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Elections in the Bolivian Blogs · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Finally the elections have passed by and we have in our hands the results that for many was expected and even well received, while for others it was a surprise. We are not here to judge what happened in Bolivia, we are not analysts and anything we'd say would suffer the lack of depth or interest compared to what more interesting bloggers could give. What we can do is make a small overview of the Bolivian blogs to see how these elections have been observed and how the new Bolivian president is seen by the blogosphere.
Here at blogsbolivia we support the freedom of expression over any other aspect so we shall publish brief extracts without including our opinions or modifying what others have written.
“It is 02:03 a.m. in Bolivia, 07:30 here in France and the internet media announce what some of us perceived as necessary and others as unavoidable. Evo Morales will be the President of Bolivia and I hope that there is enough responsibility between him and his collaborators to realize what they are accomplishing, how they are arriving into power and all those who fought for it.” http://almadadenoche.blogspot.com/
“Responsibility. It is the only thing I’d ask of everyone this Sunday. Think. Figure it out. Remember. Two out of the three votes we will cast will decide who will conform the parliament, who at its turn will elect our next government. Podemos or the MAS. Two distinct and very different views of the country, the first a perfect representative of the neoliberal model in which we have been almost since the return of democracy and the second a new project, emerging from the unions struggle and the possibility to bring the first indigenous representative to the presidency of our country for the first time in history.”  Grillovillegas
“Evo Morales has won the Bolivian elections with 50.9% of the vote, preliminary results show. Tuto Quiroga comes in second with 31,9% of the vote and a majority in the Senate. The great losers in this election have been UN, which only managed 8% of the vote and NFR, which got less than 1% of the votes after coming third (with just 0.3% less than MAS) just three years ago. MNR, on the hand, is the great survivor, with 6,7% of the vote, a Senator and 8 MPs (members of parliament). This is a great result for them considering that their last elected official (Gonzalo Sanchez) is an extremely hated figure.”  http://aruiznavajas.blogspot.com/
“No matter who is elected, that he may govern for the established time, and in addition, let the people do it, because if not, when will we be able to get out of this morass in which we find ourselves.”  http://sergioasturizaga.blogspot.com/
Results, Results, Results. Every single channel has forecasts, voter intent polls (from yesterday), exit polls and now partial counts. Often confusion reigns as those gathered around a television outside the campaign headquarters take those numbers at face value. Right now there are about 150 supporters who have gathered to watch the results, although I am remaining cautious and waiting the final tally. Some results, so far, are going according to plan and others are surprising and disappointing to many.” http://www.barrioflores.net/weblog/
“Now to give a hand to our country and support our government, to be patient, to let them govern, to be coherent, to oversee and be an active part of change.” http://ganjartek70.blogspot.com/
Morales wrapped up his speech noting, to Bolivia’s indigenous majority, “For the first time, we are the president.” He said as well, “We hope that this action by Bolivia will be an example, not just for Bolivia but for all of Latin America.”   http://www.democracyctr.org/blog/
“If so, he'd be the first directly elected president since Bolivia became a democracy. But none of his candidates won a single prefecture, and I still can't get a complete read on number of legislative seats. Still, a historic & interesting election, all around.” http://www.centellas.org/miguel/
“The next government that starts their work on January 2006 will have undoubtedly a ver important economic, political and social agenda to face. Many social conflicts are stalled waiting for the government to answer, and others will be born if short term solutions are not established. Structural problems such as the country’s image and the conditions that should be generated to attract foreign capital once again, the strengthening of institutions that results in raising the credibility and trust that the people have in authority; and a vision of a country that contemplates the ethno-cultural diversity should be the foremost tasks for whomever succeeds Rodriguez in the president’s chair.”  http://crisisenbolivia.blogspot.com/
“How things look: a writ of good government and no-good people. The weekend starts and it seems there is no difference with other weekends. See the results on the TV, step by step, the vote count. The uncertainty!! By 9pm we know that the evo has 50% plus uno. He is the new president of the country. We change to fox sports, the final (the decisive game) of the south american cup. Boca vs. pumas in the bombonera!!…Well, in short: evo president, boca champion. What a weekend.”  http://flacazul.blogspot.com/
“Being bolivian is making Bolivia, and today, with my flag half mast I declare myself an orphan. See you in five years, because I hope that it is only five and not a day more.”  http://ergoth-fenix.blogspot.com/
“What if Evo wins? The big prediction is that Evo Morales will emerge as first in the Presidential race this Sunday (18 December). The thought unnerves the US and various economic interests in Bolivia, but will an Evo government be as radical as its rhetoric suggests?”  http://funsolon.civiblog.org/blog

”The undecided quietly voted for MAS, seems that those elitists and oligarchs of the middle class were not convinced by the PODEMOS campaign.  http://b2bolivia.blogspot.com/

”If the roads are closed to almost all traffic and the sale of alcohol illegal, it must be election day in Bolivia.”  http://billdana.blogspot.com/
“In any case, we have to respect the laws of democracy and accept that Evo will be president, although I’ll never feel glad about it.”  http://la-casa-verde.blogspot.com/
“If the MAS reaches the government will it become a new UDP?
Will the sadist components of the National Liberation Army return?
Will the farmers and mines of the MAS subdue Santa Cruz again and assassinate the karas cambas as their elders did in 1958?
Will they fly the emblem of the scythe and hammer denying the redempting sign of the cross?
Will they turn Bolivia into a Quechua-Aymara Socialist state?
Will they close the Paliament to substitute it with the People’s assembly?
Will the decriminalizing of the coca leaf end with drug trafficking?
Will they dismiss the FF.AA. and the National Police to replace them with the Community Police?
Will the fearsome political control, the reopening of the people’s jails and the concentration camps return?
Will they apply communal justice to the karas and mestizos [racially mixed] of the MAS if they disobey their godfather Evo?” por-una-Bolivia-mejor
“Finally, all we need to point out is that we won, we did it in the ballot boxes, that means, we did it still within the logic of the democracy, meaning in the liberal or euro-north-american centric logic and not following our own logic which would be the communal system. cfr. Felix Patzi, Sistema Comunal, 2004), therefore we are still under that relationship of domination, it is imperative for this generation to promote this change, to build bridges towards the communal system.” http://luctor.blogspot.com/
“And many ask themselves for how many years, and others already began shaking for the “massacre of the burgoise”. For certain is that everyone has been amazed by the vote of more than 50% obtained by Eggvo. And it is the only logic result after twenty something years of shameless plunder by the whiteys’.”  http://ceckis.blogspot.com/
“Personally I was very happy with the result: Bolivia has followed US and IMF policies for 20 years with little benefit to the majority of the population, in fact poverty has got worse and therefore I think that a radical change in policy may provide an opportunity to try something else that may improve the lot for the majority. There are however a large minority, mainly from the middle classes, who genuinely fear what Evo´s victory will mean for the country. It was very revealing watching events unfold with my girlfriend´s family as they all voted for his main rival and are very worried. The truth is no one knows what will happen… we'll wait and see.” http://julianjacobs.blogspot.com/

”The election of Evo Morales definitely signals a new chapter in the country and its development. Hopefully, this new, indigenous president, will learn quickly how to navigate the muddy political waters inside and outside Bolivia that have saddled so many of his predecessors.”  http://www.livejournal.com/users/eoinjournal/

”Absolutely no-one (including the campaign manager for MAS who I interviewed) predicted that he could do it, but last night Evo Morales managed to surprise commentators once again when his party, MAS, swept to power with more than 51.1% of the vote. This has never happened.” http://www.nickbuxton.info
“The farmer who became a coca planter? The coca planter who became rural politician? The rural politician who became president?”  http://rocko.blogia.com/
“They say that before he died, Catari said: “I’ll return and be millions?. For many, the return has begun. They are millions; Evo is just the spearhead. Good reason to not have voted for Evo. Or to have voted for him.”  http://riofugitivo.blogspot.com/
“Evo has to be very clear that now that he will govern he won’t be able to feed of social discontent as he has been doing all these years, but that quite the contrary, all the social discontent, specially being Evo,  will reflect on his government. Will he be able to weather the tempest? Will he be able to create what he has promised? If the answer is yes, it is obvious that Evo, or the MAS in this case, may win the elections again. If he is not able to withstand the storm the country may fall into absolute anarchy or lift Tuto up to power. Mi personal reflection is that I have to tell Evo the same thing that many told Zapatero when he reached the presidency: ‘Do not fail us’.”http://tomorrow123.blogspot.com/
“I'm not crazy about Evo Morales ? that's no secret. Despite my insignificant opposition, though, it appears he will win a plurality (not a majority) of the vote. Whoever wins, it is highly likely the president will not be decided by the election but by the Congress, since none of the candidates is likely to get a majority of the popular vote, which Bolivia's consitution requires.”  http://www.joshrenaud.com/bolivia/
“As you see there are opinions on everything and for everyone. Now, almost finishing this post it is worth pointing out an article by Edmundo Paz Soldán as written in his blog” http://riofugitivo.blogspot.com/
“They say that before he died, Catari said: “I’ll return and be millions?. For many, the return has begun. They are millions; Evo is just the spearhead. Good reason to not have voted for Evo. Or to have voted for him.” http://riofugitivo.blogspot.com/
Finally, our friends at  Mundoalrevés have created  http://bolivia.mundoalreves.com/ a website about the elections where articles on the subject are being posted. I hope we get to read reactions on the first steps of this new government.
Here we end with the overview of the electoral thermometer in the world of the weblogs. For more information you may follow the technorati tags which have been on fire today:  Bolivia and  Evo Morales.


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Ethiopia: Book reviews · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Redeem Ethiopia reviews two books on Ethiopia:  Survival and Modernization, written by Messay Kebede and Hagai Erlich’s Ras Alula and The Scramble for Africa – a political biography of Ras Alula Aba Nega.   They also recommend a number of other books on Ethiopia.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Sokari Ekine


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India: Battling HIV · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Lives in Focus has a profile of Shabana and a webcast of an interview with her
Shabana, 20, realized she was HIV+ after her husband’s health began rapidly deteriorating. A Muslim woman, she now serves as a counselor trying to educate those in her community about the dangers of HIV/AIDS and how it spreads.

author: Neha Viswanathan


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Iran: 352 comments & No Post · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Khatamionline is apparently a weblog where former President,Mr.Khatami, will go blogging. Before he starts to write more trhan 350 people left comments or  message for him. You can find anything among them. (Persian)

author: Fred Petrossian


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Iran: More Sites Filtered · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Reporters Without Borders welcomed an initiative by 13 Iranian deputies who have written to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to protest against censorship of the Internet, which they described as “unconstitutional”.The Iranian representatives urged the head of state, who is guarantor of the constitution, to lift filtering of three news websites in Persian : mellimazhabi, emrouz and rooydadnews.


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Kazakhstan: Post-independence Islam · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Baktygul of neweurasia discusses Islam in Kazakhstan and Central Asia since independence.

author: Nathan Hamm


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Kenya: Journalism · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Kenyan Pundit continues here write up on “What is ailing Kenyan journalism” with a Part III…..Part I and Part II


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Kenya: Scientific maps · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Kikuyumoja’s realm shares her wonderful discovery of scientific maps of Kenya….and came across a HUGE collection of amazingly detailed maps for scientific use – scanned & published online by the DG Joint Research Centre of the European Commission: the “European Digital Archive on Soil Maps of the World (EuDASM) “.   Kenya? Africa? – you name it, they have it. Free of charge! With coordinates for geo-referencing and other useful metadata”!  I wonder if they have similar maps on other African countries?


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Khatami goes Blogging, Air Crash & survivors, Bread & Freedom! · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

According to Zannevesht, Iranian female blogger & journalist, former President Khatami has decided to go blogging at the end of this week. His blog , Khatamionline, is ready without a post but he has received already more than 240 comments to encourage him to blog! His friend, former Vice President, Abtahi has launched a very successful blog a few years ago.(Persian)
Ali Mazroi, a reformist politician, criticized government’s slogans concerning Bread & Housing. He says our revolution wanted to bring freedom to people and only bread & housing can not satisfy Iranian people. According to blogger material needs must be satisfied without forgetting justice & freedom. (Perisan)
Sibestan says people who lost their homes because air plane crashed in their building, are living in desperate situation. They are afraid of talking with reporters. It seems they have not got any important help from government and no health or material support is visible. According to blogger survivors say:
“There are 40 who got injured and many more are suffering from psychological problems…Survivors say when responsible are going take care of our needs”!(Persian)


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Lesotho: cheap imports from China · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Sotho reports on a piece in IOL about the deluge of cheap imports from China and how this is affecting local industries and jobs……..“From South Africa to Lesotho, to Zambia and Nigeria anger is mounting over what one union leader called ‘a tsunami of cheap Chinese goods’ that many say is choking off local industries and wiping out jobs.”


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Nepal: Season of protests · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

International Nepal Solidarity Network on the demonstration at Trichandra College continued to protest against killings of 11 civilians by the RNA in Nagarkot last week.


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Pakistan: Rest in Peace · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

An extremely tragic end to the search for Dr Attari at Yasmine's blog.


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Philippines: Once in a Lifetime · Global Voices
Jose Manuel Tesoro

Jessica Zafra is discombobulated meeting musician and artist David Byrne in Manila.  The ex-leader of the Talking Heads was in town researching a new musical he's writing on Imelda Marcos.

author: Jose Manuel Tesoro


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Poland: Ranking the US · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

the beatroot reports on a new opinion poll showing that Polish opinion of the United States has decreased over the past year and discusses why this has happened.


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Russia: Heavy Traffic · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Cyber-Generation reports that it's the busiest time of year in Moscow as people prepare for the holidays and has photos of some of the horrible traffic.


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SA: fake US accents · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Mzansi Afrika complains about the use of “fake American accents” by promo ads especially on music radio………But this whole adopting of the American accent thing, especially when you've never set foot in America – I just don't get it. What's wrong with our own ethnic African accents? Why do you have to be a pseudo-American to be cool? Frankly, I find it annoying.


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Singapore: Freedom is Not Free · Global Voices
Jose Manuel Tesoro

Oppositionist politician Goh Meng Seng on his blog Singapore Alternatives writes about the price of freedom: “Freedom is not free. And most importantly, freedom has the element of free ridership in it. Everyone may want it, but all waiting for someone to get it for them.”


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Slovenia: The Formula · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Michael Manske says there is a formula for American newspaper travel coverage of Slovenia.


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South Korea: Not a Barbie Girl · Global Voices
Jose Manuel Tesoro

As the Seoul Arts Center hosts an exhibit about Barbie dolls, The Asia Pages reminisces about her first encounters and swift disappointment with “Oriental Barbie.”


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Travels in the Kurdish Blogosphere · Global Voices
Deborah Ann Dilley

This was my first week of using a feed aggregator for watching the Kurdish blogs and I am not sure how I feel about it. Part of me really enjoyed checking every single blog each week, but it can be terribly time consuming. I set up the aggregator for the website Kurdistan Blog Count, and if you are interesting in linking to it yourself here is the public site. However the new feed has enabled me to organize today's post thematically, in which we will be able not only to discuss the major topics but address the subject of Kurdish bloggers that have become prominent in the news.
First item up, the elections in Iraq: By and far the most regarded coverage of the Iraqi elections has been the blog The Iraqi Vote (unfortuately the permalinks were not functioning correctly on their site, however I strongly recommend that you review the comment dialouge and the posts if this topic is of interest to you.) From Holland to Kurdistan and Roj Bash have also had excellent election coverage, especially with respects to expat voting—I recommend reading the personal commentaries that Roj Bash has provided. Kurdo from Kurdo's World writes about possible election fraud and his decision not to vote, he has some amazing links to photos from the election. Hiwa from Hiwa Hopes expresses his happiness at being able to vote and his hope for an independent Kurdistan. Lastly in this long list of esteemed bloggers, is Kurdish blogger Bilal Wahab who was able to meet with the President of the United States on election day (I am sure that many will recognise the photo.)!
Second item: There are several trials that are ongoing that the Kurdish blogosphere are buzzing about. The first is Dr. Kamal Sayd Qadir who is being held by the Kurdistan Regional Government in Iraqi Kurdistan for crimes that include “disgracing the Kurdish government and it's struggles”. This brings out issues of credibilty of the KRG asking neighboring states to grant free speech to their Kurds, but denying the right to its own Kurds. While this has been covered most notably by the blog the Is-Ought problem, other bloggers have weighed in this issue including Hiwa, Rasti and Roj Bash. A lot of comparisons between this trial and the upcoming trial of Turkish author Orhan Pamuk have been drawn.
Thirdly, just a reminder for people to check out the work being done by the blog Save Roj TV, which is campaining to retain the broadcasting rights of Kurdish television in Holland.
And finally, The Kurdistan Bloggers Union has written to remind Kurdish bloggers that they need to guard their own safety when they blog.

author: Deborah Ann Dilley


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Trinidad and Tobago: Wining · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Some of us prepare for a vacation by poring over travel books, but not the South African tourist who wrote to Caribbean Beat magazine requesting information on “wining” (the gyrating dance Caribbean people do to soca and calypso music – an inability to do it properly is one of the markers of foreignness). As Nicholas Laughlin remarks on the Caribbean Beat Blog, “Video footage would certainly give a better idea than a written description.” Caribbean Free Radio continues the discussion by pointing to an actual medical case study of a wining-related injury co-written by a Trinidadian surgeon who, earlier this year, was freed of the charge of murdering his wife. The same surgeon is pictured in the article demonstrating the action which may have led to the injury.

author: David Sasaki


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Turkmenistan: Turkmen Gambit · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

neweurasia reports on a Russian film festival in Turkmenistan that appears to be a gift of gratitude related to a recent Russian parliamentary by-election in which voters in Turkmenistan played an important part.


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Vietnam: Imitations · Global Voices
Jose Manuel Tesoro

At diacritic.org, R. Streitmatter-Tran discusses the embarrassment to Vietnamese art when local award-winning works are revealed to have been plagiarized including one from a work that won an award in Vietnam six years earlier.


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Zimbabwe: Action Alert · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Action Alert:  This is Zimbabwe – Petition request for United Nations intervention in Zimbabwe. The Petition can be found here.


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Africa: Blogosphere · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Jewels in the Jungle has his own comments on the growth of the African blogosphere and uses a quote from  Zimbabwean Pundit to describe it …”“The African blogosphere is a heterogeneous amalgam of blogs not only by Africans and people on the continent as much as it is comprised of blogs that write about the continent. There are many people around the world that write about Africa. This miracle of cyberspace—that it allows for cheap communication unfettered by geopolitical boundaries—has made it possible for the African odyssey to share center stage alongside the big issues in the west, thanks in part to Africa’s bloggers. The latest news from Africa is available to anyone in the world with access to the internet.”


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Africa|: Granta, “A View from Africa” · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

My Heart is in Accra points to literary journal Granta whose lates issue is “The View from Africa“…Ory pointed me towards a piece by Binyavanga Wainaina, a Nairobi-based author who offered the satirical and very challenging “How to write about Africa”. (Pieces like this are great when, like me, you complain about how other people write or report on Africa… and you realize that you’re using cliches and sloppy generalizations as well…) I also enjoyed Lindsey Hilsum’s “We Love China”, which takes a close look at China’s increasing influence in Africa. It’s not a new story, but Hilsum tells it well, talking to Chinese entrepreneurs about why it’s a great time to be in business in Sierra Leone.” – Definately one to get.


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Africa: Music · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

This is my last roundup until next week and I would like to end with a blog I think we all love Benn loxo du taccu……….Africa's music for the masses – North and South of the Sahara.


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Bangladesh: Farakka Barrage · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

The Farakka Barrage has been a sore point in the diplomatic relationship between Bangladesh and India for long now. DeshCalling has a post on what is termed as a “diaboloical water conspiracy against Bangladesh“.


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Belarus: Pessimism on Elections · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

br23 blog comments on the upcoming presidential election in Belarus. That they are earlier than expected, the author says, matters not for the outcome.


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Bolivia: Álvaro García Linera Interview · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Jonathan Olguin has translated an interview with Vice President-elect Álvaro García Linera.


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Bolivia: Morales and U.S. Drug Policy · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Adam Isacson makes the argument that “Evo Morales is the natural and predictable product of twenty years of a militarized, failed U.S. drug policy in the Andes.”


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Brazil: Model Corruption · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Made in Brazil covers the controversy surroundng Eliana Tranchesi.


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Bulgaria: Miner-Proofing ATM Cards · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

If necessity is the mother of invention, then Bulgarian banks may soon come up with miner-proof ATM cards according to a report from Nomad Notes.


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Chile: Childhood on Easter Island · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Margot Hotus Salinas, a “linguist, musician and budding journalist,” remembers her childhood on Rapa Nui, also known as, “Easter Island” and “Isla de Pascua.” Nearly 2000 photos of the island are available on Flickr.


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Chile: New York Performance · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Leo Prieto is impressed (ES) by an audio-visual show put on some by fellow Chileans in New York.


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China: Anti-Virus Efforts · Global Voices
Jose Manuel Tesoro

Revere at Effect Measure praises China's cooperative transparency in sharing with the world its bird flu virus samples.  “The Chinese also report they have begun their own clinical trials of an experimental H5N1 vaccine.”


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China: Signs of Beijing Christmas · Global Voices
Jose Manuel Tesoro

Imagethief reveals how you know Christmas is approaching in officially atheist Beijing.


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Ethiopia: Overhearing conversations · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Aqumada links to a site called “Overheardinnewyork” where people post conversations they have overheard in the city.  He gives some examples ….”Puerto Rico chick: He likes that—what do you call it? That the black people make…that “tooka tooka tooka”…?
Nuyorican chick: Rap music.” – Sounds like fun – lets all give it a try over the next week!


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India: Transit and Business · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

The New York transit strike features on quite a few Indian blogs. Kamla has a podcast where she speaks to a few business people on the transit strike.


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Japan: Hard Gay Toy · Global Voices
Jose Manuel Tesoro

Controversial but popular Japanese TV character Razor Ramon HG, a.k.a. Hard Gay now has a toy inspired by him.  A “sexual minority” teacher's network has complained that the toy, which encourages children to stick plastic swords into a barrel until the TV character jumps out, discriminates against homosexuals.


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Kenya: getting lost in Nairobi · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Moving back home is busy getting lost in Nairobi….”.i am unsure how people who have never lived in this city, get around. honestly. there are no map-books. and even if there were, people tend to substitute whatever road names there are for hand gestures. for example james gichuru is that road from lavington going towards ngong that goes like this”.. Sounds familiar!


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Kenya: US, foreigners and privacy · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Gukira writing from the US complains that foreigners are not getting the same protection as US citizens in Bush's latest move to invade people's  privacy……..”Repeatedly, leaders have condemned this “invasion of privacy.”Daddy senator and Mommy representative must protect Baby citizen from the hostile government wolfs.Not a single word, at least not reported, about the foreigners in America, as visitors, as scholars, as friends, as family. We need no protection. We are all potential threats”.


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Nepal: Nagarkot killings · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Legal News from Nepal reports that “The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has written to former Justice Top Bahadur Singh, the chairman of the Inquiry Commission on the Nagarkot killings, welcoming the formation of the probe panel and highlighting international standards as benchmarks of investigation of such incidents”.


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Nigeria: African leaders · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

On a lighter mode – a great tune but hey you need to change the song sometime! He has some questions about African leaders….”Is it true that Presidents are usually possessed by evil spirits/forces after they assume position” more to come…. Does  Uncle Sege belong to the KGB? “Legend/myth/fiction has it that his drink was poisoned once in an occasion. And instead of laboratory tests being carried out to confirm it, the buttom of the cup simply popped out when he lifted it to drink. Call that Bendel Insurance?!”


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AIDS in Africa · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Lest some of us  forget a few of life's realities at this time of much merrymaking etc Grandiose Parlour reminds us via Medecins Sans Frontieres of the impact and cost of AIDS in Africa…..”I was awestrickened after viewing” And I too!


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Nigeria: Christmas · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Kid's Doc in Jos posts on Christimas in Nigeria……….Weather: dry and dusty. Travel: Like Thanksgiving in the US, this is the time for traveling home.Decorations: modest by American standards, but then Americans may be just a tad on the excessive side. Christmas parties: I’m sure that there are all varieties of parties and I don’t know most of them. Food: Spicy hot jollof rice with a chunk of beef or chicken is probably the most common. Christmas day at church: As far as we can tell, everyone in the Christian community (as opposed to Muslim) goes to church on Christmas day. Visiting is the main activity of the day after church. The day after Christmas is Boxing Day, from British tradition. It is a national holiday and the visiting and celebration continues.
Overall, Christmas here is very moderate, with neither the drama and emotion nor the frantic craziness and commercialism of Christmas in the US.


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Nigeria: party time · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Molara Wood has some cool photos “owambe belles” and “Lagos lass“.  And if you write love poetry you can submit to the African Love Poems to be published next year.


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Pakistan: Frontier Towns · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

KO finds lots to improve at the frontier town of Taftan.
I fear that entire generations of travelers who have entered Pakistan through Taftan have their worst fears and more about our country confirmed. Obviously, as they travel the length and breadth of the country that impression becomes positive, but why start off on the wrong foot?


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Pakistan: Hudood Ordinance · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

The Hudood Ordinance is a draconian measure in Pakistan that makes life for rape victims even worse by demanding proof of the rape from the victim in the form of witnesses. Ampersand has more on the issue.


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Philippines: Constitutional Reform · Global Voices
Jose Manuel Tesoro

Ricky Carandang reveals his disappointment that the commission tasked with reforming the Philippines’ constitution and consider a change from a presidential to parliamentary government has taken the best reforms off the table.


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Sierra Leone: UN withdraws · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Black Star Journal reports on the withdrawal of UN forces from Sierra Leone…….. “Once the largest peacekeeping mission in the world, UNAMSIL has disarmed and demobilised over 72,000 combatants and collected and destroyed over 30,000 arms, explained head of mission, [Daudi Ngelautwa] Mwakawago.”


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Singapore: Symbols · Global Voices
Jose Manuel Tesoro

Yawning Bread tells the stories behind Singapore's national symbols, including the much-maligned merlion and the Vanda Miss Joaquim orchid.


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South Africa: Australia, racism – not cricket · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

South African reports that Australia's racist hooligans are still on the rampage this time hurling abuse at the SA cricket team….”The latest news coming out of Australia is that South Africa's cricketers were racially abused and called “kaffirs” and “kaffir boeties” during the first Test in Perth. This kind of behaviour is completely unnacceptable and should be dealt with severely by Cricket Australia. The current punishment of simply ejecting offenders from the ground, is insufficient and a mere slap on the wrist.” Interesting choice of words!


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Ukraine: Gas & Politics · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Orange Ukraine argues that Ukraine's current gas crisis will not ultimately help Yanukovich or other pro-Russia candidates in upcoming elections.


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Ukraine: Let the CIS Come · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Orange Ukraine argues that Ukraine should allow CIS election observers into the country during the March elections. (They may be barred for their negative assessment of the 2004 elections–the only time they have given such an assessment despite having observed numerous elections in the former Soviet Union.)


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Argentina: Latin America Marches Left · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Expat Argentina gives an Argentinean perspective of South America's “march leftward” while Matt explains why he is “the chicken.”


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Armenia: Admitting Fraud · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Onnik Krikorian reports that one of Armenia's ruling parties has admitted that the recent constitutional referendum was falsified.


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Armenia: Green Light · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Glendale Chick encourages people to green light a video on the Armenian genocide submitted to appear on Current TV.


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Azerbaijan: Destroying the Past · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Onnik Krikorian reports on the destruction of an old Armenian cemetery by Azeri soldiers in the exclave of Nakhichevan.


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Bolivia: Evo Morales Spoofed · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Eduardo Avila says president-elect, Evo Morales was the victim of a crank call, which you can hear for yourself.


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China: Patients’ Fate · Global Voices
Jose Manuel Tesoro

In 2004, China's President Hu Jintao shook the hands of two AIDS patients in a hospital.  The resulting exposure changed their lives, and not for the better.  EastSouthWestNorth translates a story from China Youth Daily.


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China: Scrubbed News Digest · Global Voices
Jose Manuel Tesoro

danwei prints a post by a publishing consultant in Shenzhen on Cankao Xiaoxi, a Chinese-language digest of articles from world press formerly restricted to the Communist party elite but now available to the public.  “But there are three areas in which Cankao Xiaoxi takes liberties,” he writes. “It runs its own headlines, creates its own captions, and—this is the killer—deletes references deemed unbecoming to China’s image.


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Indonesia: Aceh Blog · Global Voices
Jose Manuel Tesoro

I'm Your Huckleberry is a blog in English and Indonesian by a native of Indonesia's rebellious province of Aceh.  He's working there for the U.N.D.P. and writes, in one post, “If this success, we can do more for this region, my home land, home of the rebel. Hopefully!”


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Iran: No More Beethoven? · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

In Free Thoughts, a collective Iranian blog, we read The President of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has decided to ban all Western music from his nation’s state radio and TV stations. According to TCS daily, Newspaper columnists attacked Ali Rahbari,who was the conductor of Tehran’s symphony orchestra and chose to perform Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. Rahbari was accused of “promoting Western values.”


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Japan: Gaudy Game Paddles · Global Voices
Jose Manuel Tesoro

Japanduit has colorful photographs of hagoita, wooden paddles used in a traditional Japanese game much like badminton that is played around New Year's.  The paddles are adorned with Kabuki images, cartoon characters and representations of celebrities.


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Nepal: Deep Disappointment · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Blogdai indulges in some political analysis and is deeply disappointed with the turn of events over the last week in Nepal.


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Nepal: OS in Nepali! · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Operating Systems become more accessible in Nepal says United We Blog! Both Windows XP and Linux now have Nepali versions. The post outlines the challenges in wider adoption of computing and the internet in Nepal.


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Nepal: Why Kaplan said what he said · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

In response to Robert Kaplan's op-ed on the Wall Street Journal on future of Nepal, Samudaya.org has a letter that attempts to understand the context of Kaplan's analysis.


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Pakistan: Higher Ed · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Metroblogging Islamabad on higher education in Pakistan: “Taking into consideration the critical importance of the engineering sector in the development of industries in Pakistan, the Higher Education Commission (HEC) has decided to not only strengthen its existing engineering universities but also to establish new world-class engineering universities in Pakistan on the pattern of Indian Institute of Technology in partnership with technologically advanced countries.”


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Peru: Blogger Night · Global Voices
David Sasaki

PeruBlogs has photos of the latest Peruvian bloggers meetup (ES). Check out the t-shirts.


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Philippines: Filipino Intimacies in Saudi Arabia · Global Voices
Jose Manuel Tesoro

Saudi Arabia has long been a major destination for Filipinos seeking work.  The PCIJ blog hosts a podcast from a journalist who lived there for three years, on how they deal with their loneliness and isolation there.


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Poland: Christmas Carp · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

At p3, the beatroot says that were they given a choice, Polish carp would probably vote against Christmas. Almost all of the 22,000 tons of farmed carp in Poland are consumed around Christmas.


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Russia: Free Product Placement · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Russia Marketing Blog discusses how free PR and product placement made a certain Russian brand that has never advertised one of the world's most recognizable.


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Russia: NGO Bill · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Sean Guillory notes that Russia's controversial new bill on NGOs has passed a second reading in the State Duma. It has undergone minor technical changes, but it is still set to enormously impact relations between the state and civil society.


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Russia: Not Enough Cows · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Alistair reports that demand for dairy is on the rise in Russia while the number of cows in the country is falling.


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Sri Lanka: Tamils in Colombo · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Minor Matters reports that the “Tamils living in the electoral divisions of Colombo West and East were given a terrible shock on the night of Saturday, December 17 when a massive security operation was launched against them.”


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Turkmenistan: 20 Years of Turkmenbashi · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

neweurasia reports on the 20th anniversary of Turkmenistan's eccentric leader, Turkmenbashi, coming to power, and looks back at his history at the helm.


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Uruguay: Montevideo; Barbie · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Acá Fede gives a photographic tour of Montevideo. Todos Puteros, responding to a recent study which found that British girls “abuse” their barbies, sarcastically says (ES) that Mattel still has new markets to explore.


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Uzbekistan: The Cost of Freedom · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

David Walther reports on the cost of freedom in Uzbekistan..


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Venezuela: Feliz Chavidad · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Taking a break from the political dialogue (well, almost), Miguel Octavio (recent winner of best Latino, Caribbean, or South American weblog), Daniel Duquenal, and Oil Wars all wish their readers a very happy holiday season.


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Echoes from the Tunisian blogosphere · Global Voices
Mohamed Marwen Meddah

The 9th Tunisian Blogger Meetup will be taking place on Sunday, December 25th at Café 112 in downtown Tunis, at the end of Palestine Avenue. The results of the Tunisian Blog Awards will be announced in the meetup.
Building upon Mochekes‘ post about the situation of Tunisian IT engineers and programmers (in French), Slaim suggests the building of a website which will be kind of an IT company stock market where all Tunisian engineers can assess the companies they're working or worked for, and exchange invaluable information for better personal development and career management in Tunisia. He thinks it could become the perfect dashboard where companies and bosses are evaluated each day each hour constraining them and pushing them to do/behave better and give more.
Zizou covers the assassination of Gebran Toueni from Beirut, posting about the assassination, the feelings and reaction to it in the Lebanese street and the huge funeral (in French).
Tom writes about the work environment and how it is a micro system of its own in which a number of different people, who were put together without their choosing, co-exist and interact, building different types of relationships here and there, and all working for their own goals and in their own directions. (in French)
Nothing just illusion writes about how famous Lebanese singer Marcel Khalifa is now banned in Tunisia because of a dedication he made in a concert he held in Tunisia to all the Arab prisoners in Israeli prisons and in Arab prisons (in French).
Sup'Comian boy thinks that ADSL prices in Tunisia are too high. He compares the prices in Tunisia, where a miserable 128K connection goes for 50 Tunisian dinars to the prices in Europe, where the average personal income is double that in Tunisia. Tunisie Telecom makes huge benefits every year, he thinks they could reduce internet communication costs and make it more accessible (in French).
Sami criticizes the Tunisian blog aggregator for not including blogs of Tunisian cyber-dissidents, which is not entirely true nor entirely false, and thinks that the Tunisian bloggers in the aggregator now discuss every issue in the world but the important issues for Tunisia, and that all they do is reflect this perfected touristic vision of Tunisia (in French).
Mochekes writes about how Tunisiana, the first private mobile phone operator in Tunisia, will be launching a 300 kb/s internet service in February, building on the EDGE platform which is 2.75G technology. (in French).
Tarek tries to answer the longstanding controversy: what exact discipline does Astrology fall under? With it definitely not being a Science, nor a branch of Humanities, he uses the definition of Business in an online etymology dictionary to conclude that Astrology can rightly fall under the business category.
Zied wishes Tunisia was more like Singapore. He wishes we could build a technology and worldwide services based economy, that one of Tunisia’s University could make the Top 20 of the world’s best universities and that Tunisian bloggers could become a dominant force in the global blogosphere.
Chouchitou talks about all the pamphlets and offers we receive in our mailboxes and how they never offer anything new or of value, just the same stuff everywhere. The special offers aren’t special at all and the marketing stops halfway (in French).

author: Mohamed Marwen Meddah


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Iran: Bus Strike! · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

According to blogger Carne, Bus Workers Union (Syndicate) in Tehran has announced on Sunday 25th of December a general bus strike in defense of their colleagues who were fired. Union also wants better conditions for work and a  salary raise.
According to Harfi baraye Goftan (a word to say) a few responsibles of Union have already been arrested. (Persian)


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Turkey is Typing…. · Global Voices
Deborah Ann Dilley

While many Turks do not celebrate Christmas, many-especially University students-are taking advantage of the winter break to head home and spend time with their families.  Istanbul is covered in snow, and I imagine many people are relaxing and gathering their thoughts about the past year.  I wish that I had more time in my week because I would like to be able to translate more blog enteries for you.  Only a small fraction of the Turkish blogs are written in English, that I think will be my resolution for next year.
My most interesting find of this week is actually a post from one of the bloggers I regularly cover, Turkish Torque, who has a post about watermelon carvers in Akhisar that includes pictures.
Last week I posted about the trial of Orhan Pamuk, and from that post ensued a very lively debate about the situation between the Turks and the Armenians.  This week the debate continues.  Amerikan Turk (who I forgot to cover last week-sorry agabeyim) writes about the truth of the issue, and Erkan's Field Diary has more information about the trial, including the security issues that the author has to deal with.  The outcome of this trial will be very important as the the future of free speech in Turkey.
As I am unwell today, I am not going to write a column that is up to my normal length (the mound of tissues next to my laptop keeps climbing higher and higher), but I would like to leave you with a few more tidbits.  Metroblogging Istanbul writes about the facelift Istiklal Caddesi (Independence Street) is getting, the street connects to Takim Square and is a major shopping throughfare in Istanbul.  It is one of my favorite places in Istanbul and a fun place to go to get away from a lot of the tourists.  The White Path has an article about remembering Abdul Hamid II, a pro-American caliph.  And the incomparable Mavi Boncuk has information galore about Ottoman and Turkish history.
See you at the new year!


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Christmastime in Bolivia · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Take a deep breath.  Watch your belongings.  Say goodbye to personal space.  If you want to partake in some holiday shopping at a place where you can find anything and everything, it would be best to heed that advice.  Every year, the Feria Navideña in Cochabamba, Bolivia overwhelms the senses and invades every available open space near and around the large, local open-air market known as La Cancha.  Normally, this market is chaos in itself throughout the year, but around the holiday season, an influx of informal vendors bring their wares to take advantage of the innate need for holiday purchasing.  The market appears to multiply tenfold during the month of December, but that doesn’t keep the holiday shoppers away, as many brave the harsh conditions in hopes of finding bargains in one convenient location.
Many sellers set up tables with low hanging tarps, with Christmas lights, wreaths, plastic animals for manger scenes, and Christmas cards for sale.  The variety is unsurpassed, as one stand may sell soccer balls, while the next stand over, the seller may be hawking light bulbs and extension cords.  There is some semblance of order as the vendors set up orderly aisles for curious browsers to shuffle by.  However, the width of these aisles is barely two people across.  Once you get entire families that stop to look at the merchandise and some friendly price haggling, it leads to a frustrating congestion.  Mix in satisfied customers carrying home large packages, or items such as motorized cars for the toddler, then it becomes even more packed.  Those vendors unlucky enough to find their own stable stand are resigned to being wandering salesmen who sometimes venture in these tight spaces to look for interested buyers.  These wandering salesmen and women often lug their goods in wheelbarrows which adds to the unruly mess.  I even noticed one man who had a fine collection of hand saws for sale, which is not exactly the safest item to sell among the tightly packed crowd.
The municipality attempted to put more order to the fair by not allowing them to spill out on the street and limiting the spaces where stands could be set up.  However, many vendors claimed their right to earn a living and set up shop wherever convenient, even if it added to the headache of traffic jams and irritated shoppers.  Every year, the local government tries to maintain order, but every year the vendors seem to win.
In other parts of the city away from the hustle and bustle of the large marketplace, Christmas definitely is in the air.  Lights are strewn all around the main plaza, 14 de septiembre.  The city’s main avenue, la Avenida Ballivian, better known as El Prado, contains the largest concentration of Christmas decorations, including a surprisingly elegant tree constructed out of 2-liter bottles of Coca-Cola.  There is also a fair share of gaudy decorations like an out of place plastic Papa Noel (Santa Claus) overlooking the Plaza Colon.  Santa hats are also for sale by vendors hoping to capitalize on the festive mood created by these decorations.
Here on El Prado, there are no signs of separation of Church and State, as the Mayor’s Office proudly boasts the sponsorship of the large manger scene.  The baby Jesus and shepherds are stored away for safe keeping during the day and assembled when night falls.  The three wise men made an early appearance from its usual early January appointment.
The Christmas season also draws contrasts between the haves and have-nots.  Every year around these particular dates, hundreds of poor campesinos  (rural farmers), usually from the department of Potosí, descend on the large urban center hoping to find a bit of charity from generous city folk.  On nearly every corner and especially concentrated around the main plaza, women and scores of children dressed in typical dress from that region, ask for coins from the passers-by.  It was observed that many individuals gave loose change, but with the overabundance of beggars, it is merely impossible to give to every single one.
In the city, the most important part of the holiday takes place on Nochebuena, which is Christmas Eve.  After attending Roman Catholic Mass, families gather to take part in a late night dinner.  The fare varies from family to family, as some prepare turkey, chicken, pork or beef.  As soon as midnight strikes, the opening of the presents is an annual tradition.  The Christmas celebrated in rural and urban Bolivia varies greatly, as this perspective comes from one spent solely in the city.

author: Eduardo Avila


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Indonesia: Blogger questioned by the police, Tsunami one year after and a Peaceful Christmas Eve · Global Voices
Enda Nasution

Blogger questioned by police
Last week, Herman Saksono, a blogger from Yogjakarta was questioned by the police because he posted (now removed) a modified picture of Indonesian President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono with Bambang Trihatmodjo, former president Soeharto's son.
The post was a parody of personal pictures where a married Bambang Trihatmojo was in a personal pose with a single Indonesian singer Mayangsari that was circulated in Internet.
Many bloggers thought his post is funny, but apparently for some people it's a dangerous attack against President's reputation.
Roy Suryo, who is a media personality, is the one who brought Herman's blog to media and authorities attention when he present it in front of journalist in Hotel Aryaduta during another event.
He also pointed out Priyadi, a popular blogger known for his strong stands against misinformation, to have a part in this “defamation act” only because he has put a link to Herman's post.
This move by the unpopular Roy Suryo against Herman and Priyadi has created huge backlash from Indonesian bloggers, citing the post as a right to freedom of expression and that Roy Suryo and the authorities has been overreacting to this whole thing.
In an interesting turn of events, I have the opportunity to ask the President directly (in Bahasa Indonesia) what he thinks about the picture. President Susilo have been visiting Bangkok, Thailand in an official visit and I asked him at Indonesian Embassy in Bangkok during dialog with Indonesian citizens who live in Bangkok.
He answer in a relax and easy manner that he never heard about this before and never even saw the picture himself. He continues that he thinks the picture is an okay thing because it was intended in humorous way and he does not think it as dangerous. However, he also suggested that our time might be more useful if we use it in other beneficial activities.
After that, several media reported President's answer (in Bahasa Indonesia) and named the fiasco as too similar to the old way of government doing thing under Soeharto's where everything must be under government’s control.
As a result Herman was never indicted and released, even tough he agrees to remove his post.
The chronology of this debacle summed up by Priyadi on this post: “Kronologi Kasus Roy Suryo” (in Bahasa Indonesia)
One year after Tsunami
Yosef Ardi on his blog Indonesia Today wrote about how one year after the Tsunami attacked Aceh and Nias province in Indonesia, which claimed more that 100,000 lives, the situation hasn't change much. As former US president Bill Clinton, the UN Special Envoy for Tsunami recovery wrote in International Herald Tribune: In Aceh and Nias people still live in unacceptable conditions and with minimal access to job opportunities.
Indonesia's Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency (BRR) for Aceh and Nias planned to build 35 thousand units of new houses this year, but so far only 19,200 have been completed. It would take three more years to build more than 100,000 houses.
Bureaucratic delays and concerns about corruption has been named as the cause why the efforts to rebuild communities destroyed has been so slow.
In the other hand, I was told that there are too many hands involve and no clear authorities also bog down the campaign. There are more than 400 NGOs involved in Aceh aftermath of tsunami and security problem has been cite as why their effort is not effective.
Looking at the numbers give you the feeling that a stronger measure ought to be taken. As a result of low quality of land available for housing complex out of a commitment to build 13,364 units in West Aceh alone, only 625 units (4%) are completed.
Habitat for Humanity, for example, committed to build 3,000 houses but only seven (0.2%) units completed. (!!)
More on his post: “Tsunami in Aceh & Nias, One Year After”
Meanwhile, M. Muiz a blogger from Bogor, West Java on his post (in Indonesian) reminded us all Indonesian that rehabilitation and reconstruction of Aceh is an international effort that is also an opportunity to change world's perception of Indonesia as country ridden by incompetence, bureaucracy and corruption.
“This is the time to act and to prove our self that we can,” he pointed out. “Not a time to blab.” Hear, hear!
Peaceful Christmas
Despite serious warnings of terrorist attacks against Christian churches in Indonesia during Christmas, many Christmas Eve services and Masses have taken place without reports of trouble.
Writing from Bangkok on Agam's Gecko an expat who have been living in many places in Southeast Asia congratulates this as an extremely important good sign for the country. He wrote that, “If there was ever an occasion for that old aphorism, “No news is good news,” tonight was the night.”
Credits should be given to many individual's vigilance, along with robust security measures that included participation of many Muslim social organizations who basically just wants nothing bad happened during a few days left in 2005. We have been having a tough year already.
Okay, so we've been having a peaceful time, now, is it okay for a Muslim to wish Merry Christmas to their Christian friends?
As silly as this might sound to people from outside Indonesia but this question has become a source of puzzlement for many because apparently there's this notion (confirmed by conservative clerics) that Muslims are not supposed to wish Merry Christmas.
“But what if I have neighbors or friends that are celebrating Christmas, should I say something as a form of respect and friendship?” Imponk on his blog asked this question. Especially if these are close friends and that they have been whishing him well during Muslim celebrations.
Well I think, why not? Like what Imponk wrote, it's effortful sometimes being a Muslim but you don't have to make more so. :)
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Indonesian bloggers!
Selamat Hari Natal dan Tahun Baru dari para blogger Indonesia!

author: Enda Nasution


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Afghanistan: NGO Skepticism · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Afghan Reality reports on skepticism of and need for financial transparency in Afghanistan's NGO community.


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Armenia: Ooof · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Zarchka is a new contributor at Oneworld Multimedia, and her first post is on the money and work that goes into celebrating New Year's.


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Bahrain’s roller-coaster week in review · Global Voices
Mahmood Al-Yousif

Bahrain, for its small size, and the recent political freedom experienced since March '99 when the new King, Shaikh Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa, took the reigns and inaugurated sweeping political freedoms, just about every Bahraini citizen and resident has become a political pundit! This has given rise to more than 60 blogs, the majority of which are active and almost all of them concerned with local politics specifically and international politics generally, very few of these could be classified as purely personal journals, although those are available aplenty when you add the literally hundreds of student blogs from the Bahrain University mainly as well as a burgeoning community of teenagers from the Bahrain School which is a part of the USA Department of Defense Education Activity catering not only for the US Navy's personnel children, the US Navy‘s 5th Fleet's being headquartered in Bahrain, but also for quite a number of Bahrainis.
The Bahraini blogosphere explosion continues apace and BahrainBlogs.org keeps up with newly launched blogs by listing and aggregating them which is automatically updated every hour.
This week in Bahrain has been a roller-coaster of emotions where the parliament once again demonstrated it's disconnect from this century according to Mahmood at Mahmood's Den, he suggests that as they seem to be inviolate, it is best to join them and start selling cane sticks for the forthcoming religious police (mutawwas) to use to “judiciously” shepherd the faithful to a forced Friday prayer and sermon. Although the parliamentary wish has not become law yet, it has gathered quite powerful opposition by civic societies like the Bahrain Chamber of Commerce & Industry as well as a number of influential journalists . Amidst all of this fracas, a new Bahraini blogger: Jaffar questions the need for the “Athan” call for Muslim prayer through loudspeakers.
Manama Republic, the scathing political blog by an anonymous author continues to exhume hidden motives by the establishment; his latest topic examines what he feels is the condescending attitudes of the local business community in establishing a charity organisation which will associate help hitherto done anonymously with this new business charity and social organisation. He goes on to explain the relationships between the various layers of Bahraini society with the ruling regime and explains how the further out a Bahraini family or individual is from the central “table” the more difficult their life is.
There has also been other quite unfortunate events on the island, specifically various road traffic accidents deaths in which both eMoodz and The Joker highlight as avoidable. The Joker particularly has novel ideas on how to curb further traffic accidents, while eMoodz graphically narrates his experience with death, both in the family recently and on the road. I personally believe that the solution lies with the Traffic Department who should actually implement relevant rules and regulations and penalise errant motorists, rather than continue to be simple road-clearing devices for royalty and dignitaries.
Keeping with the traffic theme, the LiB Team are once again fuming and are on the rampage against inconsiderate car parking, providing ample photographic evidence and end with a threat to create “new aerodynamic air-holes” in offending cars had their owners not heeded their very valuable advice.
Ali Al-Saeed, the first, and until very recently the only Bahraini English-language novelist, tells us that the Second Literary Meet for Arab Youths has started on Dec 21st in which he might participate in by reading from his novel and short stories at the Bahrain Writer's Association and Al-Rewaq Art Gallery. While Bahraini Rants continues to educate his readership by providing his weekly vocabulary improvement clinic by providing three new words which must be incorporated into a normal conversation. Cancer, a new Bahraini blogger, however laments the absence of a lot of Bahraini intellectuals from the Internet, which he and others find very frustrating.
Ba7raniah*  on the other hand demonstrates how one could skive off school or work by padding official holidays with a few days sick leave and another couple of days compensation for the holidays actually falling on weekends!

author: Mahmood Al-Yousif


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Bermuda: Conversations v. Monologues · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

In replying to those who believe politics scared him away from the Royal Gazette, newspaper columnist-turned-blogger A Limey in Bermuda scores one for the citizen journalism team. “I find conversations more interesting than monologues,” he says.

author: Georgia Popplewell


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Brazil: Christmas in Brazil · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Didn't see Santa this year? That's because he was in Rio de Janeiro. Made in Brazil also offers up 10 convincing reasons to spend the holidays in the Southern Hemisphere.


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Cambodia: Visit to Movie Star’s Wildlife Refuge · Global Voices
Jose Manuel Tesoro

On the Khmer440.com forum, keeping_it_riel posts photographs and an account of a visit to Hollywood movie star's Angelina Jolie's $5 million wildlife refuge in Cambodia.


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Caribbean: Ginger Beer and Sorrel · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Both Cayman Time and Simian Scratchings let out the secret recipes of two of the English-speaking Caribbean's favorite Christmas drinks: ginger beer and sorrel.


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Chile: Soccer Champions and Chilean Music · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Marcelo Mackinnon writes in OhmyNews International that Catholic University beat the University of Chile in the 2005 football championship. Huasonic, writing from Spain, is filled with joy after stumbling upon some Chilean bands in the iTunes music store. He notes that Leo Prieto‘s podcast, Radio Minga is also included in the worldwide directory.


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China: Bloggers Beware of WordPress China · Global Voices
Jose Manuel Tesoro

China bloggers have been sounding the alarm about wordpress.com.cn, a free WordPress blog hosting service in China.  The service, which has no relationship to WordPress, deletes accounts without warning a short time after registration.


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China: The Mystery of the Missing Chinese Blogs · Global Voices
Jose Manuel Tesoro

GVO co-founder Ethan Zuckerman discusses on his blog why search engines often miss Chinese blogs in their search results.


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Ethiopia: Gender barriers to education · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Barriers to girls attending school in Ethiopia and elsewhere in Africa are numerous.  Friends of Ethiopia comments that the lack of toilet facilities, privacy and water also act as a barrier to young teenage girls attending school…….”Fatimah is facing the onset of puberty, and with it the realities of menstruation in a school with no latrine, no water, no hope of privacy other than the shadow of a bush, and no girlfriends with whom to commiserate. Fatimah is the only girl of the 23 students in her class. In fact, in a school of 178 students, she is one of only three girls who has made it past third grade.”


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Grenada: IMF reports & indifferent politicians · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

YingYang lists the highlights of a recent IMF report on Grenada, adding that the Grenadian Prime Minister has ignored all requests from the Grenada Chamber of Commerce, the Grenada Trades Union Council and other private sector organisations for face-to-face meetings to discuss the redevelopment of the island, which was devasted by Hurricane Ivan in 2004.


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Indonesia: One Year After the Tsunami · Global Voices
Jose Manuel Tesoro

Indonesia Today by Yosef Ardi updates the progress in the two Indonesian regions most affected by 2005's tsunami: the province of Aceh and the islands of Nias. “One year later, around 100,000 people in Aceh and Nias alone, still live in unacceptable conditions and with minimal access to job opportunities.”


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Iran: Christams! · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

According to Zeytoun (Persian), Iran based blogger, Iranian TV has showed a lot of films about Christmas, Jesus Christ and several movies. Goverment offered 5000 christmas trees to christian churches as gift.


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Kenya in London and Goose for xmas dinner · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

African Bullets & Honey shares his xmas dinner of wild goose….For dinner we baked the wild goose marinated in tangerines, strawberries, red onions, garlic and clove powder among other spices. Then brown basmati rice; a sweet potato and leeks stuffing; spinach with mushrooms; a moist carrot cake made with dark sugar; all washed down with champagne”


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Kenya: White Christmas/white Jesus · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

What an African Woman Thinks  the questions the idea of a “white Christimas” in Kenya and the possibility of  a “White Jesus” ………….. I said, in mitigation, in defence of Pastors M, L and S, absent for lack of notice, that perhaps they’d been bombarded so long with the blue-eyed blond Jesus lying in a bed of straw that they just wanted to point out to us, their predominantly African congregation, that Jesus came for all of us, and belongs to all of us”.  Jesus was in fact Black


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Nigeria: HIV · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Black Start Journal reports on the Nigeria's new initiative that will provide free antiretroviral drugs to HIV/AIDS sufferers.  Nigeria has the third highest HIV rate in the world.


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Nigeria: Xmas in my home town · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Jangbalajugbu-Homeland Stories writes that like millions of other Nigerians at Christmas time,  he is off to his home town which is called Saki in Oyo State where the heat is intense and the hammatan season is in full force. “Saki is like some two and a half hours from Ibadan, the largest city in West Africa, south of the Sahara. The journey to Saki is such a long one and its the Christmas season that always give me the courage to travel that far, away from the things I do back in the major cities.”


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Peru: Seeking Congressional Representatives · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Have some extra time this holiday season? Why not run for congress in Peru. Fabiola Bazo of Peru Elections 2006 writes that a Peruvian political party has placed classified ads soliciting potential candidates for congress.


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Philippines: Gas Project Runs Out · Global Voices
Jose Manuel Tesoro

In the 1990s, the Malampaya underwater gas field was touted as a major move for the Philippines into cleaner energy. Divergent Poles talks about what has happened to the project since then.


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Poland: Avian-Free Nativity · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

the beatroot reports that avian flu fears stopped a Polish nativity scene tradition this year.


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South Africa: Nelson Mandela Sq · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Mzansi Afrika points to some photographs of Nelson Mandela Square in Johannesburg, South Africa which ironically is situated in “most upmarket shopping and dining destinations. The area is situated in the exclusive northern suburbs of Johannesburg, and is surrounded by luxury hotels”.


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Sudan: Darfur · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Passion of the Present points to an article in the New York Times that analyses concerns over the  ethical dilemmas faced by aid organizations in dealing with restrictions imposed by oppressive governments.


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Syria: Domestic Policies · Global Voices
Ayman Haykal

Syrian blogger Ihsan expresses relief that the international pressure on Syria is easing up, but he is worried that the government “will get back to its previous domestic policies of neglecting and ignoring the best interests of the Syrian people. It will resume the continuous effort of bringing Syrian citizens down to misery in exchange of the interest of some individuals.” Ihsan writes: Hurray! Back to misery, people!

author: Ayman Haykal


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Syria: Syrian Youth · Global Voices
Ayman Haykal

Majd in Hawa reflects on the state of mind of most Syrian youth. Before describing his sad encounter with a little beggar girl, he writes:  “My finger joints crack as I look at the Arabic characters on my keyboard. I search for myself in the light of all circumstances. I look at the future that seems completely foggy. I reach a crossroads: I should either migrate and suffer, or stay in my country and suffer. I must choose among two types of suffering. The problem is that either way, I am heading towards the unknown.”


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Ukraine: Ad Copies · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Russian Marketing Blog reports on how one Ukrainian company has taken its advertising ideas from recognizable campaigns run by other companies.


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Ukraine: Presidential Market Day · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Veronica Khokhlova reports on her husband's encounter with President Yushchenko at an antiques market. The president visits the market at least once per month just as he has been for many years.


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Venezuela: Lack of Coffee and Inspiration · Global Voices
David Sasaki

A.M. Mora y Leon had a difficult time finding coffee in Caracas during a recent visit and directs readers to a satirical explanation of the coffee shortage at Caracas Chronicles. Orlidroit can't find inspiration (ES) writing in a global medium like the internet while living in a small petroleum town like Anzoátegui.


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Bahrain: Bahrain International Airport Demonstrations · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Mayhem at Bahrain Airport, Silly Bahraini Girl Says. While Mahmood wonders why every issue in Bahrain is politicised and invariably turn to violence? Zainab shows pictures that were not in the newspapers and emoodz says, you simply can't give an airplane to someone who miserably fails to fly a kite. Manama Republic describe what happened by saying, “international airport is back at its old job as the first interdiction point for rogue citizens,” and Sabbah had to tell his employees at the airport to go home. Checkout what happened at Bahrain International Airport!

author: Haitham Sabbah


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Blogging To Improve Cambodia’s Environment  · Global Voices
Beth Kanter

Meet Zarah Jane Almeida who works as  a producer for Mlup Baitong's Environmental Advocacy Radio Program.   She has been blogging about her work and life at Sreisaat Adventures in Cambodia  since January, 2004.  Born in Roxas City, known as the seafood capital of the Philippines,  she graduated from the University of the Philippines with a degree in mass communications.   She moved to Cambodia in April, 2000.
1.  How and why did you find yourself in Cambodia?
Five years ago, after more than three years of working as a TV producer,  I  lost my enthusiasm for my work and resigned.   My sister was working for an NGO as a volunteer agriculturist in Cambodia and encouraged me to take a job there.
2.        Tell us about your work in Cambodia with the NGO, Mlup Baitong.
Mlup Baitong’s mission  is to address the problem of deforestation in Cambodia, with a focus on educating the public on conservation of natural resources.   I manage the over-all production of the radio program, attending production meetings and conducting in-house training for the local radio program staff so that they can take over my place after a period of time.   It was difficult to learn to the language at first!   Now, I enjoy working with my colleagues, traveling, searching for stories, interviewing people and listening to their stories and just interacting with them.   Although I come from a different culture, it doesn't hamper my work.  It is a benefit.
3.   How does your NGO use technology to support your advocacy and education work?
Our organization gets feedback from listeners of our radio program via email and sms text messages.  (I got an exchange deal with a local mobile phone company and they gave us a free dial number so that listeners can call in during the broadcast for free for one year.)
After broadcast,  we re-edit the material and distribute for pagoda broadcasts in the provinces during holy days. The monks broadcast it through the pagoda public address system, a rudimentary system composed of a cassette player connected to an amplifier.  The monks help us with our environmental education and advocacy work.  I've written about this program on my blog and posted photographs on flickr.
The Community Forestry  committee was also provided with a digital camera to aid them in documenting illegal activities that they've encountered during their regular patrols inside the forest.  The pictures are very vital evidence when the committee members write reports to local authorities or our organization to seek assistance.  The committee members of Community Forestry and Ecotourism projects were trained in basic computer skills and English language skills.
4.   Tell us about your blog?
I started my blog with the main goal of keeping in touch with family,  relatives and friends from far and wide.  I want them all to know about my work in Cambodia, and life here in general.  My Indonesian friend introduced me to blogging.  Using chats, she taught me how to start a blog and upload pictures.
When I started to get lots of visitors, I realized why not blog more about my work with Mlup Baitong?   Although my blog is primarily for family and friends, I am inspired to read comments left by visitors saying that they learn more and something different about Cambodia’s environment.

author: Beth Kanter


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Brazil: Things that grow in Brazil · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Karl, currently based in Teresina gives readers a photojournalistic sampling of exotic fruits from Brazil.


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Chilean Cinema Trends · Global Voices
Rosario Lizana

Chilean cinema has been growing and growing as years go by. The “Festival de cine de Valdivia” (ES), the best known Chilean festival of cinema, has taken place in the city of Valdivia (ES) since 1993. Every year, Chilean producers and directors have the possibility to present their new works in this international event. In the Chilean blogs “Fuga Magazine” (ES) and “Voraz Film Festival”(ES) , you can read about this year’s event, and the details of new Chilean movies in the festival. You can also read about the “Viña del Mar Cinema festival”(ES) (in the city of Viña del Mar(ES), just one week later than Valdivia´s festival). In  the blog “Analizame” (ES) (Analize Me), the scriptwriter Gonzalo Maza posts his analysis of the national and international scenes.  In “Las Peliculas de mi Vida” (ES) (The Movies of my Life) the writer and director Alberto Fuguet posts about the impact of his movie “Se Arrienda” (For Rent) in media and actors awards. In “Esta es la Sagrada Familia” (ES) (This is the Sacred Family), director Sebastián Campos posts about cinema criticism in general.

author: Rosario Lizana


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Colombia: New Destructive Environmental Law · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Adam Isacson dissects a new, controversial forestry law, which was  passed through the Colombian Congress “without the congressmen who attended the session having seen the text they were to approve.”


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Costa Rica: Cell Phone Insurance a Hit · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Costa Rica Blogs calls cell phone insurance a big success. JD Clark has the latest numbers from five major polls regarding the upcoming presidential elections. Former president, Oscar Arias looks poised for a major victory.


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Cuba: Tolerance of Homosexuality · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Leftside says a new exhibit in Cuba by photographer Robert Mapplethorpe signals an attitude shift in Cuban society regarding tolerance of homosexuality.


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Guyana: Wine not rum? · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

MediaCritic considers  a senior government official's assertion that he favors red wine a slap in the face of the Guyanese rum industry.


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Haiti: Election observers wanted · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

CaribPundit announces that the Haiti Democracy Project is looking to recruit international observers to witness Haiti's national elections, which are scheduled to begin on January 8, 2006.


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India: More on Blogs · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Indianwriting has a take on an article on blogs and bloggers that seems to miss the point on having and voicing opinions.


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Iranian Blogs & 2005 · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Iranian blogs continue its dynamic existence in 2005 and Persian language has become second most used language (After English Persian ties with French) in Blogosphere. Here we look at some events in Iranian Blog city in 2005 which have importance in our eyes:
1-Blogger in Jail: Saminnejad, an Iran based blogger, was accused of jeopardizing national security and insulting Leader.  (Read GV) Un fortunately he is still in prison in Iran. Don't forget him!
2-Filtering & Hacking: Iranian blogs & sites have been become victims of official filtering and apparently non official hacking. Mr.Moin a reformist presidential candidate, writes that twice his blog was hacked. According to him they ( government ) are too shy to filter it directly”.
3-More Politicians become bloggers: Tajzadeh, a reformist activist , Moin , a former Minister and reformist presidential candidate, several other reformist politicians have started to write their ideas and meetings in their blogs. Recently some friends of Mr.Khatami offered him a blog and encouraged him to start blogging.
His first message received more than 1500 comments!. Another good sign that Iranian still take care of blogs and Khatami!
4-One Event blogs: Some blogs have been created to cover just one topic or event. Free Ganji is one of them which reports all news, reports about jailed writer & journalist (Read GV). New blog in this category is Throat full of blades which covers AirPlane ‘s crash ( Read GV).
5-Zannevesht, an Iranian journalist, won Deutsche Welle's prize for best blog in Persian: It was first time that Persian blogs participated in this competition.
6-Beyond Politics: Several famous writers such as Maroufi, a Germany based blogger, started to publish their stories on their blogs. There are all free of charge and can be downloaded.
I asked a couple of active bloggers to share their idea about Iranian Blogcity in 2005. Shahram Kholdi, a UK based blogger, send me an email about 2005 & blogs. Here is a summary of what he has to share:
In 2005, the Iranian blogosphere became a public space for political discourse, activism, and collective action on a level completely set apart from the previous years. Several political events became the centrepiece of such activities: the continuing torture and tormenting of Akbar Ganji, the Iranian journalist, the surge in the persecution of student activists and webloggers, the nuclear talks between Iran and the EU, and last but not least, the Iranian Presidential Election.
Even though it still remains to be seen to what extent that Iranian weblogs have a “direct” impact on these events inside Iran, one fact is clear: Iranian weblogs have proven to be a critical tool for collective action and citizen empowerment. Used by people of different social, cultural, religious, and political orientation, Iranian weblogs proved vital to overcome the artificial international borders as a medium of connecting the Iranian youth inside Iran to “Diaspora” Iranian youth more directly. The sense of a more inclusive and world-wide connected Iranian community through the blogosphere was barely undermined by the filtering actions of the Islamic Republic government and their restriction of access to the worldwide web in different ways. However, poverty and the economic digital divide in Iran remain important impediments for many other voices to be heard from within a country whose ethnic, historical, and communal vernacular is much more diverse and is yet to be heard.
One thing is sure 2005 was a great year for Iranian blogs despite all pressure, filtering and censorship. I wish the best for all bloggers Iranian or not a fruitful 2006 year.


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Jordan: World Youth Peace Summit in Jordan · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Lina writes, from September 11 to 15, 2006, youth leaders from all the nations of the world will assemble at the Dead Sea in Jordan for the World Youth Peace Summit.


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Mexico: Interview with Javier Treviño · Global Voices
alan flores

La versión original de este artículo está disponible en español.
The following interview, conducted by Mexican contributing writer, Alan Flores, was translated by Linda Evarts. The interviewee, Javier Treviño Cantú, is a columnist for El Norte and professor of public policy at the Tec de Monterrey.
While reading authors of Mexican blogs, one comes across a little of everything.  The Mexican blogosphere is so inclusive that there is no end to the number of topics and authors.  One blog that surprised me was that of Javier Treviño.  Treviño spoke to me in the following interview:
Alan Flores: Javier Treviño, thank you for accepting this interview.  The resume on your blog is very impressive.  For those who haven’t read it, will you please tell us: who is Javier Treviño?
Javier Treviño: Thanks for this splendid opportunity.  I am a professional linked to the private and public sectors, as well as to international topics and issues of communication.  I was born in Monterrey, and I grew up in San Nicolás de los Garza.  When I was 20, I went to Mexico City to study international relations.  I later won a scholarship to study public policy at Harvard.  I then began an almost 14-year career in the public sector, with the Secretary of Education, the Secretary of Social Development, and at the Mexican Embassy in Washington.  I worked at the Embassy for four years, and was present during the negotiations for the North American Free Trade Agreement.  In December of 1994, President Zedillo named me as the Sub-Secretary of Foreign Relations.  Later, in January of 1998, the President named me the official Director of the Treasury.  I had the opportunity to work very closely with Luis Donaldo Colosio and Angel Gurría.  At the beginning of 2001, I entered the private sector and worked with CEMEX for 5 years as Vice President of Communication.  I am proud to work in a great global business of Mexican origin.  CEMEX operates in 50 countries.  In addition to my work with the company, I am a professor in the Graduate School of Public Administration and Public Politics of the TEC in Monterrey.  I also do commentaries about international politics for the news station TV Monterrey, and I write a bi-weekly column for the editorial pages of El Norte.  I am married and I have a daughter and two sons.
AF: And, why the blog?
JT: My blog allows me to make my ideas public.  I am passionate about international issues.  I have dedicated a good part of my life to studying and living the relations between Mexico and the United States.  My blog gives me the opportunity to share what I think about the internal and external politics of Mexico with many readers.  The advantage of the blog, as compared to other forms of mass media, is that I am able to continually update information that I have published.  I believe that in the future quality blogs will substitute many other forms of communication.
AF: I’m reading an editorial by Miguel Angel Vargas in the newspaper El Norte with the title “Blogalization,” that, in fact, mentions your blog.  Are we already in this epoch?
JT: Yes.  The advance of information technology and communication has transformed everything.  Politics will never be the same.  Imagine the possibility that on the day of the next presidential election, on July 2, 2006, some blogs publish photos, videos and analysis of the election throughout the day, including forecasts of the electoral results based on personal interviews, before the authorities are able to do it.  Blogs are not subject to regulation as are TV and radio.  They can define the information agenda that informs the other media outlets.  Blogs allow hundreds of citizens to become permanent reporters and analysts.  Readers will have to discriminate afterward as to the quality of the information.  But the freedom is there.
AF: Commentaries in the United States have said that blogs might replace newspapers.  Is this possible?
JT: It’s possible. In fact, it’s already occurring.  In one of my articles I wrote the story of “EPIC 2015″ about the disappearance of the New York Times in 10 years, due to the proliferation of internet outlets that are able to provide information in real time and with better segmentation according to readers’ interests.
AF: The “exponential” growth of technology went beyond the same idea.  In your editorial “War for Internet,” we saw how much the blogosphere has changed in just a few years.  Will the rise of blogs yield chaos rather than benefits?  Do blogs require a “regulating” body?
JT: I don’t believe in bureaucracies.  To me it seems that the free flow of information will lead to hierarchy based on quality.  What will be very important is investment in the education of our citizens, and above all in our children, because they will be bombarded by all types of information throughout their lives.  They need to develop a new ability to know how to distinguish among valuable information and garbage.
AF: How do you view the “blogs” in Mexico?  In other countries people have referred to them as political tools, almost literary.
JT: There is still ample space for the development of blogs in Mexico.  We are in the beginning stages.  We have a long way to go.
AF: What is the situation of blogs in Nuevo León?
JT: Sometimes we are a bit ahead of the rest of the country.  If we want to change our country and the metropolitan area of Monterrey into an international city of knowledge, we ought to invest more in the development of more professional and more serious communication.  We have to work from primary school to the university.
AF: In your resume, you mention that in 1993 you worked with then Secretary of Social Development Luis Donaldo Colosio, and that you later collaborated with him as an assistant.  What was it like to work with Colosio?
JT: It was a real privilege.  I met Colosio while working at the Mexican Embassy in Washington when he was the President of the PRI.  We developed a very good relationship.  When he was named the Secretary of Social Development, he invited me to join his team, which I did in its last year.  It was an experience without par.  He was very demanding, untiring, and loyal to his boss and his collaborators.  He had a very clear vision of what state policy should do for the country.  I worked very closely with him and collaborated on the campaign for his candidacy for President of Mexico.  After he was named as a candidate, I worked closely with him on his team formulating his strategy and rhetoric.  The experience of sharing ideas with him and working on his proposal for the nation was one of the best moments of my professional life.  I also cried when he lost.  Colosio would have been a great President of Mexico.
AF: You have collaborated in a very active way with the government.  Can you tell me your impressions about the current administration?
JT: The federal government arrived at a moment in which the citizens wanted change.  Candidate Fox promised change, and the people believed him.  Unfortunately, the great historic opportunity has been wasted.  We came from an era of great expectations, in 2000, to an era of great frustrations today.  Much of this has to do with naivety, ignorance, arrogance, and incompetence.  Time will tell.
AF: I am a doctor and I’m interested in blogs only as a pastime, though I have been enriched by many sites with diverse themes.  A few friends and I are in the process of forming a local community of bloggers here in Monterrey.  I’ve seen sites that I didn’t know existed and I’ve met people who have developed the literary “I” in their writing.  Would you recommend that people have a blog?
JT: Without a doubt.  We all can have our own blog.  They are very easy to make.  They don’t require technological expertise.  It’s enough to have a desire for self-expression.
AF: Do you believe that in the future blogs will be as numerous in Mexico as they are in other countries?
JT: I believe it’s a only question of time.  New generations of Mexicans use this technology more all the time.  But, I insist that all will depend on our capacity to improve education in Mexico.
AF: You are a professor of Technology at Monterrey. Are blogs already included in the curriculum?
JT: Yes. Blogs are being used more all the time. The young university students have greater awareness of the opportunities available to them as a result of blogs.

author: alan flores


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Nepal: Election puzzlement · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Democracy for Nepal is puzzled by Koirala's request to the regime to postpone elections.


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Nepal: Everyday life · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Everyday life in Nepal captured in photographs at United We Blog!


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Pakistan: Karachi times · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

The Organic Brew has a wonderful photo-post on the old world of Karachi. Street photos recreate an incredible city online.


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Puerto Rico: Statehood Status · Global Voices
David Sasaki

While Ramaris Albert reports for the AP that “Puerto Rico Gov. Aníbal Acevedo Vilá rejected a Bush administration report saying that Washington has the final word in defining the U.S. territory's status,” Gil Schmidt argues that the bottom-line significance is that Puerto Rico is not wanted as a 51st state. Luis Alberto Ferre, director of the newspaper, El Nuevo Dia, offers straightforward analysis (ES) in his blog, Journalism is a Conversation.


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Remembrance Week – Tsunami and After · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

It has been a year since the horrific tragedy of the Boxing Day Tsunami last year. This year has seen more than it's fair share of tragedy and disaster. The hurricanes, an earthquake in Kashmir, and hundreds of other disasters that never quite make international news. It is with the intention of reminding us that reconstruction of lives is not over in these places that World Wide Helps reminds us about the events of the year and the need for a Disaster Remembrance Week.
“During the course of the year, other disasters took their toll too. Most devastating of them: Hurricanes Katrina and Rita on the South-East coast of the USA; and another enormous earthquake near Pakistan's border with India.
These disasters took their immediate toll, and, each time, the world tried to help. But as calamity piled upon calamity, there has been a certain amount of fatigue. Perhaps people's stock of goodwill has run low. Perhaps seeing too much suffering hardens us.
But, the fact is, the suffering from those disasters has not ceased. Parts of South Asia have still not recovered from December 26th, 2004. In the USA, normalcy hasn't returned to New Orleans. In Pakistan, thousands are still homeless, and may not survive the harsh Himalayan winter.
They need your help…. Can we harness that goodwill, that togetherness, that willingness to help once more?”
Crossroads Dispatches from Phi Phi Island writes
Later after the deputy prime minster has spoken, we file towards the bay. A six or seven-year old blond girl with a white sundress gently bows and places her palms into a triangular wai.
She lays a white orchid given to each surviving family member at the ceremony by the altar ledge fringed with flowers, photos, incense sticks and remembrances circling the banyan tree wrapped in rainbow colored sashes. Her mother stands behind with the jeweled bay stark in the background.
It's crucial at this point to remember that while we give by reaching into our pockets, we don't forget the smaller-less known causes. When you do give to the well-covered causes, please don't compromise your contribution to the other ones. Remember the victims, and recall the promises made by governments and aid agencies.


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South Asia: A year after · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Pickled Politics covers the politics of the Tsunami a year after.


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Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela: Why Trinis speak Spanish at Christmastime · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

English may be the official language of Trinidad, but at Christmastime the country sings in Spanish. De Cooler : Soca News announces the results of the National Parang Championships, the competition which showcases Trinidad's traditional Christmas music, while Caribbean Free Radio plays a few parang tracks and explains the genre's Venezuelan origins.


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United Arab Emirates: Money Laundry · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Billions of dollars are laundered in Dubai every year, through organised crime such as arms smuggling, drugs smuggling and prostitution, according to Dubai police, secretdubai says.


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Venezuela: Treatment of Jews · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Responding to Alex Beech's post on governmental aggressions against Venezuela's Jewish community, former Ambassador of Venezuela to Israel, Milos Alcalay writes a letter noting the recent shift in stance taken by the Chavez administration.


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About blogging in Morocco · Global Voices
Farah Kinani

Although blogging in Morocco   is a new “fashion”,  it is spreading with a high speed among Moroccans from all ages and different activities. You have the Doctor , the politic , the student, the antropologist,..etc.
And if in other Arab countries blogging is mostly in Arabic,  Morrocan bloggers happen to like blogging mostly in French. There's also a considerable number of Arabic blogs and few ones in English.
Blogging in Morocco cannot be considered as a “revolution” states  Mohamed Zainabi in an interview   he gave to     eMarrakech (French link).
And he notices in his French Big Blog that even if officials in Morocco seems to  see Blogging with a positive eye “they are still not taking serious steps to vulgarize its use in Morocco”.
By the way,  one of the first Moroccan blogs belongs to Laila Lalami, a writer based in Portland, Oregon.  She started  her english  Moorishgirl in 2001.
Every Wednesday, I'll be posting a report about what caught Moroccan bloggers’ attention  during the week.  And I'm really excited about it, since I consider the Moroccan blogsphere to be really interesting.
Let me give you a taste of what was going on last week.
Bluesman ,blogs in Arabic and he regrets that Moroccan journalists are still not free when their “scoop” may cause them endless problems with the authorities.
Amazigh wonders in his  French Bikhir Nation   if the Moroccan citizen could have a  green telephon number he may feell “safe” to call to denounce some corrupted “police officers”.
Jawad publishes in his English blog the report released by the Human Rights Watch urging the government of Morocco to end impunity for the security forces and enhance judicial independence in order to cement the legacy of the country's Equity and Reconciliation Commission(ERC). Jawad says that his position in this issue is largely in line with that of HRW. “This is because I do not believe that our people can fully reconcile with a brutal past and look forward to a brighter future when those responsible for past abuses continue to enjoy total impunity”, he adds.
In a different note, Miloud Atmani asks the readers of his  Arabic blog to give their opinion about the new law that criminalise   Derb ghellaf's smugglers. For those of you still not familiar with Morocco ,let me explain that Derb Ghallef is a very special market in  Casablanca where you can find anyhing you look for, from niddles to dishs passing by tables and international clothing. You can also find the newest CDs and DVDs for less than 2 Dollars since they're just  illegal copies of the originals. Lately, the Moroccan government issued a law that impose to every plagiarist a considrable indemnity and sometimes a period in the jail. Atmani is wondering if that's a relevant solution when  those concerned by this law are mostly jobless graduates.
Othmane Boumaalif,the doctor who blogs in French, asks Driss Basri to “get away!”.Othmane says in his latest post that the ” intellectuel’ outfit  that the Moroccan ex-ministeri is trying to wear..” doesn’t fit him .he ends his post “screaming” to Basri “we don't need you anymore”.
Sonia a Moroccan young woman who lives in Egypt  and blogs in French, talks in her latest post about Ayman Nour , the Egyptian opposition figure, who was  sentenced to 5 years imprisonment for forgery.
She also seems deceived to realise that even her collegues  don't think that anyone can replace Housny Moubarak.
At the end of each report I'm going to have a section called “Coup de coeur” about posts I find special .
For this week I choose Mouna‘s  Imagin which latest post is a poignant poem by the Moroccan militant Saida Lemnebhi (French link), who died after a hunger strike December 11th,1977.
I would also love to introduce u to a very artistic blog . Amud Awal continues to impress and this week's post is simply amazing. We can sense how connoisseur is the author who's pseudonym is, by the way, Laseine.
That's it for this week. See you next Wendsday, Inshallah;)

author: Farah Kinani


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Albania: Rinia Park · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Our Man in Tirana reports that the redevelopment of a downtown Tirana park has created opportunities for enterprising businessmen


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Anguilla: A traditional wedding · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Bob Green's Anguilla News has photos and a brief report on a traditional 1940s Anguillan wedding recently reenacted at a local church.


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Argentina: Novelist Manuel Puig · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Jeff Barry celebrates what would have been Argentinean novelist, Manuel Puig's 73rd birthday by picking up his most well-known novel, The Kiss of the Spider Woman. Barry also notes that Puig‘s translator, Suzanne Jill Levine is one of the best and that Puig himself wrote a novel in English which had to then be translated back Spanish


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Armenia: Linux in Armenia · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Onnik Krikorian has more on localized Linux in the Caucasus, noting that open source software often ends up costing more in developing countries than does proprietary software because of piracy (with a nod to our very own Ethan Zuckerman).