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Macedonia: Parliamentary Election · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Doug Muir of A Fistful of Euros sums up the parliamentary election that took place in Macedonia last week and writes about the country's problems and prospects.

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Malawi: Racism in football · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Malawi-based Afrika-Aphukira posts a long commentary on the debate now raging over the sending off of French soccer captain Zinedine Zidane after he headbutted Marco Matarazzi in the France-Italy World Cup final. Emerging reports of racist insults from Matarazzi have divided the world into two camps: those who think ‘sportmanship’ is more important, and those who think racism in football should be addressed, he writes.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Luisetta Mudie


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Malaysia: Corruption Questions · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Malaysia politician and blogger Lim Kit Siang asks the deputy speaker of Malaysian parliament not to block questions about corroption. The deputy speaker had earlier not given him a chance to follow up on a question by another member of parliament.

author: Preetam Rai


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Mexico: Oaxaca Teachers Strike and Luis Echevarria · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Mark in Mexico has an update on the teacher's strike in Oaxaca. Ana Maria Salazar, meanwhile, discusses the dropped genocide charges against former president, Luis Echevarria Alvarez: ” Can we read political intentions in this arrest? The answer is probably yes. However, for those who thought this would help the PAN candidate or at least hurt the PRI candidate, well, they were wrong.”

author: David Sasaki


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Mongolia: Traditional Costumes · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

the reflector has photos of traditional Mongolian costumes worn for Naadam. Meanwhile, Tom Terry has pictures from Naadam opening ceremonies.

author: Nathan Hamm


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Morocco: Fighting sexual harassment against Moroccan women · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Farah announces that a new blog was started by Moroccan activists to help fighting against the sexual harassment against Moroccan women.

author: Haitham Sabbah


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Outsourcing the war in Iraq and Afghanistan · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

The Philippines is a top choice of United States-based companies for business process outsourcing or BPO.
A call center job is preferred employment of many young Filipino graduates since it offers good financial incentives. The BPO industry in the Philippines generated $1.12 billion in revenues and employed more than 112,000 people last year.
Because of lower labor costs in the country, US-based companies relocate business functions such as customer care, medical transcription, software development and animation.
Now, another job that is “outsourced” in the Philippines is private security operator or independent contractor ( read: mercenaries) in Iraq and Afghanistan.
A Manila broadsheet reported that more than 300 Filipinos have been employed by a private company to guard US State department and military personnel, facilities and base camps in Iraq.
Triple Canopy, Dynacorp and Blackwater were named as the companies that hired the Filipino mercenaries.
A Filipino journalist revealed that Blackwater acquired 25 acres in a former US military base in the Philippines to conduct survival military training.
Filipino journalist and blogger Ellen Tordesillas was able to interview a Filipino mercenary about the difficulties and even rewards of being an armed worker in Iraq securing US military facilities.
Filipino mercenaries must first travel to Dubai, Jordan or Kuwait since the Philippines has banned the deployment of workers in Iraq after a Filipino worker was kidnapped in a US military camp by Iraqi insurgents in 2004.
Senator Aquilino Pimentel warned of security backlash over the deployment of Filipino mercenaries fighting on the side of US troops. He said:
“The additional problem is that these mercenaries might make the country and our embassies and trade missions vulnerable to counter-attack by those being attacked by the mercenaries in Iraq.”
Many Filipinos are eager to work in war-torn Iraq since they can earn at least $1,700 a month. A minimum wage worker in the Philippines receives only $116 a month.

author: Mong Palatino


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Palestine: No American Entry · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Palestinian is reporting that, for the first time since 1967, Israel in now barring entry of Americans into the West Bank. The campaign is asking American congressmen to demand that Israel explain why it is preventing American citizens and humanitarian relief workers into the territories while U.S. gives Israel $12 billion dollars in welfare a year.


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Panama: 3rd Microsoft-Dell Charity Walk · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Jorge Arango took part in the 3rd Microsoft-Dell Charity Walk, “held at the Amador causeway, a beautiful spot at the Pacific entrance of the Panama Canal.”


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Peru: “Why is Hi5 So Famous?” · Global Voices
David Sasaki

In Eastern Europe it's LiveJournal, in Brazil, Orkut. Tinta Fantasma tries to figure out why Hi5 is fast becoming the prevalent social networking site in Peru (ES).


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Philippines: Just three requests · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Synesthetique in Philippines has three requests for the creatures from the beyond who haunt the blogger's office.


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Reunion: chikungunya and environment · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Says Dijoux.re regarding (Fr) the chikungunya epidemic plaguing Reunion, “the impact study of the effect of the measures taken to fight the virus on the environment showed that large scale treatments did not have harmful consequences on  the land and water fauna of the island.”

author: Alice Backer


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Russia: Human Rights Situation · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

David McDuff of A Step At A Time writes about the Other Russia conference and Lyudmila Alexeeva, a distinguished human rights activist.


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Russia: Putin · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

On the eve of the G8 Summit in St. Petersburg, Edward Lucas, the Central and East European correspondent of The Economist, writes a lengthy critique of Vladimir Putin and the country he is turning Russia into: “Putin is trying to recreate an empire reminiscent of the Soviet Union – feared by its own people, its neighbours and the West in equal measure. And the tragedy is that we in the West are letting it happen.”


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Singapore: Blogger Drops Newspaper Column · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

A popular blogger  in Singapore Mr. Miyagi has decided to stop writing for a daily.  The paper has earlier suspended a column by another well known local blogger. Blogger Feynman Boson asks “Will it further disconnect the online and offline world into two distinct universes (like the real world and the Matrix)?”


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South Africa: North Korean visit · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

“I always get the warm fuzzies when we receive state
visits from the most oppressive government in existence today,” writes Farrel Lifson at Politics.za on the occasion of a North Korean diplomatic visit. He notes, thankfully, that bilateral trade with the isolated Stalinist state doesn't amount to much, and calls on South African leaders to confront Pyongyang on political reform.


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Uganda: Don’t Sleep · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Uganda-CAN links to the Web site of “Don't Sleep!”, a new campaign to involve African-Americans and the Hip Hop generation in the plight of Uganda's night-commuter children.


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Uganda: Who is afraid of peace? · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

On the occasion of the Sudan-mediated talks aimed at bringing peace to northern Uganda, Ngomrom says any settlement should be seen as an opportunity to introduce a democratic system in the country.


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Ukraine: “Anti-Crisis Coalition” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

LEvko of Foreign Notes cites Oleksandr Moroz's reasons to act in what many consider a treacherous way; he also writes about the nomination of Victor Yanukovych for prime minister's post by the new “anti-crisis coalition.” Robert Mayer of Publius Pundit has a roundup on the end of the Orange Revolution. Abdymok, the most laconic of all, posts a “Forward into the Past” cartoon that alludes to the ubiquitous Soviet depiction of Marx, Engels and Lenin, featuring Communist Symonenko, Socialist Moroz and leader of the Party of the Regions Yanukovych.


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Ukraine: Krayina Mriy · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Petro of Petro's Jotter writes about his family's visit to Krayina Mriy (“Dream Country”) world music festival that took place in Kyiv this past weekend, and argues why Ukraine isn't a “banana republic.”


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Ukraine: Seeking Mayor’s Help · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

“Dear Mayor!!! The building is falling!!! Save us!!!”
Downtown Kyiv, Ukraine, July 2006
By Maidan International's New Project for Democracy
This desperate attempt by residents to draw attention of Leonid Chernovetsky, the Ukrainian capital's new mayor, to their building's condition has been photographed by Maidan International's New Project for Democracy – whose mission “is to inform about the state of democracy, promote freedom, market open society, provide context for news from the region to global audiences, and contribute to peace in UKRAINE, BELARUS, MOLDOVA, as well as in other areas of the world such as Central Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, the Middle East, and Central Asia.”


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Uruguay: Sundries · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Winter has arrived, writes From Uruguay in a post that also mention's an unhappy president, Mercosur, football, and a farmer's demonstration against an upcoming tax reform.


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USA, Cayman Islands: Travelling with ammo · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Mad Bull discusses a Cayman Compass news article about an American couple who travelled from Detroit to Grand Cayman via Miami with an unlicensed handgun and ammunition in their luggage: “What is also interesting is the ’slap on the wrist’ that the man who brought the weapon in got! I mean, he has been charged with possession of an illegal firearm before, and now here he is with another one, and he was travelling with the weapon on airplanes to boot! A seven day jail sentence and a $3000 fine seems a bit light to me!“

author: Georgia Popplewell


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Venezuela: Exercising Consumer Power · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Alfredo Octavio, flexing some consumer muscle, explains why he recommends to readers to not buy a Seat brand car in Venezuela.


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· Global Voices
Jose Murilo

The Second Conference of Intellectuals from Africa and the Diaspora – II CIAD is being held in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil from 12 to 14 July 2006. The general theme of the Conference is: “The Diaspora and African Renaissance”. Tomorrow participants will be able to choose among 12 Thematic Groups, subdivided into 24 discussion tables (morning and afternoon), and all sessions will be available in live webcasts (available here). The purpose of II CIAD is to revive, situate and harness the contribution of intellectuals in the African continent and in the Diaspora as a vehicle for innovative ideas, development and social transformation.

author: Jose Murilo


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Albania: Street Protests Planned in Tirana · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Alwyn Thomson of Our Man in Tirana writes about the upcoming street protests against the government (organized by the Socialists; 15,000-20,000 people expected).


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Ambivalent about Tin Tin · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

A New York Times article on a PBS documentary about Hergé, the Belgian creator of the comic strip character Tin Tin, raises some uncomfortable issues for Belizean-American blogger Nyazasha: “Here I am, the Brooklyn-based writer of the Global Parish, writing about places and events which open a window into a wider world, countries I have not always been ready or able to dwell in. . . . “


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Bahamas: Government invitation blunder · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

The Bahamas government extends a very late invitation to the Opposition Leader to attend the ceremony for the renaming of the country's international airport on Independence day — Sir Arthur Ffoulkes points out exactly why this was such a terrible blunder.


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Bangladesh: Childhood and after · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

The story of a difficult childhood at Black and Gray. “Children in the biggest shanty in town learn fast to cope with the challenge that life throws at them. Alauddin soon became a carrier of hashish; he would carry bundles of them to different peddlers in the locality.

author: Neha Viswanathan


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Barbados: Caribbean Splash brouhaha · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

There's an interesting situation brewing around the proposed construction of a waterpark called Caribbean Splash on a what is apparently a sensitive watershed in Barbados, with the Barbados Labour Party responding on its own blog to an allegation by Barbados Free Press. This morning the plot thickens, as Barbados Free Press cites statements from the waterpark's developer.


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Bermuda: Anti-racism rally · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Sean posts notices of an anti-racism rally to be held in Bermuda in response to the brutal beating of a Portuguese national by four men outside a bar. The “Vasco da Gama” club is one of the participants.


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Caribbean: Google maps Caribbean territories · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Ryan at The West Indies Cricket Blog notes that Google Maps has added high-definition satellite images for Guyana, Jamaica and Barbados that allow for “upclose overhead shot[s]” of the cricket grounds in those countries. The grounds are being prepared for the 2007 World Cup.


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Colombia: First WiMax Network in Cali · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Engadget, Fayer Wayer (ES), and the podcast Todos Contra el Muro (ES) all discuss Latin America's first deployment of WiMax long-range wireless internet coverage in Cali, Colombia.


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Colombia: “Keep the UN’s human rights mandate” · Global Voices
David Sasaki

According to Adam Isacson, Alvaro Uribe's government is, essentially, “gagging the UN High Commissioner’s office in Colombia.”


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Cuba, USA, UK: On Guantánamo, the democracy fund & nuclear power · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

More lively discussion between Trinidad blogger Jeremy Taylor and his American pal “Roger“, this time about Guantánamo, and Bush's $80 million fund to “boost democracy in Cuba”. And London-based “Kamla”, the recently arrived third blogger, confronts her feelings about nuclear power.


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Czech Republic: Cesky Krumlov’s Redesigned Website · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

My Czech Republic Blog writes that Cesky Krumlov, one of the most visited destinations, whose historical center is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, finally has a presentable website.


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Gay Pride Dialogue Generates a Blog-gays-sphere · Global Voices
Jose Murilo

The recent weeks have seen several large and diverse crowds gathering in the streets of many cities in Brazil and some other countries. The festivities and celebrations were not painted only with the World Cup colors. The month of June has become also known as the gay pride month, and the pride parades which sent millions of people to the streets are a strong sign that the movement is going mainstream.
The São Paulo pride parade became famous this year as the largest of its kind on the planet, and an event of such magnitude is sure to produce waves of ideas and emotions expressed in accounts, pictures and debates throughout the lusophone blogosphere.
“The 10th annual Sao Paulo Gay Pride Parade gathered 2.4 million people in the skyscraper-lined Avenue Paulista — the financial heart of Brazil's biggest city. Last year it was 1.8 million. The theme was ‘Homophobia is a crime’. But the event has abandoned the speeches and has turned into one of the biggest parties in the city. The protesting banners and cars manifesting creative phrases about the homosexual condition were gone and were replaced by a carnival of techno music, with ‘trio eletricos’ hanging big displays of its corporate sponsors”
BRASIL: Gay Parade brings 2,4 million people to Avenida Paulista – PortugalGay.pt
“The attendance at the Gay Pride Parade in São Paulo broke a new record on this Saturday. According to the police, the event — in its 10th annual edition — gathered 2.5 million. The organizers believe in a bigger number: 3 million.”
Gay Parade stablish a new record gathering 2,5 million people in SP – dubaBado!!
“according to her, Mrs. Mainstream Conservative Press, we were 1.8 million in 2005 and were 2 million or 2.5 million in 2006. sometimes, for the same flaccid press organ we were 2 million at one time, 2.5 million at another — as if 500 thousand gays, lesbians, transgenders, bisexuals, heterosexuals and the many in between them would all disappear and reappear like a blinker, swallowed by a invisible giant closet, and then sent back, to be again abducted.”(anti)conception pills: gay parade – Pedro Alexandre Sanches
There are 58 pride parades scheduled to happen this year, only in Brazil. And they are in fact, mainly sponsored by the government. The unusual model has its suporters and detractors.
“The 58 pride parades were some of the projects selected by the Public Contest of GLBT Culture Support of the Cultural Diversity and Identity Secretariat, announced on the 23th. The other 29 selected projects are the publishing of books, producing shows, and movie festivals. São Paulo, for example, will receive money to implement the Out of the Closet University.”
Brasil will have 58 gay parades until the end of the year – Agência GLS
“As Cristaldo said in 2004, at the time of the first homosexual parades sponsored with tax-payer money, ‘in this incredible country homosexuality is culture. And even more: it has become a state issue. With just a little more we will have a Homobrás, like we have a Petrobrás [the state oil monopoly] — the homosexuality that is ours’. In the universe of nations, Brazil shines. We were capable of creating the state-recognized gay”
O Gay Estatal – The Tosco Way of Life
“The government is giving more than R$ 1 million to gay parades. The resources double the amount given for these events in 2005 and come from the Ministry of Health Aids programs, causing some noise among NGOs, health councils and the Federal Public Ministry. The sponsorship is being criticized by those who believe that health money should only be used in the direct combat of diseases. These sectors are not against the public sponsorship of the parades, but they are questioning the use of the resources of the Aids Programs which they say should be focused exclusively on the acquisition of medicines, treatments and prevention campaigns, among other things.”
How much will be given to the ‘March for Jesus'? – De tudo um pouco…
From what we could see in the Lusophone blogs, this debate about parades maybe indicative of a deeper cultural clash. There are two opposing tribes that almost met on the same avenue in São Paulo this year — the gays and the evangelicals. The mainstream media seem to be giving a low profile to both of these cultural movements until now, perhaps because Brazil as a nation contains a strong Catholic influence. This ambivalence has raised protests from both sides who firmly believe they should be the ones to be supported.
“I'm in front of the screen on the faculty computer at 9 on a Saturday morning — that's where I am now to post on this blog. I know it's been a long time since I did that, and to correct that I am here again to talk about an issue which I and at least 3 million more people (the attendance of São Paulo's pride parade) are interested in: How gays are treated by the media? What gay image is being shown by TV, internet and ad campaigns? This year we had a kiss between two men censored in a Globo soap opera. And this same TV network presents comedy shows that are especially heavy with satire of gays, while the other open TV channels always work with stereotyped images of the classic gay in their programs.”
The Gay media – Planeta Junkex
“In 2006, the ‘March for Jesus’ and the ‘Pride Parade’ happened on Avenue Paulista within the short span of 2 days. Although being so close in time, their goals and compositions are very distant. While one exalts homosexuality, the other goes for Jesus. One intends that men and women remain in homosexual sin. The other offers hope and the way out, in Jesus, for all sinners…. If the liberal media treated the gay parades the same way they deal with the ‘Marches for Jesus’, the gay agenda would deservedly be ignored and confined to an insignificant number of mediocre minds.”
March for Jesus or Gay Parade: Who is the real victim of prejudice? – Julio Severo
“Oh c'mon… The evangelicals own a party (PL), a TV network (Record), 200 representatives in Congress, and also the Vice President, who is from PL, and they still complain of being ‘under represented'? … ai, ai … It's clear to me that if I declared myself an evangelical (God help me!) I would suffer much less prejudice than if I would assume the position being a bisexual.”
March of Jesus or Gay Parade??? – Elemento BI
We can't forget that we are already well into the vigorous campaign period of the election year in Brazil, and there are not many things happening here without being influenced by and understood in terms of the polarized dispute between Lula and the other candidates.
“It's evident that Lula's government is completely dedicated to attending to the gay militant's interests. Lula himself declared public support for the homosexual movement by saying: ‘any way of loving is worthy’. His government has managed to finance directly many of those ‘pride’ parades all over Brazil. The goal is to break the people's resistance through ‘educational’ campaigns.”
Brazil without Homophobia: what Lula's government is doing to impose homossexualims in Brazil – Julio Severo
“Last week it was the sonic bombing from religions (The Snow Ball Church). Today Florianópolis is hosting the gay parade, named ‘First Diversity Parade’. The media from Santa Catarina state has been talking about the event moved by the ‘politically correct’ ideology. Relativism above all: whatever comes from minorities, particularities, ‘quota-ists’ or marginals is intrinsically good and lovable in this camping club called Brazil. Universal values? No… this is ‘bourgeoisie’, ‘hetero’, ‘conservative’ talk.”
Relativism über alles – *BLOG do TAMBOSI*
Apart from the political dispute, we can still find an interesting mosaic composed by the diverse views posted by the bloggers on how they experience the pride parades and their effectiveness in promoting the gay cause in society.
“Last Sunday (June 18) I was watching the ‘Jornal da Tarde’ in channel 1, when there was a report of another Gay Parade, this time in México. The report was not showing anything interesting, just images from the parade where you could see eccentric people proudly shouting how gay they were. The reporter summed up by saying that from now to the end of August there will be many more Gay Parades — in New York, Paris , Madrid, Málaga , Berlin and Lisbon. At the end, the comments at my lunch table were: ‘What for?’, and in fact I couldn't find a credible reason. What is the reason for thousands of gays and some sympathizing heteros (using the available labels so that all can understand) to gather and parade on the streets? Is it to show they exist? Is it to demand something? I sincerely don't know, but I really think that it is all a case of absolute lack of taste… because the images they present (I hope this is not a planned effect) is that the alternative crowd is composed of eccentrics, irrationals and the promiscuous…. If this is not their aim, they really have to change the strategy…. What about living their ordinary lives without having this need to stupidly showing themselves to the world? I never saw any hetero parade…. And there are plenty of them. Well… here is my rant!”
gay parade – gmc, igo ou simplesmente gonçalo
“Lots of people find this Gay Parade stuff silly and I also sometimes think it is not worth the effort… the parade is full of ‘stereotypes': men dressed as women (as if all gays were like that, what is a lie), women on Harley motorcycles and macho appearance (which is also not true)… in fact, the Gay Parade is a big carnival… The ‘Folha de SP’ newspaper published a poll on Friday showing that many of those present in the Parade are heterosexuals — that is really cool, a proof that society is opening itself to diversity — and that many homosexuals are into long time relationships, with kids! That's also cool! People perceive that we are citizens in families and that we deserve respect!”
Today is Gay Parade day – The son I wish to have
“I went there, in the Gay Parade! :}
man, it was hilarious!
they were funny, those drag gren (or something like that, i don't know how to write, it's those men that dress like women, you know?!) i went there just to WATCH, it's OBVIOUS! x)
my God, it's the devil's shame! ;p
but that's it?!
what can we do?!
they are like they want to be! :/
it was just to post something!:p
=@@”
I WENT… – S2 Júlia S2
“I wonder if the gay community, aiming to achieve equal rights with heteros, could go beyond the parades and try to organize less festive manifestations. Besides the Drag Queens, what else appears in the TV, newspapers, etc?! So much work, so much noise, to get 15 seconds on the news, about which nobody gives a damn?! I wonder if society would approach the cause differently if that was the case. As the same sex relationship is normal for the gay people, for heteros it is an abnormality! I am not talking about being accepted by the church (maybe it can change in five centuries), but in civil terms, many countries already accept the union. How was this possible? Was it achieved with parades, whistles, Village People and Drag Queens, or with concrete actions and serious debate?”
Curitiba's GAY Parade – Photo lucidum
With so many parades occurring in different regions of this country of incredible diversity of all kinds, Brazilian bloggers are sometimes posting about radically different contexts while reporting the same issue. It is full of interesting nuances.
“While surfing on the news websites from Porto Velho [in the Amazonian state of Rondonia] my attention was called to the headline of an article about the lack of police forces to guarantee safeness in the gay parade, and when I went to read the note, check out what I saw: ‘The Rondonian gays, who were historically always beaten by the state police, tried to make a good neighborhood policy with the force, paying homage to Colonel Angelina Ramirez, the commandant. However, the payback was the disdain from the public service’. It's a transcript of how it is published there.”
HEIN? – BANZEIROS
“I think the special moment of insight comes at the end when tourists start to remember they have to pay to get back home, and the young guy remembers that after a week of having fun he will have to go back to his homophobic parents, and the young girl finds out she had not found her twin soul, that the momentous lovers perceive they will never be corresponded in their longing, and that the magic of a whole week of sexual diversity in São Paulo has ended.”
Still about the Gay Parade in São Paulo – blog do renato
“It lacked promotion, organization… Besides that, we had everything and the single ones had plenty of mouths to kiss. I kissed a lot but for no advantage, cause we always end up alone. I am and I am not satisfied.”
gay parade in Brasilia – Espaço de lucia barbara de freitas
“‘When marriage seemed on its way to becoming obsolete, substituted by cohabitation with no bigger meaning, here come the gays to end up with this shameful situation’ [Verissimo, writer, March 2004]. In the last twenty years, more than 1.700 homosexuals were murdered in Brazil, according to Bahia's Aids Prevention Support Group (GAPA). In the majority of the cases, the motivation of the murders is homophobia, and this term is used to represent the hate against another sexual orientation.”
Gay Parade – Tita Ferreira
“The theme is friendship, and we hope that this slogan will diminish the prejudice and humanize the social relations by creating an environment of friendship in the family, in the work and in the daily life of all homosexuals.”
Gay Parade in Bahia – E aí meu Rei?
“two million, 2.5 million, it doesn't matter how many millions. we are millions. millions of differents because they are equal, millions of equals, because they are different. on this day, at least during this day, there won't be big macho men passing by with their big macho cars who will manage to shout those tired and old lines which they bravely belch on the other 364 days of the year, and there won't be any phobic lady to make that mourning face in front of the scene (oh, what an unconceivable scene!) of ‘two men kissing’. on this day, the crowd reigns — and it has all the colors, sexes, forms, flags; all of them, all of them, all of them. on this day the minorities unify themselves in one unique, utopian and temporary majority.”
(anti)conception pills: gay parade – Pedro Alexandre Sanches
We could go on quoting these voices and still find lots of different and uniquely valid approaches in this discourse, but I will close the post with a personal insight that seems inspiring to me: I am glad to live in these times where it's finally possible to freely manifest inner feelings, even if they will sound spacey and weird to my neighbor.


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India: All quiet on the blogosphere · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Sepia Mutiny wonders why the blogosphere has been relatively quiet about the blasts in Mumbai.


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India: Citizen Journalists and Bloggers · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

How citizen journalists and bloggers have responded to the bomb blasts in Mumbai. Notes at Obiter Dicta by Steve.


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Iran: Blogger is Free · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

According to NasleFarda, Abed Tavanche, blogger and a student leader was released from prison (Persian). Tavanche was arrested during a student protest movement in AmirKabir University. He was in jail for 40 days.

author: Fred Petrossian


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Iran: Conservatives praised Zidane! · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Jomhour says Zidane's final act in the World Cup when he  lowered his head and rammed Materazzi in the chest, knocking him to the ground, has been praised by conservative news papers in Iran and the head of National Security and Foreign Affairs Committee in Iranian Parliament. The blogger writes according to this deputy, Zidane reacted to an insult by Italian player that Moslems are terrorists. The blogger considers this kind of arguments very irrational (Persian).


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Jamaica, USA: Loving America through literature · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Some years ago, a young Geoffrey Philp overcomes his trepidation at passing the armed Marines guarding the US Consulate reading room in Kingston, and falls in love with American literature: “For on that evening in that reading room, America gained a friend.”


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Kurdistance: No Good News · Global Voices
Deborah Ann Dilley

The overwhelming themes of the Kurdish blogs this week has been a sense of outrage and despair over the never-changing events in the lives of the Kurdish peoples.
Let's begin with Kurdish Aspect this week and his posting of a punishment given to a small child in Eastern Kurdistan (Western Iran) who was caught stealing a loaf of bread.  The pictures are incrediably saddening as you are given a blow by blow pictorial account of a small child being forced to have his arm crushed by a truck as his penalty.  His posting also alludes to the current situation of a Kurdish woman, Malak Ghorbany, who has been sentenced to death by stoning.  Hiwa from Hiwa Hopes gives a link to an online petition to save her.  Reactions to the case of Malak, and the fate of Iranian Kurds in general, have been fervent…no more so that Mizgin from Rasti:
Another item that has been gaining some steam is the sentencing of a Kurdish woman, Malak Ghorbany, to death by stoning, news that first appeared on ADNKI. You know, what really gets me is how every Persian on the planet loves to boast about how freakin’ civilized they are. They'll even put down the Turks for their barbaric, Kemalist ways, which is hilarious given that Persians do exactly the same things. . . especially with regard to Kurds.
So here we have the great and civilized Persian nation engaging in a little stone-aged style execution, something for which the great and civilized Persian nation has a definite enthusiasm. According to Amnesty International, Iran allegedly put a moratorium on death by stoning at the end of 2002. But this little bit of celibacy proved too much for the bloodthirsty nation, and by September of 2003, they were back at it.
Rasti also gives us the segway for our next topic of discussion in the Kurdish blogs this week, that of Northern Kurdistan (Southeast Turkey).  Commenting in her post “View from a Glass House” Mizgin slams the Turkish government for its repression tactics against the Kurds in its Southeast region, stating that the more the government pushes the more reaction from the people will be felt.  In response to the indictments held against 56 mayors in the Kurdish regions for signing a petition to Save RojTV, Mizgin had the follow to say:
The article continues to give a breakdown of how many charges were in different court jurisdictions, how many were acquitted, how many are still ongoing, etc., and it finishes with some of the more recent charges against Osman. Some of those are still ongoing, such as the charge against him and 55 other DTP mayors for sending a letter of support for Roj TV to Danish PM Rasmussen and for sending an Amed municipality ambulance to carry a gerîla's body to his family.
Perhaps one of the most ridiculous charges is the one in which Osman is accused of “demeaning the people publicly by paying respect to differences of race and region,” a charge stemming from a magazine interview. Where else in the world is someone charged with being a terrorist for making statements respecting differences in race or region? Or can anyone imagine someone in the US being charged as a terrorist for saying “Mr. Abdullah Ocalan?”
Only in Turkey and nowhere else.
Osman isn't the only DTP mayor or politician being harassed by ridiculous charges either, but he is the target of the greatest number of charges. This is directly proportional to his popularity, a popularity which is seen as a very dangerous thing by the state.
According to an article written by Vladimir on From Holland to Kurdistan, the Republic of Turkey spends more money from the national budget in the Kurdish regions in the Southeast, however as Vladimir points out:
If the Turkish state is really investing so much into the Kurdish regions, then they are really doing something wrong. The recent rise of suicides among Kurdish girls and the lack of Kurdish girls going to schools is an indicator that there is a need of a radical change in the policies of the Turkish state.
Now making a turn southwards to Southern Kurdistan (Northern Iraq) Hiwa from Hiwa Hopes deliberates whether or not Barzani was right in saying that the Kurds have been used as pawns for years….the answer…a resounding yes!  And Views from an American Kurd reports his frustration at finding out that a wayward brother has returned to Iraq against his own better judgement.

author: Deborah Ann Dilley


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Mexico: Stuffing or Moving Ballots? · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Michelle Dion has an an explanation of and response to claims by Lopez Obrador that a precinct official stuffed ballots into a box.


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Nigeria: Power shortages · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Black Star Journal picks up on a report in a Nigerian newspaper detailing how many residents of the country's chief oil-producing region, Bayelsa, have little to show for the rape of their natural resources by foreign multinationals. “The state, home to one of Nigeria's largest deposits of crude oil, doesn't even have electricity a half century after the ‘godsend’ black gold was discovered there,” he writes.


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North, South, East and West Africa · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Grandiose Parlour posts an e-mail that is doing the rounds about how to tell people from different parts of Africa apart. “The Cameroonians will borrow money from you to buy champagne; whilst the Ghanaians think they invented politics. The Congolese think they have the best music and the best dancers; The Nigerians have a thing about clothes; and the Ethiopians believe they have the most beautiful women on God's earth.”


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Pakistan: Karakorum Highway · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Adil Najam on the  Karakorum Highway. “The souls that pave the way for the modern tarmac road known as the Karakorum Highway (KKH) still seem to flicker amongst the sharp moving shadows of the unstable rocks and the almost countless but crumbly semi-transparent glaciers that constantly threaten its existence.”


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Peru: Launching Creative Commons · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Daniela Faris has interviewed Oscar Montezuma about the launch of Creative Commons in Peru.


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Poland: President and PM Identical Twins · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

The beatroot writes about two identical twins who are now running Poland: “Opinion polls have been pretty consistent. Poles would rather not have identical twins who not only shared the same egg but also share the same political outlook in the two top jobs.”


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Russia: Future Without Basayev · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Sean Guillory contributes a lengthy post to Publius Pundit on the effect Basayev's death might have on Chechnya.


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Russia: Voting System To Resemble That in Belarus · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

TOL's Belarus Blog writes about a new law that allows early voting in Russia – which, in its turn, would allow manipulations.


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South Asia: Cricket scores · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

The Man On The Outer reflects on Zizou's headbutt controversy, and how cricket is an extremely challenging game. “Most require certain levels of skill, physical fitness and mental strength to succeed – but cricket demands far more in the last criteria.”


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Sudan: Appeal to G8 · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

G8 leaders meeting in St. Petersburg on July 15-17 should firmly tell the Sudanese government that it must immediately accept the deployment of a United Nations force to protect civilians in Darfur, Human Rights Watch Africa says.


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The Balkans: News From the Region · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Ed Alexander of Balkan Baby writes from and about a Croatian village of Podsused, and covers the latest news from the region, including Slovenia's upcoming entry into the Eurozone.


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The Latest Buzz From Indian Bloggers… · Global Voices
Kamla Bhatt

Bombay, cooling glasses, Rajnikant vs Tom Cruise and some original quotes: a new twist to old quotes. Dominating this week's round-up is the horrible bomb blasts in India's commercial and entertainment capital: Bombay or Mumbai. In an ironic twist last week marked Portuguese traveler's Vasco Da Gama's first trip to India in 1497. The reason I mention that is because according to one school of thought (there are always many schools of thoughts anytime you discuss India) Bombay is derived from the Portuguese words “bom” + “bahia” that translates into “good” + “bay” and over the years Bombahia morphed into Bombay, and now Mumbai.
Bombay/Mumbai has once again demonstrated its resilient spirit and nature…life must go on is the mantra after the horrible and dastardly bomb attacks on Bombay's main line of communication: its railway system. Bombay, like New York city, ferries millions of passengers up and down the length of the city through its  its extensive railway network. The bombs went off on the Western Line and within hours trains were back on track ferrying its passengers back and forth.
Whoever said Bombay is the rudest city in the world got their math wrong…this is a city where people don't wait for the administration to lend a helping hand …instead, they help each other during times of crisis as the city has demonstrated time and again 1993, 2005, 2006 to mention a few.
Here is a video clip from Arikast of the famous Bombay train…note how crowded the bogeys (compartments) are and how people are hanging out of the doors of the train compartment. This is a familiar sight on Bombay trains…the happy, smiling faces of commuters.
Bombay Train Video Clip.
Rmbit has a video clip of Bombay railway station on YouTube. Note how crowded the train station is.
Bombay train station.
Bloggers from Bombay and the rest of the world (who once called Bombay their home, but live elsewhere) write and celebrate the resilient spirit and soul of this city.
Govindraj Ethiraj of Dateline Bombay says:
“And yet, there is no choice. There is no other option. Life must go on. Despite   knowing that every vulnerable chink in Mumbai city has been exposed. Those who   survived Wednesday's blasts have only fellow passengers to thank. Television   images showed many being lifted and hauled off. Others, with bloodied faces and   tattered clothes, staggered out of stations and helped themselves into waiting   taxis.”
Asuph in his post Salaam Bombay writes:
“The city paralyzed by overcrowding, bad town planning, crumbling infrastructure,   communal strives, a constant threat of terrorism, and so on. It's a wonder that   it moves at all, but it moves. It moves and moves you in turn — with all its   passion for living, its resilience, and a plain ordinary humanity and courage   that makes people come out, while there are blasts happening around them, and   knowing that they could be the next. People come out to help strangers, in   whichever way they can. People don't wait for the police, or local   administrator, they just pick up the injured and put them into taxis and send   them to nearby hospitals, saving god knows how many precious lives….”
Da Beam, who lives in Kuwait, urges people to stand up and city that he once called home. “Let us stand up and fight for MUMBAI – our city and our home.”
Duke of What'z Thez Pointz says:
“As people lay tired on railway stations, citizens got together to provide food   and water to them. These teams also got together and collected clothes for the   unlucky ones whose houses got washed away. A few do good things. The goodness   follows, begets more. It spreads. Such is the magic of Mumbai.”
Khakra has a posting from his younger brother who is working as an intern in a venture capital in Bombay. Providence appeared to have helped him…he decided to skip the train and drive to work instead.
"Only when I got home and switched on the news did I realize how bad the   situation really is. The blasts went off at stations that i cross twice every   day, six times a week. The blasts went off at around the same time that I would   be on the train going home. [Bro usually travels in one of the ‘First Class’   compartments of a train, in which the bombs went off. Had I not   driven to work, I could've been in one of those first-class bogeys .."
After reading on Bombay, we take a break by looking at a fascinating element of popular Indian culture: cooling glasses, some of you might call them shades or dark glasses, but in India we call them cooling glasses. Cooling glasses is one of those quaint Indian words like cool drinks. Wikisharma's post on cooling glasses and South Indian icons is sure to bring a smile to your face. Here is a snippet from his post, and you need to read the rest to enjoy his train of thoughts.
"Logically, this evolutionary advantage also leads us to conclude that men   wearing sun glasses are more capable of heroic deeds, acts of selfless gallantry   and kinship, and producing ideal and copious amounts of sperm for future   offspring."
Sreejith of I am going crazy has a post comparing Tom Cruise vs. Rajnikanth. He writes:
"The same friends who mock at my fascination for Rajnikanth, never lets an   opportunity slip by to show their fervor for Tom. I point to them my comparison   and questions their difference in attitude. They answer Tom Cruise is for   “elite” audience while Rajnikanth is for “pit” audience, making me wonder what   exactly is”eliteness”
The ZombieWorld Sinsuoid has some pretty interesting and original quotes. Here is one: “When the going gets tough, look at the compliment set.” Log on to the post to read the rest of his creative quotes.

author: Kamla Bhatt


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The Week that Was – Bolivian Blogs · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

According to the National Electoral Court, the ballot count for the July 2 election and referendum was the quickest in history.  The composition of the Constituent Assembly has now been finalized and Miguel Centellas of Ciao! helps analyze some of the results and thinks that Samuel Doria Medina’s Unidad Nacional (UN) party, which also ran for President in 2005,  will play the “king maker” party meaning that it will be essential in any alliances made to acheive the 2/3 majority necessary to make any changes to the Constitution. The results also show a divided country because 4 of the 9 departments voted in favor of autonomy during the referendum process.  However, in the department of Santa Cruz, where President Evo Morales’ Movimiento Al Socialismo (MAS) party won a significant number of seats, many of those voters still voted for autonomy, which was contrary to the official party’s position.
Generalizations that entire regions lean one way or are homogeneous in population and ideology also are worrisome.    The blogger that goes by the name of Joup, who lives in Santa Cruz, one of the 4 departments that voted in favor of autonomy, and writes in her blog Este Arcoiris se llama Joup (ES) is fed up with generalizations.
“Generalizing things leads us to separation and leads us where the  just pay the sinners.  The wave of resentment grows in the Bolivian population…as I said earlier, the arrow of injustice, racism, inequality has two sides.  One cannot be intolerant towards another culture, one cannot judge.  We cannot be part of a group that thinks our culture is better or superior to another….Bolivia is a multi-ethnic, pluricultural nation.  It’s time give repect to the cultures and ethnicities that exist…There is only one Bolivia.  Santa Cruz is part of Bolivia.  We demand respect, but we also must respect those that do not share our customs.”
In his blog Palabras Libres (ES) written from El Alto and La Paz, Mario Ronald Duran Chuquimia, was one of the handful of bloggers, that wrote about El Alto councilmember Roberto de la Cruz, who appeared on television with a group of indigenous youth aka the Bolivian taliban, who vowed to “defend the kollas that live in Santa Cruz and to confront the Cruceño Youth Union” , which is a group that has been accused of attacking indigenous in that city.  Duran wonders whether the declarations made by de la Cruz will actually improve the lives of the young Alteños, who suffer from unemployment and underemployment.  The statements made by de la Cruz seem to be the very thing that Joup referred to in her post about generalizations.
The blogger at the page Morir Antes Que Esclavos Vivir (ES) is also worried about these individuals because it continues the division among the country, especially because Bolivia is not comprised by only indigenous populations, but it contains a lot of mestizos (mixed race).  Former Congressman, Dante Pino, wonders why the Bolivian media even gives airtime to de la Cruz, who according to Pino, was also involved as an inciter during the social unrest of October 2003.  His blog is called  PRETÉRITAS (ES).
Finally, Bolivian bloggers Gustavo Siles, Almada de Noche (ES) and Isabella Fuente, Ergoth (ES), who both live in Spain, received a pleasant surprise when the musical duo, Negro y Blanco, arrived in Madrid from Bolivia.  In fact, Fuente even helped collaborate to put on a show for the musicians.  The concert, which was held on July 10 at the Bolivian-Hispanic Center was a great success.  Afterwards, one of the group’s members even commented that they would soon have a blog of their own.

author: Eduardo Avila


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Trinidad & Tobago: Amerindian Soca Warriors · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Referring to the seemingly Native American-style costumes worn by fans of the Soca Warriors, Trinidad and Tobago's football team, Maximilian C. Forte provides evidence to support his claim that the costume tradition also has Amerindian roots.


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Ukraine: Photos From Hutsul Wedding · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Stefan of Dykun posts pictures from a Hutsul wedding that he attended two years ago (and re-posts an expert's column on the current political situation in Ukraine).


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Ukraine: Political Crisis · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Europhobia writes about the political crisis in Ukraine: “Ukraine showed signs of hope, and there is still hope there – but it could all too easily go the route of Belarus and slide slowly towards dictatorship.”


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Web 2.0 world tour – blogging in Peru · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Hewlett-Packard Vice President Eric Kintz, with the help of his colleague Jorge Luis Revilla, takes a look at the state of blogging in Peru.


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Zidane and Camus · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Yebo Gogo delights in a comparison between French soccer captain Zinedine Zidane and the French-Algerian hero of Albert Camus’ novel l'Etranger. “Zidane head butts an opponent, and despite destroying the short remainder of his career, chose his fate — that of the anti-hero,” writes Fontaine.


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Zidane, Materazzi and FIFA · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Steve Ntwiga Mugiri comes out of a reclusive period to write about Zidane and racism in soccer. “The onus of dealing with racism on the pitch has fallen on the players themselves,” he writes. “They have taken up the challenge and are tackling the problem head on and are asking the fans to help take down this monster that threatens to tear the sport apart.”


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Zimbabwe: Whither Zimbabwe · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

“On days like this,” writes Zimpundit, “I catch myself wondering what it is going to take for us, the laity in Zimbabwe, to take our destiny from the hands of fate and render our influence on what the future holds for us.”


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Across West Africa this week · Global Voices
Oluniyi D. Ajao

We start this week's blog round-up with Under the Acacias who blogs: Osama bin Laden in Burkina Faso
The face of Osama bin Laden glared down at me from his camel, a kalashnikov gun in his hand.
Fortunately, he was only on the front of a t-shirt of a young boy, who was standing listening as I chatted at Gorom-Gorom market with some friends. Bin Laden is not physically in Burkina Faso, of course – in spite of the occasional local rumour he was hiding out it Deou, a remote market town north of Gorom-Gorom. However, t-shirts with his face are widespread – although not as widely seen now as in 2002. But what does this mean – does he really have so much support here?
The Trials & Tribulations of a Freshly-Arrived Denizen…of Ghana is concerned about the spate of drug trafficking in Ghana and the West African sub-region:  As the Week Draws to a Close in Accra: Thoughts on an ECOWAS Regional Police Organisation (FBI?), and Combatting the Narcotics Menace
The week opened with drugs on my mind: a popular musician, Daassebre, who had been caught with two kilograms of cocaine in the UK. It prompted a radio discussion on Tuesday as to why so many Ghanaians want to defy the risk of carrying narcotics into European soil.
Cameroonian blog Scribbles from the Den asks: Blogging among Africans: Is a Revolution Really at Hand?
For next few days, we will take a look how Africans at home and in the Diaspora are harnessing the Internet (particularly the power of weblogs) to build vibrant cyber-communities, provide alternative analyses of events in the continent, challenge oppressive national regimes, and express personal views on a variety of issues.
On the political front in Cameroon, George Ngwane declares that: There is a loss of faith in the Party System in Cameroon
Why is it important for Independents to run for elections?
The participation of Independent candidates in every election translates into political reality the repossession of popular sovereignty and democratic legitimacy by all the citizens. Party formation is founded on the will of a section of the people prepared ostensibly to articulate the people’s interest by electoral then representative democracy.  But above all, democracy is rooted in the concept of choices and options.  Independent candidacy is one of those options that expands democratic space, that focuses on individual merit, that addresses issues specific to the electorate and that provides an opportunity for the young men and women to actively participate in politics.
Home of the mandinmories analyses the editorial of a Gambian newspaper about the emigration of African youths into Europe: Home sweet home.
The point newspaper decry the extremes young Africans take to make it to the shores of Europe in this editorial:
There is a lot of debate these days about African immigrants trying to enter Europe through what many call “the back way.” Like many African countries, The Gambia has lost many of her citizens, mainly the youths, on the dangerous seas between Spain and Morocco and despite the recurrent and grievous nature of the loss of lives, many are still willing to brave the precarious conditions to enter Europe which Africans youths have for decades looked forward to as a greener pasture. Alas, how sorrowful, considering the price the adventure is costing many a hope-starved African youth!

author: Oluniyi D. Ajao


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Afghanistan & Tajikistan: Aid Worker Perspectives · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Elizabeth writes on the things aid workers notice in Tajikistan after working in Afghanistan, and the motives for working in one or the other.


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Argentina: Music: Voltura publishes EPs under a CC license · Global Voices
David Sasaki

More free and Creative Commons-licensed music from Argentina. This time Fernando Casale posts two EPs by Voltura. We are also told that “Hernán Martínez Mosquera, the creator of Voltura, is working on his first solo album.


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Armenia: BTC Impact · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

My 20-Cent Taxi Ride comments on the impact of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, which recently opened, on Armenia.


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Armenia: Public Opinion · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Onnik Krikorian discusses public opinion findings in Armenia that shows quite a bit of public pessimism about the country's direction.


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Bermuda: Anti-racism meeting report · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Sean attends an anti-racism meeting last night in Bermuda but comes away thinking that “everyone is talking and no one is doing” and presents his own thoughts on the matter instead.


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Bhutan: Refugee in Nepal · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Extra Extra has a letter from a Bhutanese in a refugee camp growing up in Nepal.”Can you imagine growing up in a refugee camp? Having no citizenship? Discovering the slow way that the world is not going to intervene to resolve the situation, even as it frets about the dangerous radicalisation of the dispossessed?”


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Bolivia: Purple Drinks,Fried Cheese, Hip-Hop, and Elections in La Paz · Global Voices
David Sasaki

“Purple Drinks and Fried Cheese in La Paz.” I think the title speaks for itself. Also worth checking out is Dangl's post on “Hip-Hop and Electoral Adventures in Bolivia.”


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Brunei: Malay Measure Words · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

A foot of umbrella?, a book of bread?. Read more about measure words  in Malay language at The Daily Brunei Resources.


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Burkina Faso: Recreatrales Theater Festival · Global Voices
Alice Backer

France-based Togolese blogger Kangni Alem is (Fr) headed to the Recreatrales Theater Festival in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso for a series of theater workshops that may result in a performance of his latest play,  Mon Cancer aux Tropiques [My Cancer in the Tropics].


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Cambodia: Loving Cambodia · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Vannadeth, a Cambodian citizen living in Germany is pained by the error he finds in the geographical area of his country listed on a website. The blogger talks about his feelings for his country.“How do you feel when people as you ” Is Cambodia safe now from bombs?” This is the very direct question that a foreigner ask me. During the World Cup, when people ask me where I come from. I told them proudly that I am from Cambodia. Most of  them do not even know where Cambodia is. They know all neighboring countries of Cambodia, but they don't know Cambodian. Some even asked me back if Cambodia was an island.”


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Caribbean: New HR aggregator and T&T labour shortage · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Chronicles from a Caribbean Cubicle announces the arrival of “CaribHRNews, a Squidoo-hosted aggregator of the most recent internet-based news related to the Human Resources profession,” and takes note of an article in a Trinidad and Tobago newspaper reporting a labour shortage in that country.


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China: Birthday wish comes true · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Hu hao's sister writes in huhaofamily about her birthday and how her birthday wish came true (zh). Hu Hao is back and she thanks all the friends for their suppport.

author: Oiwan Lam


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China: Chinese graffiti · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Raymondzhou shows how Chinese graffiti is different from Amercian one.


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China: World cup · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

The World Cup is over. However there are still much discussion about Zidane's head butt. Ah Q magazine comments that Zidane's head butt is a perfect ending of his career (zh).
Jxhill tries to read into the political culture of how french people reacted to Zidane's act. He feels that French media was not under too much influence of nationalism, or else they would have criticized Zidane more severely.


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Costa Rica: “National Flavor” · Global Voices
David Sasaki

What's the national flavor of Costa Rica? Uri Ridelman writes about the salsa which ” is often used in the same way that North Americans would use ketchup.” And if you want to know what to pour it over, check out these recommendations.


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East Timor: Getting Back · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

The blogger at Dili-gence returns to East Timor and finds life getting back to normal after the violence last month.


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Ethiopia: Scale of happiness · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Ethiopia has been ranked 144th on a 178-nation survey of happiness ratings, writes Ethioblog. The Happy Planet Index measures life satisfaction, life expectancy and ecological footprint.


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Gore on Indian TV Channels after Mumbai Blasts · Global Voices
Mridula Dwivedi

TV images on the Indian news channels in the aftermath of the Mumbai blasts have been disturbing, to say the least. Body parts, dead bodies, blood, weeping relatives … nothing has been spared and beamed constantly. Many bloggers have questioned the practice that they feel is just amied at getting higher ratings.
Mumbai Help issued one of the first calls to desist showing gore in the name of journalism.
Kishore at All in a Day's Work poses this question:
With a mind blowing number of news channels cropping up, each showing different angles of the same news, spiced up with suspense filled animated figures re-enacting the events forming the news and a live feed straight from the happening place, a very fundamental question pops up in my mind. Can news reporting be equated with entertainment? The Reality shows and stuff?
News describes some of the gore and I find it quite chilling:
The CNN-IBN screen was full of blood during the Mumbai blast coverage. Rajdeep was anchoring from one of the bombed first class coaches. He kept on pointing at and showing blood splashed window glasses of the train for a good 10 minutes. As if this was not enough, what followed were blood smeared bodies of injured people. Then there were limbs and other body parts of the dead on the platforms and rail tracks. Blood blood and more blood. One thing needs to be checked: is the Indian audience ready for so much blood on screen? Or better still is it okay to pour so much blood into people's living rooms?
Surya has a very relevant uggestion for all:
Plz people (Specially Media) show some concern and accountability..Stop sensationalising the things and give ur constructive contribution in facing this challenge rather then thinking about TRP rating…God Bless !!!
Sujatha at Blogpurri puts a particular news channel under scanner.
CNN/IBN cannot get over itself. In the middle of the coverage of the Mumbai blasts, Rajdeep Sardesai could not prevent himself from repeatedly reminding his viewers (and at one point, his reporter as well) that the images were being carried live on CNN world wide. He was practically salivating over the fact that one of his reporters happened to be on one of the trains on which the blasts occurred and couldn't stop smiling at this stroke of fortune.
Prashanth has the following question to ask:
But, what I don't understand is why on earth these media have to show all those bloodstained photos and videos. Just for the heck of publicity. Just to make a name in the media world?
Dhoomketu is equally irritated with the images flashed on the screen.
Thus, it's time to rant about TV. Close ups of the dead bodies, which should be captured and pasted all over Rajdeep Sardesai's house were not the only distasteful sight on TV. Advertisements for houses (Flats at Bhiwadi, Lucknow etc. from Mtech developers, thank you, on IndiaTV), underwear (Dollarclub Innerwear on Aajtak) and education institutes (Coaching classes on Zee News) proved that whatever happens in this world, the commercial spirit will not flag.
Pooja watched it in the US and felt for people back home.:
The Indian Media seriously needs to reconsiders what they show – the other night when I switched to Zee News to see how things were in Mumbai (Sitting in US, that is my one source of information on India besides reading news online), I was stunned. They were actually showing dead bodies lying on the track and injured people being dragged to rescue. Even sitting this far from my country, I could not help but feel for everyone back home who were probably seeing these images continuously and how disturbing they must be for everyone. I mean I understand the gravity of the situation and how shocking it is for everyone, how painful it is for everyone, but to rub it in like this – it is just not warranted.
Amrit points out that such was the haste to show the images that a few of them had to apologise later.
I’m putting national in quotes because they are supposed to be “reputed” channels. They are tripping over each other trying to show images and small video clips sent to them by what they call the “citizen journalists” and they are in such a hurry to show the pictures that even as known a journalist as Barkha Datt on NDTV “apologized” that they didn’t have enough time to edit the shocking pictures and video clips.
I think a serious debate is required on this issue as this has not happened for the first time.

author: Mridula Dwivedi


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Guatemala: Reactions to Arrest Warrant for Ex-Dictator · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Patrick has a good roundup of reaction to Spanish judge Santiago Pedraz's warrant for the arrest of Rios Montt based on charges of genocide while Montt was dictator of the country. Rob Mercatante points out that the news is “receiving very little attention from the media outside of Guatemala.” Otto Boye and Arturo Durán celebrate contemporary Latin America's lack of dictators (Es) and describe Montt as “responsible for the most recent holocaust; that directed against the Mayan population.”


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Guatemala: Two Documentaries · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Need a break from the sea of words online? Patrick at Guatemala Solidarity Network highlights an excerpt from the documentary, ‘Guatemala No Nos Tientes’ as well as a series of links to ‘Entremosle a Guate,’ a “fresh and interesting documentary series on the issues facing Guatemalans today.”


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Hong Kong: African Uncle · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

The Bus Uncle incident started to die down in Hong Kong, then an African Uncle popped up in the mainstream media. The big white guy discusses whether or not the disputes on the bus was related with racism.


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Hong Kong: PCCW · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Richard Li sold out PCCW, the biggest telecom in Hong Kong on July 11 to a pro China Hong Kong based Businessman, Francis Leung.  After this contraversal move, he is now planning to buy a local Chinese newspapers, Hong Kong economic journal. Florence in Over the Rainbow blogs about her frustrating experience as journalist in interviewing Richard Li all these years (zh).
Hong Kong Media Buster has another post to explain how local media was being manipulated to get public support for the selling out of PCCW (zh).
Simon World discusses about the minorty stockholders’ rights in the PCCW deal.


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India: Mumbai blasts in International Media · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Sibin on the coverage of Bombay blasts in the international media. Is it adequate? Does it pale in comparison to the attention London and Madrid received?


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Indonesia: Remembering Mumbai · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Avi in Indonesia remembers his trip to Mumbai and calls the city “the most resilient city” he has ever been to.


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Jamaica: Agents are agents are agents · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

In an entertaining allegory involving a beach house in Negril, a barman and a “rent-a-dread”, Jamaican writer Geoffrey Philp contemplates the role of one of the key players in the modern publishing  business: the agent.


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Jamaica, Cayman: Rocking on · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Mad  Bull offers a capsule history of his experience with rock music in Jamaica and welcomes the arrival of a new rock station in the Cayman Islands.


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Japan: Obon · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Marie Mockett writes Japundit about Obon festivial in Japan, it is a Buddhist holiday for memorizing the dead.


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Kazakhstan: Russian Emigration · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Leila examines the potential impacts on Kazakhstan's demography of the recent Russian government decree on the resettlement of ethnic Russians from former Soviet Republics to the Russian Federation.


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Kenya: Korogocho online · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Korogocho, a slum area of Nairobi, is going online, writes Kenyan Pundit, who also nods in the direction of a “computers for all Nigerians” scheme and a commentary on the use of expat consultants.

author: Luisetta Mudie


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Kenya: Tiomin project · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Bankelele takes a look at an article that revisits questions that have dogged the controversial Kwale titanium mine project, led by Canadian mining company Tiomin Resources, which signed a financing agreement with the Jinchuan Group, China's largest nickel producer, for C$7.4 million ($6.47 million) this year.


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Kyrgyzstan: Public Opinion · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Registan.net says that the findings of a recent poll of public opinion in Kyrgyzstan contains some surprises.


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Kyrgyzstan: Spy Scandal · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Yulia discusses the US embassy spy scandal in Kyrgyzstan, which involves allegations from the Kyrgyz government toward and the expulsion of two US embassy employees.


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Lebanon: The Current Israeli Aggression  · Global Voices
Moussa Bashir

What are the bloggers saying about the current crisis between Lebanon and Israel? Here is a sample. Although it is not all inclusive, it can give an idea.
Jamal in his own way supports Hizbullah's right to act and sees that they are a strong foe that PM Olmert has to deal with:
Hezbollah acted unilaterally and they will get some criticism for it in Lebanon, especially for endangering the precious tourist season. However, regionally they got millions of admirers for being the only group in the world to do something about the rape of Gaza. Sure, Nasrallah insists today was all about Lebanon and Lebanese POWs, but who is he kidding.
It wasn't and there is no shame in that.
Olmert disagrees with me and thinks he should kill, burn 5 month-old-baby-terrorists, kill some more, and then face the inevitable negotiations.
At the end of the day Hezbollah proves they are strong, very strong actually, and Israel is not used to dealing with a strong foe.
Here too Jamal continues with what he sees should and will happen:
Olmert can choose to annihilate Hezbollah completely. That would involve a major regional war that I don't think Israel is ready for or that the world community would allow. So that leaves Olmert with the only the choice of when to stop the killing and start the negotiations. Do it today with 30 civillians dead already, or do it next week with 300 dead.
I'm afraid 300 might be the number closer to quenching his blood thirst.
This is what Lebanon.profile saw in Beirut today:
The Lebanese political establishment is in complete disarray. Political party leaders have no idea how to respond to this situation. Prime Minister Saniora is in triage mode. He's in constant communication with foreign leaders.
Life is going on as normal in Beirut, although a bit quieter than usual. I had a few meetings this morning, and am busy working, as usual. I plan on going to the gym later in the day, and then attending a party.
The power is on. The internet is working. The cellular lines are just fine. None of my calls are being dropped, domestically or internationally. Only one phone call I received from Syria was garbled by static.
I am sure the situation is similar anywhere north of Beirut: Metn, Kesrouwan, Coura, Tripoli, Bsherre, and Akkar.
The situation in Beirut's southern suburbs and Southern Lebanon is bad, but not atrocious. It doesn't come close to Israel's 1982 invasion in scale or lives lost. Electricity and phone lines are out, but friends from Saida and Nabatieh tell me their families are tense, but fine.
Moussa reporting on how he is struggling to find a safe place to put his family here.
Abu Kais posts on what he heard and vents his anger at Nasrallah and Israel here:
26 civilians have died so far in Lebanon, according to al-Jazeera. LBC is reporting that ten belonged to one family. My family told me over the telephone that they are completely cut off from Beirut. They live south of Beirut, and they could see the Israeli jets bomb the airport runway. More than 10 bridges have been reportedly destroyed. There are unconfirmed reports the tunnels that go through the airport were destroyed as well.
The Rafik Hariri International Airport is closed. Lebanon's only link to the world is now through… Syria. […]
YOU GOT WHAT YOU WANTED NASRALLAH.
NOW SHOW US WHAT YOU CAN DO.
SHOW US YOUR MIGHT.
USE THOSE ROCKETS.
LEBANON IS BEING DESTROYED AND ALL I CAN THINK OF IS YOUR FACE:
DAMN YOU.
AS FOR THE ISRAELI COWARDS, GO FLEX YOUR MUSCLES IN DAMASCUS AND TEHRAN. COWARDS.
Anarchistian stayed up late and wrote this at 1 AM in the morning:
It’s 1 am here. I’ve been keeping my ears open for any sounds of jets, and checking Israeli media while writing this. The latest reports (from local media) say that the IAF targeted a bridge in the coastal town of Damour close to Beirut, which cut off phone lines in some areas. Many injuries have been reported in the various strikes, including a hit on an ambulance and the injury of a number of reporters from NewTV and Al-Manar TV (VIEW AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION).
What is next, then? And where does this all end? And if these Palestinian and Lebanese prisoners are merely “security prisoners”, how come their incarceration is creating more insecurity? What are the implications? Should Israel turn the entire Middle East into one big prison and have “peace” its own way? Will that be real peace? Will Israelis go to bed with a clear, happy conscience, that they and their loved ones are safe, for many decades to come, while others’ children rot in prisons and camps, deprived of the most basic resources, water, food, health care. Will that put an end to this seemingly never-ending Israeli whining about how they are the weak, poor, oppressed, victimized, patient observers, David facing off Goliath? Or will there be more? More claims, more refugees (this time from refugee camps), to make way for Treppenwitzes? All this, and not once did I defend HezbAllah’s actions. Why should I? I don’t think it was justified, even if it was a smart, well-planned, effective strategy. If only the same could be said for our neighbours to the south.
Dove’s Eye View reflects:
For those of you concerned about the personal safety of my relatives, even the airport bombing is still not a direct hit. Remember, the Lebanese have taken this before. My mother's plane circled Beirut airport for an hour while Israel bombed Beirut in 1996. I am concerned for Lebanon. I am saddened at the news of the dawn raids (July 13) that killed  27 civilians, including  twelve members of a family in a village in the far South. I am not yet concerned for my relatives. Let us be ugly and frank about ethnicity here: my village is Christian. The Israelis have had its coordinates for over a generation. They have never before bombed Christian Lebanese so I am not yet frightened. I am disgusted and bitter but I am not frightened for my own family. Yet.
I am sorry for the Lebanese families who grieve today. Don't ask me to say anything about anybody else right now, I am a flawed, selfish woman and my heart has only so much room this evening.
Finally, for now, a call for peace from Bob:
While shells are falling a few miles away from my home, I cannot but remember this afternoon, while I was driving back home from Beirut Hezbollah sympathizer where offering passerby cookies and candies!
While my ear rings from the sound of explosions I cannot but see the firecrackers Hezbollah sympathizer where launching this afternoon rejoicing in their “great victory”
And tomorrow when I will see the bridge linking my home town of Saida to Beirut, I will only say from the bottom of my heart: Enough! Enough wars, death and destruction! Curse you Hezbollah to hell and back! For all this destruction, for all this death! No it is not Israel fault! It is your own! Curse you!
We cannot continue on this path! People build and teach and try to live peacfully, while others think only of death, destruction and war… the time has come to stand and say one word: PEACE
I want peace with Israel! NOW! I do not care for your ideologies, or your lines drawn on maps! For your religions! For anything! PEACE NOW!
Mustapha reminds everybody of the uselessness of the measures that Israel is taking against Lebanon to free its soldiers:
The Israeli Navy is imposing a maritime blockade alongside the entire Lebanese shores. This will add to the de-facto air blockade that resulted from bombing the airport. Just to be clear, the blockade is NOT intended to prevent the smuggling of the two Israeli soldiers by sea. Had Hezbollah wanted to smuggle the soldiers outside of Lebanon, the easiest way would be to do it through the more-than-happy-to-help Syria.
The blockade has one clear purpose: To make life miserable for the Lebanese in order to exert pressure on Hezbollah.[…]
Will the plan work?
No it won’t. Israel constantly underestimates the bonds common misery can create. They are using the wrong channels and are needlessly starving an entire nation and making it angrier.
Vox writes a post with a title that calls Israel to send its message directly to Iran/Syria instead of bombing Lebanon.
Lazarus send a letter to Nassrullah and to Olmert. In his letter to Olmert he says:
Dear Ehud,
Are you reading through some of Sharon's notes? I wonder if back home you are saluted for your bravery and courage. If you are looked at as the protector of Israel. If they even know what you are doing in Lebanon. I hope you die a gruesome death, in the same way those children were burnt today.
Turn around. Withdraw your planes. Sail your ships away. Go back to Israel.
What type of retaliation is this? We want exactly what Israeli's seem to claim: security and peace, yet you make it such that peace and security seem impossible to have with Israel as a neighbor. Is this procedure part of becoming a man – a rite of passage – back home for you? Killing Lebanese? Burning children alive? If so, then Sharon must be a great man. Peres must be great as well. As is Netanyahu.
And more from Anarchistian in this lengthy post on what is going on:
This new, very ugly, very dirty face of Israel will engulf the region in flames. I have been glued in front of my computer and the TV, watching scenes of raids. I must stop watching. It is quite depressing. Children massacred, entire residential buildings leveled. I captured some shots from TV with my digital camera, a man carrying a dead 10-month-old baby in a blanket, headless bodies, a dead little girl being show to the cameras, Qana all over again.
Finally (for now) Haitham warns that Israel's aggression will not go without a high price for the Israelis:
Hezbollah is not what Israel new six years ago. Sayed Hassan Nasrallah yesterday warned Israel of ‘big surprises’, and today he showed Israel some of these. Hezbollah now uses rockets that reached more than 30 km inside the northern of Israel and Hezbollah said that next target will be the City of Haifa. If this happens, this will be a disaster for Israelis.
Guys, this is not Gaza, and this is not the poor Palestinian resistance you are dealing with here. Hezbollah is well equipped and supported. So, if you think this game will end up soon, you are mistaken. Read back the history of resistance in Southern Lebanon and you will know what I’m talking about.
O’ Israel, play the music of your tanks, Lebanon will dance the Debke!

author: Moussa Bashir


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Malaysia: Miss Sarawak 2006 Coverage · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Malaysian blogger Kenny Sia adds colour to his coverage of Miss Sarawak 2006 pageant with usual humourous comments. Sarawak is a province of Malaysia that lies on the island of Borneo.

author: Preetam Rai


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Mongolia: Naadam Day Three · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Tom Terry has photos from the third day of Naadam.

author: Nathan Hamm


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Nigeria: Transgendered woman writes · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Black Looks posts a long essay written by a transgendered Nigerian woman, Stephanie Adaralegbe, in which she gives a horrendous account of a beating at the hands of some 50 thugs.


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Noma Literary Prize Awarded to Were-Were Liking · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Kangni Alem writes (Fr): ” The Noma Award likes African women novelists. After Mariama Ba whose classic Une si Longue Lettre [A Long Letter] obtained the prize in 1980, the jurors of  this Japanese endowed prize just awarded it to ivoiro-cameroonian novelist and playwright Were-Were Liking whose reputation as an icon and a creative mind is well established.”


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Pakistan: Terrorist and Freedom Fighter · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

ProgressiveIslam.org on why one man's terrorist is not another man's freedom fighter.


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Pakistan: Women’s rights · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

A poll by All Things Pakistan on women's rights and Pakistan's image. “The question is about what can be done to improve Paksitan’s international image in terms of women rights.”


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Peru: “Rottweiler That Bit Thief Should Not Be Put To Death. · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Alex Celi, a Peruvian blogger, finds in ludicrous that a guard dog could be put to death for biting a burglar (ES).

author: David Sasaki


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Philippines: British Assault on Manila · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Torn and Frayed in Manila talks about an episode in Philippine's history where the British attacked and occupied Manila and how the adventure ended up producing distinctive features of people in a province near Manila.


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Poland: Miss World Contest in Warsaw · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Unlike the Polish media, the beatroot isn't excited about the Miss World 2006 contest to be held in Warsaw in September: “It’s a boring event watched only by men with a very, very small…circle of freinds.”

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Republic of Congo: Sassou Nguesso on Drowning Migrants · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Says Senegalese blogger Semett (Fr) of Denis Sassou N'Guesso, the President of the Republic of Congo: ” Interrogated on the drowning of young Africans along European borders, (…) [he] had the indecency to shed a tear after blaming Europe's lack of care. As if the misery that pushes our compatriots to seek the liquid death was not the result of a handshake between him, his peers and Western predators since our independences.”

author: Alice Backer


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Russia: Cause of Basayev’s Death · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Sean's Russia Blog writes that Shamil Basayev's belated demise was most likely caused not by the FSB's special operation, but by “‘careless handling of explosives.’ Not the type of valiant death a ‘shaheed’ would hope for.”


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Russia: Nuclear Deal With the US · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Charlie Ganske of Russia Blog and Vilhelm Konnander look at the US-Russia relationship and the nuclear deal the two countries are likely to make in the near future.


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Somalia: Congressional testimony · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Ahmed Quick posts in full the testimony of George Washington University Professor David H. Shinn, State Department coordinator for Somalia, on the emerging system of Islamic courts in Somalia. “Many Somalis…welcomed the forced departure from Mogadishu several weeks ago of most of the bickering warlords by the Islamic court supported militias,” he told the sub-committee on African affairs.


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South Korea: Anti-FTA protest · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Kotaji blogs about the anti FTA protest in Seoul on July 12.  Jamie in Two Koreas has a very detailed account of the raining day demonstration. Another witness report is written by SJ.
At Frog in a Well, Pak Noja posted some thoughts on the economics of Korean agriculture and what liberalisation means for Korean farmers.


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South Korea: peace march · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Days in Daechuri has a post on the details of a four days peace march (July 5-July 9) by human rights and peace activists from Blue House (presidential resident in Seoul) to Pyeongtaek. The march was to protest against the Korean and American governments’ expropriation of the 2,850,000 pyong (1 pyong = 3.3 meters squared) of land currently belonging to the farmers of Daechuri and Doduri.


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Taiwan: Girl shaving hair for saving her father · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

A Taiwanese girl created a blog and annouced that her action in shaving her hair and silent protest on her blog in order to save her father from injustice trial regarding corruption in village level election(zh).
Another blog post in Chinatimes reports that her action has got the attention of the public quickly and the Taiwan human rights association stepped in.


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Thailand: Border Crossing · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

One of common question among backpackers who land up in Bangkok is how to get to Cambodia. Magnoy's Samsara posts a video on his blog depicting some of  the places  along the Thai-Cambodia border.


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Trinidad & Tobago: World’s 2nd worse carbon polluter · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Jeremy Taylor's worst fears are realised when he digs beneath the surface of the Trinidad &  Tobago government's 20-20 Vision website, “where all the plans for making T&T a “fully developed country” by 2020 are laid out.”

author: Georgia Popplewell


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Uganda: Music downloads · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

White African and Timbuktu Chronicles both report on the first company in Uganda to offer music downloads, True African. But it doesn't want to stay just doing that. Once more, writes the former, mobile micro-credit for micro-enterprise is emerging as a hot topic among the continent's digerati.


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Ukraine: “Fire in the Middle of a Flood” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Dan McMinn of Orange Ukraine and LEvko of Foreign Notes attempt to sort out the current political mess taking place in Ukraine. Adrian J. Erlinger of Leopolis sums it up nicely: “There is a Russian saying, something like: ‘It's like a whorehouse on fire in the middle of a flood.'”


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Ukraine: Mormons and Local Women · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Everybody I Love You writes about the Mormon missionaries in Kharkov and young Ukrainian women: “‘I've had babas  (old women) say, ‘I don't want to speak to you about your church, but here, meet my grandaughter’.’ Polite that these young men are, the young women are often invited to English lessons.”


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Albania: Opposition Protest Rally · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Alwyn Thomson of Our Man In Tirana reports on a recent protest rally that took place in the Albanian capital on the initiative of the opposition parties: “Whatever the points in dispute between government and opposition, however well -or badly – both are handling those disputes, it is worth remembering that staging peaceful political protests is not something to be taken for granted. Even in Western societies, public protests are often burdened with the potential for conflict and violence. So it was good to see that the demonstration was well-organised, well-managed and well-policed.”


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Arabisc: The Blazing Middle East · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Third day after the beginning of the never ending Middle East conflict; Israel/Lebanon war, the Arabic blogsphere speaks.
Ranging between anger, celebration, condemnation and support, on both sides of the conflict, the bloggers views vary depends where they come from. Some sound extreme, others sound objective and reasonable, but all hopes that this ends with persistence peaceful and just solution for all, soon.
From Bahrain, Ali glorifies the Shia't Hezbollah operation and call them ‘the most honored arab,’ yet condemns Sunni's conspiracy against Hezbollah. He said:
And the conspiracy theory popup to marginalize and depress what the Shia't Hezbollah did. First they said, its aim is to ruin ‘Lebanon Summer’, which pumps a large sum of money to the Lebanese economy, and then they said it is a ‘play,’ and many other useless imaginary stories.
I don't know why I have the feeling that it's because Hezbollah is a Shia't party, nothing else. I don't know why all the Sunni power uprise against anything Shia't. The problem is that this Shia'a thing called ‘Hezbollah’ is embarrassing them. Not only the Sunni political failure, but even the Sunni as faith, and as they pretend to forget what the ‘Palestinian Islamic Jihad Movement’ and other Sunni parties are doing.
From Jordan, Rami simply lay few unanswered questions, he said:
Moodless from Kuwait see this as ‘Policy of Foolishness’:
From Lebanon, in her last post, Eve first draws the sad pictures of the atrocities, damages, death at door steps, buildings, bridges, airport and all Israeli air raid targets. The second part of her post reveals her wishful unity against Israel aggression. She said:
إذاً هذه هي الرّواية الرّسمية. لكن، حسب رأيي الشّخصي، القصّة لا تحتوي على أبطالٍ من كلتا النّاحيتين. القصّة تتضمّن ضحايا… ضحايا كثر. وتتضمّن أيضاً مذنبين. حزب الله أذنب. لا شكّ في هذا. ميول حزب الله السياسيّة تمثّل جزءاً غير بسيط من اللّبنانيّين (لكن لا جميعهم). لا شكّ في هذا أيضاً. لكنّني أورد الرّواية الرّسمية لأنّ الوقت ليس وقت إثارة النّعرات الدّاخلية، ولا البحث في موضوع الحقّ معهم أم عليهم، أو “عيب عليكم كيف بتعملوا هيك” (مع إنّو: معقول راسكم؟ عن جد كيف بتعملوا هيك!!). الوقت وقتٌ لإيقاف الهجمات الإسرائيليّة على أرض لبنان بأسرع ما يمكن، ووضع حدٍّ لسقوط المزيد من القتلى والخسائر. أمّا بعد ذلك، فلكلّ حادثٍ حديث، ولكلّ حدودٍ ترسيم، ولكلّ صلاحيّاتٍ نطاقٌ معيّن. ومن هنا، ضرورة عدم التزام مواقف مشتّتة. ومن هنا اختيار الانحياز إلى لبنان، واعتماد صوت واحد. ومن هنا، الرّواية الرّسمية.
المشاهد ما زالت تتوالى على شاشة التّلفزيون. أكتم الصّوت. أتفرّج على بيروت مضاءة ليلاً. من غير صوت. مع بعض دمع. ما زالت تبدو جميلة. رغم كلّ شيء…
Of course we were not asked, and who are we to stand in front of the champions?
So, this is official version of the story. But, personally, the story has no champion knights. The story includes casualties… a lot of casualties… and includes guilty people too. Hezbollah is guilty, no doubt. But Hezbollah policy represents a big part of the Lebanese (but not all). No doubt about this too. I put the official story to say that it’s not the right time to enrich a national conflict, and not time to discuss who is to blame, or to shame anyone now. Now it is the time to stop the Israeli aggression on Lebanon as fast as possible, and to minimize the casualties. Later on, we can talk, we can but borders, and we can define authorities. Therefore, we should not take conflicting positions. And based on this, be on Lebanon side, have one voice; this should be the official saying.
The senses are still coming on TV. I mute it, watching Beirut at night, no sound, and few tears, still beautiful, in spite of everything.
From Egypt, Jar el-Kamar looks at Hezbollah operation from different perspectives and tries to understand who is benefiting from what:
The last romantic possibility is that el-Sayed Hassan Nasralleh wants to use the Palestinian situation to ignite a wide comprehensive Islamic war. This possibility was adopted by U.S., which held Syria and iran responsible for.
Last but not least, Osama, a blogger from Palestine post few photos of debris on the Israeli side, caused by Hezbollah rockets and Israeli civilians sitting in shelters and title the post with one line; “They are suffering as much as you are.”

author: Haitham Sabbah


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Argentina: Improving Plaza de Mayo · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Robert Wright makes a case for the refurbishment and improvement of Buenos Aires’ Plaza de Mayo.


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Argentina: One Laptop per Child · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Ariel Vercelli writes (ES) that Educ.ar (ES) will be hosting an open discussion on the implementation of One Laptop per Child in Argentina.


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Argentina: Real and Perceived Social Class · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Sergio Cariviano points to a study that found both rich and poor Argentineans tend to define themselves as “middle class.”


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Armenia: Silver Cups · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Armenian Food writes about Armenia's silver cups.


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Bangladesh: To The Right · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Salam Dhaka on why BNP-Jamat is not great news for the country. “As long as this alliance stays in power, Bangladesh will continue to move to the right. Does that mean every BNP supporter is a fundamentalist? Offcourse not. In the long run, this government's close ties with Pakistan and middle-eastern sheikhs and their oil money is bad news for the moderate muslims in Bangladesh.”

author: Neha Viswanathan


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Barbados, USA: Who received the $$? · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

A Barbados-born, New York-based lawyer indicted for stealing a large sum of money from clients, has said that he gave a portion of the funds to relatives and friends in the US and Barbados. Barbados Free Press wonders “who in Barbados received the stolen money”.


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Belarus: Opposition Leader Kozulin Sentenced to 5 1/2 Years · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Belarusian opposition leader Aleksandr Kozulin has been sentenced to five and a half years in jail for organizing protests in Minsk following the March presidential election. Vilhelm Konnander writes that “the now sentenced Kozulin remains somewhat of an enigma to most analysts.” Iryna of Belarus Blog posts Kozulin's final statement, which the judge didn't allow him to make in the courtroom after the sentence was announced and Kozulin called the judge “a ‘hangman’ and the politician’s supporters started chanting ‘Freedom to Kazulin’.” More on Kozulin's trial is here.


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Bolivia: Blog Evangelism · Global Voices
David Sasaki

As a result of the successful Second Meeting of Bloggers and Mundo al Reves Users held last Saturday, July 8th in Santa Cruz with a record attendance of 26 people, (mostly bloggers and blog readers), the dynamic group has launched a blogger campaign  called “Crazy for Blogs” whose details, in words of one of the main actors of the movement, Sebastian Molina, are as follows:
What does it consist of?? In driving crazy those closest to you with the following: what are blogs, what is the concept, what is the world of blogs, and mainly, to convince everyone possible to start one and to update it. And then those convinced will repeat the scheme, successively, in an expansive wave.
This is “a decentralized” campaign, that will have at its center each one of blogs that wishes to take part, take hold, and be followed by mundoalreves.com. But, we must repeat, we will each take part with what we feel represents the popularization of blogs and their possibilities, from our own blogs and the spaces of circulation that we each have accessible.
So far there are several bloggers that have been joined the campaign, and from their weblogs they are in charge of spreading this initiative to which we foresee our best successes.
Blogs that already has been pledged to the campaign:


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Bolivia: Translated Interview with Evo Morales · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Jonathan Olguin has translated an interview with Evo Morales from the Argentinean daily Página 12.


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Caribbean: Stanford 20/20 · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Jeremy Taylor at the Caribbean Beat weblog notes the début of the Stanford 20/20 in Antigua, the “fastest and whackiest form of the game [of cricket] yet,” adding that “the purists will no doubt gnash their teeth, as they did when one-day matches were begun in 1963 and when Packer revolutionised the game in 1977. But they'd better get used to this new development. Stanford has the money and the organisation, and no Texan could conceivably figure out a game that goes on for a whole five days.”


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Chile: Writing Contest · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Santiago in 100 Words (ES) is an essay contest of, you guessed it, no more than 100 words about the Chilean capital. Entries are restricted to Chilean nationals.


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Colomabia, El Salvador: Happy Latin America · Global Voices
David Sasaki

John Guzman and Tim Muth are among the many bloggers to point out that Latin American countries did quite well in the Happy Planet Index.


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French DOM-TOM Bloggers on Zidane’s “Coup de Tete”  · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Bloggers from the French Overseas Departments and Territories of the Caribbean and Oceania had much to say about the French soccer team's performance at the World Cup Final. The French from “l'outre-mer”  simply had no choice but to strongly identify with the potential glory and the shame of a team comprised mostly of Frenchmen of African, Caribbean and North African descent.
Gearing up for the France-Italy Final in New Caledonia
Caledonian Supporters of Les Bleus during the France-Portugal match. By Sebastien Merion.
Blogger Sebastien Merion gave us a taste of the pre-match excitement:
A quelques heures du coup d'envoi de la finale de la coupe du monde France – Italie, l'ambiance est à la fête et on y croit aussi de l'autre côté de la planète ! Des drapeaux se vendent sur l'Anse-Vata, la place des cocotiers est prête à retransmettre le match sur écran géant avec petit dêj offert par la Mairie et l'hôtel de la Province Sud a dressé une affiche de 14 mètres de haut sur sa façade ! (une photo de jeunes supporters que j'ai fait à l'Anse-Vata lors de la victoire de la France sur le Portugal).
The above post came complete with a podcast of a Caledonian song made for the occasion titled Zidane Il Va Marquer [Zidane Will Score].
A commentator to Merion's blog put the match in political context:
Les Francais qui conspuaient Chirac il y a trois mois lui baiseront les pieds si l'équipe de France gagne! Le Pen en oublierait même que la France naturalise pour avoir des sportifs de talents!!! Elle n'a pas un goût amere cette coupe du monde?
14 meter long banner on the headquarters of South Province, New Caledonia. By Sebastien Merion.
Reactions to Zidane's “Coup de Tete”
Though the French lost, they will mostly  remember this World Cup for the head blow by French football superstar Zidane that knocked Italian player Materazzi to the ground … and the red card he received for it in his last match ever.
From Martinique, InternetRapide.com said:
La bosse de Materazzi : un bien triste souvenir que pourrait contempler Zinedine Zidane devant son miroir, pendant quelques jours, en pensant à ce qu'aurait pu être le match de la finale de la Coupe du Monde de Football sans ce “coup de tête” contre le joueur Italien…Allez, deux aspirines (prévues initialement comme antidote à un lendemain de fête) et on n'en parle plus.
Still from Martinique, Bien Vu was less forgiving and had no kind words forthe one French fans call “Zizou”:
Mais voilà, nous ne sommes pas fiert d'avoir subi en direct un acte bien contestable et répréhensible où tout français digne de ce nom devrait condamner sans appel à savoir : le coup de boule de Zidane ! La honte pour nous tous français, protagonistes des bonnes manières, revendicateurs du savoir-vivre… TOUT FAUX !! Non seulement cet imbécile (car il n'y pas d'autres mots…) a agit sous une impulsion complètement déplacée à un tel niveau mais en plus, il nous a privé, nous et son équipe, de tous les efforts et de toutes les espérances que nous faisions face à ce match illustre ! Il peut se cacher car même la cérémonie de fin s'est faîte sans lui, la honte sur le plus grand joueur mondial de s'abaisser comme un vulgaire voyou irresponsable et irrespectueux indigne de sa réputation. (…) Disparait !
Martinique's Le Blog de [Moi]expressed disappointment but still had affection for Zizou:
Arrrrrrrrrrrgh, dire que tout aurait pu être différent si, 5 mn avant sur la centre de Sagnol, il avait frappé le ballon de la même manière (avec la même rage) ! (…) Arrrrrrrgh !!! Pourquoi Zizou ? Pourquooooooooooi ??????
From New Caledonia, Notre Vie a Noumea thanked the Bleus but acknowledged that some probably pro-Independence Kanaks did not feel the same solidarity:
La calédonie a vibré avec les bleus mais pourtant surprise on a vu ce matin des drapeaux italiens flotter au son des klaxons sur des voitures et des camions. Et à l'interieur, non pas des italiens, du moins je crois pas, mais des kanaks. J'avoue que ça fait drôle mais c'est leur façon de dire on est pas français, c'est leur liberté d'expression. Pourtant il me semble malgré tout que ce qui ressort de cette épopée des bleus sur le caillou est une grande fête ou chacun se souvient tout à coup qu'il est français et en est fier ! (ça c'est plus rare). Alors merci les bleus, merci le sport pour son pouvoir de rassembler !


text:
India: Privacy and the Blasts · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Anand on what the blasts really mean in terms of civil liberties. “India is not a country that has ever been greatly bothered about privacy issues, civil rights, data protection etc. even at normal times, even though it is an important and conscious aspect of any democracy. “