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Blog Carnival: Ecuador: Internet, Society and Participation  · Global Voices
Juan Arellano

Global Voices in Spanish is interested in encouraging blogging and promoting blogger networks, and a good way to achieve this is though Blog Carnivals. Let's look at the details of our third Carnival:
Scope: Ecuador
As a host and geographic scope for our third Blog Carnival we have chosen Ecuador, a country perhaps not very well known in the Latin American blogosphere but which posses a thriving community of bloggers and new media enthusiasts who we are sure will support us in spreading the news about this virtual event.  Quito and Guayaquil are the biggest cities in Ecuador, but we hope to see bloggers from cities like Loja, Machala, Santo Domingo, Ambato, and Manta among others. We clarify that participation is not restricted to bloggers or blogs that are dedicated exclusively to the topic indicated in the following paragraph, any blogger can blog and participate.
Topic: Ecuador: Internet, society and participation.
One of the most important aspects of blogs is their capacity to generate conversation and debate, but many times this exchange of ideas remains inside the web. So it is pertinent to ask: Are we generating public opinion? Do blogs and digital media influence traditional media who are the ones that usually manage public opinion? Is the debate generated on blogs, Twitter, Facebook, etc. productive? Can the Internet in Ecuador serve as a way to articulate successful actions in the physical world (protests, cultural activities, etc)? What examples of this have occurred in Ecuador? What steps can be taken so that communication through the Internet can be more fluid and decisive between citizens, businesses and politicians? How do you participate on the Internet?
Participation:
Any Ecuadorian blogger living in the country or not can participate by publishing a post on the topic in their own blog. Foreigners living in Ecuador can also participate. The post has to be an original post, in other words, created by the blogger, not copied from another source, and published during the period set for participation in the Carnival. The structure, style and length of the post can be decided by the blogger.
Bloggers can pick how to focus on the topic. It can be through one of the suggested questions or from a focus that the blogger considers convenient. When bloggers have published their post for the Carnival, they must email  juan.arellano at globalvoicesonline dot org with the following information:
Name of the author
Name of the blog
Title of the post
Corresponding link or URL for the post.
A button is available, the image in this post, for bloggers to use and paste on their blogs as a signal that they are participating in the Carnival. Once the button is added to a blog, the blogger must reference this post.
At the end of the period of participation we will proceed to arrange and summarize the participating post in order to publish a summary post for Global Voices. Depending on the amount of participation we will be able to quote posts or not, this is mainly due to reasons of space. Any questions may be directed to the email mentioned above.
Chronology:
- Call, invitation and dissemination. Through this post and during the duration of the period for participation.
– Period for participation. From September 13 to 22.
– Selection period and the creation of a summary with the participating posts. From September 23 to 27.
– Summary post published on Global Voices in Spanish. September 28.
Note: This is not a competition, therefore there will be no winners or losers. It is about looking for contributions, collaborations and testimonies on the proposed topic, in order to develop a broad, varied and updated picture on the topic of society and participation through the Internet, in Ecuador.
We look forward to your support, collaboration and participation!

author: Juan Arellano


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Caucasus: Expedition 206 · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Having already visited Georgia, Expedition 206 arrived in Armenia. The initiative, sponsored by Coca-Cola, will see three bloggers visit 206 countries in 365 days. iReport [AM] posts photographs as well as an account of the travelers meeting with 20 local bloggers and says that they will travel to Azerbaijan tomorrow. Kiki's Blog [RU] also posts a brief entry about Expedition 206's 257th day on the road.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Onnik Krikorian


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Chile: Program ‘Enlaces’ Wins International Prize for ICT and Education · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

Hugo Martínez writes for El Quinto Poder [es] about the importance of an award given to the program Enlaces, created by the Chilean Ministry of Education “to introduce digital technologies in the public schools as a means to reduce the digital divide and as new learning and teaching resources.” The award, the International Prize for ICT and Education, was given by the Organization of Ibero-American states and Fundación Telefónica.

author: Silvia Viñas


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China: Microblogging about the husband and his mistress…  · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

ESWN translated the live cast (via microblog> of a wife catching her husband and his mistress sleeping naked in bed.

author: Oiwan Lam


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China: Video game censorship · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

The Angry Chinese Blogger looks into the Chinese government's censorship against video game, an area where human rights organizations have overlooked.


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Costa Rica: What do the Results of the Global Competitiveness Report Mean? · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

In the blog Asociación de Jóvenes para el Desarrollo [es] (Association of Youth for Development), a blogger analyzes the results of the Global Competitiveness Report by The World Economic Forum. The post concludes with this thought: “Like we can see there is a lot of work to do, but the million dollar question is: is this government capable of doing it?”


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Georgia: Crossing into Abkhazia · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

drugoi [RU] posts an account of crossing into the breakaway territory of Abkhazia. Recognized by only four UN member states since the 2008 Russia-Georgia war over South Ossetia, the post also includes photographs.


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Global: If there is no water, there is no life · Global Voices
Victor Kaonga

The Twentieth gathering for the World Water Week (WWW) took place in Sweden's capital Stockholm from the 5th to the 11th of September 2010 with the theme The Water Quality Challenge-Prevention, Wise Use and Abatement. According to the organisers, “urbanisation, agriculture, industry and climate change exert mounting pressure on both the quantity and quality of our water resources.” The week was therefore organised to  “deepen the understanding of, stimulate ideas on, and engage the water community around the challenges related to water quality.”
At the end, delegates came up with the Stockholm Statement which noted that the the Millennium Development Goals will only be achieved by wise management of water resources and secure and equitable access to safe water and adequate sanitation. Inadequate access to water and sanitation deprives billions of people, especially women and girls, of opportunities, dignity, safety and well-being.
Bloggers who attended World Water Week have shared their notes and opinions online. Duncan Mara shares his World Water Week diary.
Sunday sessions:
The early evening session was the launch of the Second Information Kit on the 2006 WHO Wastewater Use Guidelines – not yet online (but my part is here). My presentation was on choosing a sensible value for the maximum tolerable additional burden of disease – i.e., the maximum DALY loss per person per year (pppy). The default value used for this in the 2006 WHO Guidelines is 10−6 pppy for this, but this is very ‘extravagant’ and I recommended a value of 10−4 DALY loss pppy as it reflects epidemiological reality in developing countries and some industrialized countries (e.g., Australia and the USA) much more closely. [Actually this also applies to Drinking-water Quality Guidelines, but that’s a real can of worms – for WHO, US EPA and the EU, amongst others − waiting to be opened…]
Tuesday:
I attended the lunchtime side event on “What knowledge do we need to do better on Sanitation?” This was basically how the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and its partners see how their ‘Sanitation and Hygiene Applied Research for Equity’ (SHARE) research consortium, funded by DFID, will progress. Check out the SHARE website when it gets going by the end of the month (in the meantime there are some details here).
Then I went to the afternoon seminar on “Water quality issues and new approaches in Latin America”. Interesting couple of papers – one on water and wastewater problems in Mexico City by Dr Blanca Jiménez (UNAM). The other was by Professor Eduardo Jordão (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro) on the use in Brazil of UASBs + some form of secondary treatment serving populations of 20,000−1,500,000 – but little mention of costs or cost-effectiveness, and no mention of high-rate anaerobic ponds.
As I was rushing from the lunchtime session to the afternoon session my colleague Dr Jan-Olof Drangert (University of Linköping, Sweden) shoved a leaflet into my hand – all about his new website Sustainable Sanitation for the 21st Century, which comprises a free e-book and a set of PowerPoint presentations for training professionals in the sanitation and water sector. There’s a certain EcoSan emphasis, but it’s certainly very well worth taking a look. You can download the PowerPoints as ppt files, so you can use them as they are or select which slides you want to use in your own presentations. Excellent idea!
Wednesday:
I went to the workshop on “Improved water use efficiency through recycling and reuse” and gave a presentation on Natural wastewater treatment and carbon capture. Professor Emeritus Takashi Asano (UC Davis), in a keynote presentation, told us all about water demand and wastewater recycling and reuse in California – a complex system necessitated by building a megacity (Los Angeles) in a desert and by California being the nation’s major table-food (vegetables, fruits) producer. Then Dr Ashley Murray (UC Berkeley) gave a really interesting paper on wastewater-fed aquaculture: set up a local business to grow fish in maturation ponds and the business returns half its net profit to the wastewater treatment works (waste stabilization ponds) to help pay for O&M – a very neat concept which she developed in Ghana.
But what is the impact of water shortage in the developing world? A special post in Ethiopian Review features a post about the challenges facing women in Afgooye, Somalia, where many families have no access to clean water or sanitation. The title of of the post reads “World Water Week in Somalia: “If there is no water, there is no life”:
There are no schools, latrines or reasonable toilets in the camp, besides some old toilets in the old building. We face a shortage of water here. We have to buy one barrel of water for 15,000 shillings (just under $10 [US dollars]) that is brought by a donkey cart as there is no running water pipe in the camp.
Global Voices Author Victor Kaonga was part of the media team at the World Water Week. In a post about Sick Water he emphasises  the need for both the government and citizens in Malawi to address what is known as Sick Water:
In Malawi water is all things-political, health, economic, social, rights, an MDG, gender, spiritual, academic issue, etc. Dealing with water challenges needs a multi-faceted approach.
Statistics-good as they look do not speak everything in Malawi. Water Aid Country Representative Robert Kampala noted that Malawi noted that while some strides have been made in ensuring that at least about 70 percent of the population has access to safe water, Malawi still needs more work in improving the quality of water. Imagine we hear that Water supply coverage is at 65% country wide while Basic Sanitation 86% country wide. Interestingly I learn that in urban and rural areas, improved sanitation (basically latrines with slabs and flush toilets) are only at 65% and 46% respectively! This is sad. Where do the rest go if there are no toilets? And how then is our water affected?
And in a separate post, he asks, “Did you know the most scarce sanitary facility?”:
Toilets are a scarce facility the world over. About 2.6 billion don’t have the toilet. The problem is worse in developing countries which apparently also have serious effects of poor sanitation. But let me be quick to think aloud about toilets in developing countries. There appears to be too much bush to hide and use as toilets. You cannot do in a well-built urban area. Lack of planning in some cities creates poor sanitary situation. Personally I don't like slums. Additionally some cultures seem not to be toilet-unfriendly. At a corporate level, there are some institutions too that do not have a culture for toilets.
World Water Week 2010 left Timothy Karpouzoglou with a lot of questions:
World Water Week (WWW) 2010 is over, leaving me with some questions. Is WWW really about “opening up” or about “closing down” the debate on water resource management?
The overall theme for this year WWW has been water quality. WWW aims “to highlight positive action and new thinking towards water related challenges and their impact on the world’s environment” and also to “deepen the understanding of, stimulate ideas, and engage the water and development community around the challenges related to water quality”. These are all valid and urgent concerns in moving the debate forward.
So what is this new thinking? Some of it can be seen as more of the old thinking restated with today’s policy buzzwords. “Water quality” is still decided by scientists, talking to scientists about the science behind the solutions. The framing of the problem was often about the right technology. Common effluent treatment plants and wastewater treatment plants are commonly-suggested solutions, even if the costs associated are too high and unaffordable in many parts of the developing world.
Jeremy Allouche notes that World Water Week is an elitist club:
Here’s our first blog from World Water Week – some call it ‘the pilgrimage of water’. Well… the price of the pilgrimage (about £650) makes it difficult to attend and it remains very much an elitist club. In this regard, one always wonders how useful these high-level international events are and whether we are not repeating the same stuff again and again.
The disconnect between the conference and the world outside is sometimes too evident: while the international media reports on the floods in Pakistan and the droughts and floods in Niger, here the focus of the conference is on partnerships between water professionals and projects around new sexy ideas on water. Although water quality is the focus of the conference, climate change is another hot topic here: mainstreaming water and climate change, governance and capacity building for water and climate change, etc…
Still, the big highlight of this morning was the session on “Revisiting the Large Dam Controversy”. Although the World Commission on Dams (WCD) report has been criticised (especially around implementation guidelines), there has been some consensus around the principles and values it articulated. But now, with the development of climate change adaptation strategies and the arrival of new financiers, some fear that the new context (WCD+10) may end this fragile consensus.
Lyla Mehta discusses controversy at the conference:
It’s my fourth day at World Water Week, the annual mecca for policy-makers and players from the World Water Council, the Water and Sanitation Programmes (WSP), Stockholm Water Institute, WaterAid, the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), as well as several UN and bilateral agencies such as DFID and others who can afford to pay the entry fee. Most people seem to come for networking, meetings, dinners and drinks, to launch new initiatives and reports… and occasionally even to attend the odd session.
I've been doing the same, though I had hoped to be more excited by some of the sessions and workshops. Most of them have been highly technical, with many of the same global perspectives and declarations that we have been hearing for a long time. But this is probably a reflection of how mainstream most talk about water is, be it in the media, policy or research realms…
For me, the highlight of the conference was the session on “Revisiting the Large Dam Controversy” hosted by the very exciting online journal Water Alternatives. It’s been 10 years since the World Commision on Dams published its landmark report, which provided guidelines for dam-building, covering social, environmental, economic and institutional aspects. This was the only session I attended where there was passion and debate, not surprising due to the topic even though a few were hoping for more blood-letting! Ten years on, there has been much progress. WCD guidelines are now mainstreamed in many new and ongoing projects all around the world. The WCD principle on the “right to consent” is also gaining acceptance in many global organisations and institutions.
Still, there are many ideological rifts and no clear consensus on ways forward, with early opponents still openly rejecting the WCD process and conclusions. This was exemplified by the words of ex-World Bank official John Briscoe, who proudly stated that the WCD and similar commissions should pack up since they are often rejected by dam-building nations who reject their guidelines. But Briscoe didn’t seem to do himself or his former institution any favours by continuing to ignore the fact that water resources development remains a highly contested process, often shaped by forces in the wider political economy. Moreover, southern governments who claim to be ‘democratic’ may not necessarily be representing the interests of the poor and marginalised through dam-based development.
In the end the Stockholm World Water Week 2010 revealed broad consensus on many water-related issues as Alex McIntosh reports:
By Day Four of the 2,500-attendee conference, a few overarching themes have begun to emerge.  First, in the majority of the watersheds across the globe, we know too little about the amount of water available, the amount extracted in aggregate for human use, or the quality of the watershed.  For this reason, in the seminar On the Road the Corporate Water Reporting, panelists from Nature Conservancy, CERES, Quantis, PepsiCo, CH2M HILL, Unilever, Borealis and other organizations all agreed that the trend towards greater water reporting transparency would continue, primarily driven by businesses’ need to obtain and manage their supply chain water resources, and in response to consumer/customer/investor stakeholder pressure.
A second theme emerging from World Water Week is there is general consensus among the world’s water experts and advocates that humanity already has passed the “safety point” with respect to sustainable use.  In the seminar The Future of Global Water Technologies, panelists from McKinsey & Co, ITT, Black & Veatch and more framed the discussion by agreeing on four points:
* The world faces significant water resource challenges today, which will worsen in the coming years.
* Business as usual practices will not close the “water gap”.
* Cost effective, sustainable solutions are possible, but will require an economy-wide approach.
* A pathway towards water sector transformation does exist.

author: Victor Kaonga


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Guatemala: The National Symbol of the Quetzal Bird · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

With the independence of Guatemala coming up on September 15, Guate360 [es] shares a picture of a Quetzal, the national bird of Guatemala. The blog post also explains that the bird symbolizes freedom, autonomy and independence; it is also the name of the currency in Guatemala.


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Guinea: Violent Confrontations in Conakry Prior To The Second Round   · Global Voices
Abdoulaye Bah

The Guinee libre [fr] website reports that violent confrontations occurred over the week-end in Conakry as the second round of the presidential elections approaches (scheduled for September 19th but  probably temporarily suspended).  The violence opposed militants of the  Rassemblement pour le peuple de Guinée (RPG) and the militants of  the Union des forces démocratiques de Guinée  (UFDG) [fr].

author: Abdoulaye Bah


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Haiti: Protest Today  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Wadner Pierre reports that residents of several Haitian tent cities were scheduled to demonstrate this morning, calling for decent housing and the right to education.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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India: Kashmir Is Burning…Again · Global Voices
Rezwan

Protest in Kashmir. Image by Flickr user Kashmiridibber, CC BY-NC-ND
If you thought the the issue of burning the Qur'an would not have repercussions across the world then you may think again. Today's mayhem in Indian administered Kashmir was instigated by violent protests which ensued after the emergence of a report of a Qur'an desecration in Michigan, USA. The Jammu and Kashmir cabinet condemned the reported burning of the Qur'an and asked the people to stay calm. However, according to BBC, thousands of people defied curfews and took to the streets, chanting anti-India and anti-US slogans and burning effigies of US President Barack Obama.
Mobs set fire to several government buildings and a Protestant-run school and the police fired back. At least 18 people have been killed and scores were injured. People are asking how much of these protests bears the anger over the desecration of Qur'an and how much on the anti-Indian feelings and their freedom struggle. Journalist Altaf Hossain said to BBC: “the anger against the US may subside soon, but the killings have ensured that hatred against India has been re-inforced.”
As the street violence in Kashmir increased in recent months, the Indian security forces shifted in the hard-line. A number of protesters were killed and many were detained. Videos have emerged showing repressions and tortures against the detainees by the security forces like Abu Gharib, which have angered more Kashmiris.
Here in this amateur video uploaded by Kashmir Nation,  protesters are seen shouting slogans of “Azadi” (freedom) from India:
The popular Indian blogs seem to be mostly silent on the issue but the Twitter users are discussing this in greater numbers. Although most tweets contained misinformed rage and rumors, some communicated voice of reason. Here are some tweets showing reactions on the different aspects of the situation.
The efforts of the Indian government:
@sardesairajdeep: kashmir cant be solved in delhi. need to invest in the people of the valley, in their hearts and minds, however tough that is.
@sardesairajdeep: its taken the pm 3 months to call an all-party meeting on kashmir. should have happened much earlier.
@SachinKalbag: By deferring the AFSPA (note: Armed Forces Special Powers Act) decision, the government has given the separatists further proof of how the Valley remains an open field for anarchy.
Indian army patroling in Indian administered Kashmir. Image by Flickr user Kashmiridibber, CC BY-NC-ND
News and rumors about burning of installations:
@AdityaRajKaul: @samar11 My great grand-father was among founders of Biscoe School which was set ablaze by #Separatist Goons in #Kashmir
@AdityaRajKaul: Confirmed News #Kashmir #Separatist mob this evening set ablaze Shiv Temple @Nayi Basti in Khaanabal, Anantnag. Police post destroyed #Taliban
@pawandurani:  Startling revelation. No temple burnt in #Kashmir in absence of Govt confirmation. Govt censoring news … Ashamed of Indian sickulrism
Help and distress calls:
@polgrim: The hospitals in Kashmir are running out of blood. To donate call – Incharge SMHS Blood Bank, 094-19-415373. v @FaizanAli
Reactions:
@polgrim: It is disheartening to report many of the Indian media folks on Twitter have a perverse sense of reality when it comes to Kashmir. Very sad.
@NitishaKaul: Kashmiris asking for Azadi shd be prepared to be painted/spinned as ever more Islamic, pro-Pak, violent, militant. #Kashmir #India
@Deshbhakta: @bdutt  what purpose or larger cause did ur channel serve by not telecasting d news of hoisting of pak flag in Indian Srinagar's Lal Chowk?
@Kalkharab Koshur:  O #india ,let me tell you,you will get tired of imposing curfews but we wont get tired in our struggle.You have to leave #kashmir
On possible solutions:
@smitaprakash: @ranga_chennai i dont think anybody is quite sure what wl wrk now in Kashmir. Quelling violence is a priority but so is meeting thr demands
Image by Flickr user Kashmiridibber. Used under a CC BY-NC-ND license
Kashmir Blogs writes about the use of religion to set the agenda of the secessionists:
The viscous cycle of violence continued unabated, except some intermittent and brief periods of peace. The armed forces of India and terrorists backed by Pakistan played the cat and mouse game of killings with each other and many innocent kashmiris lost their lives in this deadly game.
The separatist political parties of Kashmir are obviously paid handsomely by the Pakistani agencies to keep the pot of hatred against India boiling. This is the main reason that they are not interested in talks with the Indian central government. So what do the separatists do to ensure that peace never returns to the strife stricken valley? The answer is that they are using the religion to incite the hatred for India without considering the implications of their devious act.
The Kashmir says that Kashmir is not an economic problem as “the state is not at the bottom in terms of development indicators”. However the problem lies elsewhere:
The Valley is imitating Pakistan on two counts. Pakistan begs globally by threatening to self-destruct even while the elites of Pakistan send their children to study abroad and the poor Abduls and Kasabs are made to die for the cause. The same hypocrisy is practiced in the Valley by its leaders.
K.R. Surendran opines that Kashmir needs a holistic approach and questions:
Who brought this part of our nation to such a pass? Who converted it into perennially bleeding State? Pakistan alone… or the State authorities? Central Authorities or all these factors combined?
There are lots of questions to be answered and there is no sign of resolving this conflict.

author: Rezwan


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Indonesia: Online rage over attack on church leaders · Global Voices
Juke Carolina

Reverend Luspida Simanjuntak and Sintua (church elder in Batak language) Asia Lumban Toruan from the Ciketing Huria Kristen Batak Protestan (HKBP) Church in Indonesia were stabbed on Sunday morning. Reverend Simanjuntak was hit on her left temple. Sintua Toruan, on the other hand, had to undergo an operation to close a 3cm long incision on his liver, a result from the stabbing. Latest report said that the surgeon managed to stop the bleeding and Sintua Toruan condition is already stabilizing.
The HKBP Ciketing church was once banned by the authorities for not having the proper permit. The ban was revoked after the church complied with some of the demands of the state. However, it was ordered closed again a couple of days after being reopened when the local government declared that the church is unwanted by the local community. Founded in 1990, the Ciketing HKBP Church has 1,500 members.
The Jakarta Cathedral viewed from Istiqlal Mosque, the largest mosque in Southeast Asia. Flickr photo by TeeJe used under Creative Commons
A group of hardliners calling themselves Mustika Jaya Sub-district Moslem Forum (FUI), has attacked the church several times in the past.
At Pemuda Indonesia (Indonesian Youth), blogger Don Sisco said that the right to worship of the church has been castrated anew by the law enforcers. He also reacted to the commitment of the Indonesian president that the attacks on places of worship will be stopped.
Presiden Yudhoyono menegaskan tak ada ruang bagi para pelaku tindak kekerasan di Indonesia. Tindak kekerasan atas dasar dan alasan apa pun, lanjutnya, tidak dapat ditoleransi. Pelaku pun mesti dipastikan mendapat sanksi sesuai peraturan dan perundang-undangan berlaku. Presiden memerintahkan, polisi mampu memastikan kejadian serupa tak terulang.
Melihat sikap SBY ini, kita ingin rasanya tertawa terbahak-bahak dan merasa sangat iba, Mengapa begitu bodoh Presiden kita. Apakah pelajaran Sekolah Dasar saja Presiden kita tidak tamat ? Karena pada SD pernah diajarkan lebih baik mencegah dari pada mengobati, Sedia payung sebelum hujan. Akan tetapi Presiden kita yang satu ini Sakit dulu baru diobati, kehujanan dulu baru beli payung.
President Yudhoyono said that there's no room for the culprit of violence in Indonesia. He said that violence under any circumstances will not be tolerated and culprits will be prosecuted and punished according to the law. The president also ordered the national police to ensure that the incident will never happen again.
Hearing his statements made us laugh, and we felt sorry for him. How silly our president is. Has he forgotten that “prevention is better than cure, or “prepare your umbrella before it rains”?  What our president is doing is “curing the ill” and “putting up the umbrella once we're soaking wet”.
Don Sisco also expressed his concern about President Yudhoyono's slow reaction.
Ataukah hal ini memang keingingan SBY ? agar dia seolah-olah menjadi pahlawan kebebasan beragama . Paling tidak metode ini masuk kategori Politik Pencitraan
On Being Me on Mine, a blogger known only by his nickname, Kupretist, said that the incident happened because the community isn't accustomed with pluralism. He wondered why some of the Indonesia's Muslim majority should prevent the minorities to worship.
Menurut pemerintah penyerangan tersebut adalah kriminal murni dan bukan konflik agama, akan tetapi bagaimana jika terjadinya penyerangan tersebut adalah dikarenakan motif atau tendensi agama.
[…] Sebagai umat Islam seharusnya mengerti tentang prinsip-prinsip pluralisme dan toleransi yang dicanangkan dalam al-Qur'an bahwa “Laa ikraha fi al-diin.” yakni tidak ada paksaan dalam beragama.
The government ruled the attack as criminality and not as an interfaith feud; but what if the attack was based on interfaith (feud)?
[…]  As Muslims, we should understand that the Holy Koran cited the principles of pluralism and tolerance “Laa ikraha fi al-diin”, which means that we can't force faith (to someone).
Other believers should be free to worship, he added:
Mungkin saya takkan terburu-buru mengatakan bahwa oknum yang menusuk pendeta itu adalah orang Islam, akan tetapi saya hanya mengomentari kenapa kita orang Islam begitu susahnya menerima perbedaan di tengah masyarakat, begitu sulitnya berinteraksi dengan orang non-muslim. Apakah hanya karena secara prosedur tidak mendapatkan izin dari masyarakat yang mayoritas beragama Islam lantas kita harus menggempur segolongan umat yang minoritas tersebut.
The blogger said that he agrees with Reverend Luspida Simanjuntak who said that “there's no justice for the minorities”. He also said that the government may be running after the crime suspects but it is ignoring the root of the problem:
Sekarang ketika terjadi penusukan itu apa bisa diselesaikan hanya dengan mencari pelaku penusukan dan mengatakan bahwa hal tersebut adalah kriminal murni, sementara akar persoalan tidak bisa diselesaikan, di mana sebagai mayoritas umat beragama di Indonesia, umat Muslim seharusnya lebih bisa menerima perbedaan di tengah masyarakat dan berinteraksi dengan umat agama lain dengan sikap toleran dan tenggang rasa. Mereka umat non-muslim meskipun sedikit jumlahnya juga membutuhkan tempat ibadah dan kebebasan untuk menjalankan ibadah mereka sebagaimana umat Islam bebas menjalankan ibadahnya.
The role of mainstream media
Facebookers Fitri Bintang Timur and Suluh Legowo discussed the incident and how the mainstream media reported it:
Suluh Legowo: gw sendiri ga yakin itu ‘tindak kekerasan terhadap kebebasan beragama'…kalo misalnya yang ditusuk ustadz, paling kalimat pertama itu ilang…i guess sensationalist journalism always prevails since they can just give a corrective statement later on if it turns out wrong…
bukannya gw ‘mengamini’ tindakan kekerasan begitu, cuma pemberitaan yang seperti itu ‘kan cuma mancing emosi orang aja demi popularitas sebuah artikel…
oke lah diberitain, cuma jangan pake embel2 ‘kebebasan beragama’ kalo tindakan perorangan gitu…pelakunya juga ga dikenal, apalagi alasan perbuatannya apa…
don't ASSUME things…
ASSUME makes an ASS out of U and not ME…
Fitri Bintang Timur emang sih buat bikin statement butuh penyidikan lebih lanjut. […] orang yang secara tidak sensitif melihat tidak akan menyadari ini adalah upaya peningkatan intensitas konflik seperti yg dilakukan di poso circa 1998-9. dan ini menarik karena kemarin SBY baru komentar keras ttg pembakaran Al Quran pada pastor Jones, jadi many eyes melihat tindakan pak Beye mau ngapain.
Suluh Legowo also highlighted the importance of adhering to journalism ethics and standards. He further elaborates:
there's no point massa memahami ada usaha peningkatan konflik kalo sembari dipicu emosinya…
masalahnya di sini adalah kompas itu termasuk ‘sumber terpercaya’ di indo…ga perlu lah pake kalimat pembuka model tabloid lampu merah begitu…masih banyak penduduk yang masih blom bisa mikir beyond what's being told and taking things for granted…
Meanwhile, referring to the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), a group of hardliners accused of taking part in the incident in lieu of their past attacks against the congregation, Suluh said:
fpi ormas islam?
HA-HA-HA-HA-HA…
mereka mah orman…organisasi preman…memiliki cara baru memahami islam yaitu dengan menggunakan DENGKUL…
Blank Profile Pictures
Blackberry and Facebook users blank out their profile pictures to protest interfaith incidents, past and recent, that tarnish Indonesia's reputation as a plural and tolerant country.
Jonathan Jodie: True Story from Kompas.com, verified! Sebagai tanda duka atas kekerasan terhadap kebebasan beragama, mari hitamkan foto contact kita. Pendeta Ditusuk di HKBP Ciketing Bekasi http://m.kompas.com/news/read/data/2010.09.12.1126458
Indonesian twitterers also expressed their opinions about the recent incident:
bigbon12 : Perlukah para muslim yg trgabung dlm anti-kristen sampai mencelakai seorang Pendeta?Obama bisa mempertahankan sebuah masjid di NYC,tapi SBY gak bisa mencegah robohnya gereja !
bloody243 RT @La_181: Kok tega yah Nusuk2 pendeta pas lagi ibadah.. :( sebener'nya masyarakat indonesia punya moral nggak sih..?? Sedih banget..
taraarisa :  Iba ngeliat pendeta #hkbp bekasi yg dipukulin org2. Mau ke gereja aja susah ya, ampe hrs dipukulin dulu
Alissa Wahid, daughter of the late former President Abdurrahman Wahid (Gus Dur), who is known for his pluralistic visions for the country, gave a twitter update about the situation of the victims:
@alissawahid : Dear @dhyudanie .. Sy barusan telp ibu Pendeta Luspida #hkbp dan konfirmasi bhw anggota Majlis Gereja bp.Sihombing semakin baik keadaannya

author: Juke Carolina


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Iran: Jailed Blogger Shiva Nazar Ahari is Freed on $500,000 Bail · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Shiva Nazar Ahari, a jailed human rights activist and blogger, was freed yesterday.
According to several news websites, Shiva was released on $500,000 bail. She went to trial in handcuffs in early September and was accused of involvement with the organization, People's Mujahedin of Iran.
This group has been in conflict with the Islamic Republic for years, and any affiliation with them is equated with waging war against God or “Moharbeh“. This can carry a death penalty in Iran.
Several demonstrations have been held in recent weeks to support Shiva.
In Germany, on Friday, September 10 Madrane Solh Dortmond (Mothers for Peace in Dortmund), a group that is also supported by men, held Shiva's photo in their hands (photo above). They gather weekly, on Saturdays, to show solidarity with grieving mothers in Iran. See more photos on their blog.
Here is this group's Facebook campaign for Shiva.
People also demonstrated in Washington DC. Ahmad Batebi, a human rights activist, speaks of Shiva in this video, and says she was only a human rights activist and was never involved with politics.
We are all Shiva is an online campaign suggesting different activities to support Shiva, from Canada to Iran.

author: Fred Petrossian


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Jamaica: Animation & Culture  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Dancehall claymation – who knew it existed?  Art: Jamaica talks about cultural identity with its creator.


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Maldives: Dhivehi Translation Of Quran  · Global Voices
Rezwan

Mohamed Malik informsthat Maldives open source society (MOSS) helped with the Dhivehi translation of the Holy Quran  which is now officialy hosted on both Zekr project (Quranic Study Tool) & Tanzil (read & recite Quran online) websites.


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Nigeria: Church members against bad leadership · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Citizen report of the demonstration of members of the Catholic church in Nigeria: “The Roman Catholic community in Imo and Abia States on Friday September 10th, 2010 did a protest march against bad leadership.”

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Nigeria: Oil Wealth Flows, Hunger Persists · Global Voices
Juhie Bhatia

This post was commissioned as part of a Pulitzer Center/Global Voices Online series on Food Insecurity. These reports draw on multimedia reporting featured on the Pulitzer Gateway to Food Insecurity and bloggers discussing the issues worldwide. Share your own story on food insecurity here.
As the BP oil spill in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico and its aftermath continue to make headlines, the catastrophe has also brought a little global media attention to the oil-related woes in another country—Nigeria.
Africa's most populous country, Nigeria is among the 10 biggest exporters of oil globally and the largest oil producer in Africa. Since oil was discovered off Nigeria's coast in the 1970s, it has become a major source of wealth. Oil accounts for 90 percent of Nigeria's exports and over 80 percent of government revenue.
Niger Delta Oil Disaster, Photo by Socialist Youth League of Norway on Flickr (CC-BY-ND)
But these oil riches have not been accompanied by economic prosperity nor food security for the majority of the country's population. Earlier this year, preparations took place in northern Nigeria for anticipated food shortages, due to severe water shortages, plummeting livestock prices and rising grain costs. On his blog, Nigerian Joachim Ibeziako Ezeji, a sustainable development professional, elaborates on those impacted by these types of shortages.
“Nigeria, a former agrarian nation, abandoned agriculture in the early 1980s when the government refocused the economy on oil exploration… Sadly, the bulk of this revenue is stolen by politicians and their cronies. The consequence is that today, according to the agriculture ministry, 91 million Nigerians representing 65 percent of the country's population are food insecure.”
Nigeria had a strong agricultural base before the oil boom, but throughout the years its big farms and plantations have been neglected. Journalist David Hecht, who wrote a series on the hunger crisis in Nigeria supported by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, says that about 90 percent of Nigeria's agricultural output today comes from inefficient small farms. Most farmers have little or no access to modern technology like fertilizers and irrigation. As a result, Nigeria has become one of the world's biggest importers of food staples, particularly rice and wheat. Even with these imports though, more than a quarter of Nigerians younger than 5 suffer from malnutrition.
The country's oil industry, which is primarily located in the Niger Delta, has also become a source of conflict, corruption and human rights abuses. An Amnesty International report released last year examined these consequences, as well as the environmental fallout from the industry.
The Deepwater Horizon explosion earlier this year has also drawn attention to the environmental damage caused by oil spills, including spills in the Niger Delta. Some media report that more oil is spilled in the Niger Delta every year than has been lost in the Gulf of Mexico. These spills cause pollution that severely affects surrounding communities by decreasing fish stocks and contaminating water supplies and arable land.
A post on the blog Niger Delta Unrest chronicles a protest last year against the lack of action by Shell and the Nigerian government following a large offshore spill. People from the affected community in Bodo spoke of their grievances:
“They detailed how there was widespread hunger and thirst in the community: all the fish had been killed, the water contaminated, access to the creeks blocked and the ground-soil polluted and crops poisoned. One woman presented a meager basket of cassava meant to feed her family for a week. It was only enough for one person. Another woman pushed forward and said her eight year old son had died of hunger… A higher up in the Youth Council, the same one who had been interpreting, told of his frustrations and how he felt control slipping out of his hands. He said it was getting impossible to calm the youth in the town and that he was sure some of them would slip into militancy and armed action. ‘A hungry man is an angry man,’ he said.”
Randal Maurice Jelks, blogging on The Black Bottom Blog in the United States, says that people in Nigeria and the Gulf coast of Louisiana have more in common than many would think:
“For years, the state of Louisiana has permitted oil companies to have the loosest of regulation–a wink and a nod instead of enforced laws. As result many African Americans, like the Ogoni people of Nigeria, who live in the Gulf region have been most affected by what is called Cancer Alley. The pollutants from chemical and oil production have poisoned both their lands and bodies for years, like the Ogoni people these Black and poor people were ignored. The Louisiana state government like the Nigerian government left the oil companies to their own devices–laissez faire.”
An analysis in the Nigerian newspaper Vanguard by Peter Osadalor says that the World Bank coined the term “Nigerian Paradox” specifically to describe the extreme underdevelopment and poverty in a country brimming with resources and potential. Bloggers have proposed various solutions to this paradox, from stricter regulation of oil companies to better leadership to decreasing reliance on imported crops.
Hecht, in his article series, says that even though Nigeria faces a serious food security threat, the country has enough fertile land to feed itself and much of the region if its oil wealth is invested more wisely. Afolabi Taiwo Okunola, in a post submitted for a youth essay competition on the Youngstars Foundation's blog, comes to a similar conclusion, saying that refocusing on agriculture is key:
“If the Nigerian government can be dedicated and devoted to the course of agricultural, many problems like inadequate supply of food, high expenses of the food supply will become outdated. The level of unemployment among Nigerian graduates will reduce because many graduates will be gainfully employed. In this vein, agricultural produce will increase because mechanized farming will be used and Nigerian exporting earnings will increase…The quest for power, gross looting of the national treasury by the greedy politicians will reduce to a certain extent because many people will realize that it is not only oil that can give a nation money but that agriculture too is important in that aspect. Therefore, the wicked struggle, killing and wanton destruction of lives and property in order to get to the position of authority in Nigeria will reduce. In a very short time, Nigeria will become a citadel in which other countries will have to come and learn from.”

author: Juhie Bhatia


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Russia: Paid and Unpaid Bloggers Against the Moscow Mayor  · Global Voices
Alexey Sidorenko

Yuri Luzhkov holding a football trophy, photo by Yelena Rybakova
An ongoing TV and online campaign against Yuri Luzhkov, the mayor of Moscow, is currently one of the most discussed topics both in the mainstream and citizen media.
Most bloggers appear to support the attack on the politician. At the same time, independent observers have noticed a significant number of paid blog posts. The fact that bloggers were being used in a political campaign by the mayor’s opponents changed the tone of the discussion, while making it clear that both paid and unpaid bloggers were unhappy with the city authorities.
Yuri Luzhkov, 73, has served as the mayor of Moscow since 1993. He is also one of the co-founders of the ruling United Russia party and a co-chair of the party's highest council. His wife, Yelena Baturina, is Russia's richest woman and the 279th richest person in the world. Very popular among the so-called “TV-watchers,” Luzhkov is nevertheless criticized for many things. The most important issues are transport collapse and the interest-seeking development policy, as well as… corruption at an epic scale.
On Sept. 10, 2010, NTV, a TV channel owned by Gazprom, aired a documentary (part 1 [RUS] and part 2 [RUS]) about Luzhkov, accusing him of corruption, lack of efficiency and a failure to help the Muscovites during the wildfires. The film was done in a popular genre of a propaganda attack. Recently, a similar documentary about the Belarusian leader, Alexander Lukashenko, has been broadcast by the same channel.
Oleg Panfilov, a Tbilisi-based opposition blogger, commented [RUS] on the Luzhkov video:
Посмотрел.
И удивился.
Во-первых, ни слова о политике.
И поскольку российские телеканалы.
Жестко контролируются властью.
Представляющую партию “Единая Россия”.
То в фильме не слова об этом.
То есть, пропагандоны сделали фильм.
Об одном из основателей и главных функционеров партии.
А тут – просто преступник.
Как будто партия не несет ответственности за зарвавшегося кепконосителя.
Значит, какая партия – такой и Лужков.
Или наоборот.
The announcement of the TV program attracted the attention of many bloggers. Not all of them, however, were sincere in their dissatisfaction with the mayor. After the announcement appeared on TV, about 20 bloggers published posts with similar content. Every post mentioned zakaz-harakiri.ru (“Order yourself a harakiri,” a website where you can vote for a politician or some other celebrity to commit a virtual suicide), along with a message that Yuri Luzhkov was the winner.
Marina Litvinovich, a renowned activist, noticed [RUS] the common pattern and supplied a list of bloggers who posted such messages:
Как интересно, а? НТВ вчера вечером запустило анонс фильма “Дело в кепке”, начав таким образом “официальную” кампанию по мочению Лужкова. […]
И сегодня же – ах, какая неожиданность! – куча блогеров дает ссылки и пишет примерно одинаково про какую-то полнейшую туфту – сайт про харакири, типа там победил Лужков.
И сайт и идея – говно и очень печально, что куча блогеров так радостно его пиарят.
LJ user pilgrim-67, a blogger famous for several online investigations, published [RUS] a letter from some blogger who had offered to post this type of message in exchange for money:
Screenshot of the message offering a paid post about Luzhkov, made by pilgrim-67
[Translation of the message in the screenshot above] This will be a post with a flash movie of Yuri Luzhkov committing a harakiri, because the majority has voted for him on the website zakaz-harakiri.
Could you tell me, please, how much such a post would cost?
Pilgrim-67 added that he had not accepted the offer, and, even though he wanted Luzhkov to leave, he didn’t need to be paid for declaring it.
Another blogger, Andrei Malgin, wondered why no one had asked him to write something about Luzhkov, since he would've done it for free. LJ user manjak shared his astonishment [RUS]:
я не понимаю чего-то в этой жизни. неужели на просторах рунета есть хоть кто-то поддерживающий лужкова, что пришлось разводить всю эту бучу с платными постами, тратить деньги на платные посты и т.п.?
Blogger re3yc mockingly suggested [RUS] that the website had been created to promote the action movie “Daughter of Yakudza” [RUS], and the campaign against mayor Luzhkov accidentally overlapped with the movie promotion campaign:
[…] Глупые политизированные блоггеры думают, что мочат Лужкова, а на самом деле накручивают счётчик посещений промосайта какой-то говнокиношки.
Although zakaz-harakiri.ru does have a link to the movie's profile, the coincidence seems suspicious.
Demyan Kudryavtsev, executive director of the “Kommersant” publishing house, criticised everyone: Luzhkov's critics, supporters, investigators, and even those bloggers who were unhappy with the propagandist tone of the mainstream media. He concluded that the bloggers’ behaviour wasn't too different from that of one of the TV channels:
Полный Живой Журнал людей, недовольных государственной журналистикой, накинувшейся на Лужкова. Но не потому, что она обижает сирого, а потому, что с Лужковым, мол, все годы было все понятно, с гадом, как можно было молчать раньше, а?
За 17 лет его правления, никто из кричащих не вышел на демонстрацию против тотальной коррупции в Москве. За все годы против сноса памятников – несколько тысяч человек, против федеральной власти и за свободу собраний – столько же, против Химкинского леса и потому что вроде стало можно – столько же, но сразу.
И за все эти годы – ни одной демонстрации против псевдо-муниципальной, а на самом деле частной, но безконкурентной ЖКХ […]. Практически каждый месяц Новая Газета, “Коммерсантъ”, и другие проигрывали мэрии суды по фантастическим формулировкам […], практически каждый день вместо новостей по любому поводу на госканалах всех кормили “повесткой дня”, и только теперь все решили возмутиться?
Мне кажется, что в таком поведении очень много общего с той же журналистикой государственных телеканалов […]. Отличия есть. Принципиальные. Но и общего очень много.
В то время как главный вопрос – кто будет следующим мэром Москвы – опять решается не нами.
During the 17 years of [Luzhkov's] reign, none of those who are screaming now has gone on a demonstration against the total corruption in the city administration. During all these years, several thousand people stood up against the demolition of historical buildings, and the same number against the federal authorities and for the freedom of assembly, and as many […] to defend the Khimki forest park and just because they could […].
And in all those years, there hasn't been a single rally against the pseudo-municipal, and, in reality, private community services [monopoly] […]. Almost every month, Novaya Gazeta, Kommersant [newspapers] and other [media outlets] have been losing lawsuits initiated by the mayor's office due to some fantastic claims, and nearly every day the state-run channels have been feeding us with nothing but the “official agenda” instead of the real news, and only now everyone has decided to get outraged?
I think that such a behavior has much in common with the journalism of the government channels […]. There are differences. Very important ones. But there are many similarities, too.
Meanwhile, the main question – who will be the next mayor of Moscow? – is once again decided not by us.
This story shows that blog campaigns have become a regular tool in political struggles between the politicians. Political messages are being dispersed via networks of paid bloggers, some of whom are quite influential. It also shows that bloggers demand non-partisan and independent information, and even when a media campaign reflects their own views, manipulations will not be welcome. Finally, this is one of the rare cases when the majority of bloggers (even those critical of the authorities) consciously support a state propaganda attack.

author: Alexey Sidorenko


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South Africa: On court decision against Bible burning · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Pierre's reaction to Judge Sita Kolbe of the South Gauteng High Court who issued an interdict on Friday against a planned Bible burning by businessman and law student Mohammed Vawda.


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Sri Lanka: Lack Of Transparency In Constitutional Reforms · Global Voices
Rezwan

Sanjana Hattotuwa at ICT for Peacebuilding (ICT4Peace) opines that the recent 18th amendment of the Sri Lankan constitution was rushed through, it lacked any public debate, and there was a media blackout on the process.


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Sri Lanka: Migrating Birds And Bird Flu · Global Voices
Rezwan

Do migrating birds spread Bird Flu? Sri Lanka Birds blog analyzes the possibilities.


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St. Lucia, French Guiana: Googol  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“What if a superhero was born today in French Guiana? How do you cope with inviting her into your plan – wherever or whoever you are? I am Googol explores these questions”: Caribbean Book Blog profiles the Caribbean national behind the world's newest superhero.


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Trinidad & Tobago: Sound Plan?  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

KnowTnT.com weighs in on “government's plans for bailing out CLICO's short-term investment and mutual fund depositors”, while Plain Talk adds: “The contentious…CLICO issue…has…ended up only rewarding the gang of thieves that caused the problem in the first place.”


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Uruguay: Podcast to Showcase Interviews with Uruguayans Involved in Technology · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

Every month bloggers from Uruguay: Click para actualizar [es] (Uruguay: Click to Refresh), with the collaboration of Montevideo COMM, will interview a Uruguayan involved in technology and release the interview as a podcast. Their first interview [es] is with Fernando Picún from Trojan Chicken.


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Yoani Sanchez denied another traveling visa · Global Voices
Bernardo Parrella

Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez tweets about another visa refusal for traveling, this time to receive the World Press Freedom Hero Award in Vienna, Austria. And it seems unlikely she could attend the Internet for Peace conference (New York City, Sept. 21), a global initiative aimed at supporting the Internet as a candidate for 2010 Nobel Peace Prize, where Yoani is one its official ambassadors.

author: Bernardo Parrella


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Africa: Can An African Tech Entrepreneur Change the World?  · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

“Can an African tech entrepreneur change the world?,” Bill Zimmerman asks: “I chose to address the acute need for creating enabling environments on the ground for new technology companies, the present lack of seed-stage financing to fund their growth and opened with the ambitious question, Can an African tech entrepreneur change the world?”


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Angola: Market Closed and Merchants Moving · Global Voices
Sara Moreira

Hukalilile – Don't Cry for me Angola blog [pt] announced that the popular Roque Santeiro market was officially closed down on September 5. Reportedly, many merchants have already been transferred from Sambizanga to Panguila, 30km away.

author: Sara Moreira


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Azerbaijan: Back Home · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

AZ Cookbook has returned from its native Azerbaijan and posted photographs of the visit. Naturally, given the nature of the blog, it also takes readers on a culinary as well as cultural pictorial tour of the country.


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Bangladesh: Four days without newspaper · Global Voices
Rezwan

Journalist and Blogger Mahadi Hasan Talukder reports that due to Eid holidays no newspaper has been published in Bangladesh from last Friday to Monday. This may be a good opportunity to get into the habit of reading news online by many.


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Barbados: Charges Laid · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Barbados Free Press reports that murder charges have been laid against two young men in the recent robbery/firebombing incident.


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Bermuda: Eye on Igor · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Bermuda Blog is keeping its eye on Hurricane Igor.


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Bolivia: City of Cochabamba Celebrates its Bicentennial  · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

Coinciding with the bicentennial celebration [es] of the city of Cochabamba, in 200 words Fadrique Iglesias writes [es] about his thoughts on freedom, development and what he hopes will happen in the next 200 years.


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Brazil: Story of a Free Store and Ethonomia · Global Voices
Sara Moreira

João Perdigão tells the story of Loja Grátis [Free Store, pt] in Belo Horizonte, a place where “anyone can take something away and not necessarily leave something in exchange”. Brazilian artist Junia May, says that exchange practices reflect a new  economic awareness, and introduces the concept of ethical economy, or Ethonomia.


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Cameroon: Classic Makossa Music Blog · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Dibussi reviews Makossa Original, a blog “which profiles the major Makossa acts and albums from the 1970s and 1980s, spicing it all up with pictures of rare and long-forgotten album covers and mp3 downloads of some of the greatest Makossa oldies.”


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China: A Law Professor for Sale… · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Last week, the photo below was circulated widely through various microblog platforms.
Street drama
The photo was taken on September 3 in Beijing. In the photo, Professor Yang Zhizhu from China Youth University for Political Sciences is holding a placard to sell himself as a slave in order to pay the penalty for violating the one child policy:
我叫杨支柱，原是中国青年政治学院法律系副教授。因妻子意外怀孕，不忍堕胎，于2009年12月21日生下第二个女儿，我今年4月被学校下岗。现在 我工资单上每月应发工资960元，实发工资368元。两个月后再减960元，变负数了。北京市海淀区计划生育委员会又向我征收24万所谓“社会抚养费”， 我无力缴纳，只好把自己卖了。考虑到卖身之后不能照顾孩子了，我希望多卖40万元补偿她们。一口价64万元人民币，谁买我我就给谁当奴隶，鞠躬尽瘁死而后 已。我拒绝好心人的捐助，因为我不想做“超生”孩子身上的寄生虫。
The photo is a street drama to raise public awareness of the extremely unreasonable one-child policy and ‘social upbringing’ fee so Yang has decided to go to the court against the Haidian district family planning committee. According to the “Social Upbringing Fee Determination” issued on September 2, 2010, the 240,000 yuan fee was calculated by multiplying the sum of his total annual income by nine:
Social Upbringing fee
Yang posted a summary of a T.V interview in his blog on September 7 to explain the rationale of his legal action:
问：你为什么要拒绝缴纳“社会抚养费”？
答：不该交。孩子是我们自己在养，不是社会或者政府在养。我们若楠连户口都没有，在中国这样一个无证寸步难行的国家，没有户口意味着没有被承认为一个人， 完全不能享有作为人最起码的权利，更不要说社会福利了，跟养了条宠物狗差不多。中国政府并没有对养宠物狗征收“社会抚养费”呀。若楠唯一享受的社会福利大 概就是免费注射一类疫苗了，那都是几块钱一支、最多几十块钱一支的便宜疫苗，贵一点的二类疫苗还是要交钱的。而若楠出生以后他们把若一曾经享受的独生子女 费和我工资中的“幼补”都要回去了，四年就有两千多块，已经远远超过若楠免费注射疫苗的成本了。何况若楠长大后还要纳税，一个人一生所纳的税扣除他（她） 幼年、晚年、生病和失业时所享受的社会福利外应该还有剩余…
问：你认为“一胎化”强制计划生育对中国社会的可持续发展有哪些危害？
答： …强制计划生育使得大多数“超生”孩子的母亲不敢进正规医院的门，计划生育政策所倡导的性与生育分离的观念导致青少年视堕胎为儿戏并导致性病泛滥成灾，还有 计划生育所提倡的晚婚晚育，导致了新生儿出生缺陷率的大幅度增加。独生子女的普遍化导致独生子女养育模式成为几乎所有孩童的养育模式，从小娇生惯养，生存 能力和心理素质严重下降。巨额“超生”罚款和社会抚养费夺去了“超生”父母抚养、教育孩子的财产，导致“超生”家庭的孩子营养不良，受教育程度相对下降。 仅仅上世纪80年代中国农村“超生”的孩子就有一亿左右，这意味着至少4亿人的生活水平受到了严重影响。因此计划生育决不像国家计生委所说的那样是“优生优育”，而是恰恰相反，是劣生劣育。
Below is a video interview of Yang and his wife on their living condition upon violating the one-child policy:
Echoes and support
Yang's action has received a lot of sympathy online. In the comment section of his blog post, feichujisheng said:
看到杨支柱老师的行动，正义的信念让我不能只看不写，所以特意注册个用户名，支持杨老师，我在山东声援杨支柱先生，如果要搞游行，我第一个报名参加，为了中国人的生育自由，我可以随时奉献。
本 人是70年代的独生子女【74年出生，是中国第一批计划生育政策的受害者，当时政策规定，母亲生完孩子后要带环，隔六年允许生第二个孩子，（这个政策到 75年就变了，不需要带环了）但是到了80年，国家又变政策了，一对夫妇只能生一个孩子，现在父母都感觉上了国家的当，整天念叨当时要是有2个孩子就好 了】，我从小没有兄弟姐妹，没有快乐，独生子女政策也影响了我的性格，现在父母年龄已大，而自己又要工作，又要照顾小孩，没法分出更多的时间照顾父母，尤 其是父母有病住院时，我感到特别无助，从我的亲身经历来说，计划生育是非人性的，是一个无赖的政策，我坚决反对。
我很羡慕那些姊妹多的，生活中互相帮助，遇事互相商量，充满了天伦之乐，所以我们要团结起来，争取早日废除这个害人的政策。
jyc__2 said:
给杨教授的几点建议（仅供参考）
1 不要激动，要冷静，不要有过激言行。
2 作为法律系的副教授，为什么不充分运用法律武器呢？计生委和学校的做法是否无懈可击呢？赞成你在博客上系统的阐明自己的观点。
3 最后一条：死猪不怕开水烫，虱子多了不痒，没有钱交，又能怎么样？中国并不是一个真正的法治社会。
180 thousands, another victim of the one-child policy, said,
杨老师，
上次您博客上留过言。
我是中关村街道计生委管辖下的“超生”妈妈。
上周五去了计生委交所谓入户申请，借人口普查东风的较低“罚款-社会抚养费”为十八万。
不想多说什么了，您是我们这一群的一个代表，想到您，我会感到一些坚持下去的力量。谢谢您了！
In sina micro-blog, one of the thread has up to 3611 re-post 1358 comments:
@韩浩月:社会抚养费？有个冷笑话，一个二胎宝宝一年不到意外死亡了，家长要求计生委退还巨额社会抚养费，因为社会抚养已经终止了，这个理由不过分吧。计生委居然回复没有法律依据。什么是吃肉不吐骨头？社会抚养费的荒唐，可以穷尽人间所有笑话(9月11日 05:18)
@老榕:回复@LANE1092:有些事儿不是这么简单的，不是放开生育人口就一定会爆炸。例如，香港对生育是鼓励的，别说罚款了，不仅生孩子免费，多生还有奖励。可是，他们的人口自然增长率到今天还是负数。
夏日清晨的栀子花 可叹可恨！当年我叔叔因为生了第二胎（这是因为前面失去了一个非常可爱的聪明的儿子，才那么渴望要有一个同样的宝贝吧），结果整整八年时间仅领取基本工 资，差点开除党籍，不能评高级教师。幸好他的两个女儿现在很争气，否则他真的是一辈子都会有阴影。(9月10日 20:02)
Tribute to Chen Guangcheng
Yang's action coincided with the release of the prominent barefoot human rights lawyer Chen Guangcheng, who has devoted himself to the fight for reproductive rights in rural China. Chen was sentenced to 4 years and 3 months imprisonment and is still monitored after his release on September 9. His name is on the black list in most of the local search engines. However, his actions have inspired many people and Yang is one of his followers.


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China: Han Han on Daiyu Islands · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Julian Smisek translated prominent blogger Han Han's recent post on Daiyu islands incident. (via DANWEI)


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Colombia: Blogger Censored, Asked to Remove Content · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

Tomáz, in his blog Mundo Graficador, shares [es] and reacts to an email he received from the legal representative of someone he had talked about in his blog. In the email, the legal representative asks Tomáz to remove the content where he was allegedly using the name and image of this “unnameable” person, “referring to words of slander and discredit that cause irreparable moral damage.”


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Cuba: Cutting 500,000 Jobs  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

On the heels of Fidel Castro's admission (and subsequent retraction) that the Cuban economic model no longer works, the government has announced [ES] that it intends to cut massive numbers of state jobs, in an effort to breathe some life into the island's struggling economy.
The Cuban Triangle says of the news:
The headline is bland: ‘Announcement of the Central de Trabajadores de Cuba.’
The news is huge: 500,000 layoffs by next May, with a ‘parallel an increase in the non-state sector.’
If fully carried out, a major expansion of Cuba’s private sector will benefit many thousands of Cuban families and give Cuban Americans opportunites through remittances to help relatives in Cuba  who will be working on their own.
El Cafe Cubano is a bit more cynical:
Communist Cuba announced it will cut one million state jobs and SUPPOSEDLY encourage small business. I wonder if it has to do with the TOTAL INEPTNESS of the Cuban dictatorship? Soon will will be hearing that it's those pesky exiles or the embargo's fault.
Just wondering if some of those state jobs cut are:
-Guards at jails where political prisoners are held?
-maintenance of all of the castro klan? (can save MILLIONS HERE!
Havana Times quotes the Cuban Workers Federation (CTC), which describes the move as “a plan to “update” the Cuban economic model and plans for the economy for the 2011-2015 period”, adding:
When the government-controlled Cuban media reports on layoffs in capitalist countries they are routinely described as inhumane measures to benefit the profitability of businesses as well as demonstrating the incapacity of the system to guarantee employment for all workers.
Now, in presenting the massive layoff program in the local press, it is reported as something positive for the country’s socialist system burdened by a surplus of workers in the giant State sector.
Those not interested will have the option of self-employment or joining another private initiative such as cooperatives.  The details on how the self employment options and cooperatives will be allowed to operate have yet to be announced.
El Yuma speculates on whether the measures will herald just that – the return of self-employment in Cuba, and The Cuban Triangle, in a follow-up post, lists some keen observations:
- The 500,000 figure is alarming – it conjures up an image of 500,000 Cuban workers going home with a pink slip, not knowing where they will go the next morning, and of the economy suddenly needing to create 500,000 new jobs.
- Self-employment, or trabajo por cuenta propia, is another source of new employment. Many will surely welcome the ability to get a license so they can stop working in the shadows. There are many thousands of Cubans in this category…
- Cubans have been calling for the government to turn small state enterprises into cooperatives in the cities; cooperatives, after all, are a form of property that Cuba  has allowed in the countryside for years. This will be interesting to watch. Conversion is easy, but profitability will depend on the workers and the rules under which they work.
- Last time I surveyed Cuba’s cuentapropistas, I found that those whose businesses operated in pesos were earning more than three times the average state salary.  Here again, the rules will matter…
Havana Times sums up the situation this way:
The imminent loss of jobs has raised new concerns in Cuba, but also new prospects, expectations and questions with regard to the expansion of private enterprise, as the new tax regime and guarantees for how the new system will function have not yet been made public.


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Ethiopia: Ethiopia’s rich history, legend and culture · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Justin discusses Ethiopia's rich history and culture on travel blog:”One of the first places we went was to Addis Ababa University, the site where Haile Sellasie's former palace was located. We were able to go into his former bedroom and even his bathroom. Haile Sellasie was the former emperor of Ethiopia for many years up until 1974.”


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I Paid A Bribe: An Endeavor in India · Global Voices
Namita Singh

C=M+D-A. As Robert Klitgaard puts it, “Corruption equals Monopoly plus Discretion minus Accountability”.
Corruption, especially political, is rampant in India, where it is seen as commonplace and citizens come face to face with it in their daily lives. It leads to severe injustice in a society and can even effect people’s survival. In the recent New Tactics dialogue on corruption, Shaazka Beyerle, Senior Advisor of the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict, gives the example of a widow who cannot access food through the Public Distribution System because the government official demands a bribe to issue her a ration card. Citizens who cannot afford to pay up suffer due to their inability, and those who can have no option than to give in to corruption. There has been increasing anger and frustration against bribery, but at the same time there is a high level of tolerance too. Some citizens habitually offer bribes in exchange for services, further perpetuating corruption.
I Paid A Bribe tries to address this complex issue that mars the Indian society. It encourages people to not put up with official abuse of power and to report their stories of bribery to “uncover the market price of corruption.” People can report when they paid a bribe, when they didn’t and when they weren’t asked to pay one by submitting their story through a form, blogging about it or even posting a video.
This initiative, organized by Janaagraha, was launched on August 15 (India’s Independence Day), 2010.  T R Raghunandan, a former senior civil servant and now the coordinator of the initiative, says the goal is “to build a snapshot of the corruption scenario in India.” Janaagraha has developed an innovative tactic to deal with corruption. The idea is less focused on taking action with specific departments based on individual citizen reports, but rather to use a systematized process to identify the most serious areas of corruption. Raghunandan observes that “every society has a very good idea of the corruption that happens there”; what is needed, then, is a better understanding of how and why corruption happens. The reports posted on the website are aggregated and analyzed. These analyses expose the more corrupt departments, loopholes used by officials to demand bribes, situations in which bribes are demanded and so on, and after identifying situations and processes susceptible to corruption, Janaagraha approaches the departments and the government for action. The following illustration represents this.
The intent of I Paid a Bribe is also to encourage and empower more citizens so that they bring out their stories and experiences, which helps build more awareness. In addition to people’s reports on bribery, the homepage of the website has a slideshow giving some vital statistics. A map titled “Corruption Commons” lists out the number of complaints from different states of India. The seriousness of the issue is brought out in these various ways, helping corruption and bribery change from something people just talk about into an issue people can do something about. People can act through a simple, easy and non-threatening process, where they are not required to identify themselves or give an individual official’s name in their reports.
Other interesting and interactive features include the “Ask Raghu” section. Raghunandan answers specific questions that people ask, providing them with the information they need. He explains that people are usually very fearful of the government, something that is mainly due to lack of information. There should be more information available so that people are more confident to deal with officials and can put their foot down on following the laid procedures and not paying a bribe. There are plans to put out White papers, the first one being on Land and Property Registration in a month’s time along with a video feature, so that people are equipped with the right knowledge about the procedures, fees, time needed and the duties of the officials. The ‘Impact’ section mentions cases in which people have been able to stand against bribery through information Janaagraha had made available, and by simply raising their voice.
People can also give their suggestions and contribute to newer practical and tactical approaches to dealing with corruption on the website’s forum. Through this platform, citizens can share their experiences of corruption, be empowered to monitor the injustice against them and collaborate to fight against it.
So, “bribed? didn't bribe? powerless? victimised? angry? tell your story” and fight back!

author: Namita Singh


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India: The Silver Tsunami · Global Voices
Rezwan

“Unlike in the rich world geriatric care in India is virtually non-existent,” informs Proloy Bagchi. The blogger fears that India awaits a tsunami of old people and they will be in a lot of problems.


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Japan: Reflections on normality · Global Voices
Scilla Alecci

Kei999 reflects [ja] upon the meaning of normality. In a post titled “Is ‘normal’ ‘right'?” the blogger takes into consideration various issues such as homosexuality and the practice called fūfu bessei (that would allow [en] couples to keep their surnames after marriage).

author: Scilla Alecci


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Mexico: Celebrating the Bicentennial in the Middle of Chaos · Global Voices
Andrea Arzaba

This year Mexico will commemorate the bicentennial of its Independence from the Spanish Crown and the centennial of its Revolution with an extensive program of events. Every year,  the entire nation celebrates late into the night of September 15th (and early on the  16th) a renewal of the famous call for a revolution, which  is likely to take place in city halls all over the country. Mexicans living abroad will celebrate this act as well, whether in national embassies or at  renowned Mexican restaurants or bars.
But this year is supposed to be special, it is supposed to be something that will be “better than anything we have seen before,” as many have predicted.
"It is not perfect, but we can fix it" Image by flickr user Taller Hikari used under an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic Creative Commons license
A few days ago, President Felipe Calderon gave a speech in which he  called all Mexicans to unite during the celebrations, regardless of their  different views in terms of religion, politics and attitudes on the  subject of the bicentennial. But the date is only a celebration for some; the bicentennial has become a complex subject that has led to different opinions and reactions. Even The New York Times noticed: Randal C. Archibold wrote, “There are the bicentennial buses. Bicentennial roads. A bicentennial   marathon. A bicentennial song. The bicentennial digital library. A   bicentennial video game. Even a bicentennial bird, the mountain trogan,   and plant, the owl agave. And of course the bicentennial fireworks   extravaganza, planned to be the largest the country has ever seen. What appears to be missing is bicentennial enthusiasm.”
It is well-known that the government is spending great amounts of money on this celebration, while there are other issues that Mexicans consider are more important than spending 580 million pesos (approx. 50 million dollars) in only one celebration –in only one night. Protests have taken place, and people are responding to the spending amid drug dealing problems, organized crime, migration and a lack of employment and schools.
El Universal [es], a Mexican newspaper, started a discussion to see what readers thought about the government spending that amount of money on the bicentennial celebration [es]. These are some of the responses they got:
Creo  que en estos momentos no estamos para festejar nada,tomando en  cuenta  que en otro estados de la republica,estan pasando por  inundaciones y  todo ese dinero se deberia aplicar en ayuda a esos  lugares y  la”celebracion” del bicentenario dejarlo para otra ocasión. (Esteban Flores García)
Para nada se justifica  tanto gasto del gobierno, hay necesidades muy grandes en el pais que  podrian ser apoyadas con ese tanto dinero que se va a gastar(Raul López M)
Yo siento que como Mèxicano da gusto el festejar el bicentenario, pero  desgraciadamente los festejos se ven opacados por tanta inseguridad y  delincuencia, recordemos lo que paso en Morelia Mich. con las granadas,  ademas como justificar un gasto tan exesivo habiendo otras prioridades  en el pais. (JOSE FRANCISCO)
On twitter, Mexican users also expressed their thoughts on the celebration of the bicentennial. With a positive attitude, Bernarda Jimenez (@b3rsita) expresses her wish to get Mexican food [es] in this special day:
Ya quiero que sea 15 para #comercomoprecious en este #bicentenario de-li-cio-so!!!
Another user,  Zuza-ku (@zuzaku22) talks about her personal concern on the difficult situation the country is facing [es]:
En el #bicentenario lamento y lloro cada una de las muertes presentes y futuras.
Finally, echoing what others have expressed, user Ariadna [es] in her blog Blog de Ariadna [es] writes about her opinion on Mexico's Bicentennial celebration and what is happening inside the nation [es]:
Se que es importante celebrar que somos un país “libre” y “soberano”  pero, esto se pudo invertir en cosas realmente necesarias, la pobreza  nos alcanza cada vez más y la delincuencia inunda nuestras calles y  nuestros políticos solo piensan en como “darnos atole con el dedo” con  estos festejos… ojala paremos un momento y nos demos cuenta que  realmente no hay mucho que festejar ni mucho por lo cual sentirnos  orgullosos.

author: Andrea Arzaba


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Zambia: I Blog to Remind Zambians Who They Are · Global Voices
Gershom Ndhlovu

Mwata Chisha is a Zambian blogger based in the United States of America. His blog is called Cultural Intelligence: Philosophies and Personal Opinions of Mwata Chisha.
Chisha, an avid contributor on cultural, historical and philosophical issues on one online forum where I first met him, uses his blog, among other things, to analyse statements and actions of political leaders on a “rational—irrational” scale.
One article that got the “Irrational thinker of the Week” label was in early August 2010 when the controversial National Constitutional Conference (NCC) of Zambia distributed the draft constitution for public scrutiny. However, an official of an opposition political party which refused to sit on the NCC, publicly tore the document. This act drew condemnation from NCC supporters including the government.
A story in the Times of Zambia ran thus: “The National Constitutional Conference (NCC) has said the conduct of Patriotic Front (PF) deputy national secretary Samuel Mukupa to tear the Draft Constitution at a political rally is an insult to the many Zambians who have made submissions including Parliament.”
Analysing the story section by section, Chisha asks, “How does an expression of disagreement turn into an insult? If indeed it is an insult, what is the nature of the insult?”
On NCC spokesperson Mwangala Zaloumis following statement “Zambians have been making submissions to the Draft Constitution and huge resources have been spent on this very important document therefore it would be wrong for people to politicise the process.”
Chisha states, “I thought the constitution itself was a political product. How does one politicize something that is already politicized?”
On Mwangala's argument that since the NCC was a creation of the National Assembly it was wrong for an opposition leader to deal with the draft constitution in the manner he did, Chisha pointed out that: “A creation of National Assembly or not, nothing prevents one from expressing disagreement with the contents of the document as it stood.”
US-based Zambian blogger Mwata Chisha
I recently caught up with Chisha and interviewed him about his interest in blogging.
1. When and why did you become a blogger and what sort of audience do you write for?
Let me start by saying, I only write about that which I care about. I care about Zambians. Saying that I am honest to myself with every piece I put out. However, I am not married to the content. I am willing and ready to learn from the responses that my pieces generate.
I started blogging  by contributing to Zambia Online. The few posts that I wrote stimulated comments from many Zambian brainiacs who graced Zambia Online. This motivated me to take blogging seriously. Another thing was the lack of communication skills among political figures in Zambia. These are supposed to constitute Zambia's best public image but their ability to process and analyse information in a public discourse leaves a lot to be desired. It was the lack of quality analyses that made me want to start a repository of my thoughts and philosophies.
2. What is the daily/weekly readership of your blog?
I don't pay attention to traffic at this time. Up until last year, I had not publicized my blog although it has been up since 2007. A couple hundred hits a week would not be a stretch.
3. How did you get involved in blogging? Were you inspired by (an)other blogger(s)?
Like I mentioned in question #1, I interacted with a number of Zambian thinkers on Zambia online. That blog is quite busy. It is not easy to present a thought on it and have it attract more of its kind and move it to refinement or better still enrich the contributors. I started a blog to focus on the issues affecting Zambians from a thinking dimension. In our world today it is easy to get caught up in the mires of senseless politics. That is what most people have done. They are swept up in the thoughtlessness of the moment. From where I stand, this opens a room for other people to define them. Further, it opens up avenues to influence the greater population. Because, whether we believe it or not, this information we share online filters through. And the loss that the nation incurs, which include, among other things, culture, self respect and dignity, is hard to recover. In short, my inspiration comes from Zambians’ willingness to cede control, their failure to assert themselves in matters that really matter to the future of Zambia.
4. What, in your view, is the future of blogging in particular and citizen journalism in general in Zambia?
You can count on Zambians to embrace technology. You can also count on them to learn new ways of transmitting thoughts. Blogging, as a form of citizen journalism, will grow and metamorphose as more people gain access to high speed Internet, master new tools of communication and become digital literate. Competition will get tight. That is the least of my concerns. My concernt is the quality of what is being transmitted on the Internet. Most of what we are sharing is done so in haste, not enough thought and time put to it. In fact most of what we share online is not local content, we share foreign ideas and Western worldview at the expense of Zambia and Zambians. Our culture is in intensive care unit because of Zambians’ insatiable quest for all things western. My blog is about reminding us about who we are.
5. What do you think of government's proposal to control the media through statutory means? Would this increase blogging since anyone with the means can blog?
The government is trying hard, as it has done in the past, to gag the masses. It should be plain to all that our leaders are insecure that is why they are pushing for statutory regulation. If the people holding office were assigned to portfolios that they had expertise in, they would welcome comments from all stakeholders. But what they ought to know is, the more they use state force to restrain people from airing their frustrations, the more people would seek alternatives. As long as individuals in government continue to believe government is a club whose sole purpose is to serve the interests of the members, they will continue to lose the confidence of the people.
6. Would blogging contribute to national development by people writing about their achievements which are normally ignored by the mainstream media?
There is an avalanche of information flowing from all sources. Some good and some not so good. But one would be deluding oneself if one thought that effective solutions would be delivered to them in a golden package and silver ribbon by FEDEX. Until we have people of conscience in office, individuals who are selfless and truly concerned about the status and condition of Zambia, I am afraid the information will continue to go to waste.
7. What is the outlook for Africa, which is usually seen through the Western prism?
Africa is the last frontier in anything one can think of. The earlier we Africans get this in our heads, the better for the rest of mankind. Remember, it all started in Africa and once Africa is destroyed that will be it for the human race. The west sees Africa as the source of raw material whose people don't know its values. It is unfortunate that this thought is shared by both the East and the West and Africa is caught in the middle, poor and defenseless, and more importantly thoughtless.
8. We will appreciate a brief bio about yourself: where you blog from and what you are doing at the moment.
I am a natural man, a husband, a father, an uncle, a brother, and a friend, temporarily stationed in the USA. I am a college faculty members and facilitate learning in Economics, Sustainable Development, Business, Planning, and Public Administration.

author: Gershom Ndhlovu


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North Korea: South May Send Microwavable Rice to North. · Global Voices
Lee Yoo Eun

According to Chosun report[kr],South Korea may send rice aid to North Korea in the form of microwavable rice.  The hermetically sealed, microwavable rice [photos], which also works under boiling water, can be a new way of preventing the aid rice from being traded and used for a military purpose.

author: Lee Yoo Eun


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Paraguayans, their paramours and the MP7 · Global Voices
The Economist

[Global Voices authors occasionally submit articles to The Economist's Babbage blog about technology. This story was originally published on September 8, 2010. Read more about our partnership here.]
I host a radio show in Asunción, Paraguay’s capital. Every Friday afternoon I ask my listeners for real stories, to help them relax in this city’s traffic. And it was during one of these Friday-afternoon call-ins—I had asked about technology that helps cover up unwanted tracks—that I first heard about Chinese dual-SIM mobile phones. From an anonymous caller (my translation),
I have two cell phones, but I have three lines. The Nokia is my corporate cell phone, but I also carry an MP7 with two lines.  The carrier’s service on my MP7 allows me to call three numbers for free, so I give a cell phone to my girlfriend, the other to my wife, and since these numbers I call for free don’t appear, (on the bill) my wife doesn't find out, she believes I only have one line to call for free.
From another caller, also male,
I have an MP7 with two chips, and when I don’t want to be found I deactivate one of them.
The MP7, a Chinese-made phone, can juggle two accounts on two SIM cards. It’s been in the Paraguayan market for a couple of years; two mobile-phone shop owners told me it became more popular about a year ago. (Alibaba, a Chinese online market, lists the MP7 as a “hot sales product in Paraguay and Brazil”.) Other models from the same company look like a BlackBerry or an iPhone, but don’t expect a warranty.  One shop-owner told me he could only imagine how many hands the phone had to go through before it reached his customers for $29. The phone has found a niche here, where many people have more than one mobile account. Mobile operators often give away free SIM cards.
As I listened to my callers and read their comments on my show’s Facebook profile, I realised that the MP7 is not the only technology that helps Paraguayans practice infidelity. It’s not that everybody goes around cheating here; it’s that the ones who do are pretty open when it comes to sharing their techniques. Especially the men.
A cheap and common practice is to carry a single-account phone, with an extra SIM card inside the hard case next to the battery. One line for the spouse, the other for the mistress: they both remain clueless. Cheaters with a little more purchasing power carry two mobile phones. Often they use a corporate account, but some buy another mobile phone exclusively to keep parallel relationships unnoticed. I asked a popular online forum, Tocorre, about cheating techniques and got this response.
My friend has two cell phones, with one of them he texts his family, friends and girlfriend, and he uses the other for his secret conversations. His girlfriend has no idea of the existence of the other phone; he keeps it in his shoe or his closet while he is with her.
One cheater adds that he takes the “official” phone home and leaves “the clandestine” locked in his office. Another points out that if the spouse ever shows up at work and finds it, he can always claim the cell phone isn’t his. A third says that he has three cell phones for this purpose. I also learned that the best phones for keeping secrets are the widely used Nokia mobiles. From the old models to the current smart-phones, the Nokias can filter some calls straight to voicemail and save selected messages in hidden folders that can only be accessed by the owner. From Tocorre,
The 6620 helped me cover up many disasters!
Confirmation came from my show's Facebook profile.
Yesss… the best one is the Nokia 5800 which filters calls and texts, so I can keep my witch (girlfriend) from finding out about my extracurricular activities at certain times.
On my Nokia 6300, I have an app that keeps folders hidden so I keep photos and videos of some people invisible.
A minority can afford smart-phones, and with them applications like Blacklist, which filters phone calls and messages and submits automatic responses; or Fake Call Locations, which adds background sound to simulate sports events, traffic or even church; or TigerText, which deletes text messages from both the sender and receiver’s phones after they are read. From a worried male listener, in reaction to the Facebook confessions,
What are you guys doing?! Now they are going to start looking out for all these gadgets…!!!
But we know it doesn’t matter. A cheater will be a cheater no matter how advanced the technology. Infidelity pre-dates the dual-SIM mobile.

author: The Economist


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Portugal: Students Demand Social Action in Higher Education · Global Voices
Sara Moreira

Clube dos Pensadores [Thinkers Club, pt] blog comments on  the opening ceremony of the Portuguese school year today, with the Prime Minister Sócrates and  Minister Gago, when a group of students stormed the stage and read a statement against the 400% increase of  tuition fees in higher education, in the last 15 years. The video is on youtube [pt].


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Russia: Officials Embrace Twitter. By mistake · Global Voices
Yelena Osipova

Russia's August 31, 2010, State Council Session (devoted mostly to education-related issues) saw some of its more prominent attendees tweeting away: in public. The story of Nikita Belykh, the Governor of Kirov region, and his Twitter feed seems to have been one of the highlights of the day, and quite obviously became a much discussed [RUS] topic in the Russian media [RUS] (as well as the blogosphere [RUS]).
The most prominent mention, perhaps, came from the state-owned Channel 1 [RUS]. Russia Today TV made sure to run the story, and it actually trickled into some of the Western media as well: The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, and the Passport Blog (Foreign Policy Magazine) picked it up.
For the readers who don't know Russian, here's a short summary of the “incident” from The Wall Street Journal.
President Dmitry Medvedev did, indeed, interrupt his speech to make a special mention of Belykh's tweet. Everyone involved might have taken it as a joke, for now, but Belykh – a former opposition leader – will certainly have to know better next time.
Medvedev has been a vocal advocate for the adoption and use of new technologies in Russia for quite some time now. He has several blogs (there's one in English, too), and started a personal Twitter account during his June visit to Silicon Valley. After all, having a technology-savvy President only befits the image of the “New Russia“, the promotion of which has become a major foreign policy task for the country.
Tweet-o-mania seems to be getting a little out of hand with other officials, however. Apparently, social media have become fairly popular with many politicians, governors, and presidents of some of the Republics. As RIA Novosti points out, the subjects they touch upon in their tweets and blogs range from personal vacation impressions, birthday congratulations, and Twitter-chat sessions with their constituents (quite prolific, by the way), to notes about troubles encountered on the way to their “dachas”.
Here are some highlights worthy of special mention:
- Presidential advisor Arkady Dvorkovich – @advorkovich:
Will be giving a presentation for some foreigners, tomorrow. The eternal question [is]: should I tell them about how bad things are (something they like hearing), or [rather] what we are doing about it (which they don't believe)?
- Ramzan Kadyrov of Chechnya used his blog to announce the change in his formal title: he doesn't go by ‘President’ anymore. The Chechen Parliament apparently passed a bill, according to which he will be the ‘Head of the Republic’. He made sure to emphasize that “all members voted ‘for’ [the bill].”
- And of course – the ever-present Vladimir Zhirinovsky – @Zhirinovskiy:
Will give the ostrich to better care, [perhaps] to one of the Russian zoos, let people see this wonderful bird! Communication with animals is beneficial for people.
(It's still a mystery to me as to what he was referring to, on the day of the State Council Session! There are no other mentions or references to ostriches anywhere else on his Twitter feed.)
And of course, there is Russia's Ambassador to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin, and his “bombastic” Tweet-o-activity (@Rogozin), who has been in the news for many months now. (He is very funny to follow, by the way!)
In short, as many other countries and institutions have realized, there can be many different uses for social media (public diplomacy among those). However, when they are used by official representatives themselves, the latter should not forget that social media are primarily social and, therefore, can easily lead to (political) perdition.
The post was originally published at Global Chaos.

author: Yelena Osipova


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Trinidad & Tobago: Happy Birthday, Alice Yard · Global Voices
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USA: “Science Blogging” Goes Global, Gains Respect · Global Voices
David Wescott

A global online community of scientists have recently emerged as an influential and important contributor to worldwide journalism about science. They have grown more sophisticated in their communications, now catching the attention of journalists who were previously dismissive of citizen media about science.
In August, a trio of science bloggers launched Scienceblogging.org, a comprehensive aggregator of content from science blogs across the globe. The site features links to content from mainstream science media as well as independent networks of bloggers. It currently features 57 feeds that include several hundred blogs. While the content is predominantly American, the aggregator also features networks from China, Brazil, Germany, New Zealand, Belgium, Canada, and France. The aggregator was built by the creators of the annual ScienceOnline conference – Bora Zivkovic, Anton Zuiker, and Dave Munger.
ScienceOnline2010, billed as “the fourth annual conference on science and the Web,” took place from January 14 to January 17 at Sigma Xi in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. The conference has grown in size and popularity each year, and the 2010 conference attracted science bloggers from ten countries. In a display of increased acceptance and legitimacy, the January conference featured presentations and attendance from journalists representing several mainstream media organizations, such as Reuters, BBC, and The New York Times. A similar conference with different organizers, Science Online London, took place in September this year.
Science blogging is by no means a new phenomenon. Bora Zivkovic says he has seen the science blogging community grow and thrive over the past decade, earning more than a few converts from mainstream media.
“As journalists lost jobs, they took up blogging,” says Zivkovic, noting that professional media are also increasingly creating blogs on their own websites.
In this video interview by bkthrough on YouTube, Zivkovic comments on how ScienceOnline has grown and how the conference agenda has moved from merely discussing blogging to other forms of online activity as well.
Interestingly, one of the major discussion topics of the conference was the lapses in accuracy sometimes made by mainstream journalists when reporting on science issues. Several scientists and science bloggers expressed frustration with the constraints mainstream journalism places on science-based communication, such as the need to summarize complex issues into 20-second “sound bites.” Another important topic was the need for scientists to become better communicators and try to make their work more accessible and understandable to a wider audience.
Many science bloggers are actively trying to expand their community beyond academia. Darlene Cavalier, an advocate for science literacy and the author of a blog called Science Cheerleader is also the founder of a website called Science for Citizens that aims to be a resource for people who want to participate in “citizen science” – projects run by professional researchers that leverage volunteers to help with research tasks such as data collection or computation. Professional researchers can also promote their projects and recruit volunteers at the site. While the site is currently available only in English, Cavalier said projects are open to people in all countries and she hopes to offer the site in other languages in the future.
The ScienceOnline organizers have announced plans to hold an even bigger conference in 2011 in Research Triangle Park. Meanwhile, Zivkovic sees the skepticism that mainstream journalists once held toward bloggers starting to change a bit.
“The curmudgeon journalists who write ‘you'll miss us when we're gone’ Luddite pieces cannot write about blogs that way any more,” he says. “They are now reserving their snark, often using the exactly same old cliches they used about blogs five years ago, to denigrate Twitter.”
[Disclosure: I work for a company that served as a sponsor for the ScienceOnline 2010 conference]

author: David Wescott


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