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Angola: Miss Landmine Angola Project sparks debate · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Koluki weighs in on the Miss Landmine Angola Project: “Certainly, these women won’t become “more beautiful” or “more empowered” in the eyes of their husbands, boyfriends, children, families and communities simply because they are photographed wearing make-up and nail polish, which after all will definitely not survive the tending of fields or street-vending activities through which those among them who have a job earn a living! Wouldn’t this suggest that USD 80.000 would go a long way towards funding job-creating activities for these women, their families and communities?!”


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Arabeyes: The Middle East in Pictures  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Nothing is more difficult to deal with than the loss of a dear one and Egypt-based blogger Maryanne Stroud Gabbani her ordeal as she bids farewell to her horse Blue Boy in these pictures.
“One of the hardest parts about caring for animals is the day that inevitably comes when you must say goodbye to an old friend. Almost a year ago the last Czech ambassador to Egypt and his wife gave me their lovely grey gelding Blue Boy to care for. Blue Boy was one of those Arab crosses that look like they have maybe some draft in them, and they are often used for jumping and dressage,” she writes.
Following a sudden illness, Blue Boy died before the vet arrived. Gabbani was then left with the problem of burying him.
“Burying something as big as a horse is seriously problematic in an area where the water table is only about a metre and a half under the surface of the soil. If we were to bury him in the farmland, and bury him as deep as is appropriate, the last two metres of the hole would be underwater and the water in the area would be over-fertilised, killing plants all around. One of our neighbours had a bulldozer at his property, so he drove it over to pick up the horse and to take him out to some old gravel mines where he could be buried,” she explains.
Needless to say, Blue Boy‘s departure dampened the spirit of everyone on the farm.
“The next day all of the animals on the farm were very quiet…much less playful and silly as though they somehow understood that a member of the group was gone. Indeed they should have understood as he was within sight of all the animals during the process,” Gabbani notes.
In Saudi Arabia, this 73-year-old man is expected to  walk 1,000km to thank the Saudi King for intervening in finding a solution for the in-fighting between the different Palestinian factions, according to blogger Asad Abu Khalil.
Asharq Al Awsat reports: “Salim Musfir Owaida al Qahtani has embarked on a journey of a lifetime in order to express his gratitude to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, for his role in resolving internal Palestinian fighting between the Fatah and Hamas movements and his contribution to the Muslim and Arab nation. The 73-year-old father of 28, who has four wives, has begun a walk from his village of Ain Qahtan in the Aseer province to the Saudi capital, Riyadh.”
From Saudi Arabia, we move to Qatar, where this man is making heads turn, thanks to the modifications he has made to his car.
Meanwhile in Yemen, Omar Barsawad isn't pleased with witnessing the changing face of the seaside town of Mukalla, whose architecture is changing abruptly with the erection of new ‘soulless’ structures – made up of slab, steel and glass only.
“In the Arabian Peninsular, there seems to be an enormous fascination with Dubai. Be it Abu Dhabi, Doha, Manama, Muscat – all are in one way or the other copying or imitating some aspect or way of Dubai. Mukalla is no exception. Does Dubai have character? Let's say, like Cairo or Fez or Tunis or Damascus or Amman? With the all steel, concrete and slab that Dubai is, and it looking more and more like Disneyland – it will take long, for it to build one: a character. With the ripping off, of Mukalla's old character and beauty – how long will it take, for it to have a new one. A character with a ‘soul’ as pleasing and as refined as the old one? A new one as aesthetically beautiful as the one now being torn up?” he notes.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Amira Al Hussaini


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Armenia: Lifting Champs · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Who among Europeans are the strongest? If their dominance in the 2007 European Weightlifting Championship is any indication, it just might be the Armenians. As Armenia Blog reports, both the men and women of the Armenian team finished strongly.

author: Nathan Hamm


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Armenia: Orinats Yerkir’s Baghdasarian Defiant · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Onnik Krikorian reports on the election campaign of Artur Baghdasarian, leader of Armenia's Orinats Yerkir party, in the wake of a scandal involving him that prompted the country's president to accuse him of treason.


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Bahamas: Elections Over, Opposition Wins · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Pending the results of the Bahamian General Elections, which took place yesterday, Bahama Pundit touts the idea  of changing governments regularly: “Either our politicians, public servants and judiciary uphold the rule of law, or, like termites, they will destroy the very structure of our nation. The best way to force them to toe the line is at the polls – every five years.”  And Nicolette Bethel gives an update: “The governing party has changed.”

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Bahrain: No Free Press  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Bahraini blogger Mahmood Al Yousif marks World Press Freedom Day on a solemn note. “This occasion of course is not a celebration, not by any means, but is an occasion for all of us to reflect about what dear price journalists and opinion writers pay to bring us news and thoughts which makes us more aware of the world around us, and even allow us to make informed decisions. And for that, they generally get kidnapped and imprisoned,” he moans.


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Bahrain: The Alcohol Agenda  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Bahrain-based blogger Bint Battuta opens Pandora's Box  and talks about how comfortable she is with alcohol and those who drink. “There's nothing remarkable about this – plenty of non-Muslims don't drink – but what I find strange is that the few Bahraini friends I have who do drink are almost evangelical about trying to persuade others to do so,” she writes.


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Bangladesh: In 1971 · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Shahzaman Mozumder's Blog has a fascinating account of being a freedom fighter in 1971. “I reached the recruiting office, which was adjacent to Capt. Mahbub’s headquarters. Capt. Mahbub was also there and my name was soon written in a register and I became a Mukti Bahini recruit. There were a total of 45 to 50 other recruits, mostly from the nearby areas of Brahmanbaria. I was the only one from Dhaka. It was the 7th day of April 1971.”

author: Neha Viswanathan


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Bangladesh: That nameless person · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

A gut wrenching post on what means to be Bangla in Malaysia. “BANGLA, does that word mean anything to you? Or is it just something you shout to call that nameless guy from your toilet to scrape off that dried cow shit from underneath your car? Well for those who dont know shit, this blog explains the life of a Bangla. “


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Barbados: Archiving the News · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“One of the great resources for democracy is a free and strong press with a sense of duty towards preserving recent history as best as it can,” writes Barbados Free Press as it expresses concern over Barbados newspapers destroying their own archives.


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China: Bloggers’ Response On The Attack In Ethiopia · Global Voices
Jacky

Nine Chinese oil workers were killed in Ethiopia oil attack last month. Many Chinese netizens have expressed their grief, sadness and pain over the Internet.
Knowing so many Chinese were killed, LouLou advises Chinese to stay home.
中国专家所分析恐怖分子并不是针对我们中国政府而是针对埃塞俄比亚政府的不满. 他们并不想伤害中国的工民.
我个人不太赞成他们的观点. 既然他们仅仅是反对埃塞俄比亚政府, 为什么会袭击我国工民,他们是不是在向来自其他国家表明不允许我们进入埃塞俄比亚并不允许我们和埃塞俄比亚政府握手呢?
…
这样的事故近几年已经屡次发生, 我国人员出国的越来越多其安全系数也不是很乐观. 当然国家也在努力中,我奉劝各位还是少出国尤其是旅游的人员, 中国这么大为什么一定冒着生命危险去玩呢?
I personally do not support their views. If those terrorists only oppose Ethiopian government, why did they attack our citizens? Or if they want to show that they do not want us to enter Ethiopia and do not want us shake hands with the Ethiopian government?
…
Such incidents have repeatedly happened in recent years. We have more and more people going abroad. They do not have optimistic safety level. Our government is certainly making efforts, but I still advise everybody, tourists in particular, not to go abroad so often. China is so big, why should we risk our lives to have fun?
More Chinese bloggers condemn the attack. Some of them even urge China government to take stronger actions in respond to this attack.
XiaoLiang LeHeHe says,
难道除了遣责，就什么都不会了吗，吓怕了吗？
A popular post from Tiexue BBS outcries,
对于杀我同胞的畜生，我们是不是换种方式来回应他们？！不是用抗议、谴责、而是用子弹！
MingHao(冥昊) believes China should give proper response and maintain its interest in Africa.
对于这次事件，我们要吸取经验教训，不要让悲剧再次上演。同时，我们应该做出合适的反应，九名中国人是被谋杀的，中国人不是草芥，不能白白被杀害，凶手必须付出代价！我国政府应该采取一些手段，震慑那些心怀鬼胎的人，同时也给受害者亲人一个交代。中国政府应该为自己的公民主持公道！
Some bloggers give their suggestions on how China can protect its interest abroad.
A cross-post on blog HeNanOilField reads,
当然，发生在埃塞的袭击事件是彻头彻尾的恐怖行径，恐怖分子是此事的元凶。但是，作为我们，从事件中该反思什么？
第一，认真考察所在地的安全状况，首先进行安全评估
第二，建立完善的安全应急体系
…
第三，避免在有争议的地区进行油气田的勘探开发
Firstly, study the security situation of the site seriously; make safety assessment first.
Secondly, establish a sound emergency response system
…
Thirdly, avoid exploring and developing oil and gas fields in the conflict regions.
Tao DuanFang is a Chinese diaspora in Canada. He lived in Africa for a long time. He suggests,
海外战略资源要开发，中国公民的安全也要确保，在这种局面下，能作的选择无非就是两个。
一是加强对被开发国家及所开发地区的预研工作，认真调查、科学评估、慎重决策，做到“千金之子，坐不垂堂”，远离高危地带，既保证资源供应的稳定性，又确保开发者的人身和财产安全。
二是采取一切可以采取的手段，调动一切可以调动的资源，用国家的力量保护在热点地区从事战略资源开发的中国公司和公民。
…
不管愿意与否，今天的中国已拥有全球利益，海外战略资源的开发，则是这一全球利益中极重要的一环。必须从战略高度确保这一开发的安全，这不仅是为了同胞的生命，同样是为了国家战略资源供应的稳定确保，和相关企业经济利益的不受损失。
We need to develop strategic resources abroad and ensure the safety of Chinese citizens at the same time. In such situations, we have only two options.
First, enhance preliminary research on the countries and regions being developed. We must conduct serious investigations, carry out scientific assessments, and make careful decisions. “A valuable and important person stays away from danger.” Keeping away from the high-risk zones will ensure a stable supply of the resources and the developers’ personal and properties’ safety.
Second, take all possible measures, mobilize all available resources, and use the national power to protect the Chinese enterprises and citizens who are developing the strategic resources at the hot-spot regions.
…
Whether you accept or not, today's China has its own global interest. The development of strategic resources abroad is a very important part of its global interest. We must ensure the security of this development from a strategical point of view. This is not only for the lives of our compatriots, but also for ensuring a stable national strategic resources supply and protecting the related enterprises’ economic interest.
But to YuJiaXue(雨夹雪), he needs a simple and direct solution–arm the overseas Chinese workers with advanced weapons.
我建议在外派时应该对他们进行军训，配备自卫用的武器。因为我儿子就在埃塞工作，距离欧加登地区有600公里。我担心他们。

author: Jacky


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Code and Culture: Brazilians celebrate the advantages of being open · Global Voices
Jose Murilo

There is no clear consensus about the  specific reasons that occasionally boost Brazil to the cutting edge of the open source revolution. For us here in the field, facing so many difficulties, ranging from simple misunderstandings to big resource constraints, the international acclaim sounds a bit exaggerated, and at times misinformed. Ever since the remarkable 2004 Wired magazine article — We Pledge Allegiance to the Penguin — started the world buzz, and until quite recently, the Brazilian media was not following what was really going on.  Partly because of innocent ignorance and partly because of economic and political reasons the full story was not being delivered to the mass TV audience.  But now that some fruits of the first generation of “seed” ideas are starting to ripen into visibility to bigger audiences, and as principles of the ‘open’ protocol start to be tested in other sectors more and more commentators are joining in the conversation focusing on specific areas that catch their attention.
No brilhante texto de Dibbell (leia na íntegra), o ministro da Cultura, Gilberto Gil, já atacava “os fundamentalistas do controle absoluto sobre a propriedade” e o seu iminente fracasso. “Um mundo aberto pelas comunicações não pode se manter fechado em uma visão feudal de propriedade”, diz. “Nenhum país, nem os Estados Unidos, ou a Europa, pode ficar no caminho. É uma tendência global. É parte do próprio processo de civilização. É a abundância semântica do mundo moderno, do mundo pós-moderno – e não há por que resistir a isso”. Com esse pensamento compartilhado por uma parte do governo Lula e com o Fórum Internacional de Software Livre (fisl) realizado em abril pela oitava vez em Porto Alegre, o Brasil continua como um dos maiores inimigos da propriedade intelectual como a conhecemos hoje na indústria do conhecimento capitalista, como já vem sendo noticiado pelo mundo todo.
Brasil perpetua-se como inimigo número um da propriedade intelectual, por Carlos Gustavo Yoda – Blog do Turquinho
The Eighth International Free Software Forum was in Porto Alegre ,  state of Rio Grande do Sul, in the deep south of Brazil —  the same city that hosted the World Social Forum for many years — and it is already a global reference symbol for the open source community. Dedicated developers and passionate users from around the world, along with many government delegates who do not necessarily belong to the former two groups, gather to spend four days conferencing, networking and partying. But the fact is that the event fuels the connection between theory and practice. In this global showcase, government open source initiatives are prominently displayed and are always an important part of the event. This year, theOLPC initiative was one of conference stars.
O governo federal lançou oficialmente nesta quinta-feira, durante o Fórum Internacional Software Livre (FISL), um site que disponiliza para uso de toda a sociedade os programas de código aberto produzidos por instituições governamentais. E este é apenas mais um passo da consolidação do conceito de software como um bem público, que pode e deve ser compartilhado por todos. Junto dom o conceito de software livre, o conceito de software público ganha força. O resultado prático? Cinco programas já disponíveis no portal, e mais dois a serem iseridos até o fim do fisl8.0. Cada programa tem a sua própria comunidade de discussão, com entrada livre. Qualquer pessoa poderá ter acesso ao código-fonte dos softwares disponibilizados, mediante cadastramento no portal.
Muito além do Portal do Software Público – Blog JB
Falo das crianças da Escola Estadual de Ensino Fundamental Luciana de Abreu, de Porto Alegre (RS), uma das instituições escolhidas para o projeto piloto do programa “Um Computador por Aluno”, do MEC…. Conversei um pouco com Ketilen Cardoso, 10 anos, que não desgrudou na máquina um só instante durante o papo. Fez uma foto comigo, usando a câmera do OX, para guardar no seu álbum, enquanto me contava que sua atividade predileta é navegar na Internet, em busca de informações. Divididas em grupos, as crianças estão desenvolvendo projetos em sala de aula usando o OX. O tema parte do interesse delas. As professoras vão trabalhando os conteúdos didáticos a medida em que as situações vão surgindo, sem planejamento prévio. “Eles formulam as hipóteses e nós atuamos muito mais como orientadores do que transmissores de conteúdos”, conta a professora Tânia Mara Oliveira.
XO, o destaque do FISL – Blog JB
O evento acabou deixando saudade. Porém, a sensação de que tudo foi feito com a melhor qualidade. Outros eventos virão, porém nenhum outro é igual à dimensão e filosofia do FISL.
Caras Conhecidas – Where I Finally Can Be Calm
Economy of culture is another important open source arena.  According to  Ronaldo Lemos, one of the important voices in the Brazilian open source movement and Director of the Center of Technology and Society (of the Fundação Getúlio Vargas) in Rio de Janeiro, recently publicized research findings show how the open business model of the TecnoBrega music scene in Belém — state of Pará, North region of the country — allows musicians to successfully sell content and performance directly to their audiences. The original concept translates into a genuine alternative business model for musicians that embraces openness as a fundamental rule and takes advantage of the digital features that boosts the rapid, cheap and effective distribution of cultural goods. While there are still many ready to label the initiative as undercover piracy, bloggers report and comment on how openness is starting to get a foothold in mainstream thinking.
“Quando você olha para a gente aqui (as iniciativas brasileiras), a primeira coisa que você enxerga é a informalidade, e só depois a inovação. A gente precisa mudar isso, a gente precisa enxergar que aqui estão surgindo inovações, rede sociais importantes, e que precisam ser valorizadas.” Não que palavras sozinhas resolvam alguma coisa, mas é sempre inspirador ver alguém dizer algo de positivo, mas de maneira crítica, sobre os brasileiros. Melhor ainda que elas venham de alguém como Ronaldo Lemos, o homem do Creative Commons no Brasil e manda-chuva do Centro de Tecnologia e Sociedade da FGV.  Alguém que ganhou destaque internacional ao mostrar, —paradoxalmente, sem nenhum “jeitinho brasileiro”— que é melhor legalizar as coisas que funcionam à base do mesmo jeitinho, do que tentar criar um arremedo de cópia das iniciativas gringas já consagradas achando que isso é a coisa certa a se fazer. “Quando vêem algo como a cena do tecnobrega no Pará, logo dizem ‘olha só esse bando de ilegais…’. Os caras criaram uma rede de produção musical autônoma que se associa aos camelôs para vender CDs e DVDs. E é um mercado extraordinário, funciona direitinho. “
No exterior, inovação e informalidade. No Brasil, só informalidade – GigaBlog
íamos, eu e colegas jornalistas das principais redações locais convocados para o jargão da “entrevista coletiva”, ao encontro de seis altos executivos da indústria fonográfica e da indústria cinematográfica, do brasil e de alhures. o anúncio multilíngüe que eles tinham a fazer era bombástico: num inédito esforço conjunto, está fundada a apcm, a associação antipirataria cinema e música…
trouxeram a nosso (e a seu) conhecimento, então, o recém-nomeado primeiro diretor-geral da apmc: trata-se de antonio borges, que se apresentou contando foi delegado da polícia federal, especializado na área de contrabando. o trabalho principal da apcm, disse o borges, será “de inteligência”, com foco no “nascedouro da pirataria”…
lutando contra a timidez que costuma acometer jornalistas nessas tais “entrevistas coletivas”, remeti uma primeira pergunta ao ex-delegado borges, agora diretor-geral da apcm: “como a apcm pretende se posicionar em relação ao tecnobrega do pará?”. “o trabalho será voltado para a inteligência”, repetiu. “não adianta só prender camelôs nas ruas“, prosseguiu, reafirmando que é preciso descobrir o nascedouro da pirataria e “levar a notícia à polícia”. observei, trôpego, que em muitos casos os tecnobregas não podem ser considerados exatamente piratas, uma vez que praticam economia informal de ponta a ponta, sem copiar ilegalmente material de propriedade de gravadora nenhuma e sem infringir direito autoral de editora nenhuma. paulo rosa veio interceder em favor do (ex-)delegado borges: “tanto o tecnobrega quanto nichos do funk carioca, por se desenvolverem nas periferias e não seguirem caminhos tradicionais do mercado, desenvolveram um mercado próprio, de autoria, distribuição e divulgação próprias. mas o camelô que vende tecnobrega também vende cópias piratas de roberto carlos e ana carolina. eles se aproveitam da cadeia de distribuição do tecnobrega”. paulo rosa então mordeu mais forte: “os tecnobregas só sobrevivem como indústria porque não pagam imposto. é uma concorrência desleal, porque nós, gravadoras, somos obrigados a pagar icms, pis, cofins… e competimos com uma indústria que não paga nada disso. se o mesmo canal distribui tecnobrega e pirataria, isso vai ser combatido”…
argumentei que, caso não criassem do modo como criam, os “concorrentes” do tecnobrega simplesmente não existiriam, pois na atual indústria fonográfica brasileira não parece haver gravadora interessada no tecnobrega. paulo rosa respondeu: “o que o público quer, na realidade, é música de graça. eu também quero viajar de graça, me hospedar de graça…”.
[você sabe, não é nada incomum jornalistas – e artistas, produtores, executivos de gravadora, políticos etc. etc. etc. – viajarem de graça, se hospedarem de graça etc. etc. etc.]
paulo rosa esboçou então uma auto-avaliação, uma auto-crítica: “a indústria tem que repensar também o modelo. nós não vamos ser tão rápidos quanto o tecnobrega. hoje, depois de toda a turbulência pela qual a indústria passou no início dos anos 2000, o pensamento é totalmente digital”. e anunciou, diante de uma pergunta sobre os preços estratosféricos dos cds nas lojas “oficiais”: “certamente a reestruturação da indústria passará pela questão do preço”.
indústria das ruas – Pedro Alexandre Sanches
É preciso pensar em reestruturar, como uma empresa que precisa se refazer para sobreviver. Estamos no ramo de oferecer música aos que querem ouvir música, intermediar, facilitar, orientar, escolher, recomendar, apontar, divulgar, levar e trazer, este é o percurso do mercado. Há lugar para todos os intermediadores, facilitadores etc etc etc. Mas não é mais como já foi – mas a as leis são daquele tempo do mercado organizado por meia duzia de empresas, com acesso administrado à midia de massa e aos meios de produção – estudios, fábricas e as estrelas. Já era – estamos precisando reestruturar, mandar embora os funcionarios que perderam a função, despedir os que não se adaptam, reinvestir tempo e dinheiro em outras coisas que farão o trabalho anterior de outra forma, mais moderna, mais ao gosto do mercado, mais eficientes. Uma empresa de onibus que investe em aviação, e dá certo. É mais ou menos por ai.
Lendo e Remoendo – As Peripécias do Pena
The collision of code and culture seems to erupt as the digital paradigm empowers various ‘revolutions.’ Conflict between the old and new are often expected. Perhaps it is here that we find some hints about why Brazil sometimes shines as a guiding light in the global debate. Thinking of code and culture together as partnering with a similar approach from a government is the line that differentiates the performance of  Brazilian Ministry of Culture under the leadership of Gilberto Gil. In a time when former models and concepts are melting away, and political and economic approaches are showing limited capacity as tools to explain and operate the needed transitions, Gil's ‘Digital Culture’ approach is enpowering innovative strategies that are starting to spill out and influence important national decision processes that were initially out of the reach of a ministry that operates with less than 1% of the national budget.
The transition to Digital TV and the digital convergence in media are among these processes which are now facing critical moments of decision, and once again the Brazilian Ministry of Culture is showing the way with it's ‘I Forum Nacional de TVs Públicas‘ [1st Public TVs National Forum]. The event will happen next week in Brasilia, gathering representatives from the more than 80 public initiatives among  educational, legislative, community and public access TV networks, and will be open to remote participation through a virtual forum.
O Ministério da Cultura (Minc) trabalha em três frentes na preparação para a chegada da TV Digital no mercado brasileiro. Aumentar a produção das TVs públicas e cuidar da infra-estrutura são os objetivos práticos iniciais. No campo da regulamentação, quer criar um grande debate, no próximo mês, quando será realizado o Fórum Nacional de TVs Públicas.
Ministério da Cultura trabalha para aumentar produção e infra-estrutura das TVs públicas – Agência Brasil
O processo teve início em setembro de 2006, como decorrência da atuação conjunta das quatro principais entidades representativas do campo público da TV – a Associação Brasileira de Emissoras Públicas, Educativas e Culturais (ABEPEC), a Associação Brasileira de Televisão Universitária (ABTU), a Associação Brasileira de Televisões e Rádios Legislativas (ASTRAL) e a Associação Brasileira de Canais Comunitárioss (ABCCOM) – e de seu diálogo permanente e construtivo com a Secretaria do Audiovisual do MinC. A proposta era de lançar na mesa de discussão todos os problemas que envolvem a televisão não-comercial, na multiplicidade de canais que a constituem. Canais estatais ou públicos, do ponto de vista da gestão; canais abertos ou fechados, pelo sistema de transmissão; canais educativos, legislativos, culturais, comunitários, universitários, institucionais, pelo conteúdo; canais de vários tipos e tamanhos, enfim, todos identificados pelo objetivo de prestar serviços de interesse público sem finalidade de lucro. E identificados, igualmente, pela carência dramática de recursos, pela falta de amparo numa legislação clara e coerente, e pelo tratamento subalterno em relação ao dispensado à televisão comercial privada.
Uma Constituinte para a televisão pública – Jornalistas em Ação
Defendemos que este novo marco legal revise a consignação de canais feita às atuais concessionárias, evitando tanto o desperdício do espectro quanto a cessão automática de um bem público, escasso e limitado, sem a devida contrapartida por parte das entidades que irão explorá-lo. Queremos a otimização do espectro. Este, deve servir ao interesse da sociedade, garantindo de forma democrática a presença de diversas fontes de informação. Para isso, a definição do plano de canais (a distribuição do espaço no espectro) deve primar por este objetivo e não pela simples acomodação das emissoras hoje existentes. Esta visão passa por (1) uma “limpeza” na forma como o espectro é usado atualmente, retirando canais que infringem a legislação e aqueles que perdem sentido face à modernização introduzida com a tecnologia digital, tais como as que servem para repetição de sinais e as outorgas para serviços de TV paga; e (2) uma ampliação do espetro utilizado, com o uso da faixa que inclui os canais 60 a 69 e da faixa hoje conhecida como VHF baixo (canais 7 a 13) exclusivamente para emissoras de natureza pública.
Carta Aberta ao Governo Lula e ao Povo Brasileiro – Filmeola Livre
The few mature commercial TV networks that today dominate the Brazilian market are not happy with all these novelties. Along side the gang of public broadcasters, digital convergence is bringing into the field new and economically powerful players such as the telcos. The possibility of having to cope with so much new competition is causing the incumbents to shield their present positions by avoiding the open debate. From the perspective of the political debate, the public broadcasting collective movement is easily seen as an assault of Lula's ‘lefty’ government over ‘free’ media.
Até pouco tempo, a simples lembrança da elaboração de um novo marco regulatório incomodava os grandes radiodifusores privados feito espinho na carne. Mas após a entrada das teles como parte interessadíssima no mercado da tv digital, a ala megaempresarial da radiodifusão se viu obrigada a não ignorar o tema sob pena de sair perdendo… No bojo da convergência tecnológica onde a atual e arcaica legislação precisa ser revista, o empurrão vai bem. Ao menos a pauta da comunicação pública não deve ficar à margem, e as oportunidades de expor as reinvidicações não passarão em branco pelas entidades do setor.
Carta ao Ministro – Relativize
Todas essas emissoras, é claro, não tem público. A audiência delas não passa de um traço, porque o telespectador não tem nenhum interesse pelo evangelho da esquerda. No entanto, estão aí, financiadas por nossos impostos (exceção feita às emissoras de universidades privadas — as mantidas por ONGs não são exceção, porque no Brasil a maioria delas é sustentada por convênios com a administração pública ou patrocinadas pelas empresas estatais). Servem para dar emprego aos companheiros, e por isso vão parasitar o contribuinte por toda eternidade.
Mais uma TV Pública para divulgar o evangelho socialista – O Apaniguado
Open code and open culture are playing an important role in the Brazilian debate over the digital convergence. But in the middle of the general drift toward more openness it is interesting to note a more protective action that Gilberto Gil is also pointing to —  the ‘UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions’. After all, a culture that is opening itself to a free flow of global influences has to have a way to maintain and protect the cultural identity of its own territory. As bloggers comment about the issue, an old post reminds us that although we now face new paradigms, history is often repeating itself.
“A convenção da Diversidade Cultural, que foi aprovada em Paris ano passado, na Unesco. É uma iniciativa da Unesco – a Cultura sai da OMC (Organização Mundial do Comércio), vai pro âmbito da Unesco. A Convenção garante aos Estados, às nações, aos governos nacionais, autonomia no tratamento da questão, proteção da sua diversidade cultural, quando assim for entendido, quando assim for conveniente etc. Essa convenção vai ser ratificada, já foi ratificada por quase quarenta países e agora em junho, em Paris, ela entra em funcionamento.” Gilberto Gil entrevistado por Bob Fernandes.
Gil: “Há o perigo dos monopólios e oligopólios” – Bob Fernandes no Terra Magazine
O apoio à cultura conta desde ontem com mais um instrumento de protecção internacional – a convenção da UNESCO (Organização das Nações Unidas para a Educação, Ciência e Cultura) para a diversidade. Mais de 50 países, entre os quais o Brasil e a China, assinaram este documento que quer ser garantia da diversidade de expressões culturais num mercado em que a concorrência é cada vez maior e a produção artística tem vindo a ganhar peso. Aceite por todos os países da UE, a Convenção para a Protecção e a Promoção das Expressões Culturais foi liderada pela França e o Canadá e teve forte oposição dos Estados Unidos, que acabaram por não a ratificar. O documento que consagra o direito dos Estados a “proteger” as práticas culturais a partir de uma “multiplicidades de meios”, segundo o diário francês Libération, foi visto pelos EUA como um atentado à livre concorrência que visava, sobretudo, a indústria americana do cinema e do entretenimento.
Convenção da diversidade cultural em vigor – Pobreza na Imprensa
O professor Murilo Ramos destaca que políticas nacionais de comunicação arrojadas foram concebidas no âmbito da UNESCO nos anos 80, resultando no Relatório McBride. A aliança neoliberal homogênica da era Reagan / Tatcher tratou de articular a saída dos EUA da UNESCO, esvaziando a discussão. Nesta época se estabelece a ideologia de CS que dá ao cidadão o direito de ser informado, mas não de informar – consumir informação, e não produzir.
Regulamentando a Comunicação Social Eletrônica: Rádios Comunitárias querem influir na política de CS – Ecologia Digital
It is apparent that the Digital Age in Brazil has not only created new issues but that it has put old ones back on the table. As code, culture and policy converge we can expect to see both new and old versions of the perennial tensions between “order and progress” — the very words that are emblazoned on the flag of Brazil.

author: Jose Murilo


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Colombia: Five out of Five Cabbies Agree · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Bloggings by Boz was recently in Colombia once again and launched an informal poll of taxi drivers in Bogota and Cartagena.  All five gave President Alvaro Uribe high marks on security, which is something that was not surprising.  In addition to the security issue, he also asked them about other pressing issues, however, “I’ll stress that five cab drivers in two of Colombia’s major cities should not be taken as representative of the population at large.”

author: Eduardo Avila


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Cuba: Airport Gunfight · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Both Babalu Blog and Cuban American Pundits report on a gunfight at Havana airport.


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Cuba:  World Press Freedom Day  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“By my count, there are at least 31 men imprisoned in Cuba jails because of their work as journalists.”  Uncommon Sense recognizes World Press Freedom Day.


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Egypt: More than 1 Billion in Aid from US · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

“Egypt famous e-journalist Wael Abbas who is currently in the United States had a little interview with Condi Rice’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Middle East Scott Carpenter for few minutes about the American aid which according to the annual report of the American aid organization Egypt took between years 2005 and 2006 in the midst of the so called Political reform one billion American dollar!!,” reports  Egyptian blogger Zeinobia.


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El Salvador: “War on Terrorism” Marks · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Tim Muth's El Salvador Blog links to the recent US State Department's Country Report on Terrorism and how El Salvador has participated.  There is some worry that the broad definition of terrorism in the country's anti-terrorism law may place other non-related activities, such as protests, liable for harsh penalties.


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Estonia, Russia: Ansip and Putin · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

The Russian Dilettante compares the Russian president to the Estonian PM and writes about their respective roles in the current conflict over the Bronze Soldier: “I also suspect that the ‘riots’ wouldn't have happened without Moscow's instigation, which is no wonder, Putin being the same Soviet type as Ansip. No doubt Moscow causes more harm than good to the Russians in Estonia with its yells of ‘fascism,’ ‘boycott,’ and ‘discrimination.'”

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Estonia, Russia: More on the Bronze Soldier · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Itching for Eestimaa writes: “With the issue of the Estonian government's decision to relocate a Soviet war memorial to a military cemetery de facto concluded — though the repercussions will no doubt linger for years — the situation at the Estonian embassy in Moscow has become the new focus point of this contest of wills.” Estland posts pictures of the Tallinn monument at its new location (text in German). At Copydude‘s blog, an ethnic Russian living in Estonia posts a plea for help and inspires yet another heated discussion in the comments section.


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Ethiopian blog blockage sparks free speech debate · Global Voices
Andrew Heavens

Web watchdog the OpenNet Initiative this week confirmed that the Ethiopian government has been blocking scores of anti-government websites and millions of blogs hosted by Google's Blogger service (see Reuters story).
Ethiopian bloggers responded to the news with a string of defiant posts, vowing to continue writing and beat the blockages.
But the announcement also sparked a debate over the dangers of free speech after one of the blocked websites published an article applauding separatist rebels for slaughtering 65 Ethiopians in an attack on an oilfield (see Reuters story) – and urging the fighters to keep on killing.
OpenNet told Reuters that it had gathered technical proof that Ethiopian authorities were filtering out the IP addresses of political websites – and had blocked Blogger's entire Blogspot domain, home to millions of blogs across the world.
A spokesman for Ethiopia's Ministry of Information dismissed the claim as a “complete fabrication”. But Rob Faris, US-based research director for OpenNet, said the evidence of the blockage was “overwhelming”.
According to a longer version of the Reuters article posted in OpenNet says Ethiopian blogs really blocked on MeskelSquare:
“We are very interested in Ethiopia because it is a very recent entry into this field. Its internet penetration is very low but it is still going to the trouble of blocking the internet. That shows the lengths that the regime is willing to go to,” said Faris…
Ethiopian bloggers have started displaying ‘Blocked in Ethiopia’ badges on their websites and swapping technical tips on how to get round the filters. Other sites currently inaccessible in Ethiopia include the home page for the opposition Coalition for Unity and Democracy and 39 out of the 61 Ethiopian weblogs tracked by GlobalVoices, a website that reports on weblogs outside the West part-funded by Reuters…
OpenNet said it found evidence of the blockage by recruiting volunteers who ran programs on their computers inside Ethiopia scanning the network run by the state monopoly provider Ethiopian Telecommunications Corporation. The results were then emailed back to OpenNet for analysis.
The scans followed the individual units or “packets” of digital data that get sent out whenever an internet user types a web address into a browser's address box. “We found that the packets were dropped at the same place…Any packet associated with a particular IP address was dropped. You get a ‘time out’ message when you try to access the site. Your request never leaves the country…It is the simplest and bluntest way of blocking,” said Mr Faris.
The Other Side responded with two defiant posts Unless it is just a temporary glitch, it seems that… and Ethiopia Tops CPJ’s Dishonor Roll saying:
For the record—I don’t take kindly to being silenced. My days of sporadic blogging have come to an end and I will be back in full force. Bring it on!
Seminawork matched her post for post with Finally! and Zemedkun Tekle and Internet Blockage saying:
The government should and will know (after this post) that it can't block us from writing, whatever technology it uses.
But there was also disquiet over an article published by Ethiopian Review, a hugely-popular anti-government website that regularly comments on breaking news. The article in question commented on news of an attack by the separatist Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) on a Chinese-managed oil field in Ethiopia's remote Somali region in which nine Chinese and 65 Ethiopian workers were killed. Ethiopian Review commented:
[It's unfortunate that the Chinese workers lost their lives in the crossfire. Their government failed them by not heeding ONLF's warnings. Over all, the brave ONLF fighters should be congratulated for a job well done. ONLF and OLF might also want to consider carrying out similar operations on Al Amoudi's gold mines that are cash cows for the Woyanne terrorist regime. Need a reminder? Do it for Messeret Tadesse who was shot by Woyanne soldiers in the back. Do it for Shibire Desalegn who was gunned down by Woyanne gunmen. Do it for the countless other civilians who were brutally  tortured and murdered by Woyanne thugs.]
The comment sparked immediate outrage from bloggers and commenters alike.
Commenter tk responded to the original post about the blockages on MeskelSquare by asking whether it was so wrong to use technology to stop the spreading of such views:
none of us don't approve of any censorship, but for a diverse and politically fragile country like ethiopia, do you support such devilish messages from websites and blogs to be heard by the innocent ethiopians citizens in africa????
we need your public answer to this important question.
you keep saying, the blocked sites are those critical of government. is asking for more bombings and more massacres being “critical”????
Blocked blogger 4kilo laid into the Ethiopian Review post in Going against the country or Opposing a government?:
trying to oppose or criticize or condemn a brutal regime is one thing but going against the very country that we love and trying to protect is totally different thing.
Filweha Pundit expressed his own disgust at the Ethiopian Review entry in Misguided opposition – ER goes Mad!:
There are a number of opposition websites and blogs struggling for a political change in Ethiopia – so that the law prevails and democracy functions in a meaningful way in Ethiopia – and that is a healthy thing. But asking for violence and bloodshed in the country (while you are sitting in Virginia or anywhere else) and telling insurgents to come and attack the nation, justifying killings of foreigners, professionals and citizens who have done nothing but do their jobs, is I think a misguided and blind opposition.

author: Andrew Heavens


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Free Monem Campaign · Global Voices
sami ben gharbia

As the world celebrates World Press Freedom Day, the Egyptian journalist and blogger,  Abdel Monem Mahmoud, sits in jail after reporting on torture and condemning the transferring of civilians to military tribunals.
On this occasion, a number of bloggers and activists from around the world have launched the Free Monem campaign. “ We cannot let the regime succeed in silencing him.  We have to show the Egyptian regime that when you imprison a blogger, you don't silence his voice, you AMPLIFY it!” they wrote in their mail announcement.

author: sami ben gharbia


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Guyana: Copying Creativity?  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Someone on My Space is using Guyana-Gyal‘s moniker and she's not happy about it:  “I so vex me words chack up in me trote.”


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Guyana: Mt. Roraima  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Guest authoring on the Caribbean Beat Blog, Nicholas Laughlin writes an account of his hiking expedition to Mt. Roraima, a tabletop mountain located on the borders of Venezuela, Brazil and Guyana.


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Guyane: Strange Fruit · Global Voices
Alice Backer

En Guyane posts  [Fr] pictures of a mangosteen, a local fruit originating from Asia. She calls the fruit “sweet and strange”.

author: Alice Backer


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Hong Kong: Blog Chain: Lemon Tea · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Recently Hong Kong Bloggers are playing the Blog-chain game around a topic: Lemon Tea. (Technorati search: 檸檬茶) “Lemon Tea” is initially this year's examination topic for Chinese composition at Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination. The topic was criticised by teachers and education authority because they found it “too post-modern”, “too board” and “too difficult to give a mark”.
Diumanpark criticised [zh] the education system has assumed that everyone assume everyone else are stupid, student too stupid to write on a loose topic, teachers too stupid to give a mark, etc…
While other bloggers start to play the chain game to show the creativities in the blogsphere.

author: Oiwan Lam


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India: A place to pray · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Indian Muslims on the difficulty of finding a place to pray. “I wonder how many non-Muslims are comfortable with Muslims praying in front of them. I have seen people, in northern India, object just for the sake of doing it. On the other hand I have seen very amiable responses by non-Muslims in southern India. I would go ahead and claim that southern India is much more tolerant towards others when it comes to accepting idiosyncrasies.”


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India: Cartoons and White Women · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Desidabba on Nina Paley's work as a cartoonist and why it might just be kicking up a controversy. “Then of course, Paley is a white American woman. Cue the drum beats baying for her blood. This complex we have when it comes to white people is so ingrained in our psyche that we don’t know whether to celebrate that they’re paying us attention or get angry at the direction taken by their interest.”


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India: UP Politics · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Recursive Hypocrisy on the politics of Uttar Pradesh. If opinion/exit polls are to be believed, and taken with a pinch of salt, one can come to a reasonable conclusion. Mayawati will be the next chief minister. The question is, with whose support. Given the law in its current form, and given that the probability of her winning more than 160 seats in very small, she has to get either the BJP or the SP.”


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Iran:Just a Kiss · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Zahra says[Fa] Hezbollah in Iran criticized Iranian president,Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for kissing the hand of his primary school's teacher recently.His teacher was an old woman and wore gloves. The blogger says why he did not choose a man.You can see the photo here.

author: Fred Petrossian


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Israel: Israelis call for Prime Minister Olmert to resign · Global Voices
Yaeli

This article was co-written by David Bogner  aka Treppenwitz
“So, two Israelis walk into a bar… “
Any way you look at it, that kind of opening line doesn’t portent well for a funny outcome to the joke.
You see, few people have a sense of humor about Israelis these days. Those who are sympathetic to (or happen to be) Israelis tend to be a tad sensitive… and those who are, um, critical of Israel/Israelis find little amusing about us whatsoever.
So when we (Yaeli and Treppenwitz) were approached a few weeks ago to step up and help present a fair and balanced biweekly snapshot of the Israeli blogosphere to the GV audience, we were a little daunted by the enormity, and perhaps futility, of the task.
The first challenge facing us was the staggering range of political and religious positions represented among Israeli blogs. The second challenge, not surprisingly, was the need to convince each GV reader that the words ‘Israel’ and ‘Israeli’ used in the context we would be presenting would almost certainly mean something substantially different from what he/she had in mind.  My (Treppenwitz‘s) mother is fond of pointing out that “anyone driving slower than me is a moron and anyone driving faster is a maniac”. Well, here in Israel the same can be said about just about any aspect of our society. Anyone to the right of me is an extremist/zealot, and anyone to the left is a moonbat/anarchist.
Just to use the two of us as an example, we are both former Americans who now call Israel home. Yet we represent two entirely different ‘turfs’ in our adopted society. Yaeli is a lefty and Treppenwitz leans to the right. She’s secular and he's religious. She lives in cosmopolitan Tel Aviv and he enjoys the rural lifestyle of a ‘West Bank settlement’. Just to confuse the matter even more, Treppenwitz suspects Yaeli is a bit of a closet hawk on certain national defense issues, and she's cheerfully convinced Treppenwitz is a hopeless liberal when it comes to a wide swath of social justice topics.
Yet even these landmarks don’t really help pigeonhole either of us.
To paraphrase a joke that has made the email rounds lately: “The one thing we all have in common is that deep down, everyone secretly thinks they are above-average drivers.”  In short, like most people on the planet, we Israelis secretly think we are centrists/balanced (not to mention on the side of the angels) in all matters political, social and/or religious.
But of course we can’t all be correct in that assumption.
This long-winded introduction is our way of asking that readers look at our bimonthly contributions to GV with as few preconceptions as humanly possible. We’ve both learned far more from reading bloggers with whom we disagree than by playing it safe and filling our blogrolls with members of our respective ‘amen choirs’.
As fate would have it, however, for our first contribution to GV we are covering an issue that seems to find an uncommon convergence of viewpoints across the left, right and center:  The reaction to the just-released Winograd report on the handling of the Second Lebanon War by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Minister of Defense Amir Peretz, among others.  Our first contribution is thus a joint introduction and collaboration although Treppenwitz and I (Yaeli) will also often trade off weeks with individual contributions. Now, on with the round-up.
Yeshiva trained Rafi G succinctly summed up the thoughts that appear to be foremost in everyone's mind in his post titled Olmert Go Home: “You are more worried about your own career than about Israel.”  Yohay of Things and Stuff elaborates on this line of thought by noting: “The public wanted a national inquiry committee with more authority. This committee’s interim report is enough for a resignation. Add 4 cases of corruption allegations, and less than 10% support. What more can we ask for?” and he challenges “Bring on the demonstrations!”
Over at One Jerusalem, predictions are made that the fall-out from the report may well bring on early elections and at the very least a shake-up in Olmert‘s cabinet.  The necessity of the time and expense expended preparing the report is also questioned,
“But with all of this before us, is there really anything that hasn’t already been figured out by most of the Israeli public? After all, the reserve soldiers who were sent into battle without enough rations, ammunition – even water – do they need a long and very in depth report by a group to retired generals and legal experts to conclude what has already been thought out by nearly everyone with an IQ of at least 75?”
Bert, of Dutchblog Israel appears to be one of those who had already thought things out and come to the same conclusion as he wrote just prior to the report's release to the public that he found an opinion piece appearing in the Israeli national newspaper Yedioth Aharonoth on the issue particularly enlightening.  The article praises the actions of then Prime Minister Golda Meir following the Yom Kippur War when she resigned from her position despite having been cleared of any error or wrongdoing in the report that followed that war because she felt that she had lost the support of the citizens she represented.  Meanwhile, Imshin of Not a Fish, faced “decisions decisions” as she tried to decide between watching the reading of the Winograd report or watching an old episode of the Gilmore Girls.  Escapism, it seems won out.
The clamour from the right side of the Israeli blogosphere is equally unified in its condemnation of the top political players.  For instance, Carl of the Israel Matzav (“Israel Situation”) blog writes about an unusually selfless act (for an Israeli politician) by a cabinet minster from the Labor party – Eitan Cabal – who has resigned from the government in protest, saying that he hopes the Prime Minister [and one presumes other government ministers] follow his example.  Over at My Obiter Dicta, Jeffrey Woolfe goes beyond calling for the resignation of the three most visible targets of the report.  He points out that the Israeli public is calling for the kind of clean sweep that only early elections can supply.   One of the few bloggers who eschewed news sources and read the Winograd report for himself is Ben Chorin.  His analysis of the report's high points can be found here and far surpassed the gloss provided by the mainstream media.
Although one might assume that a settler writing under the nom de blog ‘Jameel at The Muqata‘ would take humorous approach to the news, this blogger's take on the report is anything but ironic.  It seems few people have been able to find their sense of humor about the failures revealed by the report.  OK, so not everyone has lost their sense of humor.  Aussie Dave of Israellycool provides a collection of hilarious photos of the the disgraced PM, Defense Minister and former Chief of Military Staff along with perfect captions.
The next few days will be a crucial time of political manoeuvring within the Knesset and political activism on the Israeli street.  We suspect as these two important events unfold, the current unity of opinion calling for Olmert and Peretz to resign will be replaced by partisan politics as people begin looking at who they feel are the best choices to replace them… a topic about which there is precious little consensus.

author: Yaeli


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Jamaica:  New Caribbean Literary Blog · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“These are very interesting times,” writes Jamaican Geoffrey Philp, as he reports on a new blog by the Caribbean Review of Books.


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Jordan: Media Freedom Backslide  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

“Are we witnessing a media freedom backslide in Jordan?  For the past couple years or so, Jordan has been making baby steps towards safeguarding the freedom of the press, one was the recent scrapping of an article that imprisoned journalists. However, from what I read this week, things are not looking good as it seems the kingdom is regressing to its earlier status of muzzling press freedoms.I will try not to jump to conclusions quickly and point out that the Jordanian government has denied banning the newspaper,” writes Jordanian blogger Natasha Tynes on the World Press Freedom Day.


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Kazakhstan: Media Forum · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Ben Paarmann reports on this year's Eurasia Media Forum, an annual (and controversial) event in Kazakhstan that, apparently, does not actually give many opportunities for journalists to participate.


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Kazakhstan: Rules Too Tight? · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

KZBlog discusses whether or not policies in Kazakhstan are discouraging and scaring off investors.


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Kazakhstan: UNHCHR Visits · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, just paid a visit to Kazakhstan and Bonnie Boyd discusses Kazakhstan's human rights situation.


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Kyrgyzstan: Love and Broken Glass · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Leila Tanayeva interviews the director of a short documentary on life as a teenage girl, love, and bride kidnapping in Kyrgyzstan.


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Lebanon: The History of the Car Bomb  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Lebanese blogger Bashir Moussa  briefs us about the history of car bombs. “The car bomb was invented in the US and was used to devastating effect by Mario Buda, an anarchist who exploded his horse-drawn wagon on Wall Street in 1920,” he notes.


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Libya: Quick Video Tour  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Libyan blogger Hibo Abo  takes us on a quick tour of Tripoli in this video link.


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Libya: Why No $100 Laptops? · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Libyan blogger Khadija Teri laments the end of a dream to bring affordable $100 laptops to classrooms in her country. “It was supposed to be happening this year in Libya too but it didn't … what happened??? We were looking forward to it… promises, promises… sigh…” she writes.


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Macau: Why Did The Macau Disturbance Occur? · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

ESWN continued to translate article concerning Macau May Day disturbance. There are six listed reasons: In summary, this is an almost-zero-sum game.  If the demands of the present marchers are met, another set of marchers will show up because their interests have been adversely affected as a result.  Even if the overall welfare of the general population is maximized, someone will be unhappy.


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New political movement: Chile Primero · Global Voices
Rosario Lizana

The electoral system in Chile promotes alliances between candidates, called binominal. For Senators- that run for regions- or deputies- that run for district-it is the same system. Every list can have two candidates, the sum total of both candidates’ votes must be more than the 50 % to win. This means that if candidate has only 10%, it is most probable that it will not be enough representation to win, and the candidate must make an alliance with another candidate to obtain the proper percentag. The list wins according to the percentage. This logic has developed two strong wings, the right and the left. The left wing has been the one with more representation since the end of the dictatorship period (right wing). All of Chile's presidents since then has been from the leftist coalition.  In this scenario, building a new political movement is extremely difficult, as an alliance with the right or left coalition is always necessary.
In spite of this, a new political movement, Chile Primero [ES] has risen due to the citizen dissatisfation of some of the politicians. Fernando Flores [ES], Jorge Schaulsohn and Esteban Valenzuela [ES] are supporting this initiative that will be launched on May 12. All of them were members of the PPD political party, Party for the Democracy, but they are no longer members. Bloggers have been providing opinions about the movement, as chilepost [ES] explains:
Son reconocidas sus posturas liberales en lo económico. Schaulsohn ha actuado de frente y criticado el excesivo poder estatal. Flores siempre está hablando de los saltos que Chile necesita en materia educacional, del bajo nivel de la clase política y de como debemos integrarnos a la sociedad del conocimiento.  Creo que en ese movimiento, se está gestando lo que en otros lados no: un espacio de discusión de lo que Chile necesita, aunque obviamente hay una estrategia de construcción de una plataforma político-electoral en ello.
Alejandro Valenzuela [ES] posts an article from Angélica Meneses that touches on the relation of this new movement with the actual presidency:
Pero la pregunta lógica es la siguiente: ¿cómo van a actuar frente al gobierno que eligieron y del que hoy ya no son parte? Esto es algo que aseguran tener resuelto. Valenzuela sostiene que “vamos a seguir apoyando a la Presidenta en todas sus cosas constructivas, pero creemos que el país necesita una oferta política distinta.
The president of the PPD party Sergio Bitar [ES] has been defending the left coalition project, well known as “concertación” and in referring to Chile Primero, MasdemocraciamasPPD (ES) post an article of the opinions of Bitar:
El presidente del PPD recalcó que “para nosotros la Concertación es un proyecto político de gran importancia, distinto de la derecha, es un proyecto político por la libertad, por la democracia y por la justicia social”, dejando entrever que al ubicarse Chile Primero fuera del conglomerado se establece la separación definitiva con los ex PPD.
A lot of young people from different regions are involved with this new movement, Osvaldo Yañez [ES] is from Talca, and he expresses:
Aquellos que vivimos fuera de Santiago, no nos resignaremos a esperar “concesiones graciosas” de tecnocratas de la capital. Muchos somos los hombres y mujeres de provincia que estamos comprometidos con que Chile sea un país mas grande, un país emprendedor, un país de hermanos. Es por esto que veo en el Movimiento Chile Primero, una forma de aglutinar a aquellos que vemos que en el hacer política estamos encargándonos de un mejor futuro para los nuestros.

author: Rosario Lizana


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Poland: May Days · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

The beatroot writes about May holidays in Warsaw.


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South Korea: Calories and eating culture · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Andy Jackson from Marmot's Hole blogs about foods and calories statistic of 30s and 40s. For Korean man, soju is the second source of energy.


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South Korea: Dodgy contracts proliferate in face of new labour law · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Jamie from Two Koreas blogs about how the new labour law ends up encouraging a range of bad practices.


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South Korea: Libel? · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Michael Hurt expresses his frustration as a foreigner in South Korea. This time, his friend is caught in a libel case because he has told the truth.


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St. Lucia, Taiwan: Friends Again · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Says French Caribbean site New Media [Fr]: “Taiwan, through the hand of its Foreign Affairs minister James Huang and his St. Lucian counterpart Rufus Bouquet, has officially signed Wednesday in Castries a treaty reestablishing diplomatic ties between the two countries. China has already stated  it feels ‘offended’ by the document.”


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Trinidad & Tobago: Urban Planning  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“Why is Trinidad so lost on the urban planning front?” asks Club Soda and Salt.  “It’s time to really put some thought into improving the capital city.”


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Ukraine: Full Moon · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Abdymok, during his early-morning run, talks religion and politics with “a longhaired bearded man missing most of his left front tooth.”


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Ukraine: More Chernobyl Photos · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Michael Forster Rothbart posts photos from an abandoned village near Chernobyl and writes about one image from Pripyat that he was especially impressed with.


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Yemen: Breaking into Saudi Prison  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Breaking out of prisons is the norm. Not any more. Blogger Jane Novak  links to an article which claims that a cell of nine Yemenis were planning to break into a prison in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.


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Africa: Open Africa Project · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Timbuktu Chronicles writes about Open Africa Project: The achievement of this vision for Africa has been enabled by the integration of leading edge GIS (Geographic Information Systems) technology with the Internet.

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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AlJazeeraTalk Blocked in Saudi Arabia · Global Voices
Mohamed Nanabhay

Muhammad Basheer and Amaar are both reporting that AlJazeeraTalk, a popular Arabic youth blog and discussion board, has been blocked to users in Saudi Arabia.
AlJazeera Talk has responded by saying “Thank You Saudi Arabia!” They are asking if the block (which ironically occurred on World Press Freedom Day) was the start of a new war against bloggers or just an unintentional error? They also point out that regimes though out the region are trying to suppress bloggers in one way or another.

author: Mohamed Nanabhay


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Armenia: On the Campaign Trail · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Onnik Krikorian reports from the election campaign trail with Armenia's ruling Republican party.


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Armenia: Radical Opposition Rally · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Onnik Krikorian reports that a radical opposition rally in Yerevan attracted thousands of supporters.


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Bahamas, Bermuda:  Election Parallels  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Bahama Pundit examines the results of the recently-concluded Bahamian elections.    And Politics.bm sees parallels between the Bahamas and Bermuda's own upcoming elections.


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Bahrain: Freedom of Press Protest  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Bahraini journalists and intelligentsia protested outside Parliament on the World Press Freedom Day, reports blogger Mahmood Al Yousif. “The number of people present were a cross section of society but all of whom share a basic understanding that they support the basic human right of the freedom to express oneself without fear of persecution,” he notes.

author: Amira Al Hussaini


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Bolivia: Blogger Meet-up in La Paz · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Crónicas Urbandinas [ES] recounts and posts pictures of the 4th Blogger Meet-up in the capital city of La Paz.


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Bolivia: Interview with Filmmaker Jorge Sanjines · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Javier Rodríguez reprints the entire unedited interview with famed Bolivian filmmaker Jorge Sanjinés in his blog  Diseccionando a la Musa Perdida [ES].  Part of the interview was also published in the magazine section of the newspaper Opinión.


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Caribbean: A Deep, Almost Visceral Love  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“If one recurring theme seems to run through the works, it is probably a deep, almost visceral love for the landscapes of the Caribbean, a fierce and nostalgic longing for the place which many regard as home.”  Antilles weblog quotes James Ferguson on The Oxford Book of Caribbean Verse.


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Caucasus: Media Freedom · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Social Science in the Caucasus looks at media freedom in the Caucasus and how it measures up with other parts of the world.

author: Nathan Hamm


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Chile: Personal Reflections on New Political Party · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Global Voices contributing author, Rosario Lizana recently published an article about the Chilean blogosphere's reaction to the new emerging party, Chile Primero.  In her personal blog, Comunicacion [ES] she adds her own thoughts about this new movement.


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Colombia: More Analysis on Uribe’s Visit to Washington · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Adam Isaacson's Plan Colombia and Beyond blog has plenty of analysis and follow-up on President Alvaro Uribe's visit to Washington, DC. He also links to quotes provided by members of Congress and a YouTube video of the protest.


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Colombia: Uribe Met by Protestors During Visit to Washington · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

The Colombia Herald writes about President Alvaro Uribe's recent visit to Washington, where approximately 100 protestors greeted him with cries of “assassin!” in reference to the alleged ties to paramilitary forces.  Protestors also were opposed to any free trade agreement with the U.S. Flickr users b.wu and A Look Askance both have complete photo sets of the protest.


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DRC: UDPS’ Early Report Card for Kabila · Global Voices
Alice Backer

UDPS Liège posts an interview with Rachel Kabua Atwele, a Belgium-based UDPS sympathizer. She says [Fr]: “Let's not kid ourselves, dictatorship is alive and well. Those who believed in the good faith of Kabila the imposter are already having a hard time: Thérèse Nlandu, Pasteur Kuthino, the coup d'état on the majority through high-level corruption in the pro- Bemba provinces are sure signs of the stifling of the opposition by the AMP camp.”


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Ecuador: Solutions for Cell Phone Users · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

In Ecuador, when one wanted to change service providers or utilize a phone not purchased from the company, it was a complete headache.  Luigi Salas [ES] tells us that all of that will be made easier due to a ruling by the Telecommunication Superintendency in that country.


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Egypt: Article on Bloggers Published  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Egyptian blogger Issandr El Amrani  links to an article  he published in The Guardian's Comment is Free site “about Arab and Egyptian bloggers and how they might face the ongoing security clampdown.”


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Egypt: Female Journalist Jailed  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

“The Nuzha Misdemeanours Court in Cairo issued it´s verdict against Huwaida Taha today. Taha, who produced the al Jazeera documentary on torture in Egypt, ‘behind the sun’ (Wará ash Shams in arabic) was sentenced to six months in prison, and ordered to pay a fine of 30 000 Egyptian pounds/equivalent to 5200 USD. She was found to be guilty of ‘harming Egypt´s national interest’,” writes Egyptian blogger Ibn Al Dunya.


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Estonia, Russia: Bronze Soldier, Again · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Yet another discussion of the Bronze Soldier situation at Edward Lucas’ blog.


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Former Soviet Union: “Petropolis” Review · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

J. Otto Pohl reviews Anya Ulinich's debut novel, Petropolis:


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Guyana: Indigenous Communities Claims Against Swiss Bank · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

The CAC Review reports that indigenous Guyanese communities are among those being represented in an international claim against a Swiss bank for “compensation for its links with a Malaysian timber company…that has poisoned waters and polluted communities.”

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Haiti: Bush to Scold Préval? · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Regarding an upcoming May 9 Préval visit to the White House, Collectif Haiti de Provence writes [Fr]: ”More than a week after a beneficial  tour  hand in hand with President Hugo Chavez … this meeting with the most powerful man on earth … could look like a call to order or caution to those who think that it is impossible to lead Haiti without having in mind the desires of our powerful neighbors.”


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Hong Kong: Blog Hijacked · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

A new blog http://rhetorical.blogspot.com has stolen part of the content (posts and pictures) from a closed blog http://rhetoricalpain.blogspot.com/. The author of the original rhetoricalpain, TWS, has filed a complaint to blogger.com and asked Jacky to spread the news [zh].


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India: HIV/AIDS awareness in Pune · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Deep Griha – an NGO that works in Pune slums blogs about their attempt to increase HIV/ AIDS awareness. “What will bring a housewife onto the streets for something related to AIDS – the seemingly tabooed disease? What will make office-going men and women of corporate India sacrifice their Sundays to protest against discrimination faced by PLHIV at workplace?”

author: Neha Viswanathan


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India: The interiors of India · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Lokayan has random snippets of experiences from the interiors India – as seen through the eyes of a couple of people working in the social sector “Yet we saw hope. We saw people coming together. We saw individual brilliance. We saw people finding joy in small things in life. We derived and continue to derive energy and impetus from these pockets.”


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Indonesia: Deforestation Record · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Indonesia Matters talks about Indonesia's entry into Guinness Book of  World Records. “Indonesia is the world champion in deforestation.”

author: Preetam Rai


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Iraq: Baghdadi Killed Again?  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

“Early afternoon today news came in that Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, chief of the so called Islamic State in Iraq has been killed in Ghazaliya district in western Baghdad.
Uncertainty about the identity of the killed senior terrorist was soon in place, while the Iraqi interior ministry insists it was al-Baghdadi, US officials think otherwise, they confirmed that a senior al-Qaeda operative name Muharib Abdul Latif al-Jubouri was killed though.
So were Jubouri and Baghdadi the same person?” writes Iraqi blogger Omar.


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Iraq: Let the War Begin  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Konfused Kid from Iraq describes who the pro and anti-withdrawal of US forces from Iraq are. “Whatever happens, Iraq's chance of recovery is incredibly slim, maybe it's just best to let the troops out and let the war begins, cuz we're all so very tired,” he suggests.


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Iraq: Stability Under Saddam  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

“It is true right now that Baghdad is a hell on earth and if you only know Baghdad from reading news reports then unfortunately you probably don’t know how bad it is. However there are plenty of areas outside of Baghdad which are better than they have ever been, with more prosperity and freedom than they could have under Saddam. So whether you long for the stability under Saddam I guess it depends where you are (and were) living in Iraq or how much you or your family did demand freedom under Saddam,” writes Iraqi blogger Shaqawa.


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Iraq: The Most Sectarian Blog Ever  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Iraqi blogger Konfused Kid  briefs us about Iraq's most sectarian blog. “We are not all so nice and to prove that you can simply take a look at our homeland, al-Shaqawa (which translates into ‘The Malignanace’) must have felt the same way too, or he doesn't care. His blog isn't coy like Riverbend, nor trying to sound journalistically-neutral like Zeyad, nor is he a reasonable political analyst like ITM, he is an angry, vulgar, simplistic piece of sectarain hatred that is raw and unprocessed. I must say that his viewpoints reflect a nice deal of the Iraqi society today and its voice must be also heard, no matter how rotten and bad it is,” he notes.


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Jamaica: Budget Time  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

It's budget presentation time in Jamaica and City Girl is “simultaneously annoyed and amused that after a budget presentation, there’s a round of cocktail parties to celebrate the occasion…But what are they celebrating though?  Our mounting debts?”


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Jamaica: Sharing Ideas · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“I am rapidly becoming a proponent of people stealing my ideas.”  Jamaican Francis Wade believes that sharing inspiration will bring increased opportunity.


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Japan: May Day march in Tokyo · Global Voices
Chris Salzberg

On April 30th in Tokyo, a May Day march (“MayDay for Freedom and Lives”) with over 400 participants wound its way through central Tokyo. A report on the event has been posted at gyaku.

author: Chris Salzberg


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Jordan: On Spiderman 3 · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Jordanian blogger Naseem Al Tarawanah treated himself to a screening of Spiderman 3 and reviews it here for us. “What a way to start off the summer blockbuster season. The film plays on the special effects that made it famous years ago, and just when you thought they couldn’t do anything more with Spiderman that could surprise you, well, they find a way,” he says.


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Kazakhstan: Digging Deeper on Seidenfeld · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Bonnie Boyd investigates deeper the case of Mark Seidenfeld, an American businessman arrested in Kazakhstan in what some characterize as the use of the judicial system to punish a foreign investor for angering a local partner.


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Kenya: who will be Kenya’s next president? · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

According to 3N Speaks Kenya's next president will be one of these four politicians: “Mwai Kibaki – 75, Raila Odinga – 62,
Kalonzo Musyoka – 53, Uhuru Kenyatta – 46. I will bet my blog on this: Kenya’s next president will come from one of the above four politicians.”


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Korea: Bloggers and Donuts · Global Voices
Hyejin Kim

A blogger who worked at the fast food chain Dunkin’ Donuts in Korea exposed what he said were unsanitary conditions at the factory in his blog on a portal site. The company quickly asked the portal site to delete the post, saying it constituted libel. This response by the company, however, caused the news to spread via other bloggers. Using a basic characteristic of the Internet, they copied the blogger’s original post and spread it to other portal sites and blogs, or wrote about the attitude of the company on their own blogs. Bloggers are satisfied with their victory in exposing the truth. That was the first round of the fight, “bloggers vs company.” Bloggers expressed their feelings on this issue.
“Goangye danjeol ui sijak” expressed his feelings in a post entitled, My Love, Dunkin…,:
2년전에 헤어진 그녀로부터 이별을 통보받았을 때보다 더 침울하다. 온 마음을 다해 필자의 모든 것을 주었다고 자신있게 말할 수 있는 그녀와의 이별 사건에 비교할 수 없을 정도로 배신감이 느껴진다.
For the next round of the fight, Dunkin’ Donuts used another tactic. They started sending a statement to bloggers with the title of “Standpoint of Dunkin Donuts on the Online Issue.” It's quoted from a blog, http://xenix.egloos.com/1558751:
온라인의 파급력은 이제 누구나가 아는 사실입니다. 훈훈한 내용이 순식간에 퍼져나가는 순기능이 있는 반면에 가끔은 잘못된 내용이 마치 사실인양 오도되기도 합니다. 그런 차원에서 저희는 먼저 잘못된 내용이 많은 사람들을 통해 사실로 받아들여질 것에 대한 조치를 포털에 1차적으로 요청한 것이며, 포털에서는 저희의 내용이 근거가 있다고 판단하여 해당 게시물을 삭제조치한 것으로 알고 있습니다…처음 문제제기를 했다는 사람은 자신의 잘못을 인정하고 해당 게시물을 삭제했습니다.
Shiver’s place tries to take a balanced look at both sides:
하지만 사건은 급기야 일부 블로거들 사이에서 ‘기업,언론'과 ‘블로그,블로거’ 의 싸움으로 인식되기 시작했다. 비알코리아의 ‘명예회손에 의한 삭제 요청'을 받아들인 서비스형 블로그 업체에 의해, 운영자의 의사와 관계 없이 던킨도너츠 관련 고발과 사진을 담은 포스트가 삭제되기 시작했기 때문이다. 사태에 대한 비알코리아의 대처는 ‘손바닥으로 하늘 가리기’ 이자 ‘블로그와 블로거에 대한 도전'으로 받아들여졌다.
지적하고 싶은건, 사태가 여기에 이르기까지, 찾아보기 매우 어려웠던 ‘반대의견'에 대한 것이다. 처음 고발 게시물이 올라온 지 일주일여가 지난 지금에서야 객관적인 입장에서 바라보고자 하는 시도들이 이루어지고 있으나 여전히 대세는 ‘던킨, 삭제가 능사인줄 아느냐?'는 식의 입장이다. 물론, 어떠한 입장 표명도 없이 ‘명예회손에 의한 삭체 요청'만으로 대처하고 있는 비알코리아측이 문제가 없는것은 아니다. 하지만 고발 게시물에 대한 네티즌과 블로거들의 반응 역시 문제가 없는것은 아니다. ‘던킨도너츠에 5년여 근무했다는’ 한 네티즌의 고발에 대한 신빙성에 대한 의심을 제기한 블로거는 많지 않았다.
Ghestalt made the point clearly about this battle:
사건의 진실은 아직 밝혀지지 않았습니다. 하지만, 요 근래 사이트들과 블로그들을 보고 있으면 마치 인간 파도를 보는듯합니다. 왜.. 경기장 같은곳에서 파도치듯 일어났다 앉는것 있잖아요? :) 손에 든 돌을 버리란 이야기는 아닙니다. 잘못된것은 고쳐져야 하지요. 하지만, 신중하게 기다려 봅시다.

author: Hyejin Kim


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Kuwait: Buddha Censored · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Lebanese blogger Mark, who lives in Kuwait ridicules  Kuwait's heavy censorship. “Virgin Megastore is open again and I think this time around they are taking censorship to the extreme. I think thats what I would do if I was them, I would want to show people how ridiculous censorship can be. The CD cover above is of the Buddha-bar CD, they’ve censored the Buddha’s face!” he quips.


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Nepal: Sexual Minority Rights · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Nepal Monitor in conversation with Sunil Panta. “Nepal’s sexual minority rights activist says there are some 40,000 recorded LGBTs in the country, and that legal reform will be his main focus for the next five years. International attention on Nepal is not always hardcore political these days. Marginal issues such as rights and identities of minorities have also garnered some such attention in recent times. One example is the recognition bestowed on the Blue Diamond Society, Nepal’s pioneering community-based organization working for sexual minorities.”


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Nigeria: blogger’s post appears in Nigeria’s newspaper · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

The Guardian publishes “Open letter to our Commander(s)-in-Chief” from the Nigerian blogger, Laspapi: “The Guardian published my “Open letter to our Commander(s)-in-Chief” last Sunday. This should satisfy the bloggers who feel my tirade should have been given more coverage.”


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Nigeria: Blogging the historic election (Part 2) · Global Voices
Oluniyi D. Ajao

Recently, Nigerians participated in historic national and state elections. This is the concluding part of “Blogging the historic election,” which highlights the blog posts by Nigerians on Presidential elections. We will see what Nigerian bloggers were saying on the election day and afterwards.
We will start with election day post from Thinking…Imagining… In a post titled “Thank God Nigerians are not Suicide bombers!,” Segedoo highlights an attempt to blow up the national headquarters of the INEC (Independent National Electoral Commission) head office in Abuja, Nigeria:
A 33000 litre gas tanker was loaded with fuel and Gas cylinders was driven to a slope opposite the INEC office and allowed to roll down but instead of a driver at the steering wheel, a stone was placed on the throttle. The tanker as stopped by electric poles and the side walk!
Thank God that Nigerians love their lives enough not to be suicide bombers otherwise, the whole presidential elections would have been halted abruptly.
The World According To Adaure blogs about the disorganization in the elections in “NIGERIA VOTES 2007 PART II: THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION“:
The news coming from around the country is obviously discouraging and is what was expected from I-MESS, I mean I-NEC ,the electoral body. Which brings me to the subject of disorganization. When will Nigeria and Nigerians get organized. Everything is a problem, a fight, big-big wahala. Census na kwanta, Voters registration the same thing, election sef na by the miracle of God we have am. KAI HABA DANGOROBA SHEGE!!!. For example I found my self taking charge of an audition that had gotten out of hand because of the number of people who turned out to the station. Now why did some people feel it was their god-given right to jump the line? Worse still is the fact that people never want to listen to simple instructions. Even when they do, they want to challenge and profer their own perceivably better process. What I call I-T-K mentality. This situation, the elections and just some other things around got me thinking about the War Against Indiscipline Campaign in the 80's. Can we go back to that? And if so will it work without the MILITARY operating the program because as it has been shown during this election period, NIGERIANS ARE VERY AFRAID OF THE SOLDIERS.
The US-based blogger, Adaure Achumba, then went on to list some of the irregularities that perturbed the presidential election.
We move on to Tayo Odukoya, a young Nigerian blogger (Break of Dawn) who took part in the elections from Lagos, Nigeria. He shares his funny experience in a blog post titled: “Nigerian Presidential Elections – My Voting Experience“:
[…]The first observation was that the voting spot was quite devoid of people. If you read the registration process on my previous post “INEC Registration Exercise. Have you registered?“, you'll remember that due to the crowd of aspiring registrants, I had to wait for some time before I could get registered. This situation was different. There was not a single voter in sight, contrary to the gubernatorial elections when the queues were very long (read Tolted's experience on her blog here]) and some people did not get to vote. This lent credibility to a rumor that many Nigerians had decided to boycott the election due to a speculation that their votes would not count (or be counted for that matter!).
There were several INEC officials in sight, so I presented my voters card (sorry voter's paper) to one of them and waited patiently while he scrutinized it. He then proceeded to check the voters register for my name after which he said to another seated official “INK HIM”. I drew back unconsciously. How would they “ink” me? I hoped it was not some INEC slang signifying arrest of political miscreants … one has to be wary during these election days. I was later made to understand that inking was just a means of marking my thumb nail so I couldn't vote again that day. “OK” said I, and I heaved a sigh of relief.[…]
Source: BlackLooks.org
Post-Election Day Posts
Ore's Notes shares the experience of a female Nigerian blogger in “The Presidential Elections“:
So, we had the much-anticipated presidential elections yesterday. In my area, all seemed to go quite well. As I was getting ready to leave the house at 8am, my brother told me that he had just read that the polls would not open until 10 as the voting materials had only been flown in from South Africa the night before. Well, whatever! I took the opportunity to eat breakfast and left the house around 10.[…]
The voting seemed to have been uneventful in her area. She concludes:
[…]Almost everyone else went to get a chair and we all sat, talked, drank, ate and generally passed the time in a pleasant (or not so pleasant for those in the direct line of the sun) way. When the officials came, the voting commenced within minutes and we played pseudo musical chairs, as the line moved and we shuffled from the chair we were sitting on to the one in front. It was all so eerily organised, I struggled to believe that this was a Nigerian queue (sorry, NYSC, the banks, fast-food eateries and just about every other institution I have had cause to visit bring up infuriating memories). Okay, well, this was no ordinary Naija queue, this being Lekki and all.
Now, we wait for the results.
Thy Glory O Nigeria..! is a blog run by Adeola Aderounmu. He/she is not happy about the recent elections, and castigates the country in a blog post titled: “WHY NIGERIA WILL NOT BE GREAT SOON“:
Nigeria calls herself the giant of Africa. Please can someone tell Nigeria and Nigerians to wake up! Giant of where? Nigerians are giants only in their homes. They live under an illusion of pre-independence glory. They count on the dense population as a criterion to pronounce giant as a title. The events that have played out recently in Nigeria have precipitated the country to the lowest level of pity. Indeed, no one can take away the influence that Nigeria cast on the Africa continent or worldwide, but those influences will never be counted as greatness. Never!
In great countries and in giant nations, election time represents the voice of the people. It is a time to keep fate with a performing government or seek a change when necessary. Public offices are designed as positions for servants who must be ready to give account of their performance at any point in time during or after serving. In great countries with functional democracies, the arms of government are functional and independent.  Simply, the executives perform its duties, the senate makes laws and judiciary interprets the law and constitution. The people of a great country know their rights and they demand for it.  […]
The conclusion of this blog posts summarizes the pain of this blogger:
[…]After May 29th, I will be really disappointed if the likes of Obasanjo, Atiku, Iwu and the others who have contributed to the demeaning of Nigeria in the last 8 years are not placed on trial. We need to take control of our lives, our destinies and our future. It must start from someone, from somewhere and this is another opportunity. If we don’t probe and try the outgoing administration and its key players, we will be setting a pace for the new administration that we are not destined for greatness. I have nothing against still having the like of IBB or Buhari on trial. They are living burglars. We need to stop thieves in high and low places and put everybody on alert for national revamping. Making Nigeria great is not going to be a day’s job. It will be a collective duty on virtually on frontiers of our lives. But Nigeria will never be great if we don’t resolve to take the first step. Many more generations will be wasted and people will continue to wallow in poverty despite the wealth of the nation. My heart bleeds for Nigeria, a rich country where values are not placed on human existence and where sycophants are glorified.
Twinstaiye (Pause to Ponder) declares My Vote Counts and goes on to explain why he thinks so:
I voted for Umar Yar'Adua in the last Presidential election, and from the result released so far, just like I anticipates, indicates that my vote actually counts.
The truth is, a lot of people stayed away from this election, and I felt have they participated, it could have make a difference. At the polling station, those that we queue together with, have different story to tell about the way they will vote. While some of them believed that PDP had failed us as a party, they insist they will vote for PDP so that their vote counts at the end of the day since it is evident from the last Governorship election, that PDP will surely win going by the pattern of voting.[…]
We conclude this special round-up on an optimistic note by highlighting the concluding part of a blog entry of Wetin Dey Happen?, a blog that chose to play The Devil's Advocate:
Fellow Nigerians, we must now prepare to move forward – we have a President-elect in Umaru Yar'adua, a man of quiet strength, moral integrity and financial probity, who is ready to build on the great work of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, and take our great nation to the next level. This is not the time for petty recriminations and blame trading. If we look to the so-called “advanced nations” of the world, we will see that the elections process was not invented perfect. There were flaws, which were worked out over time, and gradually minimised, but not eradicated. The election of President Bush in 2000 showed that even America, the most advanced democracy in the world, still had problems with it's election process.
Fellow Nigerians, I strongly urge that we all join hands to help in moving our nation forward.
Long live the Federal Republic Of Nigeria, and God bless you all.

author: Oluniyi D. Ajao


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Pakistan: The Economy and Politics · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

The Pakistani Spectator on the relationship between politics and the economy. “Most of time in political history of Pakistan, military dictators have been in power. Being not answerable to people and being dependent on American's blessings, they never thought of well being of the masses. The temporary boom in economy witnessed in Ayub Khan's era was based on US support because Pakistan became an ally of US and joined pacts like SEATO and CENTO.”


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Palestine: Why Israel is After Bishara? · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Palestinian blogger Haitham Sabbah links to an article by former Israeli Knesset member Azmi Bishara.


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Peru: Ceviche Tops List · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Alejandro's Peru Food blog links to a recent poll of Lima residents that found that ceviche is their preferred dish.  Other dishes lagged far behind, from which he adds, “All I have to say is, of course!”

author: Eduardo Avila


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Peru: Culture and Gender in Advertising · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Luna Antagonica [ES] writes about her anthropological study that looks at gender and cultural identity issues in advertising in Peru.  A related protest will also take place in front a department store to “show that in Peru that one cannot only associate images of beauty, success or prestige only with caucasian features.”


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Philippines: Social Networking Site · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

The eOk network introduces a new social networking site in Philippines. “It doesn't appear to be a replacement for Friendster's popularity in the region, but the potential to corner the local market is definitely up for grabs.”


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Poland: Lines · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Steven D. Levitt of Freakonomics Blog visits Poland and writes on “how incredibly rude the Poles were about lines.” The post has already received 74 responses, and here's the first one: “If you think Polish people does not respect lines, please do not come to Brazil. Here the people use their bags or coats to reserve place in restaurant table. It is terrible….”

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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RSF: petition to free Kareem and Monem · Global Voices
sami ben gharbia

Reporters Without Borders has launched today a petition calling the Egyptian regime to free the tow Egyptian bloggers Kareem Amer and Abdel-Monem Mahmoud. RSF is urging Internet-users to sign this petition and block Egypt from hosting the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) in 2008 (conference organized under the UN mantle) unless the two bloggers are freed.
“We urge the organizers of the Internet Governance Forum to intervene with the Egyptian authorities on behalf of these two bloggers. It would be intolerable for a UN summit on the future of the Internet to be held in a country which imprisons bloggers“, said RSF in a statement.
The petition will be send on the occasion of the first anniversary of the arrest of Kareem Amer, on 6 November 2007, to the Egyptian President, to the Executive Coordinator of the IGF, and to the UN Secretary General.

author: sami ben gharbia


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Singapore: Singapore’s Blogosphere · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Elia Diodati says Singapore's blogosphere is loosing its steam. The blogger rounds up the current status of once very active bloggers.


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Sri Lanka: CNN, get your facts right · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

CNN Money has an article that appears to betray bias and ignorance. Vindicated rips the piece to shreds. “Colombo being mainly Sinhalese enemy capital: I don't know about you but I'm pretty sure that Colombo is the last place in Sri Lanka that's mostly Sinhalese. Being the only city in the country, it is the most cosmopolitan home to not only Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims but a significant international community as well. If the LTTE think that Colombo is the Sinhalese capital of Sri Lanka they are as misled as you the nitwit journalist are.”


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Thailand: Thailand vs. Google · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

The New Mandala blog discusses Thailand's attempts to charge Google with lèse majesté. Thailand's government tried unsuccessfully to get Google owned YouTube to drop clips mocking the Thai king.


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Trinidad & Tobago: Shopping Blog · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“Now it's not as if this is the most mindblowing thing that someone has done in e-commerce.  But I just can't help but love the idea of a shop blog.”  Caribbean Public Relations makes a happy online discovery.


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Ukraine: Chernobyl Employee · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Michael Forster Rothbart photographs a man who spent 24 years working at Chernobyl nuclear power plant (nine of them, after 1986).


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Ukraine: More on Adoption · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

MoldovAnn writes more on some differences between the Ukrainian and American attitude to adoption.


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Ukraine: Yanukovych Gives In · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Mark MacKinnon writes about the latest political developments in Ukraine: “The standoff is over for now, and Viktor Yushchenko appears to have won the test of nerves against his arch-rival, Viktor Yanukovich. The two men announced today that they have agreed to hold new parliamentary elections in the near future, something Yushchenko has been demanding since dissolving parliament last month amid a bribery scandal.”


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Uzbekistan: Simple Plov · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

The Uzbek and Central Asian Cooking blog posts a simple recipe for plov, Uzbekistan's national dish.


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Africa: Africa’s skies aren’t the worst in the world · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Mental Acrobatics dispels belief that Africa's skies are the worst in the world: “After the tragedy this morning with the loss of Kenya Airways flight KQ507 with 114 people on board I am more or less sure that a big debate will sprout up on how safe Africa’s skies are and on how safe African airlines are. This post aims to put some facts on the ground before hysteria takes over the debate.”


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Bahrain: Incense-wafting Journalism · Global Voices
Ayesha Saldanha

This week in Bahrain bloggers have been preoccupied with topics including sycophancy, the welfare of foreign labourers, and the culture of alcohol consumption. But let's start with Tooners, who describes in detail an argument she had with her sister-in-law about child care, which resulted in her telling her sister-in-law exactly what she thought of her:
I have not been able to stand this wannabe princess/demonic thing since the very beginning but have held my tongue for the sake of the family and for my husband, but since he was fine w/ my telling her what I thought…. well…. I can't tell you the weight it took off of my shoulders.
And she has decided to take refuge in her nationality:
This argument has done a couple of really good things. One, I don't have to pretend to like the demonic thing any more and two, everyone knows now that I'm not playing around any more, and I guess they can look at me as the rude American… because now… I will say what I think. So be it….. I guess I'm rude and an American… Lord help us.
National and cultural stereotypes don't always help, though; Bint Battuta, a non-Muslim, is having a hard time persuading her Bahraini friends that she doesn't drink:
…what I find strange is that the few Bahraini friends I have who do drink are almost evangelical about trying to persuade others to do so. … I just don't recall being lectured about not drinking in Europe; sometimes friends will push a little, because they want you to ‘loosen up’ in the way they do, but I've never faced people arguing for drinking in the way I have here. The arguments people make have revolved around alcohol's ability to let you fully experience life, to really harness your creativity, to make you write well, to really connect to your inner thoughts, even to release the child within… (Bear in mind that I have been given these little lectures by people who are artistic or creative in various ways.) I have even been told that one cannot really be a writer without drinking.
Maybe Abu Nuwas would have agreed; Cradle of Humanity reminds us that alcohol was once celebrated in Arab poetry:
Never had I read anything that referred to alcohol with such passion. The amount of love described surpasses that in a lot of orthodox love poetry. Abu Nawas is indeed a unique and an interesting historical character to investigate. Indulgence in alcohol, homosexuality and fornication are his main poetry subjects, with verses that do not shy away from explicitness. … Abu Nawas has earned himself a prestigious seat in “Mujun Poets”, or indecent poets.
Mujun poets were the rebels of their time, against social and Islamic norms they called for indulgence in pleasures- in public- with no shame. Given the amount of obscenity Mujun literature can be considered pornography.
It is inconceivable how a society which was tolerance enough to allow pornography to develop into a literature and poetry genre, can be in its state today. Blasphemy was inseparable to it, shocking the society into tolerance. Some Sukhf (ridicule) literature was the South Park of its time, rich in parody and satire.
Lulu writes about another Arab tradition, that of wafting incense around a leader, which she feels has taken on another form:
The Arabic term translates roughly into: holder of the mubkhar (incense burner). Traditionally, this would be the semi-servant person who hangs around the heads of the tribe, burning Oud and incense for them and telling them how great and amazing they are, they who do no wrong!
Nowdays, with the advances of nano-technology and all, the incense burner took a new form: words! Yes! Somehow, centuries later, we ended up with this semi-servant mentality in our press, parliament, and even business community. … It's more than sad and annoying! It seems that a good portion of our journalists and public figures are treating the political system in Bahrain as if it was a big continuous PR party!
Mahmood is not impressed with another aspect of Bahraini society today. He starts by wishing us ‘Happy May Day':
But only to the Bahraini workers.
Those who are in the private sector to be exact.
Let’s forget those in the public sector, as they are not allowed to form trade unions, they’re unimportant and can’t be counted.
Let’s also forget the Asian workers: Indians, Pakistanis, Bengalis, Filipinos and others who we simply don’t want to see, especially amongst our neighbourhoods, regardless of the fact that it is them and their ancestors who built all of our countries in the Gulf and continue to do so. Let us forget that it is them who keep our streets clean, who man and manage our transport systems, transfer of goods, build our houses and palaces, and manage a large sector of our commerce.
Of course Asian workers helped construct Bahrain's Formula 1 circuit, which Mohammed AlMaskati reports is shortly to be put to another use:
You know it's Bahrain…when a World Open Beach Volleyball Tournament is being held in a concrete jungle…
Bahrainis certainly like watching sports, but it seems they are not too keen on exercising themselves; they apparently some of the slowest walkers in the world. Babbling Bahrania
takes issue with how the findings of a report that has just come out have been interpreted:
Local press decided that our rather ‘unrushed’ walking speed is actually a virtue of our lifestyle, compared to the fast-paced living of urban-dwellers in other countries facing ‘all kinds of diseases’. Do the people who constructed this index not understand the cultural differences between these countries? Living in Bahrain, one fails to see the point of walking at all. The lack of pavements testifies either to lack of demand for walking or the cause of a walking-deficient nation. It seems our legs have been created to perform essential manoeuvring duties rather than general transportation.
Whether you'll be rushing non-stop, or taking a leisurely stroll through the following days, I'll see you back here next week for more news from Bahrain!

author: Ayesha Saldanha


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Iran: A Golden Frog for Iranian bloggers · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Koroush Ziabari reports[Fa] that Fouad Khaknejad,a young journalist and blogger has launched “Golden Frog” prize for the best blogs in country.

author: Fred Petrossian