um problema cujos principais culpados são os responsáveis e a própria sociedade.
Ideally, children should be in school, not at the lan house, but creating a law to get them out of there is not enough, if it was, why not also create a law banning the economic crisis, cigarettes and miguxês? It is clear that measures like these will not save children from exploitation and child prostitution, the most they will achieve is to bankrupt lan houses. Keeping a legalized lan house in Manaus is not feasible due to the cost of  a broadband connection here [pt], and these laws want to hold them accountable for a problem whose main culprits are authorities and society itself.
In this upcoming lan house, the spelling has been adapted to "lan rause" to help with the pronunciation in Portuguese. Photo: Barata Blog
Como podemos perceber, essa super “lan rause” ainda está passando por reformas em seu prédio para que seja possível abrigar adequadamente a grande multidão ansiosa para acessar internet de 1 Giga!! Um espanto!! E ainda dizem que o Brasil é um país atrasado…
Social inclusion through digital inclusion
As of now, there are more than 90,000 lan houses in Brazil, whereas the country has 2,000 movie theatres and 2,600 bookstores. Can they be a place for more than just playing games or updating orkut, or even to use citizenship and e-government services? Pedagogue Rita Guarezi says that lan houses already play a key role in distance learning [pt]:
Espalhadas pelo Brasil inteiro, as lan houses ganham expressão ainda mais relevante nas regiões mais carentes, norte e nordeste, onde são registrados os maiores índices de evasão escolar do país. […]  Dentro desta realidade de crescimento constante de usuários da internet e das lan houses, a Educação à Distância pela Internet (e-learning) vai se firmando como um instrumento de auxílio no combate à evasão escolar entre jovens, oferecendo as mais variadas opções para quem quer complementar seus estudos, reciclar e aprimorar conhecimentos. […] Por tudo isso, podemos visualizar a lan house como um espaço também de estudo. Acreditamos que a EAD pela Internet  no Brasil está intimamente ligada ao futuro das lan houses e suas novas nuances. E as perspectivas são extremamente promissoras.
And they can also be a space for culture. The writer Simone Campos [pt] has a project: to make best use of the lan houses popularity to turn Brazil into a country of readers. One of her future projects is interactive fiction, using the language of games, more familiar to new generations than the one of books, to make literature:
A lan house é o novo rendez-vous. Eu simplesmente tenho que aproveitar isso. Pretendo plantar um vírus que transforme a lan house em biblioteca.
Gil Giardelli [pt] sees the ferment of a revolution. What will it be like?
Nas periferias das megalópoles, o cool são as sessões de lan house corujão R$ 6,00  passa a noite lá e pela manhã tem um belo café!
Os garotos se socializam, os pais ficam tranquilos, os educadores se preocupam e os terapeutas certamente terao mais pacientes em um futuro próximo!
50% dos conectados no Brasil, estão nas lan houses! Como será esta revolucao? Garotos antenados? Garotos solitários? Garotos com a educação diferenciada? Economia e educação coletiva elevada ao cubo? Um nova humanidade?
The guys socialize, the parents have peace of mind, educators get worried and therapists will certainly have more patients in the near future!
50% of people in Brazil get online from lan houses! How will this revolution be? Savvy guys? Lonely guys? Guys with a differentiated education system? The economy and the collective education systems raised to the third power? A new humanity?
"Lã Rause", with an even more Brazilian spelling. Photo (or montage) from PraLer Blog.

author: Paula Góes


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Costa Rica: Solar Halo in the Sky · Global Voices
Juliana Rincón Parra

A solar halo has Costa Rica's citizens looking up at the sky and taking pictures to share with their members of their social networks. You can see some of the uploaded pictures of this natural phenomenon on Twitpic, like this one taken by @lucianaguz and this  other one taken by @porillo in this twitter aggregator created for the occasion  or by searching  twitter with the #sol tag.

author: Juliana Rincón Parra


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Czech Republic: The Pope’s Visit · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

The Reference Frame writes about the Pope's visit to the Czech Republic.


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Global Voices and Blog Action Day 2009 · Global Voices
Diego Casaes

On October 15, bloggers from all over the world will get together to blog about climate change in one of the largest social change events on the web: the Blog Action Day.
This is an annual event that unites the world's bloggers in posting about the same issue on the same day. The aim of this global demonstration is to raise awareness and encourage a global conversation on important subjects that face the world.
In their official blog, Robin Beck announced the topic of the Blog Action Day 2009:
I am so happy to announce the topic for Blog Action Day 2009: climate change.
Thousands of people voted and together we’re going to bring new breadth to the global climate change conversation just as our leaders prepare to meet in Copenhagen this December in an effort to agree on lasting solutions to this crisis.
Blog Action Day was founded by Collis & Cyan Ta'eed in 2007 with the support of their team at Envato. On that first occasion, founders encouraged more than 20.000 bloggers to devote a day to blogging about environmental issues. The next year, in 2008, they highlighted poverty issues with bloggers sharing their personal perspectives and ideas for solutions.
This year, climate change is the subject, which is a great opportunity to build on all the discussions and online campaigns that are being organized in advance of the COP15 United Nations meeting in Denmark in December 2009.
Anyone can participate in Blog Action Day on October 15, be it on blogs, online journals or online magazines. There are no limits to how many posts one can write nor to the content of it, as long as climate change is the subject. Among the supporters of Blog Action Day are organizations such as Oxfam, Avaaz, TckTckTck, Greenpeace and Amnesty International.
As an official blog partner, Global Voices will support Blog Action Day by encouraging bloggers around the world to register their support online and join in. On October 15 and beyond, Global Voices bloggers look forward to linking to and translating what bloggers around the world are saying about climate change and the environment where they live.

author: Diego Casaes


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Guyana: Thanks, But No Thanks  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Guyana-Gyal turns down a publishing “deal”.


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Honduras: State of Exception Suspends Constitutional Rights · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

The Honduran government recently declared a State of Exception and suspended many Constitutional rights because  of reports of a planned mass uprising. Aaron Ortiz of Pensieve has a rundown on what has been suspended.

author: Eduardo Avila


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How To Add An Article In Bangla Wikipedia · Global Voices
Rezwan

belayet Ki Likhbe! (What Will Belayet Write!) posts a video tutorial (in Bangla) on how to add a new article in Bangla Wikipedia.

author: Rezwan


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India: The State Of Democracy · Global Voices
Rezwan

Arundhati Roy at Huffington Post comments on the state of democracy in India: “The hoary institutions of Indian democracy — the judiciary, the police, the ‘free’ press, and, of course, elections — far from working as a system of checks and balances, quite often do the opposite. They provide each other cover to promote the larger interests of Union and Progress.”


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Jamaica: Gully Gaza · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Active Voice offers an insight into the Jamaican “Gully Gaza phenomenon”.


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Japan: Lessons in Communication from the Hatoyama Essay · Global Voices
Tomomi Sasaki

When an online Op-Ed piece by current Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama appeared in the New York Times just days before the Lower House elections last month, national reaction ranged from surprise to consternation to pure mortification. “A New Path for Japan” was an abridged and translated version of “My Political Philosophy” [ja], which was published in the Japanese magazine VOICE. The administration has claimed that they had no prior knowledge that the essay would be released in this way and that Hatoyama was “misquoted“.
‘Security Council Summit on Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament’ by Flickr user United Nations Photo
There are two aspects to this controversy: the logic or lack thereof of the arguments made in the essay and the process of how the Japanese text was edited and published in mainstream American media.
Well, was it a matter of bad editing and bad translation?
Seiichi Nakamura thinks it played a big part.
ＰＨＰのＶＯＩＣＥに掲載された『祖父・一郎に学んだ「友愛」という戦いの旗印』と言うオリジナルの論文を、ニューヨーク・タイムズが抜粋して掲載したので、どうしても舌足らずとなり、鳩山代表の意図するニュアンスが、正確に伝わっていない。
その上、クーデンホフ・カレルギーの高邁な思想ＦＲＡＴＥＲＮＩＴＥ（鳩山一郎は友愛と訳した）をベースに、日本人魂を加味した独自の政治哲学を展開しており、能書きだけを提示しているようなものであるから、そっくりそのまま、欧米人、特に、思想的背景の全く違うアメリカ人に理解される筈がない。
誤解を避けるために言及しておくが、鳩山代表の見解は、私自身納得行く部分が多いと感じているし、正確に伝われば、オバマ大統領のリベラルな政治哲学や思想と共通点が結構ある筈で、実りあるコラボレーションが可能だと思っている。
ただし、政治や外交は、極めて現実的であらねばならない筈であるし、現在、世界中が危機的状態にあり、人類社会と地球の将来が岐路に立つ極めて重要な時期に、不用意な言説は切に慎むべきだと思っている。
However, politics and foreign diplomacy must be realistic in the extreme. The world is currently in a very precarious situation and human society is at an important turning point, one that will decide where the path to our future will lead. It's not a time to be making indeliberate declarations.
Takashi Kimura  also believes that straight translation alone is not enough.
「VOICE」に載せた鳩山論文「私の政治思想」で説いた「友愛論」は「和洋折衷型」論議で、英訳しただけでは「暗黙の了解」「以心伝心」「察し」といった間接的話し方の通じない米国では理解し難い。
He goes on to criticize some political ineptness on Hatoyama's part.
かといって、低コンテキスト文化に属すると思われる「グローバリズム批判」を、主題から切り離して抜粋しても海外の厳しい批判に耐えられる内容のものではない。寄稿した事自体が「経験不足」の表れであろう。
MTC at the Shisaku blog says that it's an excuse that doesn't resonate anymore.
I am not sure the “Just-ignore-what-the-essay-says-it-is-only-meant-for-domestic-consumption-and-contains-a-lot-of-code-phrases-that can only be understood-in-the-context-of-Japanese-election-propaganda-and-in-Japan-nobody-believes-anything-printed-especially-when-the-author's-stringing-together-of-platitudinous-utterances-makes-him-sound-like-he-is-stoned” defense is going to work anymore. The damn thing is out of the box now, getting quoted and analyzed.
In “Lost in Syndication: The Case of the Hatoyama Essay“, Nathan Gardels wrote “In the information age, no country is an island anymore, not even Japan.” Gardels is the editor of Global Viewpoint Network of Tribune Media Services and the one who started the balls rolling for the essay to be introduced into the English media.
All this in itself is indeed surprising. Doesn't everyone get that today we live in a global glass house? That in a world tied together by social networks, the Internet, YouTube, web journalism, innumerable blogs and even print syndication, anything you say in Japan is going to be heard everywhere else?
Satomi performed a thorough cross check on the original Japanese essay and the English translation.
さすがスタンフォード博士号、事務所の英語も申し分ない。（まあ、それがアダに出て転載されちゃったわけだけど…。追：短縮版は通信社Global Viewpoint/TMS経由の配信） 両方比べてみると、元の原稿では第1章にカレルギーの名言「人間は目的であって手段ではない。国家は手段であって目的ではない」とその説明が出てくるのに、NYタイムズの転載記事は第2章終盤の「～資本主義が原理的に追求されていくとき、人間は目的ではなく手段におとしめられ、その尊厳を失う」から始まるので、「目的」と「手段」という言葉を元々誰がどういう文脈で使ったのか分からず、のっけから穏やかじゃない。 でもま、変わってる部分と言ってもそれぐらいか。残りは単なるコピペ。でも書き出しで読み手のマインドセットは9割ぐらい決まっちゃうものなので、あの書き出しはなんとかして欲しい。
参考までに全部オリジナル記事と照合し、転載箇所だけ元の日本語に戻してみよう。グレイは削除、オレンジは加筆・編集された部分。
Let's cross check the entire original article, and put into Japanese the parts that they reproduced. The grey words are the parts that were omitted from the NYT post, and the orange is the parts that were edited.
* Excerpted from the English translation [doc] available on Hatoyama's official site. There is also a Korean translation [doc].
Tobias Harris actually found the English version to be better than the original essay:
I do not buy the idea that his original essay was distorted through translation — if anything the translated, abridged version was far superior to the original, which I found to be “a mishmash of pop-anti-globalizationism, mystical brotherhood-ism, and nostalgic conservatism,” and distressed by the idea that it might be a serious guide to Hatoyama's thinking. And at no point in the original essay did Hatoyama give much thought to the positives of globalization. The original reads just like a longer, harsher version of the translation, with nearly a page of discussion of how capitalism treats people as means, not ends, and about how it destroys values, traditions, and communities.
He lists three lessons that he hopes the Hatoyama administration has learned.


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Lithuania, Latvia: Capitals of Culture · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Viola in Vilnius writes that Riga has been nominated as one of the 2014 European capitals of culture, and comments on how this year’s title holder, Vilnius, has done so far.


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Maldives: Renewing Ties With Israel  · Global Voices
Rezwan

Mohamed Nasheed reacts to the news that Maldives would renew ties with Israel posing this question: “how does renewing relations with Israel serve our national interest?”


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Middle East: Arabisk, Blog Competition and Debate · Global Voices
Tarek Amr

Arabisk is an annual competition to select the best Arabic blogs. And by Arabic here, they mean blogs in the Arab region that are written in Arabic language as well. The contest is being organized by Kalima Press and its owner Mohammad El Sahli, who desceibes himself as the first Arab full-time blogger.
The competition focuses in its first year on specialized blogs, that is, blogs that focus on a certain subject or related subjects. And hence there will be prizes for the specialized blogs and one prize for the best general or personal blog.
The competition has two main rules. The first one is that the content has to be authentic and not copied or extracted from somewhere else even if the blog owner is licensed to use it. The second rule is that the content has to be compliant with the Islamic rules and the society's traditions.
Ahmed Shokeir, at Late Night Stories, wrote about the absence of such kind of competitions in the Arab world and his first impressions on Arabisk:
Mohammad El Sahli, who is also known as Mohammad Said  Hjouij, wrote more details about the competition rules and selection criteria:
But this competition was subject to a huge debate. And bloggers from all over the Arab world had their own comments on its rules and selections.
Aljded believes that some of the selected blogs are in fact non compliant with the competitions second rule.
And Egyptian Wael Abbas wrote:
Egyptian Nora Younis on the other hand made fun of the competition's voting system design, especially that the blog design, has got a big weight in the competition evaluation criteria:
And so did Ahmed Shokeir, who also doesn't like the competition rating criteria and the inclusion of blogs design in the evaluation:
Shokeir also wrote…
The voting system, which is the second stage of evaluation after the top 10 blogs are selected by the competition judges, was subject to a huge debate. Arabisk voting system, which is similar to that of sites like digg and reddit, gives the users the ability to give either positive or negative votes to the blogs.
But it came out later on, that some users abused the system by giving negative votes to the competing blogs.
And it was obvious that the negative voting was a huge mistake.
And competition organizers have realized that, and decided to remove and reset the negative votes.
The Egyptian bloggers were all upset from the competition nominations because almost all of the nominated blogs were non-Egyptians, while the Egyptians form about one third of the Arabic blogosphere.
Shokeir also wrote on his blog:
Also Wael Abbas, was really upset and attacked the competition.
This comment made Abo Shams reply in order to defend Arabisk saying:
Also Mohammad El Sahli, the competition organizer, wrote a seperate post on his own blog in order to defend himself and his competition:
And finally, some other blogger, like Al-Fagih,  just didn't accept the fact that their blogs weren't selected, simply because they are pretty sure that their blogs are the best.
The winners will be announced on October 1.

author: Tarek Amr


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Pakistan: The way we are treated at US airports · Global Voices
Rezwan

“As a friend of progressive forces, and as an American who is proud to be an American, I urge the United States government to re-consider this policy of secondary searches and questioning when someone tries to enter America,” comments Pakistani American Bilal Qureshi at Pak Tea House.


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Paraguay: Favorite Places to Party in Asunción · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Muna Annahas shares her favorite places to party in the Paraguayan capital of Asunción.


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Philippines: Flooding documented on citizen videos  · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Picture from Twitpic user reahguevarra
Several parts of Metro Manila and nearby provinces are still flooded today even if Tropical Storm ‘Ondoy’ (International name: Ketsana) has already left the country. Almost 200 were killed and hundreds of thousands displaced when the storm hit the country’s capital last Saturday.
The heavy rainfall triggered the worst flooding in the country in recent memory. The storm even dumped more rains than Hurricane Katrina:
RT @wizkitabet: FACT: Hurricane Katrina rainfall =380mm in Louisiana. Typhoon Ondoy rainfall = 410mm in Manila, Philippines.
Social media sites were maximized to inform rescuers about the location of flood victims. Typhoon Ondoy Situation Map was created to compile information about the needs of the flood victims. Google has created a special page to gather donations. Ondoy Relief Efforts has a comprehensive list of contact details of relief agencies, donation drop-off centers, and government emergency response teams.
Picture by Ali Figueroa
Citizen videos were uploaded on cyberspace which captured horrible scenes of loss brought by the flooding. Below is a video by Youtube user didipusrex
My mother was able to take a video clip of the floodwaters of Typhoon Ondoy before the water surge forced them to flee to the second floor. They were trapped in chest deep water on the second floor until the waters subsided the next morning.
This video shows a passenger who was trapped in a car while a strong floodwater was rampaging outside a Manila hospital
Marikina City, located east of Manila, was heavily devastated by the floods
Pedestrians and even motorists in Paranaque City, south of Manila, use styrofoam to cross a flooded street
Cars are swept away by strong flood currents
Bulacan province, north of Manila, was also severely affected by the storm
Techpinas praises a radio station for devoting its program to update listeners about the storm. Many of its listeners were flood victims who relied on their cell phone radio for relief updates:
In the midst of uncertainty and suffering brought about by Ondoy and the lack of electricity in most parts of Mega Manila, DJ Gang, DJ Lambert and DJ Steph selflessly gave their time and effort into making sure that cellphone owners – especially those stuck in disaster stricken areas, whose only access to news was their dying cellphones’ FM radio app – were kept updated on the status of relief operations and were somehow kept alive by Jam 88.3's display of resilient and pro-active hope. They practically turned the usually indifferent FM radio scene into a venue for disaster relief info dissemination and volunteer coordination.
Texting was used to advise flood victims on how to survive
What was truly heartening is the public's involvement in Jam's efforts. There were those who called the station to give updates on the traffic situation across the metro. Doctors texted to give tips to those staying on the roofs of their flood-engulfed houses on how to avoid hypothermia, while a former red cross volunteer shared the procedure on how to prepare an oral rehydration solution
Photo by Celina Ann Natanauan Chan
Twitter is a reliable source of news about the disaster and to monitor rescue efforts. Through Twitter, netizens are able to report the flood situation in remote areas
ageofbrillig: RT: one of our staff went to Payatas yesterday. Dami na daw corpse. No media attention there. And not much aid.
Cocoy: RT @mlq3 @jeyaiy All I know is the situation in Candaba. The whole town is under water, except for the Church. Cannot leave town proper..
jovefrancisco: For most of Saturday, I thought my community was the hardest hit. That was until I saw the images on TV
Tweets advise relief team and police forces on where to deliver the goods
alexderossi: RT @momma_erin REPOST: Rosario Pasig & Cavite area have NOT received any relief goods. If you can, pls do something about it! – salamat po!!
maxenemagalona: GRABE. RT @kitel_anne Policemen needed in Provident Village Marikina. Der r robbers all over the place trying to break inside the houses.
Tweets remind the public about the status of relief efforts
ANDREWdecastro: How are the flood victims supposed to cook those instant noodles? Or open those cans? I'm just saying
philredcross: We are overwhelmed for the support of the youth on our Relief Operation. Interested volunteers may visit PNRC NHQ (near Anda Circle
cocoy: RT @dementia: Oh yeah, please donate ready-to-eat food and water. Victims have no means of cooking noodle
This tweet by a Senator of the Republic shows that the flooding affected both the rich and poor:
SayChiz: My in laws live in sinco hermanos. Only their roof was left above water. They sought shelter at the 2-storey house of a neighbor
Photo by Diane Lorenzana


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Philippines: Helping flood victims through social media  · Global Voices
Julius Rocas

Typhoon Ondoy (International name: Ketsana) has already left the Philippines but in her aftermath, a trail of destruction with over 100 dead, 300,000 families displaced, nearly 80 percent of the nation's capital region flooded and millions worth of damages to property and infrastructure.
Gail Villanueva recalls that thanks to Ondoy, she has seen the worst flooding of her lifetime:
I don’t normally blog immediately about calamities like this, but this flood is the worst I’ve ever experienced in my lifetime. I’ve lived along Katipunan Avenue in Blue Ridge since the day I was born, so I never really experienced flooding (Blue Ridge is pretty high up, it’s on top of a hill). First time ever for my family — flood reached inside our home.
Ade Magnaye is thankful he's made it through “hell” and has survived:
This is one of the worst things that everyone here has gone through in recent memory, and us who are lucky enough to be able to stay in their warm and cozy homes, and just shake their heads in disbelief at the pictures and videos of Ondoy’s rampage, should be able to do something to help those who were hit hard.
Crystal Gale retells unforgettable stories her family and loved ones experienced at the hands of Ondoy:
In my almost 24 years of existence, this is the first I experienced extreme flooding here in Metro Manila..Me and my family are lucky because our house have 2nd and 3rd floor and our village is a little higher than the rest of the area around us but my other relatives and my boyfriend was not as lucky…my brother got home very late last night because he got stranded in their office in Libis..my relatives who lives in Sta. Mesa, Manila (their houfse is just beside Pasig river) is still stranded on the second floor of their house until now without food and water because the water is still 6ft deep..another relative of mine was already on their 3rd floor because the water was already covering the second floor of their house..my best friend and her mom was stuck without any food too on their office in Del Monte and was just able to get home this lunch..and the most sad news for me is when I learned yesterday that my boyfriend with his family had been evacuated from their house in Novaliches, Quezon City because their house was submerged completely until the roof. They need to walk on top of the roof of the houses just so they can go to a higher place in their subdivision..I got so nervous yesterday when I can't contact him and that is the reason..They were very busy in surviving especially with a 7months old baby on their arms. They were unable to salvage anything! No clothes or foods or any personal stuff. According to him, their house got flooded in less than an hour! That's how fast the water level came up. It is because their house is near a small stream and Novaliches is near Angat Dam (why did they not give any warning that they need to open the dam?!)..This is the very first time our place got flooded!
Joy Imperial recounts her unforgettable events during the visit of Ondoy in the Manila:
Social networking sites and services like Facebook and Twitter were also flooded with news accounts, reports, photos and videos of Ondoy's aftermath. The stream of information soon became a “hub” for coordinating rescue and relief efforts for those who had access to the internet. A sampling of a Twitter stream that shows links to efforts in supporting the victims of typhoon Ondoy:
Si_Pio ICT People for the People: Help Support Typhoon Ondoy Victims. Donations, Volunteers accepted. Details: www.cp-union.com/ondoy-relief
half a minute ago from web
itsjustzee @KalebNation US citizens who want to help check this out instead: http://bit.ly/JoBpO #Ondoy
less than a minute ago from TweetDeck
jonasdiego says @parishilton tweets about Ondoy, calls for aid: http://tinyurl.com/y8zg8dw http://plurk.com/p/22teh2
less than a minute ago from API
nevitsky RT @ka_edong: we're creating dashboard. Who wants to help moderate Ondoy info? http://bit.ly/13zJUt chat here: http://tinychat.com/ondoy
1 minute ago from UberTwitter
fatma_aleah *groans* RT @ANCALERTS “Ondoy” death toll clims to 86 with 32 still missing
1 minute ago from Sun Alertz
VivatRegina US citizens who want to help check this out instead: http://bit.ly/JoBpO #Ondoy
1 minute ago from TweetDeck
riapazzi Support One 4 Ondoy, add a #twibbon to your avatar now! – http://twibbon.com/join/One-4-Ondoy-5
1 minute ago from Twibbon
The stream continues to flow as of this writing. In consonance, bloggers have pitched in and have clobbered together a comprehensive list of support hotlines, websites and links to online donation facilities, evacuation & support centers, power utilities and government & international emergency agencies.
As Blog Herald Editor Jayvee Fernandez notes that it has become so epic, it has its own Tumblr account.
As bloggers and netizens continue to compile ways of how to help the victims of typhoon Ondoy even producing a comprehensive list they called “Rescue Hub Info Central” via Google Spreadsheets, it just goes to show that government and mainstream emergency & relief agencies are no longer alone in their fight to support the victims of natural calamities. In this ever increasing connected and online world, support, relief coordination, news & reporting has now become a few clicks and tweets away.

author: Julius Rocas


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Russia: Kronstadt Photos · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Photos of Kronstadt – at Arnis Balcus’ Photo Blog.


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Russia: “Promoting State Interests” Online · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Evgeny Morozov writes that “Kremlin no longer hides its [internet] spinning strategy”


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Syria: First Bloggers’ Contest Winners Announced  · Global Voices
Anas Qtiesh

The first Syrian bloggers’ contest has come to an end. The contest was organized by the Syrian blog aggregator Al Mudawen [ar/en], where voters were asked to rate blogs competing in four categories: Ideal Blog, Best Content, Best Design, and Best Interactivity. The winning blogs first had to go through a rigorous process of public voting, then a panel evaluation.
Following are the winning blogs:
Many bloggers commended the initiative and hoped it becomes an annual event. However, a few of them expressed some criticism and frustrations, and offered suggestions to further develop the contest. 3abdulsalam, the winner of the Ideal Blog category said [ar]:
Omar Mushaweh, an administrator and a judge of the competition who also blogs at Al Marfaa [ar], commented about the difficulty of finding sponsors for the competition, the absence of participation on the side of English language blogs, and the complaints about the complication of the voting method used. He also criticized the absence of media coverage from outlets that usually cover similar social media initiatives hinting at Global Voices and Al Jazeera Talk[ar]:
He concluded with a call for cooperation saying:


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Trinidad & Tobago: The Price of Progress is High  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“As if the stink of the uselessness of the building weren’t enough…here comes talk that toxic fumes from the Performing Arts Academy are making people in the neighbouring buildings fall sick. Yes, this is progress at its best”: Trinidadian Attillah Springer says the whole thing “is a tragic kind of comedy.”


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Venezuela: Expectations for the Oliver Stone Documentary · Global Voices
Laura Vidal

The trailer for the documentary called “South of the Border” from U.S. filmmaker Oliver Stone, which profiles Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, has been a topic within Venezuelan blogosphere. Many are speculating on the content of the film based on the trailer, as it has yet to be released in Venezuela. On one hand, some bloggers believe that this documentary will favor the President and will allow him to respond to the negative press that he receives at home and abroad. On the other hand, other bloggers believe that the film will not show both sides of the story.
Oliver Stone and Hugo Chávez at Venice Film Festival. Photo by nicogenin and used under a Creative Commons license.
Carlos Caridad-Montero of Blogacine [es] notes that the documentary is a “portrait of the Venezuelan President” and includes the thoughts from other Latin American leaders, who make an appearance, such as Argentine President Cristina Kirchner, Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa, and Bolivian President Evo Morales, among others. According to Caridad-Montero, many of these leaders share his ideology.
The choice of leaders invited to participate in the documentary is not lost on Julia of the blog Anti-Patriotic Venezuela, who writes:
Maybe is a very objective documentary that tries to show the true face of Chavez and other South American leaders beyond what's been told about them in the -so called – “mainstream media”. But in such face of the South American change, people like Uribe from Colombia or Alan from Peru were not interviewed – as far as I know, if I'm mistaken I hope some reader corrects me in the comment section – by Oliver. Maybe it can be a lot of things. But for me is yet another piece of political propaganda disguised as a “documentary”, for me it has strong chances of being something like the infamous “The Revolution will not be televised”.
The film was released at the Venice Film Festival in early September, and was recently screened in New York City at an event attended by Chávez, who was in town for the United Nations General Assembly.
Harold of the blog Panfleto Negro [es] provides a hard critique of the filmmaker and writes about Stone's “desperate cry for attention.” He adds that Stone's other profile pieces have not portrayed the entire story, and believes that this one will not be any different:
Lo de Stone el día de ayer en la alfombra roja con Chávez es, a todas luces, un desgarrador grito por atención. Y es que Stone lleva años tratando de crear “polémica” para hacer prensa a como de lugar. Desde su apología a la figura de Fidel Castro en Comandante, hasta las críticas a los presidentes republicanos como en la nombrada W, o en la mucho más antigua Nixon. Ni las excelentes actuaciones de Josh Brolin o Anthony Hopkins pudieron rescatar la mediocridad de ambas cintas…
The blog Waiting for Godot [es]  guesses that the documentary was made with the money from the Venezuelan State. The blogger adds that Stone should have made an action film in Venezuela, so that people can see what really happens in the country.
NO, Oliver Stone, no podemos ver tu película como un documental informativo, porque a nosotros un Chávez como el que presentas igualado a una promesa de futuro es tan ficción como el que tú seas un hombre revolucionario y socialista.
However, the blog Aporrea [es] writes about the contrast in reception received by Chávez at the film festivals and what is happening in some social networking sites:
La calurosa acogida al líder venezolano contrastó con la fría y escasa respuesta que días atrás tuvo en Europa y el resto del mundo la convocatoria a marchas bajo la consigna “No más Chávez”, promovida por la derecha internacional a través de la página de internet Facebook.
Some blogs from abroad are also providing their thoughts on how the film will help balance the message about Chávez. Canadian Sabina Becker of News of the Restless writes:
All weekend long we've been hearing nothing in the news but how everybody and their dog is out marching against that “evil dictator Chávez” (o rly?) Well, finally the media have woken up to the fact that there's another side to the story.
(…)
Er. Actually, it's not evil at all. It's good, isn't it? Yes, absolutely. So why's it taken so long for the media to catch on? Well, they didn't have Ollie Stone to interview. And they couldn't very well break the news on his latest doc without talking to the man. And oh, bad luck for them–every word out of his mouth has been nothing but good about Chavecito, and slams for his detractors.

author: Laura Vidal


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Afghanistan: Terror suspect arrested · Global Voices
Joshua Foust

Afghan PenLog rounds up most of the reporting on the arrest of Najibullah Zazi, indicted in New York on terrorism charges. Zazi supposedly trained in explosives in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

author: Joshua Foust


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Bangladesh: Banning Of Adult Websites · Global Voices
Rezwan

Joruri Khobor posts a hilarious take on the news that the government of Bangladesh has banned 84 adult websites that featured “well-known Bangladeshi celebrities in obscene poses”.


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Bangladesh: Law And Order Situation · Global Voices
Rezwan

Mukti discusses the current state of the law and order situation in Bangladesh.


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China: Censorship arms race escalates · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Rebecca MacKinnon sums up the recent censorship measures in China, including the launching of new surveillant software and the recent attack of major censorship circumvention techniques and technologies.

author: Oiwan Lam


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China: Humanistic measures towards filial criminals · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Xujun Eberlein from Inside-out China comments on the Chinese court's humanistic measures towards two brothers who committed kidnapping in order to save their ailing mother.


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China: Mooncake · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Uln found the gift economy of moon cake during the mid autumn festival in Shanghai amazing.


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China: Visa to Tibet · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

The angry Chinese blogger writes on the recent confusion over the ban on visa to Tibet.


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Cuba: Eye on Honduras  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Writing at Havana Times, Circles Robinson posts an update on developments in Honduras, adding: “Here in Cuba, the parliament has taken a position of strong protest of the coup and the military repression, and the island’s media is closely watching developments.”


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Czech Republic: Temelín Nuclear Power Plant · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

The Journeys of Captain Oddsocks writes about the Temelín nuclear power plant, which has been in the news recently “because of a controversial and overpriced contract awarded to a shady company whose former director was recently jailed for planning the violent abduction of his replacement.”

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Dominica: Happy Independence! · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Dominica Weekly reviews the island's 2009 Independence celebrations.


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Egypt: Another journalist to be deported · Global Voices
Eman AbdElRahman

To continue the series of harassing  or deporting journalists in Egypt, like Travis Randall, Philip Rizk and Wael Abbas; Per Bjorklund, a Swedish journalist and blogger has been detained in Cairo airport upon his arrival. He’s been stopped by security and is to be deported back to Prague without an explanation; he was only told “your name [was] on the computer.”
Per is regarded as one of the most active foreign journalists covering the Egyptian labor strike wave and human rights abuses for a number of Swedish publications as well as activist websites like Electronic Intifada. He also writes in his blog Egypt and Beyond, where he identifies himself as:
A freelance journalist currently based in Cairo. Covering the daily struggles for a another Egypt and another Middle East, that are too often made invisible in the narratives of mainstream media.
As usual, Egyptian Leftist was the first to publish "Free Per" banners on his blog.
Hossam El Hamalawy was one of the first to break the news:
Swedish journalist and blogger Per Bjorklund has been stopped around half an hour ago at the Cairo Airport. An Immigration Police Officer told him his “name [was] on the computer,” according to Per with whom I spoke on the phone few mins ago.
Per is in some room at the airport, where there are other people, and he awaits an explanation from the police.
Another foreign journalist, James Buck commented on his blog Journalism not a crime:
Per is a great journalist who helped me get connected when I was in Egypt. Looks like Cairo has decided to keep dissenting journalists out of the country. This is a big step backward for press freedom.
On a different note, Egyptian journalist and blogger, Scarr, published a touching post tackling the other side of the story.
Per was one of the people involved in the To Gaza march – as was Travis Randall – but other foreigners on that march have been in and out of Egypt since then without problems. No, there’s no great plan. This (“your name is in our computer”) is just yet another instance of what they do best: bullying disguised as bureaucratic procedure, as thought-out policy.
Talking about Per's girlfriend she said:
The last call I got in this whole sorry saga was an hour ago, when A rang me, still at the airport. No-one had bothered to tell her that Per had been deported (or at least told that he was going to be deported. His phone was switched off after Hamalawy spoke to him). She had been waiting there, alone, all that time. She broke down in tears.
First tweets about Per's detention.
Egyptian blogger, Mostafa, questioned if the repetitive incidents was a sign for new measures taken by the government against journalists:
Per is a brave journalist and his writing is almost always highly informative. He is a nice guy. This is both outrageous and depressing. I wonder if this stupid government is trying to reduce the number of foreign journalists in anticipation of the next two politically intense years.
More details can be found  in a post by Joseph Mayton at Bikya Masr and Zeinobia at Egyptian Chronicles.

author: Eman AbdElRahman


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Guinea-Conakry: 58 Killed By Army · Global Voices
Abdoulaye Bah

International news sites, French radio [fr], BBC Africa, Twitter [fr], journalists, NGOs and political leaders report of on armed forces shooting on unarmed crowd in Conakry, Guinea capital, today on sept.28th a number of 58 protesters, wonded or dead, were evacuated to the main hospital in Conakry. The crowd was attending a rally called by the opposition group “Coalition des forces vives” .

author: Abdoulaye Bah


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India: Durga Puja: A Daughter Comes Visiting · Global Voices
Aparna Ray

Legend has it that the powerful demon Mahisasura once placated the gods through severe penances. When the pleased gods offered him a boon, he sought immortality. This request being  denied, he thought up a clever ploy and asked for a boon whereby only a woman could slay him in battle.  He thought that a woman would never be able to match his physical prowess, and therefore, for all practical purposes he would become immortal anyway. Thus empowered, Mahisasura began wreaking havoc on heaven and earth.
Defeated in battle, the gods combined their divine energies and created  Shakti (the primordial, cosmic, feminine energy), a goddess with varied manifestations, one of which was Durga. Armed with weapons given to her by the gods, Durga rode off into battle, mounted on a lion. A long and fierce battle ensued in which the demon Mahisasura was finally slain. The Goddess Durga is therefore celebrated as “Mahisasura-mardini” (the slayer of Mahisasura). She is the Mother Goddess, the supreme power that vanquishes all evil forces.
Goddess Durga slays Mahisasura. Photo by Aparna Ray
Initially, this Hindu festival in India was celebrated in the spring. However, today, the autumnal celebrations far outweigh the original puja of the Devi. The autumnal celebration, according to the epic “Ramayana“, started when Ram paid obeisance to the Goddess before he went into battle with the demon king Ravana to rescue his wife Sita, who had been abducted by Ravana. Since this was an untimely invocation of the Goddess, the Durga Puja conducted by Ram is also termed as “akalbodhan” (out of turn/ untimely worship).
Following the example of  Ram, the Durga Puja currently is held for anywhere between 5 days (Durga Puja)-10 days (Navaratri – where 9 forms of Shakti are venerated) across different states in India.
While the basic tale behind the Durga Puja remains the same, the Bengalis have  a slightly more personalized approach to the Pujas (or ‘Pujo’ as it is pronounced in Bengali). It is believed that Durga is the daughter of Bengal and during these 5 days she visits her parental home along with her 4 children (Ganesh, Lakshmi, Saraswati, Kartikeya) and 2 close friends. Interestingly, her husband Shiva does not usually accompany her on this trip. He stays behind, letting his wife  and children visit Earth and enjoy all the pampering from  their Bengali  relatives.
Durga puja idol at a South Kolkata pandal. Photo by Aparna Ray
Kolkata Musing tells us why he feels that the city's Durga Puja has earned the right to be labelled ‘unique’.
What is unique to Kolkata’s Durga Puja is the quest for creativity, the insatiable urge to create something new. And it is for this reason that I will always feel that Kolkata’s Durga Puja can perhaps never be paralleled.
The creativity is amply evident, year after year in the Puja motifs – ‘themes’ reflected in the pandal design and decoration of the Durga protima (Durga idol). There are also numerous awards given away each year to innovative, creative, environment-friendly (a relatively new entrant in the evaluation parameters) pujas that also take crowd safety into account.
Saurabh Dhanuka writes on his blog:
[…]the Durga Puja is an essence of all the passions of a Bengali, his culture, love, emotions, warmth of being together, the ultimate joy of celebration. They feel great pleasure in competing with each other on pandal making.
Here are a few themes from this year's Pujo.
The Nepal theme – Appreciated by the Nepal Tourism Board and the consulate-general of Nepal, this puja in South Kolkata reflected Nepali art and architecture in all its glory, from the pandal, a replica of the Yakshewar Mahadev Temple in Bhaktapur, to the Durga idol  inspired by the four-headed Nepalese deity Taleju Bhavani.
Durga idol inspired by the Nepalese deity Taleju Bhawani. Originally uploaded by Anil m, used under Creative Commons Licence
Egyptian theme at a South Kolkata pandal. Photo by Aparna Ray
Pandal decoration – Egyptian theme. Photo by Aparna Ray
Environment/climate change as puja theme – It was heartening to see that this year many puja organizers focused on environmental and climate change issues in their puja themes.  Innovative and creative art forms explored these issues, aiming to make the visitors more aware about the environment. An example:
A board outside a puja pandal explains issues such as global warming and the need for recycling resources
And inside, hand-painted paper packets replace traditional decoration materials, to drive home their point.
Painting on paper packets. Photo by Aparna Ray
And there were many, many more, strewn across the city and also across the state.
Apart from the pandals and idols, there were the decorative lights that gave the city its glitter by night. Thousands of people poured out of their homes to celebrate the days and nights with food, drinks and  ‘pandal-hopping’ (visiting one puja after another).
Decorative lights at a puja pandal gate. Photo by Aparna Ray
And of course, many of the lights also carried a message, be it social or environmental in nature.
Save Life on Earth – plant a tree. Photo by Aparna Ray
The 5 days of festivities ended with Dashami, the day of immersion. This is the day when the Goddess returns to her marital home in the Himalayas. But not before the married women give her and her family a warm send-off with gifts, sweets and lots of vermilion for a long and happy conjugal life.
Bidding her farewell until next year. Photo by Aparna Ray
This is followed by ‘sindoor khela’ (the vermilion ceremony) a ritual by married women where they smear sindoor (traditionally, sindoor/ vermilion on the forehead/ parting of the hair is the mark of a married Hindu woman) on each other and share sweets, fun and laughter.
Sindoor Khela. Photo by Avik@firstdays. Reproduced here with permission
Photo credit: The  photo above is by Avik@firstdays.
Finally, all the idols are taken to the lakes/ rivers for immersion. The pandal is dismantled and life goes on as usual, with the Bengalis beginning their wait for the year to come. After immersion, it is time again to meet and greet friends, family, relatives and all other near and dear ones as it is Vijaya Dashami, the celebration that coincides with Dussehra, the victory of Ram over Ravana.
Not only is it celebrated across the country, Durga puja is celebrated by Bengalis world-wide. Here are some photos by our South-Asia editor Rezwan of puja celebrations in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Also, Dithi posts some  snapshots of puja celebrations in Geneva. In Zurich, Durga puja festivities brought the Bengali community together, like it has been doing for the past six years. Am sure many of you readers will know of a Durga puja that is celebrated in your part of the world. For wherever there are Bengalis, the Durga puja cannot be far behind.
You can enjoy more Durga puja 2009 photos here. For those of you readers who would like to know more about Durga Puja, this site could made for an interesting read.

author: Aparna Ray


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India: Water On Moon · Global Voices
Rezwan

Breaking Tweets compiles reactions of Indian Twitter users to various reports of the Indian Chandrayaan-1 mission finding water molecules on the moon.


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Iran: Protest in Tehran University · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Iranian students protested against Iranian government in Tehran University yesterday. Here is the film.

author: Fred Petrossian


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Israel: Ideas for Household Water Conservation · Global Voices
Maya Norton

After receiving an expensive water bill, Baila decided to implement some water-saving rules for her household. Read here to find out more. Comment to add your own suggestions.

author: Maya Norton


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Israel: New Army Technologies · Global Voices
Maya Norton

The Muqata posts descriptions and photos of new technologies from the Israeli army. Should this be classified? You decide.


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Israel Switches to Winter Clock · Global Voices
Maya Norton

Israel changed to the winter clock on Saturday night. Find out why A Mother in Israel thinks that was a “dumb idea.”


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Israel: The Meaning of Home · Global Voices
Maya Norton

Absolute Carmel‘s Carmel Vaisman contemplates notions of home. “I fear that the concept of home, like love or identity, is a complex chaotic fractal, a secret formula, that if I change one component I’ll lose it entirely.”


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Jamaica: Bolt & the Passa Passa  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Yardflex.com, though a fan of Jamaican Olympic gold medalist Usain Bolt, thinks that he should “stay out of the passa passa” controversy.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Madagascar Delegation Barred from UN General Assembly Stage  · Global Voices
Lova Rakotomalala

The political impasse in Madagascar has taken on new dimensions.  In an attempt to legitimize the military-backed government on the international scene,  Madagascar's current leader, Andry Rajoelina, was scheduled to take the floor at the UN General Assembly in New York on Thursday, only to be barred from speaking. He was later rescheduled to address the Assembly at the following Friday session when the representative of the Democratic Republic of Congo, on behalf of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), formally protested his speech as he was about to take the floor. The motion was put to a vote  (fr) and resulted in 23 against Rajoelina's presence at the stage, 4 in favor and 6 abstentions. The procedure was marred with legal argumentation and a bit of confusion as one can observe on the following video by Malagasy blogger vatofototra:
Many Malagasy bloggers/twitterers followed the exchange on the UN webcast and reacted instantly via twitter as the crisis in Madagascar took another improbable turn.
As Rajoelina was about to take the stage, Malagasy blogger Aliotsy noted:
Congo's rep just called on member states (SADC or UN?) to walk out on Rajoelina if he speaks. http://www.un.org/webcast/ #Madagascar #fb
Rashaja is a bit perplexed:
situation is quite funny actually…total mess, total confusion. President of Session and advisor not experienced enough? #UN #Madagascar
Samganegie adds (fr):
président de l'assemblé est même sorti de sa tribune, et ses assistant sont completement paumés !!#madagascar
Streetrover bemoans the state of politics in Madagascar:
Rajoelina shunned at the UN,  its ambassador @ UN publicly named in an internatnl bribery scheme on the same day! #madagascar needs a break!
HairyT and Solofo agree that it was a low point in Madagascar's history:
RT @solofo: What a shame for #Madagascar . I don't care about #Rajoelina/ RT Pdt Prevented from Taking Floor at #UN
The pro-government blog Madagate weighs in on the incident (fr):
Ce moment irritant dans l’histoire de Madagascar fait déjà partie du passé. Car cette crise aura une fin, quoi qu’il puisse arriver. Pour le moment, la majorité des Malgaches de Madagascar commence à la vivre très mal car ils se perdent en conjectures.
In the meantime, Unrest has once again broken in the aftermath of the UN fiasco. Investgasy posted on twitter today:
#Madagascar:  shootings in Anosy (Tana) right now, armed 4×4 are everywhere
. The report was later confirmed by Reuters, reporting tear gas launching and wanring shots fired at demonstrators.
Finally Jentilisa reports that young reservists of the army who fought by Rajoelina's side early in the crisis are now demanding that Rajoelina keep his promises (mg):
..ny rezervista tanora, nitolona tamin'ny andron'ny TGV,  hidina an-dalambe izy ireo hitondra sora-baventy satria tsy tanteraka ny fampanantenana natao tamin'izy ireo, toy ny hanomezana asa ho azy ireo tahaka ny hoe fampidirana azy ho miaramila ary hotsinjovina manokana ny rezervista nanohana ny tolona.

author: Lova Rakotomalala


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Myanmar: New Currency Note Issued · Global Voices
tan

The government of Myanmar had announced on state television and radio that a new currency note of 5000 Ks. will be issued starting from October 1st, 2009.

author: tan


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Pakistan: Karachi The Next Swat · Global Voices
Rezwan

Khaled Faroqi at Pakistan Desk opines that the movement of Taliban Leadership from Quetta to Karachi can force the city to suffer the same consequences as FATA or Swat.